Okay, so I gotta get a little frustration vented. If you live in the tri-state area of Utah, Idaho and parts of Arizona, and are an aficionado of used firearms, then you obviously love the KSL.com classifieds. It's like craigslist, but without the weirdo hippies looking for hook-ups, so in other words, better. You can find just about any kind of gun for sale on there if you check it frequently enough. they can range from the classic, like an 18th century 18 gauge Flintlock Fowler by James Wilkinson, that I saw earlier today. Or this 1871 Remington 10 Gauge Double Barrel:
Ooooh, shiny!
Of course there are your more practical firearms, like this pristine FAL (that was also being sold with 1500 rounds of .308 with it)
Nice!
Then there's always, without fail, things that are downright exotic, like this crazy Mossberg 500 with a Knoxx sidewinder conversion.
Looks fun.
Well, I think you get the point. This website is obviously just the foshizzle, and the prices are usually pretty reasonable, with occasional steals hidden throughout.
Now, here's where I get to the problem....
Considering that a vast majority of these sales are person to person transfers, you'd think this is nothing but a unicorn marshmallow-poop double rainbow smorgasbord of goodness for us gun hobbyists and shooters, but it aint entirely. The catch is that there are entirely way too many ads in which the seller has the closed mind to only sell to CCW holders (as in I saw two today and that's two too many). Why is that? It's definitely not a legal requirement in any of these three states mentioned, that these types of transfers only be done between CCW holders, so why the exclusion?
Now, I am perfectly understanding of a concerned seller who just doesn't want his/her old piece winding up in the local news, and having their town's police department to be stalking them for answers. I myself have sold guns on KSL's website and had all manner of weirdo's calling me, with a few that I had to tell to piss off, but seriously? I know of a good amount of people personally, that are perfectly law-abiding citizens that would have given these guns a good home for a good price, but were refused because they don't have a valid permit in their wallet. I would think that if you are selling a gun, and meet a prospective buyer, you would have the common decency to spend 5 minutes to just talk to the person to size them up and determine whether or not they are worthy to sell to, instead of simply passing them off as a criminal in disguise.
This hits particularly close to home, as I mentioned before, because of an good friend of mine that has some issues with a previous spouse. She is a long-suffering, kind person, who loves her kids, but took issue with her inconsiderate husband. Long story short, there was a messy divorce, and a subsequent altercation with a third party (another woman) that was attempting to take her son away from her when she tried to pick him up from school one day. She used physical force to prevent that from happening, and naturally the lawmen showed up promptly to make amok. So, in the end, even though she is perfectly allowed by the state to own as many firearms as she wants, she was deemed "too risky" to qualify for a CCW. She's pretty disappointed after spending the time and money on classes and the background check, but figured she'll get the gun she wants anyways and just live without the benefits of concealed carry. Well, lo and behold, she finds the exact gun she wants on KSL.com, only to be completely put off because his ad said non-CCW holders need not apply. Yeah, not cool.
Now, this isn't an isolated incident either, I have a few close friends that don't qualify for concealed permits for various reasons, and they have come across similar situations with sellers. They will call a seller to inquire about the gun, then be told 'no thanks' after giving an offer, just because they don't own the infamous "gold member card". This kind of experience is very disheartening, especially to people who have only just begun to get exited to exercise their second amendment rights, only to encounter this (I almost want to say 'elitist') attitude, that makes them feel like they are to be shunned for trying. I can only hope that some more people out there selling on KSL will at least be a bit more considerate of the people they come in contact with in the future, at least for the sake of fostering a spirit of mutual respect among the gun owning community. I dunno, maybe I'm just over thinking this a bit, but I still think it merits some kind of thought or consideration. Perhaps even rational discussion.
Oh well, in the meantime, I'll continue passing my day by window shopping on the same website. Oh! wait a minute, I think I just found my dream pistol:
nice!
Of course there are your more practical firearms, like this pristine FAL (that was also being sold with 1500 rounds of .308 with it)
Then there's always, without fail, things that are downright exotic, like this crazy Mossberg 500 with a Knoxx sidewinder conversion.
Well, I think you get the point. This website is obviously just the foshizzle, and the prices are usually pretty reasonable, with occasional steals hidden throughout.
Now, here's where I get to the problem....
Considering that a vast majority of these sales are person to person transfers, you'd think this is nothing but a unicorn marshmallow-poop double rainbow smorgasbord of goodness for us gun hobbyists and shooters, but it aint entirely. The catch is that there are entirely way too many ads in which the seller has the closed mind to only sell to CCW holders (as in I saw two today and that's two too many). Why is that? It's definitely not a legal requirement in any of these three states mentioned, that these types of transfers only be done between CCW holders, so why the exclusion?
Now, I am perfectly understanding of a concerned seller who just doesn't want his/her old piece winding up in the local news, and having their town's police department to be stalking them for answers. I myself have sold guns on KSL's website and had all manner of weirdo's calling me, with a few that I had to tell to piss off, but seriously? I know of a good amount of people personally, that are perfectly law-abiding citizens that would have given these guns a good home for a good price, but were refused because they don't have a valid permit in their wallet. I would think that if you are selling a gun, and meet a prospective buyer, you would have the common decency to spend 5 minutes to just talk to the person to size them up and determine whether or not they are worthy to sell to, instead of simply passing them off as a criminal in disguise.
This hits particularly close to home, as I mentioned before, because of an good friend of mine that has some issues with a previous spouse. She is a long-suffering, kind person, who loves her kids, but took issue with her inconsiderate husband. Long story short, there was a messy divorce, and a subsequent altercation with a third party (another woman) that was attempting to take her son away from her when she tried to pick him up from school one day. She used physical force to prevent that from happening, and naturally the lawmen showed up promptly to make amok. So, in the end, even though she is perfectly allowed by the state to own as many firearms as she wants, she was deemed "too risky" to qualify for a CCW. She's pretty disappointed after spending the time and money on classes and the background check, but figured she'll get the gun she wants anyways and just live without the benefits of concealed carry. Well, lo and behold, she finds the exact gun she wants on KSL.com, only to be completely put off because his ad said non-CCW holders need not apply. Yeah, not cool.
Now, this isn't an isolated incident either, I have a few close friends that don't qualify for concealed permits for various reasons, and they have come across similar situations with sellers. They will call a seller to inquire about the gun, then be told 'no thanks' after giving an offer, just because they don't own the infamous "gold member card". This kind of experience is very disheartening, especially to people who have only just begun to get exited to exercise their second amendment rights, only to encounter this (I almost want to say 'elitist') attitude, that makes them feel like they are to be shunned for trying. I can only hope that some more people out there selling on KSL will at least be a bit more considerate of the people they come in contact with in the future, at least for the sake of fostering a spirit of mutual respect among the gun owning community. I dunno, maybe I'm just over thinking this a bit, but I still think it merits some kind of thought or consideration. Perhaps even rational discussion.
Oh well, in the meantime, I'll continue passing my day by window shopping on the same website. Oh! wait a minute, I think I just found my dream pistol:
No comments:
Post a Comment