Target shooters, handgun hunters, collectors and those who rely upon handguns for self-defense will want to pack this value-loaded and entertaining volume in their home libraries. Shooters will find the latest pistol and revolver designs and accessories, plus test reports on several models. The handgun becomes an artist's canvas in a showcase of engraving talents. The catalog section -- with comprehensive specs on every known handgun in production -- includes a new display of semi-custom handguns, plus an expanded, illustrated section on the latest grips, sights, scopes and other aiming devices. Directories offer easy access to products, services and manufacturers.

The ultimate guide to handguns produced in Germany. Includes an introduction, and full data on models, including service records, particular strengths, weaknesses, peculiarities.

The feasibility and potential impact of so-called smart handguns has generated considerable public interest and debate. This report summarizes a June 2002 workshop at the National Academy of Engineering that examined three related issues: the state of technology for owner-authorized handguns; the role of product liability in the development and marketing of such firearms; and the potential impact of these smart guns on health and crime. Smart-gun technology has the potential to prevent unintended or undesirable uses of handguns, such as accidental shootings; the shooting of police officers by assailants using the officers' own weapons; suicides; homicides with stolen handguns; and other gun-related crimes. However, information presented at the workshop suggests that considerably more research is needed to bring a reliable and commercially viable product to the marketplace. The report also notes that the impact of smart-guns will be influenced by legal issues, human behavior, economic conditions, and other factors.

Misuse of handguns is a significant factor in deaths, morbidity, and crime in the United States. One approach to reducing certain types of handgun misuse is to create a user-authorized handgun (UAHG), a firearm that can be operated only by an authorized user(s). Technological Options for User-Authorized Handguns clarifies the technical challenges of developing a reliable UAHG. This report determines the requirements and specifications of UAHGs for those concerned with public and/or personal safety, and identifies technologies that could satisfy these needs.

Ours is a nation in the grip of a strange kind of mania. Why after President Reagan was shot was there virtually no handgun legislation? Why after the Columbine massacre in Littleton, Colorado, was nothing done to regulate the tools that children most frequently use to kill one another? Why was there no legislative response after a six-year-old in Flint, Michigan, shot a classmate with a .32 caliber "pocket rocket"? Tragedy follows tragedy, with twelve children shot dead every day in America, but guns remain less regulated than automobiles. Why? As authors Peter Harry Brown and Daniel G. Abel in this powerful book demonstrate, it is because of the terrible power of the gun coalition. Outgunned begins with the story of Wendell Gauthier, the "master of disaster" attorney, who brought down the tobacco industry to the tune of billions and then turned his attention to guns. He struck fear into the hearts of the gun manufacturers as he set out to make gunmakers bear some liability for the killings caused by the often poorly made, inaccurate handguns they marketed to criminals. Coauthor Daniel G. Abel worked for Gauthier, along with other attorneys, as the gun-control campaign gathered momentum. This legal initiative seemed to be about to make history and change the face of violence in America, but sadly, Wendell Gauthier died of cancer before meaningful gun control could be established. More than thirty class-action suits against gun manufacturers now languish in courtroom paralysis while as many Saturday night specials as ever are being made. What happened? Brown and Abel demonstrate how the pro-gun forces once again curbed the will of a nation. This book shows the enomous power of the NRA -- how it killed pending legislation in Congress, hijacked the Campaign Act to fund the George W. Bush presidential election victory, and eviscerated the American Shooting Sports Council. That association and the gun manufacturers actually wanted to compromise and agree to new handgun laws, implicitly accepting some liability, but the NRA leadership, with Charlton Heston as their president, crushed them. In Outgunned, Brown and Abel uncover how NRA lobbyists were instrumental in stopping Smith & Wesson in its tracks. They show how the tendrils of the NRA reach into the Christian Alliance and Republican Party, and how men like John McCain have fought back and been undermined. Outgunned reveals how the NRA began dealing with President George W. Bush when he was still governor of Texas -- prodding him into signing a shocking prohibition against the kind of suits Gauthier brought against the gun manufacturers. Outgunned is the story of a legal crusade with up-close accounts of the people who fought every step of the way. For those who believe in the importance of stopping unnecessary bloodshed, this book is essential, powerful, and urgent.