I have heard over and over on this forum the mantra of "Never sell a gun." and "Never sell a good shooter." I've also heard over and over people expressing regret about selling this gun or that gun. I do not understand this at all.
Excepting those cases where one is financially forced to part with some possessions, I think the advice to never sell is applied to looking in your safe and seeing something you haven't shot in a few years and deciding you might as well sell it. There was a reason you bought the gun and that reason may rear its ugly head (or in this case it's pretty head) and you realize that maybe, because you didn't need the $$$ the gun brought and now you miss having it and you can't replace it for the money you got for it in the sale. Also, if not needed then, the money the gun can bring might be needed later and it's an asset.
I don't know how many customers I've tried to explain that to over the years. Don't sell that bit of scrap gold, or whatever, as it's an asset, if you need money now get a loan and come back and retrieve it. It'll be an asset in the future if needed. I only remember selling one gun and that was because it failed to fire randomly. Every third magazine or so there'd be one click click bang.
I have owned perhaps 25-30 guns in my shooting years, and I am now down to 20. As I look back, I do not regret parting with any of the guns that I let go. Either I realized I didn't like them, I wanted something else more, or I just lost interest in that particular gun. In any case I saw no reason to continue owning them.
I realize we are all a little different but one factor that comes into it for me is that I have no heirs to pass things on to. So my material goods are for me to use and enjoy as I see fit. So I am not particularly sentimental about most of my guns nor do I worry about passing them along. It's not a goal of mine.
I also have a bunch of really good shooters, so to me, finding a gun that really shoots well is a non-issue. I have all I need.
So I'm just trying to understand this mentality that selling or getting rid of a gun is a bad idea. Please explain your thoughts if this is your mentality and why you feel the way you do. Also, before answering, please think carefully about each gun you've regretted parting with and then really look in the mirror. Ask yourself what lead you to do it and ultimately did you just react too quickly? Is there another factor that came into play? I mean people do fall on hard times and need to sell personally owned goods to make ends meet.
Please share. I want to understand. Let's avoid judgement and just let people share their reasons. Also, lets not criticize the folks who genuinely believe they need loads of guns in the event of a SHTF or intense prepper mentality. Some folks believe bad things are coming. This is not a venue for dissuading those notions, and up and back on that would be off topic and lead us to a lock.
I have friends who are like you and even more so in that they feel no emotional attachment to their possessions. Their houses are spare, albeit in very nice neighborhoods and far from hovels, they just don't have much on their walls or displayed on shelves. Walking in their homes is like walking into a model home, very little around in the way of personal things.
It seems to me from what you are saying is that one working thing is as good as another in your eyes. This isn't a bad thing, it's just different from what others think. We have the freedom in this country to be different. I think if we were all the same it'd be screamingly boring.
I look at my various mementos around my house, including my firearms, and those things bring back good memories. The Python I bought to replace the stolen first one. The T/C Seneca I bought when I got into black powder back in the 70's and the camaraderie of the small group of smokestick shooters at the old gun club, etc.
I have not needed to sell a firearm due to hard times yet, but I think it’s reasonable to have some grief over losing something you didn’t want to lose even if it’s the best choice. It isn’t necessarily the gun, but finding yourself in a situation where you need to make those choices. I also think that many of the folks who say you should never sell a gun would say the same about fire extinguishers and other things that just sit around never getting used and so seem like reasonable things to sell in hard times.
I think you are probably reading it too literally.
“Never cut your foot off,” is a reasonable rule to live by. A person who takes that as a guiding principle of life will probably have a more complete existence than someone who is eager to cut their foot off at any opportunity. But if you find yourself in a situation where it’s your foot or your life, lose the foot. You’ll regret it, but being able to regret it is better than the alternative.
As sentimental as I am about many things I own, they don't own me, if I had to sell something, finding myself between a financial rock and a hard place, I could certainly part with them and any missing those sold things would be ameliorated by the knowledge that I had to part with them, it wasn't a whimsical thing.
As for the "cut your foot off" situation I am aware of a situation where that really happened to someone, the grisly details of which aren't suitable for a public forum, but strange things have happened.