Conversation With A Wal-Martian Re: Gun Sales

[FTF]

I'm getting aggravated at wally world as well.

No stores around here carry guns at all... this has taken place slowly over the past 2 years. Only 2 that I know of in 20 miles carry ammo, and this is a pretty BIG city. Only thing worth buying anymore is 9mm luger... even 38 special is too expensive. 45 auto has gone up so much in the past 6 months to where its actually cheaper to buy at a gunshop. They have the audacity to sell .223 at 18$ per 40 now!!!!!!!!!

F walmart. They aren't allowed in my city and I'm not going to drive 10 miles just to be stuck for 30 min in a store with 1000 customers and 2 open registers. I would drive for cheap ammo and food, one stop shop, but it's cheaper to buy online by far, and I don't need walmart that bad since single people dont need to really buy bulk groceries.

F them. I'll give my money to the mom and pops.

 

[nramember2]

When they quit selling guns in the local Wal Mart. I quit going. They can say what they want. It was political and they caved to the gungrabbers.
They have more influence than you think.


He who toot's his horn loudest, gets heard first.

Make some noise.

It was claimed that Michael Moore was instrumental in getting ammo removed from Kmart's. I dont know if k Mart sells ammo. I havent been in one in years. Their gun dept. sucked.

Found a link http://www.westword.com/issues/2001-07-12/news.html

 

[Lupinus]

Everytime I go to wal mart I just end up leaving ticked off about one thing or another and about the only thing I buy there anymore is cloths for work. My job makes me wear khakies button down shirts and a tie and walmart is the cheapist place for things like that. Other then cloths and a knife that caught my eye I haven't bought anything from walmart in months. A snotty clerk telling me they don't sell things out of the counter (sporting goods) after ten pm was dang near the straw that broke the camels back.

Wal Marts whole problem is they will only seem to hire morons or non-morons willing to work for several dollars an hour less then they are worth. That and they stick people in departments they know nothing about. I talked to one guy, retired but needs pocket change so is working part time, knows tons about sporting goods. Where do they stick him? Clothing department and put some pimple faced idiot that must have been dropped a few times in his early years behind the sporting goods counter. Seriously this kid doesn't know the difference between a fixed blade and a folder a strait edge and a serated edge. Another lady knows tons about clothing and sewing and stuff, they stick her in the food stuffs.

I think Wal Mart is missing a key point, their service is getting worse and worse and more and more of their customers are getting fed up. I work in Walgreens and believe me when I tell you, if a Walgreens employee is rude, unhelpful, doesn't greet you on your way in, etc (basically acts like a walmart employee), or has more then three customers waiting in their line without calling for help, they are NOT doing their job. When Walgreens says customer service, they mean it and they get caught acting that way unless they have a bad manager they do get punished esspecialy for rudeness or not calling for help when they have more then three customers in a line. And more and more of Walmarts customers are fed up and willing to come to smaller retailers. They are tired of seeing tons of registers at the front of the store with only a quarter of them open and lines so long it takes longer to check out then it did to do an entire food order. They are tired of rude unhelpful smartassed employees. They are tired of having to park their car and walk further then they do at the amusment park. They are tired of a whole lot of things, and are increasingly willing to spend a few cents extra for a much more pleasent shopping experience. Really, walmart may beat others prices but when you figure in other chains like Walgreens, CVS, Best Buy, etc it is rarly by much more then a few percent if not the same price. At the current rate I think one of two things are going to happen to walmart. One, they are going to undo themselves and be left with nothing but totaly low class broke trashy customers and making not much profit. Or two, they are going to figure out after they begin to loos profits people are tired of the horrible of experience of shopping there and make it right. Remember shopping at walmart say...ten years ago? Was it a lot better then now? Sure was.

And I know well the walk with the manager out the door. I bought one gun from walmart and resolved no matter how good a deal to NEVER buy one there agian, ever, if I do I want one of you to track me down and break whatever gun it is over my head. I had to practically argue with the guy just to let me inspect the gun before leaving since it couldn't be returned. Then deal with him shoving stuff back in the box while I am still looking at it. Then you shoulda seen the look on his face when I told him I wanted two bricks of ammo at the same time. He actually called the store manager and asked if he could do that.... I never went back to that walmart and there are many others I will never ever go back to.

 

[AJAX22]

t in los Angeles (needed to buy some cheap fans) and I made a point of swinging by the gun area to check out the ammo, the only catch was that there wasn't any. non nada zip.

This was in the wal mart over by van Nuys in los Angeles. it wasn’t' the greatest neighborhood, kind of makes me wonder where the guys who were chilling outside sitting on the hoods of their 30 inch chrome rimmed Chrysler 300's got the ammo for the guns that were printing on them

the gun booth was still their, it was just devoid of any merchandise, it didn't make sense to me I can't believe that Wal-Mart would cave to the gun grabbers and then go and waste the space.

 

[OldSchooler]

Im going there before the 28th when their FFL runs out. They have a Savage .17HMR for $145. Will I stop going after that? Naw, not entirely. But, Ill be biased elsewhere.
I wrote them and said goodbye.

 

[AJAX22]

I recently went to aWal-Mart in los Angeles (needed to buy some cheap fans) and I made a point of swinging by the gun area to check out the ammo, the only catch was that there wasn't any. non nada zip.

This was in the wal mart over by van Nuys in los Angeles. it wasn’t' the greatest neighborhood, kind of makes me wonder where the guys who were chilling outside sitting on the hoods of their 30 inch chrome rimmed Chrysler 300's got the ammo for the guns that were printing on them

the gun booth was still their, it was just devoid of any merchandise, it didn't make sense to me I can't believe that Wal-Mart would cave to the gun grabbers and then go and waste the space.

 

[crsgw]

Although I have never purchased a firearm at Wal-Mart, I always stopped by to check them out every time I was in my local store in Connecticut. I had purchased ammo and accessories on a regular basis. I had my eye on a Marlin 336. The price was good, but I never got around to purchasing it yet. One day, while I was picking up some dogfood for my St. Bernard, I noticed the firearms in the revolving display had been replaced with binoculars. I asked the somewhat friendly salesperson what happened to the firearms. He told me that they were not selling them any more because it took too long for a salesperson to complete the transaction and that meant the salesperson was not available to help other customers.
I told him that was a good excuse for a company that sold out.
I now buy my dogfood elsewhere and my dog doesn't even know the difference.

 

[Lupinus]

crs-
if you had ever bought that gun you would know it wasn't a made up excuse

It took me forever to get that gun, for them to go in the back and find it cause I made it perfectly clear that I wasn't taking the one in the case, this wasn't a gun shop this was walmart who the hell knows what kind of mistreatment that display has gone through? Then it took the manager his sweet time to get to the counter to give me my escort out. What the hell was I going to do? whip it out of the box assume a fireing position and start shooting up the store?

My consolation though is going by whats said here my form cost wally world about 60-70 grand

 

[the pistolero]

Let's face it, Wal-Mart is one of the few organizations on the planet with the lobbying clout, marketing machine, and behemoth rabid legal department you'd need to convince the ATF to back off if they really wanted to do so.

Interesting point; I'd never thought about that. It just goes to show you, that the so-called "gun lobby" that the antis and media jackals from coast to coast scream about seemingly nonstop, isn't quite as powerful as they'd like the public to believe.
It'd sure be nice if that lobby were that powerful, though. It's just wrong to have the presumption of guilt aimed at every potential gun buyer. The Founders would be rolling in their graves at the injustice of it all -- well, no doubt they already are, but you know what I mean. And I suppose I am stating the perfectly obvious here, but I think that aforementioned presumption of guilt is one of the biggest indicators of just how far our justice system has gone off the tracks, of how far out of whack society's values have gotten, and of the extent to which personal responsibility has been discarded in this country.
I reckon it's bad netiquette to hijack my own thread, but I just had to say all that...

 

[mapwd]

I have bought guns from all the area gun dealers here in Southern WI. and the only place I have use NO abbreviations is at Gander Mountain. They will call you at home and ask you to come in and redo the paperwork if you sneek one past them after the sale!!!!! Walmart here still sells guns and ammo

 

[nramember2]

I know the ATF can be picky about some things, but i have no beef with them. They are doing a job enforcing laws passed down by people who were voted into office. that can be changed by voting.
You can't change the mindset of the gungrabbers. You can only beat them at their own game. Speak loud and long. Do what you can to educate people of the benefits of gun ownership #1 being self defense.
Wally World will see a difference. They pay large salaries to people to crunch numbers.
But it gives Gander Mtn. a upper hand.

 

[eviioiive]

i worked at a small chain for awhile and when they got audited you would not believe how many 4473's had to be fixed.... huge mountain of a stack-- not one was a gun i sold...ha

 

[Mississippi Rifleman]

I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. All the guns in all the Walmarts were removed the day or so after Katrina and haven't returned. I was told they will not return. They couldn't have us rednecks buying guns to protect ourselves and property.

 

[10 Ring Tao]

 

[jmcraven]

I wonder what effect this is going to have on the gun industry in general. Wal-Mart, to the best of my recollection is/was the #1 firearms retailer in the USA.

I've only bought 2 guns from Wal-Mart: a Ruger 10/22 (SS with the laminate full-length stock) about 12 years ago, and a Rossi single shot .243 about 3 years ago.

 

[UnintendedConsequences]

But the BATFE has no sense of humor or wiggle room

The BATFE has no sense of humor, wiggle room or understanding of minor errors. While the agent that checked my location out before I was issued my first FFL was nice and all, I do not trust the agency to be understanding of even the tiniest error or mistake in the paperwork. I also know they will use an undercover snitch and/or instigator to try to trip up an otherwise upstanding dealer or private individual. Their agency track record proves this.

I would rather be anal-retentive and tell a customer the form has to have the normally fine abbreviation for state, kind of street and such spelled out completely, spelled correctly, or even turn away a sale if I just don't feel comfortable, than let something slide and get nailed for it. Yes, that makes me a bit pessimistic and perhaps a bit tight wound, but I don't have much other choice when I know what might happen if I don't.

With Wal-Mart, unless one of the sporting goods department managers (in my area) is right there with you to advise you about what is legal or not when it comes to how the information has to be put on the form, you could be denied the sale, delay the process or might go through fine, but then the store will get fined because the information is not 100% anal-retentive perfect to the whim or taste of the inspecting agent. Now I know why I have seen some gun show tables selling TUMS and Rolaids.

Fortunately, most of my customers are people I have known for at least a few years if not several so I can feel more relaxed selling product to them.

Alright, back to the topic a hand, one thing I do know is that the Wal-Mart closest to me will only have black powder arms and related items seasonally rather than the former year-round stocking and perhaps have some ammunition.

 

[RNB65]

I find this whole abbreviation business on the 4473 to be quite interesting. I've used abbreviations on every 4473 I've ever done over the past 20+ years and no one has ever said a thing. I've completed four 4473's in the past 3 months, all with abbreviations. Interesting, indeed.

 

[UnintendedConsequences]

Well, in that is the crux of the issue

Each BATFE agent can have a different opinion on what is "appropriate" and that opinion can change from moment to moment and visit to visit. One agent may actually not care as long as the information is correct, whether abbreviated or not. Another may be a hard nose and say it has to be X, Y and Z with no deviation from that standard. This is why so many dealers and individuals use recording devices when they talk with agents so they have something to use as legal proof as a hedge against a waffling agent.

 

[OldSchooler]

Perhaps the media jackals have gained ther goal, my friends. WM would not stop selling to gain our money until the profit line was crossed negatively. Once it is no longer in their financial best interests to continue, they stop and remove an item from inventory. My wife is a retail manager, and used to work for Wally. THat's how it works. The latest gun traders guide is also being removed from inventry - I checked.

It is apparent that there are not enough poeple BUYING guns for WM to make it worth their while to continue. Gun ownership is not the de facto priveledge it once was. People are more and more convinced that not only are guns bad for the general safety of John Q., but they are in fact, perps themselves for considering it... an anachronism of bygone times. After all, we now have the police and BigBrother to look after us, right?

Resist as we might, Orwell was right: The Socialization of Humanity gains ground, dear souls.

 

[mljdeckard]

I will have to beg forgiveness from ye, my brethren, while I DO agree in principle that Wal-mart can do anything they are inclined to do as far as federal regulation goes, their baby formula is still $3 a can cheaper than target. I will not boycott them anytime soon, but I had never bought anything from their sporting goods more significant than earplugs.

 

[halvey]

Just to confirm as the local Wal-Mart here just emptied it's gun racks the last time I was there. (south central Minnesota) Apparently it is spreading company wide.

Which store are you talking about?

I know Eagan and Apple Valley no longer sell guns. I was in the Red Wing store last week and they still had them. But they probably do pretty good there since there's no gun stores in the area.

 

[lance22]

Eagan MN ???

I live by the Eagan, MN Wally World (the one on Duckwood). I believe I saw their two rotating racks of firearms last week when I bought a couple boxes of WWB. Everything seems normal but I'll keep my eye out for 'missing firearms'.

 

[Werewolf]

I have bought guns from all the area gun dealers here in Southern WI. and the only place I have use NO abbreviations is at Gander Mountain. They will call you at home and ask you to come in and redo the paperwork if you sneek one past them after the sale!!!!! ...

What would happen if you just said NO, I'm not coming in? What recourse does the seller have if a customer refuses to come back in and redo the paperwork?

 

[halvey]

Lance
Went in the Eagan store 3 weeks ago to buy bait. The racks were there, but filled with ammo, mags and whatnot. No guns, unless they remodeled and they are now back out.

 

[Molon Labe]

Why would anyone buy guns or ammo at Wal-Mart?