Ever since 911, airline pilots have been isolated behind a locked door. Although Google is no help here, I’d bet dollars to small bags of salty snacks that this isolation has made airplane travel safer. Pilots encounter less distractions. (Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?) Compare and contrast a “sterile” cockpit with this scene of sonically-suppressed domestic bliss. You might be distracted by the bikini. The real problem: the bikini could be dangerously distracted by at least a half dozen variables. Here’s the 411 on the weapon she’s firing, via home.comcast.net:
The Cobray M-11/9 is the brainchild of Wayne Daniels, and is derived from the MAC-11 .380-caliber machine-pistol designed by Gordon Ingram in the late 1960s. Similar in design to the M-11, but with its receiver stretched to accommodate the 9x19mm round, the M-11/9 was produced by SWD, Inc. in the mid-1980s, until the 1986 ban on the manufacture of machine guns for civilian use. Many new-in-the-box M-11/9s were auctioned off when SWD filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter.
Through the 1990s, these guns were available from Class 3 dealers for just a few hundred dollars, and were generally looked down on by collectors and full-auto enthusiasts. The last few years have seen a cottage industry develop around modifications for the MAC family. This, coupled with the drying up of the last known stockpiles of new-in-box guns, has greatly fueled the M-11/9’s popularity and has caused prices to skyrocket.
Once regarded as “the Chevette of submachine guns,” the M-11/9 is now thought an “undervalued investment” and “an ideal first SMG”.
What’s any of that have to do with gun safety? Let me put it this way: I don’t think the author of this potted history would let his labrador wander towards the line of fire.
Nor would he be happy about a girl firing a gun that spits out large amounts of hot lead when said female forgot to get dressed that morning. Ever seen a woman do the hot brass in the brassiere dance? I have and it’s scary as shit.
The gun guy would, I reckon, make sure that MSPALTEN’S gal pal had a proper stance, so she wasn’t at risk of falling backwards. Holding a machine gun.
In short, he’d respect the M-11/9’s destructive power (if not it’s mechanical design or fit and finish), take the test fire seriously and force the newbie focus on the task at hand.
Truth be told, you CAN have too much fun shooting a gun. So much fun that you’re not psychologically prepared for any additional stimulus. Like when your boyfriend’s labrador decides to piss on your leg just as you’re squeezing off ten or fifteen rounds.
Notice how machine gun Molly is completely oblivious to Lexi the lab. Notice how she (the shooter) throws her head back when she laughs, taking her eyes away from the target for a second or so. It’s only a momentary lapse, but it’s a bad habit that could lengthen and lead to disaster.
At the very end of this video, the young lady keeps the machine gun pointed downrange, but her body language indicates she’s completely forgotten about the deadly weapon. Hello? Chamber empty? Magazine detached? Safety on?
News flash! The “Chevette of machine guns” has some issues in that area. Clock this from uzitalk.org:
I recently installed Mr. Lage’s extended safety on my M11/9. Shortly thereafter, the safety broke….not the outside safety button that Richard made, but the internal POT METAL part.
Don’t you hate it when that happens? What this tells me is that a machine gun is more dangerous than a rifle, some machine guns are more dangerous than others and people who fire the M-11/9 should pay close attention to what they’re doing.
Of course, that safety rule—reduce stimuli—applies to ALL guns. But some guns, like some bikini-clad babes, are more dangerous than others.
