#gun reference

[hearse-song]

whump aesthetic: werewolf whumpee for @lancedoncrimsonwings

[shishikusas]

shikyou after she found out that mai and akari are married :

and then, she blew her head-

shikyou basically gave herself $100,000 huh

[queercapwriting]

Hey cap. I’m really sorry to bring you down, but so much has happened and a lot of it is scary. I’m moving from the place I’ve live all my life, and it’s only a few blocks away but i hate change and this is super scary. And to top it off it’s been harder for me to get through the school day cuz my anxiety about school shootings just keeps getting worst and it sucks. It’s just exhausting. I’m sorry i know you’ve had a tough few weeks and I’m sorry to be annoying its just scary

Hello my dear! Absolutely no apologies – I’m proud of you for reaching out! Honestly, love? I’m currently going through the same thing - it’s one of the big reasons my mental health has taken such a dip. My wife and I had a big move, and I also hate change and it’s terrifying!! So are shooting scares - I feel you on that, as well. There was something scary (not at a school, somewhere else; no one got hurt, though, thank god) like that that happened literally two days after my wife and I moved to our new town, so it just compounded all the anxiety and that. Of course it’s exhausting! You’re allowed to feel exhausted. That does not make you annoying, and it does not make you weak or oversensitive or anything negative like that. It makes you brave, for feeling what you are and then coming out and talking about it and acknowledging it. That’s incredible, and powerful, just like you. I’m so sorry you’re going through this, but you’re not alone my dear, I promise. I’m sending you all the love and support in the multiverse <3 <3 <3 

[megajubbly-blog]

Mag 7 Revolvers

This will be the first of three gun posts, covering the guns that the guys shoot in the movie. It’ll be split up into revolvers, rifles, and then some odds and ends (mostly Faraday).

So let’s start with some basic info! We’re focused on small arms here, defined as a weapon capable of being carried by one person for individual use–anything from a handgun to a light machine gun. (The bigger stuff is artillery.) “The word firearms usually is used in a sense restricted to small arms.” (link) There are two basic types of firearms: handguns and long guns. We’re focused on handguns here, long guns will be saved for the Jack/Goody post.

What’s the difference between a pistol and a handgun? Some people use the terms interchangeably, but others use pistol to refer to semi-automatic handguns, whereas a revolver is a repeating handgun with a revolving cylinder. Pretty much all revolvers have six chambers in the cylinder, hence the term six-shooter.

This chambered cylinder allows a user to fire multiple times without reloading, unlike for example the P53 that Goody might have used during the Civil War, which would have required the user to load each bullet individually. Here’s a labeled diagram of a revolver (source):

So each time the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves, which sets up the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel. As a side-note, notice also the “barrel/cylinder gap,” which means that these are pretty loud and cannot be effectively suppressed (”silencer”), since this gap creates a loud “report,” whereas a suppressor can only suppress noise stemming from the muzzle.

Anyways, moving on to the actual specific guns.

IMFDB states that Red Harvest uses a Colt 1871-72 Open Top Revolver at some point in the movie (so does Emma). This is also referred to as the Colt Model 1871-72, or the Colt Open Top. This was the first Colt revolver made for metallic cartridges. It has an elongated grip, a 7.5″ barrel, and is chambered in .44 rimfire. (Sidebar: caliber refers to the internal diameter of the barrel, or the diameter of the projectile it fires. In the US, a caliber is generally given in inches, such that 1.0=1 inch. Some common handgun calibers are: .22, .25, .38, .45. A .45 caliber gun can be referred to as a .45 or a .45 cal, and when spoken out loud, the decimal point is dropped.)

There’s not a ton of information about the Open Top that I could find, probably because this was really just a transition model between the Colt 1860 Army (popular Union gun) and the Colt Single Action Army. The Open Top was given to the US Army for testing in 1872, but the Army rejected it, which led to the design of the Colt Single Action Army.

(source) Apparently “Open Top” refers to the gun’s lack of a topstrap, which is a bridge of metal running along the top of the main frame from the rear sight (near the hammer) to the threaded portion of the frame that accepts the barrel. (link) On the older models, revolvers of the cap-and-ball era (like the Colt 1860 Army), a top strap was frequently omitted, as was the case here. But you need a topstrap to support more powerful cartridges, and pretty much every revolver has one now. You can see the difference here: the revolver on top is the Colt Single Action Army (with topstrap), and the one on the bottom is the Open Top (no topstrap). If you look right above the cylinder of both, you can see the difference between a topstrap and an open top. The hammer spur is also much higher on the Open Top and is angled differently than on the Colt Single Action Army.

Anyways, onwards to the real star of this post, the Colt Single Action Army, also known as the Single Action Army, SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, M1873, Colt .45, etc. Amusingly, this is also the official State Firearm of Arizona. The only thing that surprises me about this is that only two states have official firearms, and Texas is not the other one (Utah is).

There’s an ad from 1877 (also the first known instance where the famous nickname “Peacemaker” was used) that prices the gun at $17. (link) “During the 1870s, a brand new Colt Peacemaker cost approximately $17.50 (or about $330 today). That was the equivalent of a month’s wages for most.” (link)

The Peacemaker came in three barrel lengths: 4.75″ (Civilian/Gunfighter/Quick-Draw model), 5.5″ (Artillery model), and 7.5″ (Cavalry model). IMFDB says that Vasquez, Faraday, Sam, and Billy all carry this gun. It can be dual-wielded.

This was an extremely popular gun in the West, liked for its accuracy, power, and reliability, and lots of famous outlaws carried it. IMFDB specifies that Vasquez and Sam carry the nickel Artillery model, but it doesn’t say anything about what model Faraday and Billy carry. Presumably neither of them have the Cavalry model, but I am not at all expert enough on this to know the difference between the other two, although it might make sense to say that Billy carries the Quick-Draw model.

“Single Action” refers to the trigger: A single-action (SA) trigger performs the single action of releasing the hammer each time the trigger is pulled, which means that the hammer must then be cocked separately.

The term wasn’t used until the mid-1800s, as everything was single-action under double-action triggers were invented. Double-action refers to a gun trigger mechanism that both cocks and releases the hammer with a trigger pull. (link) The Peacemaker requires a thumb to cock the hammer before firing. Alternatively, you can do what, I think, Faraday does in the movie and fan the hammer–you hold down the trigger and hit the hammer with the heel of you hand, creating something like a semi-automatic fire. Although this was used a lot in fast draw competitions, this could be pretty hard on the gun, so it seems like it wasn’t used in practice often–more of a movie device than a historical practice.

Another note: “[L]ike most other revolvers at the time, [the Peacemaker] did not have any safety mechanism. Instead, its users often carried it with only five of six chambers loaded. The weapon’s hammer would then be dropped on the empty chamber to prevent accidental discharges if the gun were dropped.” (link) This is wild and makes me anxious just thinking about it.

Also interesting–the Peacemaker is a fixed-cylinder design, as opposed to front loading, top break, tip up (this looks wild, sort of… DeLorean door-like), or swing out. What this means is that the cylinder stays in place, even when you’re going in to reload it–instead, you shift the loading gate in order to access the chambers. “The loading gate on the original Colt designs is on the right side, which was done to facilitate loading while on horseback; with the revolver held in the left hand with the reins of the horse, the cartridges can be ejected and loaded with the right hand.” (link)

Recommended Video: There are a shit ton of videos of the Peacemaker on Youtube, but if you don’t want to sit through a 30-minute one (why not, come join me in my madness), this is a pretty good short one that will take you through some interesting stuff like reloading, shooting, and an “attempt” at fanning the hammer.

[queercapwriting]

Coming Back to You: Maggie in Gotham

Summary: “alex has a kid on her own (u choose how) and meets maggie again later and they slowly get back together” prompt from @thebiwisebrownkid

Parts 1-10 available through this link – https://queercapwriting.tumblr.com/post/173244948849/coming-back-to-you-part-10

If you prefer to have the whole thing collated, the series is now also its own thing on Ao3, here! http://archiveofourown.org/works/12935064/chapters/29561232

There’s blood streaming past her vision, and she suddenly wonders if this is where the expression “seeing red” came from.

Because Maggie is indeed seeing red, both physically and in terms of how incredibly enraged she is.

Not that any of that emotion shows on her face.

She waves off the rookie trying to assess the gushing wound above her eyebrow, and runs her hands over the young recruit’s shoulders. 

“You’re bleeding too, rook,” she murmurs, though she’s satisfied that the slash on his upper arm isn’t too deep.

“Captain Sawyer, let me -- “

“Shh.” She holds up a tense finger, and he falls silent instantly. She keeps her left eye closed: she’s not going to see anything through that stream of blood, anyway.

She squints with her right eye down the darkened corridor, mouthing out a countdown and nodding right before both squad captain and cadet step out from behind the filing cabinet they’d been squatting behind and shoot simultaneously.

The stun guns that Maggie had worked for years to get required for GCPD are nonlethal, always. Courtesy of Lena Luthor, they leave no marks and no bodily trauma, but they certainly pack a punch.

In moments, she’s crouching over the unconscious body of the man her precinct had been tracking for months.

“Looks like he didn’t expect the GCPD to have L-Corp tech,” a voice calls down from the rafters.

“Easy, Jimmy,” Maggie mutters, but she’s grinning.

“Batwoman,” he stands ramrod straight and nearly salutes.

If the red-head, now swooping down to stand with them, is amused, she generously doesn’t show it.

“Sawyer,” she greets, and Maggie nods with a barely suppressed smirk as she checks to make sure her mark hadn’t hit his head in the fall.

“Jimmy, wanna run and call this in?”

“I assumed you’d want to, Capt -- “

“The honor’s yours, kid. You earned it.”

The cadet nods and jogs out of the warehouse eagerly, where his radio will get crisper reception.

“You should have let him look at that eye,” Batwoman chides.

Maggie shrugs. “I’m fine, Kane.”

“If fine means you need stitches, sure. Come here.”

Maggie sighs but submits to her old friend’s care, chewing at the inside of her lip, hissing slightly in pain when Kate runs one of her newer gadgets over Maggie’s gash.

“It might scar, but you won’t need those old fashioned hospital stitches.”

Maggie smirks, finally. “Show off. But seriously, thank you. Couldn’t have caught this guy without your tip.”

“I’m sorry I had to call you out of National City. I just know this guy’s been targeting street-living kids, and you wanted him off the streets bad. I didn’t mean to take you from Alex.”

“How did you -- “

“Please, I know you, Sawyer. A few extra days in National City? Personal days? Personal days that you never, ever, ever take? You might as well have sent up a smoke signal that screamed Alex Danvers.”

Maggie chuckles even as she reddens. “A Danvers signal.”

“Not as cool as a bat symbol, but hey.”

“I want her back.”

She says it fast and pained, and she’s not sure if it’s pain from her now throbbing head or from her chest.

“I want her back, but she’s got this brilliant little kid. I met her, I ran into them, and Alex looks so... perfect, so happy, without me, and I... I was right. She’s a great mom -- “

“And you still want her back.”

Maggie jumps slightly as sirens announce backup’s (decidedly late) arrival. 

“It’s whatever.”

Kate sighs and touches her hand to Maggie’s non-bloodied cheek. “It’s not whatever, Sawyer. It’s your feelings. It’s real, and so are you.”

“Kate -- “

“It’s not whatever, Mags.”

And with that, she leaps. Maggie blinks, and her friend is gone. 

She can’t help but shake her head and smile. She’ll never stop being awed by how she does that.

She fills out her report with relish; she’s never liked the idea of putting anyone in a cage, but the system is what the system is, for now, and damned if she was going to let this man target any more brown and queer kids.

She’s so absorbed that she doesn’t look at her phone until well after sunset, well after her day shift crew have gone home to their families.

Finally, though, she drops her glasses onto her desk, sighs, and stretches as she looks around her office.

It’s still surreal. Having her own office. 

She stretches out her neck as she rifles through the files on her desk in search of her phone and checks it idly, not expecting much. Except perhaps a text from Kate. 

Maybe, if Kate doesn’t think patrol will be that intense tonight, they could grab a drink.

Maybe, she should call Alex. Apologize for leaving so abruptly.

No. Why would Alex want to hear from --

Her heart skips several beats. Because her notifications are full of texts from her ex.

[sentanixiv]

Anyone else have this problem?

[r4mmydh4rkon]

@numbr1robotbuilder Hey hey hey, you should be a ghost for Halloween:)

[genby-enby]

There was a shooting in the company parking lot.