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Vol Texan wrote:A second story, to follow on the one above. This one doesn't really fall into the category of women being harassed or intimidated, but it still follows my earlier example of how men occasionally (and most incorrectly) assume the fairer sex is less knowledgeable about guns.

My daughter (6 years old at the time) and I were out in west Houston visiting the Army-Navy store near Westheimer and Eldridge. As she and I were looking at some things in the back of the store, she asked me, "Daddy, can I ask him if he has one?"

I doubted he would have one, but told her, "Yes", and stood back to watch as she approached the front counter.

There were no other customers in the store. The young man behind the counter looked down at her as she walked up and said, "Excuse me sir..."

In his kindest voice, after getting a nod from me, he asked her, "Do you want a lollipop?" His mistake...assuming her intentions like that.

"No sir, I wanted to know if you have an auto-loader for a Ruger 10-22 magazine. I shoot too fast for my Daddy to reload them, so he needs one to keep up.

When my wife was looking for her second gun, she went by herself to the gunstore/range and I was to meet her there. Now, keep in mind, this was several years ago before she developed arthritis in her hands. She had been shooting my 1911's and XD45 for a while and even carried one of my 1911's. She was looking for a 9mm but the salesman kept trying to get her into a .380 or .32 because he said she couldn't handle a 9mm. When I arrived she gave me that wink and knowing my wife, I played along. She proceeded to tell the guy that she thought she "might be able to handle " a 9mm. He insisted she try a 380 so he took her into the range with a 380 (don't remember which one, too many years ago). I rented a lane and then followed along with my range bag. After she shot the 380 a few times, she asks the guy if she can shoot "her" gun to compare. He says sure so she pulls out "her" Colt 1911 Commander, puts 8 rounds down range and in about a 2" grouping. The look on his face was priceless. Then she came to my lane, we shot for a while and as we started to leave, she stopped at the desk and very loudly told the guy that he should learn to listen to his female customers on what they want, not what he wants them to have and that it cost him a sale. I was proud of my lady that day