title: Destroy a record before it's saved in rails 3
body: <p>In my model I have specified a before_save method to run, and check the new record against some data. If the new record isn't what I want - how can I stop it from being saved?  </p>
  
  <p>Here is essentially what I'm trying to do (and failing):</p>
  
  <pre><code>before_save :itemCheck
  
    def itemCheck
      if self.item_type_id == 1
          if self.num &gt; 6
            self.destroy
          end
      end 
    end
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>NOTE: my code is more complicated than this - just making a simple example.</p>