An Open Letter to Kalifornia Gun Stores

This just in from a friend who has had it:

kalifornia gun stores are succeeding where the state NEVER could - They are making me sick and tired of buying guns. I have been collecting guns for 35 years. From the gunstore(s) I have watched the decline of the industry and freedom in general over that period of time.

I am writing you as a kalifornia boiled frog.

I am sick and tired of doing business with, paying out money to, providing income for sullen, superior, can't give a crap petite federal agents operating gun stores. Let's face it, the owner of your local gun store and his employees are federal agents light. Instead of paying homage to the constitution for the right to operate a gun business in a "free country" They (at least in practice) suck up to the BATFU, State DOJ's and police at every level bending over backwards to satisfy government agents over their paying customers for fear of suffering the consequences. Make no mistake, the counter person at your local gun store is a fed light.

It is so hard to do gun business in kalifornia that as a customer you are a captive and your gun store knows it and treats you that way - like you have no choice, take it or leave it

Two recent experiences at kalifornia gun stores illustrate where the gun business is at in the state. Last week I purchased a Colt Gold Cup from a private party and met him at Marin Firearms in Novato to do the required private party transaction. The store personnel were frowning sullen people that could not care less about having a customer. At the end of the transaction the sales person took the gun out of the case and refused to use my case to hold it in the safe (for the required 10 days) unless I bought a case from him - which I did - the only money I will ever spend in his store ever again - I hope he made out on the sale. They also have a policy of making you wait 11 days to pick up a firearm because as long as you have to bend over anyway, being good little apparatchiks, they want you to bend over a little farther.

Again, yesterday at Irvington Arms in Fremont - picking up another Gold Cup, the sales person would not accept my lock, made me buy one for $10, refused to take it back when I wanted to return it and another sales person who had more than a dozen times accepted my lock, turned his back on me when I asked him to intercede - And I have purchased two dozen guns in this store and at least a dozen from this sales person over the last two years. AND HE TURNS HIS BACK ON ME!!! I Hope they made out on the $10 lock because they will never see a dollar from me again. Ever.

I'm a serious collector, a serious buyer and I am pretty damn easy. I am in my peak earning and spending years and I spend but.....Why should I help provide an income to people who are surly and contemptuous and act like they could care less if I did business in their store(s) or not? I'm sick of kalifornia gun stores. You apparently don't need my money - I don't NEED to buy your products, I got plenty, I'll hold, F*** you! If I treated my customers in the common manner of kalifornia gun stores I would be out of business by Christmas. (and I would not deserve the business I did get)

The fact is that gun stores give all the time and dignity in the world to counter sitters who read gun magazines and own no guns. The biggest group of alleged customers I see in gun store are the crowd whose "wife won't let me have one". They are there to remember what testosterone smells like. You don't see the real, repeat buyers at the gun store any more because they are in and out, have their paperwork together and don't hang out in what has become a hostile environment. The REAL gun buyers, the ones that value and understand the second amendment, the constitution and understand freedom and BUY LOTS OF GUNS come closest to witnessing freedoms loss with every visit to a kalifornia the gun store.

From what I see as a 35 year BUYER in the industry, I can only figure that kalifornia gun stores are counting on new customers and ripping off uninformed people selling their used guns in a state with nowhere else to go. The only reason to have a gun store in kalifornia seems to be to mine the state for collectibles to sell out of state and to sell plastic guns to the (must be) endless stream of new gun consumers. Regular buyers who spend real money repeatedly - they can go to hell. No inventory, polymer guns only, rigid fed representatives (store employees) - WHO NEEDS EM? F' em. I know why the business is dying.

Recently my daughter moved to Arizona and it is night and day. She has 14 gun stores within seven miles of her house - all of them friendly - all of them acting like they want your business - all of them having inventory!!! She can purchase a firearm and be out the door with it in 15 minutes from people who are happy to see her and happy to have her business. They return her calls!!

And while we're on the subject - This could not happen if kalifornia gun owners weren't in the majority such peer pressured pussies. We are where we are because kalifornia gun owners put up with it and allow it to happen.

All you have to do is look on Cal Gun to see gun owners who act like they have never seen a free market "Price is firm - no low ball offers" - "Price reduced". "Price reduced", "Price reduced" - "only 10 rounds down the tube fired by little old lady wearing gloves" - and my personal favorite, "If you don't buy it at this price it's going back in the safe". Are we such pussies that we are insulted by an offer? As adults don't we understand that the value of an item is "what a ready, willing buyer is willing to pay"? Not being on the kalifornia "approved list" doesn't make your gun a valuable or rare collectors item - Come back to earth!!!

I have to say that after years of the slow boiling that is putting up with kalifornia at every level, I am overcooked and dry and I am going to withhold my further participation (i.e. $$$$$) from the industry. I hope all the gun stores in kalifornia close, the owners go bankrupt and their personnel become unemployed.

Yours in total disgust,

I think some gun store owners need to hear that. Amazing how being polite, interested and helpful seem to be some kind of great, impossible-to-master mystery for some, and how many people completely lacking in any kind of social skills are placed in customer service positions.

Brazil school shooting gives further proof ‘gun control’ does not work

We’re further told that it’s “virtually impossible to obtain a carry permit,” and that a tax must be paid every three years to own a gun legally. So naturally, nine of the estimated 17 million guns in Brazil are unregistered. [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner commentary looks at...how do you say "Sarah Brady Paradise" in Portuguese?

This Day in History: April 7

[More]

GRE Round Up for April 6

Here are the latest offerings from my fellow GREs:

Mike Stollenwerk/DC:

• 57 years after Brown v. Board, outlook dim for school segregation

Dave Workman/Seattle:

• Issa’s ‘Gunrunner’ probe will not be deterred by ‘ongoing investigation’ stall

Kurt Hofmann/St. Louis:

• Senator Schumer wants to make it easier to pack DoJ with anti-gun idealogues

Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

• Cochise County Libertarian
• Conservative
• LA Anti-Establishment
• Michigan Firearms

Rapid-Fire Foolishness

Great "straight news" story there, Jon Campbell.  Nice to see personal bias getting in the way of honest reporting by someone who clearly has no understanding of what the f*** he's talking about.

You know, standard "Authorized Journalism."

So the new "heroism" is someone bleeding under a desk, unable to do anything but call for others to come risk their lives and deploy with guns?  Really?

Someone who thinks "Congress [will] protect us" in an active shooter situation?

Oh, that's right--if you ban standard capacity magazines (aka "assault clips"!!!) you won't have any more active shooters.

Well, maybe not quite. The congressthing's spokesflack quoted in the story says we also need "mental health care measures, to ensure such a horrific event never occurs again."

And if that doesn't work, we can release the Conflict Widows!

Her Honor the Mayor

Or her lack of honor... [Read]

This is my shocked face.

Larry King Live

Actually, that's Larry Pratt and Andrea Shea King.

He'll be appearing on her Radio Patriot Show on Thursday night.  The program begins at 9:00 pm EST.

Conflict Widows to the Rescue!

As a mark of protest against unabated violence in the state a sit in demonstration was staged at Palace Compound jointly organized by Women action for development (WAD), Conflict Widows’ Forum (CWF) and other like minded NGOs, upholding the slogan to End Violence. [More]

Traditionalist that I am, I liked the old ways better...

SAF Sues Bloomberg

• From The Associated Press/Wall Street Journal
• From The New York Times
• And from Dave Workman: BREAKING: Bellevue v. Bloomberg as SAF sues over ‘excessive’ NYC gun permit fee and Bellevue v. Bloomy: SAF lawsuit against NYC highlights ‘culture gap’

See the original announcement here.

Here's the actual complaint:
SAF-NYC-Complaint--FINAL (1)

Even Safer Streets

John Longenecker has a new book out: "Even Safer Streets 2011 - The Second Amendment as a Mainstream Value [Kindle Edition]."

Click here for information.

Also, I've been wrapped around the axle for the past few days and haven't been able to put up links to the latest Liberty News/Safer Streets offerings.

Click here and here for those.

And here's today's.

ATF’s ‘in part’ FOIA response indicative of Bureau stonewalling

“Your request is granted in part,” LaBrie continues. We are releasing the disclosable portions of the documents and withholding portions for the reasons shown on the cover sheet that accompanies the documents."

“In part” is an understatement... [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner report notes that some stone walls are made of paper. Still, there is information to be learned here.

Also, catch up with the latest "Project Guntalker" radio segments.

Please share this link, including with your senators and representative, and demand that they demand answers.

This Day in History: April 6

An order of April 6, 1779, issued in Boston and now preserved in the Emmet Collection of the New York Public Library, describes in detail the arms and accouterments of that day. [More]

Issa ATF subpoena commands Melson to appear, produce documents

"You are hereby commanded to be and appear before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"... [More]

Read the document. Share the link.

Undermining Legitimacy

"Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism," U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said in a statement after von NotHaus was convicted. [More]

Funny. From where I sit, the true domestic terrorists are the kidnappers and thieves behind this evil crime, as well as the ones who have supplanted "legitimate currency" with a Monopoly money scam.

Hopefully, some day Ms. Tompkins and her co-conspirators will have to account for themselves to a fully-informed jury, which obviously was not present here.

Wrapped Around the Axle

Mike and I were going to do simultaneous releases on some valuable and insightful opinions from "a former federal employee" about the forces at work in government that could cooperate to make "Project Gunwalker" go away.

Personal family matters precluded me doing any work on this yesterday, and since Mike was ready to go with this take, I told him no sense waiting for me--especially since I just received the response to my ATF FOIA and have to spend the rest of the afternoon reading and scanning the 100+ pages into a pdf document I can post and share.

So go here for Mike's post (actually, read this one first for a deeper understanding), and I'll try to get an Examiner piece out on it tomorrow or the next day--the main points I want to make are how this makes it imperative for NRA to play the grade reduction/endorsement withholding card, and how all of us need to spread the words about the "Old Bloody Hands" & Co. shell game.

In the mean time, I've got some drudgework  that'll keep me off the streets...

Journey to Babel

In the gun debate, we often speak different languages [More]

Yeah, no kidding.  I guess I need to brush up on my "Authorized Journalese."

We're the Only Ones Dog-Whispering Enough

Somehow, I don't think this is what Cesar Millan has in mind when he advises to get the dog in "a calm, submissive state."  I guess you need to be an "Only One" to employ these advanced techniques. [Read]

[Via William T]

‘Project Gunwalker’ reporters to receive freedom award

In light of the heroic work done by the aforementioned individuals, SOF has decided to honor all four by awarding them the “Soldier of Fortune 2nd Amendment Freedom Fighter Award for 2011.” Now, somebody ought to nominate them for a Pulitzer. Presentation of the awards will be made at the NRA convention in Pittsburgh, 29 April–1 May. [More]

Aw, shucks.

Can Mike and I start referring to ourselves as "Award-winning extremists" now?

Also learn more "Chuck Norris Facts."

Share the link?

This Day in History: April 4

It appears to me that Light Blunderbusses on account of the quantity of shot they will carry, will be preferable to Carbines, for Dragoons, as the Carbines only carry a single ball especially in case of close action. [More]

Gee...so there's a "reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia" after all.

Who knew?

GUNS Magazine April 1961 issue now online

Regular readers of this column know that every month, GUNS, the magazine I write the "Rights Watch" column for, posts the corresponding monthly issue from 50 years ago as a free download on its website, giving us a fascinating window into a past some of us are old enough to remember. [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column opens a window. Also, Mike Vanderboegh and I each have separate national radio gigs lined up for today.

Share the link?