It covers the entire main floor of the KCI Expo Center. Nearly 1,000 tables will feature everything from assault rifles to knives to T-shirts.
The gun show comes on the heels of the terrorist attack on Orlando's Pulse Nightclub.
"Had anyone been in there that actually had a concealed weapons permit, I think the outcome would've been vastly different," said gun show organizer Rex Kherli.
While opinions on that point may vary, it appears Americans are more likely to buy a firearm after a mass shooting. One of the leading gun makers, Smith and Wesson, Thursday reported a more than 22 percent increase in gun sales over the last year.
After the San Bernadino shooting in December, the company's sales skyrocketed 61.5 percent in the next quarter.
"Because they're afraid," said Brenda Ford of Keith's Guns of West Plains, Missouri.
Ford says she's worked many gun shows. She's not certain if the Orlando attack will boost sales at this weekend's show. But she does support a move in Congress to ban firearms sales to people on the FBI's terror watch list.
"Yeah, it needs to be done and there are not too many people who would disagree with me on that," Ford said.
"I do believe we need an appeals process for those that are wrongly put on that list," Kherli said.
Congress is also considering further restrictions on weapons like the AR-15 used in the Orlando attack.
Kherli points to FBI data over a five-year period from 2009 through 2013. It shows there were more murders committed with blunt objects in each of those years than with all rifles.
"More claw hammers are killing people than these so-called rifles," said Kherli.
However, those same FBI stats show total murders with all types of firearms far exceed murders by any other methods.
Due to current law, only Missouri residents can buy handguns at this weekend's gun show. But out-of-state residents, including Kansans, can buy long guns.
The show runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Gun enthusiasts pile into KCI Expo Center for gun show
Thousands of people attended a two-day Kansas City Gun and Knife Show.
Vehicles filled the parking lot and were parked in the median as attendees raced in to see the selection of firearms.
Alice Kitchen stood on the sidewalk to send a message to attendees. She held a sign that read: "More guns; more tragedy."
"When you have guns they kill, that's what they're intended to do," said Kitchen.
Kitchen says the massacre in Orlando is proof that the nation needs better gun control, especially on larger magazine guns like the AR-15.
Rex Aehrli has managed this gun show for years. He disagrees.
"Homicides via fist are like four or five times the amount as the homicides with rifles so I think we need to look at other things in regards to our society and curing the problem with the violence that were having," said Aehrli.
Violence that has a lot of people responding out of their fear. For some that means more weapons. For others it means trying harder to relay a message.
"As long as people have guns they can kill people. And not everybody who has a gun is a responsible owner," said Aehrli
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Andy Alcock can be reached at anderson.alcock@kshb.com.
