Gun shops

small gun shops killed themselves with bad service, bad attitudes, high prices. also for being misinformation hubs and the parking lot filled up by the gun shop flies. regulars who distract employee or owners, from helping real customers, by telling stupid stories and talking tactical nonsense. ironically they never seem to buy anything. they just hang out like its a social gun club and get in the way.


when internet buying came along it wasnt a hard choice at all.......

I would like to add that some new stores have owners that do not understand mercantile practices like finance, employee management, capitalization, advertising, taxes, laws for businesses, etc. They think a display of guns will just do it. I know two stores that opened and run by rich hobbyists - they went down the drain quickly.

They also had the above mentioned attitude problems.

Internet didn’t kill local shops, Local shops did. Your arrogant know it all owner combined with a idiot tacticool pretender behind the counter did. There’s not a whole lot of guys out there that are knowledgeable, honest, and fair with customers, so we are here now and we have to make the best of it. What internet did kill was the gun show “collector” that would tell you all about how his gun was exceedingly rare and worth a fortune because now it’s way too easy to shoot holes in that BS before you fork over your money. On the topic of collectibles, it drove prices down because now it’s not that there are a few Lugers around for sale and you happen across one every year or two, now there’s a bunch of them for sale just a few clicks away on Gunbroker.

jhb said:

small gun shops killed themselves with bad service, bad attitudes, high prices. also for being misinformation hubs and the parking lot filled up by the gun shop flies. regulars who distract employee or owners, from helping real customers, by telling stupid stories and talking tactical nonsense. ironically they never seem to buy anything. they just hang out like its a social gun club and get in the way.


when internet buying came along it wasnt a hard choice at all.......

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This... Guns priced at or above MSRP, being full of themselves, and having bad attitudes are one of the main reasons. Failure to adapt to a changing market is the main reason.

Now there is out of state competition, people no longer have to settle for the prices or service that's within driving distance.

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Pub.L. 103–159, 107 Stat. 1536, enacted November 30, 1993), often referred to as the Brady Act or the Brady Bill,[1][2] is an Act of the United States Congress that mandated federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States, and imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases, until the NCIC system was implemented in 1998. The act was appended to the end of Section 922 of title 18, United States Code..

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.308 Norma said:

Yeppers, you're right. It's right there in black and white on Wikipedia. I'm still having a hard time believing that from 1994 until 1998 there was a five day waiting period on firearms purchases here though. But maybe there was, and neither my wife nor I purchased any firearms during those years.
BTW, also according to that link, "the Brady Law (1993)" was revised and didn't go into effect until sometime in 1994.

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Actually, not quite.

If the state had a provision that implemented an "instant" background check, the waiting period requirement was waived.

Another quote from that impeccable information source:

At first, the law applied only to handgun sales, and there was a waiting period (maximum of five days) to accommodate dealers in states that did not already have background check systems in place. Those dealers were to use state law enforcement to run checks until 1998, when the NICS would become operational and come into effect.

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So depending where you lived, you may or may not have seen a waiting period for gun purchases.

I like the real gunshops with that guns are being worked on smell when you go thru the door. Found one up here where I live and it was like the ones when I was a kid, got to know the gunsmith and his wife and learned more than I could believe. Now they are good friends and a shop that can fix most anything if I'm not in a hurry. Only thing was he builds accuracy guns and No one told me it can be very contagious and addictive. Woods

WestKentucky said:

Internet didn’t kill local shops, Local shops did. Your arrogant know it all owner combined with...

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Indeed. Most people think "disruption," like Netflix killing the video store, or the threat to taxis of Uber/Lyft/etc is a cheat. Damned internet destroying our way of life.

Nope. It's just someone working around the entrenched market, maybe even regulatory capture, to offer an alternative. Video stores were always inconvenient, taxis always were awful.

So, sure you can run a surly, smoke-filled, the-UN-is-out-to-get-us-all gun store if it's the only one in the area and is the only real place to go for even info, much less ammo and supplies.

dogtown tom said:

Not as commonly referred to as an "FFL" nowadays. There was no Form 4473, no background check and no requirement for firearms to be shipped only to a licensed dealer.


There was little record keeping other than recording the sale of the firearm.......the Form 4473 did not exist prior to 1968. And "known prohibited person" was basically meaningless as there was no means for a background check. Heck, there wasn't even a requirement for all firearms to even have a serial# to record.

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You stated there was no such thing as a Federal Firearms License before the 1968 GCA. The form 4473 is not tied to the existence of an FFL

dogtown tom said:

Not true. Interstate sales and shipments of firearms from dealer/importer/manufacturer directly to buyer were common........just go read the American Rifleman from 1967 or any Sears catalog from the same era. Interesting collection of old gun ads: https://www.guns.com/news/2016/07/1...ugh-the-gun-ads-of-the-good-ol-days-18-photos

Klein's...........where Lee Harvey Oswald went shopping:
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It may have been done, but that does not mean it was wholly within the letter of the law.

Section 902, acts June 30, 1938, ch. 850, §2, 52 Stat. 1250; Oct. 3, 1961, Pub. L. 87–342, §2, 75 Stat. 757 . . . . of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, respectively, such subsecs. (d) to (i) also being covered generally in section 922(d) and such subsec. (i) in section 923(f), the presumption from possession rule of subsecs. (f) and (i) being omitted, and subsecs. (b) and (c) of which prohibited receipt with knowledge that transportation or shipment was in violation of former subsec. (a) or that the transportation or shipment was to a person without a license . . . .

Section 903, act June 30, 1938, ch. 850, §3, 52 Stat. 1251, provided for licenses to transport, ship, or receive firearms or ammunition. For subsecs. (a), (b), and (d), see sections 923(a), (b), 922(b)(5), (k), 923(d), (f) of Title 18, respectively . . .

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lysanderxiii said:

So depending where you lived, you may or may not have seen a waiting period for gun purchases.

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Thank you! I was beginning to think Alzheimer's was taking hold.
I couldn't imagine that neither my wife nor I purchased a single gun from a gun shop (store) between 1994 and 1998, and neither one of us can remember any "waiting period" - ever. I was about to go downstairs and dig through our records safe to make sure my wife's and my memories weren't failing us. But all that would have proven was whether or not my wife or I had purchased any guns between 1994 and 1998. It wouldn't have proven that there wasn't a "waiting period" - which neither of us can remember.

woodshunter said:

I like the real gunshops with that guns are being worked on smell when you go thru the door. Found one up here where I live and it was like the ones when I was a kid, got to know the gunsmith and his wife and learned more than I could believe. Now they are good friends and a shop that can fix most anything if I'm not in a hurry. Only thing was he builds accuracy guns and No one told me it can be very contagious and addictive. Woods

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I was throwing too big a blanket.....true there are good ones.....I support those and even will buy from them and pay more due to some advantages over only low price. things like better support and in stock now pick the one I want cause they got a few in stock. good treatment and VIP type attention, etc. lowest price ain't everything. good stores should be supported by us all, even if it costs a bit more.

lysanderxiii said:

blah,blah,blah

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I deleted my response because GEM asked for it above.

GEM said:

I would like the bickering about Plano and the FFL history to give it a rest....

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I frequent two gun shops and every now and then, a third. Number one is a state wide franchise. Number two is one store and competition. Number three is a dingy little hole in the wall with infrequent bargains. Numbers one and two are manned by young guys mostly with an older guy seemingly there to supervise. None of them really care whether you buy anything or not and you would be out of luck if you had to depend on any of them for advice. Besides, you would get a different opinion/advice depending on which person to whom you spoke. I am semi friends with the owner of number two. He took an interest in my novice interest and set me on a path to learn. I am thankful to him. I show my appreciation by spending money in his shop. I search online for prices and he works with me. I don't interact with any of his employees anymore. Way too frustrating.

I suspect that I would have enjoyed the mom and pop gun shops of yesterday. I remember one, in particular, that always held an air of intrigue when I would go there at Christmastime with my Pa. But then, I also miss his teak-filled Grand Wagoneer.

Nothing much stays the same.

I go to two LGS.

1. Single location (relatively small), sells lots of stuff on GunBroker, does lots of transfers and buys large volumes of popular models when available at large discounts and sells them at big discounts that almost match number 2.

2. Two locations (pretty big), larger with indoor range at one, which also has a huge used gun inventory. Really doesn't want to do transfers (prices accordingly) and buys HUGE Quanities of firearms and sells them at really LOW prices when it's available. They sold 500 rifles of one hunting model on Black Friday (which is incredible in a black rifle driven market) last year. This year they had an AR Model and Two Pistol Models that exceeded 500 units each on Black Friday.

It's hard for an under capitalized small dealer to compete. People just are not going to pay 20% more before you even discuss the possibility of buying online.

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