Another "Silly Things You Hear In Gunshops" Thread

Back when I worked for Walmart in the sporting goods department I had a guy ask me if the non-immigrant alien question on the 4473 meant "like E.T. in that movie." He ended up having to get a family member to fill the paperwork out for him along with some cosigning witnesses, because he had messed up so many times. He couldn't even spell Tennessee correctly. I'm all for gun rights, but some people are too stupid to own them. In the year or so that I worked there I sold guns to at least 10 people that I would not hunt in the same woods with.

I also once had a guy tell me that 357 Sig stood for "357 Signature" and that it would work just fine in a 357 Magnum. The guy that told me that was another employee working in sporting goods.
 
jaytothekizzay said:
The same salesman also told the same customer that a Glock17 is a better carry gun than the 19, because it has a longer site radius, and higher capacity
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You can argue about what constitutes a better carry gun, but there's nothing false in what he said...
 
That's two of the reasons why I conceal carry a Glock 17. Plus the longer barrel pushes the butt into my waist better.
 
I just want to say that I love this thread!

I was in Gander Mountain last night picking up a Marlin 795, when a gangster looking guy came in and asked the guy if they had a gold plated .50 Desert Eagle, they said they could order one, and when they showed him the price, him and his lady walked away. Also while I was there, another kid and his girl friend were looking at AR's. They were looking at a Carbon 15 I think, because he made some comment about Michigan being to cold for that gun, because of the cold and the shock of the fired round would shatter the receivers. I just shook my head.
 
ust tonight I was down at Cabellas to put a deposit on a Star 9mm and this sniper was waxing about his prowness shooting at 500 yards at the local outdoor shooting range that I know for a fact only has a 100 yard rifle course.
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Yes, but if you shoot a five rounds that adds up to 500 yards. Dooh. :eek: :D :)
 
Wow, are there that many stupid gun owners?
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Never underestimate the bounds of human ignorance and stupidity

If you want to experience it first-hand, work a job where you deal with the general public
 
Sweden, for the seventh year in a row, was ranked ahead of the United States in English proficiency. Yes, ignorance, about guns and in general, is an epidemic in this country.
 
Not so silly but by far the oddest.
Back in the 80’s I was working in a gun store and an elderly man started coming in on Saturdays. We would get to talking about WW2 and him being a combat officer and in Europe was very interesting to talk to.
After several weeks he walked into the store and seeing no one else was there he walked up to the owner and I and asked if we would be interested in buying some guns.
“Sure.”
He walked out and brought this old green canvas bag in, set it on the counter and unzipped the old crusty zipper.
In the case was the following.
1. MP40
2. Rising
3. French MAS-38 with the stock missing.
Everything was in excellent condition but never registered in 68. We explained that we couldn’t buy them and couldn’t even help him in any way.
I always wondered what ever happened to them, he never returned to the store.
 
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I was in a local GS last year and looking at something,,, two guys walk into the store, one of them had a Glock (don’t remember the G number) dangling from his little finger.
He walked up to the counter and several times swept the entire store. The salesman I was talking to didn’t see him so I told him what he had done.
His eyes got as big as saucers, he walked over and he placed his hand on his own gun and in a very nice voice said “Sir no unholstered or uncased guns in the store.”
“Don’t worry man, it ant loaded.”
“May I see it?”
“Sure.” And he placed it on the counter, it had a magazine inserted.
He salesman dropped a full magazine out of the gun.
When he racked the slide to an empty chamber the guy said “See I told you it wasn’t loaded.”
He dumped all the rounds out of the mag and handed everything back less the rounds and told him to leave the store and never come back.
 
I always wondered what ever happened to them, he never returned to the store.
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I've had that happen a few times. I have an attorney who will handle the handoff to the ATF in his office, and I refer those people to him. It's their choice as to whether they want to do that, but it's really their only legal option.
 
While shopping at a lgs one day, I asked a customer making a transaction:

Me:"So, what are you getting?"

Customer:"Trading a 308 for a 270. Don't know why I bought the 308. Ain't like I'm gonna take any 1500 yard shots. 270's a better woods gun."

Me:"well, hope you enjoy it"
 
Was in GM last year helping a friend pick out a Mosin-Nagant.
Young kid walks up and asks if he can help us.
“Yes, can you bring out some M91’s that we can look at?”
“We don’t have any of those.” They had them on sale.
“Ok, how about a Mosin Nagant?”
“We don’t have any of those ether.”
“Ok how about the Russian rifle you have setting behind you?
“Oh, those, sure.” And hands me one.
“I would like to look at 4 or 5.”
“Why? They are all the same.”
I finally got him to bring me several out and the first thing I did was to remove the bolt so I could look down the barrel.
“I’m sorry sir you can’t dissemble our guns.”
I put the bolt back in and pulled out my barrel light with the curved plastic rod.
“Wow, that’s neat, did you make that.”
Picked one out and started the paper work.
IF that wasn’t bad enough so far we got the paperwork done and he called it in. Everything completed.
He then had to get the manager to check everything. Now this was after calling in for the back ground check.
The first thing out of the managers mouth “You wrote the serial number down wrong!”
We were in the store another hour getting that fixed, by the manager.
 
About ten years ago I did go to a lot of gun shows . I seen the same venders at most gun shows and found the good one,s and bad .

At one show a vender I had seen a number of times had a bunch of AR-SP1 Rifles .
The price was very good and I like the old SP1 so I start looking for a clean one . The vendor tells me they are all nice and he got them as police trade in from a small town . All the Rifles were full auto and he was not class-three . The rifles went under the table fast .
 
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I worked at a Sporting goods store years ago and as pointed out, ran into ignorant folks and some with malice in their hearts. I could point out the bullet holes in the front of the counter and the ceiling to prove my point.

We had the used long guns in a rack that was customer accessible. Someone – we never did find out who, this was before security camera's, would put a live round in random guns. When some other unsuspecting Ninny picked up the gun and pulled the trigger without checking – BANG. We ended up having to reorganize the area and hand the guns to customers.

Ignorant folks; note that I said Ignorant – not Stupid. They simply had bad / misinformation. This happens on all sorts of products. What WE should do is have seminars at gun shows & gun shops to TEACH the truth about firearms & ammo. This is not new (hunter safety- Issac Walton safety – Youtube has a bunch of safety videos.) but we are obviously missing a lot of folks.

In this internet age, information is so easy to get, we need to push people in the right direction. Of course You Can't fix Stupid, but we should help the others.
 
When I was the gun room manager at Sportsman's Warehouse, we sold a Walther G22 to a customer who came back the next day complaining it didn't work.
Me: Ok, explain what the problem is.
Him: When I pull the trigger, it shoots once, then I have to pull the trigger again.
Me: Ok... and it doesn't shoot the second time...?
Him: No, it shoots the second time, but I have to pull the trigger every time and it only shoots one round.
Me: Ok... that sounds like exactly what it's supposed to do... maybe I'm not understanding what the problem is...
Him: When I bought it from... that guy over there yesterday, he said it was a .22 automatic.
Me: <Light finally goes on>

I had another guy buy a rifle, shoot it for a few days, then bring it in to have it bore sighted. He said he was getting great groups with it, but "I think if I get it bore sighted, I can get even smaller groups."
I never did ask him just what bore sighting meant to him.

And it's absolutely amazing how many people think a bullet rises after leaving the muzzle.
 
Sometimes I wonder if a gun shop could have informal 45 minute 'gun talk' lectures. Maybe 30 minutes info and 15 minute question and answer. Or maybe the other way around.

The gun shop could hawk the heck out of whatever they were trying to sell that week but could also put out some genuine firearm facts too.

Maybe they could take the biggest blowhard that wastes the staff's time and let him do one of the lectures. (Okay, that probably wouldn't work 'cause of liability issues but it's fun to think about.)

Our Best Buy electronics store did something similar for Windows 8.

Just reading through THIS thread would give a gun shop enough 'ammunition' to do about three sessions.
 
DaleA said:
Sometimes I wonder if a gun shop could have informal 45 minute 'gun talk' lectures. Maybe 30 minutes info and 15 minute question and answer. Or maybe the other way around.
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The NRA has a couple of programs that do basically that. Not "Basic Pistol," but there's "Home Firearm Safety," and there's "First Steps." Both are very basic, and geared toward safety and familiarization.

The range where I shoot recently adopted a new rule that anyone who wants to shoot MUST either have a carry permit (for which our state requires the NRA Basic Pistol class) or proof of some other acceptable firearms safety training. For people who have no training, the range offers (by appointment) a 1-hour introductory safety class. It's taught by NRA instructors, but it's not (and doesn't claim to be) an NRA course.
 
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