I was in wally world tonight waiting in line to buy ammunition when all of a sudden a young kid walks to the front of the line and interrupts the salesman filing out a hunting license for a customer asking how much their cheapest .22 rifle is. The salesman replied 107 dollars. The kid says his mom works in the pharmacy and he would be right back. A few minutes later he comes back with mom again cutting in front of others like myself in line the first chance he got. He asked to see he rifle. The salesman opens the case and hands him the rifle.
Keep in mind this kid looks like he is maybe 14 years old. He started telling me about how he was going to use this rifle for home defense. I informed him that it was not a very wise choice for that purpose and a shotgun would be more effective. He said he did not want a shotgun because previously he fired one and landed on his arse. He then went on to tell his mother who seemed pretty uneducated on guns in general that this was an automatic rifle and how he would just keep shooting anyone who broke into their house till the clip was empty but did not want to kill them only stop them. I simply corrected him that it was a semi automatic.
I asked the boy if he realized that if he was to shoot a person even in his home he would more likely then not be arrested and have to pay legal costs to stay out of prison. He then told me he was told by a Scranton Police officer that if a person breaks into his house and threatens his life he could legally shoot them.
The boy did ask the clerk how much the smallest quantity of ammo they sold for the gun was and wanted two boxes of that as well.
The entire time this was going on I could not help but to stop and think that this clerk is about to sell a gun and ammo to a child and run the pics on mom. Once they leave the store the gun will be in the child's control as mom is clueless on its operation. I did suggest that she may want to pick up a free cable lock from the sheriff's office to be able to control child access to the gun.
If I was the salesman I would have only let the adult handle the gun and only sold to the adult. I would make sure that they understood if the child uses it in an illegal fashion that the gun is owned by the adult so therefore they are responsible for what happens with it as well. This entire incident screamed out to me like it was a straw purchase setup as the child was the one calling the shots.
At that point I looked at the mom and told her to go online and check out the pa firearms owners website as well as the website for the state attorney general office as there she will find some sound advice on the law.
I will go in there again soon as I know where the mom works and talk to her about it hopefully she will see the value of teaching another person about the responsibility of gun ownership. I did not really have a decent conversation with her as the son was all knowing when it came to guns.
I think maybe I will offer to take them both to the range someday soon as the only range the boy mentioned knowing about was the one in Gouldsboro when I was asking for directions to an indoor range I had recently heard of but never tried before.
Gouldsboro SGL is currently closed for lead removal which the signage says will take about 30 days. I did not know at the time it was closed for lead removal but found out a little while later.
The boy mentioned it It seems to me that if the boys dad was around he would not have hounded mom like he did. I think mom and the boy would both benefit from some safe range time.
The entire time I was CCW my S&W 649 .357 Magnum and had both a Glock 34 9mm and a .22 Ruger Mark 1 in the car as well. When the sales clerk asked me how they could help me I just picked up two boxes of 100 round 9mm Luger FMJ and 1-100 round box of 357 magnum SJHP and spent almost as much as his rifle without the kid even thinking about what I was buying there.
Anyhow, I thought I would share this experience with you all. If it does go further I will also keep you informed. It would also not surprise me if mom does not sign up here as well and start participating in this forum as we all know the two websites are so closely related.
Keep in mind this kid looks like he is maybe 14 years old. He started telling me about how he was going to use this rifle for home defense. I informed him that it was not a very wise choice for that purpose and a shotgun would be more effective. He said he did not want a shotgun because previously he fired one and landed on his arse. He then went on to tell his mother who seemed pretty uneducated on guns in general that this was an automatic rifle and how he would just keep shooting anyone who broke into their house till the clip was empty but did not want to kill them only stop them. I simply corrected him that it was a semi automatic.
I asked the boy if he realized that if he was to shoot a person even in his home he would more likely then not be arrested and have to pay legal costs to stay out of prison. He then told me he was told by a Scranton Police officer that if a person breaks into his house and threatens his life he could legally shoot them.
The boy did ask the clerk how much the smallest quantity of ammo they sold for the gun was and wanted two boxes of that as well.
The entire time this was going on I could not help but to stop and think that this clerk is about to sell a gun and ammo to a child and run the pics on mom. Once they leave the store the gun will be in the child's control as mom is clueless on its operation. I did suggest that she may want to pick up a free cable lock from the sheriff's office to be able to control child access to the gun.
If I was the salesman I would have only let the adult handle the gun and only sold to the adult. I would make sure that they understood if the child uses it in an illegal fashion that the gun is owned by the adult so therefore they are responsible for what happens with it as well. This entire incident screamed out to me like it was a straw purchase setup as the child was the one calling the shots.
At that point I looked at the mom and told her to go online and check out the pa firearms owners website as well as the website for the state attorney general office as there she will find some sound advice on the law.
I will go in there again soon as I know where the mom works and talk to her about it hopefully she will see the value of teaching another person about the responsibility of gun ownership. I did not really have a decent conversation with her as the son was all knowing when it came to guns.
I think maybe I will offer to take them both to the range someday soon as the only range the boy mentioned knowing about was the one in Gouldsboro when I was asking for directions to an indoor range I had recently heard of but never tried before.
Gouldsboro SGL is currently closed for lead removal which the signage says will take about 30 days. I did not know at the time it was closed for lead removal but found out a little while later.
The boy mentioned it It seems to me that if the boys dad was around he would not have hounded mom like he did. I think mom and the boy would both benefit from some safe range time.
The entire time I was CCW my S&W 649 .357 Magnum and had both a Glock 34 9mm and a .22 Ruger Mark 1 in the car as well. When the sales clerk asked me how they could help me I just picked up two boxes of 100 round 9mm Luger FMJ and 1-100 round box of 357 magnum SJHP and spent almost as much as his rifle without the kid even thinking about what I was buying there.
Anyhow, I thought I would share this experience with you all. If it does go further I will also keep you informed. It would also not surprise me if mom does not sign up here as well and start participating in this forum as we all know the two websites are so closely related.