Gun Pride

Click to embiggen. Thanks to Oleg Volk!

Best New Product at SHOT Show

SHOT Show is the international trade show for all things gun, hunting, tactical, etc. It’s not really open to the public, but consistently draws 50,000ish folks every year. Lots of companies vie for the official and unofficial honors of best in show. This would be my vote.

No Handguns In DC

Perhaps you have heard about the firearms court dust-ups regarding Washington DC’s silly laws? Perhaps you have heard that DC just got nailed with a huge, early snow storm (global warming my butt…). Now you know why DC wants such restrictive handgun laws: so cops in Hummers can be the only ones allowed to bring a gun to a snowball fight.

About Trigger Locks

Original photo by Oleg Volk. Pithy thought by me…

Banned By Icanhascheezburger

Maybe the subject matter is a little intense for LOLCatz…

Printing? What Printing?

Many folks worry about their weapon being spotted while carrying concealed. This is called “printing”. I don’t see any gun… Photo by Oleg Volk.

The Joy of Full Auto

Full auto is a very fun thing.  These days, it’s also a very expensive fun thing.  Sorta like Las Vegas hookers… but I digress.  The HK G3 is a classic full auto battle rifle in .308 (7.62×51 NATO).  It’s deployed everywhere and, even though it is showing it’s age, is still pretty fierce.  In it’s original configuration, the G3 had about an 18″ barrel.  A shorter version was fielded with a 12.5″ barrel called the G3K.  HK also released civilian models called the 91.  Of course, people could not leave well enough alone.  Enterprising builders developed the HK 51K.  This is, for all intents and purposes, a .308 pistol.  And that is silly.  Why?  Because you don’t have enough barrel to allow the complete combustion of all the powder in the cartridge.  And *that* makes for a nasty fireball at the muzzle that can jack with your sight picture.  Of course, it’s still pretty friggin’ fun.

Gun Myths #4

Myth: Gun Shows are supermarkets for criminals.

Only 0.7% of convicts bought their firearms at gun shows. 39.2% obtained them from illegal street dealers (Bureau of Justice statistics “Firearms Use by Offenders”). Any bona fide dealer at a gun show is still required to use the National Instant Criminal Background check System (NICS) for every firearm sale. Yes, individuals can sell weapons to each other without the check… But the possession of a firearms by a convicted criminal is illegal and the “regular” sale of weapons is actually construed as being in the business as a dealer. Being a dealer without a licensing (meaning that you must use NICS) is illegal, too.

Net takeaway: If somebody wants to get a gun of commit a crime, they will. Again, a criminal does not obey laws.

Gun Myths #3

Myth: Guns are not effective in preventing crime against women.

Not just a myth, but complete bullshit. Nearly 200,000 cases are recorded each year in the US of women using guns in self defense. When a woman was armed with a gun or knife, only 3% of rape attacks were completed, compared to 32% when unarmed (US DOJ, Rape Victimization in 26 American Cities). Australia and the United Kingdom are touted as having successful gun (and knife!) bans, yet their incidence of rape continues to climb while the US rate delines. The probability of serious injury from attack is 2.5 times greater for women offering no resitance that for women resisting with a gun (US DOJ, National Crime Victimization study).

Gun Myths #2

Myth: .50 caliber rifles are evil and should be banned

.50 caliber rifles can knock the fuel line of an airliner at a mile. A .50 can penetrate concrete bumkers. The .50 is the favorite weapon of terrorists. .50 Shooters are terrorists in training. The Founding Fathers never envisioned a rifle round that big. This some of the utter horse patootie one hears.

Facts:  Most expert long distance shooters cannot hit a stationary target under perfect, windless conditions at that distance. Ill-trained terrorists shooting a high-recoil .50 at fast moving targets (what is the speed of an airliner?) have no chance. Ground operations with a fully auto .50, sniping parked jets, air to air combat in full auto? Sure. None of those are terrorist operations. .50’s are heavy (20-45 pounds), expensive ($2,500-$10,000+ with ammo going from $3-$100 per round), mostly ridiculous to conceal (they’re big horkin’ rifles for the most part) and impractical. A fully automatic AK-47 can be had in Pakistan for less than $200 (for another gun myth post). The average US .50 shooter/owner is a successful business man with an annual income of $50,000+ (Congressional testimony of John Burtt). The guns of the early American republic were larger that the .50. Some were as high as .812 caliber, but most were between .60 and .75. According to the General Accounting Office (GAO) in report #OSI-99-15R, revised 10/21/2001, .50 caliber rifles have been used in 18 crimes in the history of the US. The misguided terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center buildings used box cutters…

Net learning: Banning .50’s will have zero effect on gun crimes and terrorists.