Saturday night special
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- This article is about handguns. For other uses of the phrase, see Saturday Night Special (disambiguation).
Saturday night special is a pejorative or slang term used in the United States for any inexpensive handgun. It is sometimes called an SNS in written shorthand. Traditionally, Saturday night specials have often been defined in some legal jurisdictions as compact, inexpensive handguns with a barrel length of under three inches (for pistols, overall length of under six inches) and low perceived quality, although there is no universal official definition of "Saturday night special" under any federal or state law [1] [2]. The weapons' low cost and availability make them attractive to low-income buyers despite their shortcomings.
The term "junk gun" is commonly used for the same class of inexpensive handguns; many state and local laws aimed at regulating inexpensive guns use this term. Other terms used for small handguns that do not reflect negatively on quality or expected use are pocket pistol, mousegun, and doctor gun.
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[edit] Controversy
Laws prohibiting or regulating the purchase of inexpensive handguns such as Saturday night specials are controversial in the United States. The two primary areas of contention relate to the availability of guns and the effect of purchase price upon the demographic who buys them.
[edit] Availability
Many see the availability of handguns as a threat to the community. In 2003, the NAACP filed suit against 45 gun manufacturers for creating what it called a "public nuisance" through the "negligent marketing" of handguns, which included Saturday night specials. The suit alleged that handgun manufacturers and distributors were guilty of marketing guns in a way that encouraged violence in black and Hispanic neighborhoods. [3] The suit was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, who ruled that members of the NAACP were not "uniquely harmed" by illegal use of firearms and therefore had no standing to sue.[4].
[edit] Economic Class
Since the price of an item has an effect upon the demographic that purchases it, some object to the effect the elimination of inexpensive firearms has upon those of lesser economic means. It is seen at least as a de facto disarmament and at worst a calculated measure. Some have taken the additional step and considers the strong regulation of inexpensive firearms racist. The conservative African American group Congress of Racial Equality's (CORE) president Roy Innis has said (1988), "Cheap handguns should be viewed as an affordable means of self-defense for poor people.... To make inexpensive guns impossible to get is ... racism in its worst form." [5]
[edit] Origin of the term
The earliest known usage of the term in print is in the Aug 17, 1968 issue of the New York Times. In a front-page article titled Handgun Imports Held Up by U.S, author Fred Graham wrote, "... cheap, small-caliber 'Saturday night specials' that are a favorite of holdup men..."
M.A. (Merle Avery) Gill's Underworld Slang, a dictionary published in 1929, includes an entry called "Saturday night pistol" with this simple definition: ".25 automatic."
Some believe that the term derives from "Niggertown Saturday Nights."[6] In an essay titled "Gun Grabbers: Masters of the New Plantation," Vin Suprynowicz argues that the term developed from police slang: "... the origin of this term for the inexpensive handguns most useful for self-defense to a black or Hispanic resident of the inner city is the old, derogatory police slang 'Niggertown Saturday Night,' referring to inner city weekend violence not meriting much attention, since it mainly occurred among the black folk." [7] Among the authors citing some variation of this same origin are William R Tonso, professor emeritus at the University of Evansville and the author of many articles arguing that gun control is a racist plot by whites against the black race [8]; Barry Bruce-Briggs, author of "The Great American Gun War"; and Dave Kopel, editor-in-chief of Journal on Firearms and Public Policy.
However, the "Niggertown Saturday night" origin for "Saturday night special" has been questioned. Mike Rosenberg notes on the Sane Guns Web site that Bruce-Briggs offers no source for the "Niggertown" origin of the term in his "The Great American Gun War," and that David Kopel in his "All the Way Down the Slippery Slope: Gun Prohibition in England and Some Lessons for Civil Liberties in America" does provide a source, but an incorrect one. Referring to Bruce-Briggs' "Niggertown" origin for "Saturday night special," Kopel cites a footnote to Kelley v. R.G. Industries, Inc. (a court ruling) as proof that "Saturday night special" originated as "Niggertown Saturday nights," from derogatory police slang. However, the footnote that Kopel cites makes no mention of "Niggertown" as the origin of "Saturday night special." The footnote states, "The term 'Saturday Night Special' originated in Detroit, where officials first noted the frequency with which these cheap, easily-concealable handguns were used in crimes and violent acts 'which far too often mar the urban weekend.'" Rosenberg, citing A Bowsers Dictionary (1980), suggests "Saturday Night rush hour" as the origin of "Saturday night special." This expression was used by Detroit emergency room personnel to refer to the upsurge of shooting victims that tended to occur on Saturday nights. [9] [10]
The Oxford English Dictionary notes that the adjective "Saturday night" has been in use since 1847 to refer to activities taking place on or as on a Saturday night, especially in the form of revelry.
Another theory is that the term derives from suicide specials, the large, cast-iron variety of cheap revolvers made by a number of obscure companies in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These guns were called suicide specials because it was assumed they were only good for one shot. Author Dave Kopel suggests that the term "derives from a combination of 'suicide special' (a type of low-quality revolver from the late 1800s) and 'Niggertown Saturday night.'" [11]
[edit] Safety, gun violence, and criminal use statistics
The term "Saturday night special" is often used disparagingly to emphasize the perceived lesser quality of the gun or, for political reasons relating to gun politics, to imply easy availability to those who are legally prevented from owning firearms, such as convicted criminals and minors. The term is used to allude that the only reason for the manufacture of such a gun is for use in crime; in fact, studies show that criminals prefer high-quality guns, in the largest caliber they can easily conceal. Research has shown that most criminals prefer guns that are easily concealable, large caliber, and well made (Guns Used in Crime: Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice--Selected Findings July 1995, NCJ-148201).[12], [13]
Most guns used in violent crimes are large caliber revolvers, although semiautomatics are becoming more common. A 1985 study of 1,800 incarcerated felons showed that criminals prefer revolvers and other non-semi-automatic firearms over semi-automatic firearms.<ref>James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi (1986). ARMED AND CONSIDERED DANGEROUS: A Survey of Felons and their Firearms. Aldine De Gruyter.</ref> In Pittsburgh, a change in preferences towards semi-automatic pistols occurred in the early 1990s, coinciding with the arrival of crack cocaine and rise of violent youth gangs.<ref name="cohen-2002">Cohen, Jacqueline, Wilpen Gorr, Piyusha Singh (December 2002). "Guns and Youth Violence: An Examination of Crime Guns in One City". Final report, National Institute of Justice / Carnegie Mellon University.</ref> The choice in guns, and the change from revolvers to semiautomatics, mirrors the choice in defensive weapons made by police and the legal civilian market.
Nonetheless, three of the top ten types of guns involved in crime in the U.S. are widely considered to be Saturday Night Specials; as reported by the ATF in 1993, these included the Raven Arms .25 caliber, Davis P-380 .380 caliber, and Lorcin L-380 .380 caliber.<ref>LaPierre, Wayne (1994). Guns, Crime, and Freedom. Regnery Publishing, Inc., Washington, DC, p. 58.</ref>
Despite the inexpensive manufacture of "Saturday night specials", they are manufactured to certain quality standards to ensure they are not dangerous when used correctly (any firearm can be lethal if misused). Firearms sold in most countries are required to pass certain safety tests, particularly a proof test. A proof test consists of firing a special high pressure round, which far exceeds the SAAMI pressure maximum for the round (see internal ballistics). However, the United States Government does not require firearm manufacturers in the United States to proof test their barrels, although most do, simply to avoid product liability issues. If there is any weakness in the firearm, then the high pressure round should damage or destroy the firearm; if it passes the proof test, then it is considered "proof" that the firearm's design has safe operating margins. Some "Saturday night specials" do, however, have reliability issues.
[edit] Legal "junk gun" definitions
Legal definition of a "junk gun" usually restrict the materials that can be used in the manufacture of said gun, targeting zinc castings, low melting points (usually 800 degrees Fahrenheit), powder metallurgy, and other low-cost manufacturing techniques. As nearly all guns made this way are in small calibers, such as .22 Long Rifle and .25 ACP, even these techniques provide sufficient strength for the low pressure cartridges and desirable weight and cost savings. The low strength materials and cheap construction do result in poor durability and marginal accuracy at longer ranges, but as most of these guns are very small pocket pistols designed for use as close-range backup defensive weapons, accuracy and durability over thousands of rounds are not primary design goals. Most guns targeted by the "junk gun" bans are made by a group of current or former manufacturers in the Los Angeles, California area, such as Bryco Arms, Jimenez Arms, Jennings Firearms, Raven Arms, and Phoenix Arms (the latter so-called because it "rose from the ashes" of Raven Arms, after the Raven Arms' factory fire). Their guns sell for as little as US$50 new. Other legislation targets specific inexpensive models by highly reputable manufacturers such as Colt and Taurus.
[edit] History of prohibition attempts
The earliest law prohibiting inexpensive handguns were enacted in Tennessee, in the form of the "Army and Navy" law, passed in 1879, shortly after the 14th amendment and Civil Rights Act; previous laws invalidated by the constitutional amendment had stated that black freedmen could not own or carry any manner of firearm. The Army and Navy law prohibited the sale of "belt or pocket pistols, or revolvers, or any other kind of pistols, except army or navy pistols," which were prohibitively expensive for black freedmen and poor whites to purchase.[14]
More recent legislation against "junk guns" has targeted the zinc frames used in construction by specifying a melting point; however, this backfired when police departments began adopting polymer framed guns such as the Glock pistols, which will burn at temperatures much lower than the commonly specified 800 °F. Legislators then changed the definitions to target size (barrel lengths under 3 inches), materials (such as zinc), low-cost manufacturing techniques (e.g., density requirements that exclude powder cast metals), safety requirements (trigger and/or main-spring locks, sizes too large for a child to use, drop tests), and "quality", "reliability", and "accuracy" (which are all left undefined). The only apparent impact of such legislation is to force the manufacturers to either lose marketshare in some states (since such laws have only been instituted on a state-by-state basis) or to increase the cost of manufacture and thus increase the market price of the firearm. Some of these legal restrictions are based on product liability law; a gun should not discharge when dropped. Others, such as requiring loaded chamber indicators, are potentially deadly to careless users, for any mechanical device can fail and the only safe course of action is to always treat a firearm as though it were loaded until a visual inspection of the chamber proves otherwise. Other requirements, such as built-in trigger locking devices, might be acceptable on recreational or hunting firearms, but could prove fatal on a defensive weapon. It is a telling fact that while some police officers have been killed with their own weapons, no police departments are known to require officers to carry guns with locking devices installed (although some do require rifles and shotguns that are stored in the trunks of police cruisers to have locking devices installed.) Equally telling is that law enforcement is specifically exempted from these bans and regulations - meaning, that they are able to purchase these so-called "junk guns" while the rest of the populace is not.
[edit] See also
- Jimenez Arms, the company with perhaps the most models of "Saturday night specials" currently sold new in pawnshops and elsewhere
- Raven Arms MP-25, a semi-automatic pistol often described as a "Saturday night special"
- The Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded the song "Saturday Night Special" on MCA records in 1975.
[edit] Notes and references
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