Coeur d’Alene Press
Claiming negligence with a loaded handgun, the parents of an 18-year-old St. Maries woman killed on Christmas Day filed a lawsuit against the parents of a man criminally charged with her death, court documents show. Joseph D. Herrera, 28, …
<http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_f799d100-c789-52a5-8cf3-cc17f5dea977.html>
Congressional Record Latest Daily Digest for Thursday, February 2, 2012
Congressional Record Latest Daily Digest for Friday, February 3, 2012
Latest update was Friday, February 3, 2012
Coast Guard’s 2012 Ice Season Begins!
02/03/2012 10:35 AM CST
Written by the International Ice Patrol. Icebergs, bergy bits or growlers. Whatever you call them, these massive chunks of ice – some the size of a small country – all pose a threat for ships transiting the North Atlantic. But thanks to the U.S. Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol and their partners, mariners will have [...]
Darwin Day is right around the corner!
What are your plans for this February 12? Find resources and events on our new website at www.darwinday.org.
Congressional Record Latest Daily Digest for Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Latest update was Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Paul Barrett’s book Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun hit bookstores this week. The book takes a compelling look at how Glocks became equally as popular with crooks as they were with cops, enjoyed Hollywood fame with the likes of Bruce Willis, and how a lighter, steadier trigger pull made everyone more accurate….
BOOK: Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun by Paul Barrett
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Based on fifteen years of research, Glock is the riveting story of the weapon that has become known as American’s gun. Today the Glock pistol has been embraced by two-thirds of all U.S. police departments, glamorized in countless Hollywood movies, and featured as a ubiquitous presence on prime-time TV. It has been rhapsodized by hip-hop artists, and coveted by cops and crooks alike.
Created in 1982 by Gaston Glock, an obscure Austrian curtain-rod manufacturer, and swiftly adopted by the Austrian army, the Glock pistol, with its lightweight plastic frame and large-capacity spring-action magazine, arrived in America at a fortuitous time. Law enforcement agencies had concluded that their agents and officers, armed with standard six-round revolvers, were getting "outgunned" by drug dealers with semi-automatic pistols. They needed a new gun.
When Karl Water, a firearm salesman based in the U.S. first saw a Glock in 1984, his reaction was, “Jeez, that’s ugly.” But the advantages of the pistol soon became apparent. The standard semi-automatic Glock could fire as many as 17 bullets from its magazine without reloading (one equipped with an extended thirty-three cartridge magazine was used in Tucson to shoot Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others). It was built with only 36 parts that were interchangeable with those of other models. You could drop it underwater, toss it from a helicopter, or leave it out in the snow, and it would still fire. It was reliable, accurate, lightweight, and cheaper to produce than Smith and Wesson’s revolver. Made in part of hardened plastic, it was even rumored (incorrectly) to be invisible to airport security screening.
Filled with corporate intrigue, political maneuvering, Hollywood glitz, bloody shoot-outs—and an attempt on Gaston Glock’s life by a former lieutenant—Glock is at once the inside account of how Glock the company went about marketing its pistol to police agencies and later the public, as well as a compelling chronicle of the evolution of gun culture in America.