Please Speak To My Son ...

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First, let me set the stage ...

Over the weekend, my family and I competed in a cowboy mounted shooting competition. As part of these competitions, we dress in period clothing.

After the event was over (with me losing quite handily and my wife winning her class ), we loaded up all the horses in the horse trailer and headed for home. On the way, my wife and I decided to stop at our favorite chinese restaurant to pick up some food.

I park my giant truck and trailer rig in front of the restaurant and climb out dressed in 1800's cowboy clothing with my "gunslinger" holster holding my Glock 17 (my stainless six-guns having been cleaned of black powder and put away).

As I am getting the food, a woman approached me and asked if I would speak to her son. She said that when he saw I had a gun, he became terrified and whispered "Mom! He has a gun! We should dial 911. That is what they told us at school!"

Now ... as a fine example of a Virginia woman, this mother knew better and asked if I would explain our freedoms to her son.

When I approached the table, I could see the young man was very nervous. I pulled up a chair and said "Hi. Your mom tells me you are a little nervous about seeing someone wearing a gun?" Looking down shyly, he said "Yes."

I smiled reassuringly and continued ... "Would you be nervous if you saw a police officer wearing a gun?" The answer was unsurprisingly "No".

"Good" I said. "Because police officers carry guns to make sure they are properly equipped to protect everyone if they are called upon to do so. I am not a police officer, but I do have a duty to protect myself and my family and so I too want to have the proper tools to be able to do so. Does this make sense?"

He went back to examining his fingernails, "I guess so."

I finished up by saying, "I think you should be very proud of being so observant. You should always be aware of what is going on around you. Bad guys also use guns and if you ever see someone with a gun in their hand and not properly secured in a holster, then you should tell an adult immediately and leave the area!"

The mom smiled and said "Thank you." as I turned and lugged my giant bag of fat ... I mean chinese food ... out of the restaurant.


I think this was one of the most unique open carry encounters I have personally ever had.

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Frickin' AWESOME educational moment!! I hope to be able to repeat some of those lines if I ever have the chance!

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Wow....

That was a neat story. Good job!

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Great story. It's important to be able to help kids understand that guns are not evil. If you don't stop the indoctrination and insanity when they're kids, then they will become gun hating/fearful adults.

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This one brought me out of hiding.



Nice -- Well done on the mothers part as well as JP.



DC

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Thank you so much for sharing that story. I am extremely impressed by this young man's mother during this encounter. Encouraging open carry stories are, in my opinion, even more important then the discouraging ones.

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Good to hear the Mother actually got you involved, nice job!

Someone should speak to this boys teacher, or the school maybe, telling a child to freak out whenever they see a firearm is a bit ludacris I think. However I do realize that small children can't readily identify if someone is up to no good, and they blanket firearms as bad because of it, I still think that if they are going to teach this lesson in school, that they teach it correctly.

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Awesome. On your part and on the mother's.

It's her duty, as well, to let her children know that sometimes organizations (schools, governments, etc.) can overstep based on what they FEEL to be "safest". Often these policies disregard another thing our schools claim to teach - that each person is an individual.

I also hope she refuses to join the National PTA and tells them why. They spout this stuff big time.

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Tess wrote:

Awesome. On your part and on the mother's.

It's her duty, as well, to let her children know that sometimes organizations (schools, governments, etc.) can overstep based on what they FEEL to be "safest". Often these policies disregard another thing our schools claim to teach - that each person is an individual.

I also hope she refuses to join the National PTA and tells them why. They spout this stuff big time.

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I can see where they deem a blanket policy (Call 911 whenever you see a gun) safest, because the police will always (or at least a large majority of the time) respond, and the person civil, or criminal will be confronted and stopped, questioned, and so on.

The point is, that yes, it will keep you safe, probably. However it deeply infringes on the rights of others who are legally packing and get harassed by the police because some 6 year old saw your firearm, holstered.

And if the police are anti gun, or anti oc, and they hear a kid was the one who got riled up about it, you can bet they are going to try to throw an "inducing panic" charge or something of the like at you, depending on who responds.

Tess, you a mother?
I hope so, I bet your kids are halfway decent

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Great story. I am now imagining the kid recounting the discussion to the educator who gave him the anti-reflex conditioning...

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DeadCenter wrote:

This one brought me out of hiding.



Nice -- Well done on the mothers part as well as JP.



DC

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Welcome back Kotter!

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openryan wrote

Tess, you a mother?
I hope so, I bet your kids are halfway decent

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Yeah, I reproduced.

Daughter goes to the range a couple of times a month. I gave her a handgun last year. She's ok.

Other child is mentally handicapped, and thus can never have a gun. He's pretty smart, though - knows not to touch the guns.

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Awesome job. Roy Rogers himself would be proud.

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Tess wrote:

openryan wrote

Tess, you a mother?
I hope so, I bet your kids are halfway decent

Click to expand...

Yeah, I reproduced.

Daughter goes to the range a couple of times a month. I gave her a handgun last year. She's ok.

Other child is mentally handicapped, and thus can never have a gun. He's pretty smart, though - knows not to touch the guns.

Click to expand...

You tell it staight and simple - I like that. Hope to meet you and yours some fine day.


Tess - I've been saving this one just for you.
Yata hey

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jpierce wrote:

"Mom! He has a gun! We should dial 911. That is what they told us at school!"

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Gahhhh!!! :cuss::cuss::cuss::banghead::banghead::banghead:

H_ _ _ School Guess the next three letters (hint, it's not high school).

Well, done, jpierce!! And you're right, that has to be the most unique encounter EVER (...well, there's also the Colonial Williamsburgh one that gives you a good run for your money)