It's nothing more than an economic decision. If the guns cost more to sell due to licensing and record-keeping requirements, they don't sell them. This is typically at a state level.

I buy my guns from a local guy - I prefer the small dealer anyway. yeah, I pay a few bucks more, but I think it's worth the money to help my local economy.

They built a new wal-mart (relatively) where I used to live, it got a glass case of Ammo, and their own register. It must be profitable in this area For the last 2 years they've also had a hard time keeping anything in stock. Must be working for them.

I have seen the security set-up at my store. pretty much from the moment you park you are on dvd quality video. I work in the Tire and Lube Express, and if there is an infraction of a rule or damage done to a car they (managers and security) review the "tapes." when the employee who is in the hot seat is called into the office, if there is any problem or objection they are shown the playback (in the security room), thats how i know.

To buy a gun at my store, you must get a background check. there has been two guys that i have seen get arrested trying to buy a gun that had outstanding warrants. They ran the check, set up a time for they guys to come in to buy their gun, and LEP were there instead. For ammo you are required to show i.d. but only your birth date is entered in the computer (register) and most of the time they don't even do that. Based on what i could see of the video system there they have the capability to zoom in on the id, but i don't think that it would be readable without special software. I could read my badge though.

as mentioned before, I work at Walmart.

I have one WalMart in my close-area that sells rifles (VERY limited inventory of only inexpensive stuff), but the vast majority of the other WalMarts only sell ammo and accessories. I have yet to run into a WalMart around here that did NOT have an ammo section. That doesn't mean they actually have any ammo in stock, only that they have shelf space to put it on should any ever show up. :-(

Topic Joke: DONT TRY THIS! While holding and examining guns in the sporting goods dept. with a sad distraught face, look at the clerk after your purchase and ask where they keep the anti-depression meds. and see the reaction you get.

A text message i got, had this in it so hopefully some of you got a laugh out of it.

Selling firearms puts a pretty steep burden on the store.

Guns have to be accounted for at all times and kept in a secure area. The paperwork requirements are not insignificant. Sale of a single gun can take a half-hour or more even for a well trained and experiences clerk. The paperwork has to be filled out properly, information sent to the right places, and maintained in good order.

All this requires that there will be enough trained people for two or three shifts per store. Plus some extra for no-shows and turnover in the slightly over the minimum wage, high turnover, workforce. Every one of these requirements costs time and money and these extra expenses have to be considered when deciding how profitable selling guns really is.

The odds are that the profit margins are usually higher selling vitamins and tightie-whities than firearms. You make less on each purchase but the retail store invests less in time and money to sell them.

Wally World, like most major retailers, calculate their profits in terms of profit per square foot of floor space. They often rejigger their array of goods not so much by what sells and what doesn't, even though that is included, so much as what makes the most profit per unit space occupied. Cheap one and two dollar Chinese gewgaws are very profitable because they only cost the retailer a few cents each and impulse buyers snap them up by the thousands.

They seem to have a hard time keeping Ammo in stock here. The ammo showcase is usually more than half empty, and they always have a "2 box limit" on Ammo purchases. [/quote]


I talked to a friend of mine who is a manager at Gander Mountain, a regional big box sporting goods retailer like Bass Pro Shops. He told me that guns and ammo (especially ammo) sales skyrocketed right around the Nov 2008 election, and have continued very strong ever since.