What do you do when this happens at a gun store?

[CAPTAIN MIKE]

Absolutely the Right Thing

You did well. Probably wouldn't have hurt to give the counter-girl a short but polite lesson in safe handling of firearms, but none the less, you did the right thing.

 

[Double Maduro]

Had pretty much the same thing happen around the holidays, came home and called the department manager. He apologized and said it was a new salesperson and he would take care of it.

You done good.

DM

 

[Andrew Rothman]

I would have made a stink to the girl loudly enough that the manager would have come running.

There is no -- NO -- excuse for that kind of safety violation at a gun store, and it ought to be dealt with as firmly as possible.

This was not a breach of etiquette, it was a very serious safety violation that could have cost you your life. All guns are always loaded, remember?

I would have probably chewed the manager out pretty good for having a salesperson with access to guns that either had no training (management's fault) or decided to ignore it (employee's fault).

In any case, the manager NEEDS to know that this is going on.

And if the manager doesn't seem as horrified as I am, then I ain't goin' back.

 

[BluesBear]

Points To Ponder

After all of the flailing of arms, gnashing of teeth and sanctimonious verbal pontification has subsided I believe that you will realize that you have done absolutely nothing but harm our cause.

While I agree that the employee NEEDS to know what she did wrong there is a right way and a wrong way to TEACH her this.

Do you really want to be the one responsible for her disdain of gun owners?
Do you really want to be the one she thinks of when she looks at a gun or another customer?
Or would you rather be thoiught of as the nice, learned person who HELPED her?

How do you know what the manager did or did not tell her to do? It is quite possible he por she DID attempt to teach this girl proper handling. But as we should all know, sometimes the excitement of having a new job can cause you to "forget" things. If she had be properly instructed, (and the key word here is properly, since most stores today give the bare minimum of training) then I for one, would rather be thought of as the customer who was understanding enough to help her remember. Perhaps she will then be calmer the next time and get it right.

However if you are the one who shouts, belittles and generally embarasses her, (and you could quite possibly cost her her job) the next time she has a customer she might be even more nervous and could schmuck up even more.

After talking with her to make sure she understood how serious this is i would then make a decision of whether to talk to the manager or not. If I thought that she had either not been properly trained or had mearly forgotten in her enthusiasm, I might not say anything negative to the manager.

If, however, she has an "I don't know and i don't really care, you can't tell me anything, I'm only here for the paycheck attitude." THEN I would ask for the manager and explain it all politely with both of them present.

After all it's much much better to make friends in the firearms community that to alieniate someone.

After all, the day may come when you want a btter deal on something in that store.
And who do you think will get that better deal? The nice guy who is always ready to share their knowledge or the guy who rants, raves and appears to be a jerk?


Just something to think about.

I already know which person I am.

 

[crt360]

she just reaches in the case and pulls the gun out, muzzle first towards me, finger on the trigger

I would have slowly put both hands in the air and done what she told me, especially if she was cute.

 

[Pylon]

This story reminds me of the time i was in a gun store and asked to see a revolver. The guy behind the counter gladly picked it up, opened the cylinder to spin it and slapped it back into position. That just made me cringe and wonder about how many other revolvers he has done that too and if the timings were all off. I promptly thanked him for showing me the gun and left.

I wish people that worked in gun stores had little more background training on guns.

 

[Fumbler]

There have been many good responses.

If it were me I would have taken the gun and [kindly] asked if anyone had ever shown her how to hand someone a gun.
I'd explain to her how to do it then show her what she is supposed to do as I handed it back to her.
As I leave I'd inform the manager/shop owner that he needs to make sure his employees know how to handle guns or they shouldn't be handling them at all.

There's no need to go off the deep end in a situation like this.
Not everyone can hhire the best help and many many many people are simply ignorant.
It's not completely their fault, that's just the way it is.
Don't get upset, just correct them.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

Again, I wouldn't get upset: I'd get LOUD.

I am SICK of hearing people talk about negligent discharges as if they are inevitable. They are not!

I mean, would you say, "There are only two kinds of pilots: those that have crashed, and those that will"? Insane.

If you're not prepared to take as much care with a deadly weapon as you would with a flying machine, you shouldn't touch `em.

Like the sign says, "Safety is no accident."

I am not concerned about hurting feelings. The message must be clear and unequivocal: What the H-E-double-toothpicks are you doing handling a gun unsafely?

It might not be the manager's fault. It might be. Either way, they're gonna have to do things differently there, and I mean now.

If the manager is not as horrified as I am at his employee's "mistake," I want his feelings to get hurt.

If fewer gun owners treated the rules as optional, there'd be fewer stupid-ass accidents with guns "going off" and we as a group would be -- and would thus be seen as -- more responsible.

 

[torpid]

Well, if she was sloppy enough to have her finger on the trigger and the muzzle pointed at you, it really wouldn't be reaching to assume she didn't ever check/clear the gun, and it might actually be loaded.

 

[Joe Demko]

Good thing it wasn't me

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would've naturally thrown myself out of her line of fire, drawn my Deagle and double-tapped her COM....Just ask my younger son...He and his buddies had one kid's BB pistol...He was coming down the stairs, I was walking towards him, and he pointed the gun at me. Unhappily for him, I couldn't catch myself before I lit him up...Long before this, he and his brother had been made to learn to recite the 4 rules...But his excuse was "its only a BB gun, and its unloaded"...Well, you see what that got him.

So, had it been me, I'd probably be in jail on manslaughter charges.

 

[ajkurp]

Spot On! BluesBear

No need to make a fuss, just gently educate the young lady, if she will permit it.

In my job I stand on her side of the counter. Ninety percent of the people that I hand firearms to are a joy to serve. The other ten percent have raised my hackles by doing stupid things like:
Seeing how fast and how many times a shotgun slide will rack in 10 seconds;
Not a care in the world, pulling the trigger through a DA revolver while it is pointed at my belly;
And the ones that bring guns with a round in the chamber.

So far, I haven't reached across and beech slapped anyone. lol.

So extending courtesy to a new person to our shooter ranks will pay off in the long run as that person matures in the firearms field. No matter which side of the counter they stand.

 

[DarkKnight01]

IMO its more the managers fault than it is the employee, The manager should have saw to it that she was properly trained, then observed her while dealing with customers to make sure she properly handled the weapon. Personally I wouldnt say much of anything besides, "dont point that weapon at me" and left the store never to return, theres plenty of other stores to shop at that dont point guns at me =)

 

[pete f]

I have had this happen to me more than once... Once it was the store owner and I made sure I let him know why I was never coming back.

Another time it was at Gander mountain and I gave the kid behind the counter a ten minute lesson on how to look educated with a gun. I also called his boss and told him about the incident, but included that sales kid took all my corrections with a good attitude. I wanted the kid to get reinforced not reamed.

The last time it happened was with a shotgun on the counter as it was being written up, the clerk repeatedly picked it up pointing the muzzle directly at me as he tried to read the serial number off of the receiver. The first time I stepped back and obviously ducked to avoid being covered, the second time I slapped the barrel hard with my hand nearly knocking it out of his hands. As the gun was a higher end Citori, the clerk was a little annoyed at me and so was the customer who knew nothing except the gun was pretty, and the clerk said please do not touch the gun in an indignant voice. I responded by saying "if you point it at me one more time I will shove it up your a$$." The manager heard the last comment and came running, told the employee to take his break now, and appologised to me and the customer buying the shotgun and then said he would make sure that never happened again. I thanked him and said any other answer would have lost him a good customer. Funny thing was the whole time this was happening, directly behind the counter was Cooper's four rules.