Local Gun Shops

[dave77]

Our state House and Senate (Washington) just passed a bill nicknamed the FFL Killer bill. And our governor will giggle when he signs it. A few highlights are all guns on display must be locked up, all guns must be stored in a fireproof burglar proof safe anytime the shop is closed. 24/7 video and audio monitoring of the shop including all doors and windows and stored for two years. 1,000,000 in liability insurance. Bars or cut proof screens on all doors and windows. The crap goes on and on but you get the gist. So for our few remaining independent gunshots around here it’s going to get tough to stay in business.

Please don’t take this down a political path, I just wanted to chime in on the original topic of LGS sales and how tough it’s going to be for ours to stay in business. Thanks.

Hopefully it will not stand up in the courts. Even the Seattle Times is saying it's a bad bill.

"But HB 2118 pushes gun control to a level of punishment for legitimate businesses. The bill would require gun dealers to run annual background checks on their employees, carry $1 million liability insurance, install steel doors or bars at the business, and meet onerous requirements for storage and security systems with audio and video surveillance. Gun dealers would have to digitally archive some video for two years. Dealers would also be required to file annual reports with the state that attest to their compliance.

This bill would impose costs on small firearms sellers that could force them out of business and open even wider the black market for gun sales.

Some lawmakers may not like the selling of guns in Washington, but it’s a legal business. The Times editorial board praised the Legislature for enacting laws that banned the sale of assault-style weapons and ammunition over the past two years. But HB 2118 unnecessarily tightens the rein on gun dealers while using the public’s safety as a smoke screen."

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/ed ... o-dealers/

[Ernie]

Have a good LGS in town, only one left. I have a good relationship with them and give them most of my business but there are things they don't sell that I get online. There is a Rual King but it is difficult to speak to someone as they only have one person working the department and they won't deal or take trades. Walmart I avoid unless there is no other option.
NCG has a great point about gunsmiths. We don't have any local anymore and the LGS doesn't even recommend anyone now. That is concerning.

[Mags]

I don't think we have many small mom/pop life style type LGS left in the immediate Portland metro and suburban communities, at least not on the west side. A few strip maul gun shops have survived, but the few I've visited are price gougers. The best gun and ammo prices right now are in bigger chain stores, at least here it's that way. Sportsman Warehouse has the best prices for guns and ammo overall, followed by Cabela's and Coastal Farm. A couple of the smaller chain stores like Big5 and BiMart have decent prices, but limited product selection.

[PJM]

my son was visiting a small northern VT LGs and struck gold. 2lbs of #2, 1lb of bullseye , 1lb of H110, 1000 small pistol and 1000 small rifle primers, as well as 100 large pistol magnum primers. I figured I would buy lunch as we met half way between our homes which are 3 hours apart. I gave him a case of pigeons which we can use on his property. The LGS was getting out of reloading as he was sick of the hazmat charges and never getting all he ordered.
we should be set for awhile.

[HenryFan]

PJM - What a lucky day!

[BrokenolMarine]

We have two local gun shops in the area. The first one I visited I first found on line while still in Virginia completing the sale of the farm there. Tina had visited the new farm in Oklahoma and the seller had told her that there was a "moderate" problem with Feral Hogs. I had located a Rifle on line at that local shop that would be perfect, and it was at a fair price. I had seen the damage online the Feral Hogs could do. Once we made the move to my daughter's on the Oklahoma / Texas border, we drove up to South Central Oklahoma so I could look at the new Farm and we stopped in the gunshop I had seen on line, located in the nearby town.

The man behind the counter seemed annoyed that I disturbed his reading of the comics, but reluctantly put down the paper and got up to see why we had interrupted his morning. I asked about the AR10 they had online and they still had it. The price had been reduced by $200. I looked the gun over and I told him I'd take it. When I gave him my IDs, and completed all the paperwork, he said the address I had put on the forms didn't match my ID. I told him we were in the process of moving. "Just put your old Virginia Address on the forms, no one will know."

"I sold that house and don't own it anymore, I can't do that."
"Sure you can, I'll give you new forms, you fill them out, and sign them, pay me, you are out the door, no one is the wiser."
"I sign the state and federal forms with false information, that's TWO felonies."
"Nah, It's all good."
"I'll come back when I have an Oklahoma Driver's License in a month or two, after the house closes."
"That rifle probably won't be here."
"Then I'm not supposed to own it."

I came back about two months later and the rifle had gone down another $200 in price, I used my new Oklahoma Driver's license to complete the forms and Comics Guy didn't remember me. I added a box of 25 rounds of .357 hollowpoints for my EDC handgun. $50. He still acted like the Customer in the shop was an annoyance. I haven't gone back to the shop and won't.

The other shop in town is warm and inviting, and every time we have been in the shop, the folks are friendly and helpful. We have both taken our CCW classes from the wife of the owner and enjoyed them immensely. They have handled multiple transfers of firearms from a friend in VA who is thinning out his collection and prefers to sell the guns to me than those he doesn't know. Although the HUGE gun store in Oklahoma city has better prices, we have bought a couple handguns from this local family owned shop to support a local business. I bought a Ruger Wrangler 22 for myself and a Kimber Micro 9 for the wife.

I agree, we Need to keep these smaller local family owned stores in business.



BTW, the seller of the farm "thought" that I wanted there to be FERAL hogs on the property so he lied and told Miss T there were. There are feral hogs in Oklahoma, and there are Feral hogs in the South Central Oklahoma, but haven't been Feral Hogs in our area. He wanted that sale.

[HenryFan]

Devil Dog -

If I sense that a store, a LGS or any other business, doesn't want my patronage, I don't go back. I understand your position.

[BrokenolMarine]

Devil Dog -

If I sense that a store, a LGS or any other business, doesn't want my patronage, I don't go back. I understand your position.

That shop is located on Main Street, downtown. Prime location.
It should be doing a booming business... but doesn't. Gee, wonder why?

[HenryFan]

That shop is located on Main Street, downtown. Prime location.
It should be doing a booming business... but doesn't. Gee, wonder why?

I doubt the guy behind the counter knows why either.

[BrokenolMarine]

One of my favorite memories from my childhood, involves a local gun shop. I was living in Florida in a very small town located ON a river. My stepfather worked for the UNION, IBEW, and we lived right on the River. Across the bridge was a small gunshop and he had taken his little Cowboy 9 shot 22 to the gunshop to have the hammer mounted firing pin built up. The guy called late in the evening and said the gun was ready. I was about 12 and my stepdad told the gunsmith he would send me down the next day with the money to pick up the gun, HE had to work from 6am to 6pm to finish the tower they were building. No problem. (early 70s, they would have had a stroke these days.)

I walked in the gunshop and the first thing that hit me was the smell. Leather, hoppes, and gun oil. Overlaid with the pipe smoke. The old man was never without that pipe in the corner of his mouth, unless he was reloading custom ammunition at the old single stage press at the back of the shop. I instantly fell in love with the place. I picked up the gun and paid for it, but went over and sat on the stool in the corner and watched the man work. I had been taught all my life that quiet was the way to learn.

Customers came and went, the stories were amazing, and they were all full of life and funny. I slipped back up the next day for an hour or so, and the day after. The old man never said a word. His dog started to lay at my feet for a rub and a pet now and then. Toward the end of the week he looked over, and said, "If you are going to hang out, make yourself useful, take that broom and sweep up that side of the counter."

The next day there was a rake leaning against the side of the front door. "Both sides of the drive." By the time I had finished it was noon, he crooked a finger and we walked behind the shop to the house he lived in. The wife had fixed grilled cheese and soup for lunch. Not the last meal I took with them. Turns out he had called my stepdad and he told him I was fine to hang out there, and to put me to work. I sat by the fireplace that winter and watched him scope rifles, bed match rifles, and make custom holsters and slings. "Throw another log on there sonny," was a phrase I got used to hearing. I asked questions now and then, but never too many.

He couldn't legally put me to work and pay me a wage, he paid me in 22 ammo for my single shot. I swept, raked, cleaned gutters, took out trash, and picked up trash that drivers threw out the window.

I still fished with my friends and ran my boat up and down the river, but I spent a lot of time in that gun shop during that two years we lived there. When we finally left, the gunsmith's wife got tears in my hair. I think I left some on her apron. I learned a lot during that time. Mostly about the way you should treat people.

I can still summon the smells of that shop late at night when it's quiet and the house is asleep. Leather, hoppes, gun oil and pipe smoke.