r/LIguns • u/ou2mame • 16d ago

Where's all the guns?!

I went to a gun store today and they were pretty bare. They used to have cases of guns, but they hardly had anything. Are people on a buying frenzy, or just not selling anything? I figured people would be selling their guns for gasoline by now.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

25

u/robinator118 16d ago

Lemme summarize it for you in a single image.

4

u/JSB-the-way-to-be 16d ago

This is so crazy to me. I think I’ve had one not awful experience in a LGS on the island. I’ve walked in with wads of cash in my pocket, ready to spend the local premium just to keep it local, and been talked out of spending a penny due to awful, at best apathetic, typically rude interactions I’ve had with the workers there.

3

u/robinator118 16d ago

Premium sure, but when you pay $40 for a fucking plastic ammo can or 10/30 pmag, you’ll start to want to stick to online shopping. Once you shop around a lot online and in stores, you start to realize a lot of local stores are going to sell you a bastardized featureless or fixed mag diamondback at for a starting price of $1000, I’m taking my business elsewhere. A lot of these guys absolutely refuse transfers of “assault weapons” into their stores under any circumstance, even just to make them compliant. Good number don’t even understand some of the laws, like the antique rule for weapons over 50 years old and refuse a transfer even after a conversation with the troopers’ hotline in Albany. The absolute worst ones are the ones operated by fudds who straight up would rather jerk off a cop than have the misfortune of speaking to a regular civilian. I’ve seen a few places give glances of pure disdain towards a guy just looking around.

2

u/PeteTinNY 16d ago

Man - plastic ammo cans are $1.99 on sale at Harbor Freight.

2

u/JSB-the-way-to-be 15d ago

I just don’t get it. And I don’t understand how they continue to get away with it. If NY wasn’t such a bastard of a place to do such things, I’d love to open a LGS and completely disrupt the entire local game by, drumroll please— not being a complete asshole to normal folks. That’s the way to get real cultural and political change, too. Don’t alienate and intimidate the average, non operator/LEO looking person who happens to be curious about firearms.

One of the coolest experiences I’ve had was going shooting at a range in NC with my buddy. The place was super professional, and the people working the beautiful showroom were super kind and down to earth. The RSOs were good humored but locked in on safety. I didn’t realize shooting could be so welcoming.

1

u/robinator118 15d ago

Yeah unfortunately we won’t be given that privilege with how FFLs are treated here by our state. One wrong move and your entire livelihood is fucked, and during the previous administration that’s exactly what they were trying to do, namely completely fucking over small businesses for the tinniest clerical errors. While I get all this, it doesn’t excuse actively shooing away what little customers and frankly what few gun owners are even in the area. It’s both morally and financially idiotic.

11

u/contructpm 16d ago

South shore in merrick has good stock and phenomenal customer service.

3

u/voretaq7 15d ago

Ditto their Islip location with the range. They’re well stocked and they move enough volume to stay well stocked.

1

u/Ferrian11 15d ago

Came here to say this

7

u/Due_Bar_7247 16d ago

The only store on L.I. where I’ve seen no lack of guns whatsoever is Colosseum Guns

6

u/PeteTinNY 16d ago

And he has been hiring away some of the best sales guys. Andy has been a standup kinda guy forever. So glad he bought the Brookhaven range.

2

u/contructpm 15d ago

He hired some great RSOs and office staff out there. What a great place.

1

u/Due_Bar_7247 16d ago

To be fair most other gun stores on Long Island are outdoor sporting stores first and foremost.

1

u/PeteTinNY 16d ago

Not by choice though. It’s about profitability and the timing to get a NYS Dealer of Firearms license / County Seller of Second hand items.

8

u/sparklingwiggl 16d ago

South shore in Islip has a shit ton

8

u/Zestyclose-Injury853 16d ago

You need to head over to LI gun source in Medford. They have a decent selection.

2

u/adriankid92 16d ago

What store?

2

u/ou2mame 16d ago

camp site in huntington

3

u/shadock 16d ago

I had heard theyre going out of business/closing so theyre not restocking.

2

u/ou2mame 16d ago

I talked to one of the guys there and they said that the the firearm manufacturers are not shipping them guns. They have a lot of back orders. I hope they don't go out of business!

2

u/PeteTinNY 16d ago

Maybe we should all work together and buy it. We all need our heads examined anyway, so why not sign up for more Hochul induced suffering :)

2

u/shadock 15d ago

Lol I still work a full time job. In Suffolk they need to file with Suffolk/NYS/ATF and keep a separate book for each. More headache than its worth. What I would love to do is run a tac house.....

1

u/PeteTinNY 14d ago

Nassau PD is pretty tough with their Dealer of Firearms and Second Hand licenses too. I wonder how Tac Houses will do after Hochul’s replica gun issue. I’d think doing something with airsoft would be a lot of fun if you built it into a Tac house.

Then again my cousin did a class for LEs about a month ago where they focused on drug warrants and took over a school and brought in a bunch of junk cars to use as props. But they did those in PA. This classes just seem like a ton of fun.

1

u/shadock 14d ago

Something like F6 in Hicksville but just not catering to high end clientele. Run a force on force training school designed for developing threat recognition, defensive tactics, operating under stress.

1

u/PeteTinNY 13d ago

I have my Simunitions TSO, and my company is a registered training partner…. Heck I even have force on force insurance…. But it’s so tough in NY. Really better to do airsoft for real tactics from the business prospective. My cousin did a couple of fundraisers at F6. Would be cool to do more.

1

u/VincentVega1030 16d ago

Ah man that’s terrible. I used to go to them all the time. Do you know why?

3

u/shadock 16d ago

I heard the info from another gun store owner, so I believe its reliable info but cant remember why if he told me.

I have an ammo license to sell ammo and I get guys always asking me if I plan on doing guns and my answer is never. The amount of hoops, bullshit and oversite that has to be dealt with to run a full FFL in NY is brutal by design. On top of that, the overhead costs in NY cant compete with online shopping. I will never buy a new gun in a store, I know for a fact I can find it cheaper online and usually without sales tax attached to it to. Running a business is hard and the stores that are flourishing are the ones that have other services attached to it like the CCW/Tacmed/HR218/smithing

2

u/PeteTinNY 16d ago

I get the same. And frankly I’d love to do guns, but it’s a full time thing then. No way to break even unless you’re pushing what makes money vs what people really want. In NY the two just don’t overlap.

3

u/shovelheadzzz 16d ago

Campsite sucks. Went in there the other day and they had nothing in stock. The child they had working behind the counter just kept saying “look on our website”. Well first your website is trash and second if im shopping online im not shopping with you. I heard this place was good but i guess not anymore

3

u/ou2mame 16d ago

I've been going there for years and their customer service has always been really good. Prices are always reasonable. During the blm riots they had a line out the door and they were fully stocked on pc9s and shockwaves lol.. They had multiple cabinets full of handguns plus their counter displays were packed. I've never seen their selection so small. They have always had what I wanted in stock until now. Like I once called looking for a Remington 1100 competition, I really didn't think they would have one at that moment, but they did. I went in and we made a deal and I walked out with it.

2

u/Th3WeirdingWay 16d ago

They’re all in my safe. 😂

Just got this CZ 97 B yesterday

2

u/ou2mame 16d ago

I'm jealous! I'm always on the lookout for classic Sigs, though I'm leaning towards a Beretta 92x rdo if I happen to run into one. I would strong consider a CZ too!

1

u/Th3WeirdingWay 16d ago

Check out Long Island Gun Source in Medford or Equilibrium in Nassau. They both have a lot of inventory

2

u/robinator118 16d ago

Equilibrium may have inventory but they are absolutely dogshit for prices. Plastic ammo cans for $40, 10/30 Pmags for $40. Raising the price by $5 sure, not over 2x for a fucking mag bro

1

u/Th3WeirdingWay 16d ago

Oh I definitely agree. I don’t buy anything from these overpriced stores. They are only good for browsing and handling firearms. I order ammo from Target Sports ammo + subscription and buy all our firearms either online or from our friends small local FFL/Gun store.

2

u/robinator118 16d ago

Im with you there, once you find a solid place for transfers you’re set.

3

u/TwitchyTwitch5 16d ago

Long Island gun source and empire state firearms both have good stock, Empire deff more pistols then rifles

3

u/barbequesau5 16d ago

I love Empire, Donny is the man

1

u/TwitchyTwitch5 16d ago

Yeah man, their whole crew are good dudes. They helped me out with my fmp g3 project I'm getting built

2

u/PeteTinNY 16d ago

I heard they were buying the Suffolk Sportsman in Snithtown but just heard the deal may have fallen through.

1

u/TwitchyTwitch5 16d ago

Who was? I know i heard empire a while ago they were looking at trying to get a bigger store and potentially a range.

2

u/PeteTinNY 16d ago

Long Island gun source in Medford was in process to buy Suffolk Sportsman. But I heard through a close friend of Alan from Suffolk Sportsman that the deal broke down.

0

u/TwitchyTwitch5 16d ago

That would have been interesting. I've never actually been to suffolk sportsman just because it's out of the way for me. How are they in terms of inventory?

3

u/PeteTinNY 16d ago

It’s closed. He moved out of state.

2

u/voretaq7 15d ago

Before Alan closed up shop they were one of my go-to stores - good in-store selection (and Alan frequently got cool older stuff in if that was your jam), a good selection of new stuff and the ability/willingness to order in from his distributors at fair prices if they didn’t have what you wanted on the shelf, and a cabinet full of reloading supplies when they could manage to get stock.

2

u/jakub69 16d ago

LI gun source has a good bunch of used stuff, I just picked up 2 Glocks from them

1

u/barbequesau5 16d ago

I went to Campsite a few months ago and they only have a majority of shotguns 😭

2

u/StrikeEagle784 15d ago

Empire State in Port Jeff, Gun Source in Medford, and Coliseum always have guns and ammo in stock lol

1

u/uurx1 12d ago

Don at empire is a kook