[takes deep breath, exhales slowly] I may kick myself for doing this, but here goes.
First the disclaimers:
I go to FS a lot. I will not defend all of FS's business practices because I believe they can be poor (though the training is outstanding). I have no other connection to FS: I do not work for them nor am I in any way compensated by them. I am certainly not any kind of spokesman for them, nor can I read the minds of the owners/operators and explain why they do what they do. Nor, again, will I defend their actions.
Cosmoline was treated very poorly, and I can attest that I -- a MEMBER -- have had the same poor treatment in the past. I have voiced my displeasure of this with the owner and will take further steps.
OK with that out of the way, let me present what I think is going on. Again, I am not defending FS, just trying to give some cool, rational thought based on my knowledge of how the membership thing works at FS:
To be a member of FS Alaska, you do indeed have to first be a member of FS Nevada (yes I realize Cosmoline was told he couldn't be a member, bear with me here). You can then "upgrade" to an Alaskan membership. And yes, I know people who have such memberships and have indeed been to FrontSight Alaska, and enjoyed it tremendously.
As to why Cosmo was told he couldn't be a member, here is my guess: FS used to offer its memberships to the public. It has since stopped doing so, but still offers memberships that existing members want to sell to anyone. It is somewhat similar to a country club that has a waiting list, but of course FS has no gender, race, or religious restrictions like country clubs have. Now, why on Earth the FS 800-number rep. didn't tell Cosmo this -- and didn't try to sell an existing membership -- I can't fathom and won't try, because it is certainly in FS's best interests to sell them.
So, as lame as it may sound, it appears to be a case of a really bad phone rep doing a disservice to his company. Feel free to call or email FS and voice your displeasure about this.
Now, as for the apparent "exclusivity" and being in Alaska where Cosmoline says the gun culture is more egalitarian: well again I am not going to defend their business decisions; they may indeed be alienating some good Alaskan customers. If you view the DVD that rcm offered, you will see that one of FS's missions is to have high profile people train there and get to know the regular American gunowner. Like I said, they may be shooting themselves in the foot with their business practices, but they really do want to do that.
I have to believe too that there are "exclusive" hunting lodges in Alaska that only allow members or the very wealthy to come (i.e., not the average Alaskan wage earner), so the idea of having a club in Alaska that may exlcude regular Alaskans is not all that farfetched.
In summary: it is fair to criticize FS for its high prices. It is fair and worthwhile to read the history of Piazza's involvement with Scientology and the FS lawsuits with GlockTalk and any others. It may even be fair to question why I continue to go there.
But it is categorically unfair and unfounded to claim FS is some kind of religious or other extremist "cult" or "compound," or to speculate -- without having been there -- that the sites "don't exist."
I don't know if anyone was crazy enough to fall for it.
