I have had more guns pointed at me tonight than I have had in the last 15 years (or longer).
So I was at Cabela’s in August Georgia tonight looking at pistols. Standing at the gun counter and waiting to be approached by one of the sales staff. And waiting. And waiting some more.
As I am waiting, there is a customer to my right being helped by a gentleman. The customer is interested in a particular weapon and had brought in a torn out portion of an advertisement.
The salesperson reaches in the gun cabinet and retrieves a pistol. And like all of their firearms, the magazine is in the weapon. The sales person is across and to my right.
The first thing he did was set the firearm on the glass counter. Never dropped the magazine. Never cleared the weapon in a safe direction. The muzzle of the firearm was pointed directly at my stomach, his hand was laying on it. So me being me, and according to my wife an “unapologetic asshole” I do what I do. Called him out. Rather loudly I proclaimed that “I would appreciate it if you would point the muzzle of that weapon somewhere other than my belly.”
He quickly turned it. Towards his OWN stomach. Keep in mind the weapon had not been cleared yet. He then proceeded to hand it to the fine customer standing there with his little torn out coupon or whatever.
Mr. Potential Firearms Purchaser proceeds to pick the weapon up, didn’t clear it, and points it over the sales person’s shoulder. Sales person informs him that he must squeeze the grip to activate the on board laser pointing device. Mr. Purchaser, with his finger on the trigger sweeps the muzzle of the still as yet uncleared firearm across the chest of the sales person, me, and other people standing near me and proceeds to point the weapon around the store. With his finger. On the trigger of an uncleared weapon.
While this is going on, another sales person behind the counter his handling a semi-automatic shotgun. He took it off the shelf as I had walked up and was showing it to another potential customer. I counted no less than six occasions when the muzzle of that shot gun swept my torso while I was standing there.
It is NEVER OK to hand someone an uncleared firearm. Ever.
It is NEVER OK to sweep the muzzle of any firearm across the body of another person. Ever.
It is NEVER OK to put your finger on the trigger of a firearm unless you are ready to shoot. Ever.
I don’t think I will ever go inside that store again. Ever.
Cabela’s. If you need some firearms safety training for your staff please contact me. I have several friends who are professionals and you can contact them directly.
UPDATE 1
I received this via Twitter on December 9th at about 10:47AM EST:
Could you please send us your contact details to customer.service@cabelas.com w/twitter in the subject. We’d like to contact you about this. -Melanie
UPDATE 2
I received this in the afternoon of December 9th from an anonymous source:
As a former gun counter employee at that fine establishment, there is no training hands on with any firearms. They “figure it out” as they go. One of the many reasons I happily left.
UPDATE 3
And this later that night in an email:
Response By Email (Melanie D.) (12/09/2017 09:18 PM)Hello Scott,Thank you for sending in this email.I have sent your contact information over to our Supervisor. They will be arranging to have a member of management contact you.
Thank you for visiting cabelas.com. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Cabela’s.
Sincerely,
Melanie D.
Customer Service
UPDATE 4
Received a call from I believe the District Manager for Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s. He apologized for the incident and said it would be taken care of. I am not sure what that means but I do know that I will not go back into that store. Not happy.