Cabela's

Jim40Cal · Jan 20, 2012

I thought Cabela's was Open Carry friendly? I just found out it isn't in Kansas...

Amanda B: When you get to the store there will be a station in the front for you to check in your gun as we do not allow open carry.

James Hatfield: Ok,,I'll go somewhere else,,Thank you

ecocks · Jan 20, 2012

Call corporate and inform them this is what you were told for this location.

Probably an untrained/misinformed employee.

Curmudgeon · Jan 20, 2012

ecocks said:
Call corporate and inform them this is what you were told for this location.

Probably an untrained/misinformed employee.

^This. Here is a pic of the sign outside the Cabela's in Pennsylvania, and reflects Cabela's corporate policy regarding carry...

305121_10150391904124669_511289668_9877667_930120949_n.jpg

Note the smaller print near the bottom.

MKEgal · Jan 20, 2012

Jim40Cal said:
I thought Cabela's was Open Carry friendly? I just found out it isn't in Kansas...

Amanda B: When you get to the store there will be a station in the front for you to check in your gun as we do not allow open carry.

James Hatfield: Ok, I'll go somewhere else, Thank you

Definitely misinformed.
Contact corporate, let the trickle-down theory work.
They'll probably either send you a nice apology or make the manager do it.
And if it ever happens again (won't with that employee!) take the offender to the sign & make them read it.
Explain that you're not bringing your pistol for "repair, service, or trade".
I wish Cabela's would remove the 'permit' wording entirely, since it does seem they ignore OC.

Firedawg314 · Jan 20, 2012

First I would say... ask.. . Is the store located in a mall? Here where I am, its attached to a mall and the mall doesn't allow "open carry"... so the store have to respect it... but as an unwritten rule, they allow CC.

sohighlyunlikely · Jan 21, 2012

Firedawg314 said:
First I would say... ask.. . Is the store located in a mall? Here where I am, its attached to a mall and the mall doesn't allow "open carry"... so the store have to respect it... but as an unwritten rule, they allow CC.

I have Open Carry-ed in the Hazelwood location at least 40 times. They have their own entrance and do not go by the malls no firearm rule. The manager has reassured me that Open Carry is welcomed as long as the firearm stays inside the holster. Sometimes you may get a greeter that is unsure of the rule but it usually just a few words to explain that an OC has already been established and in I go.

Doc

Morpheus97 · Jan 21, 2012

I had an issue at the Cabelas in Hazelwood one time last year. An employee at the gun counter told me OC wasn't allowed. After a brief discussion I set down the $500 item I was getting ready to purchase and spoke to a manager. The manager confirmed OC was permitted, but he tried to discourage me from doing it. An email to corporate seems to have fixed the issue, as I haven't had a problem there since.

RPGamingGirl · Jan 21, 2012

Asking you not to carry in the store is one thing (bad policy on its own, but whatever), but telling you to check it in? What is this, the old west? No thanks, i'll take my business somewhere else too. I would feel more comfortable leaving it in my car. Somewhere visible.

ecocks · Jan 21, 2012

RPGamingGirl said:
Asking you not to carry in the store is one thing (bad policy on its own, but whatever), but telling you to check it in? What is this, the old west? No thanks, i'll take my business somewhere else too. I would feel more comfortable leaving it in my car. Somewhere visible.

Deep breaths.

The picture explains that guns being brought in for service and trade-in must be checked, That's very reasonable and prudent to prevent people being shot clearing guns over a crowded counter while being jostled and dealing with people (customers, their families, employees, little children running around, etc.).

LMTD · Jan 21, 2012

Open carry is about as screwed up in KS as it is MO. Are you sure it was not restricted? As far as I know (which is not a lot) the only absolute OC in KS is unloaded OC.

Pat Gardner · Jan 21, 2012

I know that here in Idaho Cabela's is a very friendly OC store as long as you keep the firearm holstered.

deepdiver · Jan 21, 2012

I really think that either this was a misinformed employee or some local/specific site restriction that a call to management will resolve.

Firedawg314 · Jan 21, 2012

sohighlyunlikely said:
I have Open Carry-ed in the Hazelwood location at least 40 times. They have their own entrance and do not go by the malls no firearm rule. The manager has reassured me that Open Carry is welcomed as long as the firearm stays inside the holster. Sometimes you may get a greeter that is unsure of the rule but it usually just a few words to explain that an OC has already been established and in I go.

Doc

That's cool that you guys have strigthen that thing out. What was explained to me (maybe they felt intimadated by me being black... just saying). The supervisor there was telling me that, even though they have their own door to enter into... its still the property of the mall (Mills Mall). And the owner of the mall beileves in NO WEAPONS IN THE MALL. The store is considered "the mall" so to a "certain" extent they have to follow the rules or run a risk of not being allow to rent there (like they need to be there). I was told that if I CC, "we don't care". If you OC... in general we don't care, but by the rules we have to inform our personnel to let you know that OC isn't "allowed". Now, the employees can "turn" a blind eye to it. And for the most part they do.

Now, for me... every now and then I see "county brown" (county police) in there. So, I really don't feel like if a "gun-ho" cop feel like locking me up because I walked in OCing... in a county that allows OCing, but the mall doesn't. Espeically with a sign that explains in the front that "all weapons must be checked in first". Not the way I want to spend my afternoon. but for hte most part, I "CC by having my light jacket on". But its on my hip not cover up, except by the jacket. I guess sometimes you have to take what you can get.

deepdiver · Jan 21, 2012

I actually wouldn't be surprised if race were a factor in reactions at that particular location. I understand from some friends and family members who frequent the mall that they have had some significant crime problems there and unfortunately, black people have been very over represented among the offenders. I don't have any data to back up what they have told me specifically but general data from the metro area would make the veracity expected. In other words I wouldn't be surprised if race were a factor, but because of criminal demographics rather than any overt or latent racism.

I'll give you a big dose of respect for OCing in the St. Louis metro area (I'll give anyone who is willing to OC in the St. Louis metro area extra thumbs up as the culture and attitude in general is pretty anti-citizen carry as we know from the CC battle not so many years ago). As a 40-something, typically conservatively dressed caucasian, I am somewhat timid about OC in that area even in places where others have reported no issues just because of what I perceive as likely LEO problems I don't have time for when I am there. I expect that as a black man (I assume man from your posts) in the St. Louis metro area you have a higher risk of unwanted attention from LEO than caucasian OCDO members have. I'm not making an accusation of racism, but, like with the mall, crime demograpics are not favorable to law abiding black residents. Any kind of profiling, even if unintentional or unconscious, is going to bring an armed black man more attention than an armed white guy. Or maybe I am all wet on this and seeing things from a 100 mile visitors distance that are incorrect....

MKEgal · Jan 21, 2012

sohighlyunlikely said:
I have Open Carry-ed in the Hazelwood location at least 40 times.
They have their own entrance and do not go by the malls no firearm rule.

I don't suppose laws about renting vary all that much from state to state, at least on the basics...

I've always heard that the stores can set their own policies, but the common areas of the mall are under mall control. So if a store has its own entrance, as many of the anchor stores do, their rules apply on the property they're renting. Just like if you rent an apartment, you can have a rule inside your rented walls that nobody can wear pink, or drink alcohol, or talk about that purple dinosaur.

The fun comes when a state requires a posted notice that the mall infringes certain rights, & there aren't any signs to that effect between the anchor stores & the common area of the mall.
Thing is, your apartment is not public property, nor accessable to the public.
A mall or other store is. In fact, it's specifically held out as a place that invites the public to enter. So how can they get away with denying/infringing people's rights?
(Or at least, some rights... try telling someone they can't come in while wearing a cross.)

deepdiver · Jan 21, 2012

MKEgal said:
I don't suppose laws about renting vary all that much from state to state, at least on the basics...

I've always heard that the stores can set their own policies, but the common areas of the mall are under mall control. So if a store has its own entrance, as many of the anchor stores do, their rules apply on the property they're renting. Just like if you rent an apartment, you can have a rule inside your rented walls that nobody can wear pink, or drink alcohol, or talk about that purple dinosaur.
SNIP

Anothg factor is that you cannot assume that just because a particular store is attached to the mall that it is renting. For example, in our local mall, the JC Penney store footprint, bulding and land, is actually owned by the JC Penney parent corporation whereas the other anchor stores land and buildings are owned by the mall ownership. Given all the exterior work Cabela's did at The Mills location, they could very well own their footprint or more.

peterarthur · Jan 21, 2012

Isn't Cabela's in Kansas City, KS?? I thought it was illegal to OC there?

deepdiver · Jan 21, 2012

peterarthur said:
Isn't Cabela's in Kansas City, KS?? I thought it was illegal to OC there?

There are numerous locations nationwide: http://www.cabelas.com/retail-stores.shtml

Jim40Cal · Jan 21, 2012

Kansas

Summary
While Kansas is an open carry state, they have incomplete preemption on open carry. This means that there are some local ordinances that could constitute a nightmare for the law abiding citizen, except for concealed handgun permit holders when inside vehicles

Firedawg314 · Jan 21, 2012

deepdiver said:
I actually wouldn't be surprised if race were a factor in reactions at that particular location. I understand from some friends and family members who frequent the mall that they have had some significant crime problems there and unfortunately, black people have been very over represented among the offenders. I don't have any data to back up what they have told me specifically but general data from the metro area would make the veracity expected. In other words I wouldn't be surprised if race were a factor, but because of criminal demographics rather than any overt or latent racism.

I'll give you a big dose of respect for OCing in the St. Louis metro area (I'll give anyone who is willing to OC in the St. Louis metro area extra thumbs up as the culture and attitude in general is pretty anti-citizen carry as we know from the CC battle not so many years ago). As a 40-something, typically conservatively dressed caucasian, I am somewhat timid about OC in that area even in places where others have reported no issues just because of what I perceive as likely LEO problems I don't have time for when I am there. I expect that as a black man (I assume man from your posts) in the St. Louis metro area you have a higher risk of unwanted attention from LEO than caucasian OCDO members have. I'm not making an accusation of racism, but, like with the mall, crime demograpics are not favorable to law abiding black residents. Any kind of profiling, even if unintentional or unconscious, is going to bring an armed black man more attention than an armed white guy. Or maybe I am all wet on this and seeing things from a 100 mile visitors distance that are incorrect....

Well, no, I live in the county of St. Louis. I use to live in the city recently (about 3 year ago)... but OCing in St. Louis City is a PROMISE ride to the jail if not a few pieces of lead heading your way. I too am a bit timited about OCing. I too dress conservatively... polo shirts, button down shirts etc. If I dress like I'm going to the gym with a gun... people are going to assume I am a thug. I am atlethic build, few tats etc.... but I carry myself well (former militray), so for the most part, many people assume I am a cop (clean cut dress, etc). And its ok, I guess... it keeps me out of trouble... I worry the day, when someone assumes I am a cop and treat me like one. But yes, depending on the location...race plays a huge factor. but hey what are you going to do? If you see a number of black thugsish looking people causing you trouble? Its like if you live in an area of Latin looking people causing you trouble... what do you start to assume? Its human nature.

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