Harrell’s Top Tips for Pandemic Gun Buyers
Russ Chastain 04.14.20
In this video, gun guru Paul Harrell offers his top five (yes five, even though the video title says ten) tips for buying guns during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a longer video, so be ready for that.
He starts out by introducing himself, because he assumes the video will be seen by a lot of people who are not familiar with him or his resume.
He describes his advice in this way:
My five tips on how non-firearms enthusiasts can make good decisions in buying firearms in this situation.
Here are the high points:
1) Be highly skeptical of those who would presume to give you advice — especially those who work at gun stores.
2) Any gun is better than no gun — providing you can operate it safely and it works as it should.
During point number two, he goes off track “chasing rabbits” as he decides to give a demonstration and dissertation on the 22 rifle and its accuracy and power. I am disappointed in Paul for shooting these targets without a backstop. That’s just irresponsible. He also includes old break-action shotguns, and his reason for these is that many people actually own old 22 rifles and/or old shotguns but are not necessarily “gun people” or even knowledgeable about how their guns work.
Then he gives an oration and talks about an old revolver owned by a non-gun-person which is obviously not safe to shoot — and which isn’t even marked as far as what cartridge it was designed for.
3 & 4) Simplicity vs. capacity.
He calls this two different points, but to me it’s only one — which is why he says “they’re linked.” His point: Much of the time, the simplest firearms are the ones that hold the least amount of ammo. Examples would of course include single-shot rifles and shotguns, as well as revolvers. All of these are extremely simple and easy to use, but don’t hold a bunch of ammo.
He wanders far and wide by discussing home defense scenarios at great length, with the ultimate point being easily summed up as, “Sometimes you need to fire a lot of ammo in a home defense situation, but sometimes you don’t.” He then does some shooting demonstrations which are probably of value for new gun buyers.
After 15+ minutes on this topic, he recommends a firearm of which he says, “I do believe it’s a good quality firearm, however, I don’t particularly care for them that much.”
Spoiler alert: It’s a Glock. Ugh.
5) Go for what you know.
Not a gun person, but used an M16 in the military? Get an AR. Don’t own a gun, but used a revolver as a security guard decades ago? Get a revolver.
True to form, Paul tosses in a sixth point:
6) Obey your local laws.
Be cognizant of local laws, which may include restrictions on magazine capacity and the like, and be sure to follow those laws. No sense giving anyone a reason to toss you in jail, right? That would be it REALLY difficult to defend your home.
Enjoy the video.
