New handgun names sometimes make me wonder…

crestoncowboy said:
Even without the killer, the name night stalker would still mean "a person who harasses or persecutes someone with unwanted and obsessive attention" during the night. Or at best "one who hunts game stealthily" which could easily be linked to vigilante justice by some prosecution.

The old AC/DC song "night prowler" got them in a bunch of crap all the way back in the 70s.....before Ramirez

You never hear a prosecutor saying how the defendant gunned down the bad guy while dual wielding his sport orange czechmate and rossi pink princess. But idk. Night stalker is pretty iffy
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You'll never see any such thing because it's not the prosecutor's job to do that. The prosecutor's job is to obtain a conviction in court. To that end, anything which can be used to weigh in the favor of the prosecution will do this.

But the fact of the matter is that there are other factors which are far more important than the name of the gun. The name of the gun falls into the same category as "15 round magazine", ".45 caliber/9mm", "hollowpoint", etc. It's a descriptor that isn't directly related to whatever the facts of the case may be.
 
Ohen Cepel said:
I do agree the names are silly at times. Springfield with their "hell" series of things is on the list of childish for me.
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Overkill870 said:
"Hell".

Also the dictionary definition 🤣

View attachment 1168900
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It's the name of a popular jet and muscle car. That's what most people think of. I never heard or seen that dictionary description and I doubt most people have. If you Google or search for "Hellcat" in any search engine, cars will come up.
 
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Riomouse911 said:
New handgun names sometimes make me wonder…is anyone really thinking about negative impressions from the model names?

I have already rolled my eyes a bit at the S&W “Equalizer”, which I find to be a somewhat odd name for any new handgun introduced in a charged pro-gun/anti gun climate. To me the name conjures up images of folks strapping up and taking revenge on someone who wronged them, which isn’t an image I want a juror to think about should I be involved in a shooting. I get it, it’s a “defensive” handgun intended to be used by good folks to protect themselves from armed, evil-intended crooks, but the name S&W used still hits me a bit wrong.

I was perusing the latest Handguns magazine, the Oct/Nov 2023 issue:



When I saw this ad for a new Tisas series of guns that was on a page reviewing the latest awesome $4,000 Korth revolver:

View attachment 1167732

The Tisas “Night Stalker Series.” Does anyone at Tisas have access to Google?

The “Night Stalker” is the name that is forever associated with the satanic serial killer named Richard Ramirez. Ramirez attacked, beat and raped numerous girls and women, killing at least 13 victims during his yearlong nighttime reign of terror. Literally millions of people lived in fear during his crime spree in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley in the mid 1980’s. I lived 400 miles North of the area he stalked at the time, yet I still recall the crimes and the amount of terror this fiend caused.

This isn’t anything obscure. Just type in Night Stalker to any web search engine and the stories about Ramirez pop right up.

Honestly, “Night Stalker” is by far the LAST thing I want to be associated with me should I be a criminal defendant, or a respondent in a civil case, that is even remotely gun related, period.

Sorry Tisas, this was a really bad move. Your company may make some reliable, accurate and affordable handguns. But choosing name “Night Stalker?” It, and the associated ad campaign, is just plain dumb.

Stay safe.
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You can put me firmly in the camp of I don't give a rats behind about what antigunner think about the name of firearms. This seems like an issue where gun owners are worried and intimidated by what antigunners think vs this being an issue that antigunners are making a fuss about. I hear them talking about ghost guns, "weapons of war," assult rifles, "high capacity magazines," etc. I don't hear them complaining about what firearm manufacturers choose to name their product. Matter of fact, they don't seem to care about handguns at all let alone what the product name is.

This all seems like it's much to do about nothing other than an illogical fear about what those who hate guns might think. They're going to want to ban guns whether you call they have numerical names like 26, 19, 17, P320, P365, etc, or wherever they have names like Equalizer, Hellcat, Savage, Night Stalker, etc. Trying to appease them is a fools errand.

As far as prosecution goes, I've never heard on anyone being convicted of a crime in part or in whole based on the name the manufacturer gave the firearm they used. That's just more internet forum conjured folklore that's has no real world merit. It's simular to those who claim having anything other than a black or stainless gun OR carrying any ammo other than what L.E. carry will get you convicted in a jury trail.
 
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Styx said:
You can put me firmly in the camp of I don't give a rats behind about what antigunner think about the name of firearms. This seems like an issue where gun owners are worried and intimidated by what antigunners think vs this being an issue that antigunners are making a fuss about. I hear them talking about ghost guns, "weapons of war," assult rifles, "high capacity magazines," etc. I don't hear them complaining about what firearm manufacturers choose to name their product. Matter of fact, they don't seem to care about handguns at all let alone what the product name is.

This all seems like it's much to do about nothing other than an illogical fear about what those who hate guns might think. They're going to want to ban guns whether you call they have numerical names like 26, 19, 17, P320, P365, etc, or wherever they have names like Equalizer, Hellcat, Savage, Night Stalker, etc. Trying to appease them is a fools errand.

As far as prosecution goes, I've never heard on anyone being convicted of a crime in part or in whole based on the name the manufacturer gave the firearm they used. That's just more internet forum conjured folklore that's has no real world merit. It's simular to those who claim having anything other than a black or stainless gun OR carrying any ammo other than what L.E. carry will get you convicted in a jury trail.
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Well put.

Even if we didn't have manufacturers giving these names to firearms, those firmly behind the gun control movement insist on applying their own, like "assault rifle", "assault weapon", etc.
 
We don't need to name our handguns with fearsome, super-cool, scary names. Especially names invoking apex predators such as bears, hawks, eagles, venomous snakes, big cats, etc.

I have decided that when I buy out a major American firearms manufacturer, we're gonna name some handguns:

- The Panda. It's just going to be a big, cute, bear of a revolver. Stainless, with big "Goodyear" rubber grips.
- The Koala. It's just going to be a cuddly, compact version, cute, bear of a revolver. Stainless, with round-butt "Goodyear" rubber grips.
- The Meerkat. It will be a sub-compact 9mm pistol, but oh so cute. Orange tritium 3-dot nightsights.
- The Robin. A two tone (black and orange) polymer framed revolver marketed toward women and fans of the '60s Batman TV show.
- The Capybara. C'mon, who doesn't think this is the cutest rodent in the world?
- The Hamster. Another sub-compact, but wide-bodied, short-barreled with a stubby grip.
- Anything in .380/.32 or smaller will be named the Gerbil for little rabbit species or, dare I say, types of mice or moles.

I'm gonna market my stuff just a little bit differently.
 
Old Dog said:
The Hamster. Another sub-compact, but wide-bodied, short-barreled with a stubby grip.
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Growing up i had several Hamster over the years. Little bastards bit me exponentially more than all the Snakes I ever encountered.....and I saw snakes pretty much daily in the hay, Tobacco, or around the old fish pond.

Fearsome beasts they are. I can't even imagine a capybara......
 
I guess I am missing something with all this complaining about gun names. I could care less about any of the names being used other than to allow me to identify the firearm. Names or model numbers, it makes no difference to me. I never paid any attention. And I seriously doubt the name of the gun will come up in a trial. It will probably be described as a .xx caliber semi auto or revolver with maybe some reference to a high capacity magazine in the semi auto. I would imagine the vast majority of non firearms enthusiasts would have no clue what you're talking about if you mentioned a Hellcat or Night Stalker. And anyone who wants to make an issue of a firearm will want their audience to know what it is not what it is named.

I actually find it strange that the names matter so much to many of you. Other than maybe a chuckle or two at some of them I never really paid attention. And a name certainly wouldn't influence my buying decision.
 
Folks should read the professional literature on jury processes as your views on what will affect them continue to miss the points.

Try
Jury Decision Making: The State of the Science (Psychology and Crime, 8)
by Dennis J. Devine (Author)
 
Riomouse911 said:
New handgun names sometimes make me wonder…is anyone really thinking about negative impressions from the model names?

I have already rolled my eyes a bit at the S&W “Equalizer”, which I find to be a somewhat odd name for any new handgun introduced in a charged pro-gun/anti gun climate. To me the name conjures up images of folks strapping up and taking revenge on someone who wronged them, which isn’t an image I want a juror to think about should I be involved in a shooting. I get it, it’s a “defensive” handgun intended to be used by good folks to protect themselves from armed, evil-intended crooks, but the name S&W used still hits me a bit wrong.

I was perusing the latest Handguns magazine, the Oct/Nov 2023 issue:



When I saw this ad for a new Tisas series of guns that was on a page reviewing the latest awesome $4,000 Korth revolver:

View attachment 1167732

The Tisas “Night Stalker Series.” Does anyone at Tisas have access to Google?

The “Night Stalker” is the name that is forever associated with the satanic serial killer named Richard Ramirez. Ramirez attacked, beat and raped numerous girls and women, killing at least 13 victims during his yearlong nighttime reign of terror. Literally millions of people lived in fear during his crime spree in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley in the mid 1980’s. I lived 400 miles North of the area he stalked at the time, yet I still recall the crimes and the amount of terror this fiend caused.

This isn’t anything obscure. Just type in Night Stalker to any web search engine and the stories about Ramirez pop right up.

Honestly, “Night Stalker” is by far the LAST thing I want to be associated with me should I be a criminal defendant, or a respondent in a civil case, that is even remotely gun related, period.

Sorry Tisas, this was a really bad move. Your company may make some reliable, accurate and affordable handguns. But choosing name “Night Stalker?” It, and the associated ad campaign, is just plain dumb.

Stay safe.
Click to expand...

I didn't get the reference until you said Richard Ramirez. I was in high school in FL when this was happening, and couldn't have cared less about murders in CA. I doubt many people outside the Los Angeles area younger than 40 or 50 are going to get the reference.
 
wayneinFL said:
I didn't get the reference until you said Richard Ramirez. I was in high school in FL when this was happening, and couldn't have cared less about murders in CA. I doubt many people outside the Los Angeles area younger than 40 or 50 are going to get the reference.
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Some folks do remember names. Bernie Goetz. Nickolas Cruz. Mark Chapman. Richard Ramirez.

IMHO the naming of a gun, “Night Stalker” is still dumb even if the name wasn’t connected to a prolific, and famous, serial killer.

If you bought one, cool. I hope it is always reliable and shoots well for you. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
Surprisingly Mossberg hasn’t been a frequent flyer in this thread considering their advertising department rolled out Roadblocker, Chainsaw, Rolling Thunder et al. Probably a couple I’m missing.

Hellcat doesn’t put me off as I associate it with Dodge’s version as I’m sure most people not into firearms do.

In another life I sat in senior leadership meetings. The total lack of situational awareness on more than one occasion demonstrated by highly educated department heads from Ivy League schools never ceased to amaze me. So I would think that advertisement exec’s working for a firearms company aren’t immune to this either.

Rio brings up some good points. Regardless of the current pro/con gun climate in the country If it were me in court I would not want the gun I used to defend myself to have some model moniker which the prosecution could use against me. I wouldn’t want that low hanging fruit out there.

BTW, Equalizer 3, the latest installment of the franchise starring Denzel Washington came out last week.
 
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sen·ti·nel

[ˈsentənəl, ˈsentn(ə)l]

NOUN

a soldier or guard whose job is to stand and keep watch.

SIMILAR:

sentry

security guard

nightwatchman

protector

defender

guardian

scout

lookout

My first handgun (a 6” .22RF 9-shot revolver) was a High Standard “Sentinel.” It’s one of the few guns I regret ever selling. It sure wouldn’t be my first choice as a “defender” (or anything else on the above list) if I still had it though. ;)
BTW, I think I bought that revolver in 1966 or 1967 through my Mom’s and Dad’s country store/gas station, and High Standard was still making both “Flite-King” and “Sport-King” .22RF semiauto pistols back then.
 
InTheSwamp said:
Fellers, when it comes to pistol names - and reliability! lol - nobody beats Glock.
It's just G-'Insert the Patent Number' :)
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Yeah, but my G19 looks almost identical to my G44 - they're BOTH ugly! :neener:
Just kidding around. If you've read many of my posts, you know I'm firmly in the camp of "Ugly is as ugly does" when it comes to guns. And both of my Glocks just work! :thumbup:
 
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