Today me & a few of my buddies helped another friend move his new 700 lb. gun safe into his house in Lawton. We were all comparing notes on who had ammo in stock locally & who was actually charging reasonable prices. We decided to carpool to every place in Lawton that sells guns/ammo & see what we could find. I had just made a decent sale on craigslist, & I had enough to pick up a decent used 1911, so I was very excited.
There aren't many places that actually can be called 'gun shops' in Lawton, so after we hit Ausley's & On Target, we started checking out the pawn shops. I was shocked to find how much prices have gone up, a 9 year old Para Ord (canadian) LDA with substantial finish wear, very light pitting, & a pretty rough barrel was going for $900, & at the same shop a beat to death Kimber Ultra Carry was going for just under $1K, needless to say, I didn't bite. I actually almost bought a really nice Black Ops from a guy that was trying to pawn it, it had a ton of Wilson bullet proof parts on it, great sights, crimson trace grips, & was in mint condition. The shop offered the guy $500, & he was pissed. I offered him $900, but he said he wouldn't take less than $1,200, which is never going to happen locally. Would have loved to bring that home.
Anyway, our last stop was Stan's Pawn, down on Lee. We browsed for awhile, they don't have very many guns, & most of the handguns they have are either pricey or a little rough, but there was a decent looking G22 priced at $425, figured if it was in good shape internally I would pick it up. I asked the guy at the counter if I could take a look at it, said I was interested in purchasing it but wanted to see what kind of wear it had. After clearing dropping the mag, clearing it, & doing a basic functions check I put my hands over the top of the slide & intended to remove the slide to check rail wear and overall condition. The employee yelled & snatched it back. He said I could not look at the internals, & stated that polite folks ask before field stripping a gun. I told him I did, when I informed him I would purchase it if the internals looked as good as the outside & asked if I could look it over. He repeated that I could not look at the internals. When we had first come in, I overheard him telling another customer that recently two Soldiers that had purchased guns had come back saying that the guns they bought were defective or otherwise broken. One of my buddies that observed the guys over reaction said he thought the guy had something to hide, there was no other reason for him to yell & snatch a gun from a customer that stated they wanted to inspect it prior to purchase. Anyway, I made no attempt to appologize as I felt he was in the wrong. I calmly stated that I would not be purchasing a gun that I could not inspect, & that was just not the way business should be conducted. Then I left. None of us spent a dime at the shop, & I doubt any of us will be back.
I have purchased dozens of handguns, from all different types of establishments, ranging from pawn shops to big box stores to gun shows, & I've never heard of not being allowed to check the internals prior to purchase, nor have I ever been yelled at & given a lecture for attempting to thoroughly check out the weapon. I asked my buddies if I was insane, or had I not clearly stated that I wanted to check out the internal wear prior to buying it, they said they clearly heard me, & they were also completely taken aback by the sudden crazy outburst.
Have any of you experienced similar reactions when gun shopping? I am not looking for a bunch of opinions as to what could have happened from people that were not present when this ocurred, rather I am inquiring as to experiences that have happened to you. How did you handle it? If you did have a bad experience, did you ever buy a gun from that business afterwards?
There aren't many places that actually can be called 'gun shops' in Lawton, so after we hit Ausley's & On Target, we started checking out the pawn shops. I was shocked to find how much prices have gone up, a 9 year old Para Ord (canadian) LDA with substantial finish wear, very light pitting, & a pretty rough barrel was going for $900, & at the same shop a beat to death Kimber Ultra Carry was going for just under $1K, needless to say, I didn't bite. I actually almost bought a really nice Black Ops from a guy that was trying to pawn it, it had a ton of Wilson bullet proof parts on it, great sights, crimson trace grips, & was in mint condition. The shop offered the guy $500, & he was pissed. I offered him $900, but he said he wouldn't take less than $1,200, which is never going to happen locally. Would have loved to bring that home.
Anyway, our last stop was Stan's Pawn, down on Lee. We browsed for awhile, they don't have very many guns, & most of the handguns they have are either pricey or a little rough, but there was a decent looking G22 priced at $425, figured if it was in good shape internally I would pick it up. I asked the guy at the counter if I could take a look at it, said I was interested in purchasing it but wanted to see what kind of wear it had. After clearing dropping the mag, clearing it, & doing a basic functions check I put my hands over the top of the slide & intended to remove the slide to check rail wear and overall condition. The employee yelled & snatched it back. He said I could not look at the internals, & stated that polite folks ask before field stripping a gun. I told him I did, when I informed him I would purchase it if the internals looked as good as the outside & asked if I could look it over. He repeated that I could not look at the internals. When we had first come in, I overheard him telling another customer that recently two Soldiers that had purchased guns had come back saying that the guns they bought were defective or otherwise broken. One of my buddies that observed the guys over reaction said he thought the guy had something to hide, there was no other reason for him to yell & snatch a gun from a customer that stated they wanted to inspect it prior to purchase. Anyway, I made no attempt to appologize as I felt he was in the wrong. I calmly stated that I would not be purchasing a gun that I could not inspect, & that was just not the way business should be conducted. Then I left. None of us spent a dime at the shop, & I doubt any of us will be back.
I have purchased dozens of handguns, from all different types of establishments, ranging from pawn shops to big box stores to gun shows, & I've never heard of not being allowed to check the internals prior to purchase, nor have I ever been yelled at & given a lecture for attempting to thoroughly check out the weapon. I asked my buddies if I was insane, or had I not clearly stated that I wanted to check out the internal wear prior to buying it, they said they clearly heard me, & they were also completely taken aback by the sudden crazy outburst.
Have any of you experienced similar reactions when gun shopping? I am not looking for a bunch of opinions as to what could have happened from people that were not present when this ocurred, rather I am inquiring as to experiences that have happened to you. How did you handle it? If you did have a bad experience, did you ever buy a gun from that business afterwards?
