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Posted: 1/6/2011 11:04:50 AM EDT
| For those here who have retail stores how much business do you get from walk in business from those who happen to be driving by? How many transfers do you do on average in a week? I went and looked at a commercial space yesterday and it's quite a bit bigger than I wanted and a bit more expensive that I would prefer. There's not a gun shop within 45 minutes that I know of and it's quite hard to forecast expected sales when there's not much to go on since there isn't a local store to check out. |
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Start small and grow bigger.
It's not easy to go the other way if you start with too much overhead. You will have slow days at first... but once you are rolling along, things will pick up. There will be fewer slow days and better, more frequent "good" days. As far as your specific questions... I wish there were a set pattern or trend I could plan for. Unfortunately, there is NO way to predict or anticipate gun sales / transfers. I can go a whole week and not do a single transfer. Other times I might do 3 or 4 a day. Today I did two. I can go a few days without selling a single gun... other days I sell several. It's completely unpredictable. I still haven't done any public/commercial advertising... and I'm staying plenty busy just by word of mouth advertising. The people I piss off or kick out of the store are people I don't want to come back... and they usually hang around other people I don't want in the store. People who are good customers, get treated well. They tend to hang around other good people who would also be great customers. This form of advertising may not be ideal for $$$, but it works well for me, given my location and higher than average density of ghetto thugs.... which is a whole 'nuther topic of concern for a gun shop owner. In 6 months of business, I've done exactly 300 background checks... and (knock on wood) not a single denial. I had TWO go delayed... one went about 10 days without an approval... so I canceled the transaction before it turned into a denial. Never saw the buyer again. The other delay was a transfer for a Police Officer... which was apparently a clerical error and quickly corrected. Other than that, I run a very tight ship and screen hard before initiating a sale or paperwork. Do not let greed take over or corrupt your principals. I probably could have sold another 20+ guns in the last 6 months if I had no concern where they were going. (straw buys) Some are more blatant and obvious than others... but if there is even a hint of a discrepancy or my spidey-sense tingles... it's "NO Gun for YOU" |
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Quoted:
....In 6 months of business, I've done exactly 300 background checks... and (knock on wood) not a single denial. I had TWO go delayed... one went about 10 days without an approval... so I canceled the transaction before it turned into a denial. Never saw the buyer again..... Why did you cancel the transaction? It's not going to "Turn into a denial". If a customer is denied, you will definitely hear from NICS before 10 days. If no response is provided by NICS within 3 business days of the delay, you are allowed to transfer the firearm. We always get a customer's phone number if they are delayed so we can contact them and let them know when they can pick their gun up. |
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Quoted:
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....In 6 months of business, I've done exactly 300 background checks... and (knock on wood) not a single denial. I had TWO go delayed... one went about 10 days without an approval... so I canceled the transaction before it turned into a denial. Never saw the buyer again..... Why did you cancel the transaction? It's not going to "Turn into a denial". If a customer is denied, you will definitely hear from NICS before 10 days. If no response is provided by NICS within 3 business days of the delay, you are allowed to transfer the firearm. We always get a customer's phone number if they are delayed so we can contact them and let them know when they can pick their gun up. +1 |
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We don't call "NICS" in PA, we call "PICS". (Pennsylvania Instant Check System)
No PICS approval number means... no gun. My goal is ZERO denials. I run a tight ship and won't waiver from my principals. I screen people and ask questions before getting to paperwork. Some people/issues/problems/skeletons in the closet are more obvious than others. This guy slipped through the cracks. He had difficulty with the "state of residence" question when he did the 4473. I can only assume he had ID/residence issues and I expected it WOULD be denied if it did not get instant approval. With a perfect record of ZERO denials, I wasn't taking the chance. When informing the customer of the canceled transaction, he wasn't surprised nor disturbed by it... so that reassured me I made the right decision. I still get delays, but they are not related to the customers. PICS is always having problems of some kind. One thing to remember is... just because someone passes the background check... doesn't mean they "deserve" or must be sold a gun. It just means they haven't committed a crime. It's still your job as a gun dealer, to determine if the gun you are selling is going into the wrong hands, or is intended for someone else or an otherwise prohibited person. |
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Quoted:
We don't call "NICS" in PA, we call "PICS". (Pennsylvania Instant Check System) No PICS approval number means... no gun. My goal is ZERO denials. I run a tight ship and won't waiver from my principals. I screen people and ask questions before getting to paperwork. Some people/issues/problems/skeletons in the closet are more obvious than others. This guy slipped through the cracks. He had difficulty with the "state of residence" question when he did the 4473. I can only assume he had ID/residence issues and I expected it WOULD be denied if it did not get instant approval. With a perfect record of ZERO denials, I wasn't taking the chance. When informing the customer of the canceled transaction, he wasn't surprised nor disturbed by it... so that reassured me I made the right decision. I still get delays, but they are not related to the customers. PICS is always having problems of some kind. One thing to remember is... just because someone passes the background check... doesn't mean they "deserve" or must be sold a gun. It just means they haven't committed a crime. It's still your job as a gun dealer, to determine if the gun you are selling is going into the wrong hands, or is intended for someone else or an otherwise prohibited person. I agree that it is your responsibility to screen customers and refuse to complete a questionable transaction. And as a business owner, you have the right to refuse service to anyone. However, at our store, we try to avoid placing judgment on whether or not someone "deserves" a gun, or whether we think they should own a gun. They have the same second amendment rights as we do, and barring a failed background check, they have the right to purchase a gun. Obviously, we will refuse a sale if we believe the customer has unlawful intentions, such as a straw purchase or violent motives. But we do not judge someone on whether or not they "deserve" a gun. If they can pass a background check, and they don't raise any red flags during the sale, we will allow them to purchase a gun. There's no reason to play "gatekeeper" to the shooting sports, by questioning every gun transaction. It is not our place to decide what someone has the right to do. I also think a goal of zero delays is a bit unrealistic. It's going to happen in the gun business, regardless of how well you think you're screening customers. It doesn't say anything about how moral or responsible your business is. There is no punishment for getting a denial. It just happens. Someone is going to lie on that form, and you will not be able to distinguish it until NICS (or PICS) denies the sale. We have also had several customers denied who honestly were unaware of why or what denied them. I've seen customers denied for misdemeanor charges that shouldn't have affected a gun purchase, but for some reason, they were denied. I've seen customers get denied for EPOs (restraining or protective orders) that expired years ago, or even for protective orders they didn't know existed. The "crazy ex-wife" has been a factor several times. I've seen women get EPOs on their husbands while going through a divorce, simply because it would screw them in court, their job, or with their gun hobby. Denials happen, and it's just a fact of life. I always offer the information for customers to appeal denials, and I would say it's 50/50 on whether or not a denied customer has a chance at successfully appealing the denial, when they decide to try that option. |
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Quoted:
~snip Perhaps the word "deserve" wasn't appropriate in the context it was used. As a fellow gun dealer, I'm sure you are familiar with all the things a customer can say or do that will throw up flags and nix the sale. If I don't feel "good" about selling someone a gun, I will not follow through with the sale. They may very well pass a background check... but if something seems fishy... they will need to go elsewhere. Smelling like weed, alcohol, acting strange, etc... Plenty of things will disqualify a person from buying. Unfortunately, too many FFL's will let greed get in the way of principals. Simply passing a background check does not qualify someone to buy a gun... and while you may not think so, it IS your job as an FFL to "judge" buyers and determine whether they are a risky sale or not. Edit to add... I think we are both on the same page with respect to screening customers... I think you may have misunderstood the extent at which we do so. No FFL wants to see a gun of his used in a crime... so we all have our own ways of preventing it. Some more extreme than others... but the intention is the same... that is to keep guns in the hands of responsible, law-abiding citizens and out of the hands of criminals. I fully expect to get a denial eventually... as there is no way to prevent it... but a little small talk with a buyer before initiating paperwork, will sometimes uncover a potential issue before it becomes a problem. The way I handle this is... if a customer seems sincere and otherwise "good" but is concerned about skeletons in his/her closet... I will recommend they apply for a LTCF first... since they will not violate any laws doing so. If they try to buy a gun and it turns out they are prohibited... they've just committed another crime. If they apply for and receive a LTCF... chances are 100% that they will pass the PICS check to buy a gun. (We call the same PSP 888 number as the Sheriff's Dept.) |
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