Date: February 16, 2003
In the news this week, the firm of Smith & Wesson, nestled quaintly in the Connecticut River Valley in Springfield, Massachusetts, announced their new Model 500 revolver. A modest 5 shot model, it fires the new S&W 50 caliber magnum round. This round "could be a bit messy" for targets smaller than raging bull elephants but is more or less guaranteed to inspire correct attitudes in attacking terrorists.
Smith & Wesson is located near the ancient and revered Springfield Armory museum, a site commemorating the US Army's arsenal that once produced our nation's military weapons, including the very famous 1906 Springfield rifle (.30-06 caliber, also rather effective in taking down raging bull elephants). [ed: Gulp! Nils is a braver man than I! I'd prefer a much bigger round for elephants, but the .30-06 is certainly a stout load for men especially when compared with the relatively puny .223 Remington used in the modern military's M16.] Your faithful reporter can state from experience that one look at the Springfield Armory's famous SPEW handheld weapon would convince most people to avoid messing with our nation. SPEW fired some 20 steel flechettes from a neat large diameter barrel, producing a rather large mess in the target area. Only made in prototype.
There may still be hope for saner minds to deal effectively with terror. Crawling into a huge plastic bag and sealing it up with duct tape is NOT my idea of preparing for terrorist attacks. Or is that just me thinking in a politically incorrect way?
Most do not know that Connecticut is still the leading area for gun making in the USA, although most of the Colt Firearms patents were "sold off to cover operating costs" when the benevolent State of Connecticut became custodian for that firm some years ago. Somebody lined their pockets on that deal. Big time. So only the decaying old factory building remains, slowly falling apart - a legacy to mourn by those who remember.
nils dahl
just an old man
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