Interesting talk with gun shop owner

[all4fun257]

I went to a gun shop last week called “Hake’s Sporting Goods”. It’s located in York right along the river. I had a real interesting conversation with the owner. I was with a friend of mine who is new to the carry community, so he’s is asking a lot of questions.

The first question He asked was “Is open carry legal?”
Owner said “well yes but I wouldn’t walk down Main Street with a gun on your hip”
I interrupted “Why? I do all the time”
Owner says “Well you must be lucky.”
I said “No, I open carry all the time all over the place, from gas stations to banks.”
He said “You aren’t right now.”
I said “Its cold but when I don’t wear a jacket my gun stays right here in the open” as I patted my right hip.
He said “Well if I seen someone walking down the street with a gun on their hip I’d call the police.”
I said “that’s a shame” and turned around

Then he goes to say how the police can hold you for 30 days on suspicion because you might have been on your way to commit a crime. I tried to explain that would never happen and if it did, the arresting officer would be charged with official oppression. But he obviously already knew everything. Well then somehow the subject changed and it went something like this.

Owner said “you know right now your committing a felony right now?”
“How’s that?” I said with a little chuckle
He said “We are federally licensed and you can’t carry a loaded gun in a federally licensed building, just like bars.”
I said “Then why does Gander Mountain have a sign that reads ‘all firearms must be unloaded and checked in. This does not apply to ccw holders’?”
He said “Well a friend of mine was in a bar and a fight broke out and he had nothing to do with it but when the police came they frisked everyone in the bar, found his gun and he can’t buy a gun still to this day”.
I said “there is more to that story”

At this point I was sick of talking to him so said goodbye, gave him a list of websites, and suggested that he should educate himself a little better on laws around the products he sells.

This really made me mad because my friend was there who is new to carrying, hearing all this false information. And who knows how many other people he misinformed. Needless to say I left without buying anything and I won’t be patronizing that place anymore.

I’d like to here everyone's thoughts on this.
If anyone knows about this no guns in federally licensed buildings, please leave your input. Because if this is true I’ve been a bad bad boy, many many times.

[Thekatar]

Well, most gun shop owners/employees have absolutely no idea what they are talking about; same goes for gunshow vendors. More old wive's tales and stupidity has been spread by them than any other single source.

It is against the law to carry in a U.S. Post Office or Courthouse. Well, the Post Office one is hotly contested in theory but none of the uber-patriots has yet to man up and test it.

[rady8um]

And the STUPID TRAIN just keeps on chugging along........

[Warners Surplus]

Well I hate to be the one to say it and I'm sure I'll piss off a few people in doing so BUT.


Things like the above are one of the biggest reasons WHY I opened a gunshop. I tell people all the time I am a gun guy FIRST and a gun dealer SECOND in the end that may or may not be my down fall. But I too got tired of the misinformation supplied to me by nothing more than an armchair commando with an FFL and a chip on his shoulder!

One thing I took note of in the YEARS I bought guns personaly was that way too many gun store owners are in the business for one of 2 reasons. (NOT ALL but way too many!)

the ones I'm talking about are the ones that are in business either because they like guns and look at it as a nice coosh job with no manual labor or they needed to set up thier own business because they kept getting fired for the inability to show up for work on time. They are the owners that sit behind a desk and laugh thier asses off when they fart and clear the store or they are stuffing that 3 foot long Subway hoagie in thier mouths and when you ask where something is they point without missing a bite or getting up for fear the dog will eat thier sandwich. The same kind of owner that preaches to you about the quality of a $2000. firearm and after buying it you find out it won't even go bang when you pull the trigger. SORRY guys I'm having flashbacks here

So if the above is true then WHY would you expect them to take the needed time to actually learn about the product they sell or the laws that need to be followed by owners of the product they sell?

EVERYTHING the guy told you is bullshit! He sounds like a guy that is on a know it all power trip just because he has an FFL. You gave him a list of websites that quite frankly he will never bother to read because to him, YOU are wrong.

FEDERALY LICENSED means absolutely nothing when it comes to your ability to open carry in his shop!! Not to mention what kind of gun shop owner would NOT welcome people that legally carry guns into his store.

As a gun store owner I feel I must apologize to you for being treated the way you were by someone who damn well should know better. I also apologize for ranting on this thread as a gun store owner and posting against another shop owner. I have always considered that to be bad business practice but I am just to the point that I'm sick of it. I figured when I got into this business that it would be like a small brotherhood so to speak, man was I wrong.


again I apologize for the rant. It's quite late and things like the above just really rub me the wrong way!! I guess this is why you should sign up as a normal everyday Joe on forums instead of a shop owner. Speaking on a personal level is hard to do and often taken the wrong way.


Rich W.

[Aran]

I'm glad that while my local gun shop owner is a cranky, unhelpful jerk when it comes to giving opinions (Not really, he's just obviously of the mindset "I'll tell you all you need to know, but my opinion is mine because you'll use it against me if you disagree once you take it" and just never outright suggests anything. He's very unpushy) but when I picked up my Glock elsewhere (Impulse buy. He told me he could have gotten it for less. Gah.) and went to him for a holster, he had no issue with me bringing it in the shop even without my LTCF. (Which is good, since the gun shop is one of the exceptions for transport)

And then the other shop in the area I go to, everyone there OCs, and half the time when I go in they're comparing their latest 1911 mods

[sgt7546]

All4Fun257,

If you go back in that store, could you get that fellow's waist size, I'd hate to send him the wrong size ASSHAT.

[all4fun257]

I've been to alot of shops in search of the best deals. There has been alot dealers that are misinformed but most times they listen to what I have say, realize I might know a thing or two and end up asking where they can get more information. Usually I have one of them handy dandy flyers to hand out but I wasn't driving this time so there wasn't one in the car.

[Gary in Pennsylvania]

Because of the OP.......That's why I used to drive ALLLLLL the way from Moscow, Pa out to Dallas PA to give my gun money to Matt's Shooting Supplies. Almost an hour's drive one way.
Great shop, good inventory, competitive prices, and it had Matt.

Now.....we have Advanced Arms as a top notch choice to feed our NEPA firearms need (Matt doesn't do firearms anymore.....but he apparently is decked out from floor to ceiling with every accessory you can imagine).

Send the OP shop owner one of PAOPENCARRY.ORG pamphlets!

[Seneca Arms Co. Inc.]

There are so many douche bags in this industry it amazes me that the gun biz has not collapsed.

[TonyF]

Well, most gun shop owners/employees have absolutely no idea what they are talking about; same goes for gunshow vendors. More old wive's tales and stupidity has been spread by them than any other single source.

Most are also terribly ill-informed about defensive use of firearms and related matters.