cynatnite (28,068 posts)
Rattled and shaken after seeing open carry in a grocery store
It's been a long time since I've been to DU, but I needed a place to talk about something that happened tonight when I was getting a few items to finish out our Christmas dinner.
My area recently got a new Walmart Neighborhood Market. I know many here aren't fans of Walmart as a whole for understandable reasons. I remained a shopper nonetheless.
That all changed as of a few minutes ago.
While I was shopping I passed by a gentleman in the store and happened to glance down. He had a handgun strapped to his belt. He was not a police officer. I know what those holsters look like and this had elastic bands. Not only that, the man was extremely overweight and he wasn't wearing anything to signify he was any part of law enforcement.
The further I got from him, the more upset I got. I brought my grandchildren to the store. I spoke with a young woman who said she was a manager. She shrugged off my concerns as if it was nothing. I decided to not finish the shopping and went to check out. The cashier saw how upset I was and I told her about it. She wanted to know what the man looked like because it upset her as well. As I was leaving, she spoke to another person who looked more like a manager than the young woman from before.
I got to my car and I was pretty near crying. I came home and called corporate about this only to find out they have practically zero policy when it comes to open carry. I was still pretty upset on the phone with the woman I spoke with. She said she was sending my concerns up to the higher ups which I doubt will do any good.
We're in the South and have been here for a while now. As conservative, rebel flag waving and Obama hating as they get around here, I've never seen anyone blatantly open carry like this before. My sister is like that and she has enough common sense not to do something like this.
I'm an Army veteran. I've been around guns for much of my life. My husband is a hunter. We have a hunting rifle in the house. I'm not a woman that rattles easy, but this shook me to my core and I'm still quite upset.
All I can think of is my grandchildren and all the shootings that are now so common. I just can't bring myself to take my grandchildren to any Walmart store knowing they allow this.
Anyway, I've been gone quite a while and I could use some hand-holding or something right now. This shook me more than I ever imagined it would.
Thanks
tblue37 (17,554 posts)
57. People who pointedly open carry when there is no good reason to have their own
reasons. They are not scared--they are deliberately vein to intimidate other people. It is a swaggering, d**k swinging dominance display. Ironically, most people who have to display dominance this way do so because they don't *feel* dominant. They feel helpess and beat down by the modern world, its social and political changes, and its economy. That is also why Trump's bullying bluster appeals to them.
Vinca (25,643 posts)
5. I would react the exact same way.
I would also make a point of telling whoever is in charge that it would be the last time my dollars were spent in their store because I feared for my safety. This happened at our local hardware store and the open carry guy made a stink when they invited him to leave. There's now a "no guns allowed" sign on the door. I really don't get it. Are artichokes and onions so threatening a person must go grocery shopping ready to open fire on any holiday-shopping grandma who makes a wrong move?
You should also tell them you don't want to be seen shopping with Jews.
gratuitous (52,106 posts)
19. This is my position, too
Drop a letter in the mail to the Wal-Mart, noting the time, date and every other detail you can remember of the incident. Explain that you have historically shopped at the store, but his incident has you so shaken that you're unlikely to shop there anymore, and that you'll tell your friends and relatives to think twice before going to that store.
You don't have to be judgmental, talk only about your own feelings and impressions, and be sure to hit the point that this is likely going to cost the store money (which is a language they are very fluent in).
icymist (10,463 posts)
18. I understand what you are saying and I feel for you.
I had a similar experience in a Kroger store. It was a gentleman who look like he was in his sixties and was open carrying a pistol in a holster attached to his belt. He stood there smiling at me when I noticed his gun. I sighed, shrugged, and left the store.
Why do people feel the need to open carry in all parts of our society? Your guy, is most likely, scared. All this stupid talk being passed around about how all certain people only want to kill us all is making people crazy. The guy I saw probably has good intentions, but I don't know that. I'm a member of a sexual minority that has had life and home threatened by anonymous cowards who are afraid of others not like they are!
Your granddaughters deserve more than to see a society so afraid of itself that it thinks it needs to carry arms to a grocery store!
Die, pedo.
nadinbrzezinski (142,301 posts)
20. You are right to be upset
and if that was a cop with a proper holster. What you described sounds like a type I holster, which most law enforcement shies away from for very solid and good reasons. Guns are easy to lose in a fist to cuffs. And losing your gun might not be the best of ideas.
I would not go back either.
But then again, posts like yours remind me why, with warts and all, I like a state with better gun regulations.
Happy holidays, merry christmas, and have a good one.
California has limited open carry, you idiot.
aksptth (50 posts)
31. Would concealed carry be better?
An Army Vet rattled and shaken by the sight of a holstered gun? Not sure I'm feeling this. You'd probably be more shocked by the number of people around you concealed carrying.
With that said, I'm am not at all sure about either the need or the wisdom of open carry. A responsible gun owner would avoid open carry like the plague. If something were to happen and a potentially violent situation occur putting lives at risk, nothing puts a target on you like an openly visible defensive weapon.
Open Carry people are doing it as a political statement. Carrying deadly weapons as a political statement ought to be a disqualifying attitude in and of itself. Choosing to carry defensive weapons is a responsibility and not to be undertaken either lightly or irresponsibly.
Hoyt (22,337 posts)
33. Concealed toters are just as bad, and the cowboy/hero bit is more likely to get
innocent people killed. Responsible/rational people don't need a gun strapped to their body to go to the store.
Grab your can of beans and disarm me, faggot.
pnwmom (66,474 posts)
48. She's rattled because she KNOWS that it's an aggressive STATEMENT to openly carry.
It's a way of saying "watch out" and "F U" at the same time.
Hoyt (22,337 posts)
32. You've encountered the typical American gun fancier, likely a white winger afraid of
anyone not like him. Plus, he enjoys intimidating people.
More complaints and derision will have a long-term impact.
Grab your can of beans and disarm me, racist faggot.
sonofspy777 (145 posts)
38. You're right this is not the wild west
You shouldn't have to fear for your grandchildrens' lives!
Hekate (32,184 posts)
40. I'm so sorry it has come to this level of homegrown terrorism. Hugs to you and your g'kids...
I'm glad you dropped by. Believe me, I would feel the same way.
mwrguy (2,408 posts)
44. Call 9-1-1
Report a man with a gun.
UTUSN (40,675 posts)
55. Another vet here, & you speak for me excellently. J'ever notice how the gunnutters are chickenhawks
Their perfect poster boy is John WAYNE the draft dodger and actor of fantasy life. Why don't they go fight ISIS instead of patrolling J.C.Pennys with AK-47s?!1
All these Proglodytes claiming gun owners are chickenhawks but no Proglodytes are racing up to disarm gun owners.
alcibiades_mystery (33,052 posts)
56. Leave, don't buy anything, and tell the manager why
People of good conscience need to exit from the demented culture of the gun hobbyists. Vote with your feet, since our politicians are craven cowards to the gun lobby.
Manifestor_of_Light (20,018 posts)
58. Texas is getting open carry as of January 1st.
And I don't know what I'm going to do the first time I see somebody open carry in a store. Probably "Nope the **** out of there" which is internet speak for "voting with your feet".
Businesses can opt out and put up a sign not allowing guns. However, at this point I don't know what businesses are going to ban open carry and which ones aren't. The OP is very scared and I understand that reaction. OP has been in the Army. I have never been around guns and am not comfortable around them and don't know anything about shooting them. I have not been in the military.
Who needs to shoot you idiots when your own "vote with your feet" rules would leave you starving to death.
doc03 (15,773 posts)
59. It is not just the south I have seen some fools here in Ohio with
open carry weapons. It is not against the law here so someone has to do it to show their manhood. There is
this guy that stops at the carry out to get coffee and he parades around with his gun just wanting someone to say something about it so he can give his 2 Amendment speech. I think he has the short mans
syndrome
So, go get him.
MisterP (19,689 posts)
63. they're just showing who's in charge--anyone can deputize themselves now
they're not defending from tyranny, they're enforcing it
You scared, bro?
Paladin (13,466 posts)
66. Unfortunately, that open carry prick elicited just the response he wanted from you.
Open carry has nothing to do with serious personal protection---training-based concealed carry covers that. What open carry is about is blatant public intimidation and a desire for armed altercation; profoundly sick thinking at work. You did exactly the right thing by getting the hell out of that guy's area, and you did the right thing by reporting the matter to business personnel. Sorry for the unfortunate incident, but it sounds like you did an admirable job of handling it.
Fleeing the area was the right thing to do?
How many who did not flee died that night?
Any estimates on the body count?
idiots
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027468406
