About 15 years ago I was visiting friends and family in Michigan. Went to a Gander Mountain store in Flint. In their used rack they had a fairly new Marlin 1895 Cowboy. I wanted it, but with a California drivers license they would not even talk to me. They wouldn't sell it to my 75 year olld cousin retired school teacher as a bithday present for me and they wouldn't talk about sending it to a California FFL. Once I returned to California I wrote an irate letter to Corp headquarters. I got a call from the store manager apologizing. Ask if the gun was still available and it was. Got it for about $50. cheaper than the rack price shipped to my FFL in Cal. Only explanation I got was that lots of dealers were spooked by ATF of potential straw purchases.