So says the person from gunsamerica.com, an auction sight where a BUNCH of online gun whores... I mean legitimate Class 3 FFL dealers... sell their firearms regularly. Last time I checked, there are many, many legit, stocking dealers that routinely sell stock on gunbroker.com, which, I might add, is a better site, IMHO. In fact, there is a dealer who's brick and mortar is in Muscatine, IA that sells guns on gunbroker.com all the time. Muscatine is about 1/2 hour away from where I live, and I wouldn't have known about his store if I hadn't seen him on gunbroker.
As for any particular dealer needing to be healthy and profitable for the 2nd Amendment to survive, that's utter garbage. Where one goes out of business, another will rise in it's place. It's business. Forcing MAP pricing schemes on online dealers is just going to inflate prices at local shops because they don't have to compete at all. And to say that gun dealer are the front line of defense for the 2nd Amendment is also a gross exaggeration. The government doesn't give a rip about what gun dealers think, aside from the fact that the owner/FFL holder has the same one vote any other NRA member does. I also would point out that each and every FFL dealer that sells guns online, whether he's an actual stock brick and mortar store owner or not, is going to have the same NRA affiliations as any other FFL dealer.
This isn't a consumer question. You shouldn't be put in the position to choose between the local dealer who is most likely an NRA life member and will be there to sell you guns through thick and thin, and a fly by night internet gun whore. The industry should be backing it's own dealers, and it just simply doesn't
And why the heck not? I, as a consumer, ought to be able to buy from whatever legitimate source that I want, online or otherwise. I, as a consumer, benefit from the competition that the internet provides when otherwise there may be none. And again, what makes you think that the dealer that sells exclusively online can't be a NRA Life Member, and an equally vehement supporter of the 2nd Amendment?
The fact is that online dealers and auction sites provide a valuable service to consumers, by providing price competition and forcing local brick & mortars to up their service standard to compensate. If you're a local shop that can't or won't find a way to compete, then good riddance. Someone else will come along and fill the vacancy who can and will.
Mike