Close call at a gun show this AM

[GaryS]

The sellers I've seen have extra cable ties and have cut the ones on the gun to let a customer inspect it. Not all the time, but if someone is a serious customer and not a window shopper I've seen that.

Then they just put another tie on after the customer is done.

Hard to do when most show promoters require cable ties securing the actions.

 

[GaryS]

Good to see someone following the rules of gun safety, I've seen some scary stuff at gun shows and even at FFLs.

The below must be a NY thing. I've been to gun shows in MA, NH, AL, and now TX. While they all ask if you're carrying a loaded gun, they accept whatever answer you give. They all have signs at the entry about no loaded guns.

I started a few years ago just locking my gun in my truck and going in.

If they ask if I have a loaded gun, I'll just say no. If they look like they have sense of humor, I'll say I'm just here for the beef jerky.

Anyone coming in through the Public Entrance/paid customer,,if you bring in a gun, it must be checked in. You show your DL, the gun is checked to make sure it's unloaded,..Magazine removed if equipted.
Gun is tiewrapped closed and tagged with your ID and guns info.

 

[greenwellg]

If you don't make sure, it's on you. If you are not sure then make the seller make sure while observing his actions for flawed checking. There aren't any accidental discharges, just stupidity.

 

[ralph7]

So, did you buy the rifle?

 

[GypsmJim]

I go to that show twice a year - Fall and Winter. I can't count the number of guns and stuff I have bought there over the years.

The security I have encountered is quite good. I can't believe this happened. Someone screwed the pooch on this one.

 

[glenncal1]

Hard to do when most show promoters require cable ties securing the actions.

Well that wasn't the case for the OP. And at least if tied correctly the action is partially open so it can be checked.

 

[dm1215]

Well done, I was at a show some years ago and someone picked up a handgun off a table and pulled the trigger and "BAM", dead silence, then the police get on the PA system.

 

[Golddollar]

Well done, I was at a show some years ago and someone picked up a handgun off a table and pulled the trigger and "BAM", dead silence, then the police get on the PA system.

I was at a gun show quite a few years ago. I heard a "BANG" and then saw the fellow who was hit crumple to the floor. Since I was just a short way down the same row that has been seared into my mind.

 

[wundudnee]

Once on vacation I stopped at a gun shop. I spotted a Winchester on a rack accessible to customers. I asked if I could check it out. I got permission and opened the action. Like the OPs case it had a round chambered and a full magazine. I asked the owner if he knew this rifle was loaded? I thought he might faint. He said he had two employees that were shooying it in the shops basement the night before and that they had some explaining to do.




I have been to one gun show and one farm sale where I heard guns go off. I get kind of upset if someone looking at a gun muzzle sweeps me at a show. I usually let them know instantly.

On the Winchester slide action open hammer rifles you have to let the hammer down to open the action. That requires pulling the trigger or pushing the firing pin down to release the action. I was at a show once and had to show the door checkers how to open one. I think about all the guns displayed with muzzles pointing out to the aisles and wonder if they are all really checked.

 

[Dan W. Cady]

The sellers I've seen have extra cable ties and have cut the ones on the gun to let a customer inspect it. Not all the time, but if someone is a serious customer and not a window shopper I've seen that.

Then they just put another tie on after the customer is done.

In the 70s I was in the gun shop at Sears in Ogden Utah known as the largest Browning stocking Dealer at the time. There was a rack which held A5s which were arranged three deep and had about twenty rows. They were accessible but secured. I noticed a young boy about five walking down this row and pulling the triggers of each shotgun as he went. I contacted one of the salesmen and he put an immediate stop to this action. It would have been quite easy to load any one of those shotguns.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I worked security at a police gun auction several years ago. All the guns there were brought in by different law enforcement agencies. There was around 1800 guns. The guns had been laid out on tables by the auction company. My job was to spend the night in the building until the auction started the next morning. I was like a kid in a candy shop until I decided to check all the guns to see if any were loaded. I found eight fully loaded weapons and a couple with one or two rounds in them. I cleared each weapon and marked them with a note stating "This gun was found loaded last night by the security officer". I took the ammo I found home. It must have worked somewhat because at the next auction I found only one loaded weapon. One is still too many.

 

[Phenix]

Surprised, shocked, stunned,,especially after dumping the first rd into one of their hands and having them feel that that was it,,relieved that the gun was now unloaded and safe.
I then slowly worked the action again and another rd came up.
I said it's still loaded guys!

Then they really started to get nervous.
I had the rifle pointed upwards all the time. At that point I just depressed the slide latch and worked the action till no more rds came out. They were all over the floor and the glass topped display case. Lots of scrambling then.

When I thought the mag was empty, I pulled the tube and left the action open. There was no round on the carrier of course.
I could then peek down the empty magazine outer tube and you can see the shiny steel carrier. I was sure the tube and gun was empty.

I had asked them if they had any action proving dummy rds handy. I wanted to run one through the mag and back out the action and into my hand. That will prove that the entire system is clear of live rds. Dummy in,,Dummy out.
They looked at me like I had asked for something in a foreign language. Maybe they just didn't hear me , I speak rather softly most of the time.

Can't use a Sharpie marked up/blackened LIVE rd as a check,,I'd be placing a live round into the rifle,,then I'd be the bad guy.

So I did the mag tube look-see to confirm it was empty.
It can look odd to bystanders as you appear to be looking down the bbl of the rifle,,but I wasn't about to hand this rifle back to any of them with the chance it was still loaded.
Where would that leave me if it was.

The Table Holders/Dealers have their own side entrance to the building not unlike most venues.
Their guns are not checked at the 'door' by security, they just walk in with them,,and back out freely as a Table Holder.
Standard procedure.

Anyone coming in through the Public Entrance/paid customer,,if you bring in a gun, it must be checked in. You show your DL, the gun is checked to make sure it's unloaded,..Magazine removed if equipted.
Gun is tiewrapped closed and tagged with your ID and guns info.

I saw a lot of guns on tables that were not tie wrapped. That kind of surprised me.
It's been common practice at shows around here for yrs that every gun in the show, carried around or on a table is to be tie wrapped.

This rifle was not tie wrapped on the table. Not unusual at that particular event as I looked around.

But I am still glad I didn't let my guard down this one time and just pick the rifle up, work the action... and perhaps pull the trigger...it could have happened so easily.

I don't like the the idea of having to show ID to get in a show, or of having all guns on tables cable-tied. Too intrusive.
I do not have problem with guns brought in by visitors being checked for ammo and cable-tied.

 

[Greyman50]

Our gun club used to co sponsor gun shows. Before the show members were elected to check All firearms and make sure they were tie wrapped. No " incidents". Will never forget a Big show in N.C back in 90s where 6 of us that had a block of tables were talking when " BANG", could have heard a mouse walking. Thank God customer picked up a 94 Winchester, aimed at a light in ceiling and pulled trigger.Dealer was thrown out along with the customer…..

 

[Eddietruett]

I've been at 2 different shows where guns for sale were fired! The first incident was a lady picked up a handgun for sale, pointed it at the floor and pulled the trigger. Bullet ricocheted off the floor and hit seller in the leg! Treated and released, but this gun was brought in the front door and after a piss poor job of attaching a zip tie was sold to a dealer. It was then sold to a 2nd dealer who wound up shot. 3 different people should have caught the loaded gun but obviously didn't. The 2nd incident was a dealer didn't check a 22 rifle and a round was out in the ceiling.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Charlie Askins wrote that even when he saw someone else check a firearm to make sure it was unloaded he still checked it himself.

 

[desi2358]

I don't like the the idea of having to show ID to get in a show, or of having all guns on tables cable-tied. Too intrusive.
I do not have problem with guns brought in by visitors being checked for ammo and cable-tied.

I did gun shows as part of our gun shop business for years and still do a couple of shows as part of my gun and ammo collecting hobby. Over the years there were far too many cases of guns being fired at shows and the vast majority of the time it was a vendors gun, either on their table loaded or one they had carried in among their gear and for some unknown reason decided to dig it out to show someone. The most recent I experienced was at the Ohio Gun Collectors a few months ago and involved a gun on display on a vendors table. Besides the injuries to two people the club lost use of a facility they had used for years and have had to find new locations (and I believe newer and more costly insurance). I am willing to put up with guns on tables being inspected and tied to be able to keep having shows.

As to ID's being checked, club shows are usually members and guests only, haven't really seen much ID checking at public shows. Maybe checking for underage?

Also, the people checking guns that I have talked with usually find at least one loaded gun among those being brought in by visitors. In the shop we had the occasional fool who had to pull out a concealed carry gun to show it off and I know it has happened at the shows as well. Some people don't think the rules should apply to them and don't consider the risk of something going wrong.