Saturday Feb 9, 2013:
Spent most of the day running errands. Started out by heading over to Autozone on Rt 40. I've OC'ed in there many times before and as usual no issue with the employees. They all know me from loooong before I ever started OC so I am already on a good relationship with them. When I began OC a few months ago they never batted an eye. I did have one lady point and whisper (unseccessfully) something to her girlfriend. I just turned to them, smiled and said hello. Her reply was rather forced IMO.
After that I stopped in at Wendys @ University Plaza for lunch. As I ate, I looked thru my HF sales paper and generally took in my surroundings. There was an older couple a few tables away and the lady repeatedly kept staring at me and then she would turn and say something to the man who I assume was her hubby. I smiled and waved and said good afternoon to them. They did not reply and seemed to hurry a bit more to get out of there.
Next stop was Harbor Freight. There were a fair amount of patrons in the store and I spent about an hour or so in there walking up and down the aisles. A few people shot a quick glance at my hip but didn't seem alarmed and just said "Hi!" When I got to the checkout line, the guy in front of me noticed my sidearm and asked how long it took to get my CC permit. I informed him I did not yet have a permit for CC and that DE was an OC state where no permit was necessary for OC. He was surprised to hear it so I gave him this site's address and encouraged him to check it out.
As I was walking to my vehicle there were three guys walking past towards the stores. One of them blurted out, "Yo! My n****'s strapped!" Whenever someone feels the need to vocalize the fact that I'm armed I respond in a polite and friendly manner. I did the same in this instance, as you'll see.
I nodded at him and said, "How's it going guys? Mind if I talk to you for a second?" They came over and I introduced myself and they in turn and we shook hands. I then asked Sean why it was that he used the "N" word when he spoke earlier. He said that he uses the word just like he would use "Bro", "My man", etc. and that there was nothing wrong with it. I informed him that to me (I'm white) it was the most offensive word that anyone could ever use regardless of ethnicity. I also explained to him the reason why I felt that way and the origin of the word. All three were a little shocked that a white guy would call out 3 black guys and bring up this subject but they genuinely didn't know why the word is so offensive. They all agreed to try not to use it as best they could.
This all led up to them asking me about my sidearm. I explained to them why I OC and the laws regarding OC. J (didn't get his full name) asked if he could handle my sidearm and I informed him that removing my weapon w/o a justifiable cause could land me in a world of trouble. He understood. All-in-all the conversation was very relaxed and none of us were nervous/edgy during our chat. I gave them the website for DeOC and told them if they hit me up on here that we could arrange to go shooting at the range sometime. Hopefully they will. They were all too young to own a handgun of their own but I love getting others interested in firearms/shooting.
Spent most of the day running errands. Started out by heading over to Autozone on Rt 40. I've OC'ed in there many times before and as usual no issue with the employees. They all know me from loooong before I ever started OC so I am already on a good relationship with them. When I began OC a few months ago they never batted an eye. I did have one lady point and whisper (unseccessfully) something to her girlfriend. I just turned to them, smiled and said hello. Her reply was rather forced IMO.
After that I stopped in at Wendys @ University Plaza for lunch. As I ate, I looked thru my HF sales paper and generally took in my surroundings. There was an older couple a few tables away and the lady repeatedly kept staring at me and then she would turn and say something to the man who I assume was her hubby. I smiled and waved and said good afternoon to them. They did not reply and seemed to hurry a bit more to get out of there.
Next stop was Harbor Freight. There were a fair amount of patrons in the store and I spent about an hour or so in there walking up and down the aisles. A few people shot a quick glance at my hip but didn't seem alarmed and just said "Hi!" When I got to the checkout line, the guy in front of me noticed my sidearm and asked how long it took to get my CC permit. I informed him I did not yet have a permit for CC and that DE was an OC state where no permit was necessary for OC. He was surprised to hear it so I gave him this site's address and encouraged him to check it out.
As I was walking to my vehicle there were three guys walking past towards the stores. One of them blurted out, "Yo! My n****'s strapped!" Whenever someone feels the need to vocalize the fact that I'm armed I respond in a polite and friendly manner. I did the same in this instance, as you'll see.
I nodded at him and said, "How's it going guys? Mind if I talk to you for a second?" They came over and I introduced myself and they in turn and we shook hands. I then asked Sean why it was that he used the "N" word when he spoke earlier. He said that he uses the word just like he would use "Bro", "My man", etc. and that there was nothing wrong with it. I informed him that to me (I'm white) it was the most offensive word that anyone could ever use regardless of ethnicity. I also explained to him the reason why I felt that way and the origin of the word. All three were a little shocked that a white guy would call out 3 black guys and bring up this subject but they genuinely didn't know why the word is so offensive. They all agreed to try not to use it as best they could.
This all led up to them asking me about my sidearm. I explained to them why I OC and the laws regarding OC. J (didn't get his full name) asked if he could handle my sidearm and I informed him that removing my weapon w/o a justifiable cause could land me in a world of trouble. He understood. All-in-all the conversation was very relaxed and none of us were nervous/edgy during our chat. I gave them the website for DeOC and told them if they hit me up on here that we could arrange to go shooting at the range sometime. Hopefully they will. They were all too young to own a handgun of their own but I love getting others interested in firearms/shooting.
Your life is made up of 2 dates and a dash... make the most of the dash!
