That's why you should always clear any gun that you're looking at in a store. You never know what the last idiot did with it.

To the guy who thought I was being ridiculous when I told him to stop muzzleing me at the gun counter at Gander Mountain because "it's obviously not loaded...": bite me.

It always amazes me how people in stores wave around pistols like a toy. I was taught growing up to treat every gun like it is loaded and always point the muzzle away from people even if you know for sure it is unloaded. That's the only way I handle a gun now and it's really not a difficult thing to do.

quote:

---

It always amazes me how people in stores wave around pistols like a toy. I was taught growing up to treat every gun like it is loaded and always point the muzzle away from people even if you know for sure it is unloaded. That's the only way I handle a gun now and it's really not a difficult thing to do.

---

Amen. I won't hunt with people if I know they're careless with guns.

Too many people killed by guns that "weren't loaded."

Guns are always loaded even when they aren't.

I've told this story before:

I was at a gun counter at a gander one afternoon just browsing and talking with the clerk a bit(I was bored and didn't want to be at home...). One of the other customers was looking at a remington(think it was a sendero don't remember) in 300wm. He had effectively swept most of the store with his finger in the trigger guard, and started to hand it back to the clerk. I asked to see it, and he handed me the rifle.

When I racked the bolt(I don't care who cleared what, when it hits my hands I WILL clear the weapon unless I want it loaded), i hear a loud *clank* on the counter, and we all look down to see a VERY live round rolling off the gun counter. At that point a handed the rifle back to the clerk, who had turned a lovely shade of OD green. I thought the guy who initially had the gun was going to pass out. Their manager told me they had problems during the rush with people loading guns as a "joke" when clerks aren't looking.... Told him I did not find it funny, and they might want to teach the clerks to actually clear guns before a customer hit a kid with an accidental shot being a ******.

I'm really fuggin lost here. How in the ***** does a live round end up in the chamber of a weapon at a place like this?


I always clear it handling and I always end up having to point it at the ceiling to avoid sweeping someone, but good god.

Conspiracy alert: could be a tactic of anti's to load store guns in the hopes of creating an exploitable accident?

It's possible.


I think the far more likely scenario is a teenager that needed their ass beat more often as a kid is trying to be "funny". Remember this is the generation that gave us swatting as a practical joke.

I watch them clear the gun every time.


And I still do it myself. Never had any weird looks. Wouldn't care if I did.

quote:

---

Clerk at cabelas in Waco handed me a 1911 I asked for. When I cleared it he looked at me like I was an idiot.

---

I've had the opposite experience the few times I've looked at guns at that Cabela's. Each time, the employee clears the gun before handing it to me and I didn't get any strange looks repeating the process.

quote:

---

I've told this story before:

I was at a gun counter at a gander one afternoon just browsing and talking with the clerk a bit(I was bored and didn't want to be at home...). One of the other customers was looking at a remington(think it was a sendero don't remember) in 300wm. He had effectively swept most of the store with his finger in the trigger guard, and started to hand it back to the clerk. I asked to see it, and he handed me the rifle.

When I racked the bolt(I don't care who cleared what, when it hits my hands I WILL clear the weapon unless I want it loaded), i hear a loud *clank* on the counter, and we all look down to see a VERY live round rolling off the gun counter. At that point a handed the rifle back to the clerk, who had turned a lovely shade of OD green. I thought the guy who initially had the gun was going to pass out. Their manager told me they had problems during the rush with people loading guns as a "joke" when clerks aren't looking.... Told him I did not find it funny, and they might want to teach the clerks to actually clear guns before a customer hit a kid with an accidental shot being a ******.

---

That literally makes my stomach turn

I'm in that Cabelas on a regular basis as well, and have been at that gun counter 6-8 times in the last several months. In fact, I walked away from it one busy Saturday last December because of all the muzzles sweeping in all different directions.

I'll be curious to see if they make any noticeable changes as to how they operate the gun counter as a result of this incident.

Another thought: This strongly reinforces why you should highly discount the "advice" you get from most of those folks behind the counter in an Academy/Bass Pro/Cabelas type store.

Well it was in Louisiana.

I can't stand to be at the gun counter in cabelas, not because of the muzzle sweeping (although it is rediculous), but because of the idiot conversations coming from both sides of the counter.

I swear some of the conversations sound like they each side is trying to one-up the level of idiocy on the opposite side.


"I mean, the laser sight is a real laser. You can use it to blind the attacker."

"Oh for sure, you just have to rack this shotgun and the noise alone should do the trick."

"Now this one is stainless. You don't have to clean or oil it as much."

It. Never. Ends.

The idea that a customer could load a weapon without the clerk noticing at any point is scary enough in and of itself. Let alone that the weapon is not being cleared every time it changes hands!