Free Press book club: Biography of a gun

the Detroit Free Press ^ | May 4, 2003 | MARTA SALIJ

[archy]

How do criminals get their guns? And what should law-abiding citizens do about it?

Those are the central questions of Erik Larson's pivotal 1994 book, "Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun" (Vintage, $13), this month's Free Press Book Club selection.

[Badray]

" "I set out to trace his weapon from the moment its design was conceived to its use at Atlantic Shores as a way to explore how guns migrate from the so-called legitimate gun-distribution network to the hands of killers, robbers, and inner-city gangsters,"

This author is an idiot. If it passes thru all those hands in the 'so-called' network, and it is not used in a crime before it is stolen by a criminal, then doesn't that tell you the problem is not the gun, but the person using it?

[archy]

Is that a Jeep-mounted 105?

It's a Jeep-mounted M40A1 106mm recoiless rifle. That's pretty close to a 105mm, though the designation really came about as a means of assuring that 105mm recoiless ammunition from a previous weapons system was not used in the M40A1.

I'm after a right-side drive Land Rover, as used by the Australians in Vietnam, as a transporter for the thing- at 461 pounds, it's not exactly suitable for concealed carry....

[TexasCowboy]

ALERT: VICTORY IN CALIFORNIA!

"FCSPI Email Alert
Victory in CA!

Thanks to a last ditch effort by FCSPI and a team of pro-gun leaders, AB-50, California’s 50 caliber ban was defeated today in the Senate Public Safety Committee. FCSPI President John Burtt traveled to Sacramento to testify and was joined by the NRA’s Ed Worley, California Rifle and Pistol Association’s Jerry Upholt, Gun Owners of California’s Sam Paredes and Safari Club’s Kathy Lynch.

AB-50 had been pulled from last week’s committee schedule and in the interim, FCSPI presented Committee members with documented expert testimonials that dispelled the ridiculous anti-gun myths put forth by the backers of the 50 ban. The bill was heard today in Committee and defeated. It is effectively dead for this session, although we expect anti-gun forces to try again next year.

Supporters in California should take the time to thank two Senators whose votes were very important to this victory. Committee Chairman Senator Bruce McPherson (R-15) and Committee Vice-Chair John Vasconcellos (D-13) both took the time to hear the credible testimony and evidence put forth by FCSPI and cast votes that allowed the bill to die in Committee. You can find their contact info at www.sen.ca.gov – be sure to take the time to thank them.

FCSPI Executive Director
Michael Marks
www.fcspi.org"

Another battle won temporarily..........

[PhilDragoo]

Free Press book club: Biography of an Oldsmobile

May selection follows a black sedan from its origins to a Chappaquiddick DWI murder.

May 4, 2003

BY MORTOO D. POINT
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

How do alcoholic senators get their big black sedans? And what should law-abiding citizens do about it?

One senator, the loudest opponent of guns, has killed more people with his black sedan than 99.999% of gun owners.

Cars don't kill innocent girls--drunk senators do.

George Killen , the State Police Detective-Lieutenant who investigated the accident, said that Senator Kennedy "killed that girl the same as if he put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger."

[budwiesest]

Is a gun essential to the American psyche or the American way of life?

Yes. That this had to be asked at all signifies the betrayal of natural rights this country was founded upon.

Given that my size could intimidate folks of lesser size my reluctance to say, grab a purse, is founded in two considerations: first, my moral grounding. Second, that some petite person might drill numerous pieces of lead into my body.

Talked to a friend the other day who witnessed two 'large' black dudes who simply pulled up to a landscaper's truck and helped themselves to one of his lawnmowers that was on the sidewalk. The victim was Asian and just stood there in disbelief. Not much he could do.

[budwiesest]

Vice-Chair John Vasconcellos (D-13)

Hey, this is good news but thanking a democrat, not happening. There'd be a ton of socialist sh*t to thank them for first. This is a time to look the gift-horse in the mouth, though.

[henderson field]

The Detroit "Free Press," which distributes "Biography of a Gun" is a liberal newspaper; the Detroit News is less so.

[eskimo]

It's a Jeep-mounted M40A1 106mm recoiless rifle. That's pretty close to a 105mm, though the designation really came about as a means of assuring that 105mm recoiless ammunition from a previous weapons system was not used in the M40A1.

I don't care, I want one. They were greatly feared by the commnders of those cracker-box tanks in Santo Domingo.

[archy]

I don't care, I want one. They were greatly feared by the commnders of those cracker-box tanks in Santo Domingo.

There are essentially four components to the project: the 106mm gun itself, the semiauto M8C .50 caliber spotting rifle mounted above the 106mm barrel and used to zero in on the target, [and a fun little item in itself] the M79 mount or any of a couple of other possibilities, though the wheeled M79 is more practical than most, allowing fairly quick and easy removal and installation of the unit in and out of the vehicle, and of course the mounting vehicle itself, anything from the six-gun tracked *Ontos* used by the USMC as a light tank destroyer and bunker buster to the more usual jeep and other light truck platforms, which require some rear suspension modifications to handle the additional weight and a folddown, removable or split windshield to accomodate the gun tube when mounted. The U.S. M151 series jeep, known as the M151A1C when set up as a recoilless mount, is probably the most common, but several earlier and later Jeeps and light trucks are possible, particularly those nneat Brit and Aussie Land Rovers.

My own suggestion is to begin with the vehicle, and add a dummy or display gun, maybe fitted with one of the subcaliber gunnery practice units for initial familiarization, then upgrading your equipment as the better components come along. There's a fellow who specializes in M40A1/M40A2 restoration work, and I'd be glad to point you to him; my own next project is a 20mm subcaliber unit, chambered for the same 20x139b mm ammunition as the Lahti and Solothurn *light* antitank rifles of the early WWII period, which render the gun not-quite recoilless any longer, but the weight and bulk of the M40A1 can handle it okay- some are considering a similar setup for the 25x137 mm main gun of the M2 Bradley mech infantry vehicle.

Main gun ammunition is difficult to come by but dummy solid shot practice rounds are easily available ($35-$50 apiece; the jeep-mounted guns carried six shots aboard, with more sometimes carried in a trailer or companion vehicle) and there's a fella in Texas with load development info he worked up for his own 57mm M18A1 recoilless- it's a starting place, at least.

They're not something you shoot just anywhere or anytime, but they do provide a good deal of interest when you do. And they're great sport for 4th of July and Memorial Day/Veterans' Day parades.

-archy-/-

[archy]

Given that my size could intimidate folks of lesser size my reluctance to say, grab a purse, is founded in two considerations: first, my moral grounding. Second, that some petite person might drill numerous pieces of lead into my body.

And a third consideration as well: your finely developed fashion sense. After all, you wouldn't want a purse that would clash with your shoes and scarf!

Better for you to purchase a matching ensemble....

-archy-/-

[budwiesest]

you wouldn't want a purse that would clash with your shoes and scarf!

LOL! Too funny man. I've got a couple pairs of those budwieser boxer-shorts that I only wear on special occassions. They go real nice with a twelve pack.

[archy]

LOL! Too funny man. I've got a couple pairs of those budwieser boxer-shorts that I only wear on special occassions. They go real nice with a twelve pack.

Back around the end of the 1980s, a tornado hit the small Indiana town of Petersburg, Indiana, erasing a couple of dozen downtown stores, several churches and a school, and around 50-plus houses. A couple of weeks earlier, the town's water treatment plant had failed, and the governor had sent the National Guard in to help keep things going, so they were on hand and able to respond almost immediately to the following disaster.

Drinking water was a problem from the get-go. The Budweiser folks in St Louis responded with thousands of 12-ounce cans of water in pull-top cans, painted plain white but with a very obvious heritage, and fine print on the generic label identifying the provider.

I've had a soft spot for the Bud folks ever since. And when major flooding hit the St. Louis area a year or two later and I showed up with a sandbag and river rescue crew, I made the acquaintance of those white cans of Bud, extra, very, very lite again....

They more commonly use bottled water or plastic bags or pouches for that sort of emergency water supply now. But the white cans from Budweiser were the *good stuff.*

[Richard-SIA]

Prior to mass media coverage even the most heinous crimes usually remained local matters.

Now they are the life blood of modern media, and the inspiration for copy-cats to feed the liberals need to maintain a certain level of mayhem, so as to justify their never ending quest for more control and fewer rights for citizens.

This is indeed designed to instigate more shootings, to keep the "AW" & "Hi-Cap" mag bans in place!

[eskimo]

I appreciate the info and the pictures. I've got it saved to show some friends.

[Chemist_Geek]

And please join us for a discussion of "Lethal Passage" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, at the Ferndale Public Library, 222 E. Nine Mile, Ferndale.

FWIW, Ferndale is a notoriously anti-gun suburb of Detroit. Their anti-concealed-carry ordinance got smacked down recently.