The Albany Gun Show

I went to the Albany Gun Show last weekend.  Nothing was particularly surprising.  The New York State legislature had pushed through an assault weapons ban a week or so earlier, so there were no Bushmasters to be found anywhere.

The National Guard had a booth, however, and they were allowing people to handle two M-4s (each securely attached to the table with cables).  M-4s are basically the most up-to-date version of the AR-15, the design which inspired the Bushmaster and a slew of other, similar weapons.  I picked one up and it was a pretty compelling in its own way.  I can see the fascination.

It was not nearly as compelling, however, as the Holland & Holland double-barrel elephant rifle I got to handle.  When I first saw it, I thought it was a shotgun.  Closer examination showed that the barrels were way too thin for a shotgun.  It was, in fact, an elephant gun.  If you know anything about H&H, you know they're one of the premium gun manufacturers in the world.  The gun I was holding, which will be auctioned in a couple of months, was estimated at between ten and fifteen thousand dollars.  Which is a lot of gun.

The double-barreled design features two triggers and two firing mechanisms.  The theory being that, if you don't kill the animal with the first shot, you will have likely enraged it.  Moments later it will be running directly at you and the only thing standing between life and death at this point is your ability to get off a clean shot.  The last thing you want is a jam, thus the complete redundancy of barrel, hammer and trigger.