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By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: October 16, 2008

DADE CITY - Neil Summers' business practices are remarkably simple, but they have worked for nearly 50 years.

He opened Pasco Gun Sports at 36010 State Road 52, west of Pasco High School, in 1982. Since then, he has attracted local customers and firearms enthusiasts from across the Southeast.

He opened his first gun shop in his native Wisconsin in 1959.

"Just pay attention to the customer and take care of them," Summers, 71, said of his business philosophy. "Be honest with them."

He paused a moment.

"And," he said, "I make a point of not selling junk."

As proof, Summers grabbed a Benelli rifle from behind the counter and ran a hand across its Turkish walnut stock.

Standing nearby, employee Terry Speegle said sales at the shop have been steady despite the sluggish economy.

"Things haven't really dropped off at all," he said. "In fact, sales are starting to pick up."
Speegle has worked at the store a little more than a year. He and Summers constantly kid each other about topics such as politics, guns and marriage.

Speaking of Barbara, his wife of 12 years, Summers said: "She's my best friend, my companion ..."

Before he could continue, Speegle said: "Where is she? She must be in here somewhere."

Summers countered with a comment about Speegle's future at the business.

On a nearby wall, a sign read: "Old Age And Treachery Will Overcome Youth & Skill."

Besides guns, the store carries firearm handbooks, bullets, targets, holsters, leather shooting gloves, shotgun cases, gun-cleaning kits and rust remover, as well as knives.

Hanging above the sales floor are several antique guns.

"I was born and raised on a farm," Summers said. "From the time I could crawl, there was always a gun in the corner to keep the predators away from the chickens. When I was young boy, we'd have big family reunions, and after everybody ate, the men would go off and do 'men things.' It's just always been a part of me."

But Summers doesn't simply enjoy firing guns. He views them as works of art.

"I love the craftsmanship," he said. "They're ingenious. Yes, they're implements of war, but they're also implements of recreation and investment. You buy stocks and CDs, the government gets a bead on it. A gun, the government won't tax the hell out of."

For gun collectors and marksmen, that's a good thing. You could spend less on an air-conditioning unit than on some of the high-end merchandise at Pasco Gun Sports, like the Benelli rifle, which sells for more than $5,000.

However, longtime customer Jim Smith of Land O' Lakes said the store stocks guns in all price ranges.

"They're all quality, though," said Smith, owner of Borrell Electric in Tampa. "They don't have 500 brands; they have the really good ones. They don't want to sell something they'll have to turn around and fix."

Besides the quality of the merchandise, Smith said the rapport he has developed with Summers and his employees keeps him coming back. If there was a gun shop in Andy Griffith's mythical town of Mayberry, he said, it would probably be Pasco Gun Sports.

Not that the business hasn't adapted to modern practices.

"I'm looking at a gun now, and they're sending me pictures over e-mail so I can pick a stock I like and they can make whatever modifications," Smith said. "They can be trusted. That's unusual these days. Other people just want to get your sale and see you gone."

Part of Summers' success must be attributed to his passion for the business. He loves it so much his employees are convinced he will never retire.

"I run the store for him, but he's still going strong," Speegle said. "He has no plans for a full-scale retirement. Retirement for him will probably be to take three or four months off every now and then. But he'll always come back.

"He'll probably die at this store. Seriously."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613.

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