Buyers beware!

So we stopped by the local gun show yesterday and I have to say, I was kinda disappointed. In fact I contemplated asking for my $5 admission fee back. Not much in the way of variety--mostly either ARs or wood stocked bolt actions. Most of the ARs were lower end rifles at high end prices, and none of the bolt actions really appeared that noteworthy to me. And some of the stuff I saw there was just sketch.

Saw an SKS with what I thought to be a rather ornate display around it, and a sign describing it as a "Rare Russian SKS Carbine with 16 inch barrel." It went on to say it booked for over $1700 but I could have it for just $700! Of course, things immediately caught my eye; it didn't have the dark, richer wood I see on most Russians, including the 1954 Izhevsk I stupidly pawned back in college, nor did it have a bayonet. It looked rather dinged up, actually, and most immediately struck me as looking very similar in appearance, condition, and quality to the Norinco carbine my brother bought from a local FFL for like $200.

Sure enough, I ignore the sign asking not to handle it and check out the arsenal markings on the left side of the receiver. They were clearly Chinese! Dude was all sorts of scowling at me as I busted out laughing and pointed out as loudly as possible to my brother two tables away that it wasn't even Russian. The man at the table's demeanor suggested to me that he was aware and still trying to pass it off to whatever sucker would take it, but regardless, it still impressed on me the importance of being alert and doing your homework before attending these events.

Buyers beware! There's some shady characters out there.

I'm not going to apologize for calling the guy's bluff, and if you're looking for sympathy over ignoring the 'do not handle' sign, you'll find none here. If people want their needs or requests to be respected, it seems they should give a little respect to that of others as well. Trying to pawn a $200 rifle off for $700 doesn't strike me as a good way to encourage others to respect you.

If you had been there on the other side of the table and told me to put it down as loudly as possible, I would have told you to kiss my rear as loudly as possible, then probably just dropped the rifle onto the table from chest height and flipped you off. At that point, I'd seen enough and was on my way out anyways, so being evicted from the whole sham circus was of no consequence to me. But the bigger deal you made out of it, the bigger the deal I would have made out of it. And I guarantee that between my brother and I, we could have drowned you out and embarrassed you in the time allotted before we were told to leave. Everybody in the building would have known and you'd be lucky to get $70 for your beat up Chinese SKS.

I paid to get into their "polite society" and feel like I had a right to expect at least a little for my money. I may not have paid very much, but I wasn't expecting very much either, and I was still disappointed. In the end I may not have been very polite or courteous, but that place was never a "polite society," never displayed respect for the property I used to get in (couldn't even give me $5 worth of entertainment), and most certainly were never very courteous. I had a very nice SIG I brought to the show in case I saw something worth making a move on. It stayed in the car and not a single thing on all those tables seemed worth making an offer for. The bubba with the $700 Chinese SKS was just the last straw.

I'm a big fan of the Golden Rule. It's such a simple concept to me. If this guy wanted some respect shown to himself and his property, maybe he should have at least had enough respect for others to not attempt to scam them out of their hard earned property. But hiding behind the courtesy of others with a 'do not handle' sign strikes me as akin to hiding behind a dress because you know a dude won't hit a women, and I have very little tolerance for that.

As it was, the dude didn't make much of a scene, and neither did we. He tried to get a little amusement at our behalf, we called him on it and had our fun at his behalf, and left. Strikes me as more than fair.