Odd or frustrating gun shop policies?

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Yes. Been there, seen it. The manager who wrote the policy at your LGS has too.

The saying goes that the most dangerous gun is an unloaded one. . . because the idiot holding it treats it like it's unloaded.
Yep, what's more annoying is there are idiots that were the cause of these policies going into effect. I can 100% see a guy walking up to the counter with his cased pistol, pulling it out and pointing it in unsafe directions, putting others at risk and possibly harm/kill somebody. It doesn't make it any less annoying, but I get it. I've seen more terrible gun handling than I care to reflect on.

There was a video of a police officer teaching gun safety in front of a group of grade school kids and he shot himself.
 
My small town guy is the same; although I will give him a minimum and let him go from there; he got an extra $100 on a used G19 for me so I was happy.
Their legal department is fueling that. Can you imagine the size of check they'd have to write it someone got hurt or killed?
Yep, what's more annoying is there are idiots that were the cause of these policies going into effect. I can 100% see a guy walking up to the counter with his cased pistol, pulling it out and pointing it in unsafe directions, putting others at risk and possibly harm/kill somebody. It doesn't make it any less annoying, but I get it. I've seen more terrible gun handling than I care to reflect on.

There was a video of a police officer teaching gun safety in front of a group of grade school kids and he shot himself.
Now that would be embarrassing.
 
Their legal department is fueling that. Can you imagine the size of check they'd have to write if someone got hurt or killed?
Someone was killed. Pulled a round out of his pocket, stuck it in a gun and shot himself. Or at least that's the story I was told. That was one incident a couple years ago. Something that can (and should have been) prevented by a sales associate dealing with the customer. It's not that hard to remove a trigger lock, hand the gun to the customer, closely watch them while they work the action, and grab it back if they reach into their pocket. Of course, that's my uninformed opinion - I've never worked in a gun store - so I may not know what I'm talking about. But on the other hand, my local Cabela's seems to be chronically light on sales staff. And most of their staff is confined behind a sales counter. Whereas at Scheel's, for comparison, they're out on the sales floor mingling with the customers. Maybe at Cabela's they just don't care to hire enough staff to adequately deal with potential customer misbehavior. It's easier to just keep everything locked up and your staff separated from your customers.
 
My LGS has a policy that you can't leave the building without buying something, I haven't seen any signs but they assure me it's a real policy.
:rofl: Dawn broke over marble head. Good one.

Placed a bid on gunbroker. Went to the LGS to check on how to have the gun transferred. Owner said he wouldn’t take the transfer from “certain sellers” mentioned the seller, he was ok. Won the bid. Went back to the LGS, owner said he wouldn’t register with gunbroker, ask him to email his info to seller, said he doesn’t email only fax. Said ok I’ll come back to him when I get the fax number. Checked Gun brokers dealer listing for my area, one near by. Called them, no problem.
I don’t buy enough thru gunbroker to be familiar with LGS’s transfer practice but the first guy seemed to have a lot of hoops to jump thru.
 
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Because Idiot-It's-Unloaded-What's-That-Noise-Al lives in Idaho too. You would be surprised how many morons show up with loaded firearms, and then fumble the show clear.

The last shop I worked in charged an extra $50 if a customer came in with the gun to be cleaned/repaired loaded, unless the round was jammed in it, in which case they charged $25 if you didn't warn them of that before they checked it. Customers were NOT allowed to check them at the counter. They layed the case on the counter, then the employee checked the gun.
They had a jar with the rounds found chambered (unjammed) in it by the counter.
 
We have a LGS who charges you $50 if you give them to sell on consignment and then take the gun back. They're the only LGS in the area that does that. Needless to say I won't use them for consignment sales.
So.....YOU think it fair that they display YOUR gun sale for who knows how long at the price point YOU designate and YOU think $50 is unreasonable when it doesn't sell or you change your mind?o_O
 
There's a place near me that charges $200 -- yes, that's TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS -- if your 4473 is declined.
...
Name them.
But understand a 4473 is never declined, denied, cancelled, etc.........its kept for twenty years. The background check on the other hand, may result in a denial.
I would love to see how a shop collects $200 before conducting a NICS check.
 
Customers play stupid games and retail makes new stupid rules. I often roll my eyes at many retail establishments more so after the covid stuff but smile and decide wether it is worth continuing or not. Not worth heartburn otherwise. No walk of shame from the gun counter to the parking lot. Those stores have lost my sale several times even though price was good. Just sayi'n
 
Name them.
But understand a 4473 is never declined, denied, cancelled, etc.........its kept for twenty years. The background check on the other hand, may result in a denial.
I would love to see how a shop collects $200 before conducting a NICS check.
With the exception of one entity, I'd never seen a gun dealer collect any money prior to either a "proceed" or expiration of 3 business days from initial background inquiry. The one who did take funds was for a delay, cash enclosed with specific gun in his safe. I wasn't a fan of that procedure, but it wasn't mine.
 
We had a rule that customer's guns brought in would be uncased by one of us on staff and checked. This was after a customer pulled a rifle out of a case while the thing was pointed at me. I stepped aside, he followed me. I asked him to put the gun down. "Why, it's empty?". I picked it up, pulled the bolt back and a 22 hollow point popped out. He laughed. "Well, I thought it was empty". I told the boss to take care of him because of I stayed in there I was going to hurt him. He'd had his right hand on the grip area of the stock, finger in the trigger guard during that exchange. I went to the back room and heard the boss dressing him down and then telling him to leave. We mounted the cartridge on a card with the statement "The round that almost got Stan" on it in the display case.
 
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had a LGS get really testy with me when I asked them to take the cylinder out and the grips off of a Colt SAA I was interested in. They told me it was too pristine to risk marring up...I told them it was too expensive for me to risk buying without checking to see if it was all original, and reminded them it was the second Colt SAA i'd be buying from them in the last few weeks, and that the last one they sold me was a non numbers matching gun...a fact they didn't know about and I didn't find out until I got home with it.
 
With the exception of one entity, I'd never seen a gun dealer collect any money prior to either a "proceed" or expiration of 3 business days from initial background inquiry. The one who did take funds was for a delay, cash enclosed with specific gun in his safe. I wasn't a fan of that procedure, but it wasn't mine.
It's not uncommon in those POC states that charge the dealer for every NICS call.
 
The "Walk of Shame". You must be escorted out by an employee if you buy a firearm. I bought a TX22 from a now defunct Big Box store that had just opened. The Female Clerk knew exactly nothing about selling a gun. I talked her through the forms and the call for a back ground check and told her to always take the serial number off the gun, not the box. When it was all done I told her she had better walk me out so she didn't get in trouble. She said very to the point, "WHY?"
 
The "Walk of Shame". You must be escorted out by an employee if you buy a firearm. I bought a TX22 from a now defunct Big Box store that had just opened. The Female Clerk knew exactly nothing about selling a gun. I talked her through the forms and the call for a back ground check and told her to always take the serial number off the gun, not the box. When it was all done I told her she had better walk me out so she didn't get in trouble. She said very to the point, "WHY?"

I know of this "Walk of Shame" both ways. Went to Cabelas once to see what they would offer me on a mauser rifle and a makarov pistol I had at the time. Once in the door, with zip ties and plastic flags in the receivers, the firearms clerk paraded through the store proclaiming I had some guns for sale for all who was within ear range. It was...for lack of a better word, embarrassing!

Waited nearly an hour for them to "check for pricing" before offering me a bare hundred dollars for EACH of them. I said no, and the whole parade through the store commenced, though no announcements this time. First and last time I do that at Cabelas.
 
Not quite a dumb policy, but I was visiting family in Fresno, CA and walked in to the gun store that also has a range where I have shot at many times, looking for a holster. I had a semi-auto pistol, unloaded, slide locked back and no magazine, holding it in the trigger guard by my little finger and turned sideways so anyone could see it was safed.

One of the guys behind the counter almost s**t a brick. WHOA WHOA WHOA!!! SIR, YOU CAN’T WALK IN HERE WITH AN UNCASED WEAPON!!! Literally YELLING at me from maybe 10 feet away. I just stopped and looked at him while I slowly rotated the pistol, again, hanging upside down, slide locked open, from my little finger. Now, not quite yelling but not speaking in a conversational tone either, he says “Well, I’ll give you credit for that but you shouldn’t walk in with an exposed weapon.” Tells me “Next time, put it in a paper bag or a rag, or even wrap it in a pair of underpants (he seriously said that), anything but carrying it in exposed.” I just replied something like, “Well, I’m from Idaho and I guess we just don’t panic when we see a gun.”

I walked in to 2 other stores, in the same manner; both simply asked me quite reasonably, if they could double-check the pistol first.

Sam

I've lived in two Midwestern states (one anti, one pro) and shot, competed and/or taught in several Midwestern states and a few Southern ones.
Nowhere I've been was it the norm to walk around in a retail store with an uncased gun in hand.
Seems to me it's good to know the social norms of where you're actually at ... regardless of where you're from.
 
I go to a local gun shop and there is a big sign on front door that says "Check All Guns at Front Counter". So I walk up to the front counter and I say to the cashier, I want the gun smith to look at my rifle and start to un-zip the case. The cashier says "So?" I must have looked dumb-founded pointing back at the sign and then decided not to ask to understand and went on to see the gun- smith.
JOKE: A guy walks up to the hardware store counter to buy a box of shotgun shells, and the female cashier "Says face forward and strip down." The guy thinks what kind of crazy new gun control law is this? After she quits screaming, he realizes she meant his credit card. LOL
 
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