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I ask the question because frankly it really ticks me off. I'm being handed a semi-auto handgun with the magazine in and the gun in battery.

Gun safety 101 demands I point the gun in a safe direction, (good luck on a busy day in a small shop) remove the magazine and open the action. -And 9-times out of ten I'm looked at like a nut for doing it.

Same goes for a closed wheelgun or bolt gun or semi-auto longarm (Though the latter tend not to have a magazine in them.)

Why the Heck should I have to take some jerk clerk's word for it that the gun is unloaded? I can tell you stories about cases where the gun WAS loaded when presented to a customer.

Why is it custom to violate every common sense rule of gun safety because you work at a gun shop and act like the customer is a loon when they demand you put the gun in a safe condition before you hand it to them?

Gun shops: I'm a VERY small-time trainer, but I send out about 300 people a year who are told quite explicitly that if they get any guff over a reasonable request to make the gun safe before it's handed over, to WALK OUT and find another shop.

That's my opinion. Do you guys think I'm crazy or do you just go along to get along?

Or are you so confident in Joe clerk who works at your local Emporium O Death (That's a joke Son, relax) that you're willing to bet yours and someone else's life on the fact that they didn't make a mistake?
 
I for one, have never been handed a weapon that I did not see the clerk clear in front of me. As in rack the slide and visibly check the chamber, and I have never taken a pistol without doing the same when it hitsmy hand, but I would agree if the guy picked up a gun with or without mag in place and handed it to me, I would be worried, perhaps not pissed, but I would clear the weapon and move on.
 
I have been handed a gun that the clerk didn't check right before me. It usually happens with a revolver, most often a single action. You can be sure the first thing I did was to check it myself! I don't bubblegum about it, though.
What about gun shows? If it's a revolver it has that plastic tie wrap that keeps the action from functioning. Kinda hard to check that one!
 
Maybe it's just me, but I don't get that worked up over it. It's kind of like when I ride a motorcycle, I just assume everybody is out to kill me.

So I will never assume the clerk did it right, even if he opens the action in front of me. I check when I have the weapon in my hand. I usually try to point it in front of my figuring if there is going to be a ND it might as well be behind the counter in the direction of the tool that didn't clear the weapon instead of towards a shop full of innocent people!:s0114:
 
I don't care if the action is open or not, but I don't care for one being handed to me barrel first - especially barrel pointing at me and by someone I don't know (usually "this is going to hurt" runs through my head for a split second lol).

I don't always open actions for others, though I do usually remind them to check it even if I know it is empty. I am fully aware of what guns I leave loaded or not, but I try to remember atypical range safety behavior when the kids are watching too lol.
 
I don't recall a hand gun being handed to me before the clerk checked it first. The first thing I do though is to check it myself. I trust no one when it comes to saying a gun is not loaded.
 
Only once did I get a gun handed to me with out it being checked, the VERY cute gal behind the counted had a LATTE in the other hand!

Mike
 
On the rare occurrence I do get handed an unverified firearm, I clear it myself. Have a better chance with lottery than getting a loaded weapon handed to me. Although I think someone beat those odds at the Tigard Gun Broker. Something about a 45 round into a display cabinet.
 
I assume all guns are loaded even if someone else has checked it - I verify all guns that I have handled and until I verify, it is a loaded gun. What bothers me more is if a gun at a gun show has a tie wrap on it in such a fashion that I cant check it - then that to me is a serious problem.

James Ruby
 
idk i tend to look down the barrels and i feel like i get looked at like a nut for doin that.lol of course i make sure their empty first. but yes i hate when people flag me or hand me a firearms barrel first
 
This annoys me a great deal actually. Especially because to me it seems like laziness. It is just like if a car dealer approaches someone on their lot without their business cards. Or asking a waiter about the special and them not knowing anything about it. It is just laziness.

Now, when it comes to firearms, it is also safety and mutual respect. What makes me even more pissed is when I catch that look of 'wtf' on their face when I drop the mag and clear the weapon locking the slide back immediately after they hand it to me. That really irks me. Not only were they so lazy and disrespectful as to not correctly hand me a firearm, but they don't even acknowledge they made a mistake. The instead get annoyed that I actually handled the firearm correctly. Arg!

On an interesting note, every person to person sale I've had both people handled the weapons exceptionally carefully. Kind of an interesting on how strangers immediately after their own safety act much more responsible than the person at a normal gun shop.

So, a question, what if from now on, when a gun store salesman hands you a weapon without clearing and locking the breach, you just pull the trigger while pointing at them? Just to drive home the point of their mistake? Hmm...

OK, that might be overkill...
 
I don't know....I have been handed so many weapons at arms rooms (while a GI) that had the action closed I don't worry about it - in fact, while a GI, I don't think I EVER had a pistol/rifle/submachine gun or machine gun handed to me with an open action from the arms room.

I'll check it myself first thing. I don't trust anyone when it comes to firearms, not even herself, and she always double checks me. Anything that helps reduce the possibility of an "accidental" discharge (read that as negligent)
 
The shop that I frequent will ALWAYS check the action immediately before handing a weapon over to me, and then I immediately check the action myself. Never a problem and never heard a complaint or gotten a funny look.
 

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