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Military Veteran Derrick Turner Is the New Owner of Bare Arms LLC
Owners Derrick and Melissa Turner
KAHLO IS HONORING OUR EMERGENCY RESPONDERS
BUY PERSONAL VEHICLES AT GOVERNMENT PRICING MILITARY VETERAN DERRICK TURNER IS THE NEW OWNER OF BARE ARMS LLC
Writer / Jon Shoulders Photographer / Amy Payne When Derrick Turner assumed ownership of Noblesville-based firearm business Bare Arms LLC in late 2018, he immediately began to transform the shop’s culture and customer experiences. A military veteran and former contract sniper, Turner values the importance of listening to each and every customer to determine their specific needs and arriving at the most fitting products for that customer based on those needs. “We’ve tried to help customers by really listening to them, instead of telling them what direction they should go without any information,” Turner says. Originally from Pendleton, Turner joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2006 after graduating from Pendleton Heights High School and served for six years. “Both my grandfathers were in the military, and I had one uncle in the Marine Corps and another uncle in the Navy,” Turner says. “I wasn’t too into the college thing, so after high school I decided it would be best for me to join.” Turner was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Camp Pendleton in southern California for much of his time in the military and finished his service in Quantico, Virginia. After finishing active duty Turner served as a police officer in Virginia for six years, four of which he spent on a full-time SWAT team as leader of the team’s sniper unit. During his time with the police force, Turner completed five law enforcement sniper courses in Virginia and Maryland. He’s quick to give credit for his knowledge of firearms and proper firearm techniques to his superiors in the military and police force, as well as his instructors at the various sniper schools he attended. “I was in the right place at the right time, with a lot of great older guys that were willing to teach me,” Turner says. “Having a wife that was willing to play along so that I could go and do all the training, and be away from home, was important.” After resigning from the police force in 2017 and beginning contract work for the Department of State overseas as a sniper, Turner and his wife Melissa, also a Pendleton native and Pendleton Heights High School grad, decided to relocate back home to Indiana to be closer to family. “The original plan was to move back home, continue contract work for two years and then join the Indiana State Police working for one of their SWAT teams,” Turner says. “While I was overseas, the opportunity to buy Bare Arms came up, and my wife was a little tired of being a single parent for four kids and we jumped at the opportunity. The previous owner and I had a mutual acquaintance, and they knew I was looking for something to get me out of contract work.” Turner officially took over as owner of the 9900 PLEASANT STREET | NOBLESVILLE, IN 46060 (317) 399-9069 | HELLOKAHLO.COM
business in November of 2018, and as he was overseas for the first four weeks of ownership, he turned to Melissa and her father to handle the initial stages of the transition. Bare Arms typically houses a wide variety of handguns, rifles, ammunition, cases, knives, archery products and cleaning supplies, as well as protective eye and ear equipment.
“They really got the ball rolling until I got back, which was so important because there’s so much involved with buying and selling a gun legally,” Turner says. “And as a first-time small business owner, there’s a whole lot you don’t know that you don’t know, so to speak.”
Turner says he’s completely overhauled the business and that the only aspect of the store that has stayed the same since he took over as owner is its name.
“The entire culture here is completely different now,” he says. “There are some guns I know a lot about and some I have no idea about. Folks appreciate that I’m honest with them and answer their questions directly and point them in the right direction if I don’t know something.” “It’s all customer-driven here,” Turner says. “You tell me what you’re looking for and what you’re trying to do with the gun, and I’ll try to find the gun that best fits your needs. I’m not going to try to tell you what I think you need.”
Turner says his wife Melissa has been instrumental in the shop’s success since 2018.
“The work and effort she’s put into it has been invaluable,” he says. “She’s done a lot of the accounting, the tax paperwork and a lot of the things that aren’t fun that make a business work. She nails it and does a great job.”
Turner is in the process of reopening an outdoor, 100-yard gun range on the East 206th Street property formerly occupied by Fox Prairie Gun Range. “The owner of Fox Prairie Gun Range, Jeff Kruse, passed away in January, and his family reached out to us about it,” Turner says, adding that the range is slated to reopen this spring. “It will be the only 100-yard outdoor range in Hamilton County open to the public, and when you reserve your time, it’s just you out there with whoever you want to have with you - you don’t share the range with anybody. It’s a really great venue.”
Bare Arms LLC is located at 2370 Conner Street in Noblesville. For additional information, including product details, customer testimonials, an online shop and more, visit barearmsllc.net. or call 317-770-6626.
KAHLO IS HONORING OUR EMERGENCY RESPONDERS
BUY PERSONAL VEHICLES AT GOVERNMENT PRICING
We partnered with Tony Katz and WIBC for “Hoosiers Helping Heroes.” We will be providing meals from local restaurants, snacks, and drinks to all staff at hospitials. For more information visit wibc.com/hoosiers-helping-heroes
