Some Bloomberg Derp

So first up they are “Gun Violence Prevention” Groups, not gun banners!

Today, many experts instead believe the most effective means to lessen the carnage in attacks like the one in Orlando is to ban high-capacity magazines. These devices feed semiautomatic firearms, including handguns, large amounts of ammunition, allowing shooters to fire for longer before reloading. While assault-style rifles like the AR-15 could increase the lethality of an attack in some situations, they say, it is high-capacity magazines that allow shooters to fire dozens of shots without stopping.

…Though assault weapons have become a potent symbol of mass shootings, bans of that style of gun are a “distraction,” said Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor and the author of Gunfight. For starters, he says, it didn’t actually stop manufacturers from selling assault rifles. Because the 1994 ban defined weapons based on “cosmetic” features like pistol grips or collapsible stocks, gun makers evaded these restrictions by removing just enough design features so as to not trigger the ban. Meanwhile, the weapons remained semiautomatic and could still accept magazines of any size.

Winkler says he believes a ban on magazines that hold lots of ammunition would be a more effective strategy in limiting the carnage from a mass shooting. “It makes far more sense to focus on high-capacity magazines than assault rifles,” he says. Winkler notes that it’s not the style of a gun but “the size of a magazine [that’s] associated with the amount of damage a weapon can cause.” (The 1994 law included such a ban, but there was no restriction on the sale or possession of high-capacity magazines, and millions remained in circulation.)

Funny for people who aren’t anti-gun, they seem to talk a LOT of bans and confiscation!

And then there’s this. Gotta love anti-gunners talking gun technology….it’s like listening to teenage band geeks talking about sex! This article is talking about simple “safety” features gun makers can add to make guns safer.

Loaded Chamber Indicators Meh, most modern guns have these, still a brass check is the simplest move, and something I do, even on guns that have an LCI, because why trust a mechanical device when you can simply inspect the gun?

Magazine release safeties I’ll quote them on this:

Semiautomatic handguns, the most popular type of weapon in the U.S., are loaded with ammunition held in a detachable magazine, which feed a round into the chamber after each shot. Typically, if a round is cycled into the chamber, it remains in place ready to be fired even after the magazine has been removed, meaning the gun is still lethal. Magazine-disconnect features block the gun from firing when the magazine has been taken out.

I HATE magazine disconnects, as I only see them as a device that puts you in danger rather than cause any level of added safety.

So the above scenario where a pistol is rendered “Safe” by simply removing the magazine, and doing nothing about the chambered round is a REALLY lazy form of “Safe”, because if you’re “unloading” the gun, you should take the extra second to….you know…actually unload it!

But now this scenario gets REALLY scary when you insert an UNLOADED magazine. Super counter-intuitive to people who are reliant on the gun to do all the safety work for them, as an UNLOADED device now renders this “Safe” gun with a chambered round able to discharge a single round.

Some added problems are: Added parts for breakage/catastrophic failure, potential for a dislodged magazine or improperly seated mag to render the gun 100% inoperable, for many gun designs this adds in the requirement to insert a magazine when you want to take the gun down. This last one can get REALLY ugly if say you only have a loaded magazine handy and don’t feel like emptying all the rounds from it. Just a bad idea, taking your gun apart should always involve REMOVING the magazine, no putting one in.

Heavier trigger pulls Like the New York Glock trigger? The police force best known for missing suspects and shooting bystanders. Also, I don’t trust a toddler NOT to manage to pull a 12 lb trigger, and if you do, you’re stupid. Further people with diminished hand strength or even new shooters who just haven’t built up those muscles we have for racking slides and pulling heavy DA triggers, are going to have more difficult shooting accurately, and likely will need to cut short training sessions.

Of course these are GOOD things for the “Gun Safety Experts”

Grip safeties: Meh, I’m a 1911 guy, and 1911s have grip safeties. Every gun I’ve shot with a grip safety has worked 100% for me, and I even like the H&K P7 grip safety, I think that’s a cool design. That being said, I had a friend cut his finger on the trigger serrations on my 1911 because he was unaware of the grip safety, and his hands did deactivate it with a natural firing grip. Of course an unnatural firing grip deactivated it…which is what a small child might do if you’re an idiot and leave a loaded gun around declaring “But Grip Safety!!!”

And let’s just point out that I don’t mind them, but 99% of the guns on the market don’t use a grip safety….there’s a reason for that.

And last….

Firing pin blocks Even a blind pig will find a nut! I feel the same way about non drop-safe guns as I do about guns with magazine disconnects….they’re fine for range guns, or collector’s items, but they should NOT be used for serious defensive use!!! They should also be kept away from new shooters, whom you should emphasize that if the gun drops for whatever reason, it should NOT be caught.

Now what’s really interesting is this is all an article spun off on this smart-gun agenda. The Armatix P1 is as far as I know the only “Smart” gun out there, ran off of an RFID tag. So you had some sort of Fob, and you brought it near the gun it would unlock. You know kinda like a lock and key…….hmmm

Yeah oddly there are a ton of gun makers that use this heavily debugged technology that works EXACTLY like the Armatix P1 but doesn’t use batteries, and doesn’t jack up the price of the gun by a grand….but that doesn’t get mentioned….nor the REQUIRED rule that all handguns be shipped with a lock.

It’s all just a smoke screen for gun bans!

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One Response to Some Bloomberg Derp

  1. Archer says:

    Considering the people who write these articles seem to pull all their gun knowledge from Hollywood, I’m surprised they haven’t seen the scene (I don’t remember the movie, but I remember the scene — maybe one of the Lethal Weapon movies?) where the Good Guy realizes the magazine in his semi-auto pistol is running low and does a “tactical reload”, before he has run completely dry, leaving one in the chamber. A Bad Guy sees the Good Guy reloading and rushes him. The Good Guy is saved by the fact his gun is still operable with the magazine out; he shoots the Bad Guy with the chambered round, then finishes inserting a fresh magazine after it’s (relatively) safe.

    In fact, I believe Good Guy explained that tactic — to reload before it’s empty and leave one in the chamber, just in case — earlier in the film.

    But I’ll be damned if I can remember which movie that was….

    Any film buffs want to chime in on this?

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