Gun rules before I buy.

     Okay, how is everyone doing today? It is time to sit back, relax and grab your favorite beverage. Today's rant has to deal with the basic guidelines and sayings that I use before I step into a gun store. These are guidelines that I have developed over the years.
      Rule #1 The Best Lessons Learned Are Self Taught. Yeah, this one is pretty self evident. People can tell you tell they know so that they pass on to you all the information they have gained so you don't go through the painful process they went through to gain knowledge. But I see it like this, You can tell me the candle is hot, you can show me the burns on your fingers to prove the candle is hot. But until I touch it, I won't believe it. I think this has to do with the natural skepticism of self centered superiority without real world experience. In other words, I know better until proven otherwise. Yeah, right. How much money, time and just plain aggravation I could have saved myself if I had taken the time to listen and apply the knowledge that others had given me about stuff in general and guns in particular. So, before you buy a gun, do some research. Talk to people, read up on the articles and, of course, do some research independent of mainstream gun publications because take what everyone says with a grain of salt.
     Rule #2 We Will See What The Day Brings. All to often people will jump on buying a gun because it is too good deal to pass up or if they don't get that gun right now it won't be there tomorrow. So what. This is a common ploy that gun dealers use to get the prospective buyer to buy the gun. Here is a little tidbit. Take a moment and relax. If you stop, stand back and ask yourself this question before getting caught up in the fervor of gun buying, "So what if I don't get that particular gun, what is the worst that can happen? I'll tell you this much. Nothing, nada, zip. Allow me to expand on this thought. Gun magazine articles talk about "jumping on the deal" and getting on a deal that was "right place and time". Ha Ha. Of course, people who write for a gun article have to write what the gun industry wants them to say. Which is, "buy guns now". Are there moments that you will come across once in a life time deals. Meh. These are rarer then a hen's tooth. All I can say is this, Do you go into a car dealership without first realizing that the sales man probably has his self interest put ahead of yours and known how much the car costs? Here is another thing to keep in mind. The advent of the online gun buying sites pretty much eliminates this phenomena of once in a lifetime deals. People pretty much know what the guns are worth and, more importantly, what they will sell for and what the public will pay. This leads me to my next rule.
     Rule #3 If You Don't See The Sucker In The Room, Chances Are It Is You. Here is a lil' tidbit. Watch for these 2 things when you are thumbing through your next gun magazine. When a gun article is done reviewing an gun, see if article they wrote has anything truly negative about the gun. Chances are they won't, especially if the gun manufacturer is really big company.  Sure they may say something about a surplus firearms or gun company or model no longer in business. But usually not against a current company. The second point is, when a gun magazine does do a write up about a certain product, see if the company that produces the product bought advertising space in the magazine. Usually it is just a couple of pages away. Why is this? The magazine people got to eat as well. Is it a conflict of interest? Yup. Does it negate the power of a truly non-biased review of product? Yup again. Now, you take this information as gospel,  and guess what? The people in the industry that are trying to get you to buy the product know that you have this information. Information that the gun industry has a strangle hold on. This article talks about how good, revolutionary or tactically superior the product is. Of course, what happens when you buy this product and it does not perform to the level of  superiority that you expected. In other words, it is a plain lemon. Take a moment and realize everyone who has this information about the gun are trying to get you to buy the gun. The gun magazines are not your wing man on this but instead have the gun manufacturer's back. The same goes for the gun dealers. I was looking at a pistol and the gun dealer said, "this had a write up in (insert favorite firearm magazine) you should buy it". So, if you start hearing sales people tell you to buy a gun, that it is a good deal, that the write up gives it 4 stars, then realize you are about to get screwed if you use this as the sole basis for your decision
     These are my rules before I go into a store. I hope they will help you in your future gun purchases. Well that is it for now.

      Okay, here we are with another person who was told they should blog. Why? Because they have something to share? Maybe. Their knowledge is so esoteric and needs to be published? Probably not. People are tired of hearing this guy go on about this stuff and being a total bore at parties? Ding Ding Ding Survey says you are right!!! This blog will be about my take on guns, buying guns, gun use, identifying guns, and dealing with different views on guns. Maybe a few tangents on other things.

      So the first entry for this blog will be on what to expect when dealing with a gun dealer at his place of business. First off understand that a gun dealer is a business person trying  to make a business. The trouble is most gun dealers don't realize this. In my experience, gun dealers fall into these categories

                    1) The brusque suspicious guy who resents you coming into his store. This gun dealer is taciturn with his speech to the point of rudeness and beyond. Why? Couple reasons come to mind. First off, he doesn't want you touching his guns. This gun dealer views all the guns as his/her personal property. He doesn't want you touching his stuff unless you are going to buy it right there, right now, with cash in hand. Period. Second reason is he hates it when people come into his store uninvited, looking at his stuff and don't buy. I had a gun dealer tell me he has this policy. "You can only look at 3 guns, cause if you look at any more you just ain't looking to buy and are wasting my time." I was looking to buy, and buy I did. Shame on me for not saying, "Dude, you really should looking into casting calls. I can see as the friendly bartender". They get into the gun dealer business to get their own guns at cost. These guys are pretty harmless and their store is usually pretty small and on the whole they are pretty useless. I say unless they have something you really want, don't bother.

                    2) The militant political activists. Hoo-boy, these guys are dead set about pushing their views onto you. No matter what. If you don't agree with them, they will just keep pushing their views and arguing one sided arguments or even get angry with you. Never mind that they might offend you based on their view of race, religion, politics or even life style. Don't get me wrong, I understand it is their store and they can do what they want. I get it, dude. Just understand that the sale of the AR-15 I was looking at just went out the window cause my kids happen to be one of those Latinos job stealing thugs you think you know something about.  Best way to deal with these guys is either don't get into a debate with them or just agree with them by nodding your head and smiling. Or as an alternative invite your debate club friend over and have them go toe to toe. Hours of fun. These are most gun dealers, so learn to just walk in, do your business and get out.  Personally, I don't give them my business. Anything else is a waste of time.

                    3) The shyster. Of all the previous gun dealers I have discussed, this guy is the worst. Another little tidbit ( remember at the beginning of the blog I talked about the reason for starting it was because of being a bore. Well, you where warned), I was buying my first deer rifle. I found one that looked good. It was a Marlin 336 but had a peep site instead of the regular ramp site. Guy told me it just came in from an earlier trade. I asked to look at it. I looked down the barrel and handed it to him. He then said,"that do you any good?". Can you say jerk? Well, I knew the barrel was worn but the price was right. I handed him the cash and filled the paper work. He then proceeded to take off the peep sight. I said, "Hold it, I bought that" to which he replied, "The price doesn't include the peep sight". Now, I was young and didn't know any better. He then told me sale final. When I got home, I noticed the cracked stock that had been repainted to hide the repair. Now, If I had a little bit of knowledge and some experience I would have said, "Guess again there, Wild Bill. Refund the money the deal is off or replace the peep site." but I didn't. I also did not go back and say, "Yo, Patton. What is up with the repair job". This guy got away with it. Why? because I didn't know better. I allowed myself to be bullied into forgetting this basic rule. If the deal isn't to your liking, walk away, there are other guns. The buyer should always beware, especially in this market, ( my next blog will be about my basic rules). Now, I don't want to be accused of slander or libel so I will not mention the gun dealer's establishment by name. I just know I do not buy guns in Conneaut Lake Pennsylvania area.

                     4) The honest to goodness decent retailer. These type of gun dealers are great. They treat every person that walks into the door as a customer, with no preferences. These people are into the business model of treating the customer decently. I mean, just because an off duty police officer walks into the store doesn't mean the gun dealer can say to you, "He is an important guy, you have to wait", even though you are next in line. That is how you lose a customer not build up a customer base. My favorite story about being in a decent gun dealer store was when a guy come in while i was being waited on and said, "Bill, I just got off duty, can you hurry up here. I don't feel like waiting for this guy." To which the gun dealer replied, "You can come back tomorrow, I am with this gentleman." This gun dealer got my business for over 12 years when I lived in Pennsylvania. I still stop by to say hello when I am in the area. Another story about this decent gun dealer, I bought a pistol that had a bad magazine. The gun was a surplus pistol and, really, there was no way to get a replacement at the time. This guy spent around 2 hours trying to fix it, and it kinda works. But, because of the problem he gave me a store discount and a holster. What a nice guy. Did it pay in the short run. No.  But during the time I lived in Pennsylvania, I bought my guns from him, my brother bought his guns from him and we sent our friends to see him. Mauer's Sporting Goods, outside of Franklin Pennsylvania, gets the decent gun dealer title. I will be putting up a blog of other good guys in Rhode Island soon.

           Okay, enough for one night. More to follow.