Alexcabbie
Regular Member
imported post
Yesterday I decided to don my G-Code shoulder rig and with it my recently re-fitted PPK/s and go for a walk. (The leather is still stretching and I have to keep taking in the straps to keep the gun where I want it). One thing about OCing in a shoulder rig is all that strapping makes it stick out like a sore thumb. Not that I care, that is the whole point: Let the BGs know that there are armed citizens out there.
On the way back home I decided to stop in to the nice little cheese shop across the street to pick up a snack ( I am rather fond of soft rinded cheeses and baguette bread). There were about six other customers in the shop. Now I must say I shoulda known that a wine-and-cheese shop is to weenies what a rock concert is to potheads. I was drilled through with laser-like stares of disapproval and a young mother ostentatiously moved to place herself between me and the stroller containing her kid. As I moved to the cheese display one guy - a big bullmoose of a man - tripped all over himself trying to get outta the way.
I pretended not to notice as I placed my order, but one of the owners asked "is that a gun?" (yes I was tempted to sarcasm but no ). I very nonchalantly talked about the weapon and said yes, I carry openly because it's my right to defend myself. His wife then said "Oh, please don't bring guns into my shop again" as she rang me up.
Today I stopped in for a little Stilton to crumble into my soup and the owner's wife was there. She said she is "all for" the RTKBA but that her shop caters to a social set that is "afraid of guns or just doesn't like guns" and that she didn't want her customers to be "scared away". She requested that on future visits to her shop I either leave the firearm at home or in the trunk of the car (I only live across the street) OR excersise my CHP and pull my shirt over the weapon.
This couple are very nice folks, and they have opened a business with a thin margin in the middle of a recession. And they are not "vegan" weenies, they have a large selection of excellent charcouterie. And they are right as rain about one thing: A robber can only take what cash they have, but they right now need every single customer they can get. They know that they are serving sheeple and dont want them scared away.
Our conversation ended with the understanding that if I entered the shop whilst armed, the weapon will be hidden from common observation; and I also advised her that as an owner she has the right (in Virginia) to carry a concealed weapon under her apron and (given the fact that there have been a few armed robberies of small businesses here over the years) maybe it would not be a bad idea.
I would (if I had my druthers, which hardly anyone ever does) rather these shopkeepers educate the sheeple about the RTKBA and tell the weenieocracy that this is Virginia and not Hawaii or New York and that any private citizen carrying a firearm serves to let bad guys know that this is not a soft target. In would have loved to tell that mother who stepped between me and her kid that any bad guy wishing to harm them would take one look at JJ sitting high in the hoster and decided to look elsewhere for helpless victims. But these are my neighbors, trying to make a living (and providing quality product for reasonable prices to boot). They are not anti-gun by a long shot. But they are pro-profit and ask of me, as a freind and a neighbor and as a valued customer ONLY that I keep my weapon out of sight of the other customers while visiting their shop. And I am glad to accommodate them in this regard.
Does this make me unworthy of calling myself an OC advocate? Or am I just being a good neighbor?
Yesterday I decided to don my G-Code shoulder rig and with it my recently re-fitted PPK/s and go for a walk. (The leather is still stretching and I have to keep taking in the straps to keep the gun where I want it). One thing about OCing in a shoulder rig is all that strapping makes it stick out like a sore thumb. Not that I care, that is the whole point: Let the BGs know that there are armed citizens out there.
On the way back home I decided to stop in to the nice little cheese shop across the street to pick up a snack ( I am rather fond of soft rinded cheeses and baguette bread). There were about six other customers in the shop. Now I must say I shoulda known that a wine-and-cheese shop is to weenies what a rock concert is to potheads. I was drilled through with laser-like stares of disapproval and a young mother ostentatiously moved to place herself between me and the stroller containing her kid. As I moved to the cheese display one guy - a big bullmoose of a man - tripped all over himself trying to get outta the way.
I pretended not to notice as I placed my order, but one of the owners asked "is that a gun?" (yes I was tempted to sarcasm but no ). I very nonchalantly talked about the weapon and said yes, I carry openly because it's my right to defend myself. His wife then said "Oh, please don't bring guns into my shop again" as she rang me up.
Today I stopped in for a little Stilton to crumble into my soup and the owner's wife was there. She said she is "all for" the RTKBA but that her shop caters to a social set that is "afraid of guns or just doesn't like guns" and that she didn't want her customers to be "scared away". She requested that on future visits to her shop I either leave the firearm at home or in the trunk of the car (I only live across the street) OR excersise my CHP and pull my shirt over the weapon.
This couple are very nice folks, and they have opened a business with a thin margin in the middle of a recession. And they are not "vegan" weenies, they have a large selection of excellent charcouterie. And they are right as rain about one thing: A robber can only take what cash they have, but they right now need every single customer they can get. They know that they are serving sheeple and dont want them scared away.
Our conversation ended with the understanding that if I entered the shop whilst armed, the weapon will be hidden from common observation; and I also advised her that as an owner she has the right (in Virginia) to carry a concealed weapon under her apron and (given the fact that there have been a few armed robberies of small businesses here over the years) maybe it would not be a bad idea.
I would (if I had my druthers, which hardly anyone ever does) rather these shopkeepers educate the sheeple about the RTKBA and tell the weenieocracy that this is Virginia and not Hawaii or New York and that any private citizen carrying a firearm serves to let bad guys know that this is not a soft target. In would have loved to tell that mother who stepped between me and her kid that any bad guy wishing to harm them would take one look at JJ sitting high in the hoster and decided to look elsewhere for helpless victims. But these are my neighbors, trying to make a living (and providing quality product for reasonable prices to boot). They are not anti-gun by a long shot. But they are pro-profit and ask of me, as a freind and a neighbor and as a valued customer ONLY that I keep my weapon out of sight of the other customers while visiting their shop. And I am glad to accommodate them in this regard.
Does this make me unworthy of calling myself an OC advocate? Or am I just being a good neighbor?
