I stopped at a gas station today and was standing second in line. The lady in front of me looked like she had been a heavy smoker and drinker for a good part of her life. For some reason she was standing there waiting for something so the clerk called me forward to ring me up. The lady, still standing there and me having nowhere to move forward except with my strong side towards her, she looks down at my PT145 that I was OCing in my new Galco leather. She stairs at it for a good ten seconds and in her raspy voice with a hint of sarcasm asks, "you ain't gonna shoot me are you?" Now I'm not the most whity person with comebacks but I reply back with " Now why would I do that?" She did not respond and continued with her non inteligent conversation with the clerk. After leaving the station and thing about the situation, I realized that there were a lot of better things that I could have said to her and not to mention that her stupid little comment almost made my blood boil. My question is, what is the best way to deal with sheeple comments like so? Its been almost a year since I have started carrying and I know most of you have been carrying a lot longer than I have and have had more experience with this. I know that I shouldn't let comments like this get to me so I seek any thoughts or suggestions from my fellow carriers. Clay
My first thought is that I might have said " Why, are you planning on being a threat to me?" I've heard some mighty funny come-backs on GPDO over the course of this last year...most of them in response to the question " why do you carry a gun" though. If that ever happens to me, I am going to be giddy as a schoolgirl to answer with " Because a cop is too heavy to carry around" or " bad guys don't make appointments." Not sure which will pop into my head first. I'll probably end up botching it by saying " because cops don't make appointments?" LOL I think what you said to her was pretty good. Maybe it wasn't particularly funny or whatever, but it was to the point and apparently in her mind satisfied her very stupid question. I wonder if every time she sees someone driving a car she asks " you ain't gonna run me over, are you?"
Ignore them. Intelligent questions get intelligent answers (most of the time) from me. Ignorant comments aren't worth addressing. A young guy, about six years of age, tapped me one day and asked; "Mister, why do you carry a gun?" He'd asked his mother, and she told him to ask me himself. Now, what do you say to a six year old? After I said I really just enjoyed carrying it, and that our laws allowed it, his mother said; "That's a good thing." Made my day. So, enjoy the good, and ignore the bad.
Some of the above suggested answers sound like a threat. Or they could be interpreted that way, and end up getting you arrested. How about just saying, "It's for my protection." or "Cops aren't the only people who might have to deal with robbers." or maybe, "This gun? Oh, it's just for the bugs. Mosquitos are really big out where I live."
I've gotten the same comment a few times and I usually will ignore it or say "only if you are trying to kill me" and leave it there. Your response was quite good enough though. I had a woman tell me not to pull it out and start waving it around once, my response was "it only comes out of the holster when I am going to bed or planning to shoot, I'm not inclined to do either here"
I agree that to just ignore it and move along with my business is the ideal thing to do and I wish I could. But stupidness just boggles my mind and I sometimes I just have to say something, whatever it may be. All great posts though. After having thought about some of the things that I could have said, I could see how a confrontation could arise. I agree that I could have said nothing at all but I'm glad that I said no more than what I did. Some of your ideas on what to say cracked me up!
I agree an intelligent question warrants an intelligent response. An ignorant question, not so much. But there's willful ignorance "Is that compensation for your little " And then there's unknowing ignorance, which is what this lady had. Your response obviously put her at ease and made you, and by extension other carriers, look like less of a threat to her. With hardly any effort at all. Good on you, mate.
I think it was handled perfectly. I've been asked that question a number of times. Usually comes after I'm asked if I'm a LEO (which given the length of my beard and failing to get a hair cut months at a time, I still don't understand). My answers have typically been off the cuff, but similar to yours. I try to leave them with a happy remark though. Something like, "Nah, you don't look like a criminal to me. But if you see any, let me know." They usually just giggle and tell me they'll be sure to do that, or something of the sort. I've had this question asked a number of times from kids. Lots of little ones in my family, but sometimes just in public. The ones in my family, I just tell them I love them and keep it with me to protect them from bad guys. In public they usually get the same answer, minus the "I love love you" part. The parents are usually mortified at first however, but come around after you are nice to their kid. When my nephew was younger he asked me the same question, and after I answered him he asked me "Why don't you just kick them in the nuts?"
Q: "you ain't gonna shoot me are you?" A: "you ain't gonna rape me are you?" I know, I know, it is rude to answer a question with another question....