Naturally, this is causing no end of PSH... The Big Guy sends in this story which can't lead anywhere good:
Modified water guns pose danger
SALISBURY -- Just in time for summer, police throughout Delmarva have received a safety briefing on water guns.The childhood toy, designed with bright colors to ensure police don't mistake it for a real gun, has become a threat after several reports have surfaced of individuals turning water guns into homemade shotguns.
The scourge of "modified water guns" is an n of 4 - there's the guy in MN who dropped a 20 gauge shotgun into a Super Soaker and was carrying it around, this case, which was a "zip gun" and two others in FL and MD with no other information given. That's four cases of squirt guns being modified, with one case where there was more danger to the holder of the gun (fire a zip gun with a 12 gauge round? No thanks!) - and no information on whether the other two incidents were real guns or "zip guns".
So we have one real gun, one "zip gun" and two unknowns, and this is the cause of safety briefings and mass hysteria? Really? Have there been any other modified squirt guns, or is this just the latest "flashing your headlights at a car without lights on is a gang initiation thing that will get you killed" urban legend? Are these real incidents, or just copycat crimes? While I understand the point of the safety briefings - my understanding is that they're of the "hey, some PDs have reported seeing stuff like this, keep your eyes open" - it's gotta be a slow news day if this is a real story.
Or, as always, the media's just pushing the gun control wagon as always...
That is all.
4 comments:
Or, as always, the media's just pushing the gun control wagon as always...
Sometimes I think you give the news media too much credit. They're pushing panic, which sells papers. Er, page views. Whatever. Gun control is just a convenient topic. If all the guns disappeared they'd write about knives, or squirt guns loaded with lighter fluid.
(No, don't try it. Polystyrene dissolves in the presence of petroleum based fuels.)
Making a zip gun to accomodate shotgun shells is probably safer for the maker/shooter than using a rifle or even a handgun round. There is relatively much less pressure with a shotgun round, just look at the thickness of a rifle or pistol barrel compared to that of a shotgun. Of course, all could be relatively dangerous to the shooter if it was not made with components that could withstand whatever pressure would be generated.
Here is a link to a video of one such gun being fired by an obvious nefarious villain:
http://youtu.be/VH8jfTkteqU
It seemingly worked as planned, and did not seem to harm the shooter but oh, how I would have dreaded to have been the intended victim of this super evil gun.
All the best,
GB
I guess the "cell phone gun" and "full auto Glock" stories were getting yellowed and frayed on the bulletin board at the cop shop.
Modified water guns? Heck, wait till you see the modified sewer pipe.
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