Reading some threads here lately reminds me of some folks I've come across with no idea what the firearms laws are in general. For someone new to guns, it can be a bit staggering, but it's pretty easy to find out.

A fairly naive fellow in regards to many things, it seems, was all too eager to show off a pair of Glock 21's that he had purchased for $50 each off one of his loose acquaintances. I told him he aught to take them back to where they came or turn them in to check if stolen. He was carrying them concealed illegally and had no idea (no permit, no clue). Maybe he just got an unbelievable deal, but somehow I doubt it.

A young lad at the gun shop was a bit surprised at the prices of suppressors and all the rigamarole to obtain one. He had built about a dozen of his own and didn't have to go through all the hassles, he bragged. Once educated on the subject, his eyes widened and he looked a bit somber. He couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I hear folks speaking of building and obtaining new full autos all the time like it's something you can easily get anywhere and it frankly gets old. It makes me wonder how many folks are unknowingly involved in criminal activity. The movies and numerous YouTube vids of post samples likely doesn't help.

Every come across someone doing something with guns that made you go or ?

Can't say I've ever run across guys like that, but it's not unusual for folks to not know much about Class III stuff. When I'm shooting suppressed at the Club more often than not I'll be asked questions. Older gents typically start off with "I thought those things were illegal". The younger guys usually ask "What do you have to do to get one?".

To the larger point of doing things that are illegal... it's a shame that doing something as natural as a God given right to carry a gun gets so twisted around into something illegal requiring permits and all the other nonsense.

That is a good point.

Some people need to remember what "Poor Richard' (AKA Ben Franklin) said in 1735:
"Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead."
And Charles Talleyrand said:
"We were given tongues to hide our thoughts."

The other (probably likely) possibility is that he actually spent a lot more than $50, and is (falsely) trying to portray himself as a shrewd and knowledgeable gun buyer.

Being in the retail gun business I have found that large numbers of the populace have no clue about guns, gun laws, values, or how to judge condition. I am constantly regaled with tales about fabulous deals (probably lies or stolen) making class 3 items (illegally), special guns (ceramic Glock!) that they got while they were in special forces (always some kind of super special unit, apparently there are no cooks or truck drivers in the military) and every tall tale imaginable.

Sadly, other than the BS artists, many people are just uninformed. They too often believe the BS they see on tv is real, bullets fly perfectly straight lines, all guns are registered and the government agents can sit down at a computer and track them down in seconds. I deal with enough of this stuff all the time and do my best to direct people to good sources of factual info (Ohio Concealed Carry website for instance) and cover some of the basic things they should know to own a gun in this state. Some people are beyond help and I just try to ignore them and hope they'll leave.

That happens a lot around here too. Generally, the post starts out something like, "Well, howda do, fellerzh?" and then goes on to tell how they swindled some poor unsuspecting sucker out of a valuable gun or knife for pennies on the dollar. They usually include a lot of folksy, good-ol-boy talk and unusual spelling, for some reason.

$50 is more than I would pay for a Glock. When it comes to guns I only own guns I really like and a Glock does not fall into that category.

I'll admit that I get some pretty good deals but I buy the gun not the condition of the finish.

The special unit guys are everywhere. And they do have truck drivers in the military. .....it's the special forces guys who have to double as truck drivers.

What staggers me is the ignorance about transferring and shipping firearms. I came here from the UK so I did a lot of checking before I got involved with firearms. Google is your friend and all that. Apparently, many native born Americans miss out this step, including the odd clueless FFL in my experience.

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Release the Kraken

Just help teach a few concealed carry classes and you will find out what percentage have even handled a firearm previously. I don't teach anyone I don't personally know how to do any shooting any longer. It's just too dangerous, and I don't want to have to get a several million dollar liability insurance policy when some of these ignore what they have been taught.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

One of the problems is that there are so many laws and many conflict. There was a time that you could drive through St. Louis County in MO with a gun in your car and break over 30 laws. Now you're safe doing that but if you cross the river into IL you're suddenly a criminal again.

Makes sense - after all, there are very few if any truck drivers, and tens if not hundreds of thousands of SF. Might as well have them do something.

The one I run into occasionally is the guy who truly believes that the very poorly done refinish on his old S&W or Colt revolver should double its value. And you can't convince them otherwise.

A good friend of mine is a Class III dealer and sometimes I hang out with him when he sets up at gun shows. Mostly he deals in Short Barrel Shotguns and Suppressors. Naturally all day long we keep hearing: "Aren't those illegal?" and "You mean I can't just take it home with me?"

One time an older gent, probably in his late 70s, asked if we would be interested in a M2 Carbine. Seems he had bought this off a guy some 30 years ago and had absolutely no idea that he needed paperwork for it.

I was involved with a call 20 years back regarding someone firing a full auto in a rural area. So I backed up the local Deputies as I was nearby.

We all get there and after driving 1/4 mile or more down the driveway to get to the house and out buildings we see several men around a table, full of FA items. The owner of the guns immediately approached the first Deputy and has a small folder with a copy of his Class 3 and paperwork for I assume ALL of the items on the table.

OK, no big deal. One of the Deputies, a fairly senior guy, states the USE of the FA's on OTHER than the Class 3 guys property...Is illegal. And they have "no business shooting these things out here". Hell we were literally in the middle of nowhere.

After a few minutes I talk the Deputy into my car and give him the bad news that he's clueless. Luckily he believes me and leaves. His ego bruised, but still intact.

I ended up staying with the other Deputy and got to shoot a few items I'd never fired FA like an AK47 and an original Ingram M-9 , the super fast cyclic rate 9mm.

Back when I was on the job I found that probably half or better of my fellow HP's knew little about firearms laws, especially Class 3 stuff. And firearm knowledge amongst the general public? Good Luck there.

I'm appalled by the way some handle and treat their firearms, they seem to forget that it is a fairly sizeable investment, (50.00 Glocks aside), and regular maintenance is required.
I walked out of the back room into the showroom once, just as a customer was doing the wrist flick to close the cylinder on his revolver, and blurted out "don't do that, I'll slap your little hands" then I went on to tell him about the damage he could do.
My boss, the owner of the shop, was the person waiting on him and he stood there perfectly deadpan while this was going on. When the customer left, the boss called me into his office, I figured I was going to get fired---but, he said "I wouldn't have taken a million bucks for the look on his face when you said that to him"
Don't think I ever saw the guy in the store again though.
olcop

Tell me about it. I've watched folks point guns at each other and pull the trigger. The answer is always, "what?...It's unloaded!" Despicable.

The worst one was a young black man that picked up an AK and swept the entire shop making rat-a-tat sounds and swearing. The entire shop cleared out quick. Him and his buddies were promptly ejected from the premises.

I don't particularly care for strawberry ice cream. I wouldn't eat it if you gave it to me.

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- Change it back -

$50 for a Glock seems about right.

old 1911 fan

While most polymer framed guns seem a bit overpriced to me, $50 is a little low.

As far as pointing guns at people, I'll tell off on one idiot.
When my SIL was a teenager she dated this guy. They were at his house, his parents weren't home and he pulled out a .22 pistol and started playing with it. Of course he insisted that it wasn't loaded, but he kept pointing it at her and saying "BANG!". She got scared and hid in the closet. Dummy pointed the gun at the door and pulled the trigger. You guessed it, the gun fired. The bullet hit SIL square in the chest. Fortunately the door slowed the bullet down enough that there wasn't any serious damage.
She got even though. She married the poor fool.
I actually feel sorry for him.

I take my full auto to the range and spray it into the air and surrounding woods while laughing like a banshee. That gets some odd looks.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

You sound like me DESI,

I often say that i have never met an former military that was a cook or was in Supply.....they were always in some special unit---but, "...they are not supposed to talk about it..."

Anyway---on the subject....I have learned that most people think, believe or say this:

semi-automatic = automatic or machine gun,

"is that registered?"

"if that crazy did not have a gun...he would not have hurt anyone..."

"he is a policeman---so he knows all about guns...."

"...what----a loaded gun in the house...what for?...

.

I found an arizona armslist gem the other day, glock 26 gen 3 advertising with a stock and all..... yep posted up an illegal SBR on armslist. Just had to shake my head


down in sierra vista if ya wanna search, not sure if I can post a link to it

I loved the statement, "He is a policeman, he knows all about guns". I'm not a LEO, but did take training to be an axillary deputy and carry a gun, and being a Certified Instructor I assisted teaching the course. When I shot PPC with our local police I was a IL Police Assoc class B member. The very few active duty that would even come out to shoot were pretty sorry. Keeping the rounds on the paper was a challenge for many. When I was shooting a 1911, quite a few didn't know how to load the weapon and make it safe. In condition one in my holster several would steer clear of me. (The issue sidearm at that time was a 686, yes a "few" years ago).

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I just wish politicians and news reporters were as knowledgeable about gun laws as they think they are.

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S&WHF 366

I just wish they could read and understand the US Constitution, which is the basis of all laws and the legal basis of the federal government itself.

I'll take a slightly different view.

I'm relatively new to guns. So not so long ago, I was sorely lacking in firearms knowledge. As we all were at one time.

But I admit to my lack of knowledge.

And have tried, and trained, to improve my knowledge, so hopefully, to coin a phrase, "know enought to NOT be dangerous."

Or another favorite twist, "I was in the military...I'm a weapons expert."

As another young gent was doing all manner of odd contortions and unnecessary movements in simulating a draw he says, "I don't know if you can tell, I have a concealed carry permit."

I'm in a military town, primarily compromised of Navy, and most are SEALS or other special forces. Perhaps that's what the recruiter sold them on, but when their less than coy service admission gets ignored they can't help repeating it to who ever will listen.

Everyone has a job. There's no shame in that. Either I'm a real butt hole or I'm surrounded by bad asses. The reality is that those guys got paid the same to do a tougher job in worse conditions. The guys I knew weren't very forthcoming with exactly what they did, but would sure like you to try out. No thanks!

Years ago while leaving the office, I was approached by a guy (friend of a coworker) in the parking lot who had an original Ithaca M6 survival rifle in excellent condition. He was just trying to find out how to get ammo for the rifle barrel. He had no idea of the requirement for an NFA registration. When I explained the details, he was polite, but didn't appear to believe me.

I heard back later from the coworker that he had obtained the ammo and was pleased with how the gun shot.

Good move you came to one of the best gun forums and the knowledgeable friendly folks will "learn" you up real "good"

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Before the Internet we had BOOKS. I thumbed through my 1966 copy of "Small Arms of the World" to the point where the spine cracked. Military manuals, the gun magazines-Shooting Times, American Rifleman, Guns and Ammo, Guns, Gunworld and some others that have disappeared were available 50 years ago and looking at some of my old issues I see they had quite a few more pages than their modern counterparts. The knowledge was out there, you had to dig a little more for it but it was there.

We all ignorant about one topic or another.

There are CPA's who don't know all the tax laws, attorneys who don't know all the laws , and LEO's who don't know all the criminal or civil statutes.

Why do we expect everyone to know all the gun laws/regulations? Even if they do have a gun or even a CCW?

Exactly---we should not have so many laws on this to begin with.

Remember the gal who drove from Pennsylvania on the highway --crossed into NJ--got pulled over then charged with a FELONY.

That is ****.

I got very sore when a friend of mine suggested she should have known better etc etc and he was a gun owner---what a jerk.

She not a criminal---period. Regardeless of whether she can read or keep up with details---what have you---she is NOT a criminal.

I do not care if she is white, black, butch, raghead, grew up in projects or a NY midtown apartment, a PHd or high school drop out, etc,

You cannot have a situation whereby a person could be a everyday person (American citizen or not) with no record etc. standing there looking into the sky scratching their hiney---then....

Take one small side-step-march, and wolla!---they are a criminal, go to jail---10 yrs, a record, can't get a job anymore, etc.

This is non-sense.

Not illegal per se, but I still think back to the guy with the Rock Island 1911 and plastic grips with three bees on them at the gun show. He believed it was Napoleon's handgun, and tried to sell it as such.