South Dakota Convience Store Sounds Like What ATF Should Really Be

The old joke is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives shouldn’t be a law enforcement agency, but a convenience store.

I’ve seen memes with a rack of donuts under glass and firearms hanging on the wall behind a clerk, and the meme says, “My politics are whatever this picture is.”

The humor is common, and it’s accurate, at least for me. That’s precisely what I want.

And it seems that such a place exists, and it sounds freaking glorious.

Millions of gallons of gasoline, thousands of gallons of milk, countless milk chocolate candy bars and thousands of customers are all part of the history of Kones Korner, a much-more than just a convenience store mainstay in the Castlewood/Watertown area.

Victor “Vic” Carter, 72, owns the place, and he still comes back to some basic facts when asked about his why.

“We still pump gas,” said Carter, 72. “I really like that part − getting to talk to people.”

Yet Kones, which does not use the apostrophe, if you’re wondering, is a lot more than a place to tank up and get snacks.

“We had a guy stop and he was just amazed at the mounts we have in the store,” Carter said.

The walls of the store are brimful with big game trophies, including elk, deer, moose and many other animals.

Few c-stores can pull off providing full-service access to hunting gear, firearms and all the in-betweens. Not many gun stores can ensure the E-85 tanks are full before Sturgis and that every brand of chew, beer, candy, chips and beef jerky is on the shelf. Carter does it all − with gusto.

“Dad liked what he did, and it grew in my blood,” Carter said. “I like being around people. I’ve made a lot of friends.”

It sounds like if 7-Eleven and Bass Pro Shops had a baby, it would be Kones Korner.

That just sounds amazing to me.

I mean, imagine going on a road trip and stopping in to get your road snacks and to top off the tank and you walk out with all of that and a new concealed carry pistol while you were at it.

The thing is, this strikes many of us, myself included, as unusual, but it shouldn’t be. We’re a free nation, so we should be able to find guns at our corner store. We should be able to order them from Amazon and have them delivered to our front doors.

We can’t do the latter, but there’s really no reason we shouldn’t be able to find guns aplenty in our local stores as we pay for our gas and our Reese’s Cups.

Not every convenience store would sell them, obviously, but I love the idea of seeing them as just so normal that you don’t blink at seeing a store like this one in every community in the nation. We shouldn’t have to drive across town to get a gun, just a walk up to the corner store.

Attach a liquor store to it–assuming they don’t already sell liquor–and Kones Korner is exactly what the ATF should be.