Buying A Walmart Gun

I bought my last firearm at my local Walmart.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8059259/buying_a_gun_at_walmart.html?cat=46

As the manager walked me out to the parking lot, I couldn't help but wonder how Herb handles such transactions. Do the sales folks act all befuddled, do they wrap your firearm six ways to Sunday and then walk it out like a suitcase nuke? They probably handle it in a far cooler way.

At least, the Walmart folks didn't say real loud on the PA: "Manager to Sporting Goods for A Gun Sale" They did that for my wife about 11 years ago when she bought a .22. She was mortified!

Lee Spain said:

I bought my last firearm at my local Walmart.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8059259/buying_a_gun_at_walmart.html?cat=46

As the manager walked me out to the parking lot, I couldn't help but wonder how Herb handles such transactions. Do the sales folks act all befuddled, do they wrap your firearm six ways to Sunday and then walk it out like a suitcase nuke? They probably handle it in a far cooler way.

At least, the Walmart folks didn't say real loud on the PA: "Manager to Sporting Goods for A Gun Sale" They did that for my wife about 11 years ago when she bought a .22. She was mortified!

I bought a Mini-14 at Walmart awhile back and it was the same thing: escort you outside the store then hand it to you. The lady working in Sporting Goods said a lot of Walmarts are getting rid of their firearms sales, but that store made a lot of money in that department so didn't want to shut theirs down.

I'm guessing the background for this policy is the somewhat common practice of people walking into gun stores, asking to see one, then chambering a round they brought with them and killing themselves right in the store. When I was a kid, somebody where I live actually did that in the JC Penney store, of all places. It happens more than you think. The employees of every dedicated gun store I've ever been in all have handguns on their sides. Guess it would look bad if the associates at Walmart did the same.

You think the guns are bad: I bought an 8" Buck knife at the same counter and they sent it up to customer service at the front of the store and held it there until I paid up front and checked out. Don't know if that was an anti-theft deal or what. Seemed a little ridiculous to me.

It was worth the inconvenience for me: got the same rifle for $60 less at Walmart as opposed to a gun shop half a mile away.

Cabelas does the same thing whenever I buy a gun there. It's standard practice for most all of the big name retail stores.

The three gun shops I've purchased from in this state do not.

The reason for this, IMO, is that the bigger the retail store, the greater the likelihood of there being a hoplophobe in corporate headquarters. Hoplophobic executives dream up irrational ideas and get them implemented. Then they pat themselves on the back for being so brilliant.

Local gun stores don't have that issue.