I get the same attitude when I inquire about 'traditional' archery supplies. Instead of polite service or re-direction, you get smug mockery...which is the same attitude many of the modern gun shops are sporting these days.
I'll be honest; I'd rather shoot a BP firearm any old day of the week these days. Never been "automatic Al" or "rapidfire Ron" anyway, and frankly, if the young kids don't get it, fine by me. They could be a bit nicer, though.
It's always nice to have young kids interested in it because you can also give them the "Cliff's Notes" version of where it fits in historically....which most of them have never heard with today's retarded, paranoid common-core educational system in which most educators are 'afraid of guns' (candy-asses).
Boys like guns. Boys who get introduced to guns and history and their role in it grow up with a healthy respect of what they've done in history, and what they can do if misused, unlike the homey in baggy pants down to his knees and checkered boxers floppin' out on top, with his ass-crack smiling at the sun... who points the gun sideways. I think most of us on this forum probably learned that respect from watching westerns on TV (back when TV was worth a damn and monitored by the FCC) or shooting with a responsible, mature adult.
Now that I think on it, nobody introduced me to BP other than TV shows and books.