Hell why not an item that gave +1 SKILL in longblade or axe or shotgun?
I had the same idea you did biff but I figured it'd be easier to code giving the effect when you equip a single item whose sole purpose is that effect, I imagine it'd take zen all of 5 minutes to make a range weapon or melee weapon slot that does nothing but give +1-3 to a stat.
And the way the market has been leaning towards credits it might be good to see people trading in credits for cash to buy such items.
Besides if you added an effect to a weapon that you didn't like it'd be wasted money etc etc, with this you could easily change what you wanted, assuming an item was added in that didnt stick purely to stat increases.