Kids at Gun Shows?

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We all hate the slow guy in the fast lane, but what I hate even more is the fast guy in the slow lane. Gun shows, fairs, rodeos, malls are a slow lane.

This is all about respect and responsibility. If your child is crying you have to deal with it. Change his diaper or feed him, make him stop crying or leave. If the parents don't deal with the crying or misbehaving kid the are not respecting those around them or the child.

Baby strollers are a different game. They are no more inconvenience than a shopping cart. If you are blocking something you move the stroller. If you are blocking an aisle move the stroller. If you can't wait ten seconds for someone to move their stroller at your request, you are the one who lacks respect and were probably that misbehaved brat at the gun show when you were younger.

If you can't handle lines of people or baby strollers, you can pack it up. If the gun show director didn't restrict kids, they have a right to be there stroller, baby and all.
 
This is about respect for others which is non-existant today. Parents are out of control!!! I go to gun shows all the time and I will tell you that children of people who go to gun shows are among some of the best as a whole. Personally I have only wanted to crack a few along the way. [Redacted] in the fast lane, guy with 20 items in the 12 item lane, slow guy in the fast lane, guy playing bumper cars with the shopping car, shopping cart parked in the middle of the aisle, idiot yelling into his cell phone so all can hear, texting or reading while driving, non handicapped guy in handicapped parking, waiting for wife in fire lane to shop, I could go on forever.... It is the times we live in. Its all about me not the other guy. When was the last time you saw a kid open a door for someone? America is a selfish place filled with lazy inconsiderate people wanting everyone else to do something for them. While there are examples of what once made us great they are now the exception not the norm....Russ
 
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Russ,

Gotta stop by eastern Europe some day. You would grow a whole new appreciation for the States. Believe me, I live here (sigh)...
 
Joe if you are going to use a quote please give the author credit.

On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.

Don Mclean

...Russ
 
I personally blame 2 things.

1) Houses being built without front porches, and high fences. Entire neighborhoods where your only interaction with your neighbors, is when you drive out of your garage.

2) The internet removes the deep, primal fear of "if I offend, They will kill, possibly eat me" that face to face interaction brings about.


My 8 year old has finally started asking when she can come to a Show with Grandpa and Myself. I think of it for her more like a more relevant Museum/Petting zoo. ^^
 
You'd better take them to shows and to the range. Or we'll lack the next generation of shooters, and those kids grow up to be politicians, you know.
 
This is hard. If he's old enough to understand, then there's no issue bringing kids. But if he's only 4 or something, all those lights and happy faces on people may confuse him to thinking that they're toys.
 
I took all four of my kids to gun shows. I still take the ones who are handy (teens are hard to keep track of.) I LIKE to take a stroller, I can bulldoze the gawkers and people who just have no consideration for how THEY are blocking the aisle.

"Excuse me." is usually sufficient. Most just smile at the kid. I certainly don't attempt to stop and deal at every table, and the kids know the Gun Show Rules. As said, a lot of adults never learned them.

For those who question the safety of children because of adults carrying sharp, pointed objects, can we list the number who also pull out unchecked firearms for the table vendor to discover are STILL LOADED?

You know who you are, why can't I trust an adult to be careful? After all, it's more likely an adult will get cut or shot than the much smaller number of children at the show.

Let's get real - when I take my kids to the show, I like to point out adults who are screwing up and doing things wrong. It's not hard, and it puts the point to safe handling. I'd love to see a show where it was posted "Safe gun handling procedures are required or immediate expulsion will result. We are looking to make hourly examples." And then do it, run anyone's butt out with a security escort.

You want back in, you have to pay again. Stamp their hand on exit, not as a blanket permit.

Why hasn't that happened? You know why - customers won't spend money if it's a boot camp. Everyone there is soliciting the almighty Dollar, and behavior, bad as it is, can and is tolerated to this very moment. The vendors aren't about to kill the golden goose, even if it craps all over their boots. :neener:

Kids, strollers, the great unwashed, loaded guns, running tweens out of control, whine all you want, it still goes on because of the Money. The same people do the same things walking into the retail store I work at, and it's not getting better. If anything, a continuing loss of courtesy seems to be the trend, because some adults don't want to be inconvenienced to moderate their behavior or speech.

Bluntly, you don't have to like kids and strollers, just don't be a self centered problem child.
 
My Kiddos at the Gun Shows

My kids have gone to gun shows since they were little squirts less than a year old. Sometimes I used a stroller, sometimes they sat on my shoulders. But most times, it was the stroller. It was handy not just for kiddos, but for toting the guns I wanted holsters for, were selling, or what have you.

Strollers also helped with grabby-fingers when they are of an age too young to be able to understand to keep them to themselves.

They are 4 & 5 YO now, and they get the "Gun Store Briefing" before we go in and as needed inside:
"You will obey Daddy or we will leave. You will stay within arm's reach. You will not touch ANYTHING unless I say you can. Yes, you can ask to look at something. If we look at a gun, remember not to point it at ANYONE. You will behave yourselves. If you can't manage this, we will leave. Got it?"*

They do pretty well and usually earn themselves some reward for good behavior at the end.

The few times they have NOT behaved themselves, I have removed them from the AO, just like I do for most public places. Thing is, folks, kids are not 100% dependable. Partly why they are kids. Fatigue, hunger, & other things which make US miserable make THEM miserable, too. Others' delicate sensibilities just might have to hear some squawking, moving off like a train into the distance, as I un-azz the AO, not being able to instantly teleport back the the auto. Believe you me, I know how unpleasant it can be.

My kids generally like going to gun shows. They like looking at all the stuff, from guns to jerky to toys, whatever.

Also, I talk to many, many more folks when my kids are with me at gun shows. Since my kids are relatively well-behaved and have bubbly personalities, folks remark on that and we stop and chat a while. It takes me twice as long to get through a show with kids, but that is mostly because we stop and chat with folks.

Two groups in particular are likely to strike up conversations. First are the vendors, especially the older ladies and gents. Second are the customers that seem to have "Hey, I'm a grandpa," written all over them. They like grandkids, most anybody's grandkids, and appreciate me going to the trouble of taking my kids to the shows and getting them familiarized with firearms, if not planting the seeds of future gun nuttery.

Last, my kids are usually in the top 5%, dress-wise, at the gun show. Usually, we come after church & Sunday School and the kids are in their Sunday Best. They undoubtedly were bathed that morning before church and are generally looking sharp.

Discipline in Public

This is awfully hard to do, nowadays.

Once they get clever, they realize that Mommy & Daddy don't spank when out & about in public...or at least until we get back to the auto. Parents are between the rock of those who say, "Control your obnoxious crotch-fruit," and the hard place of those who call 911 on any spanking or physical correction and report "child abuse."







* A local gun store (Jackson Armory in Dallas, Texas) leaves $10K+ custom rifles & shotguns out on tables in open cases. First time I saw that with my then 3YO boy, I nearly had a coronary. Boy went on my side AWAY from th high-$$$ hardware. He was under control, but I, myself, don't even paw such hardware. BTW, they are Good People at JA.
 
Disipline in public is a flick to the head. If that didn't work .....Which it always does there would be a more intimate punishment when we got home. If I look at my children a certain way the stupid stuff would stop. I learned the look from my Father. He tought me the flick thing also. I love my Dad....Russ
 
Baby strollers are part of the American family. Folks, who got a problem with that, need to climb out of their cave a little more, and meet the Human race.
Click to expand...

Yes, strollers are part of the American family, and I don’t have any problem with well-behaved children, in strollers or not. I do though have a problem with children who are not behaved, and I have an even bigger problem with parents who refuse to see that their children are not well behaved. I have a gigantic problem with folks who believe that their strollers are Mobil feeding and changing stations to be used in the middle of any isle they chose to stop in. And please don’t get me started on the FEW who believe that a stroller is a battering ram. Several years ago I witnessed a very real fight between two soccer mom support systems, (husbands) after one soccer mom continued to use her stroller as a battering ram.
 
Children should be taught how to behave in public and how to behave safely around firearms.
Click to expand...

Of course if you don't take them out they can't learn to behave in public so it's a double edged sword. When I take kids to any social outing I realize that my number one purpose has just moved from having fun for myself to making sure the kids do the right thing. If you can't subjugate your own desires then leave your kids home, but eventually you're doing them a disservice if you don't take them and teach them how to behave in public social situations. It doesn't matter if you're talking about movies, gun shows, or restaurants.
 
Down here in South Florida the shows advertise free admission for kids 12 and under.
 
I have taken mine for years.... It is so nice to hear, "Its ok Dad, Mom won't mind!" He is already learning that it is better to ask forgiveness than permission! LOL
 
If you see a daddy at a gunshow with a stroller, give him a break. He's trying to have fun and take care of his kid, who will be a future gun owner. Be nice, that baby's gonna learn how to shoot some day! :D
 
Its been awhile since I met so many people-hating people in one thread, such as this.
Nobody said anything about abiding the misbehaved kids, and of course someone just had to imply that. So many "me only" types that I'm ashamed for you. Maybe that's another reason why the internet has caught on so well....they don't actually HAVE to physically interact with REAL humans.

One simple fact that we, as 2nd amendment loving folks need to be aware of, is that there is a whole nuther generation of people, who are being taught that guns are evil and that they should be banned. That horror alone should make us all willing to support those, who are trying to change that, in bringing their kids to gunshows. May gunshows ALWAYS be here, and ALWAYS be a family affair.
 
This is very predictible. I have friends in their early to mid 60's, and been single all their life, they don't like kids any place doing anything. I have other friends that are or were married and love kids . So a lot has to do with how you were conditioned as you grew mentally and aged. If you grew up around kids, and have grandkids and such, you love them "for the most part" and if you grew older in more of a reclusive setup. There is a tendency to dislike them, "because you weren't accustomed to them being around". I have 4, grandkids, from 6 months to 8yrs old. They are all from my wifes side, I got married at 50, and up untill then I had a low tolerence for kids. Now it's different they are fun once you get close to them and watch them soak up life. So it's just learned behavior. Now I still find no excuse for lousy parenting, the ones you see ripping all the stuff off the shelves screaming as they go. But thats the idiot parents fault, the kid just does what he sees you do.
 
Kids don't try and recruit for white power groups at gun shows. Kids don't ND at gun shows. Kids don't sell trinkets and crap at gun shows. Kids don't put insane prices on crap guns at gun shows. Kids don't come in 10 strong with their pants around their ankles, underwear showing and try and straw purchase a fo-tay.

But yeah, let's whine because their strollers block the isles...

Wow.
 
Never saw ANY "kid" dealers. I thought we were talking about kids belonging to customers where they had their pants down to their ankles or not.

Maybe I thought wrong, but then again maybe I didn't.

WOW!!!! I think you missed the point of this discussion.
 
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