Buy a Satellite Dish Get a Free Gun! Promotion Shut Down by RadioShack
- Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:09am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
- Print »
- Email »
A RadioShack in Montana gained national attention last week after offering would-be satellite customers more bang for their buck. Literally. As part of a promotion for new customers, the store offered customers a coupon for a Pizza Hut gift card, a pistol, or a shotgun. That is until RadioShack stepped in yesterday to shut down the promotion.
The Ravalli Republic reported last week that customers who sign up for some Dish Network packages at RadioShack in Hamilton receive a coupon for a Hi-Point .380-caliber pistol or a .20-gauge shotgun and the required background check. Those not interested in a gun get a $50 Pizza Hut gift card.
Store owner Steve Strand says it took some haggling to get Dish Network to go along with the promotion, but it has tripled his business since last October.
The sign outside the business reads: “Protect yourself with Dish Network. Sign up now, get free gun.”
RadioShack Corp. released a statement Friday that the independent dealer‘s offer does not follow the corporation’s marketing practices and that it is in discussions with him. On Tuesday, it shut down Strand’s promotion.
“This offer is not consistent with our recommended marketing practices for independent dealers,” Eric Bruner, RadioShack’s director of communications, wrote in an email to the Republic. “We are in discussions with the dealer to end the promotion.”
Independent Radio Shack owner Steve Strand.
And while Strand has taken down his free-gun sign for now, he’s hoping to fight the decision. And he’s reaching out for help.
“I want some legal representation,” Strand said. “I think I’m within my legal rights as an independent dealer.”
“How can a corporate company come down and beat up an independent like me?” he continued. “I thought we were in America. Free enterprise.”
He’s hoping an attorney hears about his case and takes it on.
“Why are they picking on us at the local level?”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Popular Stories
MSNBC Host Snaps in Heated Segment: ‘What in the World Is Riskier Than Being a Poor Person in America?’ 697 Comments
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 666 Comments
‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’ 525 Comments
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 370 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 364 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 244 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 254 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
- President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order Read More
- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 147 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 300 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 244 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (91)
5410amh
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:51amI would definitaly but a satelite dish from this guy and get the pistol and then buy a second dish so I could get the shotgun. GOD LOVE MONTANA!
Report Post »BurntHills
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:50amit’s America, but it is still in the obama presidency… he wants us (white America) all DISARMED
Report Post »Hisemiester
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:41amWow! and I thought of moving to, Where was it now? Montana? Gonna need another one pretty soon. as the mass drain out of the major cities because they cannot find food. We need a whole bunch of guns to defend ourselves from Obamas Warriors.
Report Post »Sheeple
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:31amSounds like a great idea to me as long as background checks still apply. Of course the libs freak out over this open condoning of an armed public.
That pistol isn’t a highpoint, it’s a taurus millennium pro (way better pistol btw).
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:30amSign up for Dish Network in Dane County, Wisconsin and get a free bound copy of Marx‘s Communist Manifesto and a 2’ tall Vladimir Ilyich Lenin lawn ornament..
Report Post »righteouskill100
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:18amIn good old North Carolina you get a shotgun when you get your car painted
Report Post »randy
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:12amGeez, I just cancelled my Direct TV and now I have to my Bazooka back :(
Report Post »felina g
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:11amJust got our KOA campground book and PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE is their big sponsor !!!!!
Made me just a little bit barfy…………won`t be staying there anytime soon.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:23amKommunists Of America
Report Post »Ashrak
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:08amFolks who so like to see firearms “regulated” by government need to think about having their right to go to church “regulated” by government the same way.
Folks who so like to see carrying of firearms “regulated” by government better think about being “regulated” by government if they want to carry a bible….or an inkpen…or have a webpage or a screenname. Media journalists had better think very hard about their longstanding positions! Freedom of the press “regulated” by government? That is what they want?
Remember now, the Supreme Court has already written ‘It is so ordered” to this sentence written as part of a very specific example of exercise of the First Amendment – ” The Second Amendment is no different.”
Folks have got to understand how profound that actually is. Whatever power government wields over the Second Amendment it can so too wield over the first. See why those enumerations were made? So that government CAN’T do exactly what the heck it is DOING!!@!!
Fair enough, private enterprise is private enterprise. Things are a bit different there, to be sure. However, let us realize that “Independent” carries meaning. Indeed, in this country, A Declaration of Independence is the very foundation that our Constitution rests upon.
Attitudes toward firearms has to change or attitudes toward free speech and religious exercise has to change. It is one or the other.
Which do you choose?
Report Post »teapartychristiannc
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:06amWell with me being a teapartyer thats sound like my kinda deal!!! lmao
Report Post »LadyIzShy
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:47amyet one more reason NOT to shop at radio shack.. I seen this on Fox over the weekend and thought hey what a great way to get business. as long as they were doing background checks.. which they were.. then whats wrong with it?
Report Post »upnorth1
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:40amA Hi-Point?? Yikes. When it jams, I suppose it would make a fairly decent projectile…Go for the shotgun.
Report Post »WOLFENII
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:19pmI own 4 Hi Points. and can say although they are inexpensive, mine have never failed to go “BANG” when the trigger is pulled. I think that is all that you need to concern yourself with.
Report Post »SingerGuy
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:39amTraditionally satellite is spelled with two L’s.
Report Post »SingerGuy
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:08amAh, fixed now. :-)
Report Post »Evileye
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:34amThe way thing are going in this country
Report Post »people will be voting with one.(gun)
some people have been out of work for 2 to 3 years.
Carpenters are construction people.
small business going broke every day, it will not take much in some places this summer to start riots
like we see in Europe.
stop the extended unemployment were people have no mean at all. and the law of the jungle will ensue
BlueStrat
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:32amYou know what happened.
Rat Shack corporate lawyers saw that promo, fainted dead away at the prospect of lawsuits, protests, etc from the anti-gun/anti-Second Amendment nuts and had to be revived. Then they went nuts on the phone to the franchise management department guys, who then made the calls and sent the letters to this independent franchisee to quash the promo.
They’d probably be OK with coupons to Planned Parenthood for a discounted abortion, though.
Report Post »MontanaRob
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:02amBlueStrat wrote: Rat Shack corporate lawyers saw that promo, fainted dead away at the prospect of lawsuits, protests…
I think we are rapidly approaching the time that protests will be/must be crushed.
The local lefties organized a protest a couple of weeks ago when the Steakhouse in Victor had a lucheon for Denny Rehberg and the Republican candidates for next election. 200 hardy souls inside eating steak, a dozen or so outside whining and eating dust.
PS…I play a black strat and a Showmaster…Way FUN!
Report Post »BlueStrat
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 5:54pm@ MontanaRob
Protests and demonstrations *will* be crushed/suppressed. However, it won’t be done to prevent violence by people like those protesting outside that steak house in Victor. It will be rolled out against peaceful TEA Party public assemblies and anyone else that stands for Freedom.
I play a G&L Legacy and I design & build vacuum-tube guitar amplifiers for myself and others. Current favorite amp I built as a single-channel (Volume & Tone controls) head that features 2-12AX7s and a pair of cathode-biased push-pull KT66s that produce just under 30 watts, housed in a mini-British-style head cabinet.
Report Post »irdavid160
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:26amWait a minute, it tripled his business since October and they shut it down? What?!?! It seems to me that if an individual store owner found a way to triple his business that he would be brought in as a consultant by Radio Shack for other owners to give in-services on how they could triple their business too. It is clear now that the bottom line is not as important to liberal businesses as is the politics of their owners. Disappointed in one of my favorite chain stores.
Report Post »commonsenseguy
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:25amdang it, missed out again, that’s okay,i don’t need another gun,need more ammo. 380,223,300mag,25auto,30-06, okay maybe just a few more 223′s,never know when they might come in handy,just like this morning at 2;30 wild hogs every where,not so many now,they can’t out run all of the bullets,got 4,wounded a lot more,now must reload,and head to the market. any ways,it was american made gun,pizza,or a gun???? wounder how many got the pizza???
Report Post »MontanaRob
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:54amHey COMMONSENSEGUY,
Report Post »Not only is this store 6 blocks away, we have 2 major ammo manufacturers here in the valley, HSM (Hunting Shack Munitions) and BVAC (Bitterrot Valley Ammunition Co.) BVAC has a wholesale outlet which is about the only place I shop anymore. It’s like the COSTCO of ammo!!!
TheGreyPiper
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:24amThe pizza is probably a better deal than a Hi Point pistol.
Report Post »Thighmaster
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:37amRight… try strapping a pizza box to your hip…
Report Post »IndependentThinker
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:53pmI also would have the pizza rather than the Hi-Point. Those guns are a disgrace to firearms. If you don’t have money get a Bersa Thunder. If you’ve got money get a 1911 and leave a bigger hole. I wonder if Comcast will match this deal.
Report Post »TheLeftMadeMeRight
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 4:54pmHi-Point makes a fantastic firearm for the money. Their motto is a gun the average guy can afford. They are not pretty or loaded with features but they are extremely reliable and accurate. Does paying $800 for a gun make you a better shot. Yea when buying a gun I always support Argentina based firearms manufacturers, bersa thunder…please.
Report Post »Thighmaster
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:22amOr you can donate your gun to the Mexican Drug Cartel and they will send you a bullet gram.. Dead aim means never having to say you’re sorry.
Report Post »ares338
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:17amDarn, and I was hoping to increase my Tea Party, Redneck, arsenal.
Report Post »Thighmaster
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:28amTea Party Calendar for April and much more..
http://theteaparty.net/teapartycalendar.asp
Report Post »P1gunslinger
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:17amDont forget that the United socialists of America’s Western Headquarters resides in Montana.
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:15amHi-Point..Made in America!
Report Post »ninetoesjudd
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 12:02pmYeah, but it’s still a Hi-Point. I don‘t like Pizza Hut’s new crust, so that just leaves the shotgun.
Report Post »Leadthemtothelight
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:14amHey it works for politicians all the time. Buy a $36,000 ticket for a political fundraiser and own a politician.
Report Post »Why should this be any different.
mrsmileyface
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:12amMAN!!! Who do I need to kill to get Fox News to come in clear. :P This Satelite Dish stinks!!!!!
Report Post »This is a JOKE if you cant tell.
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:11amBuy the Dish and get a choice of a pistol or a pizza…God love Montana!
Report Post »338lapua
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:19amA pistol, a SHOTGUN, or a pizza….
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:22amHis contract. It is the same as if i go to work at Wal Mart. There is no democracy within a place of business. Who wants a democracy any way? we live in a republic.
Report Post »Guerrino_P
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:27amMy cable company did one better: Subscribe for one year and get a rocket launcher.
Report Post »commonsenseguy
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:28am@snowleopard, we got about 2 tenths of rain last night,not enough,but a start,at least the garben won’t have to be watered today, have a great day.
Report Post »lovenfl3
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:29amMaybe not the best marketing plan. What kind of gun is it when a Pizza Hut gift card is the alternative? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=619wI12Ky20
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:39am@CommonSenseGuy:
Glad to hear the rain is making a beginning for you; I will ask the church group I help out with today to pray for more rain that Texas and the area needs. Keep up the spirit.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:41am338Lapula:
Apologies, forgot the shotgun, pistol or pizza.
American capitalism at it’s best though.
Report Post »sleazyhippo
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:47amIf I could spell “Satellite” correctly in my headline, could I have them deliver me a long range sniper rifle with NATO rounds?
Report Post »MontanaRob
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:48amWOW!!!
This is my hometown. As a matter of fact, I’m writing this just 6 blocks from the store.
I had a bad feeling when this hit the local Commie Rags a few days ago. This promotion has been going on for months!!!
Shows how much attention these leftist t^rds pay attention to anything outside their narrow minded little world. I should have bought the local newspaper back in the eighties when I had the chance. Hindsight is 20/20!!! I won’t even pick up a copy anymore, it makes me sick.
Now I have to run down to Frontier Guns (the shop providing the guns) and join in that conversation. I’m sure there will be much discussion, and a lot of just plain cussin’ there.
Report Post »drphil69
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:49am@LoveNFL3 says…. “Maybe not the best marketing plan…”
He said it has tripled his business… phone ringing off the hook… sounds like a pretty good plan to me!!
The pizza was offered for gun hating libs who are too dumb to know that the guns offered are MUCH more valuable than the pizza.
The Hi-Point .380 is an inexpensive entry level pistol, retails for $129. Not a great gun but still fires lead at high rates of speed and yes can still defend you and kill the perp if properly used.
Oh, and any libs reading this, if you don’t like guns, why not just put a sign on your law – “This is a gun free home.” Be proud of your idiocy! (I prefer the “Protected by Smith & Wesson.”)
BE PREPARED.
Report Post »Creestof
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:06amI have pistols and shotguns which shoot lead already…can I has shotgun that shoots pizza? I would not have to store so much food in my retreat then : )
Report Post »jjoy
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:11amGo for the 20 gauge and some #6 turkey loads… Would be a pretty good defense at close range…
Report Post »robin.kevin
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:37amI think its great. All states need to take leads from states like Montana and South Carolina which gives a tax break to gun buyers. Its a great idea to those who understand more guns don’t means less crime not more.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:04pmSend me another shotgun…please … 5 dishes on the roof now.
Report Post »Grandpa
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:32pmI’m a dish network customer and just sent them an email explaining my disagreement with their corporate decision along with a link to this page. I suggest you all do the same
Report Post »MontanaRob
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:15pmFollow up:
I just spoke to Steve at Radio Shack and he is not backing down. He has had numerous calls and several news crews and reporters in the last 2 days. The same at Chad’s (Frontier Guns and Ammo, he and his wife are Navy Vets, good folks) and he took the CNN reporter out to shoot, said they had a good time. They have had a number of people in and many calls and it has helped business, thank goodness!
Steve’s reader board now simply reads: GETAGUN.NET
I am more encouraged in my personal war with the local paper and their parent company. Time to use some “guerilla tactics and sabotage” I guess.
Report Post »waggie
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:24pmOK, but does the gun come with pepperoni? Just sayin…
Report Post »M-O-O-N Spells Moon
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:31pmHmmm and the video isn’t showing a Hi-Point .380. Obvious manipulation by George W. Bush… Wow, almost thought I was a progressive there for a second.
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 3:18pm@commonsenseguy..I’m jealous.. my plants are still under the grow light.. getting bigger and bigger but it’s to cold out at night to plant them yet..(IL).. have extra’s for the neighbors and family who want to grow instead of buy.. and can GOOD veggies.. not nukes for our safety..LOL..
Report Post »WhiteFang
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 5:08pmAahhh, Montana! Where real people with real brains live. Hard to find in California now-a-days.
Report Post »shadowrider
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 9:49amI would probably be greedy with that promotion and want both ….. ROFL
Report Post »