Handling firearms in the gun store

[Bmac1949]

I was in the Houston Gander Mountain for reloading supplies and looked up to see a guy at the gun counter who had a rifle to his shoulder with the scope trained on me. I immediately headed to the counter and the culpret quickly walked away as I approached. I called the clerk up to the counter and complained that cutomers shouldn't be pointing firearms, loaded or not, in such a manner. He then showed me what the guy had been pointing at me. It was an empty stock with a scope mounted. I explained that from accross the store where I was scoped,(60 feet or so) that it would be hard to see the barrel and that looking up seeing that somebody has a high powered scope trained on you is pretty uncomfortable to say the least and my first thought wasn't "oh is that not a real gun?" I ask him politely to follow store policy which is to handle firearms in a manner that doesn't cause other customer alarm. He agreed but wasn't too happy. I've also had to ask people not to sweep me with guns while I was at the pistol counter. Doesn't happen often but I don't like to have firearms pointed at me, doesn't matter if they are loaded or not, that's not how I was taught. This thing ticked me off more than I'd like and made me whish I had called the manager and made a scene. Hope there isn't a next time.

 

[beatledog7]

This customer wasn't handling a firearm.

Ever actually work in a gun store? With counters facing in various directions, people milling about on all sides, etc., there's no practicable way to have customers handle the guns, which is a selling requirement, without the potential of technically "sweeping" somebody. That's why sellers have the critical responsibility of ensuring the guns are not loaded and monitoring every gun that's not secured behind the counter.

Your concern is valid; a customer should not be training a scoped "stock" on other customers; this customer seems to have realized that. But then, what other way is there to test a scope in a mounted position than to train it on objects at a distance? And when doing so, how do you ensure that nobody sees that act and thinks as you did?

It's an unfortunate reality that in a gun store muzzles do get pointed about, even though people must and usually do make the effort no to do so. But completely ensuring that nobody ever gets swept really is undoable.

 

[JayBird]

I am going to make a recommendation to the OP. Never...ever...walk into a gun show.

While I understand your concern to an extent, if having a scope pointed at you while on a demonstration mount caused you this much alarm, you will not like walking ANYWHERE on a gun show floor one bit.

 

[Bmac1949]

Two points I'd like to make.
1. when I'm in a gun store and want to sight a weapon I aim on the wall well above people's heads
2. I've been to gunshows in Dallas and Houston and haven't had anything this near this blatant happen.

I understand that things like this happen but for some reason this one really stuck in my craw. I think it was that as soon as I looked at the guy he set the scope down and tore out of there.

 

[eazyrider]

This is what kills me. Do you have a gun case? Is it meant to be carried in a horizontal manner like 99% of them are? Then you sweep people all the time. It seems like to me that as long as it is in the case then it's fine to sweep, as if that case would stop a bullet. But once it is out then guys get all sensitive. Look I would probably take offense if someone was training a gun on me on purpose, but an occasional sweep is going to happen. Nothing to get all upset about. I bet that just about everyone on here has done it to someone else before.

 

[Oxide]

Oh, and, welcome to the internet, where 95% of the time, all people do is tell you how you are wrong.

 

[Bmac1949]

Eazy, I see your point but the gun is zipped up and the trigger is not accessable and I know your going to say that the guns in stores and shows have trigger locks that make them safe. I just try my best to not ever break the first rule of gun safety. BTW when I enter a crowd with a rifle such as at a gun store or the range I carry the gun muzzle down case or no.

 

[eazyrider]

I get what your saying, and I am not accusing you of this. But it just seems to me that some people are way too safety concerned. If you follow a few simple rules then everything will be okay. Now with a loaded gun I am very, very safe. But when I know that gun is empty, like I just cleared it. I am not going to be all that concerned about where it is pointed. While I would not train it on anybody, at some point the barrel is going to point at somebody. Hell, even the pistols laying on the shelf at the gun store are pointing at something. People may say I am unsafe, but to me an empty gun is not dangerous.

Love your sig line by the way. Should be a bumper sticker.

 

[Twmaster]

I think I would have been just as upset as the OP.

The last thing I want to hear before I die are the words... I thought it was empty.

'Nuff said.

 

[steven12]

I figured out years ago that everyone had the possibility of killing me either by mistake or by intention. Therefore, whenever I am driving on the road, visiting a gun store etc I am always looking out for people that have potential to make me null and void.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

I bet that just about everyone on here has done it to someone else before.

It's possible, but not since I was about 12.

But it just seems to me that some people are way too safety concerned.

No such thing.

But when I know that gun is empty, like I just cleared it. I am not going to be all that concerned about where it is pointed.

If you are around me and mine, you better be concerned.

 

[jcwit]

I believe there are quite a few folks out there just searching for something to complain about.

Here's a tip, stay away from gun stores and gun showes. Don't go hunting either, I've been scoped many times while deer hunting in the west.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

If your GM is like mine, the scopes on those fake stocks aren't manned by an employee. They are there for customers to handle without assistance. If that is the case, I don't see how calling out the employee for a customer's actions helped things or how making a scene would have made it better...other than to make you feel better.

 

[rcmodel]

like I just cleared it. I am not going to be all that concerned about where it is pointed.

BS!

Tell that to the people who have been shot at gun shows and reinactments already this year.
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/article_0416d7fa-4393-11e0-9cee-001cc4c03286.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...sts-shot-South-Dakota-Wild-West-shootout.html

I've already been shot in the leg once by a guy with an "empty" gun.

You point an empty gun at me once, and I will tell you nice to never to do it again.
You do it again and you will regret doing it again!

rc

 

[sm]

Firearm Safety is 24/7/52.

We have four rules for a reason, so one would be wise to practice these themselves, and to pass forward to others these rules.

Common Courtesy should be 24/7/52, perhaps we need four rules for this as well.

 

[hso]

As a safety professional, shooter and someone who trains others to shoot defensively I tell everyone that you can't be too safe with a firearm. The chance may be low that you'll be shot by someone in a large store where the ammo and firearms are kept well apart, but the consequences of that remote chance of failure are catastrophic so the risk is high. Every person that has been unintentionally shot would agree that the simple practice of not pointing a firearm at another person is the least that should be expected of anyone handling a firearm. It is too simple to simply point the thing at the intersection of the wall and ceiling to accept someone pointing a firearm at anyone.

I would be be very concerned if I thought someone were pointing a firearm at me while in a store, especially if I thought they were intentionally using me to sight on. If I found out that it wasn't a firearm, but something else I would heave a mighty sigh of relief and ask the manager to please color the thing I thought was a weapon some vivid color to help safety-conscious customers avoid to worry about their safety in "this" situation.

 

[Chindo18Z]

I don't point weapons at folks in gun stores or gun shows.

I don't care how crowded it is.

I expect the same courtesy.

 

[bikerdoc]

The 4 rules are self explainatory.

Careless or indifferent handling needs correction.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

I've been scoped many times while deer hunting in the west.

That should not be put up with either.

When I took hunter's safety forty years ago, the instructor told a story about him scoping something coming through the trees. Turned out to be a really tall cowboy on a horse. The cowboy rode up, dismounted and told the hunter/instructor:

"The next time you point a rifle at me, you had better pull the trigger."

 

[mdauben]

Now with a loaded gun I am very, very safe. But when I know that gun is empty, like I just cleared it. I am not going to be all that concerned about where it is pointed.

This is the sort of statement that proves many people just don't 'get' gun safety.

You are not urged to never point any gun at someone, even if it is unloaded because anyone thinks that cartridges will somehow jump into the gun when you are not looking. The idea is to build an ingrained habit of not pointing guns at people so that you don't forget that one time when the gun is loaded.

If its a habit never to point a gun, loaded or empty, at someone that just that less chance of accidently doing it when the guns isn't empty.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

I can't count the times I've turned and seen a scope on me in the woods. With every single encounter I have (in not so polite ways) educated the offenders in the use of BINOCULARS

I can't say that I have ever been "scoped" in a gun store but I do tend to stay out of the "Big Box" stores such as Cabelas and Gander Mountain. I also can't say that I would have been as restrained as the OP either. As others have said, we have the 4 rules to keep us SAFE. But they are useless if not followed in ALL situations while handling a firearm.

 

[beatledog7]

If you come into a store and are interested in a revolver that's in a glass display case, and there are other customers to your left and right, how would you propose the clerk let you examine it?

He unlocks the case and reaches in, and at the moment he touches that revolver, somebody is getting swept. What's your solution?

Anybody?

 

[CONNEX 3300]

Accidental sweep by another customer when picking up/handling gun in store: Unavoidable. Try to avoid it but its gonna happen sometime. I just try to stay out of the way but I know its been done to me before. Part of the risk I take when in a gun show. I try not to, but somebody else probably will.

Intentionally pointing a scoped stock/and or firearm: NEVER. Shouldn't EVER happen. EVER. I would be concerned too. Might not call the manager, and I would try to be civil, but it would certainly get a negative response from me.

 

[jcwit]

If you come into a store and are interested in a revolver that's in a glass display case, and there are other customers to your left and right, how would you propose the clerk let you examine it?

He unlocks the case and reaches in, and at the moment he touches that revolver, somebody is getting swept. What's your solution?

Anybody?

Right, same hold true at a gun show with the tables full of handguns and longuns. If one stops to look and inspect a longun as soo as he touches it it, now pointed at someone. Unless of course its a bad show with no customers.

 

[rcmodel]

I learned to pick up a gun and point it at the floor or ceiling while opening the action and leaving it open to hand to someone.

So, nobody gets swept.

Still, there is a huge difference to me between getting "swept" while the clerk is getting it out of the case to show you.

And looking down at the red laser spot on your chest from three aisles over at a gun show!!

rc