Brendan, welcome to the forum!
The audience here I would guess would be more likely to choose the non-deact route, as they are mostly collectors who can have "live" firearms.
If it was me, I would want as many live firearms as possible, I think the value will rise dramtically as there are fewer and fewer live guns. Although the historical aspect appeals to me more than the value.
Plus deactivating seems so, sad.
On the other hand, if I had a choice of collecting deacts and nothing, at least the majority of the piece is there and I would be a collector of deacts.
ed