Q: I was summoned by one of our sales associates to render a decision on whether the following was a straw purchase: Elderly couple buying their first firearm. Both are actively and almost equally engaged in handling, asking questions and deciding which firearm to buy and they state up front that they are looking for a single self-defense handgun that both of them will use. Once the selection is made the husband asks what documentation is required to buy a firearm. After the sales associate answers the question the husband and wife compare notes and decide that the husband doesn?t have everything required but the wife does. On this basis they determine that the wife will be the buyer. I was unhappy with this and immediately issued the following directive to all sales associates: Anytime you have two or more people shopping together for a firearm, you will always ask up front which one of them the gun is for? The sales associate is proscribed by store policy from answering questions about required documents or the process until they identify the actual buyer. Is this a good best practice or am being too paranoid and losing business over nothing?
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