Walmart refuses to sell shotgun to woman, says it's 'Too much gun'. News story in the link, as well as a link to her original post on Facebook. I already sent her a message saying I was sorry this happened and to thank her for being an active member of the gun community! We need more women like her!
Walmart needs to stick to groceries and Mary Kate and Ashley clothing lines. There is not an associate in ANY Walmart store I've ever been in that is qualified to recommend a firearm.
Well, I feel that I have got to step in here. I am an assistant manager at a Walmart. This is not a corporate policy. We are trained to watch for straw purchases. One of the things you are trained to watch for is someone buying a gun they are not familiar with. HOWEVER-I repeat-HOWEVER, you find out more information. You just don't say "I'm not selling you the gun" You ask questions to find out if it is a gift, or the person is planning on taking a training course and so on. From my limited knowledge of this incident, if the clerk had asked these questions, the truth would come out, and the sale would've have continued. Seems to me that Walmart unfortunately hired a gun store ninja that we have all had to deal with in regular gun stores. We all know the sort.
Now Mr. Smith, I respect your opinion, but I have to disagree to an extent. In any retail store that isn't primarily a gun store, the people behind the gun counter don't work just there. They work elsewhere in the store so their knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep.Unfortunately it's the nature of the business. While we do have several experienced gun people behind the counter at my store, we do recommend folks go to some of the local gun stores in our area for more technical issues, and to benefit from their experience. I do apologize for the experiences you have obviously had at Walmart, but as a gun owner you should realize the danger of sweeping generalizations. Please don't paint all Walmarts with the same brush.
I apologize Robert and while my experiences haven't been the best, I know with 1000 stores they can't all be the same as yours where you obviously make gun knowledge a priority. I did buy my first gun from Walmart (Savage 22LR which I have beat the heck out of and it still shoots perfectly) and I'm sure Walmart has helped introduce many other people to shooting at an affordable price. And that is never a bad thing. I too worked at Walmart for a while back in college and that helped me form my opinion. I worked in the dairy dept. and they would call me from sporting goods to ask me questions on a daily basis but would not just transfer me to work in that department because, "Those positions were already filled." Such is the world of corporate policies.
I feel your pain! lol!
+1 to both Mr. Smith and Mr. Settles. Great discourse. Why can't more discussions be just that... reasonable discussions?
Yeah seriously. Where's the name calling? Reasonable dialogue? How dare you...
Well debated, gents. I love Gunway.
@Charlie And we appreciate you for creating it Mr. Chief Executive Officer! I do really love this place as well.
Ditto on the Gunway love.
I think buying a gun at Walmart is kinda like buying dinner at McDonalds. Yeah, you'll get something that fills you up, but it's probably not nutritious.
I sure hope she called the 1800# and let them know that they as a customer she did not receive 100% percent satisfaction, like all the signs in the store say. Sounds like an "associate" needs to be better educated on sales. Not only did he loose the sale, he also mared the company name, and the manager of the store probably needs some education on standing up for the customer. What is the first rule in sales???? The customer is ALWAYS right. The deck.d rule is, the customer is always right.
Except on gun sales. Company policy is once an associate refuses the sale, they cannot be overruled on a gun sale. That's for the protection of the customer's and the company. But you are right, the situation should have been handled better.
If I had a $1 for every pink firearm that I have been peddled I would possibly be able to buy the Wilson Combat that I dream of. Plus I've owned a Mossburg 930 SPX. My thoughts. Take your $ elsewhere, there are many great FFL dealers in this country that do not belong to multi-billion dollar corporations.
I just want to thank everyone for their conduct on this site. I unfortunately got into an "unreasonable" discussion with a person on another site about this subject. Its my fault for stooping to their level. However here at Gunway the discussion was polite, intelligent, and fun. Thanks guys.
^^ Which is one reason I love this site. Thanks for the great conversation everyone.