CCW at grocery store (Story, kind of funny)

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bsctov

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I was recently shopping at a store I go to sometimes that is not posted as anti-gun. Carrying a Glock 19 in a cheapo shoulder holster, wearing a North Face jacket over it all. When I walked into the meat department, I noticed an older lady glaring straight at me. I guess she must have saw my weapon printing through the jacket because of the way I was standing in front of the cooler sort of twisted around.

So I pick one that I like and start to move away, when I hear "Hey, you"

Naturally, I turn around and see her pointing her finger at me, saying "Is that a gun??"

I was stunned to hear those words from her for some reason, but after a few seconds of silence, I replied "Insulin pump", and this defused the look on her face and she continued shopping.


:uhoh:
 
I guess to avoid being called a liar you need to take a sharpie pen and write "insulin" on each of the cartridges!
 
I may have told her its rude to call people "hey you", its rude to point, and yet even more rude to ask people about what is going on inside of their clothing.
 
That is a very unusual situation. As far as I can tell (yeas on forums, know shooters, know carriers, been carrying daily over a decade, etc), it is extraordinarily rare for anybody to ask that question. Seriously, the only time people have asked me that is when I was openly carrying (yes, they ask, sometimes ask if it's 'real' lol).

It's even more unusual to do it in what, as you tell it, comes off as a very vocal, public, rather rude manner.

Personally I would say yes, it is, or maybe 'of course'. But that's just me lol
 
I got asked that once (without the "hey you") when I was open-carrying. My response was simply "Hmm. Never noticed that before" and I continued shopping.

You should tell them it's a colostomy bag that's prone to leakage. They'll keep their distance after that. :what:

Matt
 
morcey2 said:
I got asked that once (without the "hey you") when I was open-carrying. My response was simply "Hmm. Never noticed that before" and I continued shopping.

You should tell them it's a colostomy bag that's prone to leakage. They'll keep their distance after that. :what:

Matt
Click to expand...
That's pretty much guaranteed! :what:
 
The only time i found myself being asked that question it was by a waitress at the local Huddle House. I have known this woman probably 18 years & been carrying for the last 9 years. We came really close to dating before I met my wife but I backed off for my own reasons. About a year ago I stopped in one morning on my way home from work & when I was leaving she unexpectedly walked up & hugged my from my left side with her hand falling right on top of where my pistol was under my untucked/unsnapped western work shirt. She said, "Is that your gun?" I replied, "Yep." She acted a little embarassed that she had blurted it out but hasn't brought it up again.
 
I like the way the OP responded; maybe next time with "It's a life saving device."

Had something similar to what Mike J described happen to me:

Friend at Church shook my had and dropped his left down to my right hip. Ended up at the same restaurant later for dinner and he asked me something like "Did I put my hand on your gun?"

I pulled my jacket back on my left side and showed him my Leatherman...he was none the wiser.

Sam
 
This could have ended badly. What if she dialed 911 without your knowledge. Cops show up and commence the hassle. My advice is to make sure it's concealed. Private functions with all the hugging and bumping into others is a whole different story. Glad this one ended well. Some uppity types may have lost their minds at the sight of a gun being partially concealed. Stay safe brothers.
 
I walked into a store the other day . I just got back from doing some shooting out in the woods. I had taken my Colt SAA out of my holster because I didnt want it digging into my hip when I was driving. Forgot I had the holster on. This is a cowboy style SA holster with the bullet loops etc. I got a few funny looks in the store. When I went uo to the counter the clerk said. "Its OK. You can carry with a permit concealed or open carry without" . I was thinking there is one well informed clerk.

I don't care if I print or if the gun is half hanging out. Not one bit.
 
Warp said:
That is a very unusual situation. As far as I can tell (yeas on forums, know shooters, know carriers, been carrying daily over a decade, etc), it is extraordinarily rare for anybody to ask that question. Seriously, the only time people have asked me that is when I was openly carrying (yes, they ask, sometimes ask if it's 'real' lol).

It's even more unusual to do it in what, as you tell it, comes off as a very vocal, public, rather rude manner.

Personally I would say yes, it is, or maybe 'of course'. But that's just me lol
Click to expand...
Well, I am in Northern Ohio after all, where pretty much everyone is vocal, rude and nosy lol. My heart rate definitely increased after I rattled off the bogus explanation, it was sort of impulsive, I was just trying to think of anything to say other than "yes"
 
Here in Texas everyone has a gun thus few pay any mind to 'em.

Cops in the newspapers said do NOT call them if all you see is someone packing a gun.

Deaf
 
I guess it just sort of depends on where you are and how liberal the locals are.

One time I was in the checkout line at a supermarket.

I turned to my right, and picked up a case of water bottles, and then twisted to my left and reached out to set it on the conveyor belt at the register.

POP! I felt my tee shirt flip up over the top of my pistol, and now the lady standing in line behind me has a bird's eye view of my cocked-and-locked stainless 1911.

I freaked, not knowing what to expect next.

I quickly grabbed my shirt and covered it back up, and said "Sorry about that... It's supposed to stay covered."

This woman (Cool as a cucumber) says:

"What? You think you are the only one here that has one of those?"

Then she calmly went back to reading the National Enquirer she had in her hand like nothing had happened.

I guess she didn't see me as being anything other than just another shopper.

It's a shame it's not like that everywhere.
 
In the past few years I have seen an increase of folks open carrying in retail and grocery stores. I make every effort possible to make sure mine is properly concealed and have never been made that I know of. Most folks up this way are conservative and nobody says anything when someone else is open carrying.
 
When my daughter was about two years old, I took her to one of her swim lessons one weekend. At that age, a parent has to be in the water with her. My routine was usually to doff my shirt and shoes at the poolside bench, then take her and myself into the changing room to finish getting into swim wear. I would leave my firearm in my truck.

This particular day, I'd forgotten to remove the holstered gun. Off went the shirt, up on my hip went the child, and off we trotted to the changing room. Suddenly I realized my gun was still on my belt, and there were several people, mostly senior citizens who also used the pools at the facility, in the area. I quickly shifted my daughter to use her to cover the gun, returned to the bench to grab my shirt, and finished covering it with that. Once in the changing room, the gun went into the pocket of my pants.

Never heard a word. In all likelihood, I was simply taken for an off-duty cop (I do get taken for one in other situations fairly often.)
 
Hmmm...I'd never really given much thought to how to handle people who come right out and ask such a question. Better than half the battle in any encounter is having thought about such things beforehand and consider some appropriate responses.

I did have someone ask me if I had a permit when he saw me open carrying, back when I was still an Indiana resident. (Open carry is legal with a permit in Indiana.) I said "Yep. Wanna see it?" He said "Nope". End of story.


Someone like that lady? I could see quite a variety of responses, ranging from a simple "Yep" to some pretty creative/sarcastic responses.

"It's a tumor. I go in for surgery and biopsy next week. Hopefully it won't be malignant and I'll live to see my daughter's next birthday."

"It's lymphatic filariasis. caused by filarial worms that are transmitted by mosquito bite. I'm undergoing treatment now." (Elephantitus)

"Yes. Is that a bra holster?"

Cup an ear and loudly say "WHAT?!?" (Play hard of hearing...which isn't too much of a stretch for me, actually.) Then keep up the hard of hearing charade as long as I can to see how loudly I can get her to yell. Hopefully, this will have the effect of her realizing she's making a fool of herself in a very public way.

On the "hard of hearing" theme, deliberately twist her words around. "Do I want to have fun? No lady, I'm a happily married man!" "Run? Run where?" "Rum? I think that's in aisle 13."


And the real cool response, since she's pointing a finger at me, treat her like the zero tolerance schools do for kids who get expelled for "finger guns" and act scared that she's pointing a loaded finger at me...
 
We all have to handle being made in our own way that we are comfortable with. I endeavor to conceal my gun for exactly this type of situation. I just don't want to deal with people in general.

All that being said
Warp said:
Personally I would say yes, it is, or maybe 'of course'. But that's just me lol
Click to expand...

I agree with Warp 100%. If someone asked me straight out if I was carrying, I would confirm it, as I am not doing anything illegal. If they want to be rude about it, I'd probably call them out on that too if they decided to be confrontational, but would force myself to do so in a calm way. I think personal encounters with calm law abiding CW carriers are a good way to demonstrate that most gun owners are perfectly civil, and if an antigunner wants to make a rhubarb about it, they will only make themselves look foolish.

I may even respond "Yes it is a gun. It's model xxx. What kind of gun are you carrying?"

If you really want to embarrass them, tell em it's a *****, and see what color their face turns. :);)
 
I take great pains at concealment IWB And G42 in warm weather G26 on cooler days . In line at checkout older gent in a wheelchair signals wife something fell out of the cart so I squat to pick it up , the older guy gets an eyeful of pistol grip when my fleece vest rode up ... Mind you I carry deep so he didn't see much but apparently enough . Wife says to me there were four others behind me but they kinda made a discreet exodus to the next line ... Including wheelchair guy , Bwahaa ! Anway , my default if someone were to ask is " why were you looking at my butt " ? ;)
 
Probably moved there from IL. People here are really skittish about firearms because carry wasn't allowed for so long. Accordingly, most people don't think about it unless confronted with it.
 
We've had open carry out here for over 100 years, so when out of staters ask "is that a REAL gun?" to most people they just get a polite nod and "Yes, ma'am." Happened to me back in the day before CCW. Since we made the big scene over Constitutional Carry back in 2010, it's a pretty rare AZ cop who doesn't know the law on carrying firearms.
I got more stupid comments when I was working armored trucking - "I KNOW you aren't allowed to carry real bullets! I know it!" "My brother the FBI agent told me you can't carry real bullets, those guns are just for show!" "Got any free samples?"
Smile, shake head, walk away, gun hand free.
 
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