Weapons

"Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is in the process of buying more than 100 plastic handguns that would be difficult for airport security forces to detect. Incredibly, the pistols are made in Austria - where Gaddafi-supported terrorists shot up the Vienna airport during Christmas week. "This is crazy," one top official told us. "To let a madman like Gaddafi have access to such a pistol! Once it is in his hands, he'll give it to terrorists throughout the Middle East." The handgun in question is the Glock 17, a 9-mm. pistol invented and manufactured by Gaston Glock in the village of Deutsch-Wagram, just outside Vienna. It is accurate, reliable - and made almost entirely of hardened plastic. Only the barrel, slide and one spring are metal. Dismantled, the weapon is frighteningly easy to smuggle past airport security."

"The sickening shooting spree in Tucson holds many lessons for our country, but the most important is this: It's much too easy for dangerous people to get their hands on deadly weapons. We must change this. A good start is by banning high-capacity gun magazines -- which allow scores of bullets to be loaded at one time -- such as the one used in the Tucson massacre that left six people dead and 14 others wounded, including my colleague, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. According to news reports, Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged shooter in Tucson, used a 33-round magazine in a murderous rampage. The sheriff says 31 spent rounds were found on the scene. As we now know, a group of heroic bystanders stopped the shooter by wrestling him to the ground. But they didn't have an opportunity to intervene until he emptied the magazine and paused to reload. If the shooter didn't have access to the high-capacity magazine that he used, he would have stopped to reload sooner and lives might have been saved. Loughner's magazine was attached to a 9 mm Glock 19 semi-automatic handgun, which is the preferred weapon of deranged madmen. In 2007, Seung-Hui Cho used the same model in the Virginia Tech shooting spree, which claimed 32 lives."

"Then Felicia Sanders heard the first startling boom, she said, as Dylann S. Roof removed a Glock .45-caliber handgun from his fanny pack and methodically shot one African-American worshiper after the next, nine in all, starting with the pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney."

"In a terrifying example of progress outpacing common sense, the handgun industry is poised on the brink of the first major change in concealable firearms in this century--plastic handguns. Incorporating resilient, lightweight, corrosion-proof polymers into their design, plastic handguns will render metal detectors ineffective. When broken down into their component pieces, they will easily deceive X-ray machines. This new generation of handgun will appeal to numerous gun aficionados for a variety of reasons, but will be best suited for one in particular: terrorists. Unfortunately, we already have a glimpse of the future. Austrian plastics manufacturer Gaston-Glock has developed the Glock 17, the first handgun in the world to employ plastic in its structural design. This "handgun of the future" is almost half plastic. Only three of its major components are metal: the barrel, slide and spring. Including its clip, the 33-piece gun weighs only 23 ounces and can be field-stripped and reassembled without tools."

"Virginia Tech. Gabby Giffords. Now Aurora, Colo. The names and places are linked by tragedy, death and the Glock semiautomatic handgun. The young men who carried out these mass shootings — and analysis says such killers are almost always male and most often young — all counted at least one of these versatile, easy-to-fire pistols in their arsenals.... Like other mass shootings, Friday’s attack sparked calls for more gun control."

"Mr. Roof, 21 at the time, told the agents he was astonished to find the church parking lot not swarming with police when he exited a side door at 9:06 p.m. on June 17, 2015. He said he had saved one of eight magazines for his Glock semiautomatic handgun, loaded with hollow-point bullets bought at Walmart, so he could kill himself if confronted by the police.... A final scene from the security camera showed Mr. Roof exiting the church’s side door, holding the Glock at his right side and driving off in his black Hyundai Elantra."

"Enhanced lethality, that's what we are talking about. Lethality increases when you have larger bullets, more ammunition and the guns are easier to operate. That's the contribution Glock and others have brought to America."

"The bullets it fires are larger. They put bigger holes in things."

"Auvinen shot the victims with a .22-caliber Sic Sauer Mosquito pistol, police said, adding that about a dozen other people were injured as they tried to escape from the school."

"The perpetrator visited a gun shop in Jokela on 2 November 2007. A Ruger MKIII gun was not, however, available at that time. Instead, he purchased a semi-automatic Sig Sauer Mosquito pistol with 10-round capacity and 500 rounds for it. This happened five days before the shooting incident."

"In another YouTube posting, the teenage Nazi posed with his 10-shot, .22 Sig Sauer Mosquito handgun."

"Now, news that an 18-year-old used one of the country's easily available handguns to kill eight people in a suburban high school less than an hour's drive north of here has some Finns wondering whether the country's gun laws should be tightened.... Pekka-Eric Auvinen shot each of his victims in the head or upper body with a .22-caliber Sig Sauer Mosquito pistol as he roamed the three floors of the yellow lakeside high school, investigators said. After spraying a burst of gunfire into the cafeteria, Mr. Auvinen ended the blood bath in an adjoining restroom, where he aimed at his own skull the last bullet he fired, police said."

"The two 18-year-olds in Columbine had planned to set the school on fire in order to spread panic. This appears to have also featured in the plans of Auvinen. However, he brought only a small quantity of lighter fuel, not enough to cause a blaze. Instead he relied on an enormous cache of ammunition for his Sig Sauer Mosquito handgun. He pumped 68 bullets into his eight victims; the 69th he shot into his own skull. Police found 500 rounds of unused ammunition in his rucksack."

"Armed with 500 bullets and a .22 calibre Sig-Sauer mosquito pistol bought three weeks ago, Auvinen fired indiscriminately. All his victims, who have been identified but not named, died from numerous bullets to the head and upper body. "Nothing could be done to save them," said Detective Chief Superintendent Jan Nyholm, from the National Bureau of Investigation."

"Pekka-Eric Auvinen shot each of his victims in the head or upper body with a .22-caliber Sig Sauer Mosquito pistol as he roamed the three floors of the yellow lakeside high school, investigators said. After spraying a burst of gunfire into the cafeteria, Auvinen ended the blood bath in an adjoining restroom, where he aimed at his own skull the last bullet he fired, police said."

"Auvinen, a loner and a member of Helsinki Shooting Club who acquired his weapon legally, was described as being "very angry at society". He carried out the shootings while armed with 500 bullets and a .22 calibre Sig Sauer mosquito pistol bought three weeks before he ran amok at his former school."

"Considering the destruction Auvinen caused using a small .22 semiautomatic Sig Sauer "Mosquito," purchased less than a month earlier, it's unsettling to learn he'd tried to get a license for a more potent .9 mm. His application, based on a recommendation from hi shooting club, was refused because the larger weapon was considered too powerful for his stated purpose of "target practice." After his attack, the Finnish government proposed raising the minimum age for buying guns from fifteen to eighteen, although Auvinen was already that old."

"For a man of society, even for a civilian, a small Browning was as obligatory and as useless an accessory to his toilet as a tie or a cane."

"Whenever I hear of culture, I reach for my Browning!"

"...having entered the school with 4 handguns and 743 rounds of ammunition, Thomas Hamilton fired 105 rounds with a 9 mm Browning self-loading pistol over a space of about 3-4 minutes before committing suicide with one shot from a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver....Thomas Hamilton had with him two 9 mm Browning self-loading (or semi-automatic) pistols and two .357 Smith & Wesson revolvers....As regards the pistols, Thomas Hamilton had used one of them in order to fire all of his shots at his victims.... The examination of the scene showed that Thomas Hamilton had fired 105 rounds of 9 mm ammunition by means of pistol A. He had with him 25 extended box-type magazines, each of which was capable of holding 20 rounds of 9 mm ammunition and suitable for use with either pistol. (The standard magazine for such pistols was capable of holding 13 cartridges.)...I have no doubt that if Thomas Hamilton had chosen to do so he could have killed every person in the gym....Thomas Hamilton then re-entered the gym where he shot again. He then released the pistol and drew a revolver. He placed the muzzle of the revolver in his mouth, pointing upwards and pulled the trigger. His death followed quickly. Mrs Mayor and 15 children lay dead in the gym and one further child was close to death. They had sustained a total of 58 gun shot wounds. 26 of these wounds were of such a nature that individually they would have proved fatal."

"Nesterenko scratched his eyebrow thoughtfully and gave a grunt of annoyance: “Well, it can’t be helped, I’ll have to give away a very valuable thing. Now we’re bound ourselves in friendship, you’d better take this little toy as a present. It may come in useful. Nagulnov has been shot at, and you’d better look out, too, or things may go badly ”"

"Just after 9.30am on 13 March, 1996, a local former Scout leader, Thomas Hamilton, drove into Dunblane Primary’s car park, got out of his van, and tried to block the phone lines of the school by cutting cables on a telegraph pole. He entered the north-west side of the school, which gave access to the gym and the main hall, carrying four handguns – two Browning pistols and two Smith & Wesson .357 Magnums. He had 743 rounds of ammunition, enough to wipe out the entire school. Dressed in black, with holsters strapped to his body and wearing two body pouches, his ears were protected by specialist muffs familiar to anyone who frequents gun clubs. When Hamilton went back inside the gym, he dropped the gun he was using and selected the Smith & Wesson. He put the barrel in his mouth and fired. He was blown off his feet, and landed surrounded by a pool of blood. Hamilton had used his Browning pistol 105 times; 17 people were dead, 32 sustained gunshot wounds, all under just four minutes. The 106th bullet was for himself.... The political fall-out was substantial. John Major’s government reacted quickly by promising a nationwide gun amnesty, with orders to Lord Cullen to set up a judicial inquiry and “report as soon as practicable”. Dunblane’s grieving parents could have retreated from the front line, and no one would have blamed them for doing so. But there was no retreat, only defiance and a determination to ban private gun ownership, and ensure no other parent would witness the slaughter of innocents.... The Firearms (Amendment) Act was passed in 1997, with another stronger version passed later the same year."

"Snowdrops are in bloom this weekend as Dunblane shakes off its winter chill and looks ahead to spring. But in this Scottish town, the carpet of while petals marks not just a new season but also the anniversary of a school shooting that led to an immediate change in gun laws. Twenty years ago this Sunday, a local gun owner walked into the town’s elementary school and fatally shot 16 first-graders and their teacher before killing himself. Pictures of anguished parents running through the streets for news of their children deepened public outrage, and a crusade to tighten controls — led by townspeople and victims’ families — won widespread support. The "Snowdrop Campaign," which took its name from the only spring flower in bloom at the time of the massacre, resulted in a ban on all private hand-guns.... The Dunblane shooter, unemployed 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton, was the legal owner of all four handguns used in the attack: two Browning pistols and two Smith & Wesson revolvers. However, the police firearms-licensing office was unaware that complaints had been made about Hamilton's behavior towards young boys at after-school clubs that he ran. The Snowdrop Campaign successfully argued for deeper background checks of firearm certificate applicants."

"Timeline of shooting: Wednesday 13 March, 1996 8:15am: Thomas Hamilton leaves home in Stirling, five miles from Dunblane Primary School. 9:30am: He parks his van at the school and cuts telephone wires. 9:35am to 9:40am: Entering the school, armed with four handguns and 743 rounds, he fires into the Assembly Hall and girls’ toilet. In the gym, where 28 five and six-year-olds, are waiting for their PE lesson to start, he opens fire with a 9mm Browning self-loading pistol. Gwen Mayor, teacher of the Primary 1 class, dies instantly. Two other teachers are seriously injured but make their way into a store room, with several children. Hamilton fires 29 shots, killing one child and injuring others. At one point he stands over a group of cowering children and fires 16 shots at point-blank range. After leaving the gym and firing into a classroom, Hamilton – who fired a total of 105 shots in around three minutes – re-enters the scene of slaughter where he drops his pistol and takes out a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver, puts it into his mouth and kills himself."

"Jim Moriarty: [Enters through a side door] I gave you my number. I thought you might call. Is that a British Army Browning L9A1 in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me? Sherlock: [Draws the gun, points it at Moriarty] Both."

"Mike: What’s happening, Buffer? Buffer: They’re still looking for a tube, sir. Mike: [Looks thoughtful.] Tell X she’s got a pistol. Use it. Buffer: You want him to shoot her? Mike: Tell X to break down her Browning, remove the 9-millimetre barrel, use it as a tube. Over. Buffer: Got it."

"...43-year-old Thomas Hamilton entered the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland at 9:35 a.m. on March 13, 1996, using Browning pistols and Smith & Wesson revolvers to kill 15 children and their teacher.... w:Parliament responded with sweeping new bans.... The national outcry after the Dunblane shooting in 1996, however, sparked a far more sweeping ban. In the 1997 Firearms Act, private citizens were virtually barred from owning most types of handguns."

"The Hi Power was in many ways the Glock of its day. Easy to disassemble and with a large magazine capacity, the Hi Power was a leap ahead from contemporary gun designs when it was first introduced in 1935. The Hi Power used many features in Browning’s other famous pistol, the 1911A1 but showed considerable refinement, including such features as a twin-row, double-stack magazine that accommodated 13 rounds of nine-millimeter ammunition. That was up to twice as much ammo as other semiautomatic pistols and is where the pistol gets the name "Hi Power". The Hi Power was eventually outclassed by other handguns in its class such as the Glock 17, Sig Sauer P226, and Smith & Wesson M&P, that offered modern features at a lower price point. Unusually, the Hi Power was never updated with modern features such as an accessory rail, night sights, and the use of polymers. John Browning’s last pistol stayed true to form until the very end."

"...in just a few months, a petition drive throughout their nation collected 705,000 signatures urging that handguns, already tightly restricted, be outlawed entirely. The Snowdrop campaign was named for the tiny, fragile flower that is the only bloom in season in Scotland during March. It faced opposition, certainly, with some members of Parliament arguing in part that a ban would prevent Britons from participating in shooting competitions. But less than 18 months later, the government prohibited the possession of all handguns in Britain. The law is one of the strictest gun-control measures in the world.... Each was but 5 years old that Wednesday morning when Thomas Hamilton, 43, walked into their school. The former Scout leader bore grudges in abundance, and he felt most slighted by townspeople he thought had hampered his efforts to run local boys clubs. In the gymnasium he found 29 pupils. In mere minutes, with two Browning semiautomatic pistols for which he held legal licenses, he fired 105 rounds. Only one child was not hit. Ultimately, 12 lived. Hamilton committed suicide."

"Browning, Browning."

"“He’s an artist,” she said calmly. “I’ve dealt with the type before, and recently. Like the bad guy said, never give an artist a Browning; they’re some of the most dangerous folks you can meet. The Festival fringe—shit! Artists almost always want an audience, the spectacle of destruction.”"

"NEW! 7-round self-loading recoil-acting pistol BROWNING. ...The appearance of the Browning pistol caused the same revolution in the use of this type of weapon that was once caused by the appearance of mitrailleuses and rapid-fire guns in the artillery world... The strength of the design and the quality of the material of the Browning fully correspond to the strength of its fire, and its general exterior beauty is unprecedented... The named pistol is ideal of such a weapon in the literal sense of the word."

"The Emperor, on the 4th day of February, has deigned to issue the following orders:"

"[Michael and Fiona are in their car being chased by cops.] Michael: Do you have guns in the trunk, Fi?! Fiona: A few semi-automatics, yeah. I got a deal, Michael. This guy was selling Browning 9mms for 200 bucks a piece. Michael: You have unregistered weapons in a stolen car, Fi!"

"Well, it goes jolly quickly, Mrs Müller, terribly quickly. I'd buy a Browning for a job like that. It looks like a toy, but in a couple of minutes you can shoot twenty archdukes with it, never mind whether they're thin or fat."

"Hertz: Do you know why a gun is better than a wife?"

"Man Who Rides Shotgun: Dunno."

"Hertz: Well, you can put a silencer on a gun."

"The silencer will silence any cocksucker with something to say."

"Fierce as they seem, some bold Plebeian spear May pierce their shield, or stop their full career."

"And nigh to him came Achilles, the peer of Enyalius, warrior of the waving helm, brandishing over his right shoulder the Pelian ash, his terrible spear."

"The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced."

"I'll fling a spear myself and leave the rest to Zeus."

"The son of Enops, Thestor next he smote. He in his chariot with his body bent Sat cow’ring low, a fear-distracted form, And from his palsied grasp the reins had fall’n. Then came Patroclus nigh, and through his cheek His teeth transpiercing, drew him by his lance Sheer o’er the chariot-front. As when a man On some projecting rock advanc’d, with line And splendid hook draws forth a sea-fish huge, So him wide-gaping from his seat he drew At his spear-point, then shook him to the ground Prone on his face, where gasping he expir’d."

"He...poised his far-shadowing spear and hurled it, and smote upon the shield of Aretus, that was well-balanced upon every side, and this stayed not the spear, but the bronze passed clean through, and into the lower belly he drave it through the belt. And as when a strong man with sharp axe in hand smiteth behind the horns of an ox of the steading and cutteth clean through the sinew, and the ox leapeth forward and falleth; even so Aretus leapt forward and fell upon his back, and the spear, exceeding sharp, fixed quivering in his entrails loosed his limbs."

"His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand, He walkt with to support uneasie steps Over the burning Marle."

"The western tribes of British New Guinea employ a charm to aid the hunter in spearing dugong or turtle. A small beetle, which haunts coco-nut trees, is placed in the hole of the spear-haft into which the spear-head fits. This is supposed to make the spear-head stick fast in the dugong or turtle, just as the beetle sticks fast to a man’s skin when it bites him."

"And the Spear was a Desert Physician who cured not a few of ambition, And drave not a few to perdition with medicine bitter and strong."

"Christ-side-piercing spear."

"The anguish of the deep-fix’d spear grew fierce, And he desired to draw forth the steel, And let the blood flow free, and so to die."