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.
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