Where did the word "Mall Ninja" come from

[2k5Adam]

My understanding is that the evil genius behind Mall Ninja was a member here who helped manage a gun shop and had gotten his fill of the Cyber CIA, Recliner Recondo and Rambozo crowd and decided to lampoon them.

I would have to agree. Seems like the "evil genius" was just stirring the pot.

 

[UnintendedConsequences]

I am feeling a little conflicted

Do I regarding the stupidity that is "mall ninja" or do I regarding that CCW must be God/insane post on MySpace?

To be honest, when I CCW I DO NOT want to call attention to myself and I just want to be left alone. I DO NOT patrol, rather I stick to my own homestead and take care of things within my property line otherwise I just carry to protect myself when bad things happen to a good person.

On topic, I think that we have too many "high speed, low drag" and "tacti-cool operators" want to bes out there in too many lines of work. They are in the malls and in the LEO areas too as well as those who think they are way too cool on the firing range.

 

[Tom Servo]

I dont understand Spanish but they must have been talking about me.

As a side note, what does Gordo mean?

I'm the owner of LonelyMachines. I started the mall-ninja section because the original mallninja.com is gone, and the Sutekh's site...well, it's on Geocities, so more than two hits in a week, and it's down. I'd like to gather all the various lore in one spot eventually, so if anyone's got anything, please send it my way.

Incidentally, one of the original mall ninjas is a senior member on this forum...

Oh, and Jooos, if there's any more to that post can you post it here? I don't have a MySpace account.

 

[Brian Dale]

It's a scream, Erik. Thanks for maintaining it.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Weekend Warriors, Closet Commandos, Rambo Wannabes

I've heard/used many terms other than "mall ninja". You see most of these types at gun shows.

I remember walking by a gun show display and watching a guy wearing a black beret, black SAS type sweater and black BDU pants. He was asking about a Steyr AUG 5.56mm rifle and claimed he was an action novel writer.

That guy could be considered a "mall ninja".

 

[Vairochana]

oy!

Some of it was very funny- most of it was very frustrating- I can't believe I wasted all afternoon reading them

 

[Number 6]

When I was down on my luck I had to take a job as a security guard at the third largest mall in the US. There were quite a few guys that acted like Gecko45. I could go on and on at all of the outrageous stuff these guys would claim, too much testosterone and video games if you ask me.

 

[UnintendedConsequences]

Some observations

Just because there are some partially cracked eggs out there, AKA mall ninjas, tacti-cool rubes, Rambo rejects, mili-morons and such, please don't sterotype people just because of outward appearances alone. Don't get me wrong, some people are what they are at face value, that is walking ID10T errors, but some people, like myself, may wear certain things because they work well or feel comfortable when doing things like hunting or we might be wearing them while in between hunting stints during the day.

The last gun show I was at I helped a customer/business associate with his table. There was a gentleman asking me about a pin-on MAK-90 TAPCO muzzle brake he was selling who had just bought a shotgun from another vendor and it had the buttstock cutdown to just about a half inch behind the end of the wrist to make it a pistol grip. While we were talking about it and what he needed to do to stay legal (as I am a gunsmith/gun shop owner) since we were talking about the legalities of modifications to his MAK he said he would just take his MAK to TAPCO since he didn't live far from them in Georgia.

This man was in Missouri and was a Georgia resident. He just bought a shotgun from someone at that gunshow. As a dealer I cannot sell to customers a handgun unless they are a Missouri resident or a shotgun/rifle if those people live in a state other than one of the states that borders Missouri unless I send it to a licensed dealer in their home state, yet this man bought a shotgun from someone at the show.

By itself I was uneased by that situation from a legal standpoint, but the man seemed alright to me otherwise. He looked to me to be "safe" by himself and was dressed like a construction worker. When he came back around with three other friends, one older and two younger, the group together made warning alarms go off in my head because of the expressions on their faces, their body language and the way they spoke together. My friend sold some ammunition to the youngest one who looked to be in his early 20s. After they left the area of his table, I told him that those were the only people that made me feel uncomfortable at the show, even though others I had met during the show may have dressed a little odd, they talked and carried themselves like what I consider "safe" people. I was glad I had no firearms to sell on the table as if that group of four had asked to buy any I would have refused the sale period, with or without the 4473, as the men as a group made me uneasy. I listen to my gut instinct.

Personally, I was thought to be an undercover ATF agent because I wore loose fit blue jeans, a polo style shirt had fairly short hair, military surplus combat boots on my feet and I had a small folder with copies of my FFL and sales tax exemption form with me in case I wanted to buy something for myself or for resale while I was at another gun show earlier this year. I understood the perception because of my folder, but I had to wonder how my clothing looked like I was a BATFEag.

At gun shows in my immediate area, say a 20 mile radius from where I live here in rural Missouri, at local gun shows you can tell who the LEOs are with tables because they have boot camp cuts, talk with an aggressive edge in their voice and dress like they are boots in camp. Some even have a holstered sidearm in plain view without a badge displayed or any other means of identifying them as LEOs to someone who doesn't know who they are. The rest of the people at the shows, vendors and customers, look like regular country folks with jeans of all kinds, shirts from polo to flannel and perhaps a pair of bib overalls and a well worn baseball cap. Those that "talk big" generally are the mil-surp collectors here and they are just really rabid gun-nutties who read alot. I know they are harmless because I know most of them personally or by reputation from others who know them.

What do my words boil down to? Someone can look like they are a LEO but they raise warning flags in my mind. So can someone who looks like the typical safe Joe Six Pack. For that matter even hunters dressed in camo or blaze orange here during deer season eating in a restaurant or getting fuel can either make you uneasy or not just because of their body language, vocal signals (inflection, word choices, etc.) and the vibe they send out regardless of clothing.

Back on topic, the mall ninjas are rare here as we have no malls save for small strip style ones unless you drive about 1.5 to 2 hours to a larger population center. Even there the security personnel are more along the lines of the parking lot grandpa who helps you with your flat tire or a jump start in his little compact pickup truck with the yellow flashing light on top or the grandpas who take the job to have something to do and mostly help kids find their lost parents or take things to lost and found. Since I don't go to St. Louis or Kansas City metro areas much if at all, I guess I avoid the real mall ninja hordes.

 

[jooos]

Erik F
Quote: "I'm the owner of LonelyMachines. I started the mall-ninja section because the original mallninja.com is gone, and the Sutekh's site...well, it's on Geocities, so more than two hits in a week, and it's down. I'd like to gather all the various lore in one spot eventually, so if anyone's got anything, please send it my way.

Incidentally, one of the original mall ninjas is a senior member on this forum...

Oh, and Jooos, if there's any more to that post can you post it here? I don't have a MySpace account."

Sorry but I don't have a My Space account either. I tried the link after I posted it and I saw that you had to create an account to continue, that's why I reposted the whole body of the post under the link. I've been wondering if I should make one just so I can go laugh at stuff like that. Obviously it was written, and posted as a joke....

 

[Tom Servo]

I really don't care for MySpace, and the one time I went on there (because a very...misguided person has a site about me on it ) , I felt the overwhelming urge to wash my hands afterwards.

Some...interesting people certainly hang out there.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

As a side note, what does Gordo mean?

Absolutely a classic.

Thanks to my wife, who speaks Spanish, I now know that "gordo" (it is not capitalized, because it isn't a name) = "fat." (VERY fat.)

 

[Don Gwinn]

Very good. Now go back and find out what a "Cerro Gordo" is.

BTW, I've met Gecko45. Nice kid. I cannot for the life of me remember his "other" membername at Glocktalk. But yeah, he knew exactly what he was doing.

Nobody who was truly as delusional as the Mall Ninja could have lasted in that mall security job this long without being arrested and making headlines.

 

[Bwana John]

I loved the Mall Ninja writings! My favorite was "The armored ballistic brief case, with the NEF take-down Win 300 mag"

It seems that in Mexican spanish many adjectives lose the article of speech and become common names (ie: Gordo(fatso), Flaka(skinny), Guapo(handsome), Peckes,(freckeled)...)

One of the Cerro Gordos (Fat Hill) was the richest silver mining area in California, located in the southern Inyo Mountains. It also used to be one of the better deer and chukar hunting locations around, as long as you didnt fall into an old mine.

 

[MountainPeak]

Gecko45 always made a lot of sense to me. He is a man ahead of the times!

 

[Wes Janson]

So was Gecko actually a "normal" forummer just trolling the rest of the board for laughs, or was that someone posting seriously?

 

[AmbulanceDriver]

I've been reading the writings of "Gecko45" and "SPECOPS". And i can't figure out whether to laugh hysterically or just puke. I hope that this was really someone just trying to vent some stress and have some fun, but the feeling I get is somewhere out around "pathological liar".


EDIT: Well, apparently after further reading these guys were doing the humorous forum troll thing to try to get some laughs...

Personally, didn't find it all that funny, but to each their own.

 

[loki.fish]

I dunno about the whole MySpace CCW group. MySpace is an odd place. I signed up a while ago to keep in touch with a few friends. If you guys really want to see some of the stuff there, on my next day off I'll copy what I find interesting and post it here if you want. Just PM me if there's certain types of topics you want me to look out for.

Edit: As far as clothing appearances...during the winter I wear a black leather trench coat. That doesn't make me some type of freak, I just find it to be a very comfortable article of clothing. I've tried wearing regular coats and such, but they are very uncomfortable.

 

[rangermonroe]

Oh, this is rich

and Vietnam still shudders when it hears the name of a an assasin so skillful and deadly, he is remembered decades later. I hope all of you manage to find some meaning in life, because you obviously have never put your life on the line for others, and until you have almost died, you have never lived. In my profession, you take risks that would be considered impossible to 99% of other men, and undergo pain that the mere shock of which would kill any three of you pantywaists.

I have a vivid imagination and I couldn't even begin to compete with this fella.