European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 2, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse By Fred Bayles associated press Twentyfive Hundred times a Jimmy Szacruk applies nine pounds of pressure with his trigger sending an ounce of Lead hurtling Down a darkened hallway at feet per a simple enough but with each shot he Szacruk forms a new link in the Long and Complex evolution of unmaking in its not a Job for laughs a gun tester at Smith the nations 1 handgun the guns Szacruk tests include some of the most pow Erful hand weapons in the world the and magnums icons to a generation who associate the guns with heroes and the nations debate Over gun control has been stirred anew by the assassination of former beatle John killed by an assailant with a critics say such tragedies Are More Likely to happen in the United unlike Many other the Public has easy Access to foes of gun control maintain that not Wear Are responsible for misuse of guns and that the evil minded would find ways to Arm themselves even under a system of gun in any this Corner of the Northeast is really the Center of the whole firearms says Chuck turn an adviser for the sporting arms and ammunition manufacturers i think you could say almost 80 percent of the firearms Industry is in new the symbols of death then also a Symbol of Excel Lence and James president of Smith bristles at saturday night the term used to describe easily obtained to me a saturday night special is the instrument used by a saturday night he a sat urday night special could be a a baseball Bat or even a Coffee its an unfortunate and meaningless unmaking is a thriving business in the particularly in the Connecticut Valley of new eng Oberg will not reveal production but be says orders for some models run two years ahead of production capacity a visitor who gets a peek inside the Square foot Plant at Springfield sees a staggering number of gun frames in product Down the Connecticut River in work ers at Colt firearms Are trying to keep up with Connecticut is also Home of charter in Stratford High Standard in new Haven Mossberg in North Haven Remington in Bridgeport Winchester in new Haven and Ruger in the list goes on Savage arms in Harrington Richardson in Dan Wes formed by a grandson of Smith lessons in and Thompso Center arms in Roch the Bureau of alcohol and firearms says these companies accounted for most of the million handguns produced in the country last that figure is up from million made in the roots of the modern gun Industry run Back to 1798 when Eli the inventor of the Cotton opened a Musket factory near new the Plant introduced mass three decades a Young Man came to the Whit factory run by Eli Whitney with another revolutionary concept a pistol that could fire multiple rounds from a revolving the Young Man was Samuel a former Seaman who financed Early experiments by delivering lectures on laughing Gas As Coult of Cal Colt later built a factory on the Banks of the Connecticut in Topping it with a Blue minaret like the kind he admired on visits to the Middle the factory burned in 1864 and was later today it houses production for the m16 infantry the main weapon of the armed Colts Success bred Horace a one time worker in Whitney and another Journeyman introduced a self contained Metal Cartridge in the mid1850s and another gun Empire was Smith the builder of a third of the guns made in the caters to the forces of order and besides guns it also Sells tear breath squad car leather knives and even hand cuffs two thirds of million in sales come from Haj id Oberg says half those guns went to police and Security another 25 percent went Smith Wesson Sells a full Range of Small and medium Caliper but the guns associated with the company name Are the magnum the lethal looking and revolvers billed As the worlds most pow Erful Smith Wesson developed the in the 1930s to help police combat a new Nemesis the prior to the magnum charge cartridges with a More powerful Load of powder handguns were less than effective against a Bank robber escaping in a rolling fortress of a Well placed slug can travel through the rear end of a car and punch a Hole in the cast Metal of an engine Hunters have used the guns to bag even Smith lessons newest Model is a stainless steel a item that seems to Emit Power even sitting on a table fire the gun and your arms ache your Field of vision turns Orange As the barrel Colt Python magnum spouts a Long gut of Colt firearms Doest make a but com Pany kids about building a Caliper i want them to fire a gun that will dislocate their shoulder and break their he i know there would be a Market for that kind of a urbane Man who grabs every Opportunity to Warner says he is met with responses ranging from fascination to revulsion when he mentions his line of usually youll find a group at a party divides into those who love it and Tell you about guns and those who hate it and ask you he Warner tells of a Security analyst who recoiled when several of Colts products were displayed at a she eventually got Over her fear and began inspecting the spinning Chambers and asking by the end of the Day she was aiming out of the clicking away at passing he i think people Are fascinated with guns because of the Power they represent or that they think they Warner says the company demonstrates the m16 by demolishing a Concrete Wall with several thais he and that Colt trades heavily on its Selling working replicas of Capan Dball Black powder models and the Caliper single action known to Western buffs As the there is an unending Stream of commemorative and special edition some with Rich engravings inlaid with the company maintains a custom shop that can turn gun Metal into works of personalized one of last years 300 special orders went to a mid Western Farmer who ordered a barnyard Motif of inlaid Gold featuring two smiling the pig peacemaker Cost the gun makers marry craftsman skill with product Tonline at Smith gun frames and barrels move along a line that includes Over 100 stops for and much of the production is like the huge machine that cures the revolver cylinders in molten salts heated to degrees the timed and performed by produces a Cylinder that can withstand More than pounds per que Inch of pressure from the explosion of the but there Are throwbacks to an earlier about half of the production workers Are paid by piecework in the Assembly skilled workers put together guns one at a carefully Honing and tooling the Mas produced pieces until they mesh opinion on the production of handguns ranges from the shooter who highly prizes his guns to those who feel the chinese should never have invented Oberg to we run a very honorable we support the Laws of the president of Colt sporting goods store in new Jersey notice referring to outlawing of guns is distributed by a the votes Arent there associated press on the Day people gathered in new Yorks Central Park to memorialize slain beatle John the new York roadrunners held its annual 10mile Winter the race was started with a silent clock instead of the usual this is no Day for said Fred the head of the he said that in the the club would de emphasize the use of starting pistols in sympathy with those who favor handgun Lennon death and the fatal shooting of Michael a Washington doctor and a sparked a renewed interest in gun control but among those who saw no need for it was presi Dent elect Ronald and most experts said the chances of any action to control guns was in suggested that there might be a move in the new conservative Congress to weaken a 1968 Law barring the import of foreign the shootings themselves aroused an immediate out cry of the kind familiar in the 1960s after the deaths of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Why cant we in Congress pass a handgun control not because we believe it will end crime but because it will save a substantial number of lives asked Peter what Are we waiting for the next life we save could be our the american people have Long favored gun wrote Nelson chairman of the Washington based gun in a letter to president they Are outraged by these recent but asked if he thought Lennon murder was an argument for gun control replied i have never believed i believe in the kind of handgun legislation we had in if somebody commits a crime and carries a gun when Hes doing you add five to 15 years to his and while congressmen reported a surge in pro gun control Many thought legislation was unlikely i the new where the Senate will be controlled by a lot of people talk about a congressional aide said shortly after the Lennon but when it comes Down to the votes Arent Page 14 the stars and stripes february 1981 the stars and stripes Page 15
