3.5 "Cheap handguns, a.k.a. 'Saturday Nite Specials,' are the weapons of choice for violent criminals."
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This article is from the talk.politics.guns Official Pro-Gun FAQ, by Ken Barnes (kebarnes@cc.memphis.edu) with numerous contributions by others.
3.5 "Cheap handguns, a.k.a. 'Saturday Nite Specials,' are the weapons of choice for violent criminals."
See_Under the Gun: Weapons, Crime, and Violence in America,"
by James Wright, Peter Rossi and Kathleen Daly, Aldine de
Gruyter, ISBN 0-202-30303-9 (1983)
"The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons,"
by James Wright and Peter Rossi, U.S. Department of Justice,
National Institute of Justice, SuDoc# J 28.24/3: C.86 (1985)
"Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their
Firearms,"by James Wright and Peter Rossi, Aldine de Gruyter,
ISBN 0-202-30330-6 (1986)
also Kleck,"Point Blank_pp.83-94
LaPierre,"Guns, Crime and Freedom_p.58
In summary: Unlike so-called "assault weapons," which are very rarely
used in crime (see 3.3), handguns are commonly used by armed criminals,
most often for their intimidation value, and due to the fact that they
are easily concealable. However, the supposed preference of criminals
for inexpensive, low caliber, poor quality handguns (the guns which "gun
control" advocates term "Saturday Nite Specials") doesn't reflect the
realities of gun preference and use by serious career criminals. Those
who make crime their livelihood are likely to prefer the same sorts of
guns as do legitimate users, guns which are accurate and well made,
although with the additional requirements that they be untraceable
(often meaning stolen), and easy to use and conceal. Price doesn't seem
to be much of a factor when it's possible for a criminal either to steal
the weapon he wants, or buy a stolen gun on the street. Guns are used
to some extent as a medium of exchange by criminals, and traded for
drugs, or sold to pay debts. While semi-automatics have increased in
popularity among police, legitimate users, and criminals; revolvers and
shotguns are also well-represented among guns used in crime, according
to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The Smith and Wesson
.38 caliber revolver remains one of the most common handguns in general
use, and is also very commonly used by criminals armed with handguns.
It might be speculated that the shift by police from the .38 service
revolver to the 9mm semi-automatic pistol will result in increased
popularity of the 9mm among criminals, just as the popularity of the
9mm as a military sidearm, replacing the venerable Colt Government Model
1911A1 .45 caliber semi-automatic, has spurred increased interest by
police departments in the so-called "wonder nine".
Small, inexpensive, low-caliber handguns, by contrast, are primarily
the weapons of those too poor to afford anything better, and bans of
these so-called "Saturday Nite Specials" disarm largely those honest
poor who typically face greater risk of being victimized by violent
crime than do more affluent people who can afford to live in better
neighborhoods, and homes or apartments with security alarms and armed
guards. Further, restricting the availability of low caliber handguns,
or handguns in general, can result in criminals arming themselves with
heavier caliber, deadlier handguns or sawed-off rifles and shotguns.
In fact, this "weapons substitution" effect may have already occurred.
Since the importation of certain low-quality handguns (the original
guns termed "Saturday Nite Specials" by "gun control" activists)
was banned in the late 1960s, the guns favored by violent criminals,
and particularly those individuals involved in the violence associated
with the illegal drug trade, have been better-quality, more expensive
handguns. These wealthy drug gangsters can obviously afford them.
It's unlikely that, given that the U.S. has extreme difficulty in
preventing the smuggling of_tons_of illegal drugs and_thousands_of
illegal immigrants each year, we would have any greater success in
preventing the smuggling of durable non-perishable goods like firearms
(or their illicit manufacture in the United States, for that matter)
in quantities sufficient to easily satisfy all criminal demand for them.
In the meantime, we would have deprived law-abiding citizens, and
particularly the most vulnerable among us, of any effective means to
resist criminal attack, with predictably tragic results.
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