 http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/mon/news/news_1n3safeguns.html
 
Handgun testing law misfires
State finding many cheap models pass, continue being sold
By James P. Sweeney  (TRANSLATION BY MAD MIKE)
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
September 3, 2001
SACRAMENTO -- A tough new handgun safety test designed to pinch the supply of cheap, disposable Saturday night specials doesn't appear to be pushing many guns to the sidelines.
 
"A bullshit, unconstitutional, bureaucratic goatfuck designed to make being in the legitimate business of selling firearms a dicey financial proposition isn't working the way we planned."
 
Through its first eight months, nearly 600 handgun models have passed the punishing firing and drop tests, according to a list compiled by the state Department of Justice.
 
"Guess what we found?  Guns are actually safe to use!"
 
The total includes an unknown but significant number of models that are only cosmetically different from each other -- a chrome rather than blue-steel finish, for example. But it also includes at least 12 guns manufactured by so-called Ring of Fire companies, a cluster of Southern California manufacturers who have been accused of flooding the nation with inexpensive handguns.
 
"These people, who we have dubbed with a moniker in a move that would get us called bigots if we applied one to any other group, are actually manufacturing guns poor minorities can afford.  As liberals, this outrages us."
 
The legislation that required the safety tests originally was aimed at the Ring of Fire, firms such as Bryco Arms of Costa Mesa, Davis Industries of Chino and Phoenix Arms of Ontario.
 
"We tried to put several small businesses out of operation, and put their employees on the street, because we care about people."
 
"They tried to make the test so tough that those guns wouldn't survive, but it obviously hasn't worked," said Bruce Cavanaugh of San Diego, a former president of the California Firearms Dealers Association.
 
"We're smarter than they are on the subject of firearms, because we're engineers and they're paranoid, hoplophobic, illiterate freaks."
 
It's unknown how many guns have failed the tests. Private laboratories that do the testing are not required to report failures to the state, although most apparently do. Manufacturers also can, and do, resubmit weapons that wash out initially.
 
"The test is fair!"
 
Attorney General Bill Lockyer publicly accused at least one manufacturer of attempting to manipulate the tests, and others are known to be carefully selecting ammunition to improve their guns' prospects.
 
"They're actually allowed to specify manufacturer's recommendations!  That's almost like a car manufacturer specifying a fuel!"
 
Gun enthusiasts, dealers and manufacturers say the new law has done little more than create another expensive, annoying paper drill that has had almost no impact on the availability of cheap handguns in the state.
 
"Change the name of the organization, and Sarah Brady is still a frothing freak."
 
As a result, just two years after the handgun measure was celebrated as another major gun-control breakthrough in California, all involved in the debate are discussing a major overhaul.
 
"We want to get rid of it because it's pointless."  "We want to change it so you can't pass it!"
 
"We are very concerned about some of the guns that are on the (approved) list and some of the loopholes that we overlooked," said Luis Tolley of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which sponsored the legislation.
 
"We are concerned that people are still selling guns.  All lies aside, that's why we're here.  No one should have guns except the Kennedys and our bodyguards. Whenever we get proven to be raving idiots, we claim someone exploited a 'loophole,' kinda like that loophole in the Constitution that allows them to say bad things about us."
 
Said Chuck Michel, a San Pedro attorney for the California Rifle and Pistol Association, "There is a fix-it bill pending because they recognize there are a lot of problems."
 
"I'm being misquoted to make it sound as if I support this idiocy."
 
But Tolley and others say the number of guns on the list also reflects design improvements inspired by the law.
 
"To save face, we'll claim that any perceived good is our doing, even on guns designed thirty years ago."
 
The Brady Campaign, formerly Handgun Control, had been pushing for at least three years for legislation to curb production and sales of inexpensive, easily concealed handguns.
 
"How dare poor people in bad neighborhoods where the cops are loathe to go, defend themselves instead!"
 
Such a law proved difficult to draft, and the gun-control movement ultimately settled for Senate Bill 15, which passed amid the post-Columbine fever of 1999. The measure decreed a series of safety tests, although supporters offered little evidence that many people were being killed or injured because handguns were poorly made.
 
"We like dead children as a political statement.  The fact that we know nothing about firearms doesn't stop us from being relevant in this case, except among engineers, shooters, weapon designers, corporate board members and other alleged 'professionals.'"
 
To pass, three versions of each model must fire 600 rounds with no more than six malfunctions. Each gun is then dropped a little over 3 feet onto a concrete pad from six directions with the hammer cocked and the safety off. All three must withstand the exercise without discharging.
 
"We set up a military spec testing lab, and the bastards beat us!"
 
Although the legislation was signed in late 1999, it did not take effect until Jan. 1 of this year. Since then, the test results have not followed any pattern, those involved say.
 
"We have no idea what we are actually doing, except pissing in these people's Wheaties."
 
"I've seen what people think is a cheaply made handgun, just because it's low-cost, and it worked quite well. And I've seen a very expensive gun that most police would be happy to carry that failed," said Mike Shanahan, who does gun testing for Truesdail Laboratories of Tustin.
 
"Beretta are crap regardless of how much you pay for them, and people who don't waste time on mirror polishes and hookers to get generals to buy their product can turn out a basic model cheaply.  Either that, or the test doesn't work.  Or both."
 
Dean Wilkerson, who operates a testing lab in Van Nuys, said "it's the luck of the draw" with a lot of handguns.
 
"I wanted to get a soundbite into this article."
 
"I have failed some high-quality guns," Wilkerson said. "You've got to shoot three handguns, 600 rounds each, and two of them passed with no malfunctions at all, and the third one failed because it has seven malfunctions."
 
"I can make an oxymoronic statement about a bad test, and admit that randomness IS a factor."
 
Wilkerson said he has tested a lot of Ring of Fire models. While some failed, more than a few passed, he said.
 
"We say 'Ring of Fire,' because if we said, 'Darktown' or 'Beanerville' people would recognize that we're racist."
 
"They passed with no problem, and there are higher quality guns that didn't pass," Wilkerson said.
 
"'Higher quality' being a paraphrase for 'only available to rich white cybergeeks in the valley who can plunk down seven bills large for two pounds of metal.'"
 
Aaron Davis of Davis Industries said the company had no trouble getting its 12 models, representing four guns, passed and placed on the state list.
 
"Investment casting and CNC milling cut production costs.  SWEEEET!"
 
The guns, derringers ranging from .22 caliber to .38 caliber, passed on the first attempt, Davis said. The guns sell for $100 to $125. The .38-caliber model was redesigned to strengthen the trigger before the tests.
 
"We're happy to sell cheap, useful defensive tools without a lot of hype, and I'm laughing up my sleeve at these fools."
 
"I don't personally like (the tests), but we will try to do whatever they want us to do," Davis said.
 
"Hey, my stuff is STILL cheaper than those imports with the fancy names."
 
In February, Attorney General Lockyer publicly berated Phoenix Arms for allegedly attempting to maneuver some of its guns through the process by halting a test and restarting it with a new set of weapons, and by submitting a specific brand of ammunition. The handgun in question, however, later passed. Company officials declined to comment.
 
"That's as bad as insisting an engine only use 10-W30 oil.  The nerve!"
 
"We have seen some models where they are trying with this ammo and then they switch," said Randy Rossi, who heads the attorney general's firearms division. "They stop the test and try with another ammo, and then they stop the test and they try with a third ammo.
 
"Can you imagine if GM were to try different brands and gauges of tires to see which worked best, depending on the track weather that day?"
 
"We want to know of those situations where a gun is maybe so frail that even the manufacturer has to be very selective as to what ammunition will work well."
 
"We'll flunk Colt because a 1911 won't feed hollowpoints, even though we're more rabidly against hollowpoints than some other ammo, even though the military has never had a problem with it in 80 years, just because it's an excuse to fuck with them."
 
In early talks on potential changes, the Brady Campaign and the Attorney General's Office say they want to require labs to report all failures. They also say the state should have clear authority to randomly test a sample, perhaps 10 percent to 15 percent, of handguns that pass.
 
"We'll make it ten times as expensive!  A hundred!  We'll show you!  Nyaah! Nyaah!  Nyaah!"
 
Additionally, the Brady Campaign wants to allow recalling firearms later found to have problems, and it would like to see weapons tested with a standard, or recommended, ammunition.
 
"Every autoloader has to use wadcutters so we can make them fail, and every revolver has to use overloaded +Ps so the primers unseat and jam.  THAT'S what we call a 'fair' test!"
 
"I don't really think we know, unless we have the ability to randomly test and receive reports from the laboratories, of instances where a specific model has tried and failed, tried and failed, tried and failed, tried and passed," Rossi said.
 
"If the lab isn't giving us the results we want, we'll rig the test until we do get them.  Now THAT'S science!"
 
"But this is a very tricky balancing act because we do not want to discourage manufacturers from submitting their firearms, improving their firearms and then having the public benefit from those improvements."
 
"Obligatory sop to fairness for the semiliterate masses."
 
Dealers and gun-rights groups such as the National Rifle Association want dealers to be able to resell used guns that are not on the approved list.
Such guns can be sold by private parties if dealers process the transactions.
 
"They actually want to abide by the commerce provisions of the Constitution. Those bastards!"
 
The attorney general has told dealers they can conduct consignment sales of unlisted guns, although the law is unclear on the subject.
 
"We haven't found a way to say 'no' that even OUR Supreme Court won't throw out on its ear."
 
Used handguns historically have accounted for a significant slice of dealers' sales and their profit margin is much higher than that for new guns.
 
"They keep dealers in business.  And no gun dealer actually has a family to feed."
 
"They managed to create a monster," said Louis Baldridge, owner of the El Cajon Gun Exchange. "It has not accomplished what they hoped to accomplish, unless they wanted to make life more difficult for dealers."
 
"We have to have a token piece of real reporting in here or we'll get nailed for libel."
 
Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
 
"So extremist, even the Village Voice looks right wing."
 
