Maybe the producers of gun-related network TV shows should invest a little more time in vetting their “reality” stars. An alarming percentageĀ of them seem to end up posing for portraits while wearing orange jumpsuits. First there was Will “Never Been Done Befo” Hayden’s sordid sexual proclivities. Now, “American Guns” star Richard Wyatt finds himself in a Colorado hoosegow after surrendering to authorities. We mentioned a few weeks ago that his store, Gunsmoke Guns,Ā had been raided by the ATFĀ (after an earlier visit from the IRS). Now, Wyatt’s been arrested for “theft from an at-risk adult” . . .
The victim in the case had consigned a rare and antique gun collection with Wyatt in 2013. Repeated efforts by the victim to recover several of the weapons had failed, police said in a news release.
Nice. As always, innocent until proven otherwise. Still, these high profile situations do nothingĀ for the public image of the people of the gun.
One look and I knew this guy was a d**k.
I’m sure you ALWAYS say that.
Ehhh, as far as mugshots go this one looks pretty nice
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I’m sure those frosted tips and winning smile will serve him well in the slammer.
Seems like a ploy by the media to paint gun owners as criminals and miscreants. Two gun shows on prime network tb two fiascos with the owner and firearms salesmen. How long before Ms. Watts tries to leverage this to further infinge upon our rights.
Rich Wyatt is a douchebag who’s so full of himself he thinks he’s above the law.
Slowly take off the tinfoil hat and walk away…
“Charge separate from last month’s raid.”
Are we sure about that? REALLY sure?
Thats okay I just got the tin foil hat fitted just right so it didnt fall off when I run from the black helicopters
Hardly a ploy. Having worked for a handful of dealers in the retail end of the gun industry over the last two election cycles I can affirm that dirty dealings, scumbaggery, and criminal activity are well within the norm. I saw plenty of illegal happenings behind the scenes, and it was pretty normal for the bosses/managers/owners to be up to something illegal. Aside from what I saw with my own eyes there were about a half dozen other dealers I knew of who went down for some juicy stuff, the worst of which was a guy that was knowingly selling guns to organized crime because well… they bought a lot of stuff! So before you conclude a conspiracy is at work, just know that its a dirty business, and dirty people work in it.
That’s a pretty broad brush you’re swinging there, and it seems to be filled with something brown and smelly that ain’t paint.
My experiences in working in multiple gunshops in my adult life (small, medium, and large, in multiple states) is that the vast majority of the owners and workers are fine folks who stay within the law, and many would even decline a deal if it “seemed” questionable, even if it were technically legal. The last pawnshop I worked in had an owner who was less concerned with where stuff came from that he should have been, and it cost him money and problems, over and over again, until it finally ran him out of business.
Even for those who would be tempted to do something less than legal, there are far too many ways to get caught (paperwork errors/misstatements, LE informants, and even disgruntled employees), and once this is pointed out, this seems to keep a lot of folks who might otherwise stray on the straight and narrow. Those who think they are smarter than everyone else eventually prove themselves wrong, and end up sharing a cell with the other scumbags.
Just my experience, and it’s certainly possible that I might have self-selected myself into the “right” shops vs the ones you are talking about, but all my experiences within the system tells me that your accusations are over-the-top and misplaced enough to have the stink of “anti-gunner misinformant plant/troll” on them.
Question: who else here would define/describe the length of their work history in the “retail end of the gun industry” by using “election cycles” as the measuring stick? Anti-gun-rights troll fail.
Yes, I am typing this on my laptop, currently sitting beside Barrack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Shannon Watts, and the ghost of Stalin. We are eating vegan caviar while an Ani Defranco concert DVD plays on a big screen. I should point out that while you accuse me of BS and being a secret agent for Joe Biden or whatever, you in your post mention illegal goings on that people paid the price for. So did you originally set out to prove me wrong or help my point?
You get lawbreakers and those who are less than morally straight in every segment of American society; gun retailers are no exception. You claimed they were a majority; my experience is that they are a tiny minority. The pawn shop owner was ultimately driven out of business over stolen janitorial/lawn-and-garden equipment, not firearms.
Still waiting for an answer as to what kind of person defines the length of their work history in ANY part of a retail industry by “election cycles”.
Not holding my breath for an answer, though.
The kind who got hired about 2 months before BO got elected, and pretty much had to learn the ropes in a trial by fire, then was seasoned enough for when BO part II happened. You learn how to do the 4473s pretty fast when you’re having to take care of 7-8 of them per hour. You also skipped over the fact that I was talking about management/owners rather than the other floor guys. I stand by that part of it. The people in charge were the ones in the position to get away with things, and quite frankly the worst offenders did get away with it.
A weak attempt, but I’ll applaud the effort. *golf clap*
What you said of managers/management is probably true in any organization, but if it really bothered you that much, there WAS something you could do about it, you know. If not when you were still there, then at least after you left.
If you aren’t helping SOLVE the problem, then you’re PART of the problem.
you understand your criticism of him is basically “i don’t like your anecdotal evidence, here’s my anecdotal evidence?”
you could both be completely right depending on who you’ve worked with.
Well written and well said. In all businesses there are good and bad. However, I can not believe that there is any kind of mass movement to discredit gun shop owners, It just happens that when one gets caught that those who love their guns more than the law get upset.
“My experiences in working in multiple gunshops in my adult life (small, medium, and large, in multiple states) is that the vast majority of the owners and workers are fine folks who stay within the law, and many would even decline a deal if it āseemedā questionable, even if it were technically legal.”
That was my experience in pawn as well. The local sheriff’s department made a point to ‘bait’ pawnbrokers at least once a year.
I’d be willing to wager this is a sumple misunderstanding, and they’ve been trying to find
something, ANYTHING, to make stick for a few years.
You go high profile, and do, what in my opinion, was a great show, and the anti’s, with
the current administration, will work overtime to bust your ass.
I see it around here locally, so once on the national stage, the target becomes larger…
Bout to say, what stand up guy… what stand up father allows his underage (at the time) daughter to get fake tits then pimps her out for $$$.
Hey, hey, hey! Let’s leave Paige out of this…
She’s not his daughter,Wyatt’s just the next future ex-husband of the girl’s crazy momma who hooked up with the loser only a couple of years before American Guns aired. It was all reality TV story line make believe. Paige and Kurt’s last name is Grewcock, their fathers name is Charles Grewcock, and neither of them had much use for Wyatt before the two season run, and even less after the show was cancelled.
Oh, Spectre_USA how silly you are, our justice system would NEVER arrest an innocent man, he must be guilty, why even waste time on a trial.
And our authorized journalistas would never distort or misrepresent a news report about a gun store reality show individual, they would only report the unbiased facts.
Why be the lone voice of reason and actually waiting to find out the facts, just follow the mindless mob and crucify without the need for more than knee jerk bigotry, prejudice and just plain hate.
Now I’ll have to throw my S&W J frame “Gunsmoke Special” 38 in the river. Well maybe not.
I didn’t know those were even connected to the subject being discussed.
I learn something new every day.
Actually these incidents help show that just because someone may be a criminal on a non-gun related charge does not mean, just because they own a gun, they will shoot someone for the hell of it.
Maybe to logical peopke but I think we all know most people are not logical. Which is,why they believe that owning a gun will make you snap and shoot up a public place in the first place.
I knew something was wrong when I figured out he was all but pimping out his well-endowed daughter on the internet, selling posters and other assorted material.
“Reality” shows tend to not attract the most upstanding people…
I never liked the show to begin with – Richard has an attitude on screen and even more so, off screen.
Why do you keep bringing up American Guns? He has a show on right now on Outdoor channel called Modern Shooter. We’ll see how long it takes them to react. Ripping off a consignment is bad. I’m an antique dealer and have dealt with auction houses and other dealers involved in this. Wyatt could be charged with theft by deception. And NO I don’t think is an organized effort by the anti-gun gubmint.
I watched an episode of “Modern Shooter.” Holy crap, it was bad. The scenes were contrived, and his narration is mind-numbingly sophomoric.
A guy who flies around in a helicopter with large sums of cash money and guns tends to garner attention from Johnny Law.
What the heck is an “at-risk adult”, and what are they at risk of?
Noticed that too. I’m going to guess it has something to do with age and/or mental condition, and what they are “at risk” of is being ripped off.
That’s what I figured, too. But if you’re “at risk” of being ripped off by such a transparently awful sleazebag as Wyatt (at least, that’s the on-screen vibe I’ve always gotten from him), maybe you’re too mentally deficient to be in charge of your own affairs…
In any case, theft is theft. Why is there an add-on charge if you steal from a moron? Are dumb people yet another protected class now?
Well as a matter of fact state laws frequently treat certain populations as “at-risk” and therefore certain crimes only apply to them (like child exploitation, statutory rape, etc etc).
Wyatt’s a shitbag. As the original article says background checks and due diligence are good things.
@ Stinkeye: I’m gathering that yes, the extremely elderly and the mentally challenged are becoming yet another “protected” class. Altho I can actually see some logic in making them such.
It seems there are a good number of dealers out there that at one time honored their reputation and word!! It seems as greed takes over and dollar signs begin to get bigger these people loose site of the REAL PEOPLE they are dealing with. As lately my experience with Jons Sport Shop of Oshkosh, WI a supposed once reputable dealer sent out a Remington model 34 that had been prepped for photos and was listed as a fine rifle in excellent condition.
It was a sad sight, the barrel had been bored and partially relined 3/4 it’s length, original buttplate, trigger guard painted and of unknown origin and the barrel had been coated in such a way to hide rust under the surface and pitting with a coating that was depicted as original Blueing. These are sad days when supposed honest reputable OWNERS & DEALERS slither to snake Height. People need to be made aware of whom they are dealing with and realize also photo’s and Others word is at times a part of our chivalrist past. In this case I ate crow and informed the owner knowing it would be relisted and another would end up getting stump broke by a scamming dealer so I tagged it for parts!! It’s sad seeing greed and moral less dealers in the midst of our fundemental rights turning folks against others of gat.
These are the type of things that will bring about distrust and seperation which we as whole need to take care of our own. Please folks make your buys & sales honorable and stand behind your word as in the end the only ones you are really hurting are you, your reputation and The Person who’s hard earned dollars you received!!!
TO SAY NOTHING OF HOW THIS WILL LOOK AND EFFECT THE FUTURE OF OUR RIGHTS TO KEEP AND BEAR!!!
Richard Hatch, the first winner of Survivor, did three years for tax evasion. The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Phaedra Parksā husband Apollo Nida did a five-year jolt for fraud. Jenelle Evans from Teen Mom 2 has been arrested 10 times in five years. Real Housewives “stars” Joe and Teresa Giudice were sentenced to prison.
Who woulda thunk that Housewives and Teen Mom would be prequels to “Lockup.” Are all women are evil? I don’t think so — but I don’t hear women whining that “they make us all look bad.” Because they don’t.
Nobody mentioned Jim West from Alaska and the problems he had. Wild West Guns owner Jim V. West was charged with 17 hunting violations, including trespassing on Alaska Native lands while guiding a black bear hunt. He pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor hunting violations, bagging thousands of dollars in fines and two workweeks of community service. He’ll also get back his Cessna 185 single-engine airplane, worth upward of $100,000. West used the plane for hunting and filming his TV show. That is, before authorities seized it in August 2013. That’s why he was buying a new plane in his show…because the cops took his other one.
Folks buy & sell light aircraft in Alaska about the same way those in the lower ’48 buy & sell 4WD trucks.
Yeah I know that. I’m a pilot here in Washington, so I do hear things. But he got his plane taken, that’s why he was buying a new one. Milk is also ten dollars a gallon in places up there. You want to talk about that also?
I thought the authorities had watched the episode were he sold a package of Mossberg .223 bolt action with crappy optics and a S&W Governors for 8k $… after having asked 10.
If that isnt theft…
Well, maybe he added 6500+ $ of value with the Gunsmoke laser engraved logo.
They’re just transitioning to a new competitor show to put up against “Lockup”
Sometimes being a firearms dealer goes to some people’s heads and they think things like laws and processes don’t apply to them.
There were a few dealers at my range. One thought because he was a “dealer” he didn’t have to pay range fees. He was so upset at being called to account he left and never returned. Good riddance.
Another lost his dealers license after some activity with an outlaw motorcycle gang. A shame as he was an okay guy and a good competitor.
This one I don’t know personally but one of the few gun shops in the Sydney area can’t sell guns because of some serious rule breaking. In NSW you have to apply to firearms registry for a “Permit To Acquire” justifying your purchase. You can buy a gun, or at least place a deposit, while the PTA is getting processed. But you can’t own the gun until you have the PTA. This shop was letting guns get sold and taken from the store without the PTA. The dealer’s license is getting transferred to another license holder.
While I was stationed in Colorado from ’06 thru ’09, I would occasionally see the big, gaudy truck that belonged to Gunsmoke driving around while visiting Denver, and spotted it a couple times down in the Springs. But I never heard any fellow shooters or collectors recommend the business when I finally started asking about it. Instead, all I ever heard was that it was an overpriced den of elitism, and was run/staffed by complete a-dubs. But I’d heard similar about DragonMan’s, but Mel & his family are good people and his establishment became my favorite place to spend time off-duty.
So one weekend I set aside some time to go check out Gunsmoke…. and it was as every bit as bad as I’d heard… if not worse. After walking in and getting a sense of the place (without even a cursory greeting from the “help”), I made my way around to a small display of military surplus rifles. Everything else in the store was so far out of my price-range, I almost walked out before taking a look at the milsurps because I had a feeling they’d be ridiculously priced as well…. and I wasn’t wrong. Upon closer inspection, they had universally been cleaned and polished with such force, that any original patina, honest wear, and arsenal markings on the wood had been destroyed. This was during a time when a nice, unmolested, early Mosin-Nagant 91/30 could be had for less than $100; yet their polished turds were at least $150 or more. The Mausers and a lone Mk.IV Lee Enfield were even worse off, and from a distance they looked like something sourced from Mitchell’s Mausers, and priced accordingly.
The “help” must’ve noticed the look of disappointment and disgust on my face, and took it upon himself to start explaining that if I was looking for a cheap POS rifle, that I’d have better luck on Craigslist, because they only dealt in QUALITY and HISTORIC guns.
At that point I laughed in his face, and Dick himself came out of the back to investigate, whereupon the counter guy informed his boss that I was a window-shopper looking for a POS rifle. Dick promptly asked me if I was a serious buyer, or if I just wandered in looking for a Hi-Point. That was all I needed to hear, so I did an about-face and walked out the door. Having some time to kill, I drove back down to the Springs, walked into Dragonman’s, and walked out with a very nice Polish Tokarev and a Tula hex-receiver 91/30 for a fraction of what Gunsmoke’s examples would’ve cost, and without the belittling attitude.
I’m not sure why, but many many gun stores seem to be run and staffed by folks who just seem to be douche bags. I have been in many gun stores and I must say that in my experience, about 80% seem stuck on being a sh– head.
From what little I’ve seen, the “reality” shows are so contrived, the principals probably start thinking of themselves as “actors” just like in the other TV shows, and develop an appropriately divorced-from-reality outlook and attitude
I just hope they don’t com after my favorite gun show celebrity Phred from Wild West Alaska.
Now that is a girl I could move to Alaska for.
Would you mind getting out of my fantasy, thank you very much!
This isn’t a bug, it’s a feature of the system. All these “reality” shows look for the hot mess you can see coming from a mile away. ALL of these stars are far more likely to self-destruct than the average American. Why would stars of reality gun shows be any different?