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< 16ga. General Discussion ~ Wal-Mart stops selling guns |
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Posted:
Fri Apr 14, 2006 3:51 pm
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Member
Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 2016
Location: Glendale, AZ
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Fox News reports that Wal-mart has announced it will stop selling guns in about 1/3 of the stores related to 'diminishing relevance' to customers. Sad reflection on the 'relevance' of hunting and the shooting sports in our country. |
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Posted:
Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:36 pm
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Member
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Posts: 989
Location: Las Vegas
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The only "diminishing relevance" has been their selection/quality of guns they carried. Wal-Mart is what it is and I don't think it is any reflection on the shooting/hunting community in general.
Matt |
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Posted:
Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:05 pm
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Member
Joined: 08 Nov 2005
Posts: 3439
Location: Illinois
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This is supposed to be store by store decision.I see it as a way to wean the people from the 2nd.Some folks in remote areas rely on Wally for their ammo and new purchases---guess they are going to be s.o.l. |
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Posted:
Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:46 pm
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Joined: 10 Feb 2006
Posts: 36
Location: Northeast Ohio
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What is revelance? By the way they stopped selling guns at my NE ohio Wal mart also. I think that they eliminate the stores that sell the least amount.
Revdoc, are you on Marlin owners to? |
_________________ You can't decide between 20 and 12? The solution is the 16! |
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Posted:
Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:47 pm
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Member
Joined: 13 Feb 2006
Posts: 110
Location: California
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They were forced to stop selling firearms in CA several years ago. Little problem of not obeying the laws here about waiting period, and I think sales to underage. Stuff like that. They seemd to forget that whether or not one agrees with a law, the law (to a point) must still be followed. |
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Posted:
Sat Apr 15, 2006 6:33 am
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Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 787
Location: Indiana
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I can remember that, as a teenager in Terre Haute, IN a number of years ago, I wanted (coveted, really!) a Colt Woodsman 6" Match Target handgun that K-Mart was selling at the time, circa 1967. They haven't sold handguns in many years, they stopped selling long guns in my town 2 years ago, and they half-ass sell some ammo now if you beg them to open Ft. Knox.
Wal-Mart is much the same way---not many of their clerks know or care whether they're selling a Mossberg, a H&R, a Merkel or a Fabbri (the lamentations of some former clerks on the forum notwithstanding) and they seem to carry much the same inventory, with only a few (not many) changes/upgrades in the guns/ammo inventory in the last several years. I'd really prefer not to do business with folks like that anyway.
They say it's a business decision---and they are so bottom-line oriented that it may well be.
So What ?? I don't look to them for anything but the most basic ammo and cleaning supplies now. They say they'll stop selling guns in about 1/3 of their locations----but they don't say they'll stop selling ammo.....yet. Bottom line: don't count on them to do anything but what's in their own best interest. They may not quit selling guns in your area anyhow. |
_________________ One Man with Courage is a Majority
---Andrew Jackson |
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Posted:
Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:34 am
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Member
Joined: 01 Feb 2005
Posts: 740
Location: New England, home of fat teddy k.
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They haven't sold in mass for a couple of years, at least at the stores around me. They had a huge sell off of guns in the southern Nh stores as well, last fall. I got one of those rem bdl based muzzel loaders for 150.00 in SS and a couple of other brands ($200.00 guns, I gave as gifts) for 40-60. Good for me. |
Last edited by hunshatt on Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Posted:
Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:50 am
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Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
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What can be said about Wally's Follies that hasn't been said already. I think they are just trying to go regional. I can understand them quitting selling guns in MA. The state is a damned bureaucratic mine field. I'm actually shocked that Dick's has opened stores here. They will also get their butts reamed in MA. just like Sports Authority and others.
All it takes is for the local townie police chief to refuse to issue a Ma dealer's permit and the store is screwed. If the PC is anti-gun, the store doesn't have prayer. the permit is renewable every couple of years too, so if they spend the money to appeal and win, then they have to fight it again down the road. Once or twice down that primrose path and the store manager just quits. Also, if the store manager is replaced, the permit is null and void until a new one is issued to the new manager. In the mean time, the store can't sell or even transfer its stock to another location. Like I said, its a freaking mine field. Who can blame them. |
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Posted:
Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:08 am
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In Illinois, Wal-Mart is already somewhat regionalized.
Downstate, you can usually find both Win AA and Rem STS at 4.99 a box. I've even seen them carry the AA in .410 and in 28. The only 16s I've seen ... and it's hit or miss re whether a store has them ... is the Win Super X game loads. They also usually have four-packs of Win, Rem and Federal, as well as flats of Win's promotional "Super Speed" in 12 and 20.
In Cook County, however, if they have any shells, they're usually behind the counter, and some of the stores have no shells at all, nor even gun-cleaning supplies.
I've never paid much attention to the guns they're selling. Even it Wally had something I wanted, I'd rather buy from a gun shop, where there's some chance the seller will stand behind the prduct. |
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Posted:
Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:54 pm
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Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 311
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There may be a darker reality here folks. Wal Mart used to locate in RURAL communities and bypassed the big cities. Rural folks are gun friendly. Wal Mart went on the big expansion binge and started building in the larger, more urban areas where Mom and Dad are likely to be "shocked" that their children are "exposed" to guns when they take the tyke to sporting goods to buy a softball, etc. I bet letters to corporate protesting guns far outnumber those from gun owners thanking Wal Mart for carrying guns and ammo!
Yes, Wal Mart carries MOSTLY low end guns that I am not interested in. But those of us who shoot Browning's or Beretta's or Benelli's often forget that for many a lower end gun represents a substantial investment. That is the only way many people are going to get into the sport.
And if Wal Mart quits selling guns then some manufacturers may be in big trouble. I wonder if an outfit like Mossberg can survive if Wal Mart quits selling their guns? Many gun shops aren't interested in carrying the low end Mossbergs. If guns go then I predict it will be a short time until the ammo goes too. What will that do to Winchester or Remington or Federal?
It has become a fad among many to bash Wal Mart. I don't feel that way and I see their decision to stop selling guns at 1/3 of their stores as part of the culture war on gun owners. We are losing! Go to Wal Mart, buy a cheap pump or 22 and take a kid shooting or hunting! |
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Posted:
Sun Apr 16, 2006 5:06 pm
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Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 787
Location: Indiana
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Clay: I HAVE gone to Wal-Mart. I HAVE purchased guns there, where I was forced to let them walk with me to the front of the store like a shoplifter each time I bought a gun, making a big production of a law-abiding citizen exercising his right to own and bear arms. I HAVE taken a kid shooting---I was a rural 4-H Shooting Instructor for 5 years. The county I lived in was, and is now, 92nd out of 92 counties in Indiana in per-capita income, so I am painfully aware of the limited means some shooting sportsmen labor under to pursue their hobby. I really don't think, if every one if us on this forum went in to a Wal Mart tomorrow and bought a moderately-priced firearm, it would change their corporate policy. Do you? Really? If you do, I have a proverbial bridge to sell you !!
Coprorate America IS waging a war on gun owners...in fact, we've probably already lost it. I don't like to do business with people who won't support the principles I believe in---so, you can guess what Wal-Mart can do with their hillbilly clerks, cheap guns and corporate policy.......... |
_________________ One Man with Courage is a Majority
---Andrew Jackson |
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Posted:
Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:50 pm
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Member
Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 91
Location: Hartford, Ct
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revdocdrew wrote: |
Fox News reports that Wal-mart has announced it will stop selling guns in about 1/3 of the stores related to 'diminishing relevance' to customers. Sad reflection on the 'relevance' of hunting and the shooting sports in our country.
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They have not sold guns in Connecticut for a year
They still sell some ammo |
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Posted:
Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:27 am
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Member
Joined: 14 Oct 2005
Posts: 252
Location: Louisville,KY
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Ahh the Confederate flag waving good ol boy crowd here in Kentucky can rest easy. I asked the manager of the sporting goods dept. at wally world the other day about stopping gun sales and she laughed and said that would close the store and will never happen in this store. It represents over 55% of the dept. sales.
Most pleasing to me is that the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife still comes into the public schools and does a conservation education program which included hunting,fishing and firearms education.
Brad |
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Posted:
Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:24 am
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Member
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Posts: 1522
Location: NH
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Brad6260 wrote: |
Ahh the Confederate flag waving good ol boy crowd here in Kentucky can rest easy. I asked the manager of the sporting goods dept. at wally world the other day about stopping gun sales and she laughed and said that would close the store and will never happen in this store. It represents over 55% of the dept. sales.
Most pleasing to me is that the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife still comes into the public schools and does a conservation education program which included hunting,fishing and firearms education.
Brad
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Sounds like a great place to be. |
_________________ A bad day of hunting is better than a good day of work. |
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Posted:
Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:27 am
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Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Posts: 145
Location: minnesota
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as a small ray of hope i would like to say that the FLEET FARM in my area is now selling BENELLI AND BERETTA AUTO-LOADERS as well as greatly expanding there entire hunting invenyory
So its good to see a smaller regional chain jumping in to try and pick-up customers wishes with a better and broader selection IMO.
As far as wally-world ........they can take the last of thier 1300's and ram sideways they won't get a dime of my money no matter what they sell. the one in my area has a shooting selection the size of my kitchen They my as well just clear off the counter top and start displaying floral arrangements. |
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