'Handgun of the Year' Used for Mass Shooting of the Week

[divideandconquer]

'Handgun of the Year' Used for Mass Shooting of the Week

Josh Sugarmann


When Omar Thornton decided to open fire on his co-workers earlier this week, he used a local product for his killing machine: an SR9 high-capacity pistol from Southport, Connecticut's Sturm, Ruger & Co.

During a chilling 911 call, Thornton describes the handgun he used as a Sturm, Ruger SR9 pistol equipped with a high-capacity ammunition magazine. He told the 911 operator that pistols were his "favorites." The SR9 is a prime example of the high-capacity, compact pistols specifically designed for concealed carry currently being aggressively marketed by Sturm, Ruger and other handgun manufacturers.

In its 2010 catalog, Sturm, Ruger describes the SR9 as a "reliable partner" that is "perfectly sized to be comfortable and controllable with a slim, ergonomic grip... The SR9 packs all of the features required by today's most demanding shooters...." Sturm, Ruger announced in late July 2010 that the SR9c, the most compact version of the SR9, had been named the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence "Handgun of the Year."

In a July 29, 2010, conference call on its second quarter earnings, Sturm, Ruger President and CEO Mike Fifer told analysts, "Well, I think the hardest gun to get in America right now is our SR9 compact. And this is a gun that just won the Handgun of the Year... So there's nothing like new products to generate demand."
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<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/handgun-of-the-year-used_b_673800.html>

Quite a gun!

[Swede]

1. Comes in handy when gunning down coworkers.

nt

[The Straight Story]

6. Simple way to solve that problem - make it illegal to kill people

And folks won't do it.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. The SR9 is the gun of the year???

Ruger makes some pretty crappy centerfire pistols.
I'd rather shoot a glock, Springfield, or S&W than a ruger. Yuk.

It's a regular pistol and I'm unsure of what the point of the article is.
The outcome likely would have been the same with nearly any pistol used.
Slow news day I guess...

[krispos42]

20. The compact one looks nice

The full-size one looks a bit awkward. In fact, I just got the latest issue of Gun Tests in the mail today and a Ruger SR9c was featured in a 4-way comparison. It got an A-, tied with the Glock 19.

[Callisto32]

23. My wife's uncle has one.

Aside from some accuracy/precision issues (nothing that makes it unusable, just not quite up to my general standards) it was light, and comfortable to use, with a decent trigger and sights.

OH...THE ARTICLE, right.

Sugarman, what a joker.

[Euromutt]

25. The SR9c is "gun of the year," not the full size version

I've shot an SR9, rented at the range. It's a perfectly serviceable handgun, with some nice features. But the manual safety rubbed my thumb knuckle raw, and I wouldn't own one for that reason.

[Canuckistanian]

3. And they say advertising doesn't work

"SR9.... for today's most demanding shooters"

[Pavulon]

10. What kind of knife did that guy use in manitoba?

to hack that guys head off and then eat some of him on the bus.. mmm noms on greyhound.

bet i have a knife like that in my kitchen, the horror.

[Euromutt]

38. Somebody certainly professes to believe the marketing, but it's not the shooter

I wonder if someone told Josh Sugarmann that a particular model of car had both excellent acceleration and got great gas mileage, and it then turned out that the version with the V6 engine had excellent acceleration but mediocre mileage, and the version with the hybrid engine got great mileage but had lousy acceleration, whether Sugarmann would feel the salesman hadn't deliberately tried to mislead him.

Because oddly enough, that's analogous to the claims Sugarmann is making in this column.

[SteveM]

45. ...and Josh did one for Ruger -- for free!

[The Straight Story]

4. only cops and the govt should have guns, us little people cannot be trusted like they are

Btw, what was the gun of the year for shooting up folks in our wars?

Maybe we should look at what causes violence and work on that as much as some want to on the tools people use...nah, that requires thinking and hard work, easier to blame something else.

Bush had the right idea - get people in a panic over something and then use that to restrict freedoms all the while ignoring the elephant in the room. Mainly because some folks can't be expected to think about something, just react on emotion. Seems like he had some people pegged....

[xchrom]

5. He was nothing if not a demanding shooter. Nt

[X_Digger]

7. Poor Josh.. so irrelevant, so shrill.

The attack lasted 45 minutes, Thornton had two handguns. What evidence does Josh present that the ammunition capacity of the handguns had anything to do with the lethality of Thornton's spree?

....


....


........ Bueller?

Nada.

Each handgun had a capacity of 18 rounds, yet Thornton killed eight (nine including himself) and wounded two. Even with 'low' capacity magazines, there's no reason to believe the result would have been any different.

I'm sure if Wüsthof's knife of the year turns out to have been used in the 13 stabbings in Flint, MI (http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/06/michigan.stabbing.deaths/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn), Josh will be right on top of that, too?

[Katya Mullethov]

28. I could have bested that with a brace of 1858's

Cant steal without gettin caught , cant shoot straight , cant even run his mouth effectively .

[MicaelS]

8. So only the racist, fascist, homophobic police and military should have guns

Is that what you're saying?

[proteus_lives]

18. And watch their heads explode.

:rofl:

[PavePusher]

31. As a member of the military...

and having known a few police in my time, I have to ask you to please not stereotype so broadly. Thanks.

[MicaelS]

40. Sorry... I stated that poorly

What I meant to say was

"So only the police and military, which are frequently accused here on DU, of being racist, fascist, homophobic should have guns.

Is that what you're saying? "

[PavePusher]

41. Thank you for your response.

The clarification is appreciated. My apologies if I misinterpreted any sarcasm/irony.

[MicaelS]

42. You're welcome...

It is no one's fault but mine for not expressing myself more clearly.

[Pavulon]

9. Budweiser used to kill many more tonight.

hey why dont you guys work on a ban for that. Irrelevant, has nothing to do with my right to legally own a gun.

Actually ruger pistols have always been sub par.

[oneshooter]

30. I like their Black Hawk and Super Black Hawk for huntimg. n/t

[rrneck]

11. Urec for waste of electrons. nt

[sylveste]

12. damn

damn, i had a glock .40 cal for "handgun of the year" in my pool. now i have double down with bama winning the bcs just to break even.

[GreenStormCloud]

13. Keep beating that dead horse, and it will stay dead. N/T

[onehandle]

14. Yummy gun porn.

'It's interesting when people die.'

Don Henley - Dirty Laundry

[divideandconquer]

15. I bet criminals must feel invincible with so much firepower hidden under their trenchcoat

Soon we'll have to have the cops carrying assault rifles. I guess robots are next in the escalation of firearms.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

21. More anti union nonsense from you again

[friendly_iconoclast]

29. Not a word about the people killed *by the contents of the warehouse*, eh?

The alcoholic beverages that issue from that beer distributor have killed (and will kill) many more people than one disgruntled worker did, yet the only people trying to ban them are a few leftover cranks.

Kind of like Josh Sugarman and the VPC, actually...

[one-eyed fat man]

35. Where you been???

The cops are already carrying patrol rifles!

Note how it differs from an assault rifle

[Euromutt]

39. What's that even supposed to mean?

I mean, if you're criticizing Sugarmann (and by extension the OP) for cynically trying to exploit an atrocity committed by one individual for the purpose of demonizing the implement used to commit it and any and all individuals who possess other copies of that same implement, that would be laudable, but it'd be rather out of character for you.

[SteveM]

46. Well, you brought it up. "He who first smelt it dealt it" -- Peppy L'Pew

[Endangered Specie]

16. But I'm sure he would have stopped had he seen the "no guns" sign

or remembered the company handbook's "no firearm's policy"

[proteus_lives]

17. What's your point?

You don't actually have one but I think it will be funny to hear what you think a point is.

[krispos42]

19. So gun makers should strive for awkwardness and uncontrollability?

I don't see this stuff when Car & Driver's "Truck of the Year" kills a family in a minivan.

[Katya Mullethov]

27. If they drove it 70MPH on a 98 degree day with 17lbs of air in the tires

Overloaded with kids and baseball hardware .....there would be Congressional hearings resulting in new regulations requiring mandatory tire pressure monitoring systems in all new cars .

This time it was a deeply seated entitlement mentality what killed the beast . Next time it will be something else ,perhaps . But the attention will again be directed elsewhere and the nitwittery will never end .

[krispos42]

37. And if he had modified it to fire full-auto, we'd have something close to a comparison

But we don't. The gun didn't malfuction, not a bit. And unlike driving a poorly-maintained vehicles, shooting a poorly-maintained handgun only hurts the shooter. Jams, breakages, plugged barrels, etc., don't negatively affect anybody but the guy pulling the trigger. Okay, and maybe a rare unlucky SOB standing too close. But you know what I mean. :-)

[ProgressiveProfessor]

22. You do realize the the author is the lead of the VPC, which is more discredited than World News Dail

[Euromutt]

24. Sugarmann's conflating features of different versions of the same design

The SR9 is a prime example of the high-capacity, compact pistols specifically designed for concealed carry currently being aggressively marketed by Sturm, Ruger and other handgun manufacturers.

Concealability and "high" capacity are mutually exclusive features. The full size SR9 (http://ruger.com/products/sr9/firearms.html) uses a 17-round magazine, but is not compact. The SR9c (http://ruger.com/products/sr9c/index.html) is compact, but takes a 10-round magazine.

Now, admittedly, the SR9c can also accept (and is in fact sold with) the full-size version's 17-round magazine, using a grip adapter, but that adds an inch to the length of the grip, making the weapon markedly less concealable. The underlying idea is that you can use the less obtrusive 10-round mag for concealed carry, and the larger 17-round mag for home defense, when concealability is not an issue. But it's physically impossible to do both at the same time: you can't have concealability and "high" capacity at the same time.

Sugarmann, characteristically for him, tries to have it both ways by obscuring this fact.

[TheCowsCameHome]

26. Who says American made goods are inferior?

This item did it's job.

[SteveM]

47. Correction: the punk killer did his job. Okay, now? nt

[PavePusher]

32. My response at Huff'n'Puff:

Mr. Sugarmann, you are a liar, a hypocrite and a bigot. You use inuedno, misdirection, hate and misinformation to lead people to believe your unfactual claims and hyperbole.

In short, sir, you disgust me.

[jazzhound]

33. Absolutely perfect. NT

[PavePusher]

34. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to get past the censors... n/t

edit for spelling

[WheelWalker]

36. Nah, you should tell'm what you really think. nt

[guardian]

43. so what?

Makes about as much sense as an article proclaiming 'car of the year' was involved in an auto accident. UNREC

[SteveM]

44. Are you disappointed it wasn't an "assault weapon?" nt