Posted on 02/06/2011 11:34:59 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Sleek, its lines rakishly tilted to boost the ergonomics that index grip placement to barrel, this automatic pistol has but one function: to eliminate human beings easily. That sinister intent is expressed most eloquently in the extended magazine that reaches far beneath the pistol grip, easily tripling the amount of ammunition available to the killer.
It's the Colt Super .38 automatic pistol, customized into a machine pistol by an underworld gunsmith so that Babyface Nelson could use it to kill an FBI agent outside Little Bohemia, Wis., in 1934. Maybe you saw the movie.
Even if you didn't, you can still see the point: There's nothing really new when it comes to guns. To the contrary, the extended magazine that Jared Loughner allegedly carried in his Glock 19 the day he is accused of having fatally shot six people outside Tucson and wounding 13 others, and that President Obama is likely to suggest banning in an upcoming speech, may be traced way back.
During World War I, American armorers tried to adapt the 1903 Springfield into a counter-sniper "periscope rifle" by, among other things, installing a 25-round magazine. The Germans tried to turn the Luger pistol into a "trench broom" by devising a 32-round "snail drum" magazine (it fired the same round as the Glock 19). The Texas Ranger Frank Hamer carried a Remington Model 8 with an extended magazine in his hunt for Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. The Thompson submachine gun of World War II and the M-16 of Vietnam were improved by extending their magazine from 20 to 30 rounds. In 1957, the U.S. Army adopted the M-14 rifle, which was hardly more than an M-1 Garand rifle with an extended magazine. And who wouldn't want our soldiers, Marines and law officers to benefit from extended magazines?(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“But the other half of that question must be asked, too: Is it worth it if it costs just one life?”
The answer is: It depends on who’s life is taken, and what they had done that warranted shooting them. Better yet, to paraphrase John Wayne, “some people just need shootin’”.
Because 32 might not be enough.
“This in the Washington Post?”
Stephen Hunter, the writer of this piece, is the author of the Bob Lee Swagger books(fictional Marine Corps sniper.) Highly recommended.
Ann Coulter noted the extended magazines make the handgun less concealable.
yep
A thoughtful and well-informed piece about handguns ... and in the WaPo, no less! Will wonders never cease?
Then again, I suspect most Americans are comfortable (fully or partially) with the whole subject of guns. Most Americans know someone who shoots and/or hunts so they’re not petrified of them.
Liberals and progressives, on the other hand, are trying to find the demon in the details of this story. Let ‘em try.
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