Land of the Lost

Every SHOT Show introduces answers to problems.  Some are new or different answers to old problems.  Some are answers to non-existent problems.  Some are just problems.  And SHOT 2016 was no exception.

It’s always a possibility that what everyone thinks is wrong is in reality the correct answer.  There was one ancient Greek philosopher who had it right: the earth turns around the sun.  Everyone else had it wrong.  We have no idea who this man was.  The only reference we have to him is a line in a better known work that ridicules him.  I may be wrong.  In five years I could be the laughing stock of the gun community.

I’ll take my chances.

Double Shots

Franklin Armory has introduced its binary trigger for rifles.  It fires one round when you pull the trigger and a second when you release it.  The selector switch is labeled “Safe”, “Fire” (that’s one round down the pipe) and “Binary” (fires twice). They claim it is NFA approved, but remember NFA approval doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. 

Personally, I think they should make 250 of these things and stop production, break the tools and dies and instantly make it an expensive and collectable gun.

There will be a gap in time between the first and second round, during which the muzzle is climbing from recoil.  Someone’s finger will slip off the trigger and a round will leave the range or enter someone’s living space or hit a person standing near the intended target.  All bad outcomes.

When you fire in self-defense no matter if it is once, twice, three or more times, part of your legal justification against using the charge of excessive force is you intended each of those trigger pulls because it was required to end the deadly and lethal attack you could not avoid by any other means. (Hey, I’m just an internet blogger and if you take this as legal advice, you’re nuts!  Still, I think this line of reason is valid.) 

But if releasing the trigger causes an extra shot to be automatically fired, the option of control is taken away from you.  The second or fourth shot may not have been needed.  You may have neutralized the threat after round  one or round three and no longer need to shoot another time.  Courts may find that excessive.

This gun needs a baulk switch.  One you could throw while holding the trigger back that would freeze the hammer in place until you could deactivate the mechanism.  Assuming the finger didn’t bounce off the trigger after the initial pull.

You know what?  This is bad shit waiting to happen.  Let it happen to someone else.

Pull Trigger To See Light

Trigger Point Technology has got an answer to a problem that has bothered people for years.  Unfortunately it is the wrong answer.

They replace your trigger on your rifle or hand gun with Glock-like safety trigger.  Only instead of unlocking the firing pin as you depress the trigger, this turns on a flashlight or laser to illuminate your target.  Turning your light or laser on requires you to partially depress trigger.  If the light/laser isn’t needed, release the trigger.  Wash, rinse and repeat – over and over.  At some point you’ll start and complete the trigger pull when you didn’t intent to.  Opps!

Hear a noise down stairs?  Position yourself at a pinch point and point your gun in the direction of the noise coming toward you and squeeze the trigger just enough, not more than enough, to illuminate X.  X could be a bad guy, your spouse, your child or a house quest who was coming back after getting a snack or sneaking outside for a smoke.

You can follow trial and legal proceedings of NY Officer Peter Liang who, when surprised by two people stepping into a stairway, ricocheted a round off the wall and killed Akia Gurley.  The officer had to put his finger on the trigger sometime before the shot when off.  The startle reflex caused Liang’s finger to convulse (against a 12 pound NY trigger!) and discharged the gun.  (Let’s see if Frank on Blue Bloods can clear this one up…)

Now image you need to pull the trigger, just a little but not too much, to turn on the light to identify who or what is in front of you.  God, this is such a bad idea, I don’t have enough words to tell you how bad an idea this is.  If you think french kissing a rabid dog is a bad idea, this is still much worse.

Gun lights?  Great idea, but you still need a separate light to move about and identify people and objects without pointing your gun at them.

Officer Liang may survive the legal challenges, but he’ll always have to live with the knowledge that a half second of surprise made him ruin his live and the lives of more people that we can know.  Keep your finger off the trigger until you have decided to shoot.