Reply to: De-Bunk-ing firearms myths

[DiscoStu]

I'm happy that I'm not allowed to own a gun if it means gun-obsessives like AtW aren't allowed to own them either.

[xoggoth]

I know this because in the 80's

Obvious that your fireworks failed because you are not an old fart like me. (or z I suspect) Chlorate and sugar was brill back in 1960.

[KentPhilip]

Big capacitors.

Apparently they put stuff in chlorate these days to stop it going pop.

This is true, in that they mix the Sodium Chlorate with 50% Sodium Chloride (as a fire "depressant"). But this is not a new thing; they have been doing this for 25 years +

I know this because in the 80's I used to make fireworks out of Sodium Chlorate (garden centre weedkiller) and icing sugar. The mix would burn with a bright orange flame without exploding (due in part to the fire depressant).
I did consider putting it into a metal tube to make a gun or bomb, but decided against it as insanely dangerous.

[DaveB]

I heard that. Ridiculous, although there must be alternatives. One hears about explosives being made with readily available household items like flour. The authorities should publish false instructions on the net so suicide bombers spend ages making their bombs and then find they are trying to detonate a tasty fudge cake.

Any sufficiently fine dust containing a carbon source will explode when ignited in the right mixture of dust to air. Coal Dust explosions used to be a big safety issue in the early days of mining. A small packet of flour with a dispersal charge and an ignition charge can produce a very nice explosion, but it's a bit hit and miss if is actually goes off or not.

We tended to stick to more mechanical forms of mayhem. Our best effort was a Ballista built from old lorry springs and railway sleepers. We used it to fire road nails through a brick wall

[xoggoth]

Apparently they put stuff in chlorate these days to stop it going pop

I heard that. Ridiculous, although there must be alternatives. One hears about explosives being made with readily available household items like flour. The authorities should publish false instructions on the net so suicide bombers spend ages making their bombs and then find they are trying to detonate a tasty fudge cake.

[PAH]

How come noone has mentioned the obvious ?
Those double yellow lines are all wrong ! The do not have a termination bar, that means you could park there and get away with it.

Shhh. Those are private parking zones for councillors and people in the know.

If they weren't intentional, that bint on Dragon's Den would have got funding to raise awareness of these 'mistakes'. I'm surprised the BBC didn't cut that piece altogether.

Can't have the public using these zones too.

[EternalOptimist]

Myth 1: with legal firearms ownership you will still have to put your pants down on request of a thug

How come noone has mentioned the obvious ?

Those double yellow lines are all wrong ! The do not have a termination bar, that means you could park there and get away with it.
Thats the type of thing that gives a country a bad reputation

[xoggoth]

Ee. You could be right, sodium not potassium. Whatever it was they sold in garden shops.

I bet you added meths to the mix to stop it exploding while you ground it too. What did you use for bullets? I had some big ceramic insulators that I nicked from dad's junkbox.

[xoggoth]

I made my own when I was about 16. Some gas pipe, potassium chlorate and sugar mix fired by a piece of nichrome wire from an old steam iron attached to a battery. Maybe I'll look at that again but I think they mix something with the chlorate these days. As the wire often got damaged the firing rate was a bit dismal.

[AtW]

You and I are allowed to get certain guns if we get a license.

You mean an old revolver that has to be loaded from the front of the barrel?

These ain't guns, I certainly won't be applying for license to have those - might have as well banned them too.

Proper firearms should include regular training, 3rd party insurance, not everyone should be licensed for concealed carrying of guns, majority would probably be ok with having a home gun as it's more straightforward.

[SueEllen]

Well, of course that's the case because honest citizens (taxpayers I might add) don't get the right to use firearms, criminals naturally love it and don't give a tulip if that's illegal.

You and I are allowed to get certain guns if we get a license.

Personally I don't want one as I know it would be taken away from me due to shooting the local tree rats.

[AtW]

In this country the people who use firearms tend to be those who come from the areas where the little tulips who are rioting at the moment come from.

Well, of course that's the case because honest citizens (taxpayers I might add) don't get the right to use firearms, criminals naturally love it and don't give a tulip if that's illegal.

[AtW]

Problem is it's very easy for the law abiding, sane and responsible to turn into unbalanced loners.

200 mln firearms in the USA, incidents of crazy shootings in schools: once a year or less. Meanwhile on the roads in the UK around 3.5k people die and even more seriously wounded.

[SueEllen]

Nobody can guarantee that, ok?

These things just happen - far more people die every year in car accidents, cancer et al: focus on those far more likely sources of death rather than pick on high profile incidents of firearm misuse (most commonly in such cases criminals only kill many people because their opponents are unarmed).

And let's not forget - CS gas is classified as firearm in the UK, ffs - nevermind electroshockers (very effective away of self defence).

In this country the people who use firearms tend to be those who come from the areas where the little tulips who are rioting at the moment come from.

You clearly haven't visited the right areas in places like London, Manchester and Nottingham.

[AtW]

Great if you can guarantee only the law abiding, sane and responsible get guns and not the unbalanced loners like the ones who have carried out massacres in the US.

Nobody can guarantee that, ok?

These things just happen - far more people die every year in car accidents, cancer et al: focus on those far more likely sources of death rather than pick on high profile incidents of firearm misuse (most commonly in such cases criminals only kill many people because their opponents are unarmed).

And let's not forget - CS gas is classified as firearm in the UK, ffs - nevermind electroshockers (very effective away of self defence).