Noobs

[blackthorne]

I was in a sporting goods store today to pick up my new hunting license. After that I looked over a couple of their used beater guns and while doing so, some guy walked in and said he wanted to but a shotgun to use for home defense and for skeet. The first salesman said he only knew about fishing stuff and left to get someone else. I struck up a conversation with the customer and asked, "so what kind of action type were you thinking about"? He said 12ga. I said no, not the gauge, the action, to which he asked what I meant. Oh boy, here we go.... "pump, auto, side by side, over under"? Oh, a pump for sure, but what's an over under? And so it went... might as well have been buying a space ship.

If he was a kid I would offered to take him shooting and get him pointed in the right direction, but he was a 40 something yuppy. He heard what I was saying, but he wasn't listening. I can see him shooting his Lexus.

I was happy to pass him off to the "gun salesman" who appeared to have just graduated from high school. Scary. LOL

 

[engineerbrian]

Did you recommend the Linberta?

Edit: I didn't realize that thread got locked...oops!

 

[Bikebreath]

Poor bastard.

 

[INMY01TA]

I was in a sporting goods store today to pick up my new hunting license. After that I looked over a couple of their used beater guns and while doing so, some guy walked in and said he wanted to but a shotgun to use for home defense and for skeet. The first salesman said he only knew about fishing stuff and left to get someone else. I struck up a conversation with the customer and asked, "so what kind of action type were you thinking about"? He said 12ga. I said no, not the gauge, the action, to which he asked what I meant. Oh boy, here we go.... "pump, auto, side by side, over under"? Oh, a pump for sure, but what's an over under? And so it went... might as well have been buying a space ship.

If he was a kid I would offered to take him shooting and get him pointed in the right direction, but he was a 40 something yuppy. He heard what I was saying, but he wasn't listening. I can see him shooting his Lexus.

I was happy to pass him off to the "gun salesman" who appeared to have just graduated from high school. Scary. LOL

So he didn't know what an over under was. What do you care? He knew he wanted a pump. What makes him a yuppy and maybe he just didn't want to talk to you and deal with the sporting goods salespeople.

 

[STeveZ]

Newbs help to keep the shooting sports alive and our 2nd Amendment rights intact.

 

[ridethemessiah]

Everybody has to start somewhere. Nobody here knew what shotgun actions were available the minute we were born. The good news is he shows interest in guns for protection and for sport. The man at the store can certainly teach him about the weapon itself and maybe recommend taking a safety course, which is what i would have recommended to the man if it was me talking to him. Diversity is a good thing when it comes to gun ownership, it gives gun owners more credibility and more pull in the course of legislation.

 

[blackthorne]

Sorry INMY01TA, didn't know that was you.

 

[HardHatMan]

Lol, welcome back, wyomingboy!

 

[blackthorne]

Everybody has to start somewhere. Nobody here knew what shotgun actions were available the minute we were born. The good news is he shows interest in guns for protection and for sport. The man at the store can certainly teach him about the weapon itself and maybe recommend taking a safety course, which is what i would have recommended to the man if it was me talking to him. Diversity is a good thing when it comes to gun ownership, it gives gun owners more credibility and more pull in the course of legislation.

In fact I did recommend that he eventually go to PG and take their basic learn to shoot class. I also suggested a 26" pump to shoot skeet with and it could easily serve for the home. They had Super Novas, BPSs and Remingtons in their inventory. My parting comment was to look hard at the BPS. I know that everyone needs to start somewhere, but at least read something and educate yourself a wee bit before taking the next step.

 

[blackthorne]

Newbs help to keep the shooting sports alive and our 2nd Amendment rights intact.

Quite true, Steve. Quite true.

 

[BlueHeeler]

And therein demonstrates our serious problem recruiting new people to our sport. The fact is the majority of average citizens (voters) have learned their gun knowledge from movies. For this noob, TV peaked his interest, which is a good thing. I expect blackthorne could have dazzled the noob with knowledge and steered him in the right direction. Instead he chose to belittle him.

Just because you are knowledgeable about firearms, does not mean you should make the sport unwelcoming to noobs.

I make it routine to work with noobs. They have some very silly ideas. If I hear one more glorification of Desert Eagle I may swallow my tongue. Otherwise noobs are very receptive to safety, instruction, and most importantly gun legislation.

With a dude interested in shotgun gauges, you could have mentioned gauge is nothing more than an archaic measurement of bore size. The bore is the diameter of the barrel. As applied to shotgun there are a few different bores available. A 12 gauge means 12 solid spheres of lead at that diameter will equate to one pound. 20 gauge is the same thing. There is also an inverse, 1/12 of a pound of lead sphere will fit in a 12gauge barrel.

After that the guy is putty in your hands.

 

[Hynes57]

I grew up poor as crap with a single mom who was not all that great and no dad. Eventually i moved in with my Grandma. There was nobody to show me the ropes and nobody to teach me to shoot and to hunt. I have been reading on sites like MDShooters and others as well as hitting the range and asking questions...I still have never been hunting...recently joined IWLA in hopes to meet some good guys to learn from and to enjoy shooting with.

So whats my point? Not trying to write a sad story just to point out coming into the shooting sports can be very intimidating if you do not know someone involved. I appreciate every question answered and every piece of advise offered. Thanks to everyone! I love this stuff! I pay it forward every chance i get to share the knowledge i have and to teach others the value of our 2A rights.

 

[MadeInAmerica]

And therein demonstrates our serious problem recruiting new people to our sport. The fact is the majority of average citizens (voters) have learned their gun knowledge from movies. For this noob, TV peaked his interest, which is a good thing. I expect blackthorne could have dazzled the noob with knowledge and steered him in the right direction. Instead he chose to belittle him.

Just because you are knowledgeable about firearms, does not mean you should make the sport unwelcoming to noobs.

I make it routine to work with noobs. They have some very silly ideas. If I hear one more glorification of Desert Eagle I may swallow my tongue. Otherwise noobs are very receptive to safety, instruction, and most importantly gun legislation.

With a dude interested in shotgun gauges, you could have mentioned gauge is nothing more than an archaic measurement of bore size. The bore is the diameter of the barrel. As applied to shotgun there are a few different bores available. A 12 gauge means 12 solid spheres of lead at that diameter will equate to one pound. 20 gauge is the same thing. There is also an inverse, 1/12 of a pound of lead sphere will fit in a 12gauge barrel.

After that the guy is putty in your hands.

why are you bashing blackthorne its not like he didnt try to give the guy advice he specifically said nothing was getting through. If he said what you just said the guy would have even more confused.

 

[Rockn93yj]

Should have encouraged him to take a safety class, learn before you buy.

 

[BlueHeeler]

why are you bashing blackthorne its not like he didnt try to give the guy advice he specifically said nothing was getting through. If he said what you just said the guy would have even more confused.

His his posts were in the vein of, lets laugh at this moron that knows less about firearms than I do. Oh so the guy is a 40 year old yuppy, shame him. The conversation sounds like a lot of challenging rather than helping, which puts off noobs for obvious reason.

 

[MadeInAmerica]

His his posts were in the vein of, lets laugh at this moron that knows less about firearms than I do. Oh so the guy is a 40 year old yuppy, shame him. The conversation sounds like a lot of challenging rather than helping, which puts off noobs for obvious reason.

In fact I did recommend that he eventually go to PG and take their basic learn to shoot class. I also suggested a 26" pump to shoot skeet with and it could easily serve for the home. They had Super Novas, BPSs and Remingtons in their inventory. My parting comment was to look hard at the BPS. I know that everyone needs to start somewhere, but at least read something and educate yourself a wee bit before taking the next step.

did you read what he wrote? he obviously wasn't a douche to his face. I saw a large fellow at on target with his pimped out .22 ar and he couldnt shoot for shit at 25 feet i didnt walk up to him and tell him to invest in some glasses but i still found it hilarious.

 

[Boom Boom]

Everybody is a newbie at one thing or another their entire life. How they choose to educate themselves is a personal choice. Some folks humble themselves and seek out sound advice (and sometimes hands-on experience and training) from one or more experienced veterans. Most folks manage to muddle on through for way too long. Others blindly/ignorantly charge straight ahead with careless abandon. Looks like you met the latter type. Exactly as you did, the best thing to do with those folks is to distract them on something else and silently slip away. Time and effort is way too valuable when unappreciated.

 

[ContinualHarvest]

Everyone starts somewhere. I used to shoot as a kid. Didn't have time or money to get into it more during high school and college. But now, why not? I had the time over the summer to get the Hunters Safety Education done (Thank you Frederick Co. IWLA, you guys rock!), bought a rifle to learn on and have been out shooting with my dad more. Got my brother into shooting recently and he is damn good with just iron sights.
If more new people don't learn about how important our 2A rights are, they will just let them be swept away without a second thought.

 

[BlueHeeler]

did you read what he wrote? he obviously wasn't a douche to his face. I saw a large fellow at on target with his pimped out .22 ar and he couldnt shoot for shit at 25 feet i didnt walk up to him and tell him to invest in some glasses but i still found it hilarious.

Sure I read it. He did say:

"might as well have been buying a space ship."
That is a golden opportunity to help him.

The customer (voter) was confused on action.
That is a golden opportunity to help him.

The customer did not understand the various actions of a shotgun
That is a golden opportunity to help him.

The customer did not understand gauge.
That is a golden opportunity to help him.

Overall it is an epic fail. Some dude is ready to learn shotguns, but we are supposed to laugh at him, per the thread.

 

[zoostation]

Not referencing this incident specifically, but personally, I love teaching somebody brand new all about guns. They're generally very eager to hear what you have to say and it's a great chance to make a good first impression for the 2A community. A newbie who walks into a gun store is either going to feel welcomed and decide this is something he'd like to do, or walk out feeling pissed off and rejected and wondering if maybe all of those negative stereotypes he's seen of gun owners are true, and if perhaps he wants to start voting anti gun after all. Personally, I'd rather have the newbie there in Annapolis testifying with us or writing letters every legislative session, along with maybe his wife and family members he brings into the sport with him.