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Gun Dealers who ask to see LTC before showing customer a Firearm
- Thread starter Central Mass
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beaker
NES Member
I dont know why that is an issue? Especially for handguns. In stores where I have never been this happens and in stores where they recognize me they dont ask. Their store, it isnt much of an inconvenience.
ReluctantDecoy
NES Member
Certain shops probably have house rules, but I'd wager a lot has to do with how the individual comes off as well. You walk up to the counter looking sketchy or asking "how many bullets does this Glock (regardless of brand) hold in the clip", I wouldn't fault the guy behind the counter for asking to see an LTC.
Of the 7 or so shops I've been to in MA, I don't think I've ever been asked ahead of proceeding to a purchase (meaning I've had it in my hands already).
Of the 7 or so shops I've been to in MA, I don't think I've ever been asked ahead of proceeding to a purchase (meaning I've had it in my hands already).
VetteGirlMA
NES Member
If you're worried about someone having your LTC then buy your guns out of a trunk in a dark alley.
I'm just kind of surprised that any one cares - especially when you have to pull your card out to buy beer or smokes, or ammo or guns, anyone would be bugged by having to fork over a license in a gun store to check something out... it's a good shit test for the owners, to read the people and see if their eyes bug out, but it's not exactly "treading on yer rights" or anything. Everybody knows to be a little cautious in MA.
With stores like TGP pulling all their crap, Cabela's asking for LTCs on ammo can purchases, or Shooters (in NH none the less!) who won't release after 3 days on a delay and require a mask and a damn 3D body scan at the door so they can plaster your mug online and slander you... is it really that big a deal?
With stores like TGP pulling all their crap, Cabela's asking for LTCs on ammo can purchases, or Shooters (in NH none the less!) who won't release after 3 days on a delay and require a mask and a damn 3D body scan at the door so they can plaster your mug online and slander you... is it really that big a deal?
silversquirrel
NES Member
Look what happened at the gun shop in the original Terminator.
Would have been a whole different movie if the proprietor asked Arnold for his LTC.
Would have been a whole different movie if the proprietor asked Arnold for his LTC.
Chevy 2 65
NES Member
Quite_Exasperated
NES Member
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meh, …i think of it like being asked to show proof of membership in an exclusive club prior to bellying up to the sushi bar…
KBCraig
NES Member
All gun store clerks everywhere should be like that one.
I don't mean cute, I mean knowledgeable about the products.
But the cute doesn't hurt.
Knob Creek
NES Member
I just automatically place mine on the counter.
Marty McFly
NES Member
Me too. I can't count how many times I've been in a shop and someone is checking out a gun and they find out they need an ltc in this state. It stops time wasters.
This show proper indoctrination and obedience. Good boy.
greencobra
NES Member
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it's like being blind from birth. this has been done since my first day walking into a shop to look at a gun so 50+ years. i'm not going to cry over it, it's how it is. i use to like being in a new hampshire shop picking out the massachusetts residents at the counter, they were all waving ltc's.
the last time I was in a MA LGS was 1992, back then I did it to show I was a qualified serious buyer and not some tire kicker. Nobody at Collectors or Four seasons ever gave me grief about it, nor at Royal when I bought my first long gun with my freshly minted FID in 1976
I understand. I still prefer the method employed by Arnold Schwarzenegger at the beginning of terminator.
^This. That is probably the majority of the reason, they don't want people who can't buy the expensive piece of hardware playing with it and wasting their time and maybe running off with it is a secondary concern.
In 20+ years of having an LTC, I can't remember a time when I was NOT asked for it when I went into a shop to look at a gun, unless its somewhere I'm a regular and they know me.
TLDR: who gaf? if you're there to buy you're gonna show it anyway.
Marty McFly
NES Member
I bet you bring your teddy bear and tin foil hat.
I know when I do in nothing but whitey tighties, I get to play with whatever
Marty McFly
NES Member
It is... whats so funny?Oh. Yeah. That must be it!![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
I expect the motivation is slightly different. Most gun stores have limited staff for customer service and you sometimes have to wait a long time to get to the front of the line. What better way to separate the “serious buyers” from “window shoppers” than ask for an LTC?
Now…that can be a short term approach, as you may have the opportunity to sell the window shopper LTC classes AND a gun (eventually). Gun stores are very intimidating places for a newbie (who may have his/her head full of misconceptions). And being told “you aren’t worth my time and you can’t touch a gun” isn’t going to win any converts.
But I get it.
Now…that can be a short term approach, as you may have the opportunity to sell the window shopper LTC classes AND a gun (eventually). Gun stores are very intimidating places for a newbie (who may have his/her head full of misconceptions). And being told “you aren’t worth my time and you can’t touch a gun” isn’t going to win any converts.
But I get it.
Rockrivr1
NES Member
Don't care. Their shop their rules. There are too many things to get upset about in today's world and I just don't see this as something to get your panties into a twist about.
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Here’s one perspective. If it is a shop’s policy to ask for an LTC, perhaps they should post it and ask everyone regardless of whom they are, new to store or longtime customer. That way they would remain true to their policy and all customers.
Picking and choosing whom you ask for an LTC is a poor way of doing business and may scare a potential lifetime buyer and the referrals that usually come with that type of relationship.
I believe everyone here would feel at odds if a customer before you wasn’t asked for the LTC, and you were. Especially, if you believe the person before you is a regular and it turns out that the person is not, yet wasn’t asked, but you were.
It would certainly make me want to ask why and that usually never ends well.
I visited the Gun Parlor last night just to see what they had. By the way it was like a candy store, sweets of all kinds (Not an ad or sales pitch for them just a fact, after visiting Cabela’s the other day and seeing 3 sorry ass looking firearms it was refreshing to walk into a gun shop and actually find guns). Anyway, the guys there were welcoming from the second I walked in, with a greeting and what can I show you? all while transacting a sale with a person at the counter. Three different staff members approached me and all said the same thing, “let me know what you’d like to see”.
That’s how you take care of customers. Not by asking to show them the plastic, which in reality, at the end of the day only means that a person took a class and has a clean record, and not the person intentions at the moment.
If the shop’s practice is to only ask new faces maybe they should consider the fact that nothing guarantees that a regular customer is still in good standing with the law and did not have his/her LTC taken away days before, and may now be in your shop with I’ll intentions.
If you don’t ask: On the other hand if it is the shop’s policy not to ask, then don’t ask anyone, unless to process a sale.
In summary:
If it’s policy, post it, and ask everyone, every time. That way everyone understands the protocol you as a business owner have chosen to implement.
If it’s is not your policy, then be fair and don’t ask anyone, unless to process a sale.
Again, one perspective of many, I’m sure.
Picking and choosing whom you ask for an LTC is a poor way of doing business and may scare a potential lifetime buyer and the referrals that usually come with that type of relationship.
I believe everyone here would feel at odds if a customer before you wasn’t asked for the LTC, and you were. Especially, if you believe the person before you is a regular and it turns out that the person is not, yet wasn’t asked, but you were.
It would certainly make me want to ask why and that usually never ends well.
I visited the Gun Parlor last night just to see what they had. By the way it was like a candy store, sweets of all kinds (Not an ad or sales pitch for them just a fact, after visiting Cabela’s the other day and seeing 3 sorry ass looking firearms it was refreshing to walk into a gun shop and actually find guns). Anyway, the guys there were welcoming from the second I walked in, with a greeting and what can I show you? all while transacting a sale with a person at the counter. Three different staff members approached me and all said the same thing, “let me know what you’d like to see”.
That’s how you take care of customers. Not by asking to show them the plastic, which in reality, at the end of the day only means that a person took a class and has a clean record, and not the person intentions at the moment.
If the shop’s practice is to only ask new faces maybe they should consider the fact that nothing guarantees that a regular customer is still in good standing with the law and did not have his/her LTC taken away days before, and may now be in your shop with I’ll intentions.
If you don’t ask: On the other hand if it is the shop’s policy not to ask, then don’t ask anyone, unless to process a sale.
In summary:
If it’s policy, post it, and ask everyone, every time. That way everyone understands the protocol you as a business owner have chosen to implement.
If it’s is not your policy, then be fair and don’t ask anyone, unless to process a sale.
Again, one perspective of many, I’m sure.
Ironic, given who the OP is.
OP, if you're trying to do market research before deciding whether or not to ask for LTCs in your own shop, just come out and say so. Otherwise, why are you asking? And then coming back days later to offer a different "perspective?"
If you're just a buyer who's butthurt because you got carded and the guy in front of you didn't, I'd just tell you to grow up and deal with it, personally.
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