Another One Bites the Dust

[St. Olaf]

Just learned that Hart Brothers in Albert Lea lost their license.

Very sad.......that business was an icon.

[george]

Can you PM me any information you have heard? I know the G men showed the same time at Froyum Sports to and they gave up
there FFL rather than fight the bogus charges, after 30 yrs. in business, but I thought Hart fought them and won the thing.
They won't need any new laws if they close all the shops over time.

[Tronster]

Can you let us know why they lost their license? And I hadn't heard about Froyum Sports either. What is the ATF doing to these gun shops?

[St. Olaf]

Hart said it was just mistakes, nothing intentional.

He fought them part of the way and figures the legal bills have gotten too high so he's giving it up.

He's 59 years old. He will continue to sell gun services and parts and expand into archery a bit, I think they said he could continue to sell ammo.

ATF has its crosshairs on all the FFL dealers and they have made things so complicated that they can usually find some excuse to shut people down.

Hart will have about a year and a half to sell off his inventory of guns.

Very, very sad thing. I made many trips there. A great gun shop.

[870TC]

Article in the Albert Lea Tribune today, also online. Also on KSTP and MPR.

[originalredbeard]

Can't make the link work but here is the address of an article in tonights Austin paper about Harts

<http://www.austindailyherald.com/2013/02/27/hart-bros-to-stop-selling-firearms/#>

A good shop, great service, just plain good folks.

[ttousi]

Can't make the link work but here is the address of an article in tonights Austin paper about Harts

<http://www.austindailyherald.com/2013/02/27/hart-bros-to-stop-selling-firearms/#>

A good shop, great service, just plain good folks.

here

http://www.austindailyherald.com/2013/0 ... -firearms/

[2in2out]

I was going to post this, and you beat me to it.

Been to Hart Bros many times. From my point of view, they were/are a great dealer whose primary focus was on the customer.

[hornswaggle]

That sucks. I hadn't heard about Froyum either. I've bought from both and wish them the best.

[St. Olaf]

One of the gun-grabbers best weapons is to simply shut down the REAL gun shops where people gather and talk guns and socialize and share information.

Hart Brothers was one of those. It was not just a place that sold guns......it was a comfortable public place to hang out for a while. A place of comradery where you could pull up a chair and tell a few hunting stories. It encouraged the gun culture.

I'm sure it had to be a primary target of the anti-gun crowd just for that reason.

[xd ED]

One of the gun-grabbers best weapons is to simply shut down the REAL gun shops where people gather and talk guns and socialize and share information.

Hart Brothers was one of those. It was not just a place that sold guns......it was a comfortable public place to hang out for a while. A place of comradery where you could pull up a chair and tell a few hunting stories. It encouraged the gun culture.

I'm sure it had to be a primary target of the anti-gun crowd just for that reason.

I wasn't familiar with the shop, so it was a bit of a surprize to read this in the newspaper story:

Hart Bros. Weaponry is the highest volume independent dealer in Minnesota, a fact Milan Hart said the ATF told him. Hart Bros. sells 5,000 to 7,000 guns a year and has been in business since 1977

....probably the main reason they got looked at by the aft.

[20mm]

Good riddance to them. Nobody needs an FFL dealer who can't follow the law or keep proper records like they're supposed to.

[xd ED]

Good riddance to them. Nobody needs an FFL dealer who can't follow the law or keep proper records like they're supposed to.

You have some insights as to what happened?

The only thing that seems to have been established at this point is the shop couldn't match lawyer bills with .gov.
At worst procedural issues that don't sound anything like criminal activities.

Perhaps we should apply your standards to the atf/ justice dept/ white house....

[weck]

Local news said it was incorrect paperwork over the years. Some forms didn't match up with information the ATF had. was more of a blurb on the news than anything.

I have mixed feelings about them. On one hand, it is nice to go and look at the stuff. on the other hand, they seem to be a tad overpriced as they are the only business around here and I have been treated poorly there more than once. Mostly by Milan himself. The other guys that work there are good guys that actually care.

[St. Olaf]

I always made it a point to go in at a time when they wouldn't be so busy.

If you went in at their busiest times......they'd be trying to talk to six people at once and probably seemed abrupt when overwhelmed.

I found them to be nice people when they actually had the time to talk.