OC'ed in Gander today, Valentines Day

[Prometheus]

I guess technically now it'd be yesterday but in any event...

Saturday afternoon I was out getting valentines dinner items.. king crab legs, tiger prawns, asparagus...

I figured after NWIN 40 cal's experience I might as well drop by and see what was up.

I walk in with my 2 year old daughter (Mom and my first born were at home) put here in a cart, take of my jacket put it in the cart and proceed to check out the sales. I walked around the shotgun table sale, the gun counter, my daughter had to check out the pink ,22lrs for a bit. On the way out she had to also check out the duck decoys.

I was in a hurry so we spent about 10 minutes inside before I had to leave.

I did get some looks. All of them from the clerks. The store was filled with customers who could care less. I could tell some clerks were talking, but couldn't make it it... which by the way the only clerks "freaking out" were ALL in the gun department. One quickly grabbed a phone and made a frantic call. I can only guess it was to a manager. The ladies at the front or roaming around doing misc tasks were all polite and didn't notice or care about my bitone XD9 or the two spare mags on the opposite hip.

Except for the friendly female employees I encountered no one said a word to me.

I must say I felt offended by the gun counter people (approx 6 of them in total since they had a shotgun sale today). I felt a bit like a leper with them gawking, snarling and mumbling to each other. However the female employees were all very nice which put me back in a good mood after leaving the firearms section.

 

[AFA1CY]

Perhaps the gun counter people were calling their friends to come and look at the really cool gun.

 

[Slab]

horrible. it makes me want to OC for a week to see what happens

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

Kroger, ChinaMart, Domino's, Rural King, Tractor Supply Co., True Value Hardware, whatever the little 10 minute oil change place near my house's name is and the Chinese restaurant next to Krogers all don't mind me OC'ing while on their property.

If you wanna', it ain't hard in this area.

 

[following2dp]

From the title of your post I thought you were going to tell a story of how someone freaked out and sprayed you with pepper spray, OC.
Halfway through your post I caught on.
I personally have had little to no luck with the gun depo at Gander when I visit.
I'm glad someone rattled their cage a little.

 

[Soundslikejosh]

Pro,

Maybe its just me, but I've always had bad service at the gun counter of the Merrillville GM. Regardless of carry choice, they always act high and mighty, and answer any questions like you are the stupidest person on earth. I love it when you ask a very specific question, and then they start out with "this is the barrel, its where the booolits come out." Gee thanks maw, do you think I could have asked a very detailed question if I were as dumb as you imply?

If you subtract the gun counter, I would say their service is fine. They generally have enough staff so you can flag someone down if you have a question. In my experience, they normally have a young lady working the front register, and most of my trips it has been an attractive lady.

If you include the gun counter into their overall "service" I'd say they suck. I don't go to their store looking for indignant and slow service on over-priced firearms. However, that seems to be about all that I can get. Sadly, the gun counter kinda ruins my overall appreciation for the store, despite the fact that the rest of the store is fine.

 

[Bigum1969]

The sad part is that if was the folks in the GUN section that were snickering. They should be the most supportive of your exercising your rights.

 

[Stove]

I never noticed before until reading here, but castleton has a sign posted about firearms, unless you are a permit holder. I have only been in the store twice, and most were friendly.

 

[dburkhead]

I never noticed before until reading here, but castleton has a sign posted about firearms, unless you are a permit holder. I have only been in the store twice, and most were friendly.

If you are licensed to carry, you can carry there. If you are not licensed to carry, you can't (but not because they have a sign, but because that's the law). If you are using the "to a place of repair" or bringing in the gun for sale and you don't have a license, then they ask that it be unloaded and cased--which it probably should be anyway.

I really don't have any issues with their sign. In fact, that it explicitly permits licensed individuals to carry is a plus.

 

[AFA1CY]

... snip ... If you are using the "to a place of repair" or bringing in the gun for sale and you don't have a license, then they ask that it be unloaded and cased--which it probably should be anyway.
... snip ...

No should be, must be.

 

[dburkhead]

No should be, must be.

That's what I thought, but I didn't want to take the time to look up the actual code so I hedged.

 

[dwh79]

The Merriville GM does stink when it comes to the Gun Dept. I highly agree it must be due to there proximity to the illinois Commie line. I do however highly recomend the Cabelas in Hammond. The people there have always been great in the gun department and the whole store is great. I do not reccomend the Bass Pro in Portage they will not sell handguns with short barrels but you can go to Cabelas and get it or run over to blythes down the toll way and get what ever you want.

 

[sonovasailor]

Some of you guys concern me. Are you OC because it's your right or are you looking for a confrontation? Are you truely exersizing your 2nd Amendment Rights or are you wanting someone to freak-out? I was in BG Firearms yesterday and an OC walked in. Thats fine and good but I noticed he strutted around to make sure everyone saw it. I also noticed the gun still had a magazine in it. They have a "NO LOADED GUNS IN THE STORE" policy for safety reasons. I was just leaving so I am unsure if Barney Fife was asked to go outside and unload it or not. Greg was not there or I'll bet he would have been. Please remember guys, this is our Consitutional Right to keep and bear arms. But if you haven't noticed, our Rights are being eliminated, 1 by 1, by the left in this country. All it takes is a small group of vocal "concerned citizens" and we are in a fight for our rights. Descression is the better part of valor. You should ask yourself, "What would Wyatt Earp do?". He hid his pistol in his coat pocket before proceeding to the OK Corral.

 

[AFA1CY]

Descression is the better part of valor.

And out if sight, out of mind.

Ask the general population if you are even allowed to carry a hand gun and I bet you find a large percentage that say no.

 

[RealtorWhoCarries]

I guess technically now it'd be yesterday but in any event...

Saturday afternoon I was out getting valentines dinner items.. king crab legs, tiger prawns, asparagus...

I figured after NWIN 40 cal's experience I might as well drop by and see what was up.

I walk in with my 2 year old daughter (Mom and my first born were at home) put here in a cart, take of my jacket put it in the cart and proceed to check out the sales. I walked around the shotgun table sale, the gun counter, my daughter had to check out the pink ,22lrs for a bit. On the way out she had to also check out the duck decoys.

I was in a hurry so we spent about 10 minutes inside before I had to leave.

I did get some looks. All of them from the clerks. The store was filled with customers who could care less. I could tell some clerks were talking, but couldn't make it it... which by the way the only clerks "freaking out" were ALL in the gun department. One quickly grabbed a phone and made a frantic call. I can only guess it was to a manager. The ladies at the front or roaming around doing misc tasks were all polite and didn't notice or care about my bitone XD9 or the two spare mags on the opposite hip.

Except for the friendly female employees I encountered no one said a word to me.

I must say I felt offended by the gun counter people (approx 6 of them in total since they had a shotgun sale today). I felt a bit like a leper with them gawking, snarling and mumbling to each other. However the female employees were all very nice which put me back in a good mood after leaving the firearms section.

What is OC'd??

 

[AFA1CY]

Open Carried

 

[Donnelly]

Some of you guys concern me. Are you OC because it's your right or are you looking for a confrontation? Are you truely exersizing your 2nd Amendment Rights or are you wanting someone to freak-out? I was in BG Firearms yesterday and an OC walked in. Thats fine and good but I noticed he strutted around to make sure everyone saw it. I also noticed the gun still had a magazine in it. They have a "NO LOADED GUNS IN THE STORE" policy for safety reasons. I was just leaving so I am unsure if Barney Fife was asked to go outside and unload it or not. Greg was not there or I'll bet he would have been. Please remember guys, this is our Consitutional Right to keep and bear arms. But if you haven't noticed, our Rights are being eliminated, 1 by 1, by the left in this country. All it takes is a small group of vocal "concerned citizens" and we are in a fight for our rights. Descression is the better part of valor. You should ask yourself, "What would Wyatt Earp do?". He hid his pistol in his coat pocket before proceeding to the OK Corral.

You see, here in lies the problem, sonofasailor. We should not be required to be discreet. It used to be that homosexuals were left alone for the most part if they were discreet. They finally had enough of what they felt was discrimination, and organized to fight for their rights. Now I've read the Bill of Rights a few times, and I don't see a referral to homosexual rights, or sexual rights, or any mention of reproductive rights whatsoever. However, the 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights does say that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. If we don't organize and become as vocal as the above mentioned special interest group, we will lose our 2nd Amendment rights. A right not exercised is a right lost.

Don't fool yourself; there are people in this world who are willing to take what you have by force, and I am not just talking about the criminals that populate the street. Some are elected into office.

All this said, I am not advocating any sort of violence toward authority. We are not yet backed into a corner. We will be one day, unless we organize and vote, and educate others.

 

[s346k]

Some of you guys concern me. Are you OC because it's your right or are you looking for a confrontation? Are you truely exersizing your 2nd Amendment Rights or are you wanting someone to freak-out?

i often wonder the same thing when i read threads like this.

to the OP:

so you OCd in a public place and *think someone made a "frantic" phone call to...management? the feds? the fire dept? who knows? maybe someone found a turd in the mop bucket again, who knows. does your OC experience in gander mountain REALLY merit a thread in the "personal defense" portion of this website? just curious as to why you created this thread. it is not informative, nor does it ask/answer any questions regarding personal defense. it appears the "carry issue" you had was a bad look. i get those all the time, most everywhere i go haha.

 

[esrice]

just curious as to why you created this thread. it is not informative, nor does it ask/answer any questions regarding personal defense.

A week or so ago another member was hassled at a Gander for carrying openly. I'm willing to bet that Prometheus was posting this thread of his experience to "balance the scales" a bit and show that sometimes you get hassled, sometimes you don't.

 

[esrice]

It used to be that homosexuals were left alone for the most part if they were discreet. They finally had enough of what they felt was discrimination, and organized to fight for their rights.

I will preface this post by saying that although I choose to CC, I would never put ANYONE down for deciding to OC. Its their right and if they chose to do so, good for them.

Anyway. . .

lovemywoods and I were discussing this very issue the other day, and the homosexual comparison came up (by me). I was curious how it would turn out if permit holders took the same steps as homosexuals did, by "coming out of the closet" and standing up for their rights and making it VERY clear how they felt on the issue by carrying openly.

But I kept coming back to this: In the state of Indiana, permit holders only make up. . . what? . . . 1% or 2% of the total population? (BoR do you have the numbers on this?) If EVERY SINGLE permit holder decided today to OC everywhere (including those that have a permit but never carry a gun), and not a single permit holder CC'd, would that even be enough to make a difference in anyone's mind? Would that 2% make that much of a difference?

Not being argumentative, just curious.