generally it was a good store, except it seemed a little too relaxed, and it felt like they weren't listening to me. (I was in a bit of a hurry too).
I got there at about 11:45. It took about 10 minutes of me leering at the handguns for someone to come up and ask if I needed help. I ask to see a SA XD40. This is where is gets odd. The guy hands me the gun (without check the chamber first, I didn't expect it to be loaded, it's just comforting to see), and then says "I'll be right back" and walks away. I thought it was odd that this guy would hand me a new gun, and then walk off. I'm sure I could have slipped this into my pocket and walked out, wearing my trench coat, no one would have noticed it. Another individual walks by and asks if I need help, I tell him I'm just looking at this SA. He says "Okay" and walks off. I kinda wonder if anyone HAS walked off with guns before with this kind of service. Finally one of the head sales guys comes over and starts asking me how I like it, what i'm getting it for, just striking up conversation but at least he's keeping an eye on me and the gun. We chat for a few minutes, I decide I want to buy it. I grab some rounds and a IWB holster. Another sales rep comes over with paperwork. After telling him 5 times that I have filled out the paperwork before, I know how to read, and I know what to do, he smiles and nods, and walks me through step by step. Which is quite annoying. He's saying things like "if you read the first part of this question you realize that it doesn't apply to you, so just mark here" and "make sure you fill this out completely." I find stuff like that kinda belittling. It's now about 12:10.
I fill out the paperwork, hand them my DL and CC permit. The guy hands me another form which is okaying a $7.50 charge for the background check. I grab the head sales rep and ask "I already have my CC permit, that should waive this fee?" the sales rep, yes it will but fill this out anyway. okay fine whatever. I fill out the second form, he asks if it's okay to run a background check on me. I give him the *** look... I'm thinking, I've tld you guys about 25 times that I have bought numerous guns, I know how to do the paperwork, I know what you have to do, just do it. "Yeah, background check, go for it"
So he faxes it to the local BCI and tells me that it'll take 10 to 15 minutes. This is the first time I've seen a shop fax this paperwork. Normally it's called in and takes 2 minutes. So that kinda bugged me. I check out some fo the AR15 and other long guns they have. I ask to see one of the guns, an a younger sales rep comes up the grab it for me. After I look at it, I hand it back to guy, where's his finger? Right on the trigger, I wanted to say "take you're finger off the trigger, don't you know anything about gun safety" But I refrained from causing a scene, he did this same thing on a few other guns I looked at, and I bit my tongue. The paperwork comes back no to long after, and I figure we're good to go. NOPE. Now they have to get a second person to come look over the paperwork, this somehow takes 10 minutes, for one person to look over one piece of paper and make sure that the right boxes are marked.
After that there's a hassles of finding the gun. One of the guys goes in the back to get a new one, comes out with an XD9 that is marked wrong, goes back with another guy, they come out 5 minutes later with the right gun. And he decides to shoot the ???? with the guy next to him about the grouping of the bulletholes on the used target that is supplied. We get everything back there taken care of. And one of the sales reps is asked to walk me to the front of the store to get rung out. Good finally, this should be a simple job, unless the pretty pictures of Elk on the TV distract the sales rep. Yep, another few minutes for him to try to guess what #point Elk it is, gee, that was worth while, considering the video is on repeat and I've already seen it twice since I've been in there.
I get the register, get rung up, paid and am out the door in a matter of one minute.
I just wish the other guys could have been as quick as the woman behind the counter.
Maybe I'm blowing it all out of proportion, but at the gun store I normally buy from when someone says I want to buy this gun, the transaction in complete in less than 10 minutes. At Sportsmans it took a little over an hour. I just find that a bit too long, and I don't really care to go back if that's how long it's going to take to get things taken care of. I understand that buying a firearm is a big deal, and there are steps you have to go through, but there are quicker ways to do it.
There ya have it.
I got there at about 11:45. It took about 10 minutes of me leering at the handguns for someone to come up and ask if I needed help. I ask to see a SA XD40. This is where is gets odd. The guy hands me the gun (without check the chamber first, I didn't expect it to be loaded, it's just comforting to see), and then says "I'll be right back" and walks away. I thought it was odd that this guy would hand me a new gun, and then walk off. I'm sure I could have slipped this into my pocket and walked out, wearing my trench coat, no one would have noticed it. Another individual walks by and asks if I need help, I tell him I'm just looking at this SA. He says "Okay" and walks off. I kinda wonder if anyone HAS walked off with guns before with this kind of service. Finally one of the head sales guys comes over and starts asking me how I like it, what i'm getting it for, just striking up conversation but at least he's keeping an eye on me and the gun. We chat for a few minutes, I decide I want to buy it. I grab some rounds and a IWB holster. Another sales rep comes over with paperwork. After telling him 5 times that I have filled out the paperwork before, I know how to read, and I know what to do, he smiles and nods, and walks me through step by step. Which is quite annoying. He's saying things like "if you read the first part of this question you realize that it doesn't apply to you, so just mark here" and "make sure you fill this out completely." I find stuff like that kinda belittling. It's now about 12:10.
I fill out the paperwork, hand them my DL and CC permit. The guy hands me another form which is okaying a $7.50 charge for the background check. I grab the head sales rep and ask "I already have my CC permit, that should waive this fee?" the sales rep, yes it will but fill this out anyway. okay fine whatever. I fill out the second form, he asks if it's okay to run a background check on me. I give him the *** look... I'm thinking, I've tld you guys about 25 times that I have bought numerous guns, I know how to do the paperwork, I know what you have to do, just do it. "Yeah, background check, go for it"
So he faxes it to the local BCI and tells me that it'll take 10 to 15 minutes. This is the first time I've seen a shop fax this paperwork. Normally it's called in and takes 2 minutes. So that kinda bugged me. I check out some fo the AR15 and other long guns they have. I ask to see one of the guns, an a younger sales rep comes up the grab it for me. After I look at it, I hand it back to guy, where's his finger? Right on the trigger, I wanted to say "take you're finger off the trigger, don't you know anything about gun safety" But I refrained from causing a scene, he did this same thing on a few other guns I looked at, and I bit my tongue. The paperwork comes back no to long after, and I figure we're good to go. NOPE. Now they have to get a second person to come look over the paperwork, this somehow takes 10 minutes, for one person to look over one piece of paper and make sure that the right boxes are marked.
After that there's a hassles of finding the gun. One of the guys goes in the back to get a new one, comes out with an XD9 that is marked wrong, goes back with another guy, they come out 5 minutes later with the right gun. And he decides to shoot the ???? with the guy next to him about the grouping of the bulletholes on the used target that is supplied. We get everything back there taken care of. And one of the sales reps is asked to walk me to the front of the store to get rung out. Good finally, this should be a simple job, unless the pretty pictures of Elk on the TV distract the sales rep. Yep, another few minutes for him to try to guess what #point Elk it is, gee, that was worth while, considering the video is on repeat and I've already seen it twice since I've been in there.
I get the register, get rung up, paid and am out the door in a matter of one minute.
I just wish the other guys could have been as quick as the woman behind the counter.
Maybe I'm blowing it all out of proportion, but at the gun store I normally buy from when someone says I want to buy this gun, the transaction in complete in less than 10 minutes. At Sportsmans it took a little over an hour. I just find that a bit too long, and I don't really care to go back if that's how long it's going to take to get things taken care of. I understand that buying a firearm is a big deal, and there are steps you have to go through, but there are quicker ways to do it.
There ya have it.