The Firearm Blog

This has got to be the best music video ever produced by an Australian!

From the artist's website ...

If you spend five minutes talking with Steve you will realise he is not a man who stands for cruelty or violence, quite the opposite actually. “I really wanted this album to help us reflect on the good aspects of gun ownership and remind us that guns are a part of our Australian heritage. Both my dad and my grandfather owned guns and never had any trouble”, he says, but then cheekily adds, “and as my first single says – ‘I ain’t gonna shoot anyone, and no one shoots at me, cos I’ve got a gun’”.

The scenes featuring RPG's and captured American weapons were filmed in Cambodia. Cambodia and Vietnam have long been on my list of countries to visit because of the abundance of weaponry available for tourists to play with.

Observant readers will note the use of pump action rifles and lack of semi-autos in the Australian scenes. Australians are banned from owning semi-auto long arms and so pump action rifles are popular, although I have been told by readers that the government is looking at restricting pump action rifle imports.

The MP3 of the song can be purchased online.

Zoltan, who recently translated one of my articles in Hungarian, was kind enough to explain the gun laws in Hungary.

No restrictions: air rifles and air guns (airsofts too) are free to buy and shoot at home if it is under 7.5 J (5.53 ft/lbs) in energy of the bullets.

No restrictions to purchase but able to carry hidden only with a simple license: the gas/alarm guns. Some of them can fire rubber balls, but it must loaded seperately from the ammo.

No restrictions to purchase museal guns, which works with seperated bullet, blackpowder and primer. Blackpowder and primer is only keeping by fire fields, so you can keep at home only the weapon and the bullets, nothing else. There are a special type of the museal guns, wich works with a 9mm R blanc or a 6 mm FB platz and fires rubber or metal bullets. You can use them at home, for home defence (the bigger patron and the gum, check my picture gallery "Gumilövedékes teszt") or practice. For practice, the best is a modified TOZ-8. You must not bear them in the street.

Shooting Rubber Balls. Many more interesting photos here.

Real Firearms: You need serious and expensive licences and a long procedure, if you want to buy a real firearm for sport. It could be semi-automatic. Our sportshooters are less year by year. Of course, you need the same procedure, if your airgun is stronger than 7.5 J.

If you need a real gun for self defense, it is almost impossible. For the cops, soldiers too. If you get the licence (smaller wonder), you are limited to two guns. You can be allowed to carry them hidden, of course.

Gas aerosols (pepper spray): Most of them have no restrictions to buy and carry.

Knives: Blade must be under 8 cm. You must not hold automatic knives, or "french" knives (automatic knife where the blade shoots out of the handle).

It is sad to hear that these restrictions are causing a decline in participation of shooting sports.

I am always interesting in hear about gun laws in other countries.

Many thanks to Zoltan.

[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by Matt Groom.]

For many of us, our window to the world of guns is books, magazines, and the internet. Unfortunately, when you see a word or a name that you aren’t familiar with, you tend to do what you learned to do in school, sound it out in your head. This has lead to a plethora of often mispronounced words and names in the firearms community, and it makes us all look like rubes. I would like to point out some often heard examples along with the proper enunciation of each. Please note that I am neither German nor Scandinavian and I speak no languages other than American English, but I have asked and been corrected by people who do speak these languages.

Heckler & Koch

Probably one of the most well-know arms companies in the world is known by its initials because nobody seems to know how to pronounce the last names of its founders. And everybody says their marketing department is SO great...

How most people say it: Heck-ler and C-au-k like “Cock”, or Coach, or KA-t-ch (?)

How it’s actually pronounced: “Heck-ler and Coke” Example: “Well, I’ll have a coke, then.”

Why is it mispronounced? “Cock” would be a very appropriate name for a gun company “Cock your hammer!” or “Those guys at H&K are a bunch of… Germans.”

Krag-Jorgensen

America’s first military repeater is also the most mispronounced of all service rifle names. No less and authority than the late great Col. Jeff Cooper corrected me on the proper way to say this name, and ultimately, he was incorrect.

How most people say it: Ker-Ag ,or Ker-egg Jor-gen-son

How it’s actually pronounced: Kr-Ah-g (like “Frog”) Yor-gen-sen.

Why is it mispronounced? A popular ballad during the Spanish-American War and the Pilipino Insurrection had a refrain that went “Underneath our starry flag, civilize ‘em with a Krag!” which certainly had a better ring to it than “If you want to eat a frog, do not shoot him with a Krag”. The proper enunciation may have been intentionally bastardized for pop-culture.

Makers of everything from Weed whackers to Motorcycles to full-auto military rifles, this name seems to dumbfound even the people who sell them. A Swede who was a former employee of the firm in the 1960’s told me how to say it.

How most people say it: Husk-a-varn-a, Husk-Q-var-na

How you’re supposed to say it: Who-sk-Var-na

Why is it mispronounced? It’s Swedish.

These Serbian makers of high quality ammunition available at bargain basement prices have rapidly earned popularity in the US. After being sold for a number of years under different names by different distributors, they are now selling ammo under their own name and confusing many people with their Balkan-esque spelling.

How most people say it: Pervy Party-san

How you’re supposed to say it: PR-iv-A Part-iZ-on

Why is it mispronounced? Triple Consonants don’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense to most English speakers.

I have it on good authority that these are correct, but nobody’s perfect. There are lots more of these, but we’ll save those for another post. Let’s hear some suggestions for gun related names and words that are often mispronounced or which are confusing in the comments!

UPDATE:

Roy recorded himself pronouncing Heckler & Koch, Walther, Sauer, Luger, Mauser, Blaser, Weihrauch and Schmeisser.

Stefan recorded himself saying Anschütz, Heckler & Koch, Mauser, Sauer, Steyr Mannlicher, Walther and Weihrauch.

Earlier this year author Neil Strauss published a book about survivalism. I was planning on reading Emergency until I read the Boston Globe review:

Next he takes a course in killing with a knife, during which an instructor named Mad Dog demands that he slaughter a live goat. Strauss also studies wilderness survival, learning to build a shelter from leaves, find water, and live off the land. After getting instruction in shooting, he finds himself changing from wimpy writer to would-be killer: “Something strange had occurred. I developed a bloodlust I’d never felt before. I actually wanted an excuse to shoot a bad guy.”

Taking an animals life is saddening, and I think most hunters would agree. To this day, and even as a child, I could not bring myself to kill a bird, or even a worm for that matter, that was not doing any harm and was not eatable. The so-called blood lust is a myth.

Outdoor and Hunting blogger Albert A Rasch put it succinctly in a post about PETA:

You also refuse to acknowledge that there is more to hunting than killing. You refuse to observe and experience the hard work and perseverance that goes into hunting. I don’t deny that I enjoy hunting. I don’t deny that there is satisfaction in a clean kill. But let me be clear, there is little joy in the actual death of an animal. As many hunters will attest, there is frequently a moment of regret or sadness, but that is tempered by the basic satisfaction that the hunter feels knowing that he can provide and secure sustenance. It does not matter whether it is necessary or not in this day and age of mass produced food, it matters to me, and that is all that matters, regardless of the moral high horse you think you sit on.

UPDATE: I may have been a bit harsh basing my opinion on one line and a few gun bloggers disagree with me. Foxtrot in the comments wrote that he thought the quote was out of context, 1withabullet enjoyed the book and Michael Bane, an outdoor author himself, really enjoyed it.

I still stand my my comments above that going on about blood lust in hunting is a load of hollywood fantasy.

The “2019 Detective Special” prop gun from the movie Blade Runner has been auctioned off for $270,000!

At first glance the gun looks to be some sort of auto-revolver. It is in fact a Steyr Mannlicher .222 Model SL rifle action and trigger group with some revolver parts tacked on. Note the double set trigger and Steyr’s iconic “butter knife” style bolt handle. It even retains the Steyr serial number.

Photo from a gunbroker auction.

Phil Steinschneider has a website detailing how be built a replica of the prop using a Steyr Mannlicher .222 Model SL action and a Charter Arms .44 Special Police Bulldog revolver.

Phil’s replica

Many thanks to Kevin for emailing me the Link.

UPDATE: Tam notes that this may still be classified as a firearm by the BATFE.

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article about the legal and illegal gun cultures in China, a country where civilian gun ownership is banned (at least among those without wealth or power).

Shanghai — China’s weapons laws are among the world’s toughest. Its blanket ban on private ownership of rifles, pistols and even gun replicas is a core tenet of social policy. Still, a gun culture is taking hold.

Even replica guns (airsoft guns) are banned!

Even as China’s government seeks to keep guns off the street, and shields its massive gun-manufacturing business behind state-secrets laws, it helps stoke the public imagination about guns. Schoolchildren learn to salute the flag shouldering imitation rifles, while state media celebrate the heroism of military and athletic marksmanship.

I have a Chinese friend who was very surprised to learn that Chinese state owned factories exports guns and ammunition to civilians overseas.

The main source of guns appears to be lax control of gun factories and theft from arsenals. China is one of the world’s largest gun manufacturers — for the export market and for its security forces. Older guns are left from past wars and a time when hunting was common. The police have also busted workshops that forge guns and bullets by hand inside China. Meanwhile, people illegally import replicas — exact-looking imitations of guns.

An airsoft gun in luggage is not going to be picked up by an airport scanner. I was in a gun shop a couple of years ago and an Australian guy came in asking where he can buy an airsoft gun. He said he they were banned back home but bringing them in from overseas for kids to play with is a common practice. He wanted a couple of airsoft pistols for his son to sell to his friends.

Beijing’s support for the sport has helped spur a rise of hobby enthusiasts. The government has sanctioned businesses such as the Shanghai East Shooting Club, a former bomb shelter where customers can have a drink and fire a variety of weapons. Owner Zhang Jiewei says his clients are looking to relax.

China must be the only country in the world which bans guns but allows shooting clubs (if you have enough money and connections)!

But increasingly, gun fans are gaining access to guns — and hunting illegally. In rural Anhui province last year, a group of wealthy businessmen, gun-club owners and former army officers organized wild-fowl shoots. Feasting on game cooked in a spicy brown sauce, one of them toasted, “Guns have brought us together.”

I asked my Chinese friend how people hunt if guns are banned. He told me nobody hunts because there is nothing to hunt anymore. Most of the larger sized game has been wiped out by the massive population and are now endangered.

Gun buffs can turn to Small Arms, a twice-monthly glossy magazine that claims 60,000 subscribers. The Beretta M9 semiautomatic pistol “is classic,” said Zheng Zhoujian, an 18-year-old reader. “I envy people in other countries where guns are legal.”

A bi-monthly magazine in a country with a total firearm ban! Incredible!

Every single day I am grateful that I own firearms. The full article is well worth reading.

I have blogged before about cameras being mounted on rifle stocks. SayUncle found this webpage showing a camera mounted on an AR-15 lower.

This is an incredibly bad idea. Not only could people could easily it for a gun-like weapon, but an AR-15 lower is legally a firearm. I doubt the cops would be very happy about it being waved around in a public space.

Seen at SayUncle. I am at a loss for words, two of my favorite things, guns and meat, combined

Now if somebody would design a nice leather holster for it …
Hat Tip: UberGizmo

Photographer and shooter Shin-Ae recently held an exhibit entitled “Challenging Resistance” at Gana Art Gallery in New York.

Stunning photography. Photo by Cemetery’s Gun Blob

Cemetery’s Gun Blob has more photos (photos of the photos on exhibit) and information about the artist and the exhibit.

The infamous fake news / satire website The Onion have made a video entitled “Manufacturer Recalls Hollow Point Bullets That Fail To Explode Inside Targets”.

It is pretty funny, even though it is making fun of us and that they do not know the difference between handgun and rifle ammo.

Thanks to David for the link.

Very cool, it is even star-crimped. $97.77 at GreatBigStuff.com.

From the same company that makes the chocolate ammo boxes comes a chocolate Glock:

Very cool. Chocolate Weapons are selling it for $29.99.

Jennerson took this photo in response to my post about the Scottish police hunting down knife owners. Apart from the fact that it is a great photo, it seems to scream “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ”.

Black knife, black gun, black leather sofa. Click to expand. Used with permission.

For those of you not familiar to the phrase: “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ” (or in latin script “Molon labe”) means “Come and take them!”. It is what the Spartans reportedly said to the Persians when they were told to surrender their weapons. Yes … those Spartans …

The full sized version of Jennerson photo can be downloaded here. It is currently my desktop background.

Seen over at GunPundit:

Click to expand. Comic Strip from Dilbert.com

heh