AZ: Second Amendment Friendly Verizon Store

Gun Watch ^ | 30 March, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

I had been meaning to update my phone for a long time.  I probably should have done it four years ago.  Finally, circumstances pushed me to do this necessary task.   Due, in part, to the insane federal restrictions on gun mufflers, I have suffered significant hearing loss.   I wanted certain technological inclusions with any hearing aids that I would use, and technology has caught up to my desires.  My audiologist and I came up with a solution that met my requirements, but the phone that matched up best was Apple's iPhone.  So I went from a five year old flip phone to the iPhone 6 plus. 

My audiologist wanted to help me with the software end of the iPhone connection.   My audiologist is a former concealed carry student, so we had already developed a high level of trust.   I ended up at the Verizon store with an hour to get the phone, the upgraded plan, change over my contact list, and get to the audiologist appointment.    As usual, I was open carrying my Glock 17.  

The people at the store were great.  No one blinked at my holstered pistol, and the representative assigned to me was named Kase.   Kase had served in Yuma as a Marine.  Kase was enthusiastic about phones and guns.  He was teaching his wife to shoot pistols.  The representative on the other side of the counter next to us noticed my holstered pistol.  She decided to make a comment.

She said: "I love your pistol!   "I have a Glock 23, and I really like it a lot."  She thought it was very cool that I was open carrying. 

The service was good, I accomplished what I needed to do, and left the store.  I decided that an article about the interaction was worthwhile, so I grabbed my camera from the truck and headed back to the store.

Just inside the door, I found the store manager.  I let him know what I wanted to do, and agreed not to take pictures of store employees.  He said that he had just purchased a Hi-Point carbine in .40 cal, and owned a Glock.  We both agreed that the Hi-Point carbine was a good value for the money.  I mentioned that I had one in 9mm.  He said that he was saving up for an AR-15 clone.  I took some pictures of the iPad that I ended up getting a deal on...

I cannot say that I am a happy with all of Verizon's market decisions, but I have to give them credit.  Sometimes being big just works.  They have treated me well; the service was great in a busy store; and I could not ask for a more second amendment friendly environment. 

Kase did well by me, and deserves credit for doing a good job.  Heck, as a retired DOD guy, Verizon even gives a 15% discount. 

I have to admit: I am being sucked into the Apple ecosystem.  I love my iPhone, even though the learning curve is steep.   

The military trilogy of necessities holds: you have to be able to move, shoot, and communicate.  With smart phones and the Internet, we have communications like never before. 

©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

I have heard that other Verizon stores are not as second amendment friendly.

[rktman]

LOL! Hey marktwain. Did ya get tired of totin’ the old “bag phone” around? Of course if you did have a “bag phone” the bag might have provided storage for your weapon of choice. Last time I was at the Sprint store I didn’t see a “Gun Free Zone” sign on the door. And, since NV is open carry, I wonder how they’d react if I did OC one day going in to pay my bill. I saw a guy at Smiths grocery the other day doing OC and I didn’t see anybody bat an eye. Then again, the had the Old Reno Show (basically a gun show) at Grand Sierra Resort this past weekend. Kinda gave me a warm fuzzy feeling to see folks walking through the casino with a vast assortment of weaponry in hand. Again, I didn’t detect anyone freaking out.

[mad_as_he$$]

I open carry in the Lemmon Valley Smith's frequently. Only had one comment from a Kalifornia idiot.

[rktman]

Hmmmm. Maybe it was you I saw doing the OC shuffle in the bread aisle. LOL! That’s the one we use. Lemmon Valley that is.

[Lurker]

I hope you told him or her to go back to CA and stay there.

[Romans Nine]

Now you have another thing in common with your neice’s husband. I converted him to Apple years ago.

[marktwain]

Yes, I did have a bag phone, and it saved a long, hot walk from way out in the desert one time too. It was not long after I got it.

Those bag phones were pretty heavy with the fair sized lead acid battery that they used...

Heck, it was only about 20 years ago..

[rktman]

LOL! Yup. We had one too. Springy cord and all. Didn’t get the hand crank model though.

[mad_as_he$$]

My standard answer is “I don't give a $hit what they do in Kalifornia. Why did you leave if it is so great?”

[mad_as_he$$]

I was in the outback most of last weekend.

[marktwain]

Didn’t know they had them with a hand crank! Now that would have been handy when you ran out of charge!

It is amazing the range and efficiency of the new phones and batteries.

We are living in times of amazing change, a new renaissance, a digital revolution, moving toward the singularity, whatever.

I used to be pretty good at figuring out what would be likely in the future. But now, the technology is changing so fast, that my predictions are often backwards.

You, know, someone may come up with or do X, and I find out that it was done 18 months ago!

[rktman]

LOL! There’s a lot of “outback” around here. Unless you mean Outback down on Virginia.

[rktman]

LOL! I don’t think they did. Just kidding.

[envisio]

They never know that I am carrying.
No store I go into knows that I am carrying.

[mad_as_he$$]

I do mean the bush.

[mad_as_he$$]

I do mean the bush.