New gun shop brings array of gunsmithing services to St. George

ST. GEORGE — When the woman in the yellow tank-top approaches you, you draw a deep breath. “Give me your wallet,” she barks. When her shirtless companion makes the same demand, you instinctively begin to reach for the pistol holstered on your right hip.

Primary simulation trainer Will Smith, St George, Utah, Nov. 3, 2021 | Photo by David Dudley, St. George News

As you begin to draw it from the holster, there’s some resistance. Aside from the technical reasons – the tension keeps it from shifting or falling out – it also helps to ensure that you’re ready to take this step to protect yourself. You feel the cool plastic grip against your palm. Eight pounds of pressure subtly pulls your hand downward. Then, you pause.

You wonder: Is this the right move? You try to talk your way out of it.

“No, please just let me go,” you say to the woman. “I don’t want any trouble.”

Of course, she doesn’t listen.

A sleight of hand occurs as the situation suddenly escalates. The shirtless man’s hands hover just above his waistband, where you might expect someone with little-to-no firearms training to keep a pistol, as it sometimes happens in the streets and the movies. As you watch the man’s hands closely, the woman continues to harangue you. Then, she draws a weapon and — without further warning — pulls the trigger. She shoots you. Before you even know what happened, you’re dead.

Of course, you’re not actually dead, but the scenario training is over. You re-holster your pistol and give thanks that you’re standing in training room three at Rich’s Gun Shop, located at 476 E Riverside Dr #1B in St. George.

A scene from Rich’s Gun Shop, St George, Utah, Nov. 3, 2021 | Photo by David Dudley, St. George News

“What you should’ve done,” says primary trainer for simulations, Will Smith, “is watch her hands as well as the man’s. They’re both potential threats.” Smith should know. He worked for 22 years with the Salem Police Department, in Oregon before joining Rich’s Gun Shop in their former location in Donald, Oregon. Smith is one of Rich’s employees, including Lee Richeson’s son, Chris, who recently relocated to St. George.

Smith takes the holstered pistol and replays the scenario. Due to his extensive training, he moves through the scenario with confidence. His voice is loud and clear. He tries to diffuse the situation, while simultaneously letting the two would-be robbers know that he’s not going to back down.

“Our Judgment Training System has over 900 scenarios,” Smith says. “If you want to come back and keep practicing, you’ll eventually get the hang of it.”

“The next step beyond that,” he continues, “is to add adrenaline into the mix. That makes it really tricky.”

A dying profession

There’s a lot for weapon enthusiasts to love about Rich’s Gun Shop, which opened Nov. 30. They’ve got weapons and ammo. They’ve got all the accoutrements that bring firearms enthusiasts to the shop to browse. But they’ve got something else that their competitors don’t have. That is, a professional gunsmith with 48 years of experience.

Lee Richeson was 15 years old when he began apprenticing with his dad, who founded Rich’s Gun Shop in Lake Grove, Oregon, in 1963. “I learned everything from my dad before he died in 2000,” Richeson told St. George News. “Today, gunsmithing is a dying profession.”

A scene from Rich’s Gun Shop, St George, Utah, Nov. 3, 2021 | Photo by David Dudley, St. George News

There’s more to it than maintaining and repairing guns, Richeson added. The most challenging work he does, and the most rewarding, is restoring them. “They have to look, and work, like they’re brand new,” he said.

Richeson said that he can work on any gun, and he keeps a stockpile of odds and ends that are hard to find. He picked them up from customers who wanted get rid of them, yard sales and gun shops that were closing for one reason or another. A lot of those parts, he said, are out of production or obsolete. But if a customer brings in a rare gun, that part may be the difference between winning the business of a new customer, or losing them to someone else. Of course, Richeson can also make parts. He’s got a lathe in his work area.

Though Richeson built Rich’s Gun Shop into a successful business in Donald, Oregon, he and his wife had become increasingly dissatisfied with the way things were going in Oregon socio-politically. Antifa was casing his gun shop, he said, and members of the Black Lives Matter Movement had “created an oppressive environment.”

“We had horrible leadership in Oregon,” Richeson said. “Citizens and businesses have had their rights stripped.”

A selection of hand-guns Rich’s Gun Shop, St George, Utah, Nov. 3, 2021 | Photo by David Dudley, St. George News

“There’s a time to stay and fight,” he added after a pause, “and there’s a time to go find a place to enjoy our freedoms. I see St. George as a place where people are enjoying their freedoms much more than some other parts of the country. And they’ve also got all that sunshine.”

Richeson chose St. George, he said, after he and his wife had an impromptu talk about where they would go if they were to leave Oregon. It was serious, he said, because 2020 was his most successful year ever. They were both thinking St. George was the place, even if it was an unlikely choice.

“My wife had never been to St. George,” he said. “I had only visited once a couple of years ago to get a firearms instructor permit.”

Richeson said that the level of workmanship demonstrated by recent graduates of gunsmithing schools has seen a sharp decline. “And, no book tells you why a certain gun jams,” he said. “A gun isn’t like a car with a sensor.”

Luckily, Richeson said, his son, Chris, who focuses on the retail side of the business, wants to learn gunsmithing.

“I’ve always wanted to learn,” Chris Richeson said. “But it takes time and focus. Once we get situated here, I’d like to begin learning from my dad.

A scene from Rich’s Gun Shop, St George, Utah, Nov. 3, 2021 | Photo by David Dudley, St. George News

The building Lee Richeson left behind in Oregon is now for sale. Housed therein, is an old-fashioned live ammo shooting gallery Richeson’s choice to leave resulted in an outpouring of love and longing from customers and friends. While most of them say Lee and company will be missed, others promise rendezvous in St. George as they travel throughout the American West.

“We’ve already had several stop in and surprise us,” Richeson said. “Some are heartbroken. They still send stuff for repair. These guns are their babies; you’ve got to earn their trust.”

“We miss our customers,” Richeson continued, “but we’re looking forward to serving St. George.”

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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