What does it take for the New York Times to do a positive profile on gun stores? Opposition to the ATF's proposed rules allowing handguns to be transferred through the mail and for "Non-Over-the-Counter" sales to be expanded to all firearms, apparently.
Gun shops, which are normally ignored by the Times unless they're reporting on "bad apple" dealers who are breaking the law, are the subject of a new story that paints the small shops as the David to online Goliaths like Grab-a-Gun, which has become a new villain for the left because Donald Trump Jr. has about a 1.1 percent stake in the company.
For mom-and-pop shops, the Trump administration’s push to loosen firearms restrictions is welcome in nearly all respects but one: allowing guns to be sold entirely online.
Two proposals paving the way for the move have exposed unlikely fault lines, as independently owned brick-and-mortar stores urge the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which sets federal gun regulations, to rethink the plan. They warn that together, the changes — letting guns be shipped directly to buyers and allowing for remote background checks — would compromise their livelihoods by favoring big retailers, and come at the expense of public safety.
“At best, this is a wealth transfer to large corporations,” Colin Overbey, the manager of a small business in Ormond Beach, Fla., that sells guns, wrote during the public comment period for the rule changes. “At worst it is just asking for problems that presently don’t exist.”
... Mr. Overbey, like other small firearms dealers interviewed for this article, expressed worry that letting businesses conduct background checks by video would make it harder to spot red flags. There is a “safety concern of someone either trying to buy for someone else or someone that’s buying for themselves that really shouldn’t have a gun,” Mr. Overbey added.
I've written about my own concerns that the new rules could have a negative impact on smaller, independent gun stores, but I think that's the argument that Overbey and others should be making instead of adopting the talking points of the gun control lobby.
You can read the proposed rule for yourself here, but the short version is that ATF is proposing a multi-layered identity verification system that relies on the same protocol that agencies like National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Small Business Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service are already using. In addition to that identify verification, all NOTC buyers would also have to do a video conference call with the FFL selling the firearm for an additional identity check.
As I've said before, I think most straw buyers are going to continue to try to purchase their guns in person, because it's a much easier and simpler process than going through the online system. And someone who's buying for themselves who "really shouldn't have a gun" are almost certainly going to buy in person rather than go through all the extra steps of purchasing a gun online and having it shipped to their home.
It's also worth noting that even without non-over-the-counter sales we have people making straw purchases and buying guns only to use them for self-harm almost immediately. It's not like in-person sales have completely eradicated these issues, and there's no reason to believe that allowing online sales will exacerbate them.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation disagrees. The industry trade group submitted comments opposing the proposed rule, which is at odds with the gun control lobby's accusations that ATF is doing the industry's bidding at the expense of public safety.
Lawrence G. Keane, the group’s senior vice president, said in an interview that based on more than 1,000 responses to a survey circulated to members in July, the foundation was “overwhelmingly opposed” to the shift.
“This issue of brick and mortar not liking the internet is not a new thing — it goes back many, many years, and it divides segments of the industry,” Mr. Keane said. “But from N.S.S.F.’s point of view, we thought what was important was to point out public safety potential consequences by not having in-person transactions.”
Most of the industry comments in opposition to the proposed rule, though, weren't based on public safety concerns. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, the biggest issue raised by FFLs was market consolidation.
I think that is a legitimate concern, and I'm sure that if online retailers could ship directly to consumers many independent gun stores would take a hit. But Amazon hasn't killed off brick-and-mortar retail, and I don't think allowing NOTC sales of firearms will kill off mom-and-pop gun shops either.
Look at what's going on with booksellers. A couple of decades ago big chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders were supposed to be killing off independent shops, and those that survived were sure to be wiped out by Amazon and the rise of e-readers. As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported last year, though, independent book stores are on the rise, with about a 70 percent increase since 2020.
To drive business, bookstores are leaning into a local indie vibe, cultivating social media and tech to build community around physical books, and working to find new, creative ways to personalize and customize the book-buying experience for consumers.
Print sales inched up in 2024 after two years of declines, with unit sales of print books rising by around 1% in 2024 over 2023 to 782.7 million, the first annual increase in three years at outlets that report to Circana BookScan, according to Publisher’s Weekly.
To get customers in to browse, today’s bookstores are laser-focused on cultivating an indie vibe: a cozy atmosphere, connection to the community, and forging a local-hub feel. These types of welcoming places outside work and home are in high demand from consumers post-pandemic, said Lafontaine, and bookstores are a low-cost option.
If the ATF's proposed rule goes into effect independent gun shops may have to rethink how they do business, but many of the same factors that draw customers to indie book shops can apply to indie gun stores too.
I doubt the opposition from gun control groups will cause the ATF to rescind its proposed rule, but the pushback from NSSF and independent FFLs is another story. Now that the public comment period is closed the agency will go through all of the comments that have been submitted before deciding on issuing a final rule or keeping the status quo in place. If the agency does adopt a final rule, it could be modified from what was proposed, but I don't think there are any changes that would satisfy the concerns of those FFLs who believe non-over-the-counter sales and shipping firearms directly to consumers will put them out of business.
