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Handgun Safety Certificate
Do "DOJ certified" know-it-alls ever get on your nerves? I had my first experience with one tonight.
I turn 21 in just over a month, and I intend to purchase my first handgun on my birthday. I visited the range earlier with the intent of taking the HSC test and getting the certificate. This way (I figured), I would have it when I go to make my purchase.
So I walk in and ask them if I can take the test. One of the newer employees (who had apparently never administered the test before) took my ID and credit card, handed me the test and an answer sheet, and charged me 25 bucks. After I was done (apparently the don't check your ID before hand), he was like "Wait, you're under 21? Is this even legal?". Predicting that this question might come up, I referred him to 12803 PC and the DOJ's website, both of which clearly indicate that a person only needs to be 18 to take the test. That seemed to satisfy him, so he filled out the certificate and had me sign it.
Before he handed the certificate to me the employee decided that he wasn't comfortable doing something he hadn't verified to be legal (a wise move in CA, to be sure). I told him that I wouldn't be offended if he double-checked with the on-site DOJ instructor, so he proceeded to find him. A minute or so later, this older, overweight, balding, white guy (the ultimate gun-nut stereotype, I know) comes back and starts breathing down my neck about how this is completely illegal, and how I could get arrested and they could get in trouble with the DOJ if they issue it.
Knowing that this was perfectly within the law (and having verified it several times myself, just to be sure), I tried to reason with him for several minutes and asked if I could show him the law and the DOJ website. Of course, he said no, and basically said that none of that mattered, and that nothing I could do would change his mind on the legality of the matter. After all, he didn't need this "law" that I spoke of, he was a DOJ certified instructor! I would have been perfectly content and not the least bit upset if he had said something like "we're not comfortable issuing to someone under 21, so we're going to have to turn you down", but instead I was accused of breaking the law and trying to get an HSC so I could perform a straw purchase before I was 21.
Doesn't it upset you when "DOJ Certified" individuals (and others who should actually know the laws) are so full of themselves that they just can't listen? Geez, and to think I was going to spend almost $1000 there in a month or so.
What makes me sadder is that there was this young impressionable employee who had no idea what the law actually said, and now he likely believes the same load of BS that this "DOJ certified" jerk does.
What sucks even more is that this place practically has a monopoly on gun sales in my area, and the next nearest retailer that I've been able to find is over 40 miles away.
--- end of rant --
I turn 21 in just over a month, and I intend to purchase my first handgun on my birthday. I visited the range earlier with the intent of taking the HSC test and getting the certificate. This way (I figured), I would have it when I go to make my purchase.
So I walk in and ask them if I can take the test. One of the newer employees (who had apparently never administered the test before) took my ID and credit card, handed me the test and an answer sheet, and charged me 25 bucks. After I was done (apparently the don't check your ID before hand), he was like "Wait, you're under 21? Is this even legal?". Predicting that this question might come up, I referred him to 12803 PC and the DOJ's website, both of which clearly indicate that a person only needs to be 18 to take the test. That seemed to satisfy him, so he filled out the certificate and had me sign it.
Before he handed the certificate to me the employee decided that he wasn't comfortable doing something he hadn't verified to be legal (a wise move in CA, to be sure). I told him that I wouldn't be offended if he double-checked with the on-site DOJ instructor, so he proceeded to find him. A minute or so later, this older, overweight, balding, white guy (the ultimate gun-nut stereotype, I know) comes back and starts breathing down my neck about how this is completely illegal, and how I could get arrested and they could get in trouble with the DOJ if they issue it.
Knowing that this was perfectly within the law (and having verified it several times myself, just to be sure), I tried to reason with him for several minutes and asked if I could show him the law and the DOJ website. Of course, he said no, and basically said that none of that mattered, and that nothing I could do would change his mind on the legality of the matter. After all, he didn't need this "law" that I spoke of, he was a DOJ certified instructor! I would have been perfectly content and not the least bit upset if he had said something like "we're not comfortable issuing to someone under 21, so we're going to have to turn you down", but instead I was accused of breaking the law and trying to get an HSC so I could perform a straw purchase before I was 21.
Doesn't it upset you when "DOJ Certified" individuals (and others who should actually know the laws) are so full of themselves that they just can't listen? Geez, and to think I was going to spend almost $1000 there in a month or so.
What makes me sadder is that there was this young impressionable employee who had no idea what the law actually said, and now he likely believes the same load of BS that this "DOJ certified" jerk does.
What sucks even more is that this place practically has a monopoly on gun sales in my area, and the next nearest retailer that I've been able to find is over 40 miles away.
--- end of rant --
, is there a law somewhere that specifies this?). They have a decent (but a little overpriced, IMO) shop with a fair amount of handguns for sale. HSC tests are administered at the pistol range.
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