Proctor & Gamble had just invented Crisco, King George V had just been crowned the new monarch of England and the United States Army had just adopted a new service pistol designed by a wiry, bald-headed genius. The year was 1911.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the non-profit industry organization that owns the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show, is marking its 50th anniversary this year and the 2011 SHOT Show promises to spearhead the organization’s celebration with a strong show in a renovated Sands convention center.

As Walt Kelly’s cartoon character Pogo so famously said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Wrapping up this three-part series on the business of the gun business (which has focused on why the shooting industry is so hard to analyze compared to other industries), we come face to face with one of the most complicating factors that distorts what little data there is on firearms sales—used guns.

What is this thing we call the shooting industry or, to put it another way, what is the business of the gun business? Unlike other industries that can be analyzed, quantified, objectified and measured, the metrics of the gun business are largely unknown. It’s amazing how mysterious the industry is when you think about it. Even an industry analyst like the Insider cannot get hold of basic data that other industries take for granted.

Dave was waiting for me at The Citadel Gun & Safe shop in Las Vegas where I’d called to see if they had a Picatinny rail fore-end for a mid-length Bravo Company AR. Dave checked his inventory and allowed that, yes, by golly, he does have a Yankee Hill fore-end in stock.