What's Your Murder Weapon of Choice?

This is an oldie but goody, at least I think so. And I'm traveling and won't have an internet connection.

by Ben Small

Guns are a bit trite, aren’t they? Convenient, yes, but oh so common. And look at the risks a killer runs: ballistics on the bullet; gunpowder residue on clothing or skin; fingerprints on gun or casing; noise; a flash; hiding the doggone thing. Ever fire a .357 without ear protection? I guarantee you won’t do it twice. Do it once, and you may not hear for a week. Do it in an enclosed space, and you’ll be saying “Eh?” for the rest of your life. A silencer? Legal in many states, assuming the bad guy wants to wade through a stack of paperwork, pay the government man his taxes, and can prove to the BATF and local law enforcement that he’s not really a bad guy. But, heck, records, man. Somebody hears a poof or maybe nothing at all, and the law runs to the records. “Hey Joe, ‘member that funny looking guy who said he wasn’t a bad guy, but wanted a silencer? Let’s go see if it’s been used.” Oops.

Some guns leave other traces. Try firing a Sig P210 or a Browning Hi Power with a high grip and you’ll leave a little bit of you on the hammer. It’s called “Hammer bite.” Or grip other semi-autos with a high grip and fat hands, and you may experience “Slide Bite.” Both leave DNA, not to mention scar tissue. Or try the two handed pistol grip so often part of the Weaver stance on a revolver. Yeah, wrap that support hand around your firing hand, not under it. BOOM! Your hand is burned. Something else you won’t do twice.

And handguns are complicated. Some have thumb safeties; some have grip safeties; some have trigger safeties; some have magazine safeties, some have no safeties at all. Know the difference between a .357 cartridge and a .357 Sig cartridge? How about .45 ACP vs. .45 GAP? What’s a better cartridge for a killer: shot, wad, ball or hollow point?

Stop my spinning head.

I like the simplicity of Daniel Blank in Lawrence Sanders’ The First Deadly Sin. Just bop ‘em on the bean with an ice axe and keep on walkin’.

Now that’s murder.