[Double Naught Spy]

I just drew my revolver on a guy

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A scruffy looking man on a bicycle just came into the shop and proceeded to reach into his front pocket and draw out a loaded Taurus .38spl revolver.

So when did you know the revolver was loaded? When you drew, you didn't know it was loaded, so whether or not it was loaded doesn't really matter.

So a scruffy guy came in your pawn shop. I know that it is scary when scruffy people come in a pawn shop, but the are often an integral part of the business. We found, however, that it was often the nicely dressed people who caused the problems.

When he looked up he was staring at my S&W 340PD .357mag pointing directly at his chest.
He was surprised and asked if I was going to shoot him.
I said I was thinking about it.

That wasn't a smart thing to say. Telling him that you were making sure he would not shoot you would convey the same sentiment without the threat and also let him know without talking down to him that what he did was unsafe.

I reprimanded him telling him he should expect to be shot whenever he draws a handgun unannounced and that in the future he should bring it into the shop unloaded in a bag if he intends to display it.

Along with telling the guy you were thinking about shooting him, reprimmanding him wasn't a very good idea either. Explaining politely and professionally how he should approach the situation might have garnered you a valuable customer. Since you apparently didn't like the cut of his jib, telling him you were thinking about killing him and publically reprimanding him, potentially humiliating him might be the type of thing that finds your business on fire in the middle of the night, if indeed your fears about him were valid.

I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me and how stupid some folks can be.

You mean how stupid your gun owning customers can be?

I encounter firearms in every state of readiness daily but rarely draw my sidearm.

We did as well and never drew a sidearm. The "stop" command usually worked quite sufficiently.

I was attempting to save this man's life in the future.

It really sounds like you were expressing your displeasure for the guy being stupid in your shop and you wanted to let him know it. You didn't like the way he looked and you didn't like the way he behaved. Somehow I have a feeling you would have been courteous to the little old lady for behaving in an equally stupid manner, but not a scruffy guy.

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We used to have people get mad when we would not take their loaded guns into pawn. We explained that it was a safety issue. We didn't sell ammo in our shop either, for that matter. So then they just wanted to pawn the ammo with the gun, which seemed reasonable until you realized all of them wanted to load the gun in the shop before leaving. So no ammo, LOL.