Interesting discovery about those who pack heat

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brigadier

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I noticed something a little interesting about people who pack heat recently.
This came about when I went in to a pawn shop looking for a good deal on an air compressor. This is not the ghetto, but not the nicest neighborhood either, so it's perfectly understandable that the people in the pawn shops are cautious of everyone new who walks through the door. I have lived in the area for a while but only been in that shop a few times, and mostly just took care of business and left, so they were as cautious of me as they are of everyone else.
That changed the second to last time I was in there. The owner happened to be there and we ended up in a conversation in which I revealed that I was a gun guy, and they seamed to be highly convinced of it when I started bringing up company names that are usually only well known by gun people, like CDNN and Numrich for example.
Then we started talking about CCW stuff where they learned that I am a "heat packing" type. Kinda funny since I was apparently one of the few customers who admitted to them that I am a gun owner. In other words, they no longer wonder if I am armed, they KNOW that I am.
One might think that I would have been kicked out of the store, but you'd be wrong. I walked in to the store once since then and I was kindly greeted as if a highly welcomed customer.
In the process, I had earned their trust and respect, as someone who knows right from wrong and lives accordingly. That's when I realized that I had encountered this situation over and over again in the past.
In a Wal Mart or fast food place, being a gun person can get you some uneasy looks, but among the more conservative private establishments, being a gun person is almost like a trademark of a self-responsible person with a sense of justice and good friend to have.
Bare in mind that we are talking about California. I can only imagine what it must be like in some of the other, more conservative states.
 
I'd guess that he has a carry permit, and that's how he legally packs in CA. The entire state is not like San Francisco and Berkeley, you know.
 
How do you pack legally in CA? Are you a celebrity bodyguard or something?

In many county's in California,particularly in the North,The Sheriff's are on the Conservative side and gaining a carry license is not that difficult.
I'm sure many full time California forum members will agree.I lived in the state for 4 years.
Well,as a fallback,I think they'll agree.:)
 
You can get a CCW in CA. It's just very hard.
If you don't have a CCW, there are still ways to get by with it if you're smart.
One of the easiest is keeping it unloaded and in a locked container that you can get to in a seconds notice, which is doable with wits and practice.
My favorite is a small container with a fixed combo lock, so that I only have to switch one number (with an easy link welded to it and the gun is in your hand (slide drawn) while the other hand is grabbing a loaded magazine from the back pocket and dropping it in the gun, the lock sort of opening in a similar way to a thumb-break holster.
I can pull it off in about a second and a half.
Not perfect in a mugging, but in most other situations, it works, and it's legal.
 
I used to go to a pawn/gun shop in twin cities. I had bought a pistol there and of course they saw my carry permit. After that I was also treated as "family" They put a "buzzer" on door so only a small number of folks in store. I came up (not realizeing it was crowded) and they buzzed me in but did NOT allow others until a group left. I talked to them afterwards. "we know you Larry and know you will help watch things when we are busy"
 
"How do you pack legally in CA? Are you a celebrity bodyguard or something?"

As others have said, not all California is a liberal as SF and LA. CCW permits are issued by county sheriffs, and many of counties outside of the bay area and LA have sheriff's with more common sense than the ones in the "big cities". It's not quite a "shall issue" situation even in the "good" counties, but it's not all that difficult either.

Ron
 
As others have said, not all California is a liberal as SF and LA. CCW permits are issued by county sheriffs, and many of counties outside of the bay area and LA have sheriff's with more common sense than the ones in the "big cities". It's not quite a "shall issue" situation even in the "good" counties, but it's not all that difficult either.

Another surprising thing about CA is that while they are tyrants when it comes to gun ownership and CC, they are actually not that bad when it comes to laws about USING them in self defense.
I knew a guy who lost his gun rights when he fired over 100 rounds at someone who trespassed on his property (land, not house. He lost his gun rights because he happened to have marijuana in his system at the time. They hardly even addressed the fact that he fired over a hundred rounds at them.
In another incident (which oddly never made the news) was an incident I saw on my way home in 2000 where the police were picking up the bodies of 2 men who tried to rob a liquor store and were shot dead by the clerk. The clerk wasn't even arrested.
 
I just bought a yugo SKS that some poor sap had pawned. I love pawn shops
Yep. Pawn shops often have a little different nature here in CA then more Conservative states since allot of them were gun stores who turned in to pawn shops due to the strict local gun laws.
On the other hand, that also means that they tend to know their guns and you are not all that likely to get a steal. In the south and Conservative states, pawn shops are great places to buy highly valuable guns for next to nothing.
I have seen a $2000 rifle at a Florida pawn shop for around $300 before, and this wasn't outstanding.
Even here in CA (just not for guns), pawn shops are great places to take advantage of ignorance.
 
I just bought a yugo SKS that some poor sap had pawned. I love pawn shops

Is that the same company that made the car years ago??

Pawn shops around here tend to have immunity by the PD. A lot of stolen items gets dumped into pawn shops, guns included. If you're robbed or burglarized and you locate the property at the pawn shop and notify the police. Forget it. you won't get it back. ( actually had that happen to a friend of mine). The local paper had an article about the problem and the local police replied they need the pawn shops to help catch criminals. If you purchase a gun from one of the pawn shops and it's later identified as being stolen you loose the gun.
 
Is that the same company that made the car years ago??
lol is this a real question?:) If so, "yugo" is referring to yugoslavia, the place in which the rifle was manufactured. [edit: also the country where the car manufactured]


jokes on me! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugo If im reading correctly it does seem to be the same, seeing as the Zastava is the factory that was producing rifles.(IIRC)
 
I usually get to know the owners and employees of gun stores that I frequent. Some of these stores are small enough that the owner is just about the only employee and when they work, they are the only ones in the store.

Once I was in a store and had been there for a bit. As a matter of fact, I was getting ready to leave. 4 guys walked in, and they looked more like thugs, than your average gun owner. They really didn't look like customers. They were handling the long guns that were in the rack, but when they had them in their hands, they spent more time glancing around than they did examining the firearm in their hands. The owner of the store was a little nervous and saw I had my fanny pack on. I kept my back to a wall and made sure that me and the owner were on opposite sides of the store, to ensure that if these guys tried to rob the place or anything, they would have to split their attention between the two of us. Anyway - I stayed until the guys left. Nothing happened, and the owner thanked me for staying with him.

But then again, if I am at a gun store around lunch time, I often offer to run out and go through a drive-through. I have often 'watched the counter' while the owner hits the head ...

I have seen that by-and-large gun owners and gun-proponants are a good bunch that pretty much support one another.

If I have one complaint to make, it is that when it comes to proposed legislation, gun owners should be more supportive of each other. If the guys that shoot sporting clays, skeet and trap don't support others rights to own AR-15's and big BMG's ... who do they think will support them in the case where they need support. I know it is dangerous to compare us to Austrailia or England, because their gun ownership was never mentioned as a 'right' in their charters or constitutions.

But if we look at the way things happened there ...
After they took the 'evil' semi-autos -
Then it was the evil handguns -
Then it was, "Oh no - we meant 'sniper rifles' too (there goes deer rifles) -
Then it was "Just give us the pump shotguns and you can keep your doubles -
Near the end it was, "OK - everything with smokeless powder, but you can keep your muzzloaders"
Lastly it was, "Give us all the guns - you can use a knife for self defense"

Now they have a growning 'sword and knife culture' and they have (or are looking to) outlaw them too.

Even with Heller - we still all need to stick together and be ever watchful - and support one another.
 
I don't go into pawn shops. They scare me.

the reason I don't bother with pawn shops (around here at least) is that I can almost always find better items, brand new, for the same or less.

The IP brought up some interesting points.

And though I think it's a far stretch to infer that all "gun guys" are moral, responsible, "do the right thing" types... at least you know that someone w/ a CCW has passed a criminal background check.
 
Colinthepilot said:
How do you pack legally in CA? Are you a celebrity bodyguard or something?
It is really quite simple. You call the Sheriff's Department, Licensing Division and set up an appointment for an interview. You bring all the necessary documentation and $158.14. $95 for the California Department of Justice for Live Scan fingerprint processing and records check and $64.14 for the Sheriff's Department for administrative expenses such as photos, document processing, laminating the license, etc. Then you wait. Usually around 3 months. Mine took 4 months. :)
 
When I used my ccw as second ID to pick up an item from a pawn shop a few weeks ago the change in attitude toward me changed completely for the better(they even gave me some free range time!).
 
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