Wednesday, December 22, 2010

We're Number Three!

Some of you outside Indy may have heard of Don's Guns:



Don is a former bodyguard for Jimmy Hoffa who may have been one of the last people to see Hoffa alive.

He runs an extremely shady gun shop in Indy that, to nobody's surprise, has yet again made it into the top five list for guns traced back from crime scenes. Whenever local media sources need an anti-gun soundbite, they know to go to Don, who will be happy to get on camera and loudly abhor "assault weapons" or whatever this week's shibboleth happens to be. Then he goes back to his store and sells cheap zinc pistols by the bucketload to whichever straw purchaser comes through the front door and passes a background check.

Instead of putting Mobbed-Up Don under the microscope, however, the BATFEIEIO is busy elsewhere, making sure that law-abiding dealers have crossed every "T" and dotted every "I". Maybe they're hoping that if they leave him alone, Don will eventually tell them where to dig and they can scoop the FBI?

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Whenever local media sources need an anti-gun soundbite, they know to go to Don, who will be happy to get on camera and loudly abhor "assault weapons" or whatever this week's shibboleth happens to be."

That's kind of weird for someone who rents Deagles for $10

Tam said...

He doesn't want to make money, he just loves to sell guns!

Frank W. James said...

Yeah, but he sure hates gunshows. He slams 'em every chance a microphone is put in his face or he bends the ear of some newsprint scribe.

He IS the very definition of an "...asshat..."

And to think I had to sit next to this idiot while flying to a Shot Show many years ago. Self-serving P.O.S...

All The Best,
Frank W. James

Anonymous said...

"The fact is that 1 percent of the gun dealers sell 57 percent of the crime guns."

I'd bet that 1 percent of the dealers sell 60 prcent of the firearms in this country. How many gun traces show Josh Sugarman as the orignal seller?

Joat

Joanna said...

All I want to know is, who on earth rents a gun, and why? If you kill someone, do you not get your deposit back? So many questions ...

ViolentIndifference said...

BATFEIEIO LOL!

WV: knves The i is silent.

genedunn said...

I don't think I would proudly include "bodyguard to Jimmy Hoffa" on my CV. Kind of like "captain of the Titanic" or "head of marketing for New Coke".

Sigivald said...

The crack about "cheap zinc pistols" seems a bit misplaced.

Are people who can't afford a Smith supposed to just go unarmed?

Cheap zinc pistols are better than being unarmed, after all.

The problem here would be the whole "straw purchaser" thing, not the cost of the guns in question, no?

The person, not the tool.

(And, heck, I loved my old Jennings J-22!)

Anonymous said...

Well, of course they sell lots of crime guns; they're in a bad neighborhood. It's like the rap they put on Atlantic Gun and Tackle in Bedford Hts OH: end of the bus line outside a virtually-gunshop-free city (Cleveland). So of course they sold to dubious folks. So when they close up the skanky gun store and the skanky business goes somewhere else, will you close them up too? Where does that progression end? Right about where Josh Sugarman wants it to.

Tam said...

Sigivald,

"The crack about "cheap zinc pistols" seems a bit misplaced."

Did I say they should be banned?

Douglas Hester said...

The video's pretty grainy, but it sure does appear that his booger hook is right on that trigger the entire time. No thanks to shooting on his range.

Former bodyguard for one of the most famous missing people in America. Heh.

Keads said...

Ha! Got you beat Tam, we are number two! http://www.foxcharlotte.com/news/nc-news/Gun-Shop-Owner-Fires-Back-After-What-He-Calls-Misleading-Report-111830594.html

I have to side with Larry on this one. He's a great guy and sponsored our "Shots for Tots" charity event. He runs things 100% above board.

Cybrludite said...

They busted our local version for ordering guns for the general stock on Law Enforcement letterheads so they could pocket the LEO discount. This lead F-Troop to find out about their blatant strawman sales.

Robert Langham said...

We don't have people this crazy in Texas.

Anonymous said...

I get it, I've been in many shitty ass pawn shops around here where the owner gives me the "wtf is a clean cut white 19 year old doing here" look...I just think it's odd that a guy who bets his likelyhood in gun sales would frown on free gun ownership. Maybe he's got somethin on the side...

The Freeholder said...

Am I the only person who finds that commercial seriously creepy?

And get your finger off the trigger, genius!

Caleb said...

There are gunshops that are in shady neighborhoods, and then there are gunshops that have shady business practices. Don's is the latter. There have been numerous tales about "lost" NICS checks, employees have had NDs with rifles in the store, and many, many other fun things.

I went to Don's 1 TIME the 6 years I lived in Indy, and I regretted it. It's the kind of shop that gives legit, honest shops a bad name. It doesn't help that Don has gone on record as saying that gun shows, assault weapons, and most ironically "Saturday Night Specials" should be banned.

Justthisguy said...

Cybr, I am not the least bit surprised. I know that New Orleans criminals tend to be cheerful and easygoing, and will shoot you while smiling, but good God, man, can't you get out of there?

Robert said...

"All I want to know is, who on earth rents a gun, and why? If you kill someone, do you not get your deposit back? So many questions ..."

Generally to get a feel for the gun and shoot it some before you buy a like model. AFAIK, almost every gun store that rents guns has an attached gun range, where the rented guns are used. I've never heard of one that allows the rented gun off the premises.

Anonymous said...

Zinc guns vs. a nice used Smith?

"...if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one..." -JC

Poor people shouldn't be denied effective weapons, but a used S&W is like a sword. A Zinc special is like a wooden club. Sell your cloak and get the sword...

That being said, Don is a major D-Bag. Can he just be boycotted or something. Seriously, he is the worst, and certainly isn't doing our cause any good.

Will said...

Around twenty years ago, there was a woman who specialized in pocket gun caliber handguns who worked the western gunshows. She and her partner (he dealt in the bigger guns) had a store in AZ. She decided to make her money in volume of sales, instead of the normal pricing practices. Her regular complaint was writers cramp. Ultimately, all those handwritten forms put her out of business, as I was told that the batboys used the accumulated normal data errors to shut her down. Turns out she was the LARGEST VOLUME gun dealer west of the Mississippi River. Her prices were so good, other dealers at the shows were buying from her. When you sell that many guns (hundreds per day), you tend to attract some official attention. I suspect that some of CA's gunshow sale regulations were in response to her business.

Rob K said...

I remember seeing that SOB on the news years ago saying that as long as "assault weapons" were legal, he didn't have any choice about selling them, that he had to sell them, but OH! how horrible they were. What a POS.

I've been in his shop once. It was like the trailer shops at the county fair - trinkets and trash.

Anonymous said...

One ray of hope...
When I moved to Indy about 20 years ago (ouch), Don had 3 stores. Now, there is only 1. Hopefully, its days are numbered.
Mycroft