Gun Shop Ops Director Says Cable News Gets Gun Buyers Wrong
Larz Williams, director of operations at Shooter's Choice in Columbia, South Carolina, says the people buying guns look nothing like the stereotype on cable news. In an op-ed that Bearing Arms published on November 9, 2026, Williams argues that lawmakers drafting new bans and capacity limits are working from television images, not from the counter. He describes customers who range from first-time buyers to lifelong shooters, from hunters to retirees and young professionals. His core point is simple: the restrictions in play would reach tens of millions of ordinary Americans, not a fringe group sitting at the edge of society.
Key Details
Williams writes from direct experience behind the counter. His account centers on who walks through the door and why they buy. Here are the specifics he offers:
- Location and role: Williams runs day-to-day operations at Shooter's Choice, a gun store in Columbia, S.C.
- Publication: The op-ed ran at Bearing Arms on Monday, November 9, 2026.
- Customer mix: He lists first-time buyers, lifelong shooters, hunters, homeowners, retirees, and young professionals.
- Purposes: Some buy a handgun for home protection. Others want a rifle for hunting or target shooting. Some simply exercise a constitutional right.
- Occupations: He names mechanics, doctors, construction workers, and accountants, across blue-collar and white-collar work.
- Targeted items: He points to standard capacity magazines and modern sporting rifles as the items critics call a problem.
- Scale: He argues that the size of American gun ownership means any broad restriction reaches tens of millions of people.
- Income: He concedes that buyers with more disposable income may show up more often in stores, and he calls that the full explanation.
- Call to action: He urges lawmakers to visit local gun stores before proposing the next ban, capacity limit, or sweeping restriction.
The piece cites no bill numbers, no court rulings, and no sales data. It is opinion from one retail operator, and it reads that way. Readers should treat the anecdotes as a window into one store's customer base, not a national survey. Williams opens with a line attributed to Mark Twain about newspapers and informed citizens, then concedes the quote likely never came from Twain. That admission sets the tone: skeptical of the easy narrative, and careful about its own sourcing.
Background
The gap between the gun owner people picture and the gun owner who actually exists has persisted for years. Gallup polling over the past decade has consistently put personal gun ownership near one-third of American adults. That share is large enough to include nearly every demographic group, which is exactly the point Williams makes from the sales floor.
The legal framework matters here too. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court recognized an individual right to keep and bear arms and tied protected weapons to those "in common use" for lawful purposes. In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), the Court replaced the older interest-balancing approach with a text-history-and-tradition test. Under Bruen, the government must show that a firearm regulation fits within the historical tradition of firearm regulation. Popularity alone does not decide a case, but widespread ownership shapes the common-use analysis that Heller set out.
State law has moved in the other direction. New York's SAFE Act of 2013 set a ten-round limit on magazines, and Illinois passed its assault weapons restrictions in January 2023. Colorado adopted a fifteen-round magazine limit in 2013. Those laws are the kind of "capacity limit" Williams says lawmakers reach for without visiting a store.
Why It Matters for Gun Owners
If you own a standard capacity magazine or a modern sporting rifle, the buyer profile Williams describes is your profile. Lawmakers in states with magazine limits and assault weapons restrictions usually write their bills around a narrow image of owners. The more that image diverges from the real customer base, the easier it becomes to argue that bans fall on people who did nothing wrong.
Owners in New York, Illinois, Colorado, New Jersey, California, and Washington face the most immediate exposure. Check your state's current magazine capacity and rifle feature rules before you buy, move, or travel with a firearm. Keep your receipts, purchase records, and any grandfathering paperwork in one place. If your state holds a comment period or public hearing on a gun bill, show up or submit written testimony. A short, specific comment about who owns these guns and why carries more weight than a long rant.
Also talk to your local shop. Williams is making a practical point: the store owner sees the customers that legislators never meet. If your gun counter is the place where new owners learn the rules, ask the staff what they see, and share it with your representatives.
DownRange Analysis
Williams is right about the framing problem, but the courts will not decide these cases on anecdotes. Under Bruen, the question is whether a restriction matches the historical tradition, not whether the owner looks like a doctor or a mechanic. The sociology helps the common-use argument, though. When a firearm or magazine sits in millions of American homes, the government has a harder time calling it unusual or dangerous. Gun owners should make that record, in writing, in the courtroom, and at the statehouse.
For the market, the customer mix Williams describes signals broad, steady demand across income levels and purposes. That is not a boom story, but it is a durable one. Retailers do not need a single hot model to survive, and that depth is exactly what a ban would test.
What should you do right now? Keep your firearms legal under your state's current law. Track one or two bills that matter in your state. Talk to the people who sell you your guns, and tell them what you need from the next lawmaker who visits. Don't wait for a cable panel to describe you correctly. Describe yourself first.
