rant about houston gun shops

[brickboy240]

I agree.

Let the high local gun dealers like Carters and Gander make money off the lazy, impulsive or unaware gun buyers. There are obviously tons of them in this large city....enough to keep the doors open at these establishments. More power to them - if they can charge a certain price and some other person can afford it - wonderful.

Many people don't bargain shop at all - they walk in and pay whatever the retail price is. Not my way of living...but this is a free country and not everyone took Economics 101, passed it or even went to college...ok? A quick scan of the news and media and its no secret that 99% of America is economically retarded. How do you think things like payday loans, auto leasing, credit cards and other financial scams get so popular in this country? LOL

However, I am not going to pay the prices in these high retail outlets. I am also not going in there to complain to these establishments about their pricing. Why? First, they know what they're doing and me calling them out for it is relatively pointless. I am sure they have hears it all before and you're wasting your breath by telling them they are high and that you can get it online cheaper. Hello!....you think they don't know this? No wonder you got such bad service!

Do I go in these places to look around or "tire-kick" as they say? Yeah, sometimes I do. Its not illegal or immoral to do so and how else am I going to know what a certain product or gun feels like in the hand? Its not a crime to go into a retail outlet and examine things and if the counterpeople want to act crappy because I looked and did not buy...well that is their problem. Want me to buy? Lower the friggin prices, ok? Otherwise, close the doors and don't let anyone in - become a mail or phone order shop only...ok?

Doesn't eveyone know by now of the gun buying craze? Knowing this...don't you expect the gun store workers to be a little put out at the slightest of things? I believe so. Just know this and deal with it. If it bothers you THAT much...don't go in there.

The gunstore worker is being PAID to tend the counters so let them do their job and you go in and look if you wish - you are not obligated by law to buy. If the gunstore worker is THAT put out by this...well..maybe its time for them to find employment somewhere else. Texas is a right to work state...nobody is forcing them to stay at Gander or Carters Country...right?

Everyone needs to calm down in all of this. Beleve it or not....this craze WILL pass...some day.

- brickboy240

 

[Roscoe]

I've always been treated fairly at Pruitt's shop. His prices have always been pretty much in line with other gun shops around the state. Collectors Firearms is one of the higher priced stores in town, but I've bought a number of older N-frame S&W's there. The guns are always in excellent condition, and the prices (while a bit high) have always been pretty much fair. They're always cut $60-$100 from the price of any used gun I've bought. You have to ask before they'll dicker. I've probably purchased 10 or 12 handguns from them. All the salesmen are friendly and helpful. The thing about Collectors is they will have the gun you want - in stock. If you are buying a new handgun I can see being upset when from store to store the same gun is selling for over $100 more in one store than another. If on the other hand you want to buy a like new classic S&W model 25 in .45 Colt (and I don't mean one of those new S&W's with the keyhole) would you rather pay a $50-$100 premium and get it today or keep searching for a couple years to find one at a better price?? I'm not sure how long I'm going to be around (I imagine none of us really do). I'd rather spend that time shooting the gun I really want than searching. I've been in Carters a number of times-I've taken my wife and sons to the range there. We've never bought a gun from them, I've always thought their prices were outrageous. Most of the staff seems friendly enough. I've not been to the Gander Mountain on #45N, I have been to the newer store in College Station. The prices there make Carters seem like shopping at Walmart. Champions gunshop and indoor range in College Station have some of the more reasonable prices I seen for handguns recently. Haven't been in the States since the first of the year.

 

[40Arpent]

Pruitt's...His prices have always been pretty much in line with other gun shops around the state.

Carters...their prices were outrageous.

I don't want to tout Carter's (because after a recent visit where I was treated in an insulting manner, I will never go back), but I can show you a few examples of where Pruett's is priced significantly higher than Carter's on several weapons.

 

[brickboy240]

Very true...

I used to find Pruetts higher than Carters on several items. Unless you're looking for an autopistol or some sort of black rifle...Pruetts is sort of a one styled gun shop if you ask me.

You might not believe this, but Carters Country's used gun rack USED to be a great place to score a nicely priced used gun. Back in the early 90s, I cannot tell you how many nice, lightly used guns I got from Carters at very reasonable prices as well.

Times have changed...

- brickboy240

 

[accordingtoome]

You need to understand there is a difference between a (high) price and bad service. It is only high if you are not willing to pay it. Bad service or impolite retail sales personnel are a different story. That is non-negotiable with me. Pricing ~what is high to one person may be a bargain to another ~ I never criticize anyone for charging a particular price. If I think it is too high ~ I don't buy. It is a simple formula. The dealer needs to make money and I respect that. They need to respect that I can go elsewhere. Capitalism at it's best.

I agree.. I stood at a Carters counter when i first moved to texas last year and was soo eager to buy a new rifle... I really felt no one wanted to help me and when i asked to see something i felt the service was really poor. the girl at the check out counter was really hot though.

 

[shilohshooters]

This past weekend our shop was running dangerously low on .9mm, selling Aguila hollowpoints as "range rounds". I was alerted to a radio ad about a new gun and ammo dealer in town having .9mm in stock. I called and could not get a price on bulk .9mm. I was told to "just come in and see" before the line was disconnected. That should have been a clue, but I was in a panicked state of mind trying to get ammo for the weekend crush. Upon arrival to the ammo man, I was alarmed to see that Academy's Monarch brand ( advertised as Prvi Partisan and no cutting open the box to see for yourself! ) .9mm was selling for $798/2k. After tax and 3% debit card charge, walk out was $887, or $22.17 a box. I even tried to barter " a little range courtesy " for some kind of price break so I wouldn't have to provide a jar of lube to my ammo buying customers. Response: "I'm going to make as much money as I can, no way! " After spending the long drive back to our side of town making sure I didn't throw up in my mouth, we ended up selling the ammo at $17.99 a box. Call me stupid or a bad business man, but I could not look at my customers ( many of which were 1st timers in our range and not knowing the circumstances behind the purchase would be turned off by such a ridiculous price for Monarch ) in the eye and charge them $23 for a box of friggin Monarch! I just chalk up the $200 loss to valuable lessons learned. Buy from who you like, trust, and believe in, and none of us will bicker back and forth. We all need to stick together!

 

[brickboy240]

Wow...thats just crazy!

9mm seems to to be the hardest one to find, but 45ACP is also not very easy to get in bulk fmj packs for range blasting. I can usually scrounge some hollowpoints in 45ACP..but they're too pricey to plink with! LOL

Glad I kept my old XD-40 because as of lately..I have found 40SW fmjs just about everywhere I go. Academy and other places (no...not Wal Mart). I guess 40 is not as popular and when ammo started going up a while back, alot of people dumped their 40s and went to 9mms or just kept 45s and 9mms and let their 40 caliber guns go.

Odd thing, because I was very close to doing the same thing: keeping only 9mms and 45s but man...am I glad I kept the 40 because I can actually find plinking ammo for the 40 wheras 45 and 9mm are more of a challenge.

Lets hope this nonsense will stop sometime soon. I don't see it happening but hey...we can hope! Now that is hope I can believe in! LOL

 

[40Arpent]

the girl at the check out counter was really hot though.

You must have been at the Murphy Road store.

 

[accordingtoome]

You must have been at the Murphy Road store.

right off the 10 heading towards katy.

 

[some Beach]

Let me say I'm not an economist or accountant but there are some basic business practices in play. McDonald's sells a handful of menu items for $1, basically a loss-leader. They more than make up for the price by making a killing on their soft drinks! Grocery stores do it all the time too. I'm not saying a gun store should sell a gun "at cost" but you have to admit when someone buys a gun they usually want ammo, a holster, maybe a light/laser, etc.

It's kinda like going in to a lube place for a $19.95 oil change and dropping $59. Add-ons: new wiper blades, new air filter, new cabin filter, clean battery terminals, etc.

 

[krpen71]

So she's "one of those" eh?

What happened in general?

Nov 15, 2008 (Houston Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- SWHC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The widow of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson has filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Houston, claiming its policy of having one officer per patrol car contributed to her husband's death.
Houston police Sgt. Joslyn Johnson says in the wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Harris County Civil Court on Sept. 22, that she would give up monetary damages if the city would change its policy and put two officers in each police car as a safety measure.
"She wants that policy changed," said Ben Dominguez, Joslyn Johnson's attorney "There are police officers out there today driving the midnight shift in areas of the city where crime is prevalent, and they're by themselves."
Jaqueline Leguizamon, a city attorney, declined comment on the lawsuit on Friday. The city denies liability.
Johnson was killed on Sept. 21, 2006, by Juan Leonardo Quintero, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Johnson stopped Quintero for speeding and patted him down but missed the gun that Quintero used to shoot him in the back of the head from the rear seat of the patrol car.
Joslyn Johnson has filed two other lawsuits in reaction to her husband's murder. She also is suing Carter's Country in Pasadena, a gun store that sold the weapon used to kill Johnson, according to the lawsuit filed Sept. 22.
Johnson charges that gun store employees improperly sold a 9 mm Smith & Wesson handgun to Quintero's wife, Theresa Lynn Quintero.
The lawsuit says that Juan Quintero picked out the gun, but store employees allowed his wife to fill out the required paperwork for its purchase. Quintero pleaded guilty to indecency with a child in Harris County in 1999 and was deported to Mexico, making him ineligible to buy a gun, according to the lawsuit.
The actual buyer
The lawsuit says that Carter's Country employees "knew or reasonably should have known that Juan Quintero was the actual purchaser of the handgun." Selling the gun to his wife amounted to a "straw sale," Dominguez said, adding: "There are federal regulations that say it's illegal to do that."
William Book, an attorney for Carter's Country, did not return a phone call on Friday.
In response to Johnson's court filing, attorneys for the gun store argued in court paperwork that Juan Quintero and his former employer, Robert Lane Camp, were responsible for the murder.
In May, Johnson also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Camp, who was arrested by federal agents in May on charges of allegedly harboring Quintero and helping him return to Houston after he was deported.

 

[2Shots1Wound]

...

Nov 15, 2008 (Houston Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- SWHC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The widow of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson has filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Houston, claiming its policy of having one officer per patrol car contributed to her husband's death.
Houston police Sgt. Joslyn Johnson says in the wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Harris County Civil Court on Sept. 22, that she would give up monetary damages if the city would change its policy and put two officers in each police car as a safety measure.
"She wants that policy changed," said Ben Dominguez, Joslyn Johnson's attorney "There are police officers out there today driving the midnight shift in areas of the city where crime is prevalent, and they're by themselves."
Jaqueline Leguizamon, a city attorney, declined comment on the lawsuit on Friday. The city denies liability.
Johnson was killed on Sept. 21, 2006, by Juan Leonardo Quintero, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Johnson stopped Quintero for speeding and patted him down but missed the gun that Quintero used to shoot him in the back of the head from the rear seat of the patrol car.
Joslyn Johnson has filed two other lawsuits in reaction to her husband's murder. She also is suing Carter's Country in Pasadena, a gun store that sold the weapon used to kill Johnson, according to the lawsuit filed Sept. 22.
Johnson charges that gun store employees improperly sold a 9 mm Smith & Wesson handgun to Quintero's wife, Theresa Lynn Quintero.
The lawsuit says that Juan Quintero picked out the gun, but store employees allowed his wife to fill out the required paperwork for its purchase. Quintero pleaded guilty to indecency with a child in Harris County in 1999 and was deported to Mexico, making him ineligible to buy a gun, according to the lawsuit.
The actual buyer
The lawsuit says that Carter's Country employees "knew or reasonably should have known that Juan Quintero was the actual purchaser of the handgun." Selling the gun to his wife amounted to a "straw sale," Dominguez said, adding: "There are federal regulations that say it's illegal to do that."
William Book, an attorney for Carter's Country, did not return a phone call on Friday.
In response to Johnson's court filing, attorneys for the gun store argued in court paperwork that Juan Quintero and his former employer, Robert Lane Camp, were responsible for the murder.
In May, Johnson also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Camp, who was arrested by federal agents in May on charges of allegedly harboring Quintero and helping him return to Houston after he was deported.

I understand that there are laws that need to be followed with this stuff but I always try to remember that the real criminal is the dumbass who pulled the trigger. What a coward.

 

[Old Man of the Mountain]

Nov 15, 2008 (Houston Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- SWHC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The widow of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson has filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Houston, claiming its policy of having one officer per patrol car contributed to her husband's death.
Houston police Sgt. Joslyn Johnson says in the wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Harris County Civil Court on Sept. 22, that she would give up monetary damages if the city would change its policy and put two officers in each police car as a safety measure.
"She wants that policy changed," said Ben Dominguez, Joslyn Johnson's attorney "There are police officers out there today driving the midnight shift in areas of the city where crime is prevalent, and they're by themselves."
Jaqueline Leguizamon, a city attorney, declined comment on the lawsuit on Friday. The city denies liability.
Johnson was killed on Sept. 21, 2006, by Juan Leonardo Quintero, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Johnson stopped Quintero for speeding and patted him down but missed the gun that Quintero used to shoot him in the back of the head from the rear seat of the patrol car.
Joslyn Johnson has filed two other lawsuits in reaction to her husband's murder. She also is suing Carter's Country in Pasadena, a gun store that sold the weapon used to kill Johnson, according to the lawsuit filed Sept. 22.
Johnson charges that gun store employees improperly sold a 9 mm Smith & Wesson handgun to Quintero's wife, Theresa Lynn Quintero.
The lawsuit says that Juan Quintero picked out the gun, but store employees allowed his wife to fill out the required paperwork for its purchase. Quintero pleaded guilty to indecency with a child in Harris County in 1999 and was deported to Mexico, making him ineligible to buy a gun, according to the lawsuit.
The actual buyer
The lawsuit says that Carter's Country employees "knew or reasonably should have known that Juan Quintero was the actual purchaser of the handgun." Selling the gun to his wife amounted to a "straw sale," Dominguez said, adding: "There are federal regulations that say it's illegal to do that."
William Book, an attorney for Carter's Country, did not return a phone call on Friday.
In response to Johnson's court filing, attorneys for the gun store argued in court paperwork that Juan Quintero and his former employer, Robert Lane Camp, were responsible for the murder.
In May, Johnson also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Camp, who was arrested by federal agents in May on charges of allegedly harboring Quintero and helping him return to Houston after he was deported.

I witnessed an illegal Mexican bandit pick out a handgun for himself, and made no secret about the fact that the gun was for him, but his girlfriend would have to sign the papers for him; right in front of me, and the salesman, I started raising hell about it and called the boy's boss over, and they went right ahead and made the sale anyway, told me to just mind my own damned business.

I reported them to a local police officer, who also did nothing about it.

This is an on going problem, and every salesman involved in such a sale should be in Huntsville, along with his boss who is allowing and possibly encouraging such action to take place, and any police officer who won't get involved as well. When they do that, they ALL ENTER INTO A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY!

I wish it had been the officer up here who would not bother to get involved that got shot in the back of the head, rather than the innocent Officer down in Houston!

 

[blazer]

atriot:

Haven't been to Collector's but I have had a pretty good experience at Fountain as far as buying the actual gun and accessories. However, they buy their ammo from Academy and mark it up substantially. kind of miffs me because I miss out on buying it at Academy that way. However, their fire arms are reasobable and I feel like they are just trying to keep some ammo on the shelf by pricing it so that it doesn't all disappear at once. I am resisting it, but I guess it is a fair market thing. bought a nice Uberti Cattleman there for $330.00 which is about what Collector's is advertising too. So... I ramble... but Fountain is AOK with me!

 

[blazer]

shopped at Carter's too. Limit selection, high prices, high priced ammo, not the friendliest or most helpful of places either... IMHO

 

[blazer]

I work in Industrial sales and I always say that you can't always control your prices or your supply. But you sure as heck CANcontrol how you treat your customer! Your right, I'll pay more if there is proof of added value. EX: lifetime warranty. Dury's in San Antonio does this on EVERY gun they sell! Buy lo and sell hi is a salesman's dream. but if you want REPEAT and REFERRAL business. Being nice and having a fair price is the way to go. IMHO

 

[some Beach]

I work in Industrial sales and I always say that you can't always control your prices or your supply. But you sure as heck CANcontrol how you treat your customer! Your right, I'll pay more if there is proof of added value. EX: lifetime warranty. Dury's in San Antonio does this on EVERY gun they sell! Buy lo and sell hi is a salesman's dream. but if you want REPEAT and REFERRAL business. Being nice and having a fair price is the way to go. IMHO

+1

 

[Old Man of the Mountain]

shopped at Carter's too. Limit selection, high prices, high priced ammo, not the friendliest or most helpful of places either... IMHO

I always attempt to support local business, but I have to agree, at the Pasadena store any way.

I had not been in there in years, since I move out of Houston quite a while ago, I gave them another try last year around Thanksgiving, but nothing had changed.

 

[txinvestigator]

I witnessed an illegal Mexican bandit pick out a handgun for himself, and made no secret about the fact that the gun was for him, but his girlfriend would have to sign the papers for him; right in front of me, and the salesman, I started raising hell about it and called the boy's boss over, and they went right ahead and made the sale anyway, told me to just mind my own damned business.

I reported them to a local police officer, who also did nothing about it.

This is an on going problem, and every salesman involved in such a sale should be in Huntsville, along with his boss who is allowing and possibly encouraging such action to take place, and any police officer who won't get involved as well. When they do that, they ALL ENTER INTO A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY!

I wish it had been the officer up here who would not bother to get involved that got shot in the back of the head, rather than the innocent Officer down in Houston!

Wow. A local police officer cannot do anything about a federal criminal violation.

But your rant against the cop while you are totally ignorant of fact does not surprise me.

 

[DCortez]

OMoftheM, I don't think there is much you can do. I've gone into gun stores with my kids and asked them what they wanted, bought it, and didn't feel like I did anything wrong.


The fact that it fell through the cracks is just how it goes in a free country. Stay alert, stay safe.