Bricking a gun

In electronics to “brick” something means to make it non-functional, as this handy Wikipedia entry explains for you. In Massachusetts, they have a state policy of bricking guns before they can be sold in the state, also known as the “approved firearms roster“. An example of that is the Kahr PM9, a wonderful little 9mm carry pistol in its own right, but to get it on the MA Approved list, you have to add a whole bunch of unnecessary parts. Now, while this doesn’t “brick” the gun in the truest sense of the word; I am generally opposed to adding extra parts to guns that are supposed to simple, reliable, defensive firearms. A manual safety on a small hold out pistol is just one more thing to forget to disengage, one more thing that could break at the worst possible moment and produce a “click” instead of a bang.

The same reason why I’m opposed to stuff like that is why I wish that S&W wouldn’t put the internal locks on the J-frame and the flyweight unobtanium revolvers – the guns designed as last ditch defensive weapons. Mechanical things break, and while there are no magic swords, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me to put stuff on your not-magic sword that increases the odds of it going tango uniform at a really bad moment.

Of course, this isn’t really Kahr’s fault; mind you. They have the choice of adding all this ridiculous crap to a perfectly functional firearm in order to meet the arbitrary and nonsensical “safety” standards imposed by the State of Massachusetts. You know, in a perfect world, Massachusetts would be legally liable if a state mandated safety device failed on an MA-compliant version of a firearm and caused injury or death to the legal user/owner.

3 Comments

  1. You want to know the real kicker, Caleb?

    Getting the gun on the Approved Firearms Roster does NOT mean the gun can necessarily be sold in MA.

    There’s another double secret list, known only to the AG herself, of which guns can be sold and which guns net a dealer a $5,000 fine for selling.

    Ah, MA. Where liberty was born – and died.

  2. yep talked about it here
    http://weerdbeard.livejournal.com/559009.html

    The normal no-external safeties PM9 IS approved on the roster in Mass….but you can’t buy them because the AG didn’t give it the nod.

    Also I bought my S&W642 NIB last August with no safety lock…and they’re still listed in the Smith catalog.

    Paratrooper: Yep you can do whatever you want with the gun once you’re done (we can prattle about getting into legal trouble if you ever use said modded gun) the laws spoken about only pertain to FFLs selling to state residents.

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