The Firearm Blog

Recently the NY Times made their entire archive freely available online. JoeSpareBedroom @ rec.guns came across an article written in 1914 that shows just how clueless the media has always been with regards to firearms.

Many of the wholesale killings in the South may be cited as indicating that accuracy in shooting is not interfered with–is indeed, probably improved by cocaine.”

Indeed! According to Wikipedia, as I have no first hand experience:

The initial signs of stimulation are hyperactivity, restlessness, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate and euphoria. The euphoria is sometimes followed by feelings of discomfort and depression and a craving to experience the drug again. Sexual interest and pleasure can be amplified. Side effects can include twitching, paranoia, and impotence, which usually increases with frequent usage.

I can only image what groups I would be shooting if I was experiencing the above!

A warning: the article, which as I mentioned before was written in 1914, contains many derogatory racial remarks, if this is likely to offend you then don’t read the article.

Two years ago, an M16 automatic rifle could fetch $5,400 or more in the Palestinian West Bank. Now buyers at Hebron’s clandestine gun market are asked to pay more than double.

Four months after Islamist Hamas routed secular Fatah in the Gaza Strip, fears that clashes between the Palestinian rivals could erupt in the West Bank and uncertainty ahead of a U.S.-led peace conference are fuelling a scramble for guns.

Dealers at the gun market in Hebron, the West Bank’s most populous city, say weapons sales have jumped by up to 70 percent since Hamas took control of Gaza, while buoyant demand and supply bottlenecks due to tighter security have inflated prices.

In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, every bullet for an AK-47 rifle costs 35 Israeli shekels, or more than $8. In Hamas-controlled Gaza, an AK-47 bullet goes for 4-6 Israeli shekels, $1-1.50.

I have heard it said that gun prices reflect upcoming conflict….

Also, I wonder where they get M16 or AR-15’s from.

More here.
Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

I read this on the BBC News website:

‘Special bullets’ killed Menezes

Specialised bullets designed to kill instantly were used by the police marksmen who shot dead Jean Charles de Menezes, the Old Bailey has heard.

The bullets “immediately incapacitate” the victim and flatten, rather than pass through the other side of a body, the jury was told.

Of course these are simply hollow point bullets. The same type of bullet millions around the world use for hunting, self defense, policing and plinking every day.

The media just cannot get it right.

“The bullet flattens on impact and immediately incapacitates the target,” he told the court.

The British army invented JHPs (Jacked Hollow Points)

The hollow-point bullet, and the soft-nosed bullet, are sometimes also referred to as the dum-dum, so named after the British arsenal at Dum-Dum, near Calcutta, India, where it is said that jacketed, expanding bullets were first developed.

(From Wikipedia)

If you really want you can read the BBC article here.