Gun Show Incident!
Recently I set out to my local PA gun show with a simple goal
to acquire a single shot 12gauge. I
purchased a decent one made by “Leader” in 1961, a bit aged but certainly sturdy. After I finished the transaction I was
perusing the rest of the show and was approached by three men. The first asked me if my new shotgun was for
sale and although I had just purchased it, I told him that I would consider an
offer. The offer he made me would have
given me about $20 profit, but I turned it down since I was growing
suspicious. (If I wasn’t suspicious I
would’ve considered selling it to him with the proper FFL transfer) I informed him that there were similar guns
available from other dealers (all of them being less expensive) and I pointed
out where they were. Upon explaining this,
he told me that he was more interested in handguns than long guns. He then said that he was from New York and
wasn’t able to purchase a handgun since he was from out of state. I told him (to the best of my knowledge) that
he would have to be a PA resident in order to purchase a handgun, but it may be
possible for him to get a long gun. Then
came his statement that was loaded with pure criminal intent:
“ If you bought one for me, I’d give you a couple bucks”
At that point I told him it would be impossible since I
wasn’t 21, surprisingly he believed me and didn’t have much more to say. The second man proceeded to ask me how the
“molly” was in my area, to which I replied that it was nonexistent. With the help of urbandictionary.com I later
learned what molly really was…
Molly:
Pure form of MDMA (ecstasy), usually a free powder or in
capsules. Oftentimes MDA is sold as molly. Should be white in color (when it's
pure) but is more often beige or yellow-brown, and sometimes brown or rarely
gray.
Even though I wasn’t aware of the definition at the time, my
intuition knew that it must’ve been a term for something illegal. The third man, in his late teens, remained
silent throughout the encounter. I’m certainly
saddened to see that he is being lead down the wrong path in life by
associating with criminals, but hopefully he will come to his senses.
I parted ways with them, telling them that I had to be
going, thus ending the sketchy encounter
After this, I continued to walk around the show to make sure
I wasn’t being followed. When I was
certain that the three men that I had talked to were no longer able to see me,
I proceeded to the security checkpoint at the show entrance to report the
incident. I was greeted by two state
troopers who seemed more interested my new simple purchase than in the
encounter filled with criminal intent that I described to them. They did ask me for basic descriptions of the
men that had approached me and stated that they “would keep an eye out for
them”, which didn’t seem very genuine.
As I was going back into the show, the three men that approached me were
walking out to the entrance. Swiftly, I turned
to the troopers and put my back to the approaching criminals so they wouldn’t
see me. At that point, I raised my hand
in front of my chest (to conceal the fact that I was making a clear signal),
indicating to the troopers that the men I had described were behind me. They acknowledged it, but didn’t take any
action. I don’t think that there was
that much they could do in this situation, but their noticeable apathy alarmed
me. I have tremendous respect for police officers, firemen, EMTs, or anyone who puts their life at risk to help others, I was just disappointed with the way that these two state troopers responded. This just serves as an encouragement
to exercise my 2nd amendment rights, to solely rely on myself for
protection.
"A WELL REGULATED MILITIA, BEING NECESSARY TO THE SECURITY OF A FREE STATE, THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED"
