Independent profile. Not owned, sponsored or endorsed by Bud's Gun Shop.

Bud's Gun Shop Reviews, Complaints & Contacts

Bud's Gun Shop is an online and brick-and-mortar firearms retailer headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, operating since 2003 under the legal name Budsgunshop.com, LLC. It holds active federal firearms licenses (FFLs) for its Lexington, KY and Sevierville, TN retail locations, and is BBB accredited (A+) since 2008. The company has an active BBB complaint history and a mix of positive and negative independent reviews, and has been named as a defendant in civil litigation, including an ongoing case connected to a 2022 mass shooting.

REVIEWS & COMPLAINTS29on USAComplaints · none in last 3 yrs · latest 2012
PHONE859-368-0371
WEBSITEbudsgunshop.com
HEADQUARTERSLexington, KY
PROFILE CHECKED2026-08-20figures from other sites seen 2026-08-24
Submit a Complaint Read reviews & complaints ↓ Call 859-368-0371 Official website ↗

Contacts & Payment

PhoneEmailAddress

Cancel, billing & returns

Fax & written correspondence

  • UnverifiedFax800-804-5569

Other contacts

Show all 9 contacts

Other contacts (continued)

VERIFIED

Locations

  • Headquarters1105 Industry Road Lexington KY 40505
  • Branch office2270 Two Rivers Blvd Sevierville TN 37876
  • Branch office820 N Main St Uncle Lee's Greenville KY 42345
EDITORIAL

Is Bud's Gun Shop Legitimate?

BBB, Google, Trustpilot

Legal name
Budsgunshop.com, LLC
Founded
2003
Business type
Firearms Retailer
Website
budsgunshop.comSource: checked 2026-08-19
Headquarters
Lexington, KYSource: checked 2026-08-19

Bud's Gun Shop, operated by Budsgunshop.com, LLC and founded in 2003, holds active ATF federal firearms licenses for its Lexington and Sevierville locations, is registered with the Kentucky Secretary of State, and has been BBB-accredited since 2008 with an A+ rating.

Separately, the company has been named as a defendant in civil litigation, including a case connected to the 2022 Highland Park, Illinois mass shooting. These are allegations that have not been resolved by a court and should not be read as established findings against the company. Reported court activity in the Highland Park matter so far includes a denied motion to dismiss, not a judgment on the merits; verify the current status of other litigation involving the company directly before treating it as current.

On day-to-day service, independent review platforms show a mixed but generally positive picture (Trustpilot 4.4/5 from approximately 970 reviews; a Lexington-location Google rating of 4.4 from 8,000+ reviews) alongside 119 BBB complaints in the prior three years and a documented history of complaints on this site, most concentrated in 2009–2012, largely concerning shipping delays, refunds, and customer service.

EXTERNAL SOURCE

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

BBBlast 3 years
119 complaints · BBB business grade A+
Google
8,033 reviews · average customer rating 4.4 / 5
Trustpilot
971 reviews · TrustScore 4.4 / 5
EDITORIAL

Complaint Themes

Shipping and order fulfillment delays (7 of 29)Refunds and returns (5 of 29)Customer service responsiveness (4 of 29)Payment security / unauthorized charges (3 of 29)Order accuracy — wrong or used item received (3 of 29)Cancellation, change, and layaway fees (3 of 29)Reviews removed or restricted (1 of 29)Billing dispute after cancellation (1 of 29)

Themes summarize what people write about most often. One complaint can touch several themes, and some complaints (a positive report, or one later retracted by its author) fit none, so themes are not a count of complaints.

CONSUMER ALLEGATION

Reviews & Complaints on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 29 historical complaints about Bud's Gun Shop, published between 2009 and 2012. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources on this page.

Show 15 more on this page
EDITORIAL

Complaint Pattern Summary

Among the 29 historical complaints USAComplaints has on file for Bud's Gun Shop (published 2009–2012), each was assigned a single primary theme reflecting its central issue: 7 — shipping or order-fulfillment delays; 5 — refunds or returns; 4 — customer-service responsiveness; 3 — payment security or unauthorized charges; 3 — receiving a used or incorrect item; 3 — cancellation, order-change, or layaway fees; 1 — a removed or restricted review; 1 — a billing dispute after cancellation. That accounts for 27 of the 29. The remaining 2 fall outside this theme breakdown entirely: one report was later retracted by its own author after the company resolved the issue, and one was actually a positive experience rather than a complaint about a problem.

These are primary-theme counts, not an exhaustive tally of every issue a complaint raised, and they describe the pattern in USAComplaints' own historical 2009–2012 archive — not the company's current service, which independent sources on this page suggest has since changed. This is a factual count of what each complaint was primarily about, not a judgment on whether any individual complaint's allegations were accurate.

Had an experience with Bud's Gun Shop? Tell other people what happened.

Submit a Complaint
EDITORIAL

What To Do

  • Verify any contact claiming to be from Bud's Gun Shop against the phone numbers and email addresses listed on this page, sourced from the company's own official pages.
  • Firearms purchases from an online retailer must legally transfer through a licensed FFL dealer in your state — confirm your receiving dealer's license before completing an order.
  • Keep records of all order confirmations, shipping notices, and correspondence, especially for layaway or financing agreements.
  • If you have an unresolved dispute, you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or, for suspected deceptive practices, your state Attorney General's consumer protection office.
  • File a complaint with USAComplaints if you have a current, unresolved dispute with this company.
PUBLIC RECORD

Court & Public Records

Budsgunshop.com, LLC v. Security Safe Outlet, Inc. and Matthew Denninghoff

Settled

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of KentuckyDocket 5:10-cv-00390-KSFSource ↗

SettledBudsgunshop.com, LLC was the plaintiff (not defendant) in this 2010 trade-secrets and customer-database misappropriation dispute connected to the online business's spin-out from a predecessor retail entity. Per the federal docket, all claims, counterclaims, and third-party claims were resolved by an agreed order on May 9, 2013, dismissing the case with prejudice as settled, with each party bearing its own fees and costs.

Caldwell v. Budsgunshop.com, LLC, Bass Pro World, LLC, Standard Manufacturing Co., LLC

Dismissed

U.S. District Court, District of MinnesotaDocket 0:25-cv-03253Source ↗

DismissedA product liability lawsuit naming Budsgunshop.com, LLC as one of several defendants was filed August 14, 2025. Per the court docket, Budsgunshop.com, LLC was terminated as a defendant on October 15, 2025 (Bass Pro World, LLC was terminated the same date). The case continues against the remaining defendant, Standard Manufacturing Co., LLC, with a scheduling order entered March 5, 2026. The docket does not state the specific grounds for Budsgunshop.com's dismissal (e.g., settlement, stipulation, or a finding on the merits) — only that it was dismissed as a party. No judgment against Budsgunshop.com, LLC was identified.

Highland Park shooting victims v. Smith & Wesson Brands, Budsgunshop.com LLC, Red Dot Arms, Inc., et al.

Filed

Circuit Court of Lake County, IllinoisDocket 22-LA-00000487Source ↗

Filed — no final outcome recordedConsolidated civil suits by victims of the July 2022 Highland Park, Illinois mass shooting name Budsgunshop.com, LLC as one of several defendants, alleging it sold and shipped an AR-pattern rifle that was later used by the shooter, transferred through an Illinois-licensed dealer (Red Dot Arms). These are allegations, not established findings. In April 2025, Lake County Circuit Judge Jorge Ortiz denied motions to dismiss filed by Budsgunshop.com, LLC and Red Dot Arms (and denied Smith & Wesson's in part), allowing the consolidated cases to proceed toward discovery. On January 28, 2026, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered the Second District Appellate Court to hear an interlocutory appeal of that ruling — captioned in part as Roberts v. Budsgunshop.com, LLC, No. 2-25-0275 — after the appellate court had denied leave to appeal in September 2025. As of this update, the appellate court has not yet ruled on the merits of that appeal. No final judgment against Budsgunshop.com, LLC has been identified, and the case's status after January 28, 2026 was not independently confirmed through an open, unauthenticated court-records source.
EDITORIAL

Overview

Bud's Gun Shop has operated since 2003; its current legal entity, Budsgunshop.com, LLC, was formed in Kentucky on May 17, 2007. It is headquartered at 1105 Industry Road in Lexington, Kentucky. It operates three physical retail locations — the Lexington headquarters, a branch with an indoor range in Sevierville, Tennessee, and an affiliated store, Uncle Lee's, in Greenville, Kentucky — alongside its primary online storefront at budsgunshop.com.

The company holds active federal firearms licenses (FFLs) issued by the ATF for both its Kentucky and Tennessee premises. It has been BBB accredited since May 2008 and currently holds an A+ BBB rating.

VERIFIED

Company Relationships

  • Affiliated withBuds TN LLC
  • Affiliated witheGunner.com
  • Affiliated withShipMyGun.com
  • Affiliated withUncle Lee's (Greenville, KY)
EDITORIAL

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bud's Gun Shop a legitimate business?

Bud's Gun Shop is a licensed firearms dealer with active ATF federal firearms licenses for its Kentucky and Tennessee locations, and it has been BBB-accredited since 2008 with an A+ rating. Separately, it is currently named as a defendant in pending civil litigation; those are unresolved allegations, not established findings. The company information section has the full picture.

Does Bud's Gun Shop have a mobile app?

Note that a Google Play app called "Bud's Goods" (package org.springbig.budsGoods) exists but appears to belong to an unrelated cannabis retailer — it is not affiliated with Bud's Gun Shop.

How does Bud's Gun Shop compare to GrabAGun?

Both are online firearms retailers that ship orders through a licensed FFL dealer for legal transfer. Bud's Gun Shop's Trustpilot rating (4.4/5, 971 reviews) was higher than GrabAGun's (about 3.2/5, 990 reviews). This is a general reputation snapshot, not a detailed price or product comparison.

Sources (3)

Bud's Gun Shop (own site)

Public records

Review sites