thirty-ought, I'm all for buying local and have bought, sold, traded, consigned,etc. at LGSs many times over the years. One shop in the city I grew up in always had the latest stuff, along with limited production,etc. at very competitive prices. As a consequence, they also had interesting trade-ins for sale. They greeted everybody who walked in the door, and acted like they wanted your business. They would send a gun for warranty repair if a customer asked. They were also happy to receive guns for me. After I moved away, they closed. I probably supported the place. The vast majority of other shops I have dealt with over a period of many years have not been as interesting or accomodating to deal with. High prices and lowest common denominator type stock. Lots of Glocks, Taurus, common used stuff at high prices, etc. Anything you may have to trade in is worth about .000002, etc.
Many of the guns I've wanted were limited production, out of production,unusual,etc. Guns that I would be unlikely to see in a gun shop. And if very occasionally found, offered at excruciatingly high prices. If I could get within ~$100.00 on the base price of a gun I want at a LGS, that I could actually examine, I'd prefer to buy local. The reality is, that more often than not, even current production firearms I've been interested in buying, were $200.00 or more than online. Latest example; base price of gun $300 more locally than online. Figuring in tax/shipping/FFL fees, etc, the difference between local and online "OTD" price was greater yet....ymmv
