government plant at gun show

[pinkerpv]

Not sure this is the right place for this thread. Move if necessary.

I was at a gun show in Birmingham, AL today and among the vendors was a guy selling baseball type hats with the various military logos, etc. I was standing near his two tables and he approached me and handed me a small American flag sticky, and then initiated conversation. He asked me if I was in the service or retired to which I responded yes, retired, and we began a conversation centered on military rank, experience, and duty stations as is usual when military people meet and talk. It eventually turned to Obama and the state of the country and then he asked me if I was ready to fight back. The UN soldiers on US soil was mentioned. I kinda nodded and acknowledged what he was saying but also mentioned that was something difficult to do and we began talking about other things. He mentioned Homeland Security and the large amount of ammunition purchased. None of these things are unusual for discussion at gun shows. He eventually mentioned he was with some veterans organization and was selling hats to support them. He didn't appear to have any literature on the tables. Just hats. I bought one hat and moved on. The whole time I was talking to him there seemed something odd about the situation.
After I got home and was watching the playoffs and dozing off, my subconscious mind began working I guess and I began to wonder if he was a plant by one of the government organization like BATF, NSA or Home Land Security. Now before you start calling me a nut case, I have seen and talked to BATF agents at gun shows who were very open about their business and even had a booth. And i have heard about BATF agents running stings at shows. The thing that really got me going was when he began talking about Obama and the UN troops and fighting back.
Anyone had any experience with this type of thing at other gun shows. With the NSA spying and Department of Home Land Security concerns about home grown terrorists and especially their definition including retired military, Christians, and gun rights activists, I am concerned.
I know this sounds a paranoid but humor me a little.

 

[BrokenSailor]

When you stop being paranoid, or in this case, questioning yourself you become one of the sheep. Don't worry about whether you are being paranoid, worry about becoming better at observing your area. Walking into a gun show, a restaurant, or a mini-mart at a gas station.

Once the guy mentioned the UN Troop thing, I would have thought he is reading too many conspiracy books. UN take over of the US is a very laughable situation to me. They can't even deliver food without it getting stolen let alone not get killed doing it. Their ROE make them useless.

 

[barnbwt]

Sounds like he's playing on various attendees' unsubstantiated fears, biases, and ignorance to sell hats...Government plant or one of a hundred shysters at a gun show; Ockham's Razor.

What's he gonna report?
"Yeah, three random strangers bragged about how they'd stand tall with me when The Time Came...no, I didn't get any names"

Only a local big-city DA or Bloomberg would pull something that dumb, and only to misrepresent it to justify some baloney they'd do anyway.

TCB

 

[nathan]

Govt or not, gunshows are full of those kinds of people. I just nod and talk just for the sake of conversation. But be wary , have your reservations not to reveal too much of your self. These could be crooks in sheep's clothing....

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I think he had a definite agenda...He chatted you up and sold you a hat. I would guess he was merely a guy peddling hats.

 

[Jim K]

He was probably from some organization and was really selling hats. BATFE does do "stings" at gun shows, but they don't sell hats or care about your opinion of the UN. As for DHS and the like they are more likely to be peddling portraits of Obama with a halo than hats.

Jim

 

[Lost Sheep]

Recruiting for a rogue army? Government sting searching for traitors? Rogue posecutor attempting entrapment? Just a guy selling hats?

All possible, I suppose.

But situational awareness applies to more than just physical dangers to your person. It applies to legal dangers to your rights and freedoms, too.

Lost Sheep

 

[Redlg155]

Dang...I thought they were selling "government plants" at the gun show. I just got a new office and need something to go in the window...

 

[hAkron]

I wouldn't put it past the BATFE to create a revolutionary group, recruit and train members, then arrest them for treason. That seems to be the kind of crime fighting they prefer to do these days, but I think in this case the man you ran into was just a typical frustrated gun show guy.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I have met guys like in the OP who definitely are not with the government. There are people who truly believe that stuff.

If you search carefully, you can find his concerns mentioned by members of this forum.

 

[Plan2Live]

I doubt it was anything nefarious. I was at a local gun show about a year ago and was approached by a guy in baggie pants and sideways baseball cap about a straw purchase. He had a wad of cash and wanted to know my price. I walked away, found a uniformed officer and told him about it then had to spend the next three minutes explaining what a Straw Purchase was as he half-heartedly listened, obviously irritated that I tore him away from hitting on one of the young gal vendors. He did nothing.

At the last show in the same location a friend of mine was manning a table and he told me he was approached by a guy trying to sell a case of bean bag rounds for the grenade launchers marked LEO Only, he declined but saw the guy make the sale a short time later and no one in SWAT gear jumped out to make an arrest.

So I doubt "they" are out there spying on us all that often. Tracking my purchases and Internet activity, well just ask Edward Snowden about that.

 

[Shear_stress]

Sounds like he's playing on various attendees' unsubstantiated fears, biases, and ignorance to sell hats...Government plant or one of a hundred shysters at a gun show; Ockham's Razor.

Exactly. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I've been hearing (it would've been a stretch to say "listening" to) nonsense of the type heard by the OP at gun shows and gun stores for 20 years, and I'm a relative young timer. This kind of pandering does seem to sell guns, though.

 

[22-rimfire]

He must visit the gun forums.

 

[Speedo66]

Maybe Obama's really an operative for the gun industry. He's caused gun and ammo sales like no other.

 

[Al Thompson]

IMHO, looks like this one was asked and answered.