An open letter to gun owners against firearms dealers

[SoCalNoMore]

I am dismayed at the choices some firearms/gun dealers are making right now with only a "report" of congress acting on a change to how gun ownership will be changed. I will NOT do business with any corporation or independent store that is obviously changing their policy to appease the anti-gun group.

I ask that my fellow true Americans and believers in 2nd amendment do the same. We all know that in the U.S. money is power and as individuals we all the right to spend our hard earned money as we please. I choose not to spend my money with companies like the above mentioned.

My personal story:

3 weeks ago I bought a rifle for tournament shooting; my first rifle as this is/was going to be my new hobby. Soon after my purchase "news" broke out from the liberals that guns needed to be banned. As we all know, panic buying set in and the shelves are empty. Worse yet, unscrupulous store owners jacked up the prices of all AR related items and high cap mags for handguns. I thought I had found a stand up store owner in Chucks Guns- Jupiter Florida when I went in and asked to by a G17 hi cap mag. He said “I have 5 but to be fair I will only sell one to a person”. I said I agree with that policy and happily paid is moderately inflated price of $35 for one mag. He said come back in a few weeks and if I have more I will sell you another. That brings me to today (1-4-13). I go in to ask if he has any PMAGS for my new AR and he says yes, for $85!!! I said a polite no thank you and asked about the Glock mags. The woman goes in the back and gets one, asks Chuck for the price and he states $75. My issue is not so much with this guy over inflating a price, but it does peeve me that I followed his policy, did as told and then I come back to a price 400% over MSRP.

Unfortunately for him I was shopping for a reputable store to support my hobby and that of 6 other people. Chucks Guns in Jupiter will not be getting our several thousands of dollars per year, nor our recommendation to hundreds of other shooters each year that we meet at matches in the South Florida area.

It’s a shame that the companies that we support are so quick to "stick it" to us when there are rumors of major changes.
We will be hearing of more companies large and small that are going to stop selling firearms/ammo and accessories an over hyped fallacy that guns kill people. As any intelligent person knows, this is simply not the case.

Fellow gunners, it’s your money. Spend it wisely.

 

[Skribs]

If they hype up their prices one of two things will happen - either A) they will sell stuff and make a lot of profit, or B) they will fail to sell because people will not buy high. Looks like A is winning, considering how empty shops are. I have no problem with that in a free market.

What I do have a problem with is companies that are stopping the sale of "evil" firearms in wake of the tragedy.

 

[BearGriz]

That is frustrating. I wonder if there could be more to the story, it is sometimes easy to feel cheated on one end of a deal.

I've seen some business owners on this forum rightfully defend some price hikes, so it might be worth it to ask the store owner why the sharp price increase. For example, his replacement costs are also possibly going through the roof.

Perhaps when he upped the price a while ago he thought $35 was reasonable, and it would also cover his replacement costs if his distributors hiked their prices. Then (hypothetically) he came to find out that his replacement costs were suddenly $45! He has to pay more for the replacement mags than what he grossed for the sell of the previous ones. In that situation, he has no choice but to sell the new items at a really high price to not only make a profit, but hedge his bets against even more price increases.

Another real possibility these people (who like being able to make a living and feed their families) are facing is that they may lose the ability to market and sell half or more of their inventory (if they are left holding banned mags or weapons). Their livelihoods are under attack. I sort of empathize with their desire to make hay while the sun shines.

Then again, maybe he is just a greedy jerk, or maybe it is a combination.

I'm just saying that it is easy to get caught up and emotional, but the other guy probably isn't enjoying a lot of what is happening either and he has a lot of real economic pressures that he has to deal with during this time of uncertainty and frenzy.

 

[d-dogg]

And you are certain his suppliers did not first rape him on "new" prices before he passed them along to you?

 

[silicosys4]

I'd rather have the option of paying way too much if I reeeeally need something, than not having the option to buy at all. Most stores understand this, and will mark up the last few pieces of each item in the inventory like crazy. They aren't trying to screw you, they just don't want to be sitting on empty shelves with no inventory on the horizen.

Next time be more saavy in shopping, don't wait till this kind of situation to buy, or expect the kind of experience you just had. You aren't going to find your "land of fair and cheap purchasing opportunity" anywhere right now, I guarantee it.

 

[Sam1911]

Jeeeez. Not another "they're ripping us off!11!!11" thread. Seriously...capitalism, supply and demand, same old hype and panic.

There's plenty of threads here you can vent in if you want to rage against rising prices. At any rate, we're done here.