At the Gun Show

A few years ago, a friend of my wife from when she lived in Virginia came to Fayetteville (North Carolina, near Ft. Bragg - my home town) for a gun and knife show. Her friend owns a small gun shop outside of Williamsburg and travels up and down the East coast on weekends selling his wares at shows. When he arrived at our house, he was upset because the guy who was going to help him had blown off the trip. With five tables rented, Jeff (not his real name) was concerned about shoplifting and being able to service his customers. I was once in the military. During my twenties, I worked in law enforcement. In short, I unfortunately have some familiarity with guns. Since the guy was in a bind and a friend of my wife, I volunteered to help him out. This was a mistake.

In my own lefty way, I am a pretty big fan of the constitution and all its amendments. This includes the second amendment, even though my interpretation is different than that of the NRA. I was unprepared for what I experienced at this show. This crowd was composed of my peers, people who would serve on a jury were I to be accused of being the real killer of O.J. Simpson’s wife. You’d better bet I would take a plea bargain before my fate would be decided by my fellow Americans who attend gun shows on weekends.

Just to be ornery, I wore a Clinton-Gore t-shirt on the first day of the show. As I walked by a bumper sticker table I started to worry. When I saw “Whitewater-How Many More Must Die?” I knew I was in trouble. This was a little beyond the “I love my country, but I hate my government” sticker popular around here. I wanted to check the manufacturer of the sticker but I figured they wouldn’t call it the Joseph Goebbels Publishing Company anyway.

During the show I met some interesting folks. There was the fellow buying the sniper scope who explained to me about the U.N.’s black helicopters ferrying around the Tokyo secret police looking at prospective sites for the gulags to be built when the big New World Order push began. I heard a lot about the NWO and the U.N. over the weekend.

Then there was the Army sergeant who told me soldiers at Ft. Bragg were being questioned for selection to a special unit. The unidentified questioners were asking members of the 82nd Airborne, America’s Guard of Honor, if they would be willing to kill Americans in a house to house search for guns. He was buying a new 30 round magazine for his Tek-9. I hope the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment is ready when they go to search his house.

To take a break from these loonies I walked around the show to see if there were any historical weapons on display. I wanted to see an M-1, a British Lee-Enfield, and any other WWII rifles that were there. Instead I found the table hawking video-tapes on the U.N. takeover (probably made by the same company that makes the video on how many murders have occurred among enemies of the Clintons. Watch for the commercials on the Pat Robertson or the Jerry Falwell show) This was near the booth with the commemorative Ku Klux Klan pocketknives and patches. I hurried away so that I would be sure not to miss the Iranian guy selling Russian Night Vision equipment. The inspection sticker in the box had a date stamp that was only four months old. I guess it didn’t take Ivan long to sell this one to Abdul on the black market so that Abdul could sell it to Bubba here in my hometown.

The most poignant moment of the weekend came from this young working class guy (like me) who had a fist full of greasy $20 bills. He desperately wanted to buy a Czech SKS rifle. These were plentiful as were most other Warsaw Pact Weapons, including semi-automatic AK-47s. Anyway, this buyer, in his dirty heating and air uniform, finally got his rifle. Then he approached our table with his remaining cash to buy a scope. Putting down the last of his money he got it. After asking a few more questions, he learned he still needed a mount for the scope. The pain on his face was palpable. I almost gave him the additional six dollars to get the mount but he managed to borrow it from one of his buddies. He left smiling. I was touched.

The next morning, Sunday, he was back at the show. He was a little cleaned up and was no longer wearing his heating and air cap with another one. This hat said “N.C. Chapter of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan”. I still shudder when I think about it.

The final straw that turned this adventure from moderately frightening sociological investigation into morally reprehensible behavior took the form of a young man in a high school athletic shirt. He was buying several boxes of shotgun shells. Trying to be friendly, I asked him if he was getting ready for deer season. “No,” he replied, “I’m getting ready for n-word season.”

I’d like to say I walked out at this point. I didn’t. I stayed until the end of the day out of loyalty to my wife and out of the desire to keep my commitment to her friend. Years later, I am still ashamed.

What do you expect? :)

I'm just curious though...I wonder whether the poster thinks that ALL
gun show attendees are like that... :eyes:

But, as with all things, it is only my opinion.

and just remember, these very same wackos are driving their big
SUVs and trucks. Many of them don't even have car insurance...so,
for all intents and purposes they're just as dangerous behind the
wheel.

They get real testy about it when you don't have it.

more than 30% of the drivers have no insurance at all.... Just because
you "have too" doesn't mean they have it...

Or will stop you for the expired registration which is pretty much the same thing here.

I feel sorry for you.

I don't get it :shrug:

ps- welcome to DU!

Something tells me the "N" word was thrown in there as well.

I didn't know how to word that...

I know people just like that, too :puke:

As a psych minor, I'm very interested in stuff like that. I've been to a few gun and knife shows with my bf. We like to make fun of the freepers. Sometimes we make up identities and wear clothing with confederate flags on them to fit in. It's fun. Those people are messed up in the head. But most of them mean well, and no I'm not talking about the KKK members.
Duckie

I've read some of your posts and I must say, they are EXTREMELY thoughtful and well written. I welcomed you to DU earlier, and I welcome you again. I, for one, am glad you're here.

Thanks, this is fun!

A few weeks ago I posted my experiences at a gun show in Columbus, GA-a town that makes Fayetteville NC look like bohemian Paris. What I saw:
1 anti-Clinton bumper sticker among 50 tables
NO Paladin Press
only a couple Freepers, judging by clothing mottos
and not a single Bush sticker in the parking lot!
This is substantially different from my previous gun show experiences, and even from an outdoors show I went to earlier this year.

I don't know if I'd agree with your analysis. I've been to Columbus and Fayetteville. They are a lot more alike than Fayetteville and Paris are.

My trip to Paris

I've been to little and big ones in IA, one in Salt Lake, and one in Tulsa.

The ones in small towns were the most interesting - often connected with stamp and coin collecting groups.

The only one that was really 'freak-out time' was the one in Tulsa with little boys and their dads walking around in camouflage.

I think maybe the ones in IA and SLC were because many of the people their were hunters.

In Tulsa - not hunters.

At a show in Little Rock in the early '90's, I bought a copy of "Turner Diaries" from a crew cut blond fella who rose to prominence a couple of years later, Timothy McVeigh.