You guys have to remember that ACE and I believe True Value are not a chain store. They're a buying cooperative much like the buying cooperatives that many rural power companies belong to.
Essentially the idea is that a lot of independent stores pool their money together and buy their hardware merchandise in bulk so they can compete with Lowe's, Home Depot, and Walmart. They also get to put the name "Ace" or whatever on their store, which the buying cooperative does advertisement for, benefitting all of its members.
This is different from a chain store like Lowe's. Every Lowe's store is owned by Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, Inc. They are not locally owned and operated. As a matter of fact, the air conditioning and heating in the store I used to work in was controlled by a corporate office in North Carolina.
They may slightly different layouts and each store may have its own little quirks, but they're basically all going to be the same. A place like an Ace Hardware store however is its own animal even though they're probably going to have a lot of the same stuff as any other Ace because they get it cheaper through their buying cooperative.
Case in point, the Ace hardware in my home town for a time sold all sorts of offbeat stuff like ice cream and FRAM oil filters. It's because it's a locally owned store that has a little more character and freedom to do what it wants.
You'll never see a Lowe's store selling firearms for the same reason you'll never see a Lowe's store selling automotive parts or mattresses. That's not what they sell at Lowe's. They sell hardware, paint, plumbing supplies, lumber, shingles, concrete, plants, etc.
I don't think the original Lowe's store carried any firearms either. I've seen pictures of its inventory and for one thing they wouldn't have had any room to stock them. You have to remember that Lowe's invented that format of store and others, like Home Depot, copied it. The concept of a chain of stores which sold hardware and lumber and all the trappings all under one roof originated with this company.
Home Depot incorporated in 1978 and basically copied the Lowe's format. Since then anything one does, the other mimics and it's become a chicken or the egg situation.
My point is don't get mad at the chain stores because they're not an old fashioned hardware store. They never were, and they never meant to be. These stores don't sell guns because they're anti gun, they don't sell them because they never meant to sell guns in the first place. It's like getting mad at Michelin Tires or Baskin Robbins Ice Cream for not selling guns.
As a matter of fact, I make this speech because I'm proud of my former employer for this reason right here:
http://www2.millionmommarch.org/timeout/?recipient=1
Anybody who pisses off the MMM Nazis is all right with me!