Two Grand to be True
India's Womens' Self-Defense Fraud
By L. Neil Smith, Senior Editorial Consultant. February 12th 2014. (lneil@netzero.com)
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. © JPFO. Inc 2014
Indian women are suffering, just now, from a tremendous epidemic (if that's the proper expression) of gang-rape in their streets. This is nothing new, it would appear, merely an up-tick on the graph, or an artifact of better reporting. Some Indian men believe, or so I'm informed, that this is a time-honored tradition and an inalienable right.
A woman's life can be destroyed by this "time-honored tradition", because much of Indian society will insanely hold her responsible for having been violated. On some occasions, the victim will even be killed.
But forget the victims. They're not what's important here, not at all. The poor political leaders of India are squirming in the unwanted spotlight of bad publicity. They desperately want everybody in the world to believe that India is a full member, in good standing, of global civilization, a thoroughly-modern Marxoid society that makes big-budget movies, launches satellites, and builds aircraft carriers. They don't want anyone to get the impression they might be a savage, crime-ridden violence-infested pesthole like, well, like the United States.
Ironically, however, they seem to have discovered that, in order to deal with the gang-rape problem, they are going to have to turn to humiliatingly American methods. G-d created men (and women), Americans first observed over a century and a half ago, and Sam Colt made them equal. Or, as that most typically American author, Robert A. Heinlein, stated it, about half a century ago, "An armed society is a polite society".
And so, with great fanfare, it was proclaimed throughout the land, that a solution had been found, and the Indian Ordnance Factory of Kanpur -- a wholly government-owned facility, of course -- would bring forth unto the people a mighty weapon of self-defense suitable for women.
It would be called the "Nirbheek", according to the International Business Times, which is a synonym for "Nirbhaya", a nickname given to a young medical student whose gang-rape on a Delhi bus in late 2012, and subsequent death, "triggered massive protests against the country's attitudes towards females and the deeply entrenched culture of rape". "Nirbhaya" and "Nirbheek" both mean "fearless" in the Hindi language.
Recognize the same old refrain? Nirbhaya wasn't raped and murdered by a mob of evil, stupid, or crazy individuals, but by "the country's [male] attitudes towards females and the deeply entrenched culture of rape".
It's society that's to blame.
But I digress.
What the Indian Ordnance Factory of Kanpur produced was a small- framed copy of a "top-break" Webley and Scott revolver, a 19th century item which is, indeed, very easy to understand and operate safely and effectively. I have often recommended Webley revolvers -- old service pieces in .45 caliber -- to men and women who are new to firearms. However, this is not the Webley I have always known. It differs from the original gun in several significant ways, some good, some very bad.
To begin with, it isn't a .45. You can still find Webley revolvers in the original .455, that propels an enormous 265-grain copper-washed pure lead bullet at 650 to 770 feet per second -- a very old-fashioned "punkin' roller" style, but a well-proven low-recoil manstopper for well over a century. You can also find these old revolvers modified -- the process is simple and can be accomplished in your garage with an electric drill and a file-- to shoot the American service cartridge, .45 ACP.
The Indian Ordnance Factory's Nirbheek model is tiny by comparison, and chambered for a cartridge that looks like .32 Smith and Wesson (Long). There are several different .32 caliber revolver cartridges -- all of them inadequate for anything but self-defense at the very last ditch -- so it's difficult to tell. In general, getting information about this gun is like hearing a Grand Canyon sunset being descibed by a blind man. All of the articles I've read so far were written, not just by gun-ignorant journalists, but British and Indian gun-ignorant journalists.
Although the weapon is pretty obviously double-action (you can shoot it simply by pulling the trigger), it was described in copy as single action (you have to cock the hammer first). I think I'll trust my eyes, and my knowledge of Webley revolvers, rather than some idiot reporter. It has also been implied that there's a safety mechanism of some kind somewhere on the gun, and believe it or not, that's entirely consistent with 19th century pocket revolver designs by Webley and Scott.
The second-most amazing feature of the Nirbheek revolver is that despite its archaic (but time-tested and efficient) design, its little frame has been made from titanium, making it exceedingly light, which may be an important consideration in a gun intended for women's self-defense.
But the one absolutely staggering, jaw-dropping characteristic of the Indian Ordnance Factory of Kanpur's Nirbheek revolver is the fact that it is made by hand (only ten have been sold, so far), and costs 122,360 Rupees, or about $2000, more than most Indian men earn in a year.
Made slowly by hand.
.32 caliber.
Two thousand dollars.
The Nirbheek revolver is a sham, and a sickening insult to the unfortunate young woman after whom it was named for propaganda purposes.
Naturally, all of the unbelievably stupid and evil things that are usually printed and said about the idea of firearms for self-defense are being printed and said in India and other places for whom this is an important issue.
A lie -- that an armed woman is twelve times likelier to be shot during a rape -- is being passed around the same way that the American lie was, that a gun is 43 times likelier to be used against a member of the family it was purchased to defend, than against a criminal intruder. The anti-self-defense left everywhere is astonishingly adept at generating life-threatening lies like these and keeping them in circulation.
Indian politicians may think their faces (and parts south) have been saved by the Nirbheek scam, but Indian women are smart. It isn't going to take them very long at all to figure out that what they need is a genuine self-defense revolution instead of the usual shuck and jive. Nor are candlelight marches and "Take Back the Night" protests and demonstrations going to cut it -- they certainly didn't cut it here.
In the 1960s in America, the favorite whipping-boy for anti-gun politicians was small, inexpensive pistols, mostly revolvers, that poor people could afford. Liberal politicians were pitiably afraid of losing their choke-hold on the inner cities -- many of which were in flames.
Their term for such weapons of independence was insulting, and no more accurate than their current usage of the term "assault weapon". Most of the individuals who employed that term for political reasons were not aware that it was racist, and had been abbreviated. The original unpleasant expression was "Saturday Night N*****town Special".
Remember you heard it here first:
What the women of India need is not a $2000 titanium .32 revolver. What the women of India need most is half a billion Saturday Night Specials.
Author and lecturer L. Neil Smith is Senior Editorial Consultant for Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. A fifty-year veteran of the libertarian movement, he is the Author of 33 books including The Probability Broach, Ceres, Sweeter Than Wine, And Down With Power: libertarian Policy In A Time Of Crisis. He is also the Publisher of The Libertarian Enterprise, now in its 17th year online.
Visit the Neil Smith archive on JPFO.
© Copyright Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership 2014.
