How would you handle this?

General General Discussion
1

I usually don’t go to gun shows, because the local ones are more like a junk swap meet, but today I was bored, needed some nylon brushes and wanted to see if they had any decent ARs.

I’m browsing the one vender that had a large selection of ARs. Most were junk Bushmasters, RRAs and DPMS, but they had a Colt or two and a Daniel Defense. They were all overpriced.

Anyway, as I’m looking I hear this little kid’s voice, “pow, pow, pow.” I look across the table and a boy, maybe 7-8 years old, is pointing an AR at me and others “shooting” us. His dad is next to him, completely ignoring his son. I watch the kid for several minutes, thinking, surely his dad’s going to catch him. Nope, he picked up 2 other rifles and did the same thing. I almost walked over to the dad to politely ask him not to allow his son to point a rifle at me, but figured it wouldn’t end well and wasn’t worth a confrontation.

About 30 minutes later I see the same father / son and this time the kid is holding a pistol at another vendor’s table. Same thing, pointing the pistol at the patrons, “pow, pow, pow!”

I’m all for father / son outings. I remember my dad taking to me to gun shows as a kid. I also remember a polite seller educating me that you should always ask before picking up someone’s firearm. I’m all for kids shooting, but come on! Someone needs to teach them they aren’t toys to be pointed at people! I don’t blame the kid, I blame the dad!

I saw several adults acting like morons too, so I won’t even go there.

How would you have handled it? Chalk it up to kids being kids? Say something to the dad? Mention it to the vendor or gun show organizer and let them handle it? Draw your CCW and point it back at the kid for pointing a rifle at you while shouting “drop the rifle!”? (I’M ONLY BEING SARCASTIC!!!) Or would you just ignore them?

UPDATE: Thanks to all who replied. I think there are some good suggestions here. I can’t reply, because a moderator moved the thread to a forum I don’t have privileges to post in. It took me a while to figure out why my reply wouldn’t work! :wink:

2

that is a case of bad parenting :rolleyes:.My daughter knows Not to handle weapons at guns show unless she asked first and she always keep the Muzzle away from people .

Dad drop the Ball on this as did the vendors .If I was a vendor I would have said something to the Man .

As for me I have been known to talk loud so the people I am bitch about hear me as I stare at them, this gets the point across and all i get is a dirty look.:sarcastic:

3

Definately bad parenting. I probably would of said something. I grew up around guns as my dad was a police officer and I knew it was my ass if I pulled something like that. Sounds to me like the father hasn’t had the it’s not a toy talk.

4

Someone at a local gun show here in Columbus got shot as a result of this kind of horseplay. This stuff needs to be clamped down upon, or this is a lawsuit/spotlight that gun owners do NOT need. I would have tried to be as polite as possible and told the father that this is unacceptable and unsafe behavior by the son. Gun shows in my area as of late have become a true circus event, bearded ladies, charlatans, people who haven’t seen a shower in months and the like. If you don’t feel like confronting such behavior, I would leave the show.

5

I went to a gun show today and you weren’t allowed to handle a gun unless you could legally buy it.

If anyone would have pointed a gun at me I think I would have said something.

6

Moved because this is not an AR issue.

7

I would have gone and politely talked to the kid if I were near by.

8

+1

Edjumacating the young’n might have been good seein how the pappy aint

9

I would have notified event staff or politely asked the father to correct the action.

10

There is of course only one correct answer…I’d have gone all Ashida Kim on Dad’s ass.

11

Being the consument skeptic, I’ve attempted to apply this Monkey Steals the Peach technique on my Great Dane with the specific intent on accessing the Ch’ueng Mo channels. I wanted to see if the technique could actually stop the heart. Alas, it did not have the intended effect - perhaps because he is neutered? Anyway, I feel that I must now go to the hospital to have some bite wounds addressed…

12

One must not consider the other guys “feelings”. It’s already obivous he is a douche nozel. I would have asked the father to stop his child from pointing firearms at me. If he got retarded then we would go from there.

13

I would have notified the event staff and said something to the venders permitting a child to handle firearms without supervision.

Dad’s an idiot and trying to publicly chastise strangers on parenting technique seldom produces a desirable result. The venders are responsible for the firearms in their possession and have an obligation to insure they are secured and safe at all times. And the event organizers have a duty to provide for the safety of the public attending their gun show. Failure across the board and another strike against gun shows which have turned into flea markets with firearms.

14

Question: When the monkey attempts to steal the peach, isn’t he likely to be distracted by the banana?

15

I would have just taken the gun away from the kid and handed it back to the guy who was supposed to be manning the table. If he or the dad wanted to make an issue of it, I would have been happy to let the gun show organizer settle the issue.

16

I’d have no problem talking with the vendor and parent in a respectful manner. If they didn’t want to talk then I would have talked with the show promoters.

17

I start with a “careful there buddy. Remember guns are always loaded, and only point them in a safe direction.” Make it loud enough for the parent and vendor to hear. When that doesn’t work, a direct intervention with dad, “hey dad, you have a teachable moment on gun safety right there.”

18

Chalk it up to bad parenting, no parenting, and parents who would rather be friends with their kids than mentors and role models. It seems to be par for the course these days.

My wife handles this by being as loud and rude as possible and thinking out loud about their parenting skills.

19

I like your approach. It is addressed, tactfully. My second vote goes for the peach move! It is very sad that this was allowed to happen, at least twice. This is also why I don’t like to use local ranges often, too many idiots.

20

Brilliant! That would be an excellent way to handle no. No rational adult / parent should have a problem with that