The plight of a Gunstore Owner.

A sure way to not really learn a lot is to already know it all... I'll get folks who learned All About Guns from video games and movies come up to the tables at gun shows, and it seems like they are so intent on impressing everyone with their "knowledge," that you can't teach them without telling them that they're complete idiots...

"No, there is no such thing as an automatic Colt Peacemaker..."

When I was just starting to shoot, 30+ years ago, I didn't seem to run into the "What? You want to see it? What? You don't know how to .....?" guys as I do now. But the "Hey, those ________ are totally junk!" guys have always been numerous, on both sides of the counter, as are the fanbois of one brand or another, one type of gun or another. I was out of town not too long ago, and there was a gun I was interested in the used case, a Dan Wesson Model 715 .357, and as soon as I said I wanted to see it, the old guy who appears to be one of the permanent residents of the place (He's been there every time I or a friend of mine has been there) blurts out, "I don't know why you would want one of those, they're junk!". I've owned seven of them over the years, I know how to put one together from a pile of parts, and so I ignored him. Well, he continued on about it, and I continued to ignore him. There was nothing mechanically wrong with it, I passed on it, as I had already spent my limit somewhere else, but my friend made an offer on it, and the owner of the store took it, making the comment, "I'm glad to see it go, just to shut up Mr. Colt Fanatic here(looking at the guy who was bad mouthing it) who has tried to get anyone who looked at to pass on it and buy a Python or whatever!". I made the comment, "I've had seven of them, and magically, all of them were great, so I must have magical powers that make me somehow get the only good ones, time after time!". He grumbled while my friend filled out the paperwork, etc, and I decided to really get him going by telling him I've had seven Astra 9mm's and all of them have been great too! As I expected, he totally went off the deep end with the comment, "Only good auto is a genuine Colt 1911!". I told him my one colt 1911 was one of the worst disasters I've ever owned, terrible QC issues, a Star a co worker had that rattled like something was broken inside made it look terrible, as it actually shot great. I thought he was going to have a stroke!

It's a tough question if you really don't know who you are dealing with. Also I would be hesitant about letting someone who I didn't know, handle an thousand dollar pistol, or even a revolver that was higher end. There are a lot of folks who won't buy a weapon that has marks of any kind on it, especially if it were mishandled, scratched from a ring or dropped on the floor. I think you need to ask a few questions first before handing over that new nickel plated custom 1911. Not so much with a Glock, or a taurus revolver. But you shouldn't assume the guy isn't going to start dry firing a gun that you hand him unless you have that talk with him, or you have a demo just for that purpose prior to letting him handle it. I wouldn't let a friend who wasn't familiar with pistols, play with any of mine. If he wanted to learn on the other hand I would gladlly teach him proper etiquette. Some folks are just clumsy, nervous, or just not careful, you need to weed them out before hand. My dad used to say,"before he passed", never lend out your gun, your car, or your wife. And if you lend money don't expect to get it back, be prepared to give it as a gift. It still holds true more now than ever.

I'll try to phrase this delicately-

I've been in a lot of gun stores. I was a newbie myself, we all were. When I worked retail I got burnt out on customers and I imagine with guns there is an extra level of bovine excrement to deal with getting through.

However, when a new shooter- heck a first-time gun buyer- walks in, lays their ignorance at the feet of the counterman and asks for advice, please, PLEASE, don't start off acting like a... butt-hat. There's a few specific things that really make me upset hearing-

You have the condescending butthole- "What's a little lady like you wanting to shoot a big gun for? Are you SURE you can handle a 45?"

You have the tactical ninja- "Of course this has red AND green lasers and a full neodymium coated magazine well for fast changeouts and recovery. The caliber is a special issued to the Israeli Mossad."

You have the kill-em-all guy- "This is the Death Reaper 2000 model, point this at a guy and he runs, shoot him and you get brains all over your ceiling. Drag 'im back inside if he ran out. We used to use these in Desert Storm, you could hear the skin cooking..."

Last, the one-gun-fits-all guy- "Oh, you need a Glock. No, not those guns, this Glock. Don't even think about a revolver. You want this Glock. Especially if you've never shot before. Seriously. The other guns are just copies, this is the one you want, the Glock. Don't waste my time on anything else."

Mr. One-Gun has a cousin, he's Mr One-Gun-On-Sale:

"Oh wait, the Glock isn't on special this month. Nevermind, you want a Smith & Wesson M&P. All I said about Glocks? Forget it. The M&P is better, newer, trust me. I get more comission- I mean I sell more of these nowadays."