Patriot Arms - Galveston -- BEWARE!

[okie556]

And, as an ol' feller told me once .... "son, the squeezin tain't worth the juice..."

+1

 

[SiscoKid]

I would fight it, no way should it be that much, and there should not be a tax on labor.

Along those lines, a dealer near me has a gun store. I started buying guns from him in the mid 90's. His prices were always a little higher but his stuff was usually in better condition. He was always a bit "strange". Eventually he seemed to be bitter all the time. Although I probably bought 7-8 guns from him, I stopped even going in there 7-8 years ago. I just didn't like his attitude.

Now I hear he is fixing to retire and turn the shop over to a relative. I may go back in there then.

Being nasty just doesn't make good business. No telling how much business I might have given him over the years.

 

[Kincaid]

Good point. This FFL has no idea the number of people I touch every day - no idea at all! Word of mouth is a killer.

 

[TxEMTP69]

good lawd... I hope it works out for you in the end, most I've paid for a transfer was $30.00 I think, maybe 35 and that was beginning of the year. I did see a few questions unanswered (or maybe I missed the answers)

1 - Why didn't you bring it with you?
2 - was the fee inquired about before you had it shipped?

again good luck and glad I don't have to deal in Galveston

 

[Kincaid]

I just didn't bring it - just didn't -no special reason. I brought my .380 Colts, but not this snake killer - it's a Bond Arms "Judge" - .410/.45. Going to do some motorcycling out by Big Bend and I thought it would be neat to have. I own a home in Pennsylvania, I work in Texas.
No - I never spoke to this guy about fee. I mean - what am I going to do - shop around? He's the only store on the Island, besides Academy and they don't do transfers. I didn't think to even ask how much it would be. I've paid $25 - 35 - even $50 once I think. So, I'm thinking that amount.

 

[Kincaid]

Actually it's the "Ranger" - sorry. I'm thinking about the Judge when we go to Small claims Court, I guess.

 

[TxEMTP69]

I haven't been to GAlveston since before Ike (almost sent right after) and never even looked for a gun shop, my buddy was stationed there for the USCG

 

[Patriot Arms 1]

I would like to respond to Mr. Finn's allegation that he was somehow wronged at our shop, Patriot Arms in Galveston Texas. Yes indeed Mr. Finn was charged $250.00 to transfer his firearm. I will let you, the form members be the judge in this situtation.

Mr. Finn contacted our shop and requested that we accept a transfer for a handgun from his home state, Pa. Mr. Finn was advised not once, not twice but on three occasions that we could not and would not accept his handgun thru our shop because he could not establish a Texas residency as required by law. He had no Texas Drivers License or Texas Identification Card, as required by State Law if you intend on being a resident of Texas for 30 days or longer. (1) one day after Mr. Finn was told not to ship the gun to our shop and that we would not transfer the gun to him a package arrived at our shop, delivered by UPS. In this package was a Bond Arms Ranger 45/410 handgun with no paperwork, just a gun in a box. We had no idea who or where this handgun came from. We contacted the name on the return address and it was a female from Pa. She advised that she was requested to package the handgun and send it to our shop by Mr. Finn. She had no other information to offer on this weapon.

Approx. 20 minutes later Mr. Finn showed up at our shop and said he wanted to pick up his gun. At that point myself and my son-in-law asked Mr. Finn why he shipped the weapon to our shop after being told 3 times not to ship it and that we would not transfer the weapon to him because he is not a Texas resident. His response was "Well I just thought it would be alright, I am a Federal Agent" and produced his wallet with a badge. Upon questioning of Mr. Finn and examining his "Badge" It was determined that Mr. Finn was indeed a government employee. He works for "FEMA" and has no law enforcement authority whatsoever. His badge indicated that he was some "Special Deputy" in a county in Pa.
At this point he was told that we were not going to give him the weapon and we were contacting ATF. ATF Houston Office was contacted by my son-in-law and advised them of the situtation and we were advised by the Agent to not give Mr. Finn the weapon under any circumstances that he has violated numerous ATF regulations and laws. The Agent advised us to fully identify Mr. Finn and the he would be down Monday, Sept. 14th to pick up and confiscate the weapon.

Mr. Finn was advised what the ATF said and he freely admitted that he was totally wrong for doing what he did. He was advised that the ATF Agent would contact him concerning the weapon.

After Mr. Finn left our shop he contacted my son-in-law's boss, a Top Law Enforcement Offical. Who in turn contacted my son-in-law and inquired of the situtation with Mr. Finn.

It is obivious that Mr. Finn was trying to bypass federal laws concerning the transfer of firearms, and attempting exert some type pressure to have the weapon transfered to him. It did not work in his favor. On Monday ATF Agent arrived at our shop and took possession of the weapon. I asked the Agent what was going to happen to the weapon and he related that the weapon would be destroyed. I then asked the Agent if there was any legal way to transfer Mr. Finn the weapon and not have it destroyed. The Agent said that it could be transfered to Mr. Finn in his presence and that we could note the Agent's presence on the 4473 and our boundbook to cover our behinds in case of an audit.

We elected to transfer the weapon to Mr. Finn the way the Agent suggested and told Mr. Finn, that due to his stupidity, impersonating himelf to be a "Federal Agent" and his phone calls made he would be charged $250.00 for the transfer and further to never come into our shop again. He agreed and the transfer was made.

I'm sure Mr. Finn's supervisors might be interested that he is putting himself out to be a "Federal Law Enforcement Agent", carrying a badge and all ???? And Im sure they would be interested in knowing that he is carrying a firearm while working as a "FEMA" employee.

You guys be the judge, there is two sides to every story, the ATF Agent can back up exactly what happen with Mr. Finn just as I have laid out in this form. Oh, one other thing I neglected to say. The entire incident was recorded by our shop survelliance system and has been preserved if needed for proof of what occured with Mr. Finn

 

[atticus]

How did you come up with the $250 amount?

 

[beerpunk]

We elected to transfer the weapon to Mr. Finn the way the Agent suggested and told Mr. Finn, that due to his stupidity, impersonating himelf to be a "Federal Agent" and his phone calls made he would be charged $250.00 for the transfer and further to never come into our shop again. He agreed and the transfer was made.
You guys be the judge, there is two sides to every story, the ATF Agent can back up exactly what happen with Mr. Finn just as I have laid out in this form. Oh, one other thing I neglected to say. The entire incident was recorded by our shop survelliance system and has been preserved if needed for proof of what occured with Mr. Finn

So....you decided to penalize Mr. Finn for his stupidity, if I am understanding you correctly??

 

[navyguy]

All I can say is hmmm. Seems like Patriot Arms has a pretty good case. The only thing that is troubling to me is the exorbitant
transfer fee. I can understand the extra charge for a PIA customer, but that does not make it right to charge 8 or 10 times the going rate (assuming a transfer fee in line with other dealers $25 - $35) when you have them over a barrel so to speak. If he doesn't agree. he loses his gun, and there's not much he can do about it. But then again, I'm not sure we have all of the facts on both sides.

 

[frijolero817]

This is all just too crazy on both sides. Couldn't you legally have had the firearm shipped to you from your residence in PA to your house? I mean, you can ship a gun from you to a painter for camo and back to your home even if you don't have an FFL, and although the customer may have been a pain in the rear why shaft him in such a bad way if the ATF gave you the go ahead? You risk a lot of bad publicity that way as seen here. Also, what are the chances that both parties would meet up on TGT and we'd get to hear both sides? This is more entertaining than TV!

 

[TxEMTP69]

well, definately adds a lil to the story

 

[DCortez]

I walk away from PITA customers, vendors, friends, and seagulls.

 

[beerpunk]

Patriot Arms = pirates. The dude might have acted stupid, but that's no reason to rob him.

 

[juwaba98]

Patriot Arms = pirates. The dude might have acted stupid, but that's no reason to rob him.

I'm not so sure about that. While I agree the $250 seems crazy, you have a person, who by his own admission through posts here, that was knowingly claiming residency without the willingness to adhere to the laws required to do so. He wasn't merely "acting stupid", he's actually borderline breaking laws. I'll leave it up to the powers that be to decide if there actually are any laws broken other than misdemeanors, but don't make it sound like the shop has ripped off an upstanding citizen. I still think we are missing some details, possibly from both sides, but it appears there was poor judgement on both sides of the situation. But the whole thing appears to be avoidable, if in fact he was told in the first place not to transfer the weapon, if he had just listened to the shop owners to begin with. I won't slight the shop nor the individual for this crazy situation. If I'm in Galveston with time to spare I'll likely give them the chance to screw it up on their own instead of avoiding them and badmouthing them based on this, a screwy situation at best. Just my

 

[Texas1911]

We've seen both sides, now let's just let this one go.