The Trop Gun Shop is a Pennsylvania-based Internet gun seller. They recently sent an email blast to their customers advising them that GLOCK had “terminated” Trop’s participation in their Blue Label Program. That’s the discount deal (around $75 to $100 off msrp) Gaston’s mob offers sworn law enforcement officers; EMT’s, fire fighters, volunteer fire fighters and paramedics; military personnel; corrections officers (including Parole and Probation Officers), state licensed security companies; court judges, District Attorneys and Deputy District Attorneys; and LE Academy Cadets. Trop reports that GLOCK demanded a look at their customers’ 4473’s. Here’s their announcement . . .
Trop Response to Glock Blue Label Program Termination
Trop Gun Shop regrets to inform our customers that we will no longer be participating in the Glock Blue Label program. Effective immediately, Glock terminated us from the program for refusing to furnish access to our customers’ private information for the purposes of auditing by Glock employees. While it is regrettable that we will no longer be able to offer the benefits of the Blue Label program here at Trop, we absolutely refuse to compromise the sensitive information of our customers by furnishing it to anyone without proper authority through standard legal practices.
To participate in the Glock Blue Label program a dealer must allow Glock access to audit “qualifying credentials” of its Blue Label customers. Typically these credentials are a form of identification verifying the individual is a member of one of the groups listed in the Blue Label program.
Recently a representative of Glock entered our establishment and demanded access to view our records related to all Blue Label sales, specifically our ATF Form 4473s, which contain very detailed, personal and identifying information of our customers. We refused the Glock representative access to this information.
During repeated correspondence Glock continued to demand access to the 4473s or we would be terminated from the Blue Label program. We attempted to reconcile the situation while maintaining our customers’ privacy and made every effort to comply with reasonable requests to audit the Blue Label sales to maintain the integrity of the program. However, Glock insisted that access to the 4473s and only access to the 4473s would be a sufficient level of compliance.
Our position was, and continues to be, that we will not surrender to Glock our Form 4473s and our customers’ identifying information under any circumstance. It is an untenable breach of our customers’ privacy and Trop Gun Shop will not submit to this unreasonable demand. As a result of our position, Glock immediately terminated our status as an authorized participant of the Blue Label program. Furthermore, Glock advised us that if we ever applied in the future, that request would be denied. While we are displeased that we can no longer support our qualifying customers through the Blue Label program, Trop Gun Shop remains committed to the security and privacy of all of our customers, and continues to offer its Law Enforcement / Military discount to those who qualify.
Regards,
Trop Gun Shop
My guess? GLOCK’s caught wind of non-eligible buyers taking advantage of their Blue Label program. How big can that problem be? Participants in the program are restricted to two firearm purchases per year. Watch this space.