Knee-jerk reaction of the week

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4322109.stm

"Total airgun ban 'not ruled out.' Scotland's gun laws could be changed to bring in a total ban on air rifles and pistols after the death of a Glasgow toddler, the first minister has said."

The story is that some crazy man shot and killed a toddler with an airgun this week (and also apparently attacked a fireman, but he wasn't hurt). And, surprise surprise, the Scottish Labour government are thinking about banning them.

"As first minister, I do know that in irresponsible hands, an airgun is a lethal weapon," says he. But so is a hammer, or a knife, or a can of petrol and a match. It is also incredibly hypocritical, given that far more people are shot to death with real guns which are not banned.

Madness, I say. And not at all surprising.

So why don't you just go and buy a real gun instead :smile:

The Westminster government has already raised the age
for owning an air gun from 14 to 17, while creating a new offence
against possessing an air weapon in public places and banning
gas-cartridge airguns.

[size=13] Was this in response to the news story? The article didn't make it clear.

[/size]While this may be sad, I can't imagine how creating
miscellaneous laws could help anything. Anyway, expect styrofoam
hammers and wrenches in a next decade.

The Future said:
The Westminster government has already raised the age
for owning a screwdriver from 14 to 17, while creating a new offence
against possessing blunt objects in public places and banning metallic tools.

This is how everything seems to work. For instance, in my school
some one got hurt on some 'real' scissors so the school takes away all
good scissors and replaces them with those crap ass safty scissors
(this is a high school mind you).

I dont know why people think that takeing away something will fix the
problem, the name could have killed the baby with a large stick, or a
watermelon. People dont want to DEAL with the problems they just want to make them dissapear.

holy crap, that's stupid. I need some clarification though. REAL guns are allowed, but airguns are not?

Pave over the cracks, the foundations will crumble.

It is not a question of gun control, it is a question of making peoples
moral and social upbringing reflect GOOD values and morals. The day
this happens in the "THROW MONEY AT EVERY PROBLEM UNDER THE SUN"
culture that is more than prevalent in the UK administration, is the
day I'm not planning to up sticks and get the f**k out.

i own 2 air rifles and a air pistol and i dont go f**king about with them.

crossman ratcatcher

gunpower stealth

and some lowpowerd gat gun

millions of people own air rifles, and real guns, and other
wepons. If there was a real problem with them then we would see
huge damage, but there is not.

"guns dont kill people, people kill people" If some one wants to kill
another human, it will happen (I'm not talking about somthing like 'i
want to kill G.W.B.'). We can ban all the wepons we want but in
the end its the person who decides to take a life who needs to be taken
care of.

What if the man had killed the baby with a hammer, would the government ban hammers?

I agree with gwil, government covers up the problem but never fixes
it. I dont think they really care. Though it is a hard
thing to take care of, if they dont do anything about it then people
will get upset and if they do something about it another set of people
will become upset.

Exactly - it seems the answer to most problems like these is "BAN", and
that STILL doesn't fix the root of the problem, which is of course
ignorance, stupidity, lack of empathy etc etc.

If these people don't know why it's wrong to shoot a baby with an air
rifle, it points to bigger problems in society than lax gun laws.

on a sort of similar topic:

i heard this on the FM radio, i caught the end so i don't have many details.

apparently, there is a group dedicated to censorship of public things.. namely movies,radio and books. in the article i heard, they targeted a group that assists the blind in reading, or more, listening to books. they found a certain portion objectionable and a woman complained. the group is no longer allowed to read to the blind.

now i know that sounds insane and i musta heard it all wrong. could be, but i know the group exists, because they are attempting at this moment to censor channels like HBO and its ilk.

censorship of this caliber should be frowned upon, even by those whom currently have issues with things like the content of books and TV. you let them start monitoring your viewing/reading and soon we will have chaos. in particular think on this.. anything can be found objectionable by someone. me i abhore a bunch of topics other would look at me aghast for mentioning, but i would never consider monitoring their right to self expression.

some would say that i am a living contradiction, but only those who have no clue on life would IMO.. perhaps i am, but few my age i have discussed it with think so.

anywho's, has anyone heard this news, so they can enlighten me on the full story????

censorship is a easy way out of parents to not teach their kids right from wrong.

Parents baby-sit their kids with the TV but then they get up in arms
when 9:00pm rolls around and the kid all of the sudden starts saying
s**t and bitch.

I think that censorship is a must, but people fail to understand the
fine line between art and smut. A picture of a nude woman is
should not be censored, how will this hurt a person? Unless it is
forced apon a person. For instance, mens underwear bill
boards. I dont want to see some guys 25 foot shlong and
balls. Will it leave a lasting negative effect on me? NO, I will
get over it becuase I understand that a man has a penis and that
underwear needs to show off its product.

Now, if some shirt company has a picture of a
half naked person
clearly not showing off the company's shirt then there is a
problem.

There is way more to say, but thats not really on topic at all.
My point is that if you cover a child's eyes and ears their whole life
dose anyone think they will be better off when they are in the real
world and have to see all the smut and un pure things in this
world? Or will they be better off if they are tought that the
human body isn't something to be afraid of and that cruss words are
just words with negative conotaitions (sp).

Do airguns have any non-violent uses? Just asking...

prior to 100 years ago, children lived with death and war's as a part of life. it did not create a bunch of psychopaths.

todays society creates them. children are taught that its ok to do things without thought of the consequences. children are told daily, how pretty they are and how wonderful they are, only to find out that they are ugly, either on the inside or outside. children today are not taught any decent morals, and grow into adulthood carrying these lacks with them. children are taught that its acceptable to be deviant in their actions and habits.

the whole world has grown up without proper guidance. i see people today who go through their whole day living for themselves. not a single thought about the others around them.

anywho's the bottom line is this. parents may be the cause of children growing up and turning out badly BUT, once you reach a certain age (it varies from person to person but is generally around 18) you are accountable for your own actions.

i had a childhood i would not wish upon anyone. but it didn't effect the way i treat children as so many horror stories do. i did not become an abuser, at least not in the physical sense. some say my verbal life could use some polish however but, i feel that just todays society judging me on their lack of decent values.

/ rant

the whole world has grown up without proper guidance. i see people
today who go through their whole day living for themselves. not a
single thought about the others around them.

Very very true. Often it can seem very pathetic too.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Varsity</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>Do airguns have any non-violent uses? Just asking...
</DIV></DIV>

How about shooting targets? My question is, is there any less efficient way to perpetrate a violent act? the guy would have done more damage punching people, or just poking them with a finger!

I built an air cannon* that would kill an adult easily enough but you don't see me knocking peoples heads off with it. I just like shooting the damn thing!

*It takes about two hours to construct and all parts can be had at any hardware store for around $60

Got any how to's for building that air cannon Tracer, wouldn't mind having a looksee.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Agent Smith</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>Got any how to's for building that air cannon Tracer, wouldn't mind having a looksee.
</DIV></DIV>

I don't have instructions, or intend to create them. The idea is that the brain cells required to put it together without instructions are an insurance policy against morons walking around with something this dangerous. That said however, I can put you on the right track.

My gun(s) are made of 3" ABS PVC piping with a pressure rating of 270 psi. The pressure chamber is slightly shorter than the barrel at around 30-40" The pressure chamber is connected to the barrel with a 3/4" solenoid controlled sprinkler valve rated to 120-150 psi. The chamber is pressurized using a bike pump through a tire stem that can be purchased at any tire center (the only part not found at a hardware store). Most parts are rated at 70% of their actual designed capacity, so it is possible to pressurize a 120 psi rated part to around 160 without serious qualms.

The two primary considerations in designing a gun and selecting the parts are pressure capacity and valve action speed. The faster the valve, and the wider the opening between the chambers, the more power you get. likewise for pressure. However, Rate of energy release is paramount. If a lower rated valve is faster, it is probably better than a slower higher rated part.

Be aware that the connection to the valve stem is likely to be the weakest part of the system. I do not recommend piping larger than 3" due to the fact that end caps of larger sizes cannot hold the pressure when pierced by a valve stem and may fail catastrophically.

Pressurized to 160 psi, my cannon produces a full flight average velocity of 46 m/s for a maximum range of 216 m at a flight time of 6.6 s. The muzzle velocity is unknown, but logically must be MUCH higher. I believe it to be in the range of 100-150 m/s. Depending on the mass of the projectile (typically a vegetable of some description) the kick produced by the cannon can be significant. For this reason it is wise to remove any sharp edges in construction. I recommend pumping it up to around 25 psi for your first trial and working up from there so you can get a feel for how it behaves.
That should be WAY more than enough to get you going. In fact, it is probably more than I should have revealed. :smile:

Build everything out of nano gel! YUS!