Those of us that work in the many businesses that are tangential to the firearms manufacturing and marketing industries in this country are often asked ridiculous questions, and we rarely have the time or patience to adequately address them, so here we go.

Yes, we work hard and feel passionately about the work we do, and yes firearms and related issues are very often a part of that.  Now before you open your uninformed cake hole and say something that makes you look incredibly stupid to a person that works in this industry, here is a quick guide.  When you know nothing about firearms and the industry itself, you will find it exceedingly difficult to say something that makes any sense.  The stuff we hear sounds a lot like the following:

 
This one is very common, someone tells us how a family member owns a firearm, well that's a lot like if you were to say to Jeremy Clarkson: "My dad has a car."

Another we hear constantly is that one of your family members "likes guns."  This would be akin to saying to Bill Burr: "My Uncle likes jokes."

If you were to say to any sitting member of Congress: "I voted for the class President when I was in High School."

If you were to say to Rachel Maddow: "My aunt wears her hair like you and we don't automatically assume she is a lesbian."

If you were to say to Guy Fieri: "So you like food, eh?"

If you were to say to Travis Pastrana: "Motorcycles are cool, I rode on the back of one once."

If you said to a black rights activist: "I have a black friend."

The oh so frequent and gaspingly inappropriate, "So how many guns do you own?"  Well that's like asking a Jewish friend: "So how many Menorahs do you own?"

If you said to any female you know: "So how many pairs of shoes do you own?"

If you said to a computer programmer: "Wow, you must really like computers."  (admit it; if you were even a little curious about where this article was going...then you've said that exact phrase)

Rather than embarrassing yourself with this sort of nonsense, be honest and transparent.  Admit that you don't know that much about the person's job.  Ask open-ended questions that don't involve any specific inanimate object.  Be open, and treat the person like a human being.  If you don't, we won't be insulted, or call you hoplophobic, because that's not who we are.  We will however silently put you on a list.  We will silently and peacefully place you on that list of jackasses that know nothing of our industry, and have no concern to learn anything about it, or us as human beings.  Don't be that person.

Jon Gibbon is an entrepreneur and founder of Armslist.com. He is also a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Oklahoma College of Law.