Guns can be risky business
By Katherine Nichols
Advertiser Staff Writer
Dressed in faded jeans and a T-shirt and periodically pushing his eyeglasses back to the bridge of his nose, Arthur Ong resembles any unassuming business owner.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Except for what is attached to his belt next to his cell phone: a holstered Sig Sauer 226.
Arthur Ong, who went from selling high-performance parts for Volkswagens to weapons and protective devices to law enforcement officers and private owners, says he has always had a knack for finding a niche.
Ong has averted several disasters in his shop, Magnum Firearms in Kaka'ako, which sells guns and related protective gear to private owners, FBI agents and police officers in Hawai'i and the Pacific. Along the way, he's learned how to recognize and quickly capitalize on trends to find a steady niche.
Ong, 44, began his business career selling automotive accessories 25 years ago, and traces his entry into firearms to about 12 years ago, when the state legislature began discussing a ban on personal ownership of handguns.
Ong said he wanted to buy one before the prohibition took effect, but he was disappointed at the selection in Hawai'i stores. So he decided to stock guns himself.
Once squeezed into a small room in his auto-accessories store, firearm sales gradually overtook sales of other items. So eight years ago, he changed his specialty and the name of his store — from Magnum Motorsports to Magnum Firearms.
He also took his cue from the state legislature in 1996, when a law was passed requiring buyers of handguns to take safety classes before a purchase. Ong realized that classes available to the public were in short supply.
So he earned his certification as a National Rifle Association instructor and built a classroom area and firing range — himself — at a cost of $200,000.
Approximately 700 students have completed Ong's NRA basic pistol course, and he currently educates about 20 people per month in the NRA basic pistol course. Many decide not to purchase a firearm after taking the class, he said. And those who do must listen to Ong preach responsibility first.
"It made me more aware of gun safety," said Helen Shiroma, a 28-year-old police recruit. "He's really good; he provides a lot of law enforcement stuff."
Whether it's teaching classes or building and minding the store, Ong tends to do everything himself. He built his first automotive store at the age of 19, including painting his own signs and putting in the windows.
Two and a half decades later, he still works in his own store six days a week, including some evenings.
"That's what it takes to run your own business," he said between coughs. "Even when you're sick."
But Ong says he has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. After graduating from Kaimuki High School and completing one year of college, he decided to launch his own business. "Everyone told me I was crazy," he laughed. "But I had nothing much to lose, you know?"
He first opened Thunderbug Performance Parts in 1977 at the old ironworks, where Restaurant Row is now. Though Ong had a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Hawai'i, he wanted more adventure. And challenge.
After soliciting and delivering newspapers since the age of 10, Ong used $2,000 of his own savings and borrowed another $5,000 from his grandmother to open his business. Grossing $2,000 was his goal for the first month. Instead, he grossed $6,000. Within three months, he had paid back his grandmother and was on his way.
"Volkswagens was the hot thing back then," he said. "I was just fortunate; I ordered the right number of the right products."
About three years later he moved the business to 'Kapi'olani Boulevard, and changed his sign to Magnum Motorsports, inspired by the Tom Selleck television show.
Magnum Firearms' gross receipts now exceed $1 million. But the number of employees remains constant: Right now he has one.
But there are reasons beyond economics for minimizing the employee list: bolt-action rifles line a wall on one side of the 5,000-square-foot shop and range, and semi-automatic rifles sit on the other. Glass cabinets are filled with revolvers, handcuffs and semi-automatic pistols. Other rooms in the store display holsters and protective riot gear and body armor.
Safety is always an issue with Ong, as with most gun-store owners. And recent shooting incidents across the country — including last month's East Coast sniper shootings — have created something of a negative connotation about guns.
"There's out and out prejudice against firearms owners," said Max Cooper, vice president of the Hawaii Rifle Association.
Workers at some companies fear internal retribution, said Cooper, also a plastic surgeon and firearms dealer in Kailua. Other people are paranoid that identifying themselves as gun owners could target their homes for burglary.
Ong said most of his patrons are stable, responsible men and women in their 30s and 40s. But occasionally he admits to being surprised.
Like when a man walked in with a sawed-off shotgun ("That's a no-no," said Ong) to buy ammunition. Or when Ong tried to verify the registration on a gun and discovered it had been stolen from a police officer.
But the scariest moment came when a man walked into the store and pulled a loaded magazine from his belt. From experience, Ong knew that meant a gun — ready with, perhaps, one round in the chamber — was not far away.
An off-duty police officer was shopping in the store at the time, saw what happened and drew his own gun, as did Ong.
With the man flat on floor, they did indeed discover a gun inside the man's belt with a round in the chamber. He was quickly arrested. Records showed that he had a prior arrest record for terroristic threatening with a rifle. He is now in prison in connection with an attempted murder charge.
"I don't want to scare anybody away from my gun store," said Ong. "But hopefully we scare away the bad guys."
