I've got to take exception

Updated with a mea culpa: It just occurred to me that I used the wrong term when I went off on Sebastian. That's how the Affliction works sometimes.

Sebastian had a post where he illustrates PZTD (Prag Zero-Tolerence Defects):

Nothing like associating legal gun purchases of legitimate collector pieces (a gold plated Desert Eagle is a wall piece, the kind you lock behind a nice piece a glass in a nice felt lined display case) with a term generally associated with people who have large sums of cash and few ways to convert them into legitimate, untraceable assets (gang members and drug dealers).

All because a dealer called the 24k gold-plated Desert Eagle pistol in .50AE, a 'bling' gun? You mean, he told the truth. That doesn't fit into the NRA-approved PZTD commandments (Thou shall not make the gun community look like fools).

I read the whole article, and that comment was near the end of the article (where most articles put things that contradict the authors 'spin'), and I don't think it was out of place at all. A gold-plated Desert Eagle is a 'bling' gun.

But firearms dealers shouldn't talk to reporters? How would a curt 'No comment' sound to the general public? Or 'All the local gun dealers refused to talk to us about this (insert firearms-related issue here)'? Or maybe firearms dealers should go through some sort of guerrilla PR training before they talk to any reporters?

I personally don't know any actual pistol shooters who would buy a gold-plated Desert Eagle pistol. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who does so is an individual with large sums of cash wanting to convert it into a legitimate asset. I can't see anything covered on soft, 24k gold being able to withstand the rigors of firing, and I'm sure that doing so ruins the collector value of the firearm. Even if I were to win the lottery, I can't see spending 2 large on something that's going to sit in a case, or on the wall. All of the firearms I own are meant to be shot, accurately and repeatedly.

Now this is not meant to disparage firearms collectors. I've always drooled over the commemorative .45's in gold plating - I just don't have the disposable income to start and fill a collection of them. But I can't see where in a collection, the gold-plated Desert Eagle fits, save a Desert Eagle collection, or a 'bling' section.

Someone enlighten me!

pm