Mainsail
Regular Member
imported post
I stopped in Trader Joes on Bridgeport last night, not a sideways glance. I decided to cross the DMZ and head over to Lakewood to stop at the Wal-Mart. I need to pick up some modeling clay to set up my scope on the new rifle and I figured if anyone would have some, they would be the best bet. No problem from the greeter but I got a few puzzled looks from two or three customers.
I stopped by the sporting goods for no other purpose than to be shocked and dismayed at how high a 250 round bulk-pack of .45ACP has gotten (~$81). A man was standing at the counter waiting for help and an employee was paged to go help him. Right next to that is the toy section but I couldn’t find any clay so I started looking for an employee. I spotted one guy changing a trash bag and asked him, but English wasn’t his first (second or third) language. God bless him he tried to help; scurrying off to find a toy section employee. I asked someone next door in electronics and she did the same.
While I was waiting, another customer walked by, got all bug eyed, and told me my pistol had become exposed. I told him it was supposed to be that way. He answered, “Oh, you’re a cop.” I said no and he assumed I was store security (with a gun?) and I said no, just a customer. He warned me that it was illegal to walk around ‘like that’; I told him it was perfectly legal. We discussed it briefly and he seemed to get it. He laughed and said that in Arizona you can only carry openly (so I guess he hasn’t been there in a while). No employee ever came to help me, or the guy still waiting in sporting goods. After 20 minutes or so I finally just left. Out front I noticed someone I figured to be loss prevention standing near the entrance. I had seen him previously with another man in the toy section, so I began to wonder if they were waiting on the police to arrive, but I didn’t have time to wait. I had LPD up on the ham radio but never heard anything so I may just have been paranoid.
I stopped in Trader Joes on Bridgeport last night, not a sideways glance. I decided to cross the DMZ and head over to Lakewood to stop at the Wal-Mart. I need to pick up some modeling clay to set up my scope on the new rifle and I figured if anyone would have some, they would be the best bet. No problem from the greeter but I got a few puzzled looks from two or three customers.
I stopped by the sporting goods for no other purpose than to be shocked and dismayed at how high a 250 round bulk-pack of .45ACP has gotten (~$81). A man was standing at the counter waiting for help and an employee was paged to go help him. Right next to that is the toy section but I couldn’t find any clay so I started looking for an employee. I spotted one guy changing a trash bag and asked him, but English wasn’t his first (second or third) language. God bless him he tried to help; scurrying off to find a toy section employee. I asked someone next door in electronics and she did the same.
While I was waiting, another customer walked by, got all bug eyed, and told me my pistol had become exposed. I told him it was supposed to be that way. He answered, “Oh, you’re a cop.” I said no and he assumed I was store security (with a gun?) and I said no, just a customer. He warned me that it was illegal to walk around ‘like that’; I told him it was perfectly legal. We discussed it briefly and he seemed to get it. He laughed and said that in Arizona you can only carry openly (so I guess he hasn’t been there in a while). No employee ever came to help me, or the guy still waiting in sporting goods. After 20 minutes or so I finally just left. Out front I noticed someone I figured to be loss prevention standing near the entrance. I had seen him previously with another man in the toy section, so I began to wonder if they were waiting on the police to arrive, but I didn’t have time to wait. I had LPD up on the ham radio but never heard anything so I may just have been paranoid.