Maybe Their Lives Too.

Some heavily firepower has been taken off Edmonton's street.  Edmonton Police and ALERT, the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, have seized a number of firearms.  One of them was an Ingram M10 submachine gun.  Also seized was a silencer for it.  Often referred to as the MAC 10 it's not much larger than a large frame semiautomatic pistol.  It appeared in the mid '60s and was paired with a silencer designed by the Sionics company.  The compact size and noise suppressor led to its limited adoption by various armed forces, usually for use by their special forces units.  Hollywood and other film industries became a fan, so if you've seen many '70s and '80s action films you've probably seen one on screen.

The M10 has a cyclic rate of fire of 1200 rounds a minute.  This means it can empty its 30 round magazine in 2 seconds, which makes it hard to control unless you have extensive practice, and it's sometimes derided as a "room broom."  Not that this makes enough difference if you're on the receiving end.

Looking at the photos in the Edmonton Journal article I wonder if it wasn't only the lives of possible victims that were saved.  The M10 seems to be in poor condition, with most of the bluing missing, and obvious signs of rust on the gun and its magazine.  Given that shooting it might be a danger to the shooter as well as whoever he aimed it at.

Exotic Weapon.

Just before midnight on Friday Saskatoon police were called to a break and enter at a garage on Cairns Avenue.  Although the suspect had left before they arrived the K9 unit soon tracked him down.  He was arrested and found to be carrying a firearm, switchblade, and crystal meth.  None of these by themselves are unusual, but the firearm he was carrying was.  Police say it was a 7.65 mm Skorpion machine pistol.

The Skorpion was a product of the Cold War era Czechoslovak arms industry, a weapon that could be carried in a holster, but capable of fully automatic fire.  It was intended for use by special units, vehicle crews, and others who needed a weapon more compact than a rifle, but with more firepower than a standard pistol.  It also reflected the Czechoslovak military's willingness to go its own way with weapons, not being a Soviet design and using a non Warsaw Pact caliber, 7.65 mm, aka .32 ACP.

The actual utility of such very compact automatic firearms has always been questioned.  They're bulkier than a standard pistol, yet their small size makes them hard to control on fully automatic.  Most people they've been issued to don't get the practice time to learn to use them effectively.  But the Skorpion proved popular, seeing a lot of export sales, including ending up in the hands of European terrorist groups like the Italian Red Brigades.

So where did the one seized early Saturday come from?  If it was one of the full auto originals it's a prohibited weapon in Canada, never sold legally, and not something you'd expect a street crook in Saskatoon to get his hands on in 2017.  On the other hand semi automatic only versions of the Skorpion have been produced for the civilian gun market, and apparently they have been sold in Canada as a restricted firearm.  So if it's one of those it was either stolen from someone in Canada, or imported illegally from the US, where they are also legal.

Joining The Club.

Tomorrow will see a new weapon join thet Saskatoon Police Service arsenal: Tasers.  44 have been acquired, and will be fairly strictly  controlled.  Officers who have been through Taser training will have to sign them out before use, any time they get fired a review will be conducted, and the public notified.   Their usage, at least for now, is to be limited to situations where an officer might otherwise draw his handgun.  I get the impression this might be a more limited range of scenarios than some police forces use Tasers for, but I have no problem with that.  Tasers can be dangerous even when used properly, but are quite obviously less likely to cause permanent harm that the .40 caliber hollowpoints of the Glock pistols Saskatoon cops carry.  Anything that reduces the chances of firearms being needed is good in my book.

I Won't Read Them.

If you haven't heard already Toronto's Eaton Centre was the scene of a shooting today.  One person is dead, several others were wounded.  The thought came to mind of how long it took the idiot squad to start going on about how if only someone had been carrying a gun they could have stopped the gunman.  I would imagine it happened in fairly short order.  You'll excuse me if I don't go look, as their claims will just make me annoyed.  I can think of few things that would make things worse when someone is shooting up a mall than some amateur tying to play the hero by shooting back at him.

Interestingly one of the earliest online reports of the shooting may have been from a celebrity.  Brett Lawrie, the Toronto Blue Jays young Canadian third baseman, was in the mall when the shooting broke out.  He Tweeted about what he heard and saw after fleeing the mall with other patrons.  As you can imagine Lawrie has a lot of followers on Twitter, some 125 thousand according to the Toronto Star, so word got around very quickly.

Don't Be These Folks.

How's this for a blog with a specific topic?  Ohh Shoot presents news reports of accidental firearms discharages across the United States.  It makes for pretty sad reading given how many of them result in injury or death.   So if you've got guns around, don't be like these people.  Always assume they're loaded, and handle them appropriately.  Especially don't leave them where someone who might not handle them what way, like a child, can get their hands on them.  This would all seem to be Gun Safety 101, yet far too many people forget even these basics.

Upgunned.

In Saskatoon the only people besides police officers you'll encounter on the street with legal handguns are the crews of armoured trucks.  While Canadian police forces have universally gone over to semiautomatic pistols armoured truck guards have continued to carry revolvers.  But it seems this is changing.  This morning I saw a Brinks guard heading in to a liquor board store, and it looked like he had magazine pouches on his belt.  Sure enough when he came back out I could see his right hip, and he was carrying a pistol instead of a revolver.  (I'm familiar enough with guns that the design of the grip made me think it was a Smith and Wesson product, perhaps their recent M&P model.)  I would imagine this is simply a case of the older guns needing replacement, as armoured truck robberies aren't common here.  In fact I haven't a clue when the last such attempt might have been.  It also makes me wonder again how much shooting practice these guys actually get.

I Missed.

Flipping around the dial this morning I came across a show that surprised me on Spike.  It's Conceal and Carry School, a handgun shooting show.  Given the controvsrsial nature of gun control in the US I'm surprised to see a reality style show about people learning to combat shoot.  Of course the fact that I've never seen an ad on Spike for the show may be telling.  They themselves may be a bit leery about the show getting too much attention and causing problems.  On the other hand they do have a webpage where you can watch full episodes.  Other channels have featured shows about weaponry but they're generally of a "Here's a so and so, watch it blow stuff up!" sort,  not "Here's private citizens learning how to shoot in a self defense scenario."  It also strikes me as a very American show.  And it's probably a better fit for Spike's "We're the macho network." subtext than it would be elsewhere.

Less Bang, Less Bucks.

The current economic malaise is having effects on businesses that might not immediately come to mind. US firearms maker Smith and Wesson announced today that sales of its hunting line have fallen, offsetting growth in the handgun segment of the company. This lead to a second quarter loss for the company, and as a result their stock declined in trading today. S&W have been trimming jobs on their hunting rifle line as a result of the weakness in sales. You might think economic uncertainly might actually prompt some people to take up hunting again, hoping to save some money by eating more food they've acquired directly. But presumably most people who might do so aren't likely to shell out for a new gun, instead using an existing weapon in their possession or buying a used rifle or shotgun. The hunting market as a whole has been shrinking in the US, no doubt pushed along by an increasingly urban population and fewer young people taking up the hobby.

S&W report sales to law enforcement are strong at the moment, with a lot of interest in their M&P semiautomatic pistol, which has also seen a large order from the Iraqi government. No doubt they hope to increase their market share in a market that has in recent years been dominated by the Austrian made Glock, a large percentage of which are ironically chambered in .40 Smith and Wesson, developed in 1990 as an alternative to the 10mm load the FBI was then using, and which over the course of the '90s came to dominate the North American police market. Municipal police forces here in Saskatchewan for example all use .40 calibre Glocks, versus the 9mm Smith and Wesson pistols used by the RCMP.

A New PDA.

I took a look at the latest Gun World magazine in the library today and had to roll my eyes a little at the ad on the back cover. It was an ad for the new PDA from Para-Ordnance. In this case however it's not a new electronic organiser, PDA standing for Personal Defense Assistant. Apparently someone in their marketing department got a flash of inspiration and figured out a new use for a familiar abbreviation. The "DA" part of the name does have a practical signficance, standing for double action.

Para-Ordnance is in fact a Canadian company, located in Scarborough, Ontario. First going into business to manufacture a paintball gun the company eventually went on to specialise in pistols based on the John Browning designed Colt Model 1911, offering such improvements as a larger magazine capacity and their own proprietary double action trigger mechanism. But don't expect to buy a PDA in Canada. With it's three and a half inch barrel it is considered a prohibited weapon, handguns being required to have a four and a half inch barrel under current regulations. Para-Ordnance does make various models that are legal in Canada, although getting a license to own a handgun does take some effort.

Know Your Topic.

If you're going to advocate some controversial position you should know a great deal on the subject. Not doing so will get you in trouble. While trying to look up a pistol manufacturer on Google I stumbled across a pro-gun control blog called Gun Guys. Skimming through it I came across this piece about a young woman suing the careless hunter who shot her. The young woman was hit by a 7mm Magnum slug. That fact resulted in the following comment: He was shooting at a deer with a 7mm rifle? Did he expect there to be any of it left afterwards?

Apparently the writer didn't bother to do any research. The 7mm calibre is a common size for hunting deer. It's in roughly the same size range as the .30 calibre rounds that have long been a standard hunting calibre. The clown in question no doubt expected to find the majority of the deer to be where it fell after he shot it. All that making a statement like that does is allow one's opponents to point to it as an example of your general ignorance on the subject, and hence that your ideas shouldn't be taken seriously. And if there's anything that gun control foes are going to jump on it's anything that indicates an ignorance of firearms.

Guns and Cars.

With gun control once again in the news in Canada the thought came to mind of whether things would be different if a slight change was made to the concept. Treat guns like we do cars. After all you can own as many cars as you want without any sort of government involvement. It's only if you actually want to use them they get interested. So if you want a car sitting on your lawn to look at and maybe start the motor up on you're perfectly welcome to. But if you actually want to use it you need it both to be licenced and to have a valid operator's licence. Imagine guns were the same way. Want to have 2 dozen rifles in your basement? Go ahead. But if you want to actually shoot them you'll need them registered and you'll need a gun operator's permit. Hmmm, somehow I doubt it would prove any more popular than the current concept.

Many of the more hard core opponents of Canadian gun control are influenced by the situation south of the border and the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution. In a way it surprises me that the idea of a "well regulated militia" included in that amendment was never interpreted in a way to justify certain forms of firearms controls. It could be argued that part of the operation of such a militia is the government knowing the location of firearms and who owns them, on the basis that adult males are members of the militia unless they indicate otherwise. So registration of private arms could possibly be justified even if bans on certain types of firearms and restrictions on things like concealed carry couldn't. At least to the best of my knowledge it has never been interpreted in such a fashion.

In this morning's Star Phoenix there was a shot from a PETA protest against Kentucky Fried Chicken held in Saskatoon over the weekend. The picture on one of the placards was of Dick Gregory, who has long been a vegetarian. I found it kind of surprising, because to be blunt Gregory isn't exactly a widely known figure these days, especially amongst younger folk who have had no real exposure to him. Pam Anderson was on another, which of course makes far more sense.

On a totally different topic if you're looking for information on the firearms currently used by police and the military in various parts of the world the Modern Firearms and Ammunition site may be of interest. Besides weapons actually in common use the site also has information on some projects that may soon see use as well as items of historical interest, such as the Atchisson AA12 machine shotgun.

A recent incident involving an armed American criminal at a border crossing has lead to calls for Canada Customs border inspectors to be armed. Today while buying a donut at the local Tim Hortons I noticed a CN Rail police officer sitting in one booth. He was armed. It brought up the obvious thought that if a railroad cop is armed then shouldn't at least some Customs officers be as well? After all they are more likely to face smugglers, terrorists, or other potentially threatening people, not that its hard to imagine situations where a CN Police officer would need a firearm.

A magazine I read each month, albeit in the library, is Gun World. Three guesses what its about. Interestingly Gun World is rather restrained when it comes to the always contentious US gun control issue. Sure, there are the occasional complaints in the articles about this and that regulation, but there isn't the same kind of advocacy/editorial articles found in some of the other US gun mags, and even those complaints tend to be rather restrained. Perhaps the editorial staff assume that most of their American readers don't need someone telling them every five minutes what to do regarding gun control issues.

Had a bit of a surprise recently when I saw, for the first time in a long time, an issue of Small Arms Review in a local shop. This is a US magazine primarily intended for fans of what are considered "Class Three" weapons under US law, that is machine guns, which includes submachine guns, automatic rifles and so forth, as well as silencers/noise suppressors, certain types of shortened rifles and shotguns, and so on. It is legal in 39 US states to own automatic weapons, but federal regulations require you to have such weapons registered and you must pay a federal tax on their purchase. However manufacture of new automatic weapons for the civilian market has been outlawed in the US since 1986, so owners and potential owners of such firearms must compete for a limited, and ultimately very slowly shrinking, pool of these guns, made and registered before 1986, for sale, driving up prices. The cheapest are examples of the Ingram Mac10/M10 family, going for around 1000 bucks. So if you're interested in such weapons, or just interested in the idea that someone not only can own such things, but would want to, you might want to check the magazine out.

A Saskatoon resident got rather an interesting surprise this week. Instead of the mp3 player he ordered from a US pawn shop on eBay, he got a .22 calibre Smith and Wesson pistol instead. He did the right thing and called the cops, instead of trying to ship it back himself. I can't help but suspect it made it thru whatever Canada Customs centre it passed thru because the inspectors were more interested in interfering with shipments to lesbian book stores than actual dangerous goods. Canada Customs is rather well known for the arbitrary manner in which it seizes publications.

Speaking of pistols if you simply must have a very expensive pistol to impress your friends with, consider the Korth semiauto pistol. List price? A mere $5,954 US.