The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: jpr9954 on April 15, 2008, 07:55:41 AM
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Anti-gun crusader Bloomberg salutes Wal-Mart on new tough sales policy
BY ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Tuesday, April 15th 2008, 4:00 AM
WASHINGTON - Mayor Bloomberg's national anti-gun campaign won a big victory at Wal-Mart on Monday - and inserted itself into the presidential race with a new TV ad.
Surrounded by Republican and Democratic mayors from dozens of cities, Bloomberg announced that Wal-Mart, the country's biggest gun seller, will put tight new controls on firearms sales - including videotaping every purchase - to keep them out of the hands of criminals.
"This partnership has the potential to set a new standard for gun dealers across the country," Bloomberg said. "We want customers and police officers to ask, does this dealer follow the Wal-Mart standard? And if not, why not?"
He also unveiled an ad that compiles old clips of Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain calling for an end to the loophole in federal law that allows firearms sales at gun shows without a background check.
Bloomberg has not endorsed a candidate, but spoke out regularly on guns and other national issues when he was mulling a run for President.
"There's been a great deal of discussion among those who are seeking the White House about 3 a.m. phone calls," the mayor said. "When a police officer is gunned down in the line of duty, it is the mayor who gets the 3 a.m. phone call."
The political arm of Mayors Against Illegal Guns is spending more than $100,000 - funded largely by Bloomberg himself - to air theads in the three candidates' homestates, as well as in the presidential battleground markets like Pennsylvania.
The Wal-Mart changes won't have much effect in New York, where the company has been unsuccessful in its attempts to open a store - but they could earn a warmer welcome from the Bloomberg administration.
"Companies that understand they have an obligation to the people that they sell to and the communities that they exist in are the kind of companies that we want in New York City," Bloomberg said, as the mayors around him burst into applause.
alisberg@nydailynews.com
With Michael Saul and Richard Sisk
Here is the Mayor's press release
http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/pr007-08.shtml
Here is the address for Walmart Stores, Inc. if you want to make your displeasure felt:
Lee Scott
President and Chief Executive Officer
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Bentonville, AR 72716-8611
You can also email them at:
http://www.walmartstores.com/contactus/feedback.aspx
Let them know how you feel and then vote with your dollars. Frankly, this may be the best thing to happen for the old fashioned, Mom & Pop gun store in a long time if enough people take their business there instead of Walmart.
John
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I just sent them an email...let's see if the NRA members, more than 4 million strong, can make a difference!
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I feel that the recent announcement of your company’s firearms policy is a violation of my civil right to privacy and is an attack on personal freedom and choice that you company was founded on. To maintain a database of firearms sales with the sole purpose of documenting whether or not a firearm purchased at one of your stores may or may not have been used in a crime leads me to believe that your company does not trust your employees or the background checks that have to be completed for an individual to purchase a firearm. The type of information you are collecting is a function and responsibility of the BATFE not an individual retailer. There is no reason for your company to be the deciding factor as to the eligibility of a purchaser to buy a firearm. Do you expect to ID and keep a file of baseball bat or kitchen knife purchasers? How about the tires on people’s cars, since more people are killed or injured in auto collisions than with firearms every year? Is a similar database and video logs being developed to stop illegal cigarette sales to minors? Again, that decision is to be made by the use of the NICS background check required by the BATFE. Additionally how is your company planning on documenting whether a firearm is used in a crime? My understanding is that any NON-Law Enforcement agency is barred from getting that type of data from BATFE according to the Tiahrt Amendment. Both the BATFE and Fraternal Order of Police agree that disclosing that type of information is a security risk to individuals and police officers that is unacceptable.
I personally like to shop at Wal-Mart but by announcing policies that are more politically motivated than based on the safety and personal freedoms of your customers makes going to shop at your store less of an option. Where I live your local store ( California MD Super Store) has already forced my to shop at other shops for ammunition and other firearms related equipment as they are either out of stock or more expensive. It is easier to drive 45 minutes to Bass Pro, Dick’s Sporting Goods, or a firearms dealer to get what I’m looking for than around the corner to your store. I am also making my opinion known to everyone I can contact.
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I e-mailed WalMart yesterday to inform them I would not be spending any more of my money with them, and why.
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Wal-Mart to film gun sales in bid to fight crime
Published on Monday, April 14, 2008.
Source: Reuters
NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, unveiled plans on Monday to film its gun sales in the United States and create a computerized log of purchases in a bid to stop guns falling into the wrong hands.
Wal-Mart, which is the largest seller of firearms in the United States, agreed a 10-point code, which also includes rigid inventory controls, with a bipartisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns led by New York's Michael Bloomberg.
The retailer said it will develop a first-of-its-kind computerized crime gun trace log that will flag purchases by customers who have previously bought guns later recovered in crimes.
"Wal-Mart currently uses a strong point of sale system," said J.P. Suarez, senior vice president and chief compliance officer of Wal-Mart. "This code is a way for us to fine-tune the things we're already doing and further strengthen our standards. We hope other retailers will join us."
The Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership is designed to strengthen the points in the gun purchasing system that criminals have exploited in the past, Wal-Mart and the Mayors Against Illegal Guns said.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 46 percent of its criminal gun trafficking investigations involved cases in which someone who is not legally allowed to purchase a firearm does so through the use of a proxy, known as a straw buyer.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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" Additionally how is your company planning on documenting whether a firearm is used in a crime? My understanding is that any NON-Law Enforcement agency is barred from getting that type of data from BATFE according to the Tiahrt Amendment."
Jnevis, when a gun is traced ,for any reason (found,abandoned,seized), the ATF tracing center contacts the FFL retailer who sold it to identify the first purchaser. Wal-Mart would just be aware a gun was traced, without knowing why, but what do they care? A trace is EVIL!!+
Mac.
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Does anyone in Bloomberg's office realize that Wal-Mart does not sell handguns? Yeah, I'm sure there are a lot of people holding up convenience stores with Remington 700s, but come on!
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Here is the reply I got to my email sent this morning:
Thank you for your message.
Dear John,
Wal-Mart understands its role as a leading, responsible retailer in the U.S. and is making strides to strengthen its already existing security processes to help combat illegal gun activity in the communities we serve. Wal-Mart has a long and proud history of offering the products hunters and outdoorsmen want and need and that will not change.
It is important to note that these procedures should not impede law-abiding citizens from purchasing firearms at our stores that sell them. These processes merely provide us, as a retailer, an additional mechanism to assist law enforcement when illegal activity occurs.
We are hopeful these enhanced processes with help from law enforcement and other retailers committing to do the same can make a positive difference in our communities.
Thank you,
Wal-Mart Customer Relations
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The Wally World's in my neck of the woods have STOPPED selling firearms, but still sell ammo.
It's a shame, ??? I bought my Winchester 1894- 1994 Anniversary 30-30 there in 95, since then, like the Subject Header Says,...
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My $.02:
As a law-abiding citizen and a long-time Wal-Mart shopper, I take the recent announcement of your company’s firearms policy as a major violation of my civil right to privacy and is an attack on personal freedom and choice that your company was founded on. Because of this unilateral decision on your part, and your having jumped into bed with that fascist Mayor Bloomberg, I can no longer spend my money at your store.
Given that I had just returned from your store, where I was unable to get 8 out 10 items I needed, this will not be so much a loss to me as I once would have thought. But I wish I had known of this decision before I went, as I would have spent the gasoline going somewhere else.
I have always enjoyed shopping at Wal-Mart - except for frustrating days like today which have become more frequent, but by announcing policies that are more politically motivated than based on the safety and personal freedoms of your customers makes shopping at your store not an option. With multiple sporting goods stores within blocks of the Wal-Mart in Fargo, I do not need your store for my purchases. I am also making my opinion known to everyone I can contact.
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Another example of how wal-mart has gone to "hell in a handbasket." I use to love wal-mart. I even worked for wal-mart. Sam Walton is probably rolling over in his grave constantly. Everything you buy there now is made in China. It use to be mostly "American Made." Corporate greed and money has overtaken what once was a good thing. The largest retailer in the world and they still can't even pay their employees accordingly. I know first hand, as I've stated, I have work for wal-mart. And it is a shame that something good has turned so bad. :(
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Since when to crimminals by guns at Wally-World? they get them frome the break ins and other crimminal enterprises.
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Since when to crimminals by guns at Wally-World? they get them frome the break ins and other crimminal enterprises.
actually not too long ago some one( dateline, 20/20, 60 mins... one of them) took undercover cameras with gang members to buy guns and ammo at walmart. They had np buying pump shot guns and lots of 7.62x39 ammo.
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actually not too long ago some one( dateline, 20/20, 60 mins... one of them) took undercover cameras with gang members to buy guns and ammo at walmart. They had np buying pump shot guns and lots of 7.62x39 ammo.
Did the clerk do a NICS check ? Were they REALLY gang members ( Networks have faked stuff in the past) Did the "Alleged gang members" have criminal records ? If not, selling them guns and ammo was perfectly legal.