Having worked at a firearm retailer and shooting range for close to a decade, I have had the pleasure (and displeasure) of dealing with some really interesting customers and co-workers. There are some great people that work in the firearm industry that are well educated on product and customer service, but its the industry’s “knuckleheads” that garner the most attention and have given us a very poor stereotype. I began working  in the industry part time because I enjoyed the shooting sports. My previous work experience was from the restaurant industry as a server and owning and operating a small martial arts training center. As difficult as some customers are in the gun the industry, working as a server for many years made it rather easy. Gun customers can be very difficult, but not as difficult as a drunk or worse yet hungry “guest.” Anything bad that can be said to a person is generally said to a restaurant server on a daily basis. I also valued my prior experience running a martial arts school as I enjoyed teaching people things that they didn’t already know. Sometimes it can be very difficult, but seeing a novice customer leave with a little more knowledge is very fulfilling.

My new co-workers at the gun shop fell into two different categories: Young adults of college age with little work experience and middle aged adults who were lifetime hunters or valued other outdoor activities. Younger salespeople looked to the elders for advice on customer service and product knowledge. Generally more opinions than facts seemed to float around behind the counter, but there was some firearm education present. Compared to the other stores in the local area, the staff at this store was slightly more knowledgeable and slightly more friendly to the general public. This is why I enjoyed this particular store and had frequented it often before my employment.

Over the course of my first 3-4 years at this store, I moved from part time to full time and became a much more educated salesperson. Although, a couple of my co-workers did add to my education, most of the knowledge I acquired in that time was from researching on my own and live fire practice on the range. Although, there is a lot of information present on the internet about the different guns out there, reading just doesn’t match shooting those guns, taking them apart, cleaning them and so on. I had a passion for shooting and for sales. I often had to bite my lip when dealing with certain customers, but I tried to not let the know-it-all, berating, obnoxious customers get me dowm. Other sales staff were not as successful and I regretfully saw many of them come and go. Some just didn’t want to take the time to learn the plethora of information out there, others were disrespectful and prejudiced towards some, and many just couldn’t deal with the rude customers that came in on a daily basis.

After a few years of working at the store, I took over management. The store was not making the numbers it needed to at the time, and I was given the opportunity to turn it around. Although, I could spend a lot of time going in depth on how I made such a turn around, I will only focus on one facet: Customer Service. Although, there may quite a few firearm retailers in our local area, most lack quality customer service. They are for the most part rude and uneducated. It wasn’t hard to raise the bar so to speak, but it took quite some time for the public to acknowledge the change. It wasn’t as easy as saying, here are the rules. I constantly had to be pushing and pulling with employees for them to offer great customer service to everyone, not just those customers they liked. Over time, we did get there and we had many customers willing to pay our marginally higher prices just because we gave them exceptional customer service. We grew so fast after that point, that our customer service issues shifted from bettering our attitude to trying to keep up with so many customers in the store at one time.

But, how as a customer do we deal with the average gun store commando who is so uneducated and rude? Well, if you have options on where to shop then I would explore those other options. There are a lot of stores out there that spend a lot of time and money educating and training their employees to better serve you. Those stores are more deserving of your patronage and you will find yourself more happily fulfilled in shopping there. Sometimes those better stores have lower prices and some may be marginally more. I personally am willing to pay a little more for quality and friendly service. This is how wide spread changes are made in a capitalistic society.

Another option is purchasing your firearms, ammunition, and accessories online. Although, the firearm industry is a little backward online compared to say the electronics industry; it has come a long way. You can find great prices, free shipping, quick delivery, and even quality customer service through online entities. Questions can still be asked via email or through the companies social media networks and many online companies can be just as informative and friendly as the better local stores. If you don’t have an educated and friendly local firearm retailer, going on line is logical less stress choice than dealing with those grumpy gun shop geeks.

Sometimes, a good store will have one or two bad employees or more often maybe there is just a misunderstanding with an otherwise good employee. If this happens simply wait for another salesperson to help you. Although, you may not find a lot of head way by asking for a manager on duty, you may find better service this way. Be respectful in the way you do this though. Being the boss, I didn’t mind if a customer had a problem or complaint they wanted to bring to my attention. If you go over the top though, cursing and making a scene, I would ask you to leave even if the problem you had with our salesperson was legitimate. You may think that the manager or boss will cower to such techniques, but I for one would not. If you disrupted my store, I’d be more than happy to allow you to spend your money elsewhere.

If you don’t have a friendly store and don’t wish to purchase online, you may just have to suck it up and deal with some poor customer service and attitude. If this is the only choice you have, don’t go into the store with a combative attitude yourself. Being rude to a rude salesperson won’t get you anywhere closer to getting that gun you want. Be friendly, be polite, and be patient. Many of the more rude salespersons out there are rude because they have to deal with a lot of jerks on a daily basis. If you define yourself as one of those jerks, you just justified his poor attempt at customer service. It shouldn’t be this way, but it may be your reality. Make sure to greet the salesperson when entering the store. This will make them relax a little as people who say hello aren’t usually the ones trying to rob them (I know this sounds absurd, but it is how a lot in the industry think). Greeting the salesperson also alerts them to your presence. It subconsciously says that you are there to buy something and you are an alright guy or girl.

Next, be patient. Sometimes a store is just busy and the salesperson doesn’t mean to be rude. Be patient after greeting him and wait your turn. This doesn’t mean you should let other customers come in after you and barge their way in. If that happens, stand your ground and make sure the new customer and the salesperson know that you have been waiting patiently and now are ready for you turn. After you are being helped, let the salesperson know what you are looking for. More information is better. Are you looking for a concealable firearm, something for home defense, something for target or competition shooting, something that looks pretty,  something for all the above? A good salesperson will engage you and ask these questions. A poor salesperson will not, so you need to step up and let them know. Just because they are poor at proper sales, they may still have the knowledge you need to make a proper choice.

After giving the information they need to assess what you will need, feel free to ask questions about the options they present to you. Be respectful of the firearm handed to you, don’t try to take it apart, and don’t point it at the salesperson or anyone else around you. Working at a gun store and range, we get a lot of loaded firearms pointed at us. WE DON’T LIKE THAT. Even with a new in box unloaded firearm, it can stir those past memories if you are pointing that gun at our heads. Although, you should ask the questions you have about the firearm, don’t spend 4 hours doing so. There are probably a lot of other customers in the store that need assistance. Be courteous of those other customers and the salesperson helping you. As much as we like to help customers and talk about guns, even good customer services representatives have other guests to help and other work to get done. If you can’t make a decision right away, let the salesperson help someone else why you think it over.

One of the hardest things to do is deal with a condescending attitude from the person helping us. If you are new the firearms industry or just don’t feel the need to know EVERYTHING about every gun ever made, you will most likely slip up and use the wrong terminology, hold the gun incorrectly, or just ask a “stupid” question. A good salesperson won’t attack you and most likely correct you in a very polite way. The lesser in our industry will blurt out caustic remarks to belittle you and boost their self-esteem. This is extremely irritating for a customer. I’ve had employees that did that and they only did it once. But, if you have no choice but to deal with that jerk, then you are better off just keeping your cool, possibly taking note of their poorly made correction, and finally paying and getting out of there as soon as possible. I know it’s tough, but sometimes as customers we have to bite our lip, just like how I had to bite my lip as salesperson on the opposite receiving end.

Finally, you have made it through a few of the hurdles of dealing with poor customer service, paid and ready to go. Although, I personally do not wish to give my money to stores with horribly rude customer service, you have done so and made it out the door. The biggest issue you can have at this point is if your firearm is defective in some way and have to return to the store. Finding a store with great customer service even if a little more expensive pays for itself at this point. They won’t trouble you with a return or will help you get the gun fixed as soon as possible. It’s hard to overstate how much finding a good store will make your buying experience so much better. If you made it out the door with your gun though, you most likely gained a little more knowledge than you had prior to that experience. Although, you may not know a lot more about guns, you do know more about the buying process. This will help you be a little more prepared or a little more picky in choosing the next store you will give your money.

This is one of the coolest AR pictures in my opinion.

I see a lot of bloggers drawing a parallel between the AR-15 (or occasionally other assault rifles) and the Japanese Samurai’s Katana. Since the AR-15 is uniquely American and it’s popularity unmatched in the free world it is easy to draw a line between it and the symbol of the Japanese Samurai: the Katana. It makes a beautiful narrative as the modern warrior has made the rifle not only a part of his work life, be it law enforcement or military, but also of his entire identity. LEO and Military both active and retired are not the only to do this, and many civilians have made such a dedication and are just as fine a shooter and or warrior as those with a profession requiring it. So is the modern assault rifle or more specifically, the AR-15, the modern equivalent of the Katana.

The Katana, which is a curved single edged (usually) sword, was developed in Japan over the course of well over a thousand years. Early Japanese swords were most likely iron swords imported from China or Korea. The first swords used by the ancient Japanese warriors lacked the curved edge we know today and were used by foot soldiers. The evolution of the curved blade began with the introduction of the Tachi which had a much deeper curve than the Katana. It was developed as the Japanese began to employ more mounted troops and the deep curve made it an effective weapon while on horseback. As the centuries passed, the wars in Japan became more populated by foot soldiers and the Tachi evolved into a much less curved weapon. It was finally evolving into what we recognize as the Katana. There were many different designs of Katana (just as there are many rifle designs today) that were more or less popular throughout it’s history but by about the 16th century it had nearly reached the peek of it’s evolution.

When we think of a Japanese Samurai we immediately think of the Katana as the weapon of choice. It is known that the identity and status of a Samurai was partly tied to the style and quality of the sword he carried (think of your average gun fanboy and hater today). Today when thinking of our modern warriors, SWAT members, Special Forces operators, and so on; we usually picture that warrior with an M4 or other AR-15 variant. But, I don’t think we should easily draw a parallel between the two weapons. A lot of other history has been left out of the story as to what Samurai’s armed themselves with as they went to war. Katana, Wakazashi’s (basically a short sword without going into too much detail), and tanto’s (long knives) were carried by the Samurai usually on a daily basis and also into combat, but they weren’t the most common weapons seeing use on the battlefield. Bows (Yumi), spears (Yari), and poll weapons were the common fair. The Katana and other swords were delegated for use in closer quarters battle if the need would arise or if their main weapon was broken or lost. A projectile weapon was generally preferred over a handheld blade by any culture in history that has had the choice. Eventually the bow gave way to the matchlock rifle in the 16th century and the Samurai’s used them in warfare and trained with them as they would any other weapon. The Katana was used when it was needed, but a rifleman or archer would generally be more effective on a battlefield just as it is today.

So, why is it that the Katana and even the medieval sword so iconic of the warriors that used them? Why do we not think often of a spear, bow, or polearm when thinking of the warriors of our past? There are a few reasons, but the one I will concentrate on is…..Peace time. Japan was almost constantly at war for more than a thousand years, but that changed at the beginning of the 17th century in what is known as the Edo period. During this period in Japanese history there was relative wide spread peace throughout Japan. Samurai’s still trained daily, dueled with their opposition, but were not heading to the battlefield as they were the prior 1000 years. Bows were not carried on their shoulder, neither were spears, but their swords still hung in their belts. They were not the great implement of war that the rifle was, but they were an effective personal defense weapon for an age of peace.

Although we have been at war for a decade, we are not at “war” here at home. We live in relative peace and so a parallel between the Edo period in Japan and our modern period in the US exists. Most of us spend more time fussing about how pretty our firearm is and what cool accessories we can add to it so we can show it off to our friends. We, just like the Samurai of the Edo period, have the luxury of such pursuits. Although, some may argue strongly against me, the rifle or specifically the AR is NOT the Modern Day Katana. What do I think is? The Pistol. The pistol is an inferior weapon when compared to the rifle in equally skilled hands just as the Katana was inferior to polearms and projectile weapons. But both of our societies look down on walking the streets while carrying the better weapons of war. Our modern day samurai’s do not go about their daily lives with a rifle slung across their back, but they can and do with a pistol tucked into their belt. The samurai’s were focused and efficient warriors. As the great wars ended and the sword and knife were the weapons of a more peaceful time, their training focused on those weapons. The arms of the battlefield were not forgotten and their training endured, but they were not the greatest focus. Today we should focus ourselves on the same.

Too often do I hear of CCW holders that will spend thousands on carbine classes, but don’t train with the “katana” on their permit. Preparing for war or just enjoying the shooting past time are fine endeavors and I suggest it to most, but we need to prepare ourselves for what will most commonly occur in our lifetime. Crime is prevalent in our society and it’s almost inevitable that it will touch us once or twice in our lifetime. Training and practicing with the weapon we can and will carry daily is very important because of this. We can all hope that we never have the need, but living prepared will more than likely keep you living. I know that putting $4000 dollars into our AR’s in preparation of the Zombie Apocalypse is fun, but how about dedicating some of that money to training with your $500 carry pistol. The katana may not have been the best weapon of war that a samurai had, but did that make them train with it any less? So, let’s pull out those modern katana’s concealed in our belt and get some real training and practice in.

Why are magazine editors, bloggers, and social network writers so opinionated and passionate about Glock’s, 1911′s, .45acp’s, .357 mag’s, revolvers, semi automatics, Company A, Company B, of course everyone hates company C, and so on? To start, there are good gun designs and bad gun designs. There are good companies and bad ones. There are more efficient calibers for certain purposes and others that are less efficient, but is that the reason why these writers are SO OPINIONATED? For some it could be that their personal experience has endeared them to those specific items. If something saves your life, you will most likely praise it every chance you get, but that isn’t the reason why a lot of bloggers and writers do what they do. They do it…..wait for it….because it gets them attention, readers, and devout followers, and engaged haters.

If I pull out my soap box and begin giving you 10 different reasons of why a 1911 in .45 acp is the best choice for a self defense weapon, many of you will passively nod your head and agree. If I list those 10 different reasons plus I add ten reasons why it is better than a Glock then not as many will agree but it will spark a debate that garners the thread more attention from both the “fanboys” and the “haters”. People will argue and say bad things to each other why their firearm is better than the other and suddenly there is an engaged base of readers. So, why not make these opinions known, gain more followers, and have a more successful blog? First your statements may not be correct, and second those incorrect statements may be accepted by individuals who spread the Gospel of the 1911 to others and not allow their friends to purchase anything else even if another option is more applicable to their needs.

I very recently read an article on why you SHOULDN’T use a .357 mag for defense! A video was posted showing a person unsuccessfully managing the recoil of a large steel frame .357 mag revolver. After watching the video it is easy to accept the author’s premise that it would be nearly impossible to effectively use a .357 mag revolver of any size in a stressful life or death struggle. There were some minor points thrown in that with sufficient practice one could learn to shoot it well, but there wasn’t enough evidence of that type to change point of the post. So, I asked myself, “Does the writer really believe that a .357 mag revolver is a poor choice for self defense or is his motive just to strike up an engaged debate?” I couldn’t imagine one would believe that you really couldn’t use a .357 mag revolver for self defense. For years many law enforcement agencies carried .357 mag revolvers (The Smith and Wesson model 19 being a fine example) and their officers were involved in many shootings during that time period. The statistics showing the .357 mag as one of the very best “one shot stoppers” (That’s a whole other topic) were mostly created during that period in law enforcement history. Now many of us know that the average law enforcement officers trains less than he “qualifies” so I don’t believe an excuse of extreme training would benefit any argument to the contrary.

So, as readers should we buy into a gun writers opinion. Well, it really depends on what credible information that opinion is based. There are many educated and honest gun writers out there that have their personal preference for particular firearms, gear, and ammunition. They preference those items because of years of experience using them on the range or on duty. They are honest about why they have the preference and the opinions they do. Rarely, do you hear one of these writers say “This Gun is the Best Gun in the Entire World!” and if you don’t have it and carry it every day then you are a dummy. Whenever you hear that soap box style rambling make sure you read deeper before you pick up your own soap box. Lastly, there are writers that will never say anything negative at all about any product even if a negative review is warranted. This is another common problem in our industry where writers are too afraid to call out a major manufacturer for making a sub standard product.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t great writers and blogs out there that are 99% honest, but infrequently try to create a more engaged audience. As much as I want to leave a comment on those blogs booing the incredulous article, I usually resist that urge so that I do not give them exactly what they desire.

In preparation for the release of UbiSoft’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier, this teaser film short was made. It is a very well produced and written movie and at 23 minutes it is a pretty good size for a short film. By the end of it, I was wishing they made a full 2 hour feature film! Like most future soldier films it does have some cheesy future tech stuff. Although, I am sure that technology will eventually have the ability to make some of the items you will see in the movie and most likely the game, it is still funny to see how they are implemented by the game designers. One of my favorite items shown in the film is the Harry Potter style “invisibility” cloak that looks as though their first mission was to Hogwarts to steal it. Other laughable tidbits are the Metal Gear style robot and the “futuristic” US Special Forces weapons like the H&K G36c, the heavily modified and oversized Israeli Tavor bullpup, and my favorite: the Beretta PX4 Storm (Because you know they will one day be the best thing out there). Also, in the future we will finally figure out that the best camo for our soldiers is Black.

But don’t let me making fun of the gear take away from the quality and entertainment of the movie. Their goal is to get everyone excited about the release of the game, and I believe it will do just that.

For more information on the game visit UbiSoft’s website

Larry Vickers has partnered with EA Games to show off some of the firearms and gear that will be seen in EA’s upcoming game, Medal of Honor: Warfighter. In his latest video, Vickers shows off the H&K MG36 automatic rifle and covers the operation and history of the German made military gun. Although, the G36c variant will be the model scene in the game; the MG36 is similar enough to learn about it’s operation.The video is very well produced in typical Vickers style. Check it out “Holmes”.

Mtek Weapon Systems has released they fourth generation maxillofacial protection system which is currently compatible with ACH style helmets. Mtek originally designed their facial armor with the intended use by those in vehicle mounted convoys giving them much need protection against ballistic and explosive threats. The G4 model will meet or exceed the protection level of the ACH helmet to which it is attached and is also capable of defeating a lead core 7.62×39 round at 25 feet. Mtek also boasts that it is the lightest weight facial protection system currently available.

Current color options are black, foliage green, and coyote with an optional multicam cover available for only $19.99. The Predator FAST (Facial Armor SysTem) is less expensive than the recently released Revision Military Battlskin, so the war of the facial armor systems is on. As I noted on the Revision post, these systems although tested for military use will make a fine addition to local law enforcement in the US. With competitive pricing the FAST G4 is a good choice for agencies looking for enhanced protection for their entry teams but on a tighter budget because of the economy.

Here are the stats:

What’s in the box:

•FAST G4

•Versa Mounts (With the new G4 Mask Interface)

•Mounting Bolts

•Instruction Manual

For more information visit Mtekweaponsystems.com