We can think of a few places that might be worse venues for a gunfight, but not many. “A gun-store owner and his son were killed in a shootout with two customers after an argument over a $25 firearm repair fee, police told NBC station WDSU. The patrons were also taken to hospital with serious injuries following Saturday’s incident at the store near Picayune, Mississippi, which is 130 miles south of Jackson.” There aren’t a lot of gun fixes these days that will run you only $25 . . .

The customers, who are also a father and son, had visited the store to collect a firearm that had been dropped off for repair. They became irate after being told it was not ready and there would be a $25 service charge, the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office told WDSU.

Some might say fighting over a fee that small is picayne, but we couldn’t possibly comment.

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84 COMMENTS

  1. Ugh

    …of course, despite this incident, gun stores still remain one of the safest places you could possibly be. I think this is the first incident of violence I’ve ever heard at one. The robberies or attempted robberies all happened in the middle of the night, for obvious reasons.

    • This is the second I have heard of. In the 90’s 2 masked and armed crooks went into a jewelry store in California, they missed the jewelry store entrance and walked into the neighboring gun store instead. Wasn’t much of a gun fight when the employee and customers let loose.

    • There have been a few of these. When I was living in Alaska someone tried to rob a local gun store. Did not end well for the robber. Not only is it a gun store, its a gun store in a constitutional carry state.

    • This is not a particularly useful story for a site like this. Kinda plays into the hands of the antis with a couple of dipstick redneck gun owners getting into a gunfight over a trivial matter. Really not something our community should be highlighting.

      • I can’t agree more with this statement. This story leads to the stereotype of gun owners and those who carry on a daily basis. Its idiots like this who will cause us to lose our constitutional right to bear arms.

        The point is, don’t get angry and bring in the weapons.

        Of course, I want to know if the two who gunned down the owner and his son were legally able to own firearms.

        My prayers go out to the family and loved ones of the gun owner and his son.

        • The Truth About Guns has a policy of posting the good bad and the ugly about guns. Sometimes it isn’t pretty, or advances our agenda, but i appreciate the policy.

        • How do you know who gunned down who. What says the owner didnt pull first and the rest was self defense.

      • Not sure it’s bad to post something like this here. But it definitely gives ammo to the anti’s. They’ll say “See?, this is what I’m talking about. This could have been a dispute in a jewelry store and the jewelry owners would be dead. So we do need to keep guns ‘off the streets’.”

      • Yeah, the fake that the huffington post is falling all over themselves to post this should be a clue that this is one for the other side.

        • Facts are not “for the other side”. They aren’t for any side. They just are.

          You can be aware of them and deal with them. Or you can pretend that they don’t exist, and eventually get killed by a non-existent car (or its metaphorical equivalent).

      • Sorry folks-THIS is the TRUTH about GUNS. Warts and all. And this story is getting plenty of attention away from this blog. Deal with it…

    • “I think this is the first incident of violence I’ve ever heard at one.”

      Jeremy, Pawn & Gun shops have armed robberies on rather regular basis.

      I personally know of one in the 1990’s, a few years before I worked there.

  2. I really want to know more about the perps.
    Two dead and two headed for prison, all over $25?
    There is more to this story.

    • Families from hell. Every community has at least one. Always at odds with their neighbers. Always offended and aggrieved. Look crossways at one and you got to fight the whole damn family. Convinced they haven’t gotten further in life cause they’re being held back by an unfair and unbalanced system.

      Demand their rights be respected while stepping all over yours.

      • There’s a sketchy clan like that near where I live, and they seem to breed like rats. They are also big into hunting, and regularly take game from the private hunting club’s land. They claim part of it as theirs, regardless of what the surveyors & lawyers say, and every season they accuse someone of taking game from that disputed property.

        Last time it happened, the clan patriarch & his two sons (the ones not in jail) heard a friend of mine take a shot on the hunting club, and were waiting for him on the access road as he drove out with a nice buck. They were all armed with shotguns, drunk, and demanded a share of the meat that they said was illegally taken from their land. While they didn’t actually threaten/brandish, the implication was that they would shoot, shovel, and shut up. But they skedaddled when myself and another friend showed up, who he had also called upon sighting them. We didn’t even need to say anything; being sober, more heavily armed, and definitely not going to let them commit extortion, they got the hint.

        The worst part is that these people have kin entrenched in the local PD and courthouse, who passively protect their own when one of them runs afoul of the law.

        • It always is funny how the low-lifes always seem to have just that one person placed in the PD/councilman/Sheriff’s office. Happens where I live and work. After getting a concussion after a 5150 decided to go berserk, I decided to file charges on every drunk idiot that laid a hand on or threatened my staff in the ED.

          I have had a few Sherrif’s deputies try to goad me into not filing a report, but in my mind when they next come in it will be the second offense, not the first. It is also how I found out quite a few of the family trees up here are more like a family pole.

    • Having worked behind the counter of various gun shops, I can attest that there are customers who would be willing to get into violent altercations over much smaller sums of money.

    • Not necessarily. There’s a great line in the movie “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” about how the banditos would kill you for the shoes on your feet.

    • You don’t know that some of the parties weren’t liberals. Conservative people will defend themselves, but avoid altercations otherwise. A gun store owner would likely call the cops.

      I’d like to know if alcohol, medical marijuana or prescription drugs were involved.

    • The problem is progressives, not liberals. Our Founding Fathers, the good ones anyway, were liberals.

      • Some of them were Classical Liberals.

        Today EVERYONE knows that small “l” liberals are squishy Marxists, (and Marxism is squishy communism).

    • Yes; But point out it is statistically irrelevant.and that this situation is less likely then one of their trusted police going rogue and raping or murdering.

    • That’s what she said.

      (And here of all places I shouldn’t have to explain who “she” is.)

      If that comparison unnerves you, then that’s your answer right there.

  7. Over 25 bucks. Wow.
    This does not help our side in any way. Now will this be called a mass shooting?

  8. Picayune?

    This happens every day all over America, just not at gun stores.

    I read somebody’s post that claimed there was a federal background check fee to return a gun to it’s owner? Never heard of such a thing if that’s true.

    Somebody flipped out, his blood relative probably followed suit and the other family was forced to defend themselves. It’s all just too sad and too stupid.

    • ‘I read somebody’s post that claimed there was a federal background check fee to return a gun to it’s owner?”

      Yes.

      A NICS background check and a 4473 is required to redeem a gun that was pawned…

  10. Word around the the campfire is that the gun couldn’t be fixed but there was a 25$ service fee for the labor involved in discovering that the gun couldn’t be fixed.
    I live in that neck of the woods and am not the least bit surprised by this.

    • First I would have to imagine some way a firearm “couldn’t be fixed”. Try a registered machine gun, with every part broken or bent. I bet it can be fixed. I would suspect, instead, they were told how much it would cost, and said never mind, just give it back, and were then informed about the fee. If they objected strenuously, common sense would be for the owner to say “never mind the fee, don’t ever come back!”, and call it a day. Lots of fails, here. I’m thinking there was either controlled substances involved, or maybe inbreeding.

      • I had a Bersa BP9 that broke after just over 300 rounds. I sent it into Bersa and was told it was not fixable and would have to be replaced, which it was(after more trouble than I would have liked for a brand new gun). Was Bersa lying to me? Possibly, but if it was a metal bar embedded into the polymer frame I could imagine that it would be quite difficult to repair.

      • What about a squib round lodged in the barrel of a revolver followed up by a few more rounds that also lodged? Saw a cutaway of that one time, was a .22 had 6 or 7 bullets stacked up in the barrel (from a 9-shot?). Completely unrepairable, had bulged the barrel considerably.

        Just saying it can happen. Not saying I’d charge to tell the guy that his piece is useless. Apparently he had another.

        • I’m picturing a guy, getting madder and madder each time he pulled the trigger and the gun went bang, but nothing was coming out the business end. I can sort of see not noticing the squib and sending one to follow it, but 6 or 7 times? Wow.

      • In this area, inbreeding is less likely than a fatal combination of meth-amphetamine use, past or present, semi-functional alcoholism, and sub-moronic intelligence levels.
        Pair that with the previously mentioned persecution complex, and you get gunfights with multiple fatalities over 25 dollars.

  12. Like this never happened any where other than a gun store.

    People that suck, have crap attitudes, and cause problems, things escalate.

    To quote:
    Some men you just can’t reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. I don’t like it any more than you men.

    Which oddly I only knew from the G&R song “civil war” turns out the quote is orig from the movie, “Cool Hand Luke”

  13. I do not think I have ever taken a gun to a gunsmith for under $40…and they fought over a $25 bill. The customer sounds like a hot head, and at his age, that probably means he has a record.

    • “Genius child was never born of idiot parents.” – quote from a 19th century medical textbook.

  15. $25? That’s it? $25 for finding out that a gun can’t be fixed?

    That gunsmith was being very, very reasonable. He was probably charging for only a half-hour of his time, and unless he raced through that piece, I’m sure he had more time than that into it.

    • I guess there could be circumstances where it is a tough call. Was the gunsmith just incompetent? If so, and he spent 30 minutes to figure out he didn’t know how to fix it (not necessarily that it could not be fixed), is it fair to charge for his time to discover he doesn’t have the skills that would reasonably be expected?

      • Sometimes, especially if it requires disassembly of the gun or the use of specialized tools (eg, a borescope) to tell someone that their barrel is shot out, or corroded beyond repair, etc.

        I try to be reasonable on these cases, but there’s no shortage of customers who bring in guns that are beyond hope and they want a gunsmith to “have a look.” Well, tearing down a gun takes time and expertise. A competent gunsmith makes it look easy – but it requires skill and tools. Sometimes, when a ‘smith gets inside a gun, we find out that it is a wall hanger, unless a customer wants to invest major money. This is like asking a mechanic to evaluate a car before you buy it. He does a compression test, tests the automatic transmission, pulls the wheels and looks at the brakes. Let’s say he’s into it for an hour and he charges you $75 to tell you “Don’t buy this car.” Was that fair?

        If you saved a few thousand in repair bills if you had purchased the car, I’d say it was money well spent.

  16. I could pontificate on this matter listing social & economic conditions that contributed to the altercation…except I not a liberal and will not contribute to stupid.

  17. Someone drew their firearm. I wonder which idiot did it. Draw a firearm over a matter of $25 dollars.

    Obituary: So and so, died valiantly over a matter of 25 dollars.

  18. Friends from the ranges I frequent in the Westchester County NY area told me that they knew a gun shop owner in New Rochelle, NY who was immediately shot and killed by an armed robber – guy never had a chance. I think this was 15+ years ago…

    • As we have said on this forum many times, a firearm is not a magic talisman. All it does is provide more options for your response to a violent attack.

      Like it or not, a person who intends to kill you immediately has a very good chance of succeeding. And whether or not they have a firearm is the least of your worries. A fit male could easily and swiftly kill an unsuspecting victim with one swing of an ax, club, hammer, or sword.

      Sometimes, you lose. That is why we should always have our affairs in order.

  19. Yeah azzwholes get pizzed over 25bucks. I couldn’t possibly comment on the hillbilly thing…but I remember jamming my shotgun and taking it into the gunshop I bought it from (used) and they worked on it for an hour to get the shell out-and all with no charge. And have done me other favors too. Without charge(Blythes Gun Shop/Griffith,INdiana). I can’t believe they got in a gunfight over $25. YES it reflects on us non-lunatic gun owners. More fuel. Such is life…

  20. This one is not an urban legend, it happened when I was doing private security work in the St. Louis area way back in the 70’s and it was the talk of the news and all the cops I knew at the time. There was a gun store in the North St. Louis County area, in or near Ferguson, MO, of later fame. The store was owned by a cop, catered to cops and many of the staff were off-duty cops, but it was open to the public.

    A guy came in, pulled a gun and demanded all the money in the cash register. The clerk, who was armed, complied. The robber never asked for his gun. Another clerk was stocking shelves and immediately knew what was going on, but stayed hidden behind a merchandise rack. Unbeknownst to the robber, there was a back room with a one-way glass behind the counter. In the back room was the owner, who was showing a newly arrived gun to two off-duty cops. They all let the guy walk out with the money.

    However, the cops in the back room went out the fire door and circled the building, guns drawn. The clerks followed the robber outside with guns drawn and took cover. The BG found himself surrounded by five armed men, all behind cover. He made the civic-minded choice to save the county a trial and tried to shoot it out. It was the last decision he ever made.

  21. Shooting two men to death over a $25.00 service fee is stupid by stupid peoples’ standards.

    Sadly, there are places where that is a lot of money. I remember reading an irate letter to Guns and Ammo Magazine about 25 years ago where the writer was complaining very bitterly that G&A only wrote articles about New Guns and gear when he and others he knew had to scrape to buy one new box of shotgun shells a year. So, this would have been around 1990 when said box would have cost only a few dollars. He wanted articles about how to keep old guns shooting. I felt badly for him and the Editor’s response was actually fairly sympathetic but firmly stated they would not likely change their content.

  22. It was reported that the Gun Store charged the Men a 25 dollar fee after telling them they could not fix the gun. Now I do not condone violence. The men just should have taken the Gun Store to small claims court as it was outrageous that the Gun Store had this greedy policy of charging people for a job never done.

    • A minimal fee is pretty much common in commerce today. Take a stereo or AV receiver to a shop – they charge $80-100 just to open it up. Car needs diagnosis? Fork out a minimum fee just to find out what the problem is.

      I don’t see a $25 fee all that bad. It can sometimes take more time just to find out that a mechanism can’t be fixed than to do a simple repair on a different one. Heck, it might take an hour of searching just to find out that parts to fix some problem aren’t available. Time which could otherwise be profitably spent actually fixing a different gun or reading TTAG.

    • $25 to examine something and being told nothing can be done is pretty cheap. Try going to a doctor’s office or a mechanic.

  23. This was easy for the media to jump on, but mark my words, there will be a lot of little details in this story that will slowly leak and will never be reported. The headlines are screaming and bleeding, but in the end, the true narrative won’t be anything close to what we are all reading right now.

  24. This is a good example of EVERYONE having guns may or may not be the best idea. 2A rights or not. True 2a rights would put a firearm in EVERY hand, young,old,mental,criminals etc. I personally am conflicted when it comes to this discussion. All or none seems too extreme

    Would be interesting if they would do away with those pesky anti-dualing laws as well. Thin the herd.

    • Wrong. 2A rights provide the opportunity for those who want guns to have them, unrestricted by the government. Parents still presumably have rules and responsibilities for children, and mentally handicapped people can be protected in other ways than by governmental decree. 2A does not mean guns for all – it means that the government doesn’t control the right.

  25. My lgs was robbed just over a year ago. Owners opened fire on 4 thugs from across the KS/MO border. Yes, it is a store primarily for women but they are good one owner killed, one wounded, several bad people hit but survived
    The people there and are very pleasant to deal with. Much more so than my old lgs who are complete asshats and treat everyone like crap. At TBH they treat newcomers like slime and are generally not good representatives of the 2a culture. At SAP they are more than happy to help everyone. RIP Mr. Bieker.

    http://www.kshb.com/news/surveillance-video-reveals-new-details-about-robbery-shootout-at-shawnee-gun-store-shes-a-pistol

  26. There was an incident in Kansas City a couple years ago. Indianapolis had a home based dealer murdered and setup by an UPS driver

  28. In the early 90’s (August 93) in Springvale Victoria a POS (John Lascano) entered a family run gun store on a Saturday morning with 9mm ammo in his pocket and asked to see a 9mm pistol (not sure which brand) he proceeded to load the pistol and forced the owner, his best mate (who was just helping clean up) and his 14 year old daughter (who was also helping clean up) into the storeroom where he shot all 3 dead. He then set fire to the shop to try to hide his tracks.

    Fortunately the POS was arrested and went to prison.

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