Why I will no longer shop at the pawn shop by my house

dakota.potts

New member
I went in to a local pawn shop the other day to ask about a project I wanted to work on. I've been in there a few times before and talked to the guy who runs the gun counter and he always seemed knowledgeable enough, if not a little arrogant. He'd previously told me that he has a side business building $4,000 custom AR-15s that "make Daniel Defense look like ****".

On this occasion I had gone in to ask him about an FAL project I wanted to do. I admit it's a weird question I had: I'm under 21, so I wanted to know if he could get an FAL receiver in the shop for me and allow me to barrel it and put a stock on it so I could transfer it as a rifle to me rather than a "firearm", since there's a 21 year old age limit on "other firearms" such as receivers.

I was prepared for a no on this since it's an unusual request. What I was not prepared for was the response I got.

He told me that not only could he do that for me, but I would be unable to buy any long gun that had a pistol grip that extended below the receiver. Apparently, both ATF and SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) insist that these are different legally from regular long guns because they have a pistol grip that juts below the receiver. In fact, he told me somewhat proudly, he had just refused to sell an AK model rifle to a 19 year old a week before for the very same law.

I asked him where he had heard this, since I sold firearms for a living for a while also and had never run into this, and he kind of clammed up. It's an "unwritten rule", he told me. I asked him if maybe he meant the shotguns that don't have a pistol grip, like the Mossberg 500 Cruiser that is considered a "firearm" rather than a shotgun. No, he was quite sure that you had to be 21 to buy any long gun with a pistol grip on it, under both federal and state law.

So I called a local specialty gun shop around the corner. They informed me that not only would they be happy to help with my FAL build, they had a barrel vise and torque wrench they would allow me to use after hours since I'm a local gunsmithing student.

You can probably guess who will get my business the next time I need anything gun related.
 
Hopefully you will make that BS known in your local area......amazing how folks like these lie as much as DC politicians and also think they will not get caught........................................:mad:

Makes us ALL look bad and like unscrupulous crooks.....
 
Imagine how difficult and confusing it can be to us regular guys or gals. I'm thankful I have a LGS that helps and is nice to deal with.
 
It's his shop, so it's his rules, even if he understands the law or not, or applies his own prejudices willy-nilly. But he doesn't need to feed you multiple lines of BS either.

You are doing the right thing. One of the hallmarks of the new generation of shooters is a much higher degree of education and knowledge of the laws and products. Shops that lie, deceive, or otherwise misrepresent anything deserve to lose every dollar that can go to a shop that acknowledges the intelligence of their customers. Life is too short to deal with miserable dopes. Vote with your dollars for the guys willing to work for them.
 
Sounds like an opportunity to teach him the facts. Get a copy of the code/law and highlight the points and take it to him. Even though many of us think we know everything, there are still some things to learn and correct.

If I applied the same logic to car salesmen, I would be very difficult to buy a car. I was once told by a VW salesman that the "new beetle" was designed so that in an accident it would roll like a ball and you wouldn't get hurt. He was serious. He also said it had a special "long stroke" engine for extra high RPM.
 
Sounds as well informed as some pos(t)ers on gun forums. And on top of that, I get the same at the auto parts store I work at, on guns and cars.

Just don't visit him anymore - unless you know they have that one of a kind gun in the case, like, a HKP7 and it's priced at $350. Right?

It's the word of mouth to your friends he should be worried about. Your story will get to ten others locally pretty quick, and it won't be good for his business. But - a lot of the experienced gun buyers already know it. They just avoid triggering his ignorance and smile as they buy whatever anyway.

Don't cut him off completely - let his ignorance be his own worst enemy. Like as not your explanation of what you wanted to do intruded on his sense of superiority. After all, he's the gun guy with the books, and he thinks you aren't -so he probably said what he said to put you in your place. His sense of status was threatened.

Happens all the time. it will go away about the time you discover there are no older guys left to argue with you. As I have discovered at the age of 62 - they can't fathom I might know something about older cars. After all, I'm just an ignorant counter "kid" 15 years younger. Being 62 as no merit in the conversation, neither does my degree in Auto Tech, or the ability to change out an engine, then transmission three weeks later (rough winter.)

Their concept of pecking order gelled when they graduated from high school, if they did, and no further updates in the decades after took place. Their loss. Some gundealers are their own worst enemies. No sense trying to fix what's broke when they won't let you.
 
No need to sweat the small-stuff !!!

Honestly,,, Why bother?

Exactly and if you like that pawn shop, just let it go for now. If there is a lesson for him to learn, it's that you are more mature than he. In time and if you keep going in there, he will learn, how wrong he is. No need for a "spitting" contest as you are the one with the truth. Whenever I run into a situation like this, I try to look beyond the initial attitude and find the root cause of his attitude. You can help him with his attitude but you can't cure "Stupid". ..... :rolleyes:

Be Safe !!!
 
So basically, the guy is a squirrel through and through and you had plenty of reasons not to deal with him already, but were continuing to do so until he would not help with the FAL build. Is that right?

If the other place was just around the corner, why weren't you already doing business with them? LOL!
 
90% of the time even lawyers and bureaucrats don't know the regulations, never looked at them, can't cite chapter and verse, we veterans all encountered officers and NCOs who cited non-existent regulations.
 
So basically, the guy is a squirrel through and through and you had plenty of reasons not to deal with him already, but were continuing to do so until he would not help with the FAL build. Is that right?

If the other place was just around the corner, why weren't you already doing business with them? LOL!

I knew he was full of himself, not willfully ignorant. I expected that he might turn down an odd request like assembling a receiver for an FAL build. I never expected him to make up all the rest of the BS.

I used to go by there because it's on the way home from school and I'd stop in now and again. They also had some tools and music equipment. I hadn't bought anything there, but I was going to have the FAL transferred through him. Now that I'm looking for a shotgun for dove season, I would have bought a shotgun or at least had it transferred through him. Now it will be going elsewhere.

The other place is still only about 15 minutes from my house and in the opposite direction of work and school, but it's worth that little bit of inconvenience.
 
It's an "unwritten rule", he told me.
There aren't really any of those in the business.

That said, you have a chance to educate him, or the choice to avoid him. Is there anything else to discuss on the matter?
 
I would have to assume he was simply relaying that out of ignorance, as I can't think of any monetary reason for him to make up reasons you couldn't buy something from him. I still check in places that I don't like, they still have a good deal occasionally, I just don't discuss things with them
 
I agree with tirod. As Grandma said, don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
If he has something you want without "unwritten rules", take advantage of the deal.
 
Dakota, you have just that one place that follows imaginary laws. Midway and Cabela's and a whole host of other places think they can't ship ammunition to Chicago, even though there is no law against it. Luckygunner says they need a Chicago business license to ship ammunition to Chicago (as if they were physically located in Chicago!) and Bud's refuses to sell any handguns to Chicago residents even when using an FFL on their approved list. Other places think there's a Chicago or Cook County ban on handgun magazines over 10 rounds, even though the state has preemption of all handgun laws. Even Smith and Wesson refuses to ship standard capacity handgun magazines to anyone in Illinois for one of their "get 3 magazines free with handgun purchase" promotions when every gun store in the state sells all sizes of magazines.

It's as if Heller and McDonald never happened, and these are companies that supposedly support the 2nd Amendment yet follow gun laws that either never existed or were struck down or repealed years ago. It's one thing when Joe's Pawn Shop is ignorant of the law, but Cabela's? Not so much an issue now that ammo is plentiful again, but during the craze I had to make a lot of long trips to gun stores only to find empty shelves and most online sellers cite imaginary laws that say I can't order ammo online.

You're lucky dakota!
 
The gun world is full of self appointed experts. I've been guilty of it too, only to learn that I was wrong. I'm not behind a gun counter, though.

I heard lots of stuff while browsing the stores though that raise an eyebrow
 
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