I understand that some Staples stores are posted and some aren't - not sure whether the one I went to this afternoon is or not because I had my mind on something else, which was returning some unusable magazines to Brownells via their UPS counter.
So I went up to the counter, the young lady weighed and measured my box, typed all the address info into her computer, checked my ID, all they while keeping up friendly chatter, then asked me what was in the box so I replied "magazines". She asked "you mean like clips?" and I replied "Well, that's what the news sometimes calls them by mistake, but they're actually called magazines".
Her reaction was the classic "deer in the headlights" expression with silence and no movement whatsoever for the next few seconds. She then nervously glanced around the store as if looking for someone to call over for help. Finally regained her composure enough to type "magazines" into the computer and print out the label, then gingerly turned the box on its side to affix the label and very carefully - nearly tiptoeing - carried it over to place in the outgoing bin.
She then took my payment, I said thanks and wished her a good afternoon, and left.
Folks, this is what we're dealing with out there. I'm thinking this was probably the closest this young lady had ever knowingly been to a magazine or any part of a gun, and this was her gut reaction based on what she's seen and heard from places like MSNBC. The unfortunate truth is this young lady is no different than most of the younger (under 40 or so) crowd in our country, with few exceptions such as those in the military or their families.
I do wish I'd had a better response planned for her - or somewhere to point her to learn more. Something perhaps like a business card with the address of a website that had non-confrontational educational information available that I could have handed her while saying perhaps something like "don't worry, you can't believe everything you hear on the news - here's somewhere you can learn more".
So I went up to the counter, the young lady weighed and measured my box, typed all the address info into her computer, checked my ID, all they while keeping up friendly chatter, then asked me what was in the box so I replied "magazines". She asked "you mean like clips?" and I replied "Well, that's what the news sometimes calls them by mistake, but they're actually called magazines".
Her reaction was the classic "deer in the headlights" expression with silence and no movement whatsoever for the next few seconds. She then nervously glanced around the store as if looking for someone to call over for help. Finally regained her composure enough to type "magazines" into the computer and print out the label, then gingerly turned the box on its side to affix the label and very carefully - nearly tiptoeing - carried it over to place in the outgoing bin.
She then took my payment, I said thanks and wished her a good afternoon, and left.
Folks, this is what we're dealing with out there. I'm thinking this was probably the closest this young lady had ever knowingly been to a magazine or any part of a gun, and this was her gut reaction based on what she's seen and heard from places like MSNBC. The unfortunate truth is this young lady is no different than most of the younger (under 40 or so) crowd in our country, with few exceptions such as those in the military or their families.
I do wish I'd had a better response planned for her - or somewhere to point her to learn more. Something perhaps like a business card with the address of a website that had non-confrontational educational information available that I could have handed her while saying perhaps something like "don't worry, you can't believe everything you hear on the news - here's somewhere you can learn more".
