While we're dabbling with concepts and programs we'd like to see operational in The Gunshop of the Future, let's not forget the revolutionary LibertyLand Rental Program. How many times have you heard the phrase "You wanna shoot it, buy it." in your travels around the gunshops and indoor ranges in Metro Atlanta. Common wisdom holds that a New in the Box gun draws most of it's value from the assumption that it has yet to be fired, it's newness is pristine, it's almost like it hasn't been touched by human hands. Like there's some kind of machine that puts in the box it got shipped in. There's also the fact that most new guns are shipped with several fired cases so that those of you who live in draconian police states can drop off a fired shell with the local constabulary when you register your new gun post purchase. I think that this mindset was developed along the lines of the those used by car dealers, the absolute newness constitutes value and once you turn the key or fire a round the gun somehow loses value.

At Libertyland we think thats bunk. From experience, we know that most new guns require 250 to 300 rounds to be fired through them just to break in the mechanism. I won't even adjust sights on a firearm until I run at least that many rounds through one and I don't know how many times I've heard customers complain that thier newest purchase unexplicably hits low and left and insist that the sights on their new factory gun are off. This is usually easily dispelled by slipping into the range and demonstrating that the problem is the shooter, not the weapon.

However at LibertyLand, if you want to try out that $1,100.00 high end Sig, You can. It won't be cheap, not a $5 dollar rental, more like $50. Of course if you end up buying the damn thing, the $50 rental fee  is waived. If you just want to shoot it and go on your merry way, that'll be $50 bucks, range time and ammo pal. Overall, a much better way for our members to continue thier road of discovery along the firearms trail and get our weapons get properly broken in with factory ammo. Now, if every gun is in the rental program, do we have a discount structure in place to account for the fact that they have been fired?

Still noodling that concept as isn't there an additional value being created by the fact that the weapon has been tested and broken in? 5 boxes of 9mm ammo will set you back close to $100.00 today as well as the couple of hours of range time involved in running that many rounds thru the gun as well as the proof targets that were kept with the gun while it was in the rental program. Kind of seems like the gun ought to cost about $200 more that an untried and untested "new" gun, not $200 less.

These concepts and more will be explored at LibertyLand, the Gunshop of the Future, if it ever gets funded and built. Stay tuned for our next installment, the Continously Open Range Program (CORP).

More fun Gun Games from your Friendly Neighborhood Libertarian Community Organizer!

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