Cabela's OC experience

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WhiteFeather wrote:

Oh I very much plan to. Time constraints are holding me back. I am on my first shift tour and by the time I get off I am sure he is well on his way home as well. But next week I plan on calling and taking a trip up in person. I am going to write down the name of the SM and hold onto it lest I run into another lying sack of... Again I just want to reiterate that if they have a policy I would be fine with it. But I hate people who lie to me. Maybe we can get some of the members here to take a trip up to the store and see how they respond to a whole flock 'o' OC'ers. And of course we could have lunch and just meet eachother. I would really like to meet a fellow OC'er. Maybe just so I can validate my reasoning sometimes I feel so alone in what I do...

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I might be running to Cabelas one day next week for a new pistol mag. Depending when you go I might be able to meet you there.

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Update!

Finally after four attempts I got a hold of Bruce Biedenharnand informed him of my encounter. He stated thatCabelas is a pro-gun company and a store that sells guns and that the last thing he wants is for any lawfully caring gun owner to be upset. He assured methat I as well as anyone else may freely OC in his store so long as you have a permit. I informed him twice there was no OC permit, but that never sunk in. He stated that after a review of the law reguardingOC it is perfectly legal and there are no plans to create or institute a policy different or counter from the State's. He stated I would not be hassled again and that he would make sure his employees would know it is legal.

At the end of the discussion I asked him if he meant LTCF which gives you the legal consent to the carry concealed and he said yes. I told him that you are not required to have a LTCF in order to OC only to transport in vehicle of enter a city of the 1st class. He said he would have to look further into the matter but reiterated that you may OC in Cabelas.

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LoveMyCountry wrote:

Secrettrance wrote:

The lady replied "yes but there are chidren in the store and they get excited if someone is wearing one. In the cases it's different.

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Children are scared of them? What are we carrying Rattlesnakes on our hips? Are they going to leap out and attack people unless they are kept in cases??? What happens when Dad buys one of those guns and takes it home? Will the kids run screaming into the night?

I'm so tired of the "it's for the children" excuse. The children are the reason I carry the damn thing!

:cuss:

LoveMyCountry

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Are you kidding? My daughter (7) is so terrified of my carry piece that she is constantly running to me and saying, "dad can I touch your gun? can i touch the holder" (what she calls the holster) etc. etc....... and of course then we go over the rules for guns and i stop whatever i am doing and let her learn about it safely......

i'm telling ya...damn thing is traumatizing her......might grow up and be a responsible gun owner one day, and we don't need that now do we.....:quirky

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Cabela's contacted me directly about getting a large quantity of "Your Pennsylvania Gun Rights" flyers... (as stickied in the "law" section)
More later. Just wanted to drop the info.

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Pa. Patriot wrote:

Cabela's contacted me directly about getting a large quantity of "Your Pennsylvania Gun Rights" flyers... (as stickied in the "law" section)
More later. Just wanted to drop the info.

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Looks like some customers are going to get educated on the gun laws.:celebrate Good for you Patriot!!

Make sure you get a fair price for them.

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nicely done pa.patriot!!!

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While travelling from VA to visit my folks in PA, I stopped at the Cabela's on 22 (or is it 78? I can't remember--exit 29b, whichever it is) to browse and pick up an item for my stepdad. While looking at some knife-sharpening stones I was addressed by a store employee who was interested in my holster. He is new to concealed carry, and wanted to know what kind of holster I was using and if it was comfortable. It is a custom tuckable holster by Backwoods Leather in Portsmouth, VA, though I was using it to open carry my GP-100 as is my mode of carry. I offered to show him the holster, and suggested that we go to the gun counter to unholster my gun and removed the holster. I unloaded my revolver and placed the ammo and opened gun on the counter, then showed him the holster.

We spoke for a few minutes, then just before I was ready to reload and holster my gun, a fellow behind the counter came and gave me a hard time about having the ammo and gun together on the counter. He moved the ammo to the side, and took the gun and made sure it was empty, then placed it back on the counter. Apparently they have some sort of Cabela's regulation about having both together on the counter. After a few minutes clearing up this little issue, I reloaded and reholstered. We continued the conversation, with the 2nd fellow giving a warning that OC would probably land me in jail in PA, and that OC scares some people. He claims to CC, not OC. I made it clear that I was fully aware of the gun laws and OC nearly every day, but this did not disuade him from trying to scare me out of OCing. At some points I wondered if he would not call the police to wait outside for me as soon as I left the counter. He did make it clear, though, that OC and CC were fine in Cabela's.

I was so frustrated with his trying to scare me out of OCing that I left without buying anything. (I left OCing, BTW.) I came to Cabela's to browse and purchase gun-related items, not be "educated" by some individual who frankly doesn't have a clue about the reasons why we OC--because we have the right to do so and because it educates the public about what our founding fathers fought for. I have stopped at Cabela's in the past with my parents, but I don't look forward to stopping there in the future.

While there were very prominent signs on the front doors of Cabela's saying that folks can carry concealed or openly in the store, some of the sales clerks need to learn what a "right" means and keep their ill-informed opinions to themselves.

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Please take the time to phone the store manager and share these thoughts with him.

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Without knowing the full details of the encounter...

Were the employees trying to push their views on you? Or were they concerned about your well-being? The wording of the post makes it kind of ambiguous... they were correct that OCing may just last you in jail, especially by the Philadelphia Paramilitary, albeit wrongly. And they were correct that OC may scare people who would then initiate a call to the police. It sounds like the warning my father gives me of, "you have every right to do it, but you're asking to get hassled by police who don't know that."

Once again, don't have the full details here, but was there a possibility that they weren't trying to preach but rather to help you out?

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Either way, that's not their job. Their job is to serve the customer, not to provide commentary. The check out clerk at the grocery store doesn't remind me to chew thoroughly so I don't choke.

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GLW,


Do you have any contact information on "Backwoods Leather"
I would like to contact them reagarding having a custom holster made ....

Thanks !!


~~ Springfield

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gnbrotz wrote:

Either way, that's not their job. Their job is to serve the customer, not to provide commentary. The check out clerk at the grocery store doesn't remind me to chew thoroughly so I don't choke.

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So, then, you take the position that when walking into a store, sales associates should not talk about anything with the patron aside from direct conversation about the item itself? Or did I get it wrong?

Once again, we don't know the full details. But it did not sound like they were instructing the customer to stop open carrying, they were not trying to enforce any imaginary corporate policy, and there is no evidence they called the police about it, nor did they claim that anyone was currently being scared. I can't see anything they did that was wrong. They were merely advising, from how I read it. In my job, I deal with hundreds of people a day, and if one of them expressed an interest in open carrying in Philadelphia, I would advise them not to do so unless they're in a situation where they can afford to put up with being the target of abusive police powers. Is it none of my business to say that?

Sometimes I think that OCers are so expectant of having serious confrontations with anti-gunners that they twist a situation to fit that expectation. Once again, I'm not accusing our poster of that, but as I've said, we don't know the full details...

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The highlighted portions are the ones that give me concern, and lead me to suggest that the employee overstepped their bounds:

GLW wrote:

We spoke for a few minutes, then just before I was ready to reload and holster my gun, a fellow behind the counter came and gave me a hard time about having the ammo and gun together on the counter. He moved the ammo to the side, and took the gun and made sure it was empty, then placed it back on the counter. Apparently they have some sort of Cabela's regulation about having both together on the counter. After a few minutes clearing up this little issue, I reloaded and reholstered. We continued the conversation, with the 2nd fellow giving a warning that OC would probably land me in jail in PA, and that OC scares some people. He claims to CC, not OC. I made it clear that I was fully aware of the gun laws and OC nearly every day, but this did not disuade him from trying to scare me out of OCing. At some points I wondered if he would not call the police to wait outside for me as soon as I left the counter. He did make it clear, though, that OC and CC were fine in Cabela's.

I was so frustrated with his trying to scare me out of OCing that I left without buying anything.

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gnbrotz wrote:

The highlighted portions are the ones that give me concern, and lead me to suggest that the employee overstepped their bounds:

GLW wrote:

We spoke for a few minutes, then just before I was ready to reload and holster my gun, a fellow behind the counter came and gave me a hard time about having the ammo and gun together on the counter. He moved the ammo to the side, and took the gun and made sure it was empty, then placed it back on the counter. Apparently they have some sort of Cabela's regulation about having both together on the counter. After a few minutes clearing up this little issue, I reloaded and reholstered. We continued the conversation, with the 2nd fellow giving a warning that OC would probably land me in jail in PA, and that OC scares some people. He claims to CC, not OC. I made it clear that I was fully aware of the gun laws and OC nearly every day, but this did not disuade him from trying to scare me out of OCing. At some points I wondered if he would not call the police to wait outside for me as soon as I left the counter. He did make it clear, though, that OC and CC were fine in Cabela's.

I was so frustrated with his trying to scare me out of OCing that I left without buying anything.

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Fair enough, I can see that.

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Hi Springfield45,

The contact info for Backwoods Leather is:

3022 Tyre Neck Rd
Portsmouth, VA 23703
Phone: (757) 483-4872

It took about 3 months for them to make the tuckable holster for my GP-100. They have a lot of other items in stock, though. And the prices are reasonable.

Glenn

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The employee went too far in what he said. I made it very clear that I was familiar with open carry and the possible reactions I could expect from others. I asked what the charge would be for the arrest, and he evaded the question. What he was saying was not a simple warning that police sometimes overstep their bounds concerning OC or that the police do not realize that OC is legal in PA. He had no business pushing his point, especially after I made it clear that I was not OCing in ignorance of what could be responses by civilians or the police. He overeacted from the very beginning of the conversation. Frankly, what he needs is a little (a lot of?) maturity. After the conversation with the employee and a number of vague statements he made, I'm not sure if he carries or not, and how much he may carry if he does. He certainly doesn't open carry out of fear of how people may react to him.

The only reason I brought up this event is because of the previous posts concerning Cabela's. Maybe other folks will have a better experience at Cabela's than I had. I spoke with a number of other salespeople at the store who said nothing about my firearm. Certainly what the employee in question said was not store policy. He knew the store policy and even stated it to me. He just doesn't know when to keep his opinion to himself. He is the type of person who won't back down until everyone agrees with his viewpoint. (In case you can't tell, I'm still irritated at how he treated me.)

Glenn

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GLW,


Thanks a bunch, They'll be getting some of my business in the very near future.



~~Springfield

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I would venture to guess that the gentleman in question is a fairly round guywhom wearsglasses. Kinda has a smug attitude about him and never wears his name tag. That guy gives everyone the stink eye, thinks his advice should be taken as the word of the christian god and feels that carrying a gun should be a LEO thing.

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WhiteFeather wrote:

I would venture to guess that the gentleman in question is a fairly round guywhom wearsglasses. Kinda has a smug attitude about him and never wears his name tag. That guy gives everyone the stink eye, thinks his advice should be taken as the word of the christian god and feels that carrying a gun should be a LEO thing.

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Guy needs to go find work elsewhere IMO