18 May 01

>From a trainer in South Africa:

"A student had a monumental challenge in reducing a stoppage on a Franchi SPAS12 shotgun. The gun is so full of sharp edges he nearly managed to cut off two of his fingers in the process. They were bleeding profusely. Also, the excessive number of switches and buttons had him hopelessly confused. He now intends to junk the SPAS and buy a Remington 870!

Lesson: Emergency, safety equipment should not be complicated and difficult to operate. This student is lucky he learned his lesson during a training exercise. He'll now live to benefit from it.

/John

18 May 01

S&W:

"The sale was financed by a single investor, who is so far anonymous. =20 Saf-T-Hammer started out with a replacement revolver hammer, made so that th= e=20 striking portion of the hammer could be removed via a set screw and dovetail= ,=20 rendering the revolver =E2=80=98safe.' They make a couple other firearms=20= =E2=80=98safety'=20 gimmicks, all dubious and untested and marketed mostly to gullible geeks who= =20 should not own firearms (or anything else dangerous) in the first place.

At this point, we don't even know if S&W will continue to produce guns."

/John