Guns and the stupid people who get to carry them. - Mon, Feb 18, 2008

So I’m walking around in my local gunstore looking at revolvers, and while I’m browsing the tons of overpriced Taurus’ I overhear a conversation between a store employee and a potential gun buyer.

This guy was either a cop or some sort of security guard.  He was obviously looking for something to carry concealed (since I doubt you’d strap a 3″ subnose revolver or Kimber 1911 to your hip).  He had not one clue about guns.  He was asking the most rudamentry and stupid questions (what caliber should I get, why does the 1911 have to be cocked and locked, SA vs DA triggers, etc).  Here is a guy who knows nothing about handguns who (unlike myself) has a license to carry a concealed weapon. 

Now am I the only one who find something wrong with that?  You have me who has been shooting handguns/rifles for a good part of 20+ years, handloads his own ammo, has more guns that you can shake a stick at, can recite the ballistics and reloading data of all of the major rifle/handgun calibers, and the wonderful city of Stockton denies my CCW permit even though I’ve been held up at gunpoint twice while at work.  Lets just ignore the fact that I have a doctorate, am educated, and have access to more narcotics than a Grateful Dead concert.

The some dipshit rent-a-cop gets a CCW who knows nothing about handguns, can barely tell the difference between a 1911 and a sig, and has the gall to completely blow me off when I tell him from a non-salesman standpoint that he is going to need a nice Galco leather IWB holster to make that subcompact Kimber comfortable to carry 9+ hours a day.  Hell, If I were looking for a new gun, and someone said “You know, I have that, and to get the most out of it you’ll need *real world advice here*” I would be fucking grateful and ask HIM questions, not the salesman.

I mean hell, what do I know, I’m obviously not some Rent-A-Cop who is looking for an automatic in 38 special (*sigh*).  I almost left when he asked how many bullets the clip held (A ‘clip’ refers to a M1-Garand en-bloc clip or a moonclip.  He wanted to know how many rounds the magazine held.  Bullets are the part that shoot out of the gun, a round is the unfired bullet + casing + powder).

I left at the part where he is arguing with the guy who works there about not needing moon-clips for a revolver chambered in 45-ACP (for those at home, 45ACP is rimless, and revolvers need a rim for proper headspacing, so a moonclip puts an artificial ‘rim’ on a rimless auto cartridge).  I could tell the salesman was starting to get annoyed, and an off-duty cop in there decided to set him straight and just told him what he needs for a backup gun.

I mean really, If you are going to have a CCW don’t be a dick to those who know more than you do.