Sporting Goods Clerks

[contender1]

No matter what the business is,, there are stupid employees, un-educated employees, power tripping employees, & other undesirables working in places they shouldn't be. And in todays climate of "I can sit on my rear end & the government will give me money,,, vs working" attitude,, it's often a sad reflection of what employers have to work with.
Sounds like a polite, yet firm written letter to corporate with specific details may or may not get results. But at least you'll be on record complaining about the clerk.

The comment about the BB gun, and a 4473,,, is interesting. Could it be that the State has mandated a BB gun as a firearm? The 4473 is a FEDERAL form,, and it's use is governed by the federal regulations. Seems a polite but firm letter to the State Attorney General, ATF, Corporate, & any & all organizations in Ohio that fight for gun owners needs to be sent. In it,, ask WHY a private company is using the 4473 for purposes OTHER than intended, or allowed by law.
Case in point;
Many years ago, a local wally world had a sale on Ruger 10/22's. I wanted one of that model. The clerk told me I had to fill out (2) identical 4473's to complete the purchase. He said; "One goes to the ATF & one is sent to corporate." I politely asked for the manager. When one arrived, I politely inquired about this. I ALSO pointed out to the manager the PRINTED portion at the top of the form about; "Prepare in original only." And in my discussion I said for the store to send one to corporate was illegal, and de facto registration. The manager said; "It's store policy & if you want one, you must comply with store rules."
So, I politely did as asked, making sure I noted the clerk, and the managers name etc. I then filed a complaint with the AFT, Wally world corporate, and even the NRA-ILA.
That wally world STOPPED that policy.
And in a follow-up, I was able to point out how firearm THEFT was occurring at that wally world,, by employees. (My best friend was a Federal agent.) Apparently, a few employees had figured out a way to "add a firearm to a 4473" and it go out the back door.

Now,, when I fill out a 4473 at any FFL I'm not familiar with,, I mark through the empty space for any additional purchases. (That's legal BTW. ATF explained that one to me.)

So, I'd question the laws in Ohio, and if the STATE mandates the BB guns as firearms,, then there MAY be an exception for the State by the ATF for the use of the form. I'm not current on all the Ohio laws. But I am a member of the OGCA,, and haven't heard about this process by the wally world.

[Budzilla 19]

Year or so back, had a young little twit of a clerk ask me for my drivers license for plastic airsoft bb’s. I asked why, he said it was sporting goods policy. So I politely told him to put them wherever he could fit them, if you understand that statement, and walked out!! Store name?................. who else? DICKS sporting goods. Never went back to that, or any other Dicks sporting goods.
But a 4473 for a BB GUN? Crazy

[Burnt Fingers]

Do BB guns even have a serial number?

[444ttd]

back in the early to mid '80s(when i was 12yo), i got all my ammo from k-mart or gee bee's(think super wal mart 2day, with guns and ammo). i would buy 30-30, 12, 16 and 20 ga, 30-06 and 22 rimfire(esp the 22) and they never cared. i think i was 16yo or so, when k mart had a policy (about 2 weeks before big game season) that they needed a driver license and a form to purchase ammo. well, they didn't sell any ammo and the "complaints"(i won't say what bad words were used!!!! ) got so bad from customers, that the policy went away.

when i was 18 or 19yo, i started reloading my own and never went back. my local gun store has a guy that is quite knowledgeable about guns and ammo, but the same store has less than knowledgeable (about the same iq as a tennis ball) people.

let me blow off the dust of my brainpan and i think it was $7.99 for a box of 30-30 and $9.99 for a box of '06 in the mid '80s. for 22lr it was about $.79 for 50 and about $7 or 8 for 500. i would spend $2.50 - 3.00 for 100 of the cci 36gr hp mini mags for hunting squirrel. the last box of 22lr ammo that i ever bought was around $16 - 17 for 525 rounds. i think it was bush jr time, but i'm not sure. i also remember, but not sure of the time, that my friend(RIP) got his new 338 RUM (i mean new, it must have been '02 or 03) and it was about $100-120 per box of 20 cartridges!!!!

i'm getting old, ain't i?

[David2011]

Tractor Supply wanted my driver's license to purchase a Red Ryder. I was clearly old enough, approaching retirement at the time. I bought it elsewhere. When my brother was 8 and I was 11 we walked to K-Mart and each bought a Marksman BB/pellet/dart pistol, unaccompanied. Nobody thought anything of it.

[Friends call me Pac]

Late 70's before I had a driver's license I would go to Kmart for .22 shells for squirrel hunting. I would have to claim I was using them in a rifle only because I could buy them for a rifle but not for a handgun. That makes a lot of sense huh? Started hunting with a 30.06 at 16 and never had an issue buying ammo for it.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Our hardware store in Bethlehem, PA had a card file where a note from the parents that gave permission to kids to buy ammunition was kept. Once you were 'on file' you could buy ammo whenever you had the money. My first purchase, age 7?, was a box of Western shorts - 55 cents.

[jonp]

Late 70's before I had a driver's license I would go to Kmart for .22 shells for squirrel hunting. I would have to claim I was using them in a rifle only because I could buy them for a rifle but not for a handgun. That makes a lot of sense huh? Started hunting with a 30.06 at 16 and never had an issue buying ammo for it.

I'm trying to remember where I got that question. Only had it once or twice but I've bought ammo across most of the country. As for the BB gun I'm wondering how that 4473 was filled out as I'm not aware that Daisy puts SN on them and Feds won't run that as there is nothing to run because bb guns are not considered firearms. I'd have put it back and got one online.

When I was a kid it was not uncommon to buy 22lr on the way to hunt woodchucks at the hardware store or buy pea shooters either. We also bought cigarettes for people and ran them back to their house for a few nickels spent on penny candy. Omer would ask us who they were for and then hand them over.

[shooterg]

How things have changed. I remember being 9 or 10 and buying .22 shorts at a little general store at my grandmother's in KY.

Yup. Remember reaching UP to the counter to put the loose change ($0.39 ?) there in exchange for a box of .22's . The local hardware would even sell individual shotshells when I wanted a couple to use in Gramps old 12 ga. Champion to bust a bunch of pigeons robbing the hogs corn(get a dozen sometimes as they lit on the ground, sometimes had to butt stroke 'em to finish the job, the old single shot still has electric tape on the grip where a crack developed from too much of that) . Maybe 7 when I first bought .22, the shotgun was too much for me until 11 or so. Sure wish my grandson could grow up like I did - he gets a "sample" when he's with us but that's not enough.

[William Yanda]

" uncommon to buy 22lr on the way to hunt woodchucks at the hardware store " jonp
Did you mean buy 22lr at the hardware store on the way to hunt woodchucks?"

[toallmy]

A lot has changed - when I was in high school I carried a bolt action 22 rifle to school , ( as a project in shop class ) to refinish the wood , & steel . Carried it on the bus both ways .
Fast forward - recently I was asked for ID when buying some magic markers .

[Walks]

When I turned 16 and got My DL, My Dad would send Me down to the old Pachmayr store near downtown LA. With a signed check, without an amount written it. Ammo, powder, primers everything but new guns. Even picked up a repaired Colt once.
Did the same thing at Bower's Wholesale.

[GregLaROCHE]

I think I agree that kids under 18 (maybe 16) shouldn’t be able to buy ammo alone. I’m not saying I don’t think kids shouldn’t have ammo. I was alone in the woods at twelve with a 22. I did my share of experimenting, like ricocheting off water, throwing some into campfires, etc. My dad probably didn’t know to what extent I was experimenting, but he kept tabs on me, making sure I didn’t get too out of hand. Also, my father had already deeply instilled in me the importance of being safe. Well maybe I deviated a little. My point is we think of kids who have been properly trained in firearms not being allowed to by ammo, but imagine if kids in the inter cities could just walk in and by ammo, not to shoot, but to experiment with. ie taking bullets apart for the powder to make a bomb.

[Kraschenbirn]

A lot has changed - when I was in high school I carried a bolt action 22 rifle to school , ( as a project in shop class ) to refinish the wood , & steel . Carried it on the bus both ways .
Fast forward - recently I was asked for ID when buying some magic markers .

Yup!! On Thursdays, several of us who shot on the Boy Scout/Explorers rifle team carried our cased .22 target rifles to school and checked them into the auto shop tool crib. After school, we picked them up and rode a city bus out to the National Guard Armory for practice and, afterwards, rode a bus home. I don't recall anyone so much as even giving us strange looks.

Bill

[Gator 45/70]

I think I agree that kids under 18 (maybe 16) shouldn’t be able to buy ammo alone. I’m not saying I don’t think kids shouldn’t have ammo. I was alone in the woods at twelve with a 22. I did my share of experimenting, like ricocheting off water, throwing some into campfires, etc. My dad probably didn’t know to what extent I was experimenting, but he kept tabs on me, making sure I didn’t get too out of hand. Also, my father had already deeply instilled in me the importance of being safe. Well maybe I deviated a little. My point is we think of kids who have been properly trained in firearms not being allowed to by ammo, but imagine if kids in the inter cities could just walk in and by ammo, not to shoot, but to experiment with. ie taking bullets apart for the powder to make a bomb.

Inner city ''kids'' try shooting a 380 in a 9 or 40 in a 9 or 9 in a 40, The police applaud the ignorance.
It wasn't or still isn't unusual for the sporting goods clerk to find and open box of 9's or 40's broken open with a few shells missing and the box placed back on the shelf, Reckon its easier to palm a few bullets out of security's eyes, Inner city kids and games they play?

[Dekota56]

Like a lot durning the 60’s bought 22 ammo on my own, I took gun to school, to hunt ground hogs or squirrel on the way home. I had a rifle or two in the gun racks in the back of my truck window, durning deer season in the school parking lot when in High school. I am sure we miss those days.

[jonp]

" uncommon to buy 22lr on the way to hunt woodchucks at the hardware store " jonp
Did you mean buy 22lr at the hardware store on the way to hunt woodchucks?"

haha...yes but I think you missed the "not" in front of that

[john.k]

wernt no gunshops when I was a kid,the barbershop used to sell 22rf and 32 rf in a few as 5 shots if thats all you could afford.......More grown up,youd go to the hardware store .....but all their ammo was in big boxes of 100 or 500 or so,and not affordable for a kid......From about 12 yrs of age ,used to go to the hardware and buy dynamite in a paper bag,as very few had need of a case ......the explosive store was an old outhouse in the yard of the hardware,and the clerk would hand you a little packet of detanators,and say...be careful with these riding your bike ,now.

[frkelly74]

Do BB guns even have a serial number?

The last 22 I bought was a High Standard Sport King semi auto. It has no serial number on it being of pre 1968 manufacture. On the 4473 the dealer just wrote NSN in the place where the serial number is supposed to be. ( no serial number)

[lksmith]

Unfortunately that seems the norm in left coast states. Around here at the local gun shops they will let "kids" buy ammo. chains like walmart or atwoods won't. My daughter is 3 and as soon as she can handle it she has a cricket 22 that I refinished for her.