Gun Shops Face Unique Challenges During These Times

Just over a week has passed since the unjust killing of George Floyd that has sparked both peaceful protests in some areas, and not so peaceful protests in other areas. I'm sure I don't have to tell you much about that since the news of these peaceful protests and the other events, which I call riots, are all over the news.

However, something some of us may not have thought about in this age of looting are gun stores, their employees, and the goods they sell. Gun shops, just recently declared essential businesses across the country, now face a unique problem.

If the goods they sell are looted from the shelves, they can be used in crime and to hurt other people. We know from videos that certain looters are willing to steal firearms from police cruisers and potentially use them.

We therefore have to assume that they'd also steal from a gun shop and use those guns, as well.

The following video shows a looter with a stolen police AR-15 being disarmed:

In that video, you can see a Marine veteran disarming someone who looted an AR-15 from a police car. CoffeeorDie.com reported on that story and interviewed the Marine who said that it was the second AR he grabbed from a looter, and the first person he took the AR-15 from actually fired shots into the police cruiser he got it from.

Read that story, here.

The looting is happening and it poses a real problem for gun shops and others who sell guns.

For example Walmart, who recently announced that they'd stop selling certain guns and ammunition, has moved guns and ammo off the sales floor to a more secure room (though, they're still on site) in at least some stores they've deemed to be higher risk.

Smaller shops have different circumstances to face. While most Walmart stores are open 24/7 or at least very late, the small, local stores are ran very different.

Your local shops are called “mom and pop” shops because they're ran by moms and pops. They're owned and operated by local small business owners and have to close up shop each day to go home to their families.

Thus leaving their stores unattended during the most volatile of times — night.

Many gun shop owners are resorting to sleeping in the store to protect it or move their entire selection, or at least most of it, to another location.

A friend of mine is an owner operator at a gun shop up in Pennsylvania and always sleeps in his store during periods of unrest or natural disaster. He makes it a point never to leave it unattended whenever something like this is going on, and I suspect other gun stores are doing similar.

This is, of course, in addition to the regular security measures already in place such as a high-tech alarm system, security cameras, bars on all doors and windows, and massive gun safes locked up in a room that can itself be considered a gun safe.

While that may seem excessive to some people, he's got his life savings into that store and I'm sure the last thing he needs is for someone to take it all away from him and use one of his guns in a crime to hurt others.

That is the primary dilemma he and other gun shop owners around the country are now facing.

When this whole thing is over, and I'm including the pandemic too, I sincerely hope you support your local gun stores and other local businesses.

Leave your thoughts on this in the comments below.