gary reeder
i can't remember the exact figures but these are close. In
Sunday, November 17, 2019, 18:26

1995 there were 207,000 gun shops (FFLs) in the U.s. In 2015 there were 35,000, and there are even less today.And it is all because so many folks are buying guns and gun accessories plus ammo on the internet. What happens when your gun breaks? If people have run put all the gun shops out of business due to buying everything on line, there will be nobody to work on your gun or help you decide on a gun for your kids or help you with a myriad of other gun related things. .

We have 11 safes in our 3 shops (one gun shop and 2 machine shops) and 2 of them are full of customer's guns that have problems. As far as I know we are the only gun shop within a hundred miles that works on guns that are broken or need help of some kind. And this type situation is happening all across the country. People are so greedy they will buy online to save a buck.

And i am a bit hypocritical too as I buy on line. But the things I buy on line are things I can't get in our shop, like used handgun scopes, special oddities that aren't readily available from my distributors and such. I bought 5 O/U shotguns in the last couple of years in 28 gauge but they were used guns like an original Ruger Red label in 28 and such.

I hate Cabelas, and Sportsman's Warehouse and such but I would much rather see someone buy from them than from a place like Amazon, or E-bay or even Walmart.

It's all about survival and the Mom & Pop gun shops are going the way of the dodo bird. And that is a damn shame.