Do your big-box stores treat you like a baby?

[MacFromOK]

The first time I bought a firearm at Atwood's 4-5 years ago (a handgun), they escorted me to the door. The last time I bought one (a shotgun), they insisted on carrying it to my car, and the guy literally put it in my trunk rather than handing it to me.

Pretty sure I was carrying concealed both times...

 

[n423]

I bought a .22 rifle from WM years ago and a pistol from Academy. Both escorted me to the front door and handed me the gun. No LGS has ever done that. LOL

 

[MacFromOK]

Even in a worst case scenario (maniacs bent on murder & mayhem), an escort to the door or vehicle would only postpone the attack for a few minutes at best.

Maybe it's a liability insurance thing? Dunno.

 

[GeneW]

Academy has been doing this for a long time. My experience with this was in 2009.

 

[xseler]

Probably has to do with 'chain of ownership'. If they let you in the store with an unpaid gun, technically it's still in the store's custody. If anything bad happens with that gun while unpaid, it opens up the store to HUGE liability issues ($$$$$$$$). Also, if someone just puts it on a shelf because they didn't want it, you know who'd find it. Most LGS would notice this in a hurry if this happened. If you'd paid for it, it's now yours which lessens the store's liability substantially.

BTW, my store lost $802,xxx in merchandise in the last inventory.........


.

 

[MacFromOK]

Probably has to do with 'chain of ownership'. If they let you in the store with an unpaid gun, technically it's still in the store's custody. If anything bad happens with that gun while unpaid, it opens up the store to HUGE liability issues ($$$$$$$$). Also, if someone just puts it on a shelf because they didn't want it, you know who'd find it.

I can understand an escort to the cash register, but when they escort you out of the store (and/or to your vehicle), the gun is already paid for...

 

[Shadowrider]

If you want to have some fun, go to Academy, walk out with the new gun, take it out, put it in a holster and come back in. Watch their minds explode. Because they don't object to legal carry in the store, but they do object to you walking back in with a gun you just bought. Those two policies conflict --- ask me how I know.

OK I'll bite. I already know how you know, what I'm really interested in is what they did about it after you got back in.

 

[AlongCameJones]

Academy has been doing this for a long time. My experience with this was in 2009.

If an Academy employee at the front door sees me walk in with a long gun box clearly marked RUGER (or even a plain unmarked cardboard box roughly the shape and size of a factory long gun box), he will ask me what's in the box. I will say a gun that has to be returned to the factory under warranty. Then he will start to question me about what's wrong with the gun. A bunch of questions. Then finally he will insist he has to carry the box to the gun bar. I walk in and out of Academy all the time with my handgun concealed in my fanny pack and nobody there says a damm thing about that. If it is something that looks like a gun box (or a container that might have a gun in it, worn fanny packs notwithstanding) to them, it's a different story. I wonder what Academy might say if I walked into the store with something that looked like a shoe box with NIKE on it.

Ruger also gives the customer the option of getting prepaid shipping label to ship a gun back for warranty work via Fed Ex. From now on, I will use the Fed Ex option to send guns back for repairs. Taking the gun to Academy is rather a hassle.

There was a sign at a Walmart at Lawton that said something like "please keep your firearms concealed". Of course, after the El Paso Walmart drama, I carry concealed religiously at large places like Wally World too for personal security.

Oklahoma still has some oddball 'no-gun zones' on the books. Some are felony raps.

-college and university campuses
-schools
-polling places on an election day
-gaming establishments/horse and dog tracks
-bars

The feds have their own no-gun zones:

-social security office
-post office
-military bases
-VA clinics and hospitals

All of the above are potential soft targets for mass shooters who don't give a gnat's arse about any felony weapons charges. Mass shooters hitting no-gun zones (which are the places they hit most) will likely commit suicide, die by police or get taken alive for felony charges much more serious than a felony no-gun zone violation. I don't drink, gamble, go to school or go to college but I have to be careful to leave my carry gun at home whenever I go on Fort Sill, to a local church to vote, the post office, to the courthouse or my VA clinic. I don't want to be forgetful and get into trouble. You always have to remember these no-gun zones if you carry by habit.

 

[BillPenn]

Too many lawyers at the corporate meetings. Their fear of getting sued has led to ridiculous many policies.

 

[Rez Exelon]

OK I'll bite. I already know how you know, what I'm really interested in is what they did about it after you got back in.

So I forget which holiday I was there picking something up on, but I think it was around Black Friday one year because I was picking up a SW Bodyguard I think. Now, I already had one and this was going to be a second, so I already had a pocket holster for it. I've slept since then, but I think this is basically accurate.

Me and the associate (who I knew pretty well) do the walk of shame to the register, and then to the door. So I take the box, and walk to the other side of the door and come back in. Where he promptly meets me again. The conversation went something like this:
Him: "You can't bring that back in here!"
Me: "But I'm not done shopping"
Him: "You can't bring that back in the store though."
Me: "Your policy is that customer with legal carry permits can have guns in the store. I purchased this, and am carrying it."
Him: "No it doesn't work like that it's not in a holster."
Me: "It's definitely in a holster, you verified that before purchase. And in OK I can concealed carry, I can open carry and your sign says it's fine as long as I'm legal, so I really don't see the problem"
Him: "...."
Me: "staring intensifies"
Him: "Still needs to go to your car"
Me: I step outside to my car at this point, open the box take the thing out (obviously it's unloaded and magless since they just sold it to me) and put it in the pocket holster. Note: This is probably not my best idea in life since I was handling the gun in somewhat public, but no one else was paying attention except Mr. Gun Bar. So then I come back carrying the empty box and a properly holstered new unloaded pistol.
Him: "..."
Me: "...."
Him: "You probably need to just go now"

I might have said some choice words that would have blown a PG-13 rating out of the water, but I wasn't going to fight it further. I made my point as far as I could take it without losing that store as a shopping option.