Many local gun shops and gun retailers do a horrible job at safe gun handling.
Let me preface this post by saying that there are many, many gun shops that do an outstanding job of gun safety and gun handling.
I am not talking about any specific gun shop, but I’ve also seen that a large percentage of shops I’ve been to fall into the ‘unsafe’ category in my experience.
Bad gun handling habits lead to tragedies
I love shopping for guns, but there are things about the experience that sometimes both drives me crazy and scares the tar out of me.
Why? Because many LGS’s ignore the four rules of gun safety (there are more rules and more safety needs, but these are the universal starters).
Let’s review the four rules:
1. Treat every firearm as if it’s loaded.
2. Never point a firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Always be sure of your target and what is beyond it.
4. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target and ready to fire.
Let’s take a look at what happened to us recently at an LGS.
Spice and I stopped by a LGS, I was actually shopping for a particular gun. They had one in stock, in the glass case, and I asked the person behind the counter to see it. He reached in, grabbed the gun and as he pulled it out, he grabbed the grip and pointed the barrel of the gun right at me.
Not good gun handling.
I moved quickly to the side, and the guy (giving me a side angle) spun the weapon the counter so that it pointed directly at Spices abdomen. As she was quickly leaving the line of fire I spun it sideways (without lazing anybody).
When I mentioned to the clerk that he had put the gun in an unsafe position, he replied “It’s OK, it’s empty.” He proclaimed this without even checking the chamber. This is not good gun handling, to say the least.
Rather than arguing with the guy I picked the gun up, press checked it, dropped the mag, opened the chamber and once I was secure in the fact that it was indeed unloaded I proceeded to look at the firearm (in a safe manner). The guy stepped off to help another customer with me still holding the gun.
I placed the magazine back into the gun, closed the action and placed it back on the counter facing in a safe direction. The clerk came back, grabbed the gun without checking it to see if I had loaded a round into it, and he put the gun back inside the glass counter.
I had seen Spice dancing around nervously, so I asked her what’s up… she informed me that she had been lazed several times by both gun store employees and shoppers, and was not happy about it.
I know the store owner and I had a talk with him about fixing this situation, but the unfortunate truth is that MANY gun sellers have employees that do this stuff.
They don’t check to insure a gun is unloaded before handing it to a customer, nor do they check it when they get it back. They laze people when they pull guns out and set them down.
I am planning on becoming pro-active about this and talking to the owner/manager every time I see this kind of behavior. If nothing else, it sets a horrible example for those in the store just buying their first firearm ever.
I encourage all of you to do the same!
My wife and I went to a local gun store and the guy behind the counter was showing us his new 9mm carbine pistol with a sigbrace. Then he shouldered it, right in front of a higway patrol officer standing behind us. I just walked away, my wife said that he then stated you can’t shoulder this weapon with this brace on it. I was suprised the highway patrol officer didn’t say anything. Shortly after that I got my wife and we left and have not be back since. on another note great work. Like the page and the podcast.
I frequent a LGS that has a beautiful 50 yard pistol range in the basement. Some of the thinks that go on down there would curl your hair.