My manager at target said He'd call LEO if he saw someone come into our store.

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I had an interesting discussion with my manager and my security manager at target tonight while at work. My security Manager is a ex-deputy for Lincoln County and we have great discussions on CC and OC and guns in general. He is definitely on our side. My regular boss on the other hand, not so good.

I printed out the 45 pages of firearm laws for NC and printed out the pamphlet that Sheriff Baily gives to people who have a PURCHASE permit. Mr. Baily states clearly that guns must be carried in the open. I poured over the documents pretty much all day refreshing myself on the gun laws, so when I went to work I was still in study mode and was sort of out of it for a while.

Anyway the conversation went like this.
Me=Me
M= Manager
SM= Security manager

Me: sorry sir, I’m kinda out of it, I’ve been reading legal papers all day

M: what you getting married? J

Me: No, worse, I’m getting a firearm

M: You’re getting a gun? Why do you want a gun? (Patronizing voice)

Me: because I think it is time for me to take responsibility for my own safety as well as my friends and family

M: what gun are you getting?

Me: Glock 19 9mm.

M: So you are going get a gun and a holster?

Me: Yep, I’ll open carry too. Don’t want to get a CCW

M: So you are just going strut around with a gun on your hip. (scoffs)

Me: Sure, it’s perfectly legal. It’s what I want to do.

M: Why do you want to do that?

Me: (wondering if he didn’t hear the first time) Because I want to be able to defend myself. I don’t wear a seatbelt expecting to get in an accident. I am not wearing a gun expecting to get in trouble

M: No dude (laughs like he heard the stupidest thing) a seatbelt and gun are totally different things.

Me: Yes sir, (starting to get on edge) I understand but the analogy is what I’m getting at. I am not expecting trouble but when seconds count, the police are minutes away.

M: Did you get beat up in the past or something?

Me: (a little frustrated and for the third time) No, It’s just something that I am choosing to do.

M: I don’t know man, you can do that? Just carry a gun? You are going to freak people out!

Me: That’s what I thought too, but you know I found out that’s not the case, most people don’t notice.

M: If I saw you with a gun I’d feel very uncomfortable. I’d call the police if I saw anyone in the store with a gun.

Me: Well think about this, criminals hide their guns because they want to surprise you and….

M: That’s not true! What about the kids who shot everybody?

Me: What kids?

M: Columbine?

Me: That is different, that’s having guns on campus which are banned, those kids broke 18 gun laws walking onto that campus, I don’t think 5 more laws would have stopped them.

M: concedes my point by snickering.

Scene 2: break room; chatting with my SM about my glock 19, he says he hates me because he loves glocks, he thought it was so cool that I’m going to OC, but encourages me to think about getting a CC. He says even though it’s legal, don’t OC in a bank. Manager walks in renewing his attack, hoping to secure an ally. He’s dead wrong.

M: So (SM name) did you hear that that Godscreation is getting a pistol? (laughs)

SM: Yeah I heard.

M: (looks at me) So really you read the laws, you don’t need a permit, you can just carry a gun like that huh?

Me: (clearly realizing he didn’t secure the help he needed from SM decides to go full attack) Yep it’s legal. Hey if you don’t like the laws here don’t go to Vermont where there ARE NO GUN LAWS except for federal ones. (SM slowly starts nodding in agreement with me and smilels. I clearly secured an ally in this argument, time to turn up the heat) They “ironically” have the lowest crime rate in the country.

M: Why? Cuz everyone has guns?

Me: Yep.

M:I don’t know man, I’ve never seen anyone carry a gun in this store

Me: I have friends who carry in here [earlier my SM had told me 3 days ago he saw somebody OCing I didn’t want to drag him in this so I didn’t tell my M]

M: (clearly seeing he is losing tries to talk about guns but clearly it’s not his forte) So Glock 19 huh? That’s a big gun isn’t it?

Me: No sir, it’s a compact model.

M: but isn’t that what the police use?

Me: No sir, the Police use Glock 22 full size. (SM nods his head again)

M: Oh OK, Glock, that German right?

Me: No sir, Austrian (SM nods again [don’t have proof but I think he was enjoying this])

M: What about Berreta, they good?

Me: depends on who you ask. (SM points out its like ford and GM which is better? We’ll never know)

M: Are they an American brand?

Me: (again) No sir, they are Italian.

Me: (trying to steer the convo without humiliating my boss even more) I’ve heard someone say that an armed society is a polite society.

SM: Yeah, I agree, (nods) that’s pretty good.

M: I don’t know man, what about back 100 or so years ago when everyone had guns?

Me: (has had enough) What? You mean like the “wild west?” like on the MOVIES? HOLLYWOOD?

SM: (jumps in before I get too upset) yeah, that’s pretty much movie stuff. Cities like Dodge City, big shootouts, that never really happened.

Me: yeah it happened but not like in the movies, and usually the shots were because the bandits were robbing the bank and the citizens were shooting back saying “that’s my freakin money! Bang! Bang!

(SM laughs, M walks out, I clock back in for work.)

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...carry to Target on your day off. > )

Or, have your wife, g/f, or friend, pick you up from work carrying. I'm glad you held yourself to calmly when they were obviously poking fun and laughing about you to your face.

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Way to go Godscreation, !!

What a great way to keep your cool when your manager was making fun of you and laughing in your face ..... Guess it shows who the real undereducated putz of the conversation was doesn't it ? ....

:celebrate:celebrate

~~Springfield

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I used to work security at Target and I know they have the standard employees make not carry firearms at work policy. I'm sure if you were to show up packing in "customer mode" on your off day it wouldn't be hard for them to fire you anyways. Good job on standing your ground.

Also, retail employees in most states are hired in a "at will" status which basically means they can fire you for almost anything they want as long as its not a violation of civil rights. "Gross Misconduct" is the one that the frequently used when they fired people at our store. That being said, my suggestion is that it may be advantageous to have a CCW permit just in case for some reason you decide you want or need to conceal it.

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Sounds like you handled yourself great! I used to OC at the Target in the Springfield Mall in VA every time I went there, probably twice a month and I NEVER had a problem. OC'ed past the security, cashiers, employees and nothing happened. Not a damn thing!

It's shameless advertising, but I always tell people that I'm on OpenCarry.org, a web forumdedicated to educating people on the lawful open carry of firearms across the country.

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I've had conversations with people where I present clear stats (I love citing the Columbine incident - - 18 gun laws were broken, do you really think 19 would have stopped the massacre?) and rather than educated responses, I get the same thing you got...scoffs, patronizing comments to me, and demeaning comments about me to the others we were with.

The best thing you can do is what you did, stay unemotional and realize that some people will just never get it. And for their sake, I hope they remain safe in their obliviousness and never have to learn firsthand that when seconds count, police are only a few minutes away.

An interesting trivia to the last point, we've had a number of school shootings here in Las Vegas in the past month or two. In response to the first incident, police increased patrols, strategized special action response plans, and when only a day or two later another incident occurred, the fastest police response (when very well prepared and already on edge due to those recent incidents) was only 5 minutes.

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BobCav wrote:

It's shameless advertising, but I always tell people that I'm on OpenCarry.org, a web forumdedicated to educating people on the lawful open carry of firearms across the country.

Click to expand...

The VCDL web site has a list of the places in Virginia that are anti-gun.

I think the promotion of PRO-gun places is a great one! But devils advocate...might such list have a negative response....what if one of the listed places has a corporate-wide ANTI gun policy, and the corporate folks overreact and respond by requiring strict enforcement?

Tim

Edit: misread your paragraph...but what do you think about such a list anyway?

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Tim that's a valid point. I've OC'ed in places that were "Corporate ANTI" but themanagers were cool and even thankful! Posting placed you've OC'ed with no problems isfine, but I too wouldhate to see a good buy getting screwed by corporate because his store was found on a list.

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I've OCed at the Target here in Jacksonville more than a few times. Management dosen't seem to care. Neither does the rent-a-cop they have posted up front.