Glock … the book, the gun, the gun nut.

Greg Laden — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:56:56 +0000

There is an interesting interview with Paul Barrett, author of Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun, published here. What I find most interesting about it is the way gun owners as a group are characterized. At several moments in time, private ownership of Glock pistols increased significantly for reasons that one would normally find explaining the behavior of toddlers, or dogs, or monkeys in an experimental setting, not sentient adult humans. For instance, the cops start using Glocks, and gun owners automatically want to use what the cops use. Or, a made up fictional Glock (the Glock 7) is described in a Lethal Weapon movie, where everything about it is wrong (remember, it’s fictional) and this enrages gun owners who run out and buy Glocks. And so on and so forth.

Now, one of the things that seems to rive Glock sales is the fact that they have been used in an increasingly larger number of tragic and horrific massacres on American soil. Somehow, the association with angry carnage and hateful violence makes American gun owners want one.

Glocks hold more ammo than other pistols, can be fitted with super-large ammo holders, and have a trigger that is very smooth making it easier for untalented amateurs to be better shots. Glocks should be banned.

Guns: A constitutional right is not what you think it is

Greg Laden — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:04:15 +0000

In the United States, you have a right to “bear arms.” This has a special meaning which has largely been distorted by the courts, but nonetheless stands as a fundamental. Many gun owners, unfortunately, not only abuse this right but also go far beyond gun ownership to do things that while technically allowable under the First Amendment, are wrong, and that they should not do.

The Pima County, Arizona Republican party … that’s where Gabby Gifford, a young child, a federal judge and a whole bunch of other people were gunned down by a fairly run of the mill gun nut … is taking advantage of people’s unnatural love for their guns and the politicization of what is essentially an expensive and dangerous hobby in a way that is utterly inappropriate.

They are raffling off a gun identical to the one used to shoot Gabby and the rest of them.

The raffle gun comes preloaded with adjustable grips, a case, and three 12-round magazines. Glock USA describes the model as “a slightly reduced size of a full-size handgun for easier concealment but still retains the performance on the level of a serious big bore.”

Details here.

A constitutional right is not a right to be an insensitive dick who insults the hundreds of people who are directly associated, as friends or family members, with those slain in Arizona by the same model Glock being auctioned off here.

UPDATE: But Seriously, Why Is Elon Musk Selling Flamethrowers?

glock – Greg Laden's Blog

Glock … the book, the gun, the gun nut.

Guns: A constitutional right is not what you think it is