bdp, I am not sure what you are getting at when you say "Handheld guns may be used on both sides of the LP, for instance immediately after cleaning and drying on a vacuum machine." It's fine to do that but one cannot assume the LP is going to be free of static charge on the later occasion when you choose to play it, if that was your implication. Cleaning the LP only helps to eliminate dust and dirt; it does not confer immunity to static charge build up. Charge happens when you remove an LP from a paper sleeve, even if it was inserted into the sleeve in a presumably static-free state. Or it can happen in an instant when you yourself are charged up after walking across a wool carpet or etc, and you then first touch the LP. Dis-charging needs to be done just before play. (You probably know all this; I am just reacting to what you wrote.)
As regards the Destat. I was prepared to buy one during our annual trip to Japan, last June. I found out, at least by inquiry in some of the major stores in Akihabara, the electronics mecca of Tokyo, that the device is not even sold in Japan. They'd never heard of it.