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Saturday night special

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This article is about handguns. For other uses of the phrase, see Saturday Night Special (disambiguation).
Raven Arms MP-25, an example of a .25 caliber semi-automatic type of gun commonly considered a Saturday night special.

The phrase Saturday night special is pejorative slang used in the United States and Canada for any inexpensive handgun. Saturday night specials have been defined as compact, inexpensive handguns with perceived low quality; however, there is no official definition of "Saturday night special" under federal law, though some states define "Saturday Night Special" or "Junk Guns" by means of composition or materials strength.[1] Low cost and high availability make them attractive to low-income buyers despite their shortcomings.

Controversy

Laws prohibiting or regulating the purchase of inexpensive handguns such as the Saturday Night Special are controversial in the United States. Saturday Night Specials are a legislative concern because of their offensive use by criminals and defensive possession by potential victims, particularly in low-income high-crime neighborhoods in large urban areas. The two primary areas of contention relate to the availability of guns and the effect of purchase price upon the demographic of who buys them.

Availability

In 2003, the NAACP filed suit against 45 gun manufacturers for creating what it called a "public nuisance" through the "negligent marketing" of handguns, which included models commonly described as Saturday Night Specials. The suit alleged that handgun manufacturers and distributors were guilty of marketing guns in a way that encouraged violence in black and Hispanic neighborhoods. "The gun industry has refused to take even basic measures to keep criminals and prohibited persons from obtaining firearms," NAACP President/CEO Kweisi Mfume said. "The industry must be as responsible as any other and it must stop dumping firearms in over-saturated markets. The obvious result of dumping guns is that they will increasingly find their way into the hands of criminals."[2] The suit was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, who ruled that members of the NAACP were not "uniquely harmed" by illegal use of firearms and therefore had no standing to sue.[3]

Economic Class

Because the price of a firearm can determine who is able to buy it, the elimination of inexpensive firearms could have a direct effect upon those of lesser means. Roy Innis, president of the activist group Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), said "To make inexpensive guns impossible to get is to say that you're putting a money test on getting a gun. It's racism in its worst form." (CORE filed as an amicus curiae in a 1985 suit challenging Maryland's Saturday night special/low-caliber handgun ban.[4]) The Wright and Rossi evaluation of the National Institute of Justice study (p. 238) concluded: "The people most likely to be deterred from acquiring a handgun by exceptionally high prices or by the nonavailability of certain kinds of handguns are not felons intent on arming themselves for criminal purposes (who can, if all else fails, steal the handgun they want), but rather poor people who have decided they need a gun to protect themselves against the felons but who find that the cheapest gun in the market costs more than they can afford to pay."[4]

History of regulation attempts

Colt Army Model 1860 revolver
Colt Model 1861 Navy reproduction
19th Century laws restricting handguns to the Army and Navy pistol were the first "Saturday Night Special" bans.

The earliest law prohibiting inexpensive handguns was enacted in Tennessee, in the form of the "Army and Navy" law, passed in 1879, shortly after the 14th amendment and Civil Rights Act of 1875; previous laws invalidated by the constitutional amendment had stated that black freedmen could not own or carry any manner of firearm. The Army and Navy law prohibited the sale of "belt or pocket pistols, or revolvers, or any other kind of pistols, except army or navy pistols," which were prohibitively expensive for black freedmen and poor whites to purchase.[5] These were large pistols in .36 caliber ("Navy") or .44 caliber ("Army"), and were the military issue cap and ball blackpowder revolvers used during the Civil War by both Union and Confederate ground troops. The effect of the Army and Navy law was to restrict handgun possession to the upper economic classes.[6]

The next major attempt to regulate inexpensive firearms was the Gun Control Act of 1968, which used the "sporting purposes" test and a points system to exclude many small, inexpensive handguns which had been imported from European makers such as Röhm (RG). The Act also had the effect of banning the import of high quality pocket pistols such as the Browning 1910 and the Walther PPK, which were very popular among police officers as backup guns, since police use was not a "sporting purpose" and the backup guns failed the points system on basis of size.

The Gun Control Act had other unintended consequences. The original Glock models imported from Austria, and used by many U.S. police departments, had to be equipped with fragile adjustable sights to gain enough points to be imported as "target pistols"; these were replaced by Glock in the U.S. with the original rugged fixed sight, thus creating the original, non-importable configuration desired for police service use.[7] All compact models have "target grips" in the form of finger grooves molded into the plastic, and Glock's .380 ACP model is still not available in the US due to its inability to make the required number of points for import.[8]

Most manufacturers in the US were not directly impacted by the Gun Control Act, as they were not subject to the import restrictions, and for the most part they did not manufacture compact, inexpensive handguns that competed with the banned imports.[9] However, demand for quality compact handguns or police service pistols beyond the capacity of domestic manufacture led either to domestic manufacture of guns banned from import (Smith and Wesson began making the Walther PPK) or to establishment of U.S. factories by foreign makers like Beretta.

The demand for inexpensive handguns still existed and a number of new companies were formed to fill that gap. In an effort to cut costs, many of these guns were made with cast zinc components, rather than the more typical machined or cast steel. While zinc is far less strong and durable than steel, it is strong and durable enough for the small-caliber defensive handguns in question. It is also rust-proof, which is an advantage for defensive users who often invest less effort in maintaining their weapons than sporting enthusiasts.

More recent legislation against "junk guns" has targeted the zinc frames used in construction by specifying a melting point; however, this backfired when police departments began adopting polymer framed guns such as those made by every major firearms manufacturer (with the exception of Colt), which will burn at temperatures much lower than the commonly specified 800 °F. Legislators then changed the definitions to target size (barrel lengths under 3 inches), materials (such as zinc), low-cost manufacturing techniques (e.g., density requirements that specifically ban inexpensive powder cast metals),[10] redundant safety requirements (trigger and/or main-spring locks, sizes too large for a child to use, drop tests), and "quality", "reliability", and "accuracy" (which are often left undefined).[citation needed] The only apparent impact of such legislation is to force the manufacturers to either lose market share in some states (since such laws have only been instituted on a state-by-state basis) or to increase the cost of manufacture and thus increase the market price of the firearm.[citation needed] Some of these legal restrictions are based on product liability law; a gun should not discharge when dropped. Others, such as requiring loaded chamber indicators, are controversial.

No police departments are known to require officers to carry guns with locking devices installed[citation needed] (although some do require rifles and shotguns that are stored unattended in police cruisers as backup weapons to have locking devices to prevent unauthorised access). Law enforcement is also specifically exempted from these bans and regulations.[11]

Regulation in Canada

In Canada, the 1995 Firearms Act (known as Bill C-68 before passage) classified handguns with a calibre of .25 or .32, or having a barrel length of 105 mm or shorter, as "prohibited" weapons.[12] This provision (now included in Section 84 of the Criminal Code of Canada) appears to have been specifically aimed at "Saturday night specials". Exceptions are made for target pistols in these calibres used in international shooting competitions.[13]

Origin of the term

In his book Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out, civil rights attorney and gun scholar Don Kates found racial overtones in the focus on the Saturday Night Special[14] ("niggertown Saturday night special"). Even gun control advocate Robert Sherrill claimed: "The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed not to control guns but to control blacks."[15]

The earliest known use of the term "Saturday night special" in print is in the August 17, 1968 issue of the New York Times. In a front-page article titled Handgun Imports Held Up by U.S, author Fred Graham wrote, "... cheap, small-caliber 'Saturday night specials' that are a favorite of holdup men..."

Among some law enforcement officers, the term has also applied to home made or improvised weapons, such as "zip guns." The idea behind the slang being that such a weapon made during the week would be used in a crime over the weekend; Saturday night being the peak night for such crimes.

M.A. (Merle Avery) Gill's Underworld Slang, a dictionary published in 1929, includes an entry called "Saturday night pistol" with this simple definition: ".25 automatic."

The Oxford English Dictionary notes that the descriptor "Saturday night" has been in use since 1847 to refer to activities taking place on, or as on, a Saturday night - especially in the form of revelry.

Legal definition of a "junk gun" usually restricts the materials that can be used in the manufacture of said gun, targeting zinc castings, low melting points (usually 800 degrees Fahrenheit), powder metallurgy, and other low-cost manufacturing techniques. As nearly all guns made this way are chambered for low pressure cartridges, such as .22 Long Rifle and .25 ACP, these techniques provide sufficient strength for the low powered cartridges and desirable weight and cost savings. The low strength materials and cheap construction result in poor durability and marginal accuracy at longer ranges, but as most of these guns are designed for use in self defense, accuracy and durability are not primary design goals. Most guns targeted by the "junk gun" bans are made by a group of current or former manufacturers in the Los Angeles area, such as Bryco Arms, Jimenez Arms, Jennings Firearms, Raven Arms, and Phoenix Arms. All of these past and present companies are collectively known as the "Ring of Fire." Their guns sell for as little as US$50 new[citation needed]. Other legislation targets specific inexpensive models by highly reputable manufacturers such as Colt, Taurus, Smith & Wesson and Ruger.

Safety, gun violence, and criminal use statistics

Main article: Gun violence in the United States

The term "Saturday night special" is often used disparagingly to emphasize the perceived lesser quality of the gun or, for political reasons relating to gun politics, to imply easy availability to those who are legally prevented from owning firearms, such as convicted criminals and minors. The term is used to allude that the only reason for the manufacture of such a gun is for use in crime; in fact, studies show that criminals prefer high-quality guns, in the largest caliber they can easily conceal. (Guns Used in Crime: Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice—Selected Findings July 1995, NCJ-148201).[16]

Most guns used in violent crimes are large caliber revolvers, although semi-automatics are becoming more common. A 1985 study of 1,800 incarcerated felons showed that criminals prefer revolvers and other non-semi-automatic firearms over semi-automatic firearms.[17] In Pittsburgh, a change in preferences towards semi-automatic pistols occurred in the early 1990s, coinciding with the arrival of crack cocaine and rise of violent youth gangs.[18] The choice in guns, and the change from revolvers to semiautomatics, mirrors the choice in defensive weapons made by police and the legal private citizen market.

Nonetheless, three of the top ten types of guns involved in crime (as represented by police trace requests[19] ) in the U.S. are widely considered to be Saturday Night Specials; as reported by the ATF in 1993, these included the Raven Arms .25 caliber, Davis P-380 .380 caliber, and Lorcin L 380 .380 caliber.[20] However, the same study showed the most common firearm used in homicides was a large caliber revolver, and no revolvers of any kind appear on the top ten list of traced firearms.[19]

Despite the inexpensive manufacture of "Saturday night specials", they are manufactured to certain quality standards to ensure they are not dangerous to the shooter when used correctly. Even prolific gun critic Robert Sherrill admitted he found no instance where a user was killed or even seriously injured by failure of a Saturday Night Special.[15] Firearms sold in most countries are required to pass certain safety tests, particularly a proof test consisting of firing a special high pressure round (proof load) which far exceeds the European C.I.P. or U.S. SAAMI pressure maximum for the round (see internal ballistics). However, the United States Government does not require firearm manufacturers in the United States to proof test their barrels, although most U.S. makers do exceed proof standards simply to avoid product liability lawsuits. If there is any weakness in the firearm, then the proof load should damage or destroy the firearm; if it passes the proof test, that is considered "proof" that the individual firearm has safe operating margins and receives a proof mark.

Notes and references

  1. ^ NRA definition of SNS
  2. ^ Editors (September/October 1999) "NAACP causes furor by suing gun manufacturers." New Crisis
  3. ^ Washington Times
  4. ^ a b Kopel, David B. (1988). "Trust the People: The Case Against Gun Control". Cato Policy Analysis No. 109. CATO Institute. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ SAF Law Review
  6. ^ Don B. Kates. Jr., Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out, North River Press, 1979, ISBN 0-88427-033-5. See Section I: Toward a History of Handgun Prohibition in the United States, pages 12-15, subsection "Development of Handgun Ownership Restrictions in the Post-Civil War South".
  7. ^ The Glock FAQ [Glock Model Info]
  8. ^ Dumb gun laws
  9. ^ Don B. Kates. Jr., Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out, North River Press, 1979, ISBN 0-88427-033-5. Section I: Toward a History of Handgun Prohibition in the United. States.
  10. ^ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/guns/maps/state.html
  11. ^ for example see
  12. ^ Criminal Code of Canada
  13. ^ RCMP List of Restricted and Prohibited Firearm
  14. ^ Don B. Kates, Jr., ed. (1979). "1". Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out (1st ed.). US: North River Press. pp. 7–30. ISBN 0-88427-034-3. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ a b Robert Sherrill, The Saturday Night Special, Charterhouse, 1973, ISBN 978-0-88327-016-5, p. 280.
  16. ^ DOJ Guns used in Crime abstract, DOJ Guns used in Crime (PDF)
  17. ^ James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi (1986). ARMED AND CONSIDERED DANGEROUS: A Survey of Felons and their Firearms. Aldine De Gruyter.
  18. ^ Cohen, Jacqueline, Wilpen Gorr, Piyusha Singh (December 2002). "Guns and Youth Violence: An Examination of Crime Guns in One City". Final report. National Institute of Justice / Carnegie Mellon University. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ a b DOJ Guns Used in Crime statistics (ASCII)
  20. ^ LaPierre, Wayne (1994). Guns, Crime, and Freedom. Regnery Publishing, Inc., Washington, DC. p. 58.

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