Buying ammo at Walmart

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Chevelle SS

Chevelle SS

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I went to my local Walmart and stopped buy the sporting goods. I spied a nice price on some centerfire ammo and got the clerk to get it out of the case. At the register when he rang me up he asked for my drivers license. I gave it to him and he then informed me they can't sell centerfire ammunition to anyone who is under 21 (I'm 19). I was taken aback by this and I told him that I bought centerfire ammunition at Cabelas all the time to which he replied they were selling me centerfire ammunition illegally. He said something about a federal law about anyone under 21 not being able to buy centerfire ammunition. :confused: I decide not to continue arguing with him and left without buying the ammo. :banghead: I just sent a letter to the Walmart corporate offices stating what happened and my frustration over not being able to buy ammo and also my intent to do future shopping somewhere else. :fire:

My question is this: Why can't I buy centerfire ammunition at Walmart but I can at Cableas and why does Walamrt have this policy?
 
here in okieland they only ask if it's for a handgun or rifle. might be a state law thing?
 
Were you trying to buy handgun ammo? IIRC, you must be 21 to buy handgun ammo. If not, the Wal-Mart clerk was ignorant of the law.
 
It was some 45ACP. He didn't ask if it was handgun ammo, he just said he can't sell centerfire ammo to someone under 21. That is what gets me. What if I had asked for a box of 308? That's centerfire too.
 
On one hand, we have a Walmart clerk who either used the wrong terminology or simply doesn't know the law.

On the other hand, we have a 19-year-old kid trying to purchase handgun ammunition in violation of federal law.

Pot, meet kettle.
 
Even if it had been for a handgun, I can legally purchase a handgun from a private seller in MI at 18. Where am I supposed to buy ammo for it?
 
When they ring up any handgun ammunition, or ammunition at all, it gives them a prompt. What I have seen is it comes up with a date that you must be born before. So since it was 45 ACP you are not allowed to purchase it since you are under 21 years of age. Now if they rang up 30-30 and they said the same thing then he would have been in error. The semantics is not the issue. You know you are 19 and you know you are not allowed to purchase handgun ammunition, centerfire or rimfire. If someone has sold these to you in the past they were breaking the law and the store could lose its license. Please don't put someone in that predicament.
 
just tell them it's for a rifle, your Thompson smg! they won't even know the difference
 
They didn't ask if it was for a handgun, he just said I couldn't buy it. I never said whether it was for a rifle or a handgun. And what about 22 ammo, that is also used in both rifles and pistols.
 
Even if it had been for a handgun, I can legally purchase a handgun from a private seller in MI at 18. Where am I supposed to buy ammo for it?
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From another private seller. You can't legally buy handgun ammunition from a dealer until you're 21, regardless of whether or not you can own a handgun.

They didn't ask if it was for a handgun, he just said I couldn't buy it.
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Technically he's correct, although he was mistaken at the same time.

Maybe you can buy some ammo off a buddy at the range.
 
If you would have asked for .308, you would have it now. Handgun ammo cannot be sold to under 21 customers legally. Complaining about a business following the law doesn't change the facts, you ain't old enough. If another business breaks the law thru negligence, the law-obeying business shouldn't be faulted. I'm 61, and the laws are much more lenient now than back when I was under 21. We couldn't buy a beer, couldn't vote, etc. I could work on warplanes overseas but couldn't vote. An unfortunate fact of being young is patience is required to be eligible for certain privileges.:)
 
well, i am 61 years young. i bought bulk ammo at wallys in ct and would get asked if it was for a handgun or rifle. apparently i look pretty young, so i always told the guy it was for my machine gun. remember, the folks working there are drones who don't think out of the box and wally didn;t get to be a big box store for doing something stupid (corp and gov regulations).:rolleyes:
 
it dosent matter if you are going to put it in a hand gun or not and center fire has nothing to do with it ether if they make a handgun you can put the ammo in you have to be 21 its frecken redickulus!: 22 lr and mag are included in this,:banghead how have you guys never heard of this its been a law for quite a while?
 
So basically he was partially correct (Me not being able to buy handgun ammo) and partially incorrect(Me not being able to buy centerfire ammo.)

So can someone who is 21 buy me handgun ammo?
 
it dosent matter if you are going to put it in a hand gun or not and center fire has nothing to do with it ether if they make a handgun you can put the ammo in you have to be 21 its frecken redickulus!: 22 lr and mag are included in this,:banghead how have you guys never heard of this its been a law for quite a while?
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But I have seen handguns chambered in 30.06, 223, and 30 carbine. Are those considered handgun ammo too?
 
Could be. I would not mention it to them. But the .45 acp is designed as a handgun round. I have a CX4 storm in .45 acp (a carbine semi) but a person who is under 21 cannot purchase ammo for it. I personally think the law is ridiculous since a great many who join the military are under 21. But it is the law. So next time have someone who is over 21 with you.
 
it dosent matter if you are going to put it in a hand gun or not and center fire has nothing to do with it ether if they make a handgun you can put the ammo in you have to be 21 its frecken redickulus!: 22 lr and mag are included in this
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That's simply not true. The dealer can sell interchangable ammo "provided the buyer is 18 years or older, and the dealer is satisfied that it is for use in a rifle". Source
 
Chevelle SS said:
^ So if it is for a rifle, I should be able to purchase it.
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Legally, yes.

But if Walmart doesn't want to sell it to you for whatever reason, they don't have to.

It sounds like "Walmart" would be happy to sell it to you but the individual you got isn't aware of how it works
 
I don't mind not buying ammo at Walmart. (Most of it is bought at Cabelas or handloaded by a friend of mine.) I was just miffed that he said I couldn't buy centerfire ammo without regard to what it was for. He never asked what it was for.
 
Chevelle...he used the wrong word. Drop it. It's pretty obvious when you're buying .45ACP that it's for a handgun. Their computer prompted him to check your ID, he did, you aren't legally able to purchase that ammunition, and with your argument, even if you said it was for a rifle, it's probably not of his (or many other people's) opinion that you are using it for a rifle. Are there rifles chambered for .45? Yeah, a few. Does that mean he has to agree to sell you that round? No. You weren't buying it for a rifle, so the clerk was in the right anyway.

As with everything in business, vote with your wallet. If you don't like the federal law or their policies, don't purchase things there.
 
threefortyduster said:
Chevelle...he used the wrong word. Drop it. It's pretty obvious when you're buying .45ACP that it's for a handgun. Their computer prompted him to check your ID, he did, you aren't legally able to purchase that ammunition, and with your argument, even if you said it was for a rifle, it's probably not of his (or many other people's) opinion that you are using it for a rifle. Are there rifles chambered for .45? Yeah, a few. Does that mean he has to agree to sell you that round? No. You weren't buying it for a rifle, so the clerk was in the right anyway.

As with everything in business, vote with your wallet. If you don't like the federal law or their policies, don't purchase things there.
Click to expand...

Can you cite that law?
 
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