Bullet-Pointed

Glock Day comes two times each year.

by Alex Richmond

ROCK AROUND THE GLOCK: Larry Burlingame, a representative of the Glock company, at the Philadelphia Archery & Gun Club. Photo By: Michael T. Regan (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Black and silver balloons bounce jauntily outside the Philadelphia Archery & Gun Club twice a year; once in April and again in September, the South Philadelphia shop celebrates Glock Day. It's a day when people interested in shooting or learning to shoot guns on the shop's clean, well-maintained ranges can sign up for an almost half-priced annual membership ($79, busted down from the regular $150), and also shoot a variety of the Austrian-engineered, Smyrna, Ga.-built handguns.

It isn't a day for beginners, or even to walk into the store for the first time — it gets kind of packed in there. But for the 4,000 regularly shooting, gun-owning members of PAGC, it's a day with free food, free shooting and giveaways from Glock. Even WOWQ 102 FM broadcasts from inside the store. It's like a gun party, except for two things. First: Guns are nothing to play around with. Second: Nothing, not all the balloons or Italian hoagies or modern rock, can get PAGC owner James Mastroddi off-message, which is that safety and responsibility and safety are the most important things about owning, operating or even handling a gun. So it's a very serious party.

Along with owning PAGC, the 38-year-old Italian-American is the only National Rifle Association-certified training counselor in a five-hour radius. That means people come to him from all over the Mid-Atlantic to be certified to teach people how to safely operate and shoot guns. This gives his range an edge, and, since his range is designated as a PA Act 235 school (essentially all armed guards, Brink's truck operators and security officers, even if they don't carry guns, must be Act 235-certified), a built-in clientele that need to practice shooting.

Mastroddi also took lengths to ensure that his range was evaluated by the NRA — the NRA does not "certify" any gun shops or ranges — and had the glowing report, issued in 2004 by agent Jack J. Giordano, bound into a booklet with Giordano's résumé and credentials. Mastroddi estimates that almost 40 schools in Pennsylvania called and asked him for tips on how to get such a good evaluation. "As far as ranges go, we are it," said Mastroddi.

His two daughters, ages 6 and 8, also shoot guns at the range. Mastroddi explains: "I work in the business. I didn't want it to be a taboo, and by the time they got to school and were able to talk about what their dad did, I wanted them to know to say I teach safety."

Before anyone takes a lesson, Mastroddi has them watch two NRA-issued safety videos. He apologizes for their production values, but says their content is still great. "You will see people in bell-bottoms." He's kidding; the videos were made in 1994, so instead of bell-bottoms, the female host wears an '80s power suit while the male host sports an Anchorman mustache and bolo tie. After the fundamentals, Mastroddi pulls me aside for another drilling. "People treat guns differently when they think they're unloaded. So always treat a gun as if it's loaded."

Which is to say that any gun presents a loaded issue. Guns can't go off by themselves. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. "It's like the fur issue, or the abortion issue," says Mastroddi. "I don't like fur coats or the fur industry, but I don't throw red paint on people that wear fur coats." Or if you don't like abortion, don't have one. But bumper-sticker-ready lines seem too glib when faced with the rising murder rate in Philadelphia.

"The city doesn't do enough to prosecute the offenders," says Mastroddi. "And nothing will stop the illegal sale of handguns." And people do the wrong thing, or act out of depraved indifference to human life. Mastroddi is one of the good guys.

This past Saturday's Glock Day was a bit of a zoo. "You wouldn't buy shoes without trying them on," said Glock representative Larry Burlingame. "This is the best way for people to try our products." Daniel Pehrson, 25, founder of the grassroots organization Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association, was on hand to sign up new members. Lauren Erikson, soft-spoken and petite with huge blue eyes and curly blond hair, bought her first handgun, and said she was 15 when she first shot a rifle. Trainers were on site helping people in the ranges. The crowd was diverse; women in burkas, women in aqua Chuck Taylors and toting fancy designer handbags, a guy in a Volcom hoodie. All easy outfits with which to wear a holster. Police officers and Act 235 types happily took free Glock key chains (teeny guns, naturally), patches and stickers. A tray of hoagies and sweet and hot peppers sat behind a counter stocked with holsters. About 50 people signed up for memberships, and were entered into a raffle to win a Glock. People seemed focused yet excited. Not so much trigger-happy as seriously stoked on guns.

Then, on Monday morning, a student at Virginia Tech shot 32 people and himself with a 9 mm handgun. I called Mastroddi for a comment. He stayed on message. "The only comment I have is that it's unfortunate. The bottom line is accessibility. And that gun should not have been on campus. The business is not what killed those people — a person did. I feel terrible for the victims and their families. Being in the business I wish I could say more, but the business, Republicans or Democrats, or laws have nothing to do with this. A disturbed individual did."

(editorial@citypaper.net)