Big 5 worst experience ever!

[movie zombie]

go to another big 5 w/o your boyfriend and buy the thing. the clerk thought he was doing right and given the description of how it went down, he was in the right. he has a legal obligation to not participate in a straw purchase....and while you know it wasn't, the impression that it was a straw purchase obligated the manager to not make the sale.

mz

ps admittedly, i'd be pissed, too.....but i'd go get that gun on my own if i really wanted it. personally, i prefer to purchase my guns w/o my husband being present. i do find that sales people will talk to him rather than to me even though i initiate the conversation and am clear that the gun is my purchase for me. irritates the living shell out of me when that happens.

[sephy]

Uhhhhh, actually, if there's a reason to expect a person is doing a straw purchase we are allowed to, and expected to cancel the sale. The business is in danger of losing it's FFL, being fined and more. It is absolutely their right to refuse a potential straw sale.

Well I stand corrected.

[aaliya]

My Job.
All of my friends
My Study
My bags
My heels

[Steyrlp10]

Hell fellow calguners! First let me say that I am posting this under my boyfriends account

Sorry to read about your experience. The first step towards beginning your own firearms collection is to open your own CGN account here, under your chosen handle and not his. As the others have mentioned, Big 5 isn't the only vendor in town.

Take a Women on Target course for shotgun and get more exposure on the other models out there before plunking a bunch of cash down on a purchase. Good luck!

[Joewy]

Had the same problem a few years ago with my wife. She wanted a Shotgun and the clerk thought it was for me. He even mentioned that he thought that it was a straw purchase. I showed him my CCW and told him that should be proof enough that I was not a prohibited person and if I wanted it I would buy it for myself But if I was buying it for her it WOULD be a straw purchase because it was for her.
We never did buy it there.

[Sajedene]

I never take the guy shopping with me. They just get in the way and slow me down. Go by yourself next time.

[bob7122]

dunno, sounds a lot like he mistook your interaction with your boyfriend and determined that it was a straw purchase and refused to sell to you to protect his job and ffl

^this

[semperfidelis354]

almost had a similar problem with my wife buying her first gun, luckily (and I thought this was pretty clever) the clerk asked me to list all the firearms I own, not just "3 rifles" but the actual types. this seemed to ease his worries of the straw purchase which we were happy about since the gun was 90% paid for on layaway.

[Steyrlp10]

I never take the guy shopping with me. They just get in the way and slow me down. Go by yourself next time.

Lol... so true -- they just don't understand that certain things just call to us

[pacifico23]

Maybe the way you asked your bf to buy it. Maybe the Manager was assuming a potential straw purchase. I had to double read your post, because thats what I thought you said at first. I bet if you go in on your own, you wont have any problems.

[gimme]

If your boyfreind had completed the DROS in his name, I believe the straw purchase matter would have been laid to rest.

that's what i was thinking. If the clerk thought it may be a straw purchase, why would he then start DROS with the boyfriend? I don't buy the thought of him thinking and possibly avoiding a straw purchase, nope, no way...huh uh

[Elucidus]

IT IS VERY COMMON FOR WOMEN TO STRAW BUY FOR PROHIBITED MEN!! So much so that a prominent anti-gunner back east bought her prohibited son a firearm and then tried to claim it showed how lax our gun laws are.

Hopefully they sent her to prison... what happened?

[Norsemen308]

your intentions were pure, but readying your case would make me think its a straw purchase as well! try another store have your cash know what you want and go for it. About a month or so ago I had the same thing happen with the GF, she wanted a pink lady, she told the guy thats it lets do it, and I pulled out cash to pay for it. we were thrown out of the shop for trying to do a straw purchase.. lesson learned, give her the cash she knows what she wants go for it...

[choprzrul]

I never take the guy shopping with me. They just get in the way and slow me down. Go by yourself next time.

I like the way you roll.

.

[RipVanWinkle]

I don't interpret any sexual discrimination from reading the OP or subsequent posts..

either way, no need to bash Big-5 for doing their job.. I like shopping there..

I agree. Unfortunately the "clean" girlfriend acquiring the gun for the "dirty" boyfriend is almost the sine qua non of the straw purchase. When Big 5 (or anyone else) has guns on sale the potential profit upside for them is a few bucks, while the potential down side of getting snagged in a straw sale is enormous.

I don't think you have to send the girlfriend (or wife) out by herself necessarily. My wife wanted to get a .22 rifle about a year ago, and I went with her to Big 5. She just told the clerk, " I want to buy a .22 rifle, show me what you got." She checked out a bolt action, a model 60, a 795, 10/22s in stainless and matte; had the clerk show her how each of them worked and handled them all. She finally settled on a wood stocked 10/22. I just let her take charge and I only spoke when spoken to. After all, it's going to be her gun and all those models were pretty much equivalent to each other, depending on your taste.

When it came time to do the DROS the manager supervised while showing the "new guy" through the process. We had a kind of DROS party with everybody chipping in about what a PITA the whole thing was, and the experience was very positive. I also appreciated that Big 5 didn't waver a bit in the face of AB962 and were ready to continue ammo sales whatever happened. This was at the Alameda store.

So for the OP, I think when you go to get a shotgun again, whether at Big 5 or somewhere else, tell them you want to look at pump action shotguns and check them all out. Rack the slides and see what they're like. You might find that one of the models not on sale suits you better than what you originally intended to get and is worth a higher price. Maybe a 20 ga. feels more comfortable than a 12 ga. Ask the boyfriend a question or two if you like, but let everybody know that it's going to be your shotgun and you're going to get what you want.