JD goes to the Charter Arms booth at the NRA Convention and the sales rep shoots off his mouth, hitting himself right in the foot. A letter to the president of the company results in a partial save, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
I'll refrain from giving my opinion of Charter's revolvers themselves (suffice it to say that it contains the words "wretched" and "pulsating",) and say that this is the kind of comment I'd expect to hear from a guy running a single table from Bob's Pawn Shop at the gun show in the county fairgrounds, not from a sales rep for a major manufacturer at a national convention.
(H/T to Sebastian.)
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33 comments:
Being a southpaw, I am seriously considering C-A's Southpaw model. I will reserve my judgement for now until I find out more.
I once killed a Bulldog Pug in a little over 300 rounds of PMC 240gr JSP. The electroless nickel was flaking off the forcing cone and topstrap from frame stretching and the endshake had gotten bad enough that I was skeered to shoot it.
"This is the kind of attitude I might expect from some drunkard when visiting the South"
Hm. Stereotype much? 'Cuz you know, we Southern types are kind of bitter and clingy and stuff...
Yeah, that was an odd comment to toss out in a post where he was complaining about stereotyping...
...kinda bitter at myself for missing that on the first read-through, too.
I need a keyboard macro for pasting "I recommend you read Matthew 7:3. Go now and sin no more." :D
#$%^&* internet, #$%^& @#$%^& "citizen journalists" who don't live off advert revenue...
And, he might have meant a drunkard from elsewhere, letting his jackass out when he gets among the dumb old rednecks.
Yeah, I love how Californians get so bent out of shape at being ridiculed for the way their state behaves towards guns and how they take offense at any slight or stereotype, yet they'll sling a bubba or hillbilly reference at the drop of a hat. Screw them.
"This is the kind of attitude I might expect from some drunkard when visiting the South,
"‘Cause everybody knows that the South is where the bigoted hicks are, just like California has all the sissies, right?
Careful that you don’t stereotype in a letter complaining about stereotyping, dude. ;)"
"this is the kind of comment I'd expect to hear from a guy running a single table from Bob's Pawn Shop at the gun show in the county fairgrounds..."
i don't know bob, but...careful that you don't stereotype in a post complaining about a letter complaining about stereotyping, dudette. ;o)
jtc
Having managed Bob's Pawn Shop gives me license, kinda like stand-up comics can joke about their own ethnic group. :D
(I'd have used my other favorite fictional business, Greasy Joe's Dixie Bar & Grill, but I used them the other day...)
so you managed greasy joe's too, huh?
but i know what you mean...it's kind of like when i dick out on bloggers who set themselves up as models and mentors, giving dangerous defacto advice to neophytes when they are barely post-neophyte themselves.
but i have license, because, you know, i half-ass blog myself...
jtc
Nothing shocking. We should expect this behaviour in the gun culture--The Culture of No!
However, isn't the point of sales to make everyone happy and befriend everyone you meet? Hmmm, apparently the gun culture lost the sales manual.
Just not people persons there. Maybe the Charter Arms guy really wants to work at Heckler und Koch?
Shootin' Buddy
"so you managed greasy joe's too, huh?"
No, I waited tables.
Tone is one of the hardest things to pick up in written communication.
I can easily see Kelly's comments as having been intended to convey the following: a) we're selling lots of Charter Pink Lady revolvers in other states, b) we're going to have to ramp up production to meet sales in California, and c) some men in California like pink pistols.
Maybe Kelly was being a jerk and an idiot; the words quoted, though, don't necessarily imply that.
Maybe Kelly was saying, "Naw, we don't want to sell guns to those California faggots anyway." Then again, maybe Kelly was just saying, "We're selling all we can make, oh and by the way, we've got the Pink Lady at the California DOJ for testing but they're dragging their feet, pretty much like usual."
And isn't there a touch of disconnect, here, between "bad ol' Charter Arms" who doesn't want to sell in California, and noble Ronnie Barret, who refuses to sell to California law enforcement?
One of the tragedies of our age (and it's something that's happened in my lifetime) is the way "offending someone" has become dang near a criminal offense. I think it started on the left, but the right has certainly taken it up.
It represents a change in our national character, and not a change for the better.
JD was "literally steaming." He felt "rage."
Someone hadn't showed him, and his state, the "proper respect."
We get this all the time these days. Can't be dissin' nobody! Must show proper appreciation for everyone (except Southern drunkards, of course, or dead armadillos on Texas highways).
I think I might have used the phrase "a fundamentally unserious people" a time or two. I'd chalk this whole thing up to "fiftieth verse, same as the first."
Goshamighty, it's just so much more fun to fly off the handle and fire off a hetted-up e-mail full of rage instead of, you know, sitting down like a grown-up and maybe sending a polite e-mail to Charter asking about their policies.
Did no one notice our author's "jackass at the fairgrounds gun show" remark?
To paraphrase my alter ego Navin Johnson,
"I AM a jackass at the fairgrounds gun show!!!"
There does seem to be a serious shortage of Big Girl Pants these days.
For instance, I found the "Southern drunkard" comment more amusing than anything else, given the context, but it's hard to get that across in text...
Someone out there probably thinks I was actually offended, though.
1. I'm with Cossack in a Kilt. If someone's "steaming" over this, they're overreacting badly. If a company's having all the product they can make fly off the shelves, why would you be surprised if they put an antagonistic state at the bottom of their priority list? Democracy works both ways: if you're state acts like a jackass, some of that is not unfairly imputed to its citizens.
2. Let's not confuse "Bob's Pawn Shop" with Bob's Gun Shop in Norfolk, VA, which is a reputable store that has done a lot for the RKBA in Hampton Roads.
Did I really just put "you're" when I meant "your" ?
Wow.
I've owned exactly one Charter Arms "revolver", a .44 Special. The cylinder didn't rotate. It still wouldn't cycle right after I sent it back for service.
Dung is still dung even if it's pink coated.
Taking pot-shots at the south is pretty much acceptable for much of the population. Why this is so is a mystery to me. I use these sort of comments as a personal ass detector. If folks are STUPID enough to think the "bad-old-boys" from Easy Rider are fair representations of a large segment of the US population, they are bigots, plain and simple. The funny thing is, they are usually stereotyping southerners as being blinded by stereotypes. It gets old, and it is as lazy as a stand-up who goes for easy laughs ragging on the next town over...
I've noticed this since I moved up to Indy; provincialism is apparently funny when it's somebody else's provincialism.
I remember some ammo manufacturer from a state that I won't mention (save to say that it rhymes with "Pill Annoy") trying to get my range ammo business by telling me, during a sales call on the phone, that "Hey, yooz guyz down dere in th' Sout' are pretty smart; I mean, yooz sent 'em all up heah." *nudge, nudge* Get it? Because he's making a sales call to a stranger in Knoxville, he automatically assumed that I had to lift up my Klan hood to answer the phone.
He's probably still wondering why he didn't get my business...
First off, Charter Arms is full of shit when they say "the other 49 states" because they don't have a single gun on the MA Approved Firearms Roster.
Secondly, as far as provincialism goes?
Take my state.
Please.
(Word verification: tomroidi. I shit you not)
Personally I usually take my shots like that at Hoosiers. Keeps it in the family :)
Gee, I've got Chreokees, German-American farmers, British emigrants and the Scots, not to mention girlgeeks, radio hams and The Tall to pick on, then! --Plus Hoosiers.
Srsly, there is so dam' much innocent stupid in this world that most days it's like pennies on the sidewalk: not worth bending down to pick up.
Eh. I don't see much there to get riled over. Certainly no anti-gay sentiments in the words-- just a statement of indisputable fact. I've been totally misinterpreted enough times to know it's a common problem. Complaining that "we'd have to make more" is pretty dumb, but not offensive really. -- Lyle
I do take a certain umbrage at the Southerner thing. And I'm Irish-Scottish-Welsh from Connecticut.
But I've known an awfully large number of Rebs in the military, aerospace, and the firearms business, and I would have to say that while yes, they have a certain percentile of jackasses, same as any group, by and large they are a much more polite, open, gregarious bunch of folks than a typical crosssection of my own Swamp Yankees.
Years ago, back when I was young enough to know everything, I had a black friend who was moving back to Alabama with his family.
When I questioned him, he said that the culture down there was better for raising children than that found in black neighborhoods in the north (an understatement even then).
He also said something I have thought about often since then. He said "Down south, if a white man smiles and chats with you, you know he likes you". "If he doesn't like you, at least he's still polite".
I'd concur. There's a certain element of consideration that still permeates souther culture, and I've always enjoyed it.
Now if only I could find someplace down ther where I could still get winter and salt water. Oriental maybe. Nice town, and right on the Intercoastal Waterway.
And filled with Marines and chatty Southerners. Not likely to be overrun by the New York types anytime soon.
I've had 5 Charter Arms 44 Bulldogs, none of which gave me any trouble. Put the first one through 3 months of Keith loads at 50-100rds/day as I worked at a range/gunstore. Had it stolen (serial # 390190). Sold others as time went on, still have last one (SS) and shoot it a lot with slightly hotter loads than factory. No problems. My mother had 38 till she died in 2000. Shot it a lot too.
If "salesperson" is a butt that's a personal thing.
YeOldFurt
Granted, the one that left a bad taste in my mouth was an early '90s "Charco" gun. They've had more lives than a cat and QC has been all over the map.
I haven't heard any reports (good or bad) about the newest ones, and the original guns seemed decent for the money.
Now that used Smith/Colt/Rugers aren't quite the deal they used to be, off-brand revos are definitely more attractive price-wise...
It's ok, JD is entitled to his stereotypes just as I am of CA. What comes around, goes around only I have facts and they're pretty hard to argue against.
He can keep San Fransisco and anyone Zombie has photographed at the Folsom Street Fairs.
He can also keep all the Crips, Bloods, Hell's Angels, Aryan Brotherhood, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese and other gangs that infest the state.
He can most certainly keep any of the liberal politicians that have enacted the gun control laws that vex him.
I'm not personally offended by his stereotypes because they work in my favor...it tends to keep the bigots from visiting.
Gmac
Well, YeOldFurt, the coating S&W paints the alloy frame of the 642-2 with was peeling after three months. The back strap was almost bare after 12 months. The barrel fouls more just inside the forcing cone due to too much pressure when it was crush fitted to the frame. Then the birds love to line their nests with the pocket lint I frequently remove from the MIM trigger recess.
Maybe I should give Charter Arms another look.
"Now for the good news we have the Pink Lady out for Cali testing ( your gal should be happy about that...)Looks like the Sales Apple didn't fall very far from the Management Tree.
"Well, YeOldFurt, the coating S&W paints the alloy frame of the 642-2 with was peeling after three months."
Smith never should have clear-coated those things in the first place.
A gun company brings out a little alloy revolver with a stainless cylinder in 1990. People complain because the bare anodized frame doesn't match the bare stainless cylinder. So they drop it from the catalog in 1993.
For the next three years, people in gun magazines talk about how it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and beg them to bring it back, so they do in '96. And now it has a clear coat on the anodized frame so people won't piss and moan about the frame not matching the cylinder. Except the brake cleaner... er, "gun scrubber" that most folks know to keep away from their clear-coated alloy wheels gets sprayed liberally on their clear-coated alloy revolvers, with predictable results.
(FWIW I've pocket-carried a 442 or 342 for seven years now and never had any rust issues. No clear coat, either.)
I've carried a Charter .38 Spl Undercover for 7 years or so now, & I can't really complain. Would've bought better (had, & still have, a GP100, but it's too big for easy carry, especially in summer), but I was newly divorced & broke.
I don't spend a ton of range time (none the last year, 'cause the local isn't easy to get a wheelchair into), but when I do it functions as well as any other snubbie .38 I've fired. Maybe I haven't used any of the right ones. At "gunfight" range, accuracy & function are just fine.
As a Southerner who occasionally gets drunk, I wasn't offended--asses are everywhere. If I got annoyed at every hypocrisy I find, I'd be purple from hypertension.
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