"I must respectfully disagree. The areas of provenance (i.e. "not stolen") and maintenance (kitchen table "gunsmithing") are two HUGE areas where the gun shop is taking a much more substantial risk with off-the-street inventory. How many Pythons, Gold Cups, etc can YOU afford to have the police or rightful owner confiscate?"
I sold guns in two gun stores for a total of about 5 years in the 1990s in the metro Washington, DC, area.
At neither store, both relatively high volume, and one with an attached shooting range, did we ever have an incident in which a stolen gun was sold to us and later confiscated.
If a gun dealer believes a gun to be stolen, there are methods and avenues for him to puruse. If the gun store owner doesn't feel right about a purchase, he can simply say no thank you and move on.
But in no manner or way does that justify telling a gun owner a blatant lie and using that to essentially F the consumer blind. Yes, the deadly F word, and it's VERY appropriate in this context. The owner of that gunshop was attempting to F Chris blind, hoping that he didn't know enough about the guns to know what their real parity value was.
THIS is a blatant lie: "He goes on to tell me that it has limited collector appeal, and most buyers want the new lock."
He told Chris that the gun has limited collectors appeal, that is true. But the blatant lie is through omission -- the Smith 19 has relatively high user's appeal. It's a Smith & Wesson, and it's a .357 Magnum. To try to claim anything else, and then offer a paltry $120, is an insult.
The line about the new lock? I don't have anything to back that up, but I suspect that most buyers don't know a damned thing about new lock vs. no lock. Those who do know about the lock are more than likely looking for versions without the lock.
I can't positively label the comment a lie, but it is highly suspect.
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