Thread: Guns Guns and MORE Guns

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I would expect 7.62x54R were the total known?

During war time....probably. But everyday shootings..... 22 probably rules

Statistically, within the United States anyway, that would be the 22 Long Rifle cartridge.

The 22 bolt action rifle is the most common of all firearms, found in the household of nearly every gun owner. Even if you hate guns, chances are you have one of these in attic or in storage that you inherited from a relative. They have been used in many suicides and acts of domestic violence.

Back in the 1960s and continuing well past the 90s, the most common handgun used in street crime was the “Saturday Night Special”… a derogatory term used by anti-gun politicians to refer to inexpensive handguns marketed primarily to poor people. Often, the frames were made from cast zinc alloy and they were unsafe to carry with a round chambered because they tended to discharge if dropped. The RG-14 snub revolver and the Jennings J-22 were both extremely popular with a retail price of about $75… both were chambered for 22 Long Rifle and they have been recovered from thousands of crime scenes.

The reason the 22 Long Rifle has killed so many people is because it is so popular. These guns are everywhere, even in gun free zones like NYC and Chicago, where most gun crimes seem to occur. A gun runner can use a straw buyer to purchase a case of cheap 22 pistols at a discount, close to $50 per unit, then resell them to gang members for $300 each. That is a bigger profit than selling cocaine with less risk, and why a gangbanger is more likely to have a zinc 22 than a far more expensive Glock.

This is just statistics… sort of like trivia… the 22 Long Rifle is actually far less deadly than most other calibers and used extensively for target shooting, from plinking to competition. Most of the guns chambered for 22 Long Rifle are deemed so innocuous they are specifically excluded from many gun bans.