imported post
I spoke to Robert Marcus today, since I used to work at Bob’s and have known him for many years. I asked him if he was aware of what was being said here, and he said that he didn’t subscribe to this board but that he had an upset customer call him and he knew there were some posts. He has not read any of them, and he said he didn’t plan to.
When I asked him if he would like me to respond for him, he said no, that everyone is entitled to his own opinion and that the last thing he was going to do was to validate nameless people making accusations that he didn’t think amounted to much of anything to begin with. He said that if people had legitimate complaints about his business, his politics, or even if his breath smelled bad, they should pick up the phone and call him and tell him. Now, I will tell you what I know about this person some are so willing to criticize because there are people who don’t live in Norfolk and have never been to Bob’s and will only know the ridiculous things that have been written here.
For most of the last 20 years, Robert Marcus was at the General Assembly, making sure that Virginia did not turn into another California with a fifteen day waiting period, or another Maryland with their “approved list” of firearms that can be sold, or with their ballistic fingerprinting. We do not have these things in Virginia because Robert Marcus has been president of the Virginia gun dealers association since they formed in the late eighties. These things did not fail to happen by magic; it took years of hard work and effort to see that everyone in Virginia, from gun show operators to kitchen table dealers was protected from governmental interference. I heard him say many times that if any one of us is threatened, all of us are threatened, and when the anti-gunners finish going after the gun shows, they would be coming for the gun stores next.
Mr. Marcus fought for years to get Norfolk city council to end the permit to purchase handguns. His fight ended a few years ago when Norfolk finally ended this ridiculous law. He was able to get all 7 council members, the majority of whom were anti-gun, to vote to end the permits. Another dealer in Norfolk (No, it wasn’t Ron Hess) will tell you he wrote a letter to the Commissioner of the Revenue and that’s what ended the permits, but those of us who were there know what really happened.
It was Robert Marcus, who single-handedly persuaded city council to end their ban on gun shows at Scope, and he brought the first show in 13 years back to Norfolk
It was Robert Marcus, who sued ATF over disclosure of used gun serial numbers, trying to protect our privacy from more governmental interference. While he failed to stop ATF from what they were doing, he went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to have his case heard, but they refused. I don’t think he has ever told anyone how much money that cost, or how much pressure ATF exerted over him because of it, but I doubt anyone reading this post sent him a word of thanks or a dollar to help defray his cost for it.
I have personally seen Mr. Marcus reach into his own pocket to provide funds for crippled shooters, and I heard about a very generous contribution he recently made to NCRR for their youth shooters. Hell, there isn’t a Friends of the NRA banquet in Virginia that he doesn’t give something to, and I have seen him give $1,500.00 gun safes year after year when other dealers wouldn’t give a cheap scope or a cheaper sling, and when I asked him why he did these things, when so many others didn’t, he said that he felt it was his responsibility to help protect the 2[suP]nd[/suP] Amendment.
Robert Marcus has done more than a lot of gun shop owners to help protect us all, and if he has to apologize to a public body because a very small contingent in the firearms community acted over the top, I think his opinion should be considered, because he has more than earned it.
So, for all of you who read this and whine that you don’t belong to the NRA because they’re always asking for money, or complain that there just isn’t time to write a letter to the editor or help elect a pro-gun candidate, or the most important thing in your life is the latest ammo price increase, perhaps you should look beyond yourselves and ask just what it is that you have done to protect your gun rights, other than to complain to each other on this board.
