Hoplophobia-A Real Life Example

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Chedderbob said:
I had almost the same experience literally 3 days ago.

Walk in to FedEx, set my package down that is addressed, sealed, and ready to have a sticker thrown on it and ride out the door.

I say: "Law requires me to tell you this is a handgun."
Kid behind the counter looks like he doesn't care. Then from the back I hear "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa... WHAT did you say?" An older gentleman with the gold name tag runs up to the counter
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In this situation, I would have been that older gentleman. First, if the shipment is staying in state, or going to an FFL (manufacturer/dealer) in any state, the law does NOT require you to tell them. Company policy does, but Federal law does not. Second, if the shipment is going to an non-licensed individual, out of the state, then, by law, your notification to the shipping company must be written, not verbal.

With all due respect your statement that "Law requires me to tell you this is a handgun" was 99% likely to be erroneous.
 
NavyLCDR said:
Except there is a valid, medical reason for passing out in that case [actually receiving or watching someone receive an immunization in shot form].
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Which is what? Irrational fear? Because that's exactly what this thread is discussing.

It may be a "valid medical reason", but that doesn't mean its more justifiable than an irrational fear of heights, water, or guns. They're all equally lame. No offense to anyone with more common fears.
 
Well, the ATF says this about shipping firearms:
: May a nonlicensee ship a firearm by common or contract carrier?
A nonlicensee may ship a firearm by a common or contract carrier to a resident of his or her own State or to a licensee in any State. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun. In addition, Federal law requires that the carrier be notified that the shipment contains a firearm and prohibits common or contract carriers from requiring or causing any label to be placed on any package indicating that it contains a firearm.

[18 U.S.C. 922(a)(2)(A), 922(a) (3), 922(a)(5) and 922(e), 27 CFR 478.31 and 478.30]
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And thankfully, I'm not in Chicago, but one of the more reasonable suburbs. But no, there are NO gunshops in Chicago, although a Chicago handgun license requires live fire at a range. :banghead:

Larry
 
DT Guy said:
Well, the ATF says this about shipping firearms:
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And the ATF later admitted that their FAQ was incomplete:

BATFE_shipping_letter.jpg
 
Which is what? Irrational fear? Because that's exactly what this thread is discussing.

It may be a "valid medical reason", but that doesn't mean its more justifiable than an irrational fear of heights, water, or guns. They're all equally lame. No offense to anyone with more common fears.
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The mechanism of syncope is similar in the various vasovagal syncope syndromes. In it, the nucleus tractus solitarius of the brainstem is activated directly or indirectly by the triggering stimulus, resulting in simultaneous enhancement of parasympathetic nervous system (vagal) tone and withdrawal of sympathetic nervous system tone.

This results in a spectrum of hemodynamic responses:

On one end of the spectrum is the cardioinhibitory response, characterized by a drop in heart rate (negative chronotropic effect) and in contractility (negative inotropic effect) leading to a decrease in cardiac output that is significant enough to result in a loss of consciousness. It is thought that this response results primarily from enhancement in parasympathetic tone.

On the other end of the spectrum is the vasodepressor response, caused by a drop in blood pressure (to as low as 80/20) without much change in heart rate. This phenomenon occurs due to vasodilation, probably as a result of withdrawal of sympathetic nervous system tone.

The majority of people with vasovagal syncope have a mixed response somewhere between these two ends of the spectrum.

One account for these physiological responses is the Bezold-Jarisch reflex.

--A very clear explanation complitments of Wikipedia.
 
Several years ago, I had purchased a Springfield Micro Compact .45. I really liked it. While it was still pretty new, but broken in, my wife and I traveled up to my mother-in-law's place in SoDak. On that trip, my brother-in law from Chicago was also visiting. During those days, I still thought firearms ownership should be perfectly normal and that sentient human beings would recognize that firearms are not evil animate objects.

I told him I had something really great to show him. I went into another room, unloaded the little thing, locked the slide open, again verified the pistol was empty, and returned to the front room to show him. Result? Panic attack--rapid respiration, blood draining from the face, mouth and eyes opening to their maximum. :what: The locked-open pistol was laying flat on my opened hand and the muzzle was not pointed in his direction. We were both middle-aged men. I felt so bad for making him feel so frightened.

I bought my first firearm when I was nineteen years old in 1972, so firearms are just things. This, coupled with being laid off from a job because of my lack of inhibition about firearms and self-defense, caused me to shut up altogether about such things in the presence of acquaintances.

Hoplophobia can alienate relatives (including those you might actually like) and take food from your table. YMMV. :barf:
 
funny story...

not sure if it was extream fear or whatever, but here goes. I was up squirrel hunting a few years ago on designated Division of Wildlife land specifically set aside as hunting ground and an elk management area. so, im up hunting all day, start heading back along this dirt road/path down out of the higher hills.

So, im diddy-boppin along all decked out in my cammies and meet up with this really nice young couple, she was about 7 months pregnant, that were just going out on a hike for the day. its hunting season, and they are on HUNTING designated land with signs posted to that effect. We traded hellos and the guy stops me and asks if i come up here much, what the area's like, and says he wishes he had a map.

So, me being the nice, ever helpful person i am tells them i have one and asks if they would like to see it.... We had been standing there for like 5-6 minutes and im in my cammies, etc, i go to unsling my backpack and my big, under-arm holster slides forward and hangs there from my chest as i lean over to unload my backpack. i got this big scoped ruger 22/45 7" BBl riding in this holster. So, the guy sees this thing and all the sudden he literally jumps like somebody stuck something cold up his hoo-hoo right, and does this with :what: " Whoa! you got a gun!!!". :what:

I had to bite my tongue so hard it hurt, but i didnt want to embarass this poor dude in front of his woman. i tell him , yup, its hunting season! and this land is set aside for it. i proceed to tell him this land was bought with hunting license money, blah, blah. so, he calms down, i tell him they should be safe as long as they make noise and stay on the path, as they didnt have orange on, and we part ways after they get a good look at the map. i managed to get about 50 yards and i just start laughing as quietly as i could... that was hilarious!

that was one of the few positive encounters i've had there. most of the time there are granola chopping, yuppie, anti-hunting <<insert bad language here>>that give me dirty looks and sometimes make snide comments. and this happens all the time on Div or Wildife land, set aside for hunting and fishing. :banghead:
 
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anti-hunting a-holes that give me dirty looks and sometimes make snide comments. and this happens all the time on Div or Wildife land, set aside for hunting and fishing.
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I'd ask them how they managed to get so lost...
You can't be here your not dressed right, this is HUNTING LAND, you don't have your hunting permit or (and make this BIG) *gasp* gun, and your not in your orange, you REALLY need to leave right now before *they* (assume they think like most liberals, they will assume that there is a *they* out there) see you.
 
I can top that. I showed a co-worker a pix of my Nighthawk on my phone. A lady standing nearby saw it, gasped and ran from the room.
 
For what it's worth, I CALLED FedEx before shipping a firearm. Their representative looked the information up, and said that I did not need to make any such declaration before shipping, although she cautioned me that I could not send ammunition along with the firearm.
 
Mr.Blue said:
I was told that the reason it cost so much and needs to go "next day" is they worry about employee thefts. They ship Firearms in a way that the package is handled by fewer people, thus less chance for a theft. It is also easier to investigate thefts with less potential suspects.
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It's wonderful, isn't it? You have to pay to insure it, then pay more because they tell you they generally can't trust their employees. You would think the latter would be there problem, but it's yours, and you give them more because of it.

Not only that, but the package can't be marked, since you don't want it to be a target. Keeping a low profile is so important that you have to very often.....provide a letter or otherwise notify them that it's a firearm! Guns are items with a higher street than market value, mind you, and should be very inconspicuously handled. How stupid are the people who come up with this crap?
 
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S&W and Glock will email you a prepaid shipping label if you ask for it. I have already had to send my g19 gen 3 back twice, I sent it this evening for the second time. It was overnight shipping through FedEx on their dime, no money out of pocket for me. :)

If you don't ask, they won't offer it.
 
Nice that ATF still has the wrong info on their site (I pulled that FAQ down the day I posted it) ten years after admitting it was wrong...Sheesh, it's hard to be law-abiding when they keep you guessing what the laws are, isn't it?

Larry
 
I was selling a Mossberg 500 in a private transaction and the buyer asked me to text him a picture of the gun.

So I took the picture with my phone and sent the message. About 30 seconds later, I get a call from an irate man asking who I was and why I sent him a picture of a gun.

I apologized, told him that the message was intended for someone else and I must have gotten the wrong number. He seemed to accept that answer, but he was still upset.

Mind you I live in New Jersey.

I told that story to a co-worker when I was visiting Mississippi and he said: "Heck, if I had gotten a message like that I would have tried to outbid the buyer."

It must be an amazing thing to live in a free state.
 
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I know a woman that if she sees someone or gets a shot herself she passes out! There is not much of a monopoly on strange
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I really don't see this as strange. I have passed out from shots before, I get light headed and queasy if I even see a needle. On the other hand other than Brown Recluses I can't think of too many other things that scare me, and I don't even freak if i see one of those.
 
Rifles I get my dealer to send since they usually have the packing materials available.

Pistols, I've sent UPS ground as "machined tool parts" insured for new replacement value. What is the worst that could happen?
 
Well, they lose it, you tell them it's a gun rather than 'machined tool parts' and they deny the claim.
 
My mom ( well, my friend's mom, anyway) is like that, but I think it's because she has some PTSD issues. I guess her brother shot himself in the driveway when she was a teenager or something. So she won't even touch a gun.
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Well, before I was 21 years old I had a family friend commit suicide using the "closed garage, engine running" method, a brother killed by a hit-and-run driver, another friend commit suicide by handgun. Plus several family members lost to cancer and other "natural causes". By the time I was 25 I had friends killed in motorcycle crashes, in military aircraft crashes and by a bomb in a Beirut Marine barracks. And others, I've (God help me) forgotten or omitted.

In spite of that, I flew military aircraft until retirement, still shoot and still ride motorcycles and drive cars.

I hate to be judgemental or insensitive, but I find your friend's mom's reaction somewhat self-serving and hypocritical. At my advancing age, I'm not sure I know anyone who has not lost someone to some type of motor vehicle accident, but I don't know anyone who has quit driving.
 
With all due respect, MVA's are usually exactly that...accidents. Firearms fatalities sometimes fall into that category, but the willful destruction of life, either by suicide or murder, leaves scars that mere "loss" doesn't begin to cover.

My wife's father shot himself in the heart when she was a toddler. He was active duty Air Force, with a wife and three kids (my wife is the youngest). It was written up as an "accident". My suspicion is that an investigator looked at what happened, realized the fall-out to a young woman and her three orphaned children of labeling it a suicide, and took pity on them.

Because I am not alone in this suspicion...When someone you love chooses to end his or her life rather than continue living with you, a deep seated resentment can take hold. Where is that resentment focused? Sometimes on the one who actually pulled the trigger. More often than not, on the tool used to commit the act, particularly if it is not something you have to use every day. Why? Self-preservation. The need to blame something, anything, other than the one who left. Again, why? Because the memory of love is all you have left, and if that memory is tainted with thoughts that they did not love you enough NOT to take their own life, that memory is shattered. Hence, you develop a hatred, fear, loathing, whatever...of the implement.

If you are able to put things into...call it "perspective" better, you can avoid this, as you have obviously done. Some can't or won't. (As an aside...my wife has been able to handle things, mainly because she has no real memory of her dad. There was never a gun in her home growing up, though, and a GREAT deal of anxiety over firearms by others in the family until the last several years.)
 
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