(GunNews) – At least three members of Guns Save Life have approached our leadership asking, “What’s up with Dick’s?” in response to our members’ recent experiences purchasing ammunition at the store.
“It’s a new law,” one member said he was told, while another member was told it was because the Dick’s chain is now selling AR-15s in their stores.
Guns Save Life’s GunNews Editors John Boch and John Naese stopped by Friday morning, September 14th and talked with the Champaign, IL store manager David Eades to seek clarification.
Mr. Eades said that the company had recently changed policy, chain-wide, and was now asking purchasers of ammunition to verify they are U.S. citizens before allowing them to complete ammunition purchases.
18 USC 922 (d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise
dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or
having reasonable cause to believe that such person –(5) who, being an alien –
(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States;
In Illinois, with the requirement of the FOID card for ammunition and firearm purchases, the cashiers at the point of sale are also being asked to enter the purchaser’s FOID card number as a verification that the cashier did indeed see a valid FOID card before completing the sale.
Yes, this policy to enter the FOID number as part of the transaction is a more than any Illinois law requires, but it protects the company from government claims in Illinois that they are selling ammunition without ensuring purchasers have a FOID card.
“So, are you recording the ammo purchases somewhere?” Naese asked the store’s manager.
Eades answered, “Nope, not at all. It’s just a formal verification that the cashier saw that the buyer had a FOID card. Nothing more.”
As for selling AR-15s, Eades said the company is selling AR-15s now and that the company is keeping electronic gun logs. The biggest factor with selling ARs is that the company is doing its best to ensure purchasers of ARs aren’t residents in the handful of local communities in Illinois that prohibit possession of America’s favorite rifle.
“One of the problems we’re facing is the State Police not issuing new FOID cards after address changes. We must have some sort of address verification if a gun purchaser writes down an address other than what’s printed on their FOID card,” Eades said. “Sometimes that can be a problem for people who have moved recently.”
After talking with the friendly and helpful manager, we sauntered back and decided to test out this ammo purchase process personally.
It was just as the store’s manager explained it. The cashier did ask for Mr. Naese’s full name and zip code because he had a “Scorecard” but didn’t have it on his person.
When Mr. Boch said he didn’t have a “Scorecard” on the following transaction, no such questions about name and address were asked, but the girl did enter his FOID card number.
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