"The .22 from Walmart cost me $99 and I'm sure that the employee time to do all of the paperwork and jump through all of the hoops more than ate up any profit margin that Walmart should have gotten."
Retail sales force efficiency still escapes WalMart. They're there more to re-stock the shelves with the goods people scatter all over the store.
From what I've been told, Wal-Mart is the largest retailer of firearms in the country, and they order in quantities which would be unimaginable for any other entity save government agencies.
And they get discounted prices accordingly.