Airsoft in the news

moggser

yeah but fool me once shame on me fool me twice and im a fcukin eejit that has some explaining to do

Rehydrator

i agree, Alan makes his living from retailing these products, its difficult to imagine that negative press was the intent, the photo is very willy o dea. this TD from the swords concerns me more.

roryk1

iv been a customer of alans for a while now and to be honest hes a nice guy i dont think he meant to generate any bad press from these stories and as have bin told he was misquoted alot

DufferO8

bit too nice, lol

joe stodge

things must be getting bad when the star steals stories of the northside people. gutter press of the highest order or should that be lowest?? the two articles being published in the same week doesn't mean they were both written this week. the star must have been really stuck for a story if they ran that on a full page and its mostly pics. as someone said were are a soft target and i wouldnt be surprise if an article like this show up in other papers over the coming weeks.

i've alot of time for alan and strikearms as they have always been sound whenever im looking for a bit of kit. im sure they had no intetion of this happening. the lad could have asked for a few quotes and a picture on airsoft as a sport and then just run it into the ground with half facts and nontruths.

IrishRatticus72

Just like to add my two cents worth here.
1. Do I know Alan from strikearms?
Yes, in a professional capacity, as I have 3 AEGs from him, and a 4th is due to be delivered to my workplace this week. On the few occasions where I`ve had problems, he`s rectified them all, inside a week, at cost to himself on at least one, possibly two, occasions.
To me, that speaks of good customer service, which you surely wouldn`t get if he was only interested in the profit, and I should know, I`ve been in retail managment for over 13 years. Erego, that says to me that he`s a responsible retailer, who genuinely values his customer base, and therefore his reputation.
2.What exactly do we know to date?
A junior reporter gets a facing page story, one which is very sensationalist based, obviously trying to get himself up the chain in the paper, cashing in on current events involving gangland figures been murdered, all for a paper which really only sells in the dublin region. I know this, as a friend of mine works for the Irish independent. Were the photos taken with the consent of the strikearms representative present, and if so, under what context, i.e., false pretences/ false representation.
It`s not uncommon to falsify who you are, especially in the journalist business.
3.Were the quotes taken out of context? Well, anyone who has had experience with Irish journalism at this level would be more qualified than me to answer this one, I did spend some time in my youth on a community rag, and I did study media journalism, before switching to I.T., but come on, junior journalist+slow news day=by any means necessary get a story that will sell.
4. If, is the case, he did represent himself truthfully, and the photos were taken along with quotes, with the full knowledge of strikearms, then most certainly questions should be asked, and answers should be provided in a timely manner, and consequences should be served, if deemed so.
This is where the IAA will play it`s part.
As a final thought, it`s good that there is open and honest dialogue, not only from airsoft enthusiasts, but also retailers such as shiva, who, let`s be honest, could write the book on experiences such as this one.
But the twofold danger is that prospective new players could be deterred from the sport by the negativity surrounding this case, which would be tragic, as, with more people playing, it becomes more mainstream, and retailers will be, frankly, scared from promoting the sport in future.
These are purely my own thoughts, but I just felt strongly enough to submit them, as in the final analysis, as shiva said, it`s Alan`s livelihood that`s under the spotlight here, for either right or wrong reasons. I sell video games for a living, and was once grossly mis-quoted with regards to a grand theft auto title, so I know how easily it can snowball.
I would hope that strikearms could answer quickly, to both the IAA, and maybe here, so that we can concentrate on what`s really important, promoting airsoft as a no-threat, team based activity, no more dangerous than soccer, and a lot less so than contact sports.
Thank you all for your time in reading this post.

Ratti.

TheDoc

Shiva wrote: »

Guys, you might be being a bit hard on Alan and Strikearms.

The "No Photos" sign we have in the shop is because we got caught out with the Evening Herald article.

They dont show up, say they're from a newspaper and ask if they can take photos and ask questions. We're talking about the gutter press here - they arent exactly paragons of virtue, and they aren't above indulging in a little skulduggery now and again.

In our case, the reporter showed up, looked around, bought a pistol, secretly took a photo of the shop on a camera phone, and then took the photo of the Glock somewhere else.

They then rang a few hours later and said "Hi, We're the Evening Herald, can we ask some questions?"

What might have happened with Strikearms was that reporter could have come in, pretended to be a genuine customer, asked to try on the multicam jacket and take a photo for his "mates". Considering a lot of camera phones these days are more than 2.5 megapixels, it wouldnt have had to have been a professional SLR type camera.

And then once they've had the photos, bought the kit and skedaddled, they probably called and asked their questions later.

We often get people in looking at stuff and asking if they can take photo's of themselves holding guns because they think its cool. Because of what the Herald did, we can say no, and usually not appear to be dicks about it.

No retailer who only sells airsoft gear is going to deliberately put some cheap advertising ahead of any possible harm to the sport - thats just doesnt make sense. Its his livelihood, for God's sake.

I'm with Tony on this one and think people are jumping the gun before getting some facts, and people who I'm kinda dissapointed in getting all sensationalist.

I remember that day the article was written in the herald bout Tonys shop, I was working the floor.

The reporter came in with an elderly lady claiming it was her mother and asked to see a number of pistols, as her father had just retired from the army. After some initial discussion I think Masada took over ( sound of a female voice he was always out like a shot) and he went on to deal with her like every other customer. ( couldnt help notice she didnt mention the EPIC customer service she got, bitch).

But just to convey the point. A story was spun on arrival. A lie. At the point of sale all the usual was done, giving the spiel of how not to mis use it, how it operates since she was a first time buyer, and the pitfalls to avoid and how to operate safely. She got a pretty extensive lecture actually.

Then she goes off takes a picture in her car holding a glock and gets sensationalist. There was no mention of the lengthy talk she received of how not to mis use etc.

And also, the questions the shop was asked, were phoned in as Tony said later that day. It was all a bit shocking to me cause i was only there a while, but in the end its just to be expected from that sort of journalist.

Could you imagine if she came in and was up front and honest? She probably would have been invited back when Tony was present, and probably got a geniune good story worth reading.

I'd all holster those guns and douse those burning sticks before some facts get revealed.

I'd see it much more likely there was some lies and web spinning involved. You'd also have to question was he even there himself, or does he run with some new staff or young stafF?

Questions I'd rather see anwsered first before I go slating some lad.

Damo 2k9

There is a young lad that works there (was in there when i went in) and he probably wouldnt have known what was going on.

ricka

I know Alan pretty well and I probably know a bit more about this than most.
The first article I dont think was too bad.Ok, pictures were cringe worthy but article itself OK..ish.He genuinely thought it would be an honest feature on Airsoft.
The article in the national paper was actually to redress the cons of the first.
They approached him as customers, asked a number of questions, then said they were journalists who would like to put the record straight on the inaccuracys of the first article.While a lot of you probably think thats naive.I have to say I probably would have fallen for it.
The people i come in contact with every day in business, dont set out to fool me so its not something that would cross my mind.
These guys are professional,articulate and persuasive.Probably easier than you think to be fooled.
Alans a good guy and runs a sound business.If anything I'd say this has focused all the rest of us in this industry not to get lax about what we say and do.
I've asked him to come on here and give you the full story, which he'll probably do over the weekend.

Blazer

Bloody reporters..you just can't trust them.

flashinbluelite

IMO which may be worth very little to alot..

ANY advertising of our beloved sport is great..

I believe Airsoft is still legal and untill that changes take as many pics as you want and stick them where you want (within the realm of common sense)

If you complain and give out and try to defend Airsoft to the general masses ALL you are doing is vilifying the hobby...WE (airsofters of Eire) are NOT breaking any laws ergo why complain.....please dont get me wrong Stand up for your hobby but stand up in a positive way....

Play well,shoot accurate,take your hits..........

(not as long as a "Doc" post but twice as sensible )