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Sundance, AMT, Phoenix, Davis, Lorcin, and Bryco among a few others dominated the statistics for confiscated firearms in southern California during the 90s.
In a quote from the report, "In 1992, ring of fire companies made more than enough guns for each resident of Washington DC, Seattle, New Orleans, Milwaukee, or Boston" (Based). They vastly outnumbered household names like Colt, Smith & Wesson, and Ruger by a significant margin (also based).
They also made up a staggering amount of the market share in regards to .25 ACP, .32 ACP, and .380 ACP guns in the entirety of the US - perfect pocket pistol ammo.
The report frequently uses the term "Saturday night special" for guns that can be purchased, used, disposed of [in the case of criminal intent] quickly and easily - many states have rules regarding the sale or even possession of these cheaply made guns today.
Make no mistake - in case you're not familiar with the ring of fire manufacturers, they made spectacularly awful guns that now hold reputation purely as a cheap, hilarious, sub-$200 collectibles. Ring of Fire manufacturers mostly dealt in concealable pocket/ankle carry guns made with what essentially amounts to pot metal. Saturday night special laws in states that enforce it typically are hence based on the "melting point" to prevent a would-be criminal-gone-smelter from destroying evidence.
The metal used to construct them was so low quality that the confiscated examples that were to be destroyed started to be turned down by recyclers for "adversely affecting entire batches of material" — instead, they were placed inside junked cars and shredded.
Ethics of making cheap, unreliable, and weak-caliber guns en masse, marketed as tools of self defense was also discussed in the report — Jim Waldrof of Lorcin was quoted as saying, "There are more poor people than rich people. Cheap is synonymous with volume".
But 'Gun Tests' talking about the common .25 ACP models dismissed them as "a modern sort of talisman to ward off evil people... The .25 ACP outsells nearly everything... so someone must believe in it". The quality was so poor on many of these that, "Many of the guns are made with metal that is so soft it can be shaved with a knife" and many omitted key safety features found on most other handguns.
Costing less than $20 to manufacture, is it ok to massively proliferate barely functional, highly profitable firearms in the name of defense? Or should there be protections in place to ensure quality for the end user?
It's certainly a slippery moral slope...
The report technically gets one thing right: how large of a role handguns have in homicides — they're cheap, concealable, and usually get the job done in a single magazine outside of extreme, drug-fueled assailant scenarios.
But the vilification of handguns is typically skimmed over today in favor of the oh-so-evil AR-15. At the very least, the idea that handguns are massively purchased [sometimes illegally] and used in crime is backed by real statistics.
But of course, they use this throughout the report to try and justify holding the manufacturers accountable for what is done with their products, a hot topic that's still argued about on senate floors to this day.
One of the most absurd quotes is thrown in your face before you even start reading the report.
"The consensus is that no more than five to ten people in a hundred who die by gunfire in Los Angeles are any loss to society. These people fight small wars amongst themselves. It would seem a valid social service to keep them well-supplied with ammunition"
— NRA Official & IPSC Founder Jeff Cooper, Guns & Ammo Magazine April 1991
Needless to say, that quote would torpedo anyone's career in 2023.
It's an all-too-familiar look back at the vilification of guns.
We've adapted the designs & graphics used to vilify the insanely crappy pico-pistol wave of the 90s (And of course we couldn't forget the NRA quote front and center).
No matter how you digest the report, the cheapo bullet slingers are the star, and we wanted to pay tribute to one of the greatest instances of the ATF's worst nightmare - an absolute buttload of guns on the street.
Whether you're a proud owner of a "ring of fire" pocket blaster or you enjoy gun history, this one's for you...
