Main reason I don't go to gun shows is because the prices stink. But it would be a lot more fun if there were many BATF agents trolling and trying to induce an illegal sale. The entertainment value of leading them on a little bit and then reporting the person to local law enforcement would make it worth the price of admission. My local law enforcement agencies are very pro second amendment and would not take kindly to that type of entrapment behavior.
REAL gun show annoyances
- Thread starter Gunplummer
- Start date
2ndsojourn
New member
From jw062:
"Is that federal law or state?"
State of PA. Maybe some others as well but I don't know which ones.
"Is that federal law or state?"
State of PA. Maybe some others as well but I don't know which ones.
I used to believe that until I figured out that no matter how low they price something, they will be offered 20-80% less for it. Most of the prices marked are not the actual prices. Another thing about human nature that's always annoyed me. If you try to sell something for $200 firm, they won't buy it, but if you raise the price to $300, and then knock off $90 people feel happy about "getting him to drop the price by $90".
If I see something I like, I simply say "I don't play all those wheelin' and dealin' games. What is the REAL price?" Then I just take it or leave it.
Mike Irwin
Staff
What besets a vexatious plague upon mine mental capacities at gun shows is when you come across that special person who's decked out in either Nazi gear, or a very close approximation of Nazi gear. Often times they're selling tons of Nazi "memorabilia, and sometimes even have very sketchy literature on their tables to help "right minded Americans" focus their thinking.
Those are the people I want to use for bayonet practice.
Years ago at a show in Richmond I came across the king of all Nazi wannabes...
FULLY decked out in Nazi-era gear (not sure how he managed that, given he was about 5-3 and 450 freaking pounds of lard ass), with a table loaded with Nazi crap, including "EVA BRAUN'S SILVERWARE! ONLY $150 A FORK! CHEAP!"
right......
Later, in the parking lot, I'm SURE that I found his car... A crapped out VW Rabbit or Golf, license plate PZKWIV...
And hot glued to the rear light lenses?
Eagle, Globe, and Swastika emblems. Not sure if they were reproductions or not, as they were about 1/2 to 1/3rd the size of the regular cap emblem.
I just wanted to burn the freak's car at that point.
Those are the people I want to use for bayonet practice.
Years ago at a show in Richmond I came across the king of all Nazi wannabes...
FULLY decked out in Nazi-era gear (not sure how he managed that, given he was about 5-3 and 450 freaking pounds of lard ass), with a table loaded with Nazi crap, including "EVA BRAUN'S SILVERWARE! ONLY $150 A FORK! CHEAP!"
right......
Later, in the parking lot, I'm SURE that I found his car... A crapped out VW Rabbit or Golf, license plate PZKWIV...
And hot glued to the rear light lenses?
Eagle, Globe, and Swastika emblems. Not sure if they were reproductions or not, as they were about 1/2 to 1/3rd the size of the regular cap emblem.
I just wanted to burn the freak's car at that point.
Oh, come on Mike - this character sounds hilarious! I might have gone to that gun show just to see the guy and get a good laugh!
If you take all of the wack-jobs out of the gun shows, it loses that special "carny-circus" feel to it. Let's see - in the early '90's it was the tax-protesters - they showed up fervently pitching their literature about how the IRS is illegal and the Constitution says you don't have to pay federal taxes. I wonder where they all went to?
There was conspiracy guy - if you stopped to talk to him, he'd drone on and on and on about government conspiracies; global conspiracies, true paranoia at its finest. You had to move fast past his table because if he started talking to you, a half-hour would go by before you just couldn't be polite anymore and just walk away while he was still ranting.
Of course, one of our gun shows had a Nazi-guy too; Our gun-show Nazi was also a little short, but was skinny as a rail - probably weighed all but 130 lbs. He had that Charles-Manson-with-AIDS look to him.
Of course, there's the beef-jerky guy; the knife sharpener guy with the perfectly rehearsed sales pitch; and at least 2 stun-gun salesmen constantly zapping their stun guns - now, that's annoying! But, hey, it's all fun!
Last edited:
Mike Irwin
Staff
I have no tolerance at all for Nazi sympathizers, courtesy of having known people who survived the camps.
kilimanjaro
New member
450 pounds? Maybe he was using Hermann Goering's tailor.
I haunt a local bookstore, walked in one day and the owner was buying a collection of WWII histories. Almost every single one of them was a Nazi-themed history, the GrossDeutchland Division on the Eastern Front, Vol. I-X kind of thing, lots of Swastikas on the dust jackets. The guy had a library of about 200 books on this kind of stuff. Nothing that I could see written from the Allied perspective, even on the western front.
The store owner and I chatted a bit after the guy got paid and left. We both have large libraries of WWII history, neither of us have anything remotely as one-sided as this guy's collection.
The seller? Fat, homely, unshaven, slob kind of guy. Just the type for petty rank in an Einsatzgruppe.
I haunt a local bookstore, walked in one day and the owner was buying a collection of WWII histories. Almost every single one of them was a Nazi-themed history, the GrossDeutchland Division on the Eastern Front, Vol. I-X kind of thing, lots of Swastikas on the dust jackets. The guy had a library of about 200 books on this kind of stuff. Nothing that I could see written from the Allied perspective, even on the western front.
The store owner and I chatted a bit after the guy got paid and left. We both have large libraries of WWII history, neither of us have anything remotely as one-sided as this guy's collection.
The seller? Fat, homely, unshaven, slob kind of guy. Just the type for petty rank in an Einsatzgruppe.
Mike Irwin
Staff
I'll admit that I have some.... interesting.... items in my personal collection, including a large building banner (probably 10 by 30 feet) and two books with death's head bookplates that came out of a SS training battalion's library.
What's really creepy about them is that the training battalion was headquartered in Dachau.
I've often considered donating them to a museum. I'd never sell them, because I don't want them ever ending up in the hands of some Nazi-loving freak of nature.
What's really creepy about them is that the training battalion was headquartered in Dachau.
I've often considered donating them to a museum. I'd never sell them, because I don't want them ever ending up in the hands of some Nazi-loving freak of nature.
I don't know how long you've been going to gun shows, but I've attended quite a few since my first one in the late '80's. Yes, you will run into a Nazi sympathizer every now and then. The guy I'm thinking of didn't wear a Nazi Uniform, but he sure did tow the party line. They sell lots of Nazi stuff, propaganda literature, the guy I'm thinking of used to wear a ring with a Swastika on it. No, he wasn't just a collector.
zincwarrior
New member
Yet another reason I am glad I avoid gun shows.
I attend gun shows infrequently these days-maybe one or two a year. I miss the good old days, for example, at the Monroeville, PA Expomart shows, of 30 plus years ago. They were mostly antique, vintage and used modern arms, very little militaria, few knives or similar items.
Times change and now we have the likes of "Gun Broker". I regularly peruse those sites, but have yet to buy. Buddy of mine has gotten addicted to it, having bought three guns in the past couple weeks.
Times change and now we have the likes of "Gun Broker". I regularly peruse those sites, but have yet to buy. Buddy of mine has gotten addicted to it, having bought three guns in the past couple weeks.
Gunplummer
New member
Yeah, just no fun anymore. Seems like most shows are over 50% new guns now.
johnwilliamson062
Moderator
My favorite is the cheap "Nazi" switchblades. Made in China.
I really need to get into OGCA. I went to one of their shows years ago and had a sponsor available, but didn't do it. It was really really nice compared to the commercial shows. Several tables with really impressive collections and extremely knowledgeable owners.
I really need to get into OGCA. I went to one of their shows years ago and had a sponsor available, but didn't do it. It was really really nice compared to the commercial shows. Several tables with really impressive collections and extremely knowledgeable owners.
kilimanjaro
New member
Here in Washington state we have the WAC, Washington Arms Collectors, the big private collector's club. They sponsor over a dozen shows in three big venue statewide, year-round. Lots of great tables, good stuff, it's member-only for purchases, but anyone can visit and browse. Members get a NICS check, there was no loophole at a WAC show.
Seems to keep out the TEOTWAKI and political agenda types pretty well.
If your state has something like that, it's well worth joining the group for access to the shows.
Seems to keep out the TEOTWAKI and political agenda types pretty well.
If your state has something like that, it's well worth joining the group for access to the shows.
Some history fans get really specialized. Others are more general.
That was NOT ME!!!
(I'm bearded now )I've got a dozen or so books on the Tiger tank. Add in the rest of German armor and it might run 40 or more. Modelling reference material, mostly. I do tanks and planes mostly, but have an interest in all the equipment to one degree, or another. A good friend of mine has a ROOM full of books, mostly aircraft stuff.
We watch war movies and I can tell you if the tanks are the right ones for the setting. He can tell you if the squadron markings on US planes are the right ones for the setting, and do it off the top of his head. 19 years and I haven't caught him in an error yet, dang it. And, of course, we both know a bit about guns....
The gun show "Nazis" I've seen, the ones that irritate me, and the ones who don't treat it as history, but as a political philosophy. And tis more than just irksome that I know more about both than they do.
Sorry, I'm not buying Eva Braun's tableware, nor am I interested in a piece of the True Cross.
The Combat History of he 21st Panzer Division or JG 52(maybe even with a picture or two I haven't seen before) softbound, please, its cheaper...that is something I would be interested in.
This (Nazi stuff) all reminds me of days when Shotgun News had a lot of "Ads" that were mostly Nazi propaganda,or billboard.
I don't remember exactly when,'79 or so?A Denver radio talk show host,Alan Berg....I listened to him at work.He did not care for Neo-Nazis either.And he tended to mention it.
He was carrying groceries into his house one night when he was MAC-10'd to death by the Aryan Nation.
Later investigation led to Randy Weaver's indiscretion of sawing a shotgun barrel a little short per the request of Federal Agents.
From there,we have the story of Ruby Ridge.
I won't tell anyone else what they can laugh at,but my humor just does not work that way.
I'm not laughing.
Having some WW2 militaria harvested by The Greatest Generation does not necessarily imply a Nazi wannabe.....though it could
I don't remember exactly when,'79 or so?A Denver radio talk show host,Alan Berg....I listened to him at work.He did not care for Neo-Nazis either.And he tended to mention it.
He was carrying groceries into his house one night when he was MAC-10'd to death by the Aryan Nation.
Later investigation led to Randy Weaver's indiscretion of sawing a shotgun barrel a little short per the request of Federal Agents.
From there,we have the story of Ruby Ridge.
I won't tell anyone else what they can laugh at,but my humor just does not work that way.
I'm not laughing.
Having some WW2 militaria harvested by The Greatest Generation does not necessarily imply a Nazi wannabe.....though it could
Last edited:
The bottom line is I love going to gun shows. I have seen my share of clowns, nuts and idiots over the many years I've been going. What I'm NOT willing to do is stop going to gun shows because I might run into one every now and again. Nor am I going to start a fight with one, or even try to convince Mr. weirdo-nazi-guy that he's stupid, sick or insane. I look and see what kind of dopey stuff nazi-guy is peddling.....I really do chuckle to myself....., and I quickly move on to tables that have interesting firearms to look at.
Just because you successfully avoid seeing nazi-guy by not attending gun shows (and I seldom see these guys anymore) doesn't mean they aren't there. It's better to know what's out there than pretend it doesn't exist.