Poor Gun safety at LGS.

[Plan2Live]

Not uncommon. I was taking some time off and a few hours north of here for a few days. I decided to go into the gunstore/range where I was staying to try out a Sig 226. I brought it back into the store after exiting the range and the clerk (don't know if employee or owner) just set the Sig down on the counter and we chatted about my experinece. We were talking about the sites, he suggested I sight in on a poster across the store so he could explain a concept to me. At first I started to do as told then I stopped, dropped the mag, opended the slide and checked then I leaned the open chamber in his direction and said "verify". I then proceeded with the lesson. I think he got it.

About a week later I was in a big box sporting goods retailer locally, still shopping for a carry gun, and the clerk wanted me to feel the trigger pull on a certain weapon. He dropped in a few snap caps and handed it back to me, I pulled up on the back wall but had to lower the muzle as another employee walked in front of where I was pointing. He did this about twice while I was cycling through the snap caps.

I was at a gun show yesterday and my son and I kept getting swept with a laser. We never did figure out where it was coming from. Hate that, not to meniton the guy in the corner who kept zapping that taser.

 

[Tape]

I've had one "unloaded" gun go off in my lifetime and that was enough for me.

I'm interested if you don't mind telling the story.

 

[KJS]

Well, if gun store guy had shot the wall I think that would have provided a lasting lesson on why to check for a round in the chamber. If you ever wondered why so many guns are lawyer-proofed with magazine disconects, it's for folks like this guy behind the counter.

I've never seen such before, though I'm a mere novice, so give it time and I'll probably see such a thing.

 

[shockwave]

Look, it's very understandable that you wouldn't want to irritate your LGS staff. You're trying to be a good customer, and you're hoping they'll work with you, cut you a good deal because they like you.

Getting tagged as "loudmouth persnickety complaining customer" means that's all out the window.

So you do want to just shrug this off. Let it go.

But what happened here was a violation all The Rules of Safety:

1. Assume the firearm is loaded
2. Point the muzzle in a safe direction
3. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it

That's how an accidental or negligent shooting happens. You can break one rule, maybe two, but when you break all of them, a tragedy can result.

I'll overlook one mistake. But blowing off all the rules? You really can't let that slide. Gotta say something.

 

[Iramo94]

I don't mean to hijack, but I had a similar situation this afternoon at a gun show. I was looking at some of those newfangled tiny pistols, Kel-Tec PF9's in particular, and I asked the person there to let me handle it. She gave me the weapon without looking at it and I immediately ejected the mag and popped the slide open a little. She started yelling at me, not speaking with authority, no, yelling, because she wanted the gun to be sold "new."
After that show, I handed her back the gun, magazine still out, slide all the way back now, and walked to another stall twenty feet away to look at the same gun for $30 less. She'll never get my business again.

 

[rellascout]

There is no law against idiots working in a gun shop....

I would shop somewhere else.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

(he did at least point the muzzle towards the wall).

At least he followed Rule Two.

 

[biologicole]

I once went to a garage sale because there were a couple of guns advertised. As I approached the corner where the guns were on display, a kid about 12 years old sat down a Browning sweet 16 and walked away. I picked it up and, seeing the action closed, I pulled the bolt back to check it. Out popped a live round into the middle of the garage. I looked at the gun again and saw that the safety was off, too. Who knows how many people had handled the gun before I got there that day. The whole thing really scared me and re-inforced the basic rules of gun safety.