Saturday, November 24, 2007

Tools and Toys and Pretty In Pink.

There's been so much talk of pink guns on various gun blogs lately that it has actually leaked into real life. I was perusing the latest Cosmo in the grocery store checkout line and noticed that their little "Sexy vs. Skanky" column has labeled "Guns in girlie colors like pink" to be skanky. I'll have to defer to the experts at Cosmo on the subject of skank, but I have seen pink guns that kind of put me off, and I've had to think about why.

As much as the hysterics at the Brady Center for Dis-empowering Crime Victims, as well as the "Sgt. Combat" types among our own ranks, would have you believe otherwise, most guns are either not weapons or at least not used as such. A Perazzi trap gun is beautifully made for the purpose of blowing clay pigeons out of the sky, but its single-shot action, 34" barrel, and stratospheric price tag make it suited for little else. It could be pressed into service as a weapon, I suppose, but so could a rolling pin or a cast iron skillet. Likewise, a free pistol from Hammerli or Pardini is built for a narrow purpose; putting .22 holes right in the same place every time to win competitions. Their size and shape and the fact that they are single shot .22's make them singularly unsuited for practical use as a weapon.

Likewise are the countless "plinker" .22 rifles sold in the US, not to mention various guns that are heavily mutated from their original form to meet various competition needs; benchrest rifles, Open Class IPSC race guns and the like. These are guns that you will see done in every color of the rainbow; I have seen benchrest rifles with flame jobs painted on their unwieldy slablike stocks, and if I had a dollar for every pink Ruger 10/22 I've seen, I'd use them to go buy one myself. And that is cool, because these are toys.

It's when I see a gun clearly meant for use as a tool, a weapon, done up in some garish color that I feel a little weird. Like seeing a hammer with a rhinestone-studded handle, or a fur-trimmed power drill, it just throws me a bit off kilter. It's a free country and people can do with their stuff what they want, but I'm not sure I'd want a pink revolver with "The Pink Bitch" laser-etched on the barrel entered as Exhibit A in a civil case following a self-defense shooting; I think of the arguments I could build around that and I shudder, and I don't have post-grad training in making someone look like a deranged psycho in front of a jury.

So, are pink guns skanky? I don't think so. Usually they're kinda kewt, although I think that in some cases they may not be good ideas.

21 comments:

  1. Re: "The Pink Bitch"

    There's actually a market for left-handed revolvers??

    ReplyDelete
  2. As for colors, it dosen't matter to me. I want my Ar15's plastic parts to be "Lexington Green" since I refer to it as my "Farmer's gun" (1775 ser. #)

    I don't really agree to having a gun engraved with the name, although I named my first car "Bitch", but it wasn't painted on the side.

    Tok

    ReplyDelete
  3. So regular black and / or silvery guns are sexy, right?

    Somehow I don't think that's what they meant, but the conclusion is clear.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd get the Pink Bitch for my left-handed girlfriend, except for that highly off-putting lazer etched crudity.

    I've already got a standard Southpaw on order for her, and would even more gladly get the pink one for her, sans inscription.

    Jim
    Sloop New Dawn
    Galveston, TX

    ReplyDelete
  5. What we need now are crimson guns.

    Red is much better than pink.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Bitch inscription is the probelm--Pink is fine. I personally don't care much what a carry gun looks like, but if a cute color would make my wife carry more, I'd be all for it.

    If cost were no object, I'd be likely to trade my standard Airweight for a Ladysmith, even though I'm not technically the target market.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Not entirely certain Cosmo counts as "real life."

    ReplyDelete
  8. The .357 LadySmith is one hell of a handgun in anybody's book, and I for one am proud to be seen with one. I have a little problem with the very slimness of that back-handle: for the big-fingered, it can produce a nicky little middle-finger sting from the guard, at full cry. But the rosewood stocks are to die for, and I won't trade those for fat Uncle Mike's. Still the only short-barrel I've ever really liked, and I've known judges, officers of the court and such who thought of themselves as "small-handed" (heh) who'd do anything to get one with just a model number and not the logo.

    Considering "target markets," I am surprised no one ever lasered "Black Mombasa" on one and came up with a finish to match...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Tam,
    Depends on the owner of the wepon. While I agree that the "pink bitch" would not play well in front of a jury, I am not convinced that a pink AR-15 would suffer the same consequences. FWIW, I tend to think that if Michael Z Williamson's daughters ended up having to shoot someone in self-defense with their pink ARs the jury might just look kindly upon it. Cute kids with cute carbines forced to defend themselves against an aggressor, just seems like that would play better to a jury than kids with scary looking EBRs.

    I'm just sayin.

    P.S. Same goes for the kids Oleg has recently made posters of.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Its also good to use the same type of ammunition that the LEO’s of the area use that way thy can’t accuse you of using some special extra deadly ammunition.

    Example
    DA “the defendant used deadly hydro shock designed to infect huge killing wounds, using this ammo shows malice that the owner had a Rambo complex”…….

    Attorney “ what kind of ammunition do you use”
    Chief LEO on the witness stand “hydro shock”
    Attorney “ the same kind that the defendant was armed with?”
    Chief LEO on the witness stand “yes”
    Attorney “ you mean you use the deadly hydro shock.. that also must mean you have use this ammo with malice and have a Rambo complex?”
    Chief LEO on the witness stand “umm No?”

    ReplyDelete
  11. Honestly, I am of the mindset that if it gets more people interested in the shooting arts/sports, then I am all for it. I suppose decorating your firearm is no different than decorating your car, or your computer, or anything like that... and people do that all the time. When it comes to defensively carrying said weapon, I would think that a slightly less... obvious... color might be better, but, hell, if you like it, go for it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Attorney “ you mean you use the deadly hydro shock.. that also must mean you have use this ammo with malice and have a Rambo complex?”
    Chief LEO on the witness stand “No, but in my years in law enforecement I've developed a strong dislike for being shot at. The sooner they're incapacitated, the sooner they stop shooting at me.”

    Reworded that last bit for ya. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yes, there is a market for left-handed revolvers. 10-15% of the population IS Lefty.
    Neat thing is you don't have to buy rare, left-handed magazines for it.

    As for pink, maybe when the dress code/style of Miami Vice returns! Would help camouflage it for ccw. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. No, I'm just surprised that there is enough demand for such a product to justify tooling up for it. I mean, how many times would you have to reload a wheelgun in a firefight?

    I remember the "Rule of Two-and-a-Halfs" from my CCW course, which stated that the average gunfight was at two-and-a-half meters, lasted two-and-a-half seconds, and used up two-and-a-half rounds.

    I'm a lefty-paw myself, but I've always shot right-handed, and figured that right-handed revolvers and such was just something another indignity that leftys have to adjust to.

    ReplyDelete
  15. rickn8or,
    that 2.5 rounds stat is a wee bit cooked. For one, it is out of date, but worse, the data included lots of shots fired incidents that were not self defense type, that really skewed the numbers. You know the line about lies... and statistics.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Why is it that anything feminine and strong has to be called "bitch"?

    ReplyDelete
  17. LOL/Prosecutor (visual William Talman): "You mean to say you used the same gore-spattering, gut-hooking round as the police?"

    Bitch (bats eyelashes at jury): Oh, no sir. Mine was pink."

    ReplyDelete
  18. For the same reason we don't have to say "the C-word", or expect a pile on of outraged NYT writers at a Jeff Foxworthy performance. Some people it's still alright to insult.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Well, Tam... I might consider buying a pink gun for my little 5'1" niece when she turns 18, but I don't think that anyone makes a pink 1911!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Strangely, when I was in Arkansas earlier today and accessed your blog from the internet on my palm-thingie, your blog came up pink. OK, sorta baby-aspirin-pink. But pink. Ish.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.