After this article was published in Dillon’s Blue Press, the editor received a couple of irate emails, in one case the reader demanding his subscription to The Blue Press be canceled because I had insulted his Flat Dark Earth Glock. I would have thought that, if not the overall tone of the article, then Paul Kirchner’s wonderful drawing of the Terminator-looking dude holding a purple Desert Eagle covered with hearts, peace symbols, and smiley faces would have been a subtle clue this article was not intended to be taken seriously.
I am forced to the conclusion there are a fair number of people in the world who have no sense of humor. I don’t mean they’re thin-skinned and can’t take a joke when it’s directed their way, I mean they can’t even RECOGNIZE humor when it occurs.
I am reminded of an article published years ago in Petersen’s Handguns, written by Garry James, called “The Guns of Sherlock Holmes.” The conceit in this article was that one of Dr. Watson’s descendants still owned both Holmes’ and Watson’s old carry guns, that they had used during their adventures. Garry picked a period authentic British military revolver as Watson’s gun, the idea being that Watson had held onto his old service revolver, and a smaller, concealment oriented but still big bore, also period authentic, revolver for Holmes.
The thing I found so ultimately COOL about this article – really, it’s one of the best gun articles I’ve ever read – was that there was, nowhere in this piece, any indication it wasn’t a straight article. I was surprised, shocked even, when editor Jan Libourel told me the magazine had received numerous, angry letters from readers complaining the magazine had been trying to deceive readers, you couldn’t fool them, THEY knew Holmes and Watson were fictional characters, and Garry was actually a bit upset over the implication he’d tried to do something underhanded. I said to Jan, “Well, you tell Garry from me, those people are fucking idiots. That piece was BRILLIANT, and the fact there’s nothing in there indicating it was anything but a straight gun magazine article was the best thing about it.”