- Joined
- Jun 9, 2016
the brightly colored toy guns didn't occur until the mid to late 90's. prior to that toy guns were often sold with red or orange plastic bits and that wasn't mandated - it was voluntary. in the 1980's and earlier, toy guns had no distinct markings that separated them from real guns at a glance. the idea being that responsible parents would raise responsible kids to not be dumbasses that points toys at someone who would mistake them for the real thing.
brightly colored toy guns, following the public school shooting spree in 1998 and later started legislation for mandatory sales with blaze orange tips, and in NY and CA in the late 2000's there was a legislative requirement for certain colors to be used. many manufacturers followed suit to avoid any possible liability claims by having a toy gun be "too real" and it was only a while ago that laws dictating airsoft sales started being pushed to require transparent parts, certain key identifying features, and so on. this largely started a push to "nerf" or "super soak" toy guns into bright colors like those names imply.
however, very real guns have distinct bright colors for training or particular use - blue for mechanical non-guns, orange or yellow for less than lethal, et c. a blank firing adapter is often a bright red and at the muzzle of a gas operated rifle in order to permit proper cycling of the action with blanks. to the uninitiated, they are indistinct from some airsoft toys. this photo shows a toy "AK" with a transparent body and the barrel (which was bright orange) broken off. it is an airsoft toy. some super smart person decided to use it to threaten a deputy sheriff.
so ultimately legislation will likely continue to be pushed in order to make them all bright orange solid lumps of plastic because teaching your kid firearm safety, personal responsibility, and not being a dumbass is too hard.
here's a "toy" gun i have from the 1960's: the Mattel TommyBurst:
this is still very true - in my experience many jurers and the reasonable man off the street are concerned with customized firearms and "specialty" ammunition used in defense by ordinary men. Crimsontrace grips, extended magazine, fiber optic sights, jacket hollow points, anything with "magnum" in the name, et c all tend to reflect badly because the opposition will belabor the (stupid) point of "you didn't have to kill him" or "you customized this gun to do the most damage in the cruelest way imaginable" and crock like that. police i usually advise to carry their off-duty in as close a manner to their duty gun if possible - same ammunition, roughly the same features, et c. for concealed carriers, i often advise either something generic "a Glock" or whatever the local police are using. this has the effect of forcing the opposition to attack public policy or the police's choices and authorizations. which usually won't earn anywhere near as much sympathy.
personally, i use 9mm NATO as i can say it's ubiquitous, cheap in bulk for practicing, and approved by many governments around the world for military and police use.
there are two types really, the "safety slug" which is a shot shell for revolvers in .38 and so. while they will happily penetrate interior walls, they lose energy extremely quickly. the alternate is the "Glaser" design, made popular in the 1980's as a fragible bullet that strikes and pulverizes itself. unfortunately Glaser ammunition tends to work a little too well and can have penetration problems against attackers, or if shot at too close a range, simply go through the target and hit something on the other side.
the rule of thumb is that any shot should be treated as a life-saving lethal shot, and that any ammunition that will incapacitate your attacker is going to need to be powerful enough to penetrate interior and possibly exterior walls.
also, unless you're in a Hitchcock film, don't ever use birdshot as a defensive load. it's complete garbage at the task.
completely correct. a steel framed, single stack DAO or striker fired pistol in 9mm or similar is quite preferable for both new shooters and women overall. mouse guns (and air-weight revolvers) have harsh, snappy recoil that makes the gun painful to practice with, and a gun that isn't practiced with is a gun that is less likely to be used in defense with certainty.
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