Illegal Gun Shop
Illegal gun shops are underground firearm dealers in the Grand Theft Auto IV rendition of Liberty City that effectively take over the role traditionally held by the Ammu-Nation gun store chain in GTA IV's predecessors.
Description
As a result of a crackdown spearheaded by Liberty City mayor Julio Ochoa against firearm ownership in the area, Ammu-Nation does not operate in Liberty City circa events in GTA IV. As a result, illegal weapon dealers are the only source for purchasable weapons in GTA IV and its episodic packs. Given their covert nature, illegal gun shops are often far less visible than Ammu-Nation stores, usually having nondescript frontages and are only easily located by gun icons on the city map (or in the case of physical maps, scribbled markers).
Much like Ammu-Nation, the player must enter the gun shop before they can select and buy weapons. Different weapons are laid out all over the interior of the gun shop, requiring the player walk to a specific point to select a specific weapon; players will only be able to purchase a weapon when they have selected it; if the player already has the same weapon in hand, the player can only purchase additional ammunition for smaller sums of cash. Players can find and access these gun shops at any point of the game, but in the case of GTA IV, most weapons are "Out of Stock" until the player completes specific missions in the game; episodic packs however make most of them available from the start.
The gun shops present other weakness when compared with gun cars; prices of weapons from the gun shops are charged in full when gun cars offer a 60% discount, and gun cars are far more mobile as they can be dispatched to the closest point to the player. In addition, the gun shops in the episodic packs do not offer any exclusive weapons otherwise available from gun cars.
Locations
There are a total of three illegal gun shops in Liberty City, each located in three major segments of the city:
- Alleyway off Dillon Street, Downtown, Broker.
- Cavity Lane and Bismark Avenue, Chinatown, Algonquin.
- Alleyway off Odhner Avenue and Traeger Road, Port Tudor, Alderney. The shop is operated by a member of The Lost, suggesting it is owned by the gang.
See also