Interesting Perspective on Walmart and Firearms

[walkinghorse]

As this is a different viewpoint I decided to start a new thread onmthe latest Walmart issue.

By RICHARD MANN

A lot of folks are outraged at Walmart discontinuing the sale of ARs and now certain kinds of ammunition. I guess they feel like this monster corporation has betrayed them, and that we should boycott or punish them for not supporting the Second Amendment. Well, um, we should have never started buying our gun stuff there in the first place. We abandoned real gun stores for convenience, and to save a couple dollars. Gun stores went out of business, and here we are.

I could care less. In fact, it would not bother me if Walmart stopped selling guns and gun and hunting related accessories all together. They’ve never been a real gun/hunting store anyway. Though I’m sure there are exceptions, those behind the counter are, in most cases, not qualified to sale or even handle a gun, and I doubt any of them know the difference between a caliber and a cartridge. And based on my experience; their enthusiasm for customer care almost equals my interest in cat videos.

When I was growing up there was a local bait & tackle/gun shop about two miles from my house. On weekends—during my paper route—I’d stop there on my bike. The guy behind the counter would let me look at and fondle the guns that interested me, and he even knew a thing or two about firearms…and young boys. I could usually talk him out of some part I needed, that was just lying in the clutter on his workbench. (If you grew up near my hometown—and are older than 50—you will remember Ray’s Bait Shop. I’d rather go back there for one hour than spend a day in Cabela’s.)

We’ve seen the death of the local gun shop. With that, we’ve lost places where real and practical knowledge could be dispensed. Walmart has contributed to this near extinction; they retail firearms so cheap the local guy cannot compete. (Few realize how small profit margins are on guns.) What they fail to deliver is service—service before, during, and most importantly, after the sale. And those conducting the sale do not have the experience to get that feeling when someone is trying to buy a gun with possible bad intentions in mind. (You do realize an FFL dealer can deny a sale to anyone they think might be a danger, don’t you? Local gun shop owners take this seriously.)

And then there’s the knowledge they do not have to share. Local gun shops are operated by folks who are experienced with, and passionate about, what they do and the things they sale. That passion carries over to the customer. The absence of that passion is like a cancer to the gun and hunting industry. It’s why Walmart could care less about your firearms or hunting interests—they have none of their own. It’s also the reason some gun manufactures are struggling; they hired management types from other industries who lack our passion.

Be mad at Walmart if you like, I could care less what they sale. When I buy gun stuff I’m going to buy it from a guy who smells like Hoppe’s #9, a guy who was installing a trigger on a rifle that morning, a guy who closed his shop early yesterday to go to the range, a guy who frequently has a shop full of like-minded folks complaining about anti-gunners, a guy who knows what a pre-64 model 70 is, who Jeff Cooper was, and who actually gives a pelosi if I hit what I shoot at, or ever come back in his shop again.

With this help from Walmart the local gun shop can once again be real. With all the new gun owners in our ranks, they’ve never been needed more than right now!

You think Walmart is a gun store? Well, bless your heart. You’ve never been in a real gun store, have you?

Richard Mann

 

[Watchdog]

This is outstanding.

Says what needs to be said, and what should have been said years ago.

Or maybe someone has been saying it for years; we just haven't been listening.

It isn't too late to wake up.

 

[LoadedRound]

I hadn't really thought about it before. I've only bought 1 firearm from Walmart and that was in 1982 when they still sold handguns. I doubt I've spent more than $100 on ammunition there.

Apparently, I'm immune to any policy changes they might make

 

[BAM-BAM]

Add Dick's, Dunham's and the other big box "sporting goods stores" to the list......... worthless..... and you get to pay Full MSRP for bad service!!!!!

 

[Jessie]

I’m guilty. I bought a Mossberg for turkey season one year and a very little bit of ammo (100rds?) from Wally in the past.
Your post is correct and I will refrain from doing so in the future.
Now, I think a much larger problem looms with the internet for the LGS.
Something has to give as far as prices to be able to compete. I understand that there’s not much profit to be made but I have seen a couple of LGS that we’re not competitive at all.
I’m not rich so I have to shop around.
I don’t have the definitive answer here.
After thinking some, maybe sales are in the past for the most part. Concentrate instead on transfers, service and custom work....those things that you can’t get from those places. I don’t know but if the profit margin is that slim, I would work on the areas where it’s better.

 

[Joe Kent]

Well said Richard, well said!

 

[Sistema1927]

This brought back a memory that I had long ago forgotten

Even though I can now purchase my ammo 1,000 rounds at a time online, there was a time when money was short, and every penny counted. However, there was a local gun store when I was a kid that would sell me loose .22 ammo for $.01 each. If all I had was a quarter, I could get 25 rounds. If all I had was a dime, then 10. Guessing that Wal-Mart, or Cabelas, or Sportsman's Warehouse would toss me out on my ear if I asked for the same.

 

[Jessie]

This is outstanding.

Says what needs to be said, and what should have been said years ago.

Or maybe someone has been saying it for years; we just haven't been listening.

It isn't too late to wake up.

You’re right, but it may be too late. The cats out of that bag and unless something changes with internet sales, it’s not going back in.

 

[federali]

Problem is Bigger Than We Think

Regardless of the product line, the very nature of retailing is changing. The big box stores like Home Depot are forcing the mom-and-pop hardware stores out of business. At least a half dozen hardware stores folded in my former neighborhood on the south shore of Nassau County, LI. Then, there are online sales, a double whammy for the brick-and mortar stores.

Of course no one, especially a deep-pockets mega corporation like Walmart, wants to be the source of a firearm used in a mass shooting. The issues are complex and I'm sure Walmart doesn't want to alienate their gun-using customers. Antigun forces have demonstrated that they will violate the 1st Amendment in an effort to hurt the NRA. NY is trying to force banks not to deal with the NRA and San Francisco now thinks the NRA is a terrorist group. I'm sure they would attempt a boycott of a major retailer to achieve their ends.

 

[rwt1405]

I've never purchased a firearm from Walmart, and this explains one of the many reasons why.

Thank you for saying it much better then I ever could have.

 

[muddocktor]

If Walmart was depending on me to buy firearms and ammo from them they would have gone broke a long time ago. Yes, I have bought a few guns from them, but they were more one offs than a regular deal of shopping. The first one was about 15 years ago and bought with a Walmart gift card that a company I used to do business with gave out as safety bonuses and I ordered a Ruger 77/22 in 22lr, plus a Nikon scope. The last one I bought was a 6920 when they were getting scarce to find after Sandy Hook and then sold it to my brother. As for ammo, I've bought a little 22 lr from them but even that I mostly shop online for. The rest of my ammo I reload, so no Walmart for me for ammo. As for supporting my LGS, I don't know of even 1 in New Iberia that handles reloading supplies and in Lafayette, Shooters Supply is pretty outrageously priced on components and usually don't have the powders I use and they don't even stock any Western powder (Accurate, Ramshot) at all. The gun shop in Arnaudeville also has just a small supply of reloading components too. I have bought guns from the LGS around the house though, when they have something I want and have it priced in the range I will pay for it.

 

[TTSH]

Walmart's decision is going to help many local gun shops and stores like Bass Pro and Cabela's for sure... and help the on-line ammo sellers even more. That's the positive side. I'm seeing it already.

But the downside is the loss of the giant entity that set the market (and set it reasonably low) price-wise. The other big downside is the further isolation of gunowners and sport shooting from everyday life in retail middle America. Not good things long-term.

 

[cowboy4evr]

I never , ever purchased a firearm from Walmart . Regards, Paul

 

[Muss Muggins]

Somebody with some sense once told me that Wal-Mart was behind the creation of Remington’s “Express” line of 870 shotguns . . .

 

[Jessie]

Well Muss, if that’s true then Thank you Walmart...now get off my lawn!

 

[andy52]

Personally I haven't been in a Walmart for at least 30 years, I've never liked their business practices. They treat there employs like **** and they destroy small local businesses as already stated, who's fault is that who ever walks in the door and makes a purchase.

 

[McGivern]

I've never purchased a firearm or ammunition from Wally World. Always dealt with local shops or occasionally at gun shows. By stopping these sales, they are affecting their own bottom line.

 

[Watchdog]

By stopping these sales, they are affecting their own bottom line.

Probably by such a small percentage, it won't even move the decimal point in their bottom line.

 

[dockmurgw]

For every gun owner angered by this decision (but OK with the fact that they are responsible for flooding the country with cheap chicom junk, go figure), there will be 5 clueless millenials that will cheer this decision. The country has changed, the worst generation is in charge and making these business decisions, so get used to it...there's a lot more to come, because the worst generation is conceiving an even worse generation. I give the 2nd 2 more generations before its erased from history, air brushed out of the historical record like Stalins enemies.

 

[TTSH]

Probably by such a small percentage, it won't even move the decimal point in their bottom line.

Let's just say that the Walmart executives and stockholders won't miss a single meal on account of us being disrespected in their stores. That's the sad reality of it.