Instructors, whether they're teaching driving, flying, tactical shooting or scuba diving share a common viewpoint on tunnel vision: generally speaking, it's a bad thing.
Tunnel vision focuses you on a single point when you should still be thinking wide. Tunnel vision is how a child learning to ride a bicycle can invariably center-punch a tree surrounded by open yard.
They were focused on the tree, and the body followed the mind.
Many of us in the media seem focused on the clouds wrapped around silver linings- especially if we consider ourselves financially focused.
Last week, Ruger reported a significant drop in sales and earnings for the first half of 2017. During a conference call with analysts, Ruger's Chris Killoy didn't just acknowledge the drops, he addressed the "why" and then moved on.
But the financial stories that followed that phone call didn't touch on anything except the short-term negativity.
In fact, one financial news headline said "Trump Presidency Hurting Gun Sales". The story went on to explain that while gun owners, the National Rifle Association and others "went big" for Trump in the election, his election was actually hurting all those groups rather than helping.
Purely on the facts of the matter - gun sales are generally down that appears to be true.
But it's another example of what is either one-dimensional thinking or a deliberate focus on the negative. When you look at the bigger picture, the idea of "rights" versus "infringements upon those rights" -your perspective shifts.
A softening of sales in the bigger picture would seem to indicate that people formerly worried were actually beginning to see more positives than negatives in the direction the country appears to be headed.
The historic levels of gun sales over the previous eight years weren't driven because people snapping up guns were supporting the previous administration. It was exactly the opposite: they were they were fearful and demonstrated their concern with their wallets, snapping up things they fully expected to be prohibited.
Record sales were driven by fear, not desire. Fear's a great short-term motivator, but it's not a long-term formula for success.
Gun sales today, while not superheated, are not cataclysmically low. And summertime is historically slow.
Summertime is when manufacturers, distributors and retailers find themselves having to get more creative to make sales.
Unfortunately, many of the companies leadership bring little-if any- experience prior to the "Obama boom". Consequently, their creativity is limited to slashing prices, lengthening credit terms and otherwise racing for the lowest-possible price. Essentially, they're risking long-term success in order to make their quarterly numbers. It's another bad example of how narrowly focused we've all become. Now seems infinitely more important than later.
It's sluggish times like these when the smart companies distance themselves -again- from their competition. The window of opportunity is open for risk takers to do the contrarian thing: while others contract, they'll expand their product offerings, boost their R&D, and put their accumulated cash to work, whether modernizing manufacturing or acquiring companies that improve their overall positions.
That's why I'm so optimistic about the proactive things being done in the shooting sports. The NSSF's "National Shooting Month" is a terrific idea, and archery's unprecedented success at bringing in new shooters is expanding, too. Those initiatives seem to indicate a change in the accepted thinking when it comes to a slowdown.
Instead of hunkering down, it's time to get busy.
--Jim Shepherd
