Boycott Joe's

[Stradawhovious]

Maybe I am missing something in the article. Why are you boycotting Joe's? Because they reserve the right to ask questions if something doesn't seem right?

You're not the only one missing something. So being asked a couple of questions is a reason for a company to be boycotted? Makes me wonder what would be the recourse if they (Joe's) decided to limit the amount of ammo purchased at a crack.

I look at it this way, there's a lot more and better things to get panties in a bunch about.

You mean like just about everyone did 3 1/2 years ago?

To be fair, in most cases that seemed to be due to an issue with availability, not as a result of a corporate sense of responsibility to public safety.

[xd ED]

Nevermind Joe's..... Boycott the Star Tribune.

ETA. Beat me to it PileDriver.

Yep, the composition of the article's photo and captioning would create a knee-jerk reaction. This is basically a 'news' article informing the reader that gun shops sell lots of ammo.

[Seismic Sam]

Plus Maya Rao is an ignorant idiot, judging from the header on her expose article:

That was the reaction to a request for 10,000 bullets at gun stores spanning Richfield to Robbinsdale. Gee, I wonder how many "clips" you need to hold 10,000 bullets??? Real answer: for 10,000 rounds, you'd need 588 17 round mags. And just the ammo is going to weigh around 275 pounds. Oh, and to shoot 10,000 rounds at the rate of one round every other second, it's going to take you 5 1/2 hours to use that stuff up. Plus you need 10,000 people to shoot at all in a small area. Your best bet would be the Minnesota Twins Stadium on a day when the score was 10-0 against the Twins by the 5th inning, and you MIGHT find that many fans hollering to be shot rather than suffer through the rest of the game....

Best bet is to point out to dear little Maya about the difference between a bullet and a round of ammo, and some of the other numbers.

[river_boater]

"If it's somebody that you've never seen before, not a regular customer, and it just doesn't seem right or smell right ... we definitely would ask questions," he said.

This line from the article is why we are going to.boycott Joe's?

Well, it's why I am not going to shop there any more. It's more than just a "line" from an article. It's a quote from the owner indicating that if you buy more ammunition than what he or his employees think is appropriate, they're going to "ask questions."

I suppose that could mean simply asking questions, or calling police while you're in the store. Who knows? Whatever it means, I don't want any part of it.

Do you want to be questioned next time you buy more beer than someone thinks is appropriate? Or food?

[xd ED]

Seems like you're getting a bit off target with your grievance. I suspect Joe's may be the oldest indy sporting goods shop in the TC. Certainly the oldest I can recall. For nearly 50 yrs it's been guns, minnows, and skis that I recall. If the strib took a quote out of context, it wouldn't be a real big surprise to most.

[Squib Joe]

Jim's response to the Strib reporter can't be looked at in context without knowing exactly what question(s) he was asked by the reporter.

Examples:

"Do you think you have the right to restrict ammo sales?"

"Do you restrict the amount of ammo you sell to your customers?"

"Would you sell a large amount of ammo to just about anyone, no questions asked?"

"If somebody was acting strangely in your store or making threats, would you still sell them large amounts of ammo?"

"If somebody showed signs of being mentally ill or intoxicated, would you still sell them large amounts of ammo?"

"A customer says he needs large amounts of ammo to ship to his "friends" in Afghanistan, would you still sell it to him?"

[Stradawhovious]

Well, it's why I am not going to shop there any more. It's more than just a "line" from an article. It's a quote from the owner indicating that if you buy more ammunition than what he or his employees think is appropriate, they're going to "ask questions."

I suppose that could mean simply asking questions, or calling police while you're in the store. Who knows? Whatever it means, I don't want any part of it.

Do you want to be questioned next time you buy more beer than someone thinks is appropriate? Or food?

I think you're reading much too far into this, and falling victim to the Article's intent to criminalize firearms, and taking quotes out of context/asking leading questions.

Let me ask this..... you think that a business should sell firearms to someone who they think is shady too?

How about this. What if a person walks into a store with his buddy, asks to see a gun, hold it up and says "Those asshat neighbors of ours will think twice about calling animal control on our dog when I'm waving this at them....."

Should the clerk, after overhearing this, still sell him the firearm even if the client passes a Nics check? I sure wouldn't.

Better yet..... A customer walks into Joe's, and asks for a case of ammunition. Upon the clerk bringing the case out, the customer says "Yeah... I need a lot of ammo. there are a bunch of people at my workplace that need to get taught a lesson". Should the clerk still sell the ammo? Once again.... I sure wouldn't.

If I owned a sporting goods store, and someone who was acting shady, or showing violent intnet wanted to buy guns or ammo I would show them the door, and might even call the cops. If it takes a question or two to set this issue straight in my mind.... You'd better believe I'd ask them.

To address your point on beer/booze..... If someone walked into a liquor store, and proclaims.... "I'm buying two cases of beer, going to pound them all then I'm going driving backwards in a school zone! Wheeeeee HAAAA!!~!!!!!!" should the clerk still serve them?

[Seismic Sam]

Already sent:

Dear Maya:


You fit the profile of a typical Strib writer as someone who can't even use the proper words in writing an article when you use the phrase "10,000 bullets" in the header of your article. A bullet is a chunk of lead, completely inert, and if you put one all by itself in a gun, it will just sit there no matter how many times you pull the trigger. The correct term is ammo or ammunition, which you get right some of the time. As far as people buying this much ammo, the purchase of 10,000 rounds is fairly common among competitive shooters in a league who may go through 500 - 1000 rounds a week in practice and actual match shooting, so a purchase of this this size by one or two nutjobs is not going to stick out at all. And in reality, with most of the mass shootings that I can think of, the maximum number of rounds fired was several hundred at most, and less than a single box of ammo in the current tragedy. The only reason for the existence of your article is that one previous nutjob bought 6,000 rounds of ammo, which in your mind constitutes a verified statistical trend that is worth writing about. Gee, does the behavior of two homicidal criminals of any racial minority also constitute a trend that should be written about, with the suggestion that this minority be subjected to additional scrutiny? So what makes one "trend" newsworthy, and the other completely unprintable?? Please, send me a reply and explain this dichotomy to me.

If this is a typical example of your journalism, perhaps you would fit in better across town in the Minor Leagues writing for the St. Paul Gas and Minor Distress.

Sincerely,

[Dakotared]

[sgruenhagen44]

I love Joe's. I don't buy ammo there but I buy all my fishing stuff there. Great customer service there. I burned up two musky reels in two months and they replaced both of them because it seemed a little to soon to me. No complaints. They are not stingy about bait either. I usually get an extra 1/2 dozen suckers every time. You need to read the article again. He said they would sell somebody as much ammo as they want. If I ran a store that sold ammo and guns and I felt like you were a nut job I wouldn't sell it to you either! This is 'MMerica!

[unit44justin]

"If it's somebody that you've never seen before, not a regular customer, and it just doesn't seem right or smell right ... we definitely would ask questions," he said.

This line from the article is why we are going to.boycott Joe's?

Well, it's why I am not going to shop there any more. It's more than just a "line" from an article. It's a quote from the owner indicating that if you buy more ammunition than what he or his employees think is appropriate, they're going to "ask questions."

I suppose that could mean simply asking questions, or calling police while you're in the store. Who knows? Whatever it means, I don't want any part of it.

Do you want to be questioned next time you buy more beer than someone thinks is appropriate? Or food?

What about the line that says "At Joe's Sporting Goods in Little Canada, owner Jim Rauscher said purchases of 10,000 rounds are not uncommon." You are reading way to far into this article. If something is fishy to the sales associate and they want to ask questions then so be it, they are only covering their end. You act as though they are going to kidnap you to their secret water boarding dungeon in the basement of the store to get all the answers.

When I worked at Fleet Farm in Lakeville through high school, a fellow classmate died in a solo car crash because she was drunk. It was found out that she was binge drinking at a party using a beer bong. Fleet Farm was criticized in part because the beer bong supplies were purchased there. Now when teenage kids go through the checkout like with a funnel and tubing they get questioned and most likely denied the sale.

When I was working at a liquor store the past few years before I got my new job, I denied sales to multiple people for numerous reasons. Reasons such as they appeared to be too intoxicated. I had the responsibility to deny the sale because If something were to happen after I sold them the liquor I would have been fired and even possibly held liable for selling to them. It's the same as over serving. I have also denied sales to people who were in their early 20's and had people in their vehicle that looked as though they bordered on legal age. I simply asked the buyer that I needed to see the ID's of everyone in the car; the majority of the time they would say sure no problem and then they would walk out to their car and leave because they had people not of age in their car. I wasn't illegal for me to sell to the buyer, because their friends never entered the store, I just didn't feel comfortable doing so. If they wanted to have a party with their underage friends, great have at it, but it wasn't happening with my involvement.

[MasonK]

Buying bulk is always cheaper. If I have a friend or ten going shooting, buying 10,000 rounds to get a better deal and splitting it makes economic sense than each buying 1,000 rounds.

I'm guessing that many bulk purchases are split between multiple shooters.

Also, watch the language of the article. "packaging for thousands of rounds" implies there were crates of live ammunition. The report never said that. The "packaging" may have been empty ammo cans unless I misread the sentence.

[Snakeman721]

Buying bulk is always cheaper. If I have a friend or ten going shooting, buying 10,000 rounds to get a better deal and splitting it makes economic sense than each buying 1,000 rounds.

I'm guessing that many bulk purchases are split between multiple shooters.

Also, watch the language of the article. "packaging for thousands of rounds" implies there were crates of live ammunition. The report never said that. The "packaging" may have been empty ammo cans unless I misread the sentence.

Ahhh, you said it before me. The police said PACKAGING for 10,000 rounds of ammo, NOT 10,000 live rounds. The shooter may have bought several boxes at a time over the 2 year span since he acquired the pistols and never threw out the packaging? Plus, where's the ammo that goes to the packaging? The police never did say that they found live rounds....just packaging. Shot it all up at the range???

[TechnicalNachos]

I know I have a ton of the plastic trays under my workbench, as I know I'll either start reloading or someone will need them. Packaging could mean all sorts of things.

[PhilaBOR]

More like boycott the Star Tribune.

+2

Already canceled my subscription last year because of crap like this. Straight-up liberal bias hit piece. As if banning any quantity of ammo would stop mass murders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Land_Fire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_the_Angels_School_fire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Kashgar_attacks

I love the way they disabled comments because they knew there would be plenty of factual rebuttals that disturb their narrative.