Saturday Night Specials

"Most of the firearms involved in crime are cheap Saturday Night Specials, for which no legitimate use or need exists."

I recently ran across this talking-point while following an extended pro-gun/antigun dialogue.

It's an old meme, and so moth-eaten that a lot of people seem to toss it out as if it makes a significant talking-point ... especially from anti-gunners, but sometimes it is entered by people who should know better.

I'm privileged fortunate: I worked steadily for 50+ years, I have my pension and Social Security, and while I enjoyed a steady (if not impressive) income I was able to acquire firearms which are of hi-quality, reliable, and work all the time; every time.

Not everyone is as fortunate privileged.

Some people need to choose between paying the rent, and buying a home-defense firearm.

Buy a gun?  Or pay the rent?

Which is more important?   Should your kids be well fed and have a home where being kicked out is not a constant worry?  Or should you be able to defend yourself, your family and your home?

For those  whose economic situation makes these choices of "questionable" priorities, the answer is often a life-or-death decision.

Enter the "Saturday Night Special".

Suppose you live in a high-crime neighborhood; one where hoodlums might consider breaking down the door to your apartment as not much of a challenge ... and that prospect is a constant threat.   You're alone, you have no resources except what you can hold in your hand to fend off an intruder.

Enter the "Saturday Night Special".

What's a Saturday Night Special?

If you're lucky enough to have a good, steady professional, it's a piece of crap that probably doesn't work often ... or all.  Call it a "Junk Gun" and you'll probably get the definition of "inexpensive handgun; probably doesn't work reliably, and if that's the best you can afford you may not be able to afford ammunition ... which might even blow the damn thing up if you ever have to fire it".

If you're an unwed mother (for example) with x-number of kids, living in an unheated 5th floor walk-up tenement, it may be the only thing which stands between you and an anonymous crack-head with intentions of rape.

Current (and long-lived) dialogues have pre-supposed that it's the firearm of choice for "Crack-Heads" and other wanna-be felons,

I don't think so.  Often the Saturday Night Special is the only viable alternative for people who can't pay hundreds (or thousands) of dollars for the most reliable, most accurate market-darling in the Home Defense category of Really Expensive Handguns.

When Politicians denegrate the Saturday Night Special, they assume that they are the weapon of choice for hooligans, bandits and gangsters.  Actually, that community quickly ends up accumulating sufficient funds (drugs, muggings, other criminal activities) to get The Best There is.

Who uses Saturday Night Specials?  People who don't have 'outside sources of income'.

The gun may not work, but while you're cooking Macaroni and Ham for dinner, for yourself and your family, and the door bursts in ... even the act of pointing a gun at the guy who is standing on your broke-door hallway may give him reason to hesitate ... perhaps even choose to barge rudely on your next-door neighbor instead.

• Notes:  
• Have hammer and nails, to close the door.
• Buy some cheap ham and dice it into the pot; it tastes better with some salty meat. 
• Don't let the macaroni and cheese burn; the kids are hungry.  And so are you.