Tommy V. owned a gun shop in Great Falls, Montana called Highwood Creek Outfitters.
He put the gun shop and range up for sale with a local real estate agent for nearly two million dollars.
According to federal law enforcement, an undercover federal agent posed as a buyer and contacted the real estate agent.
The foolhardy real estate agent told the undercover agent that “not everything flows to the tax returns.”
The real estate agent even said that there was substantial off-the-books income.
So, it appeared that Tommy was playing fast and loose with his accounting and wasn’t reporting the actual income of the gun shop to the IRS.
When Tommy met the potential buyer, he admitted there was about $450,000 in unreported income.
IRS agents eventually served a search warrant at the gun shop and seized all the ATF paperwork from the business as well as bank records.
The ATF seized all the Form 4473’s from the gun ship.
The form 4473 contains identifiable information about the people who purchased guns from the shop.
Now, I don’t know if Tommy was guilty or if this was something carried out by an overzealous federal agency.
But one thing I do know is that several innocent gun buyers are likely being looked at because of the actions of Tommy and the gun shop.
And this is the perfect example of why it’s important to be careful who you buy guns from – especially when buying guns online.
Now, one website that can help with the gun buying process is GunMade.
What is GunMade?:
GunMade is a website and search engine for guns and ammo.
The website is relatively new and has over 500 million items tracked on its website.
The difference from GunMade and other websites is that they connect with over 4,000 gun stores to provide real-time inventory.
Plus, it includes major retailers such as Sportsman’s Warehouse and small mom-and-pop stores.
It’s an all-in-one solution for shopping for weapons that are in stock near you.
The best thing for the gun shops is that they can list their items for free.
You can search in several different ways such as by a specific gun or zip code.
In other words, you can search for a Glock 19 and see the stores near you that have the gun in stock as well as online retailers that do as well.
Should you use GunMade?:
One thing you need to know is that GunMade is not the seller of the items.
They are an online platform – essentially the middleman – that connects the buyer and the store.
The best thing about the website is the real-time inventory from thousands of retail stores.
Plus, you can see the reviews and ratings of the store you are thinking about buying from.
In addition, you can set up alerts to be notified as soon as an item is in stock.
So, if your local gun shop doesn’t have a specific item you can sign up for alerts to be notified as soon as it does.
GunMade has made a big splash in the gun-buying community, and there is no question that it can be a useful tool for you to buy firearms and ammunition for your cache.
Be careful with any gun website:
A word of caution: it’s unclear how GunMade decides who is allowed to be part of their platform.
I’m sure there is a process for verifying a company’s legitimacy, but I don’t know how far that goes and how much digging they do.
So, if you find a gun on GunMade you should do your research about the specific gun shop you will be buying it from.
I look at GunMade as a helpful tool for finding a specific gun at a retail store.
But it shouldn’t change the way you go about making the purchase.
Always do your own homework and verify that the company is a reputable retail store.
Since you can find local dealers and sellers, you can and should visit the store and inspect the firearm you are interested in.
GunMade’s website shouldn’t replace the entire gun-buying process, but it can save you time and point you in the right direction.
