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DISHing out guns

Steve Strand, who has owned the Radio Shack in Hamilton, Mont. for seven years, poses in front of his store Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Strand said he is going to fight any effort to stop his sales promotion that allows customers with a clean record to get a free gun when they sign up for new Dish Network service. (AP Photo/Ravalli Republic, David Erickson)
Steve Strand, who has owned the Radio Shack in Hamilton, Mont. for seven years, poses in front of his store Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Strand said he is going to fight any effort to stop his sales promotion that allows customers with a clean record to get a free gun when they sign up for new Dish Network service. (AP Photo/Ravalli Republic, David Erickson)
Steve Strand, who has owned the Radio Shack in Hamilton, Mont. for seven years, poses in front of his store Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Strand said he is going to fight any effort to stop his sales promotion that allows customers with a clean record to get a free gun when they sign up for new Dish Network service. (AP Photo/Ravalli Republic, David Erickson)

You may have heard already, but the Radio Shack in Hamilton is offering a free gun to any qualifying customer who signs up for Dish Network service.

“I think it really, really fits the Bitterroot Valley,” the store’s owner, Steve Strand, told the Rivalli Republic last week. “It’s been really successful.”

Customers who qualify are given a gift certificate for their gun, a Hi Point 380 pistol or a 20-gauge shotgun, available at Frontier Guns & Ammo north of Hamilton. Those who do not want the gun can opt for a $50 Pizza Hut gift certificate instead. (Strand told the paper that customers who don’t quite qualify for the gun still get a pizza certificate.)

You can learn more about the promotion at its website: www.getagun.net (also www.myfreegun.com). Awesome URLs, I must say.

I’m not going to comment on the appropriateness of the promotion. I’ll leave that to you. However, I will say that it seems a little unfair that your option is to get a gun, which is probably worth at least a $100, if not more, or $50 in pizza. Shouldn’t you get the same value out of either free gift?

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