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Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

reuters.com

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Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#261

Post by exolymph »

yaacov wrote: post #239
pjkundert wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a large overlap between any serious engineering discipline and firearms enthusiasts. The engineering and physics involved in building/tuning guns and shooting accurately is very interesting. Furthermore, the "renegade" spirit required to reject the status-quo and push the envelope in science and engineering attracts quite a few of the same types of people. Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every b…

> Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every basically qualified engineer or physicist should be capable to building from readily available materials and tools -- makes them even more interesting. If for no other reason than to illuminate preposterous and insulting nature of the idea. By this logic, almost nothing should be banned, do you endorse that position?

This is one of those questions people often ask 2A people as if the answer isn't going to be yeschad.jpg

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#262

Post by Guthur »

lutoma wrote: post #102

Honest question: How is this relevant to Hacker News? As a non-American i was rather bewildered to find this here. Is there a serious overlap between gun enthusiasts and the IT community in the US?

Considering the number of comments, yes.

Seems more relevant than the homeless grant article tbh.

For the record I don't mind either article and clicked on both.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#263

Post by throwaway_oil »

yaacov wrote: post #239
pjkundert wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a large overlap between any serious engineering discipline and firearms enthusiasts. The engineering and physics involved in building/tuning guns and shooting accurately is very interesting. Furthermore, the "renegade" spirit required to reject the status-quo and push the envelope in science and engineering attracts quite a few of the same types of people. Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every b…

> Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every basically qualified engineer or physicist should be capable to building from readily available materials and tools -- makes them even more interesting. If for no other reason than to illuminate preposterous and insulting nature of the idea. By this logic, almost nothing should be banned, do you endorse that position?

Trivial counterexample: I can't make an Apple M1 chip in my garage. I can't make (good?) LSD in my garage. I can put a metal pipe on a board with a nail and have a simple, reliable 12ga shotgun. I can 3d print a 22LR pistol, or even a 9mm subgun (just add pipe for barrel, weight for bolt, and some common springs).

I assume your response was probably born out of some political frustration, and I respect that. Happy to discuss specifics of the this position on the practicality and effectiveness of gun bans.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#264

Post by chordalkeyboard »

sushisource wrote: post #257
pjkundert wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a large overlap between any serious engineering discipline and firearms enthusiasts. The engineering and physics involved in building/tuning guns and shooting accurately is very interesting. Furthermore, the "renegade" spirit required to reject the status-quo and push the envelope in science and engineering attracts quite a few of the same types of people. Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every b…

> Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every basically qualified engineer or physicist should be capable to building from readily available materials and tools -- makes them even more interesting. If for no other reason than to illuminate preposterous and insulting nature of the idea. This makes no sense. Assaulting someone is illegal, but anyone can do it. It's still illegal. What?

Hurting someone is malum in se whereas owning guns is malum prohibitum when prohibited. This is the relevant distinction.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#265

Post by EdwardCoffin »

linksnapzz wrote: post #136
EdwardCoffin wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who has tried since? I understood that in WW2 for instance it was their strict policy of neutrality that kept them from invasion, and the fact that Germany thought it was more beneficial to have them as a neutral rather than occupied country.

Keeping Zurich industrialists on their side was essential to helping supply German war efforts-that's how Dehomag laundered its purchases of Hollerith cards from IBM, and I think how GM Europe's part-ownership of Ethyl Inc.facilitated getting TEL to the Luftwaffe. In addition to losing all that, it would be a costly and drawn-out war against an entrenched enemy on hideously unsuitable terrain. The desire was absolute…

They didn't try though, that's the point. You have to try in order to succeed or fail. I mean, the USA famously had a plan to invade Canada - but they never did.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#266

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin »

riffraff wrote: post #255
ashtonkem wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some European countries have more guns than you’d think. Iirc it’s estimated that some countries like Switzerland have more guns per capita than some US states (New Jersey is usually the lowest per capita). The difference is in gun culture. Very few Europeans identify with guns as much as Americans occasionally do.

I am betting that 90% of those are hunting rifles, and the overlap between computer geeks and people who hunt these days is pretty low based on my personal experience.

It's growing though! Growing right alongside the Farm to Table movement is the Catch, Clean, Cook movement.

There's also a significant, separate overlap between computer geeks and people that like to exercise their rights (See: Crypto Wars) which results in non hunting gunowners.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#267

Post by estaseuropano »

ashtonkem wrote: post #252
soneil wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe gun ownership in Switzerland is very closely tied to compulsory military service. It's very much an outlier as statistics go - issuing every adult male a rifle isn't so much a gun culture as a military strategy. (Czechia does has a strong civilian ownership, however)

Finland also has a lot of guns, about 1.5mil out of a population of 5.5mil. Compare this to the 57,000 registered guns among New Jersey’s 8.8mil residents. It’s not just military service, even if that explains Switzerland specifically. Europe is a more diverse place ideologically and socially than most Americans tend to imagine it. The place is bigger and more complex than just Paris or Berlin, just like how America…

The reasons and culture vary. Finns go hunting, Americans going to a gun range is a sport. And most of those finnish guns are probably decades old and long out of use.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#268

Post by _yid9 »

yaacov wrote: post #239
pjkundert wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a large overlap between any serious engineering discipline and firearms enthusiasts. The engineering and physics involved in building/tuning guns and shooting accurately is very interesting. Furthermore, the "renegade" spirit required to reject the status-quo and push the envelope in science and engineering attracts quite a few of the same types of people. Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every b…

> Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every basically qualified engineer or physicist should be capable to building from readily available materials and tools -- makes them even more interesting. If for no other reason than to illuminate preposterous and insulting nature of the idea. By this logic, almost nothing should be banned, do you endorse that position?

The issue is "banning" something which those versed in the art know is impossible to ban -- thereby only removing it from the law abiding, and not from the abusers of said item. (proof: Research how cartels get weapons produced under such a "ban". TL;DR: Trivially, by contract engineers w/ basic modern milling machinery.)

Frightened, ignorant (of the state of the art) people are led to believe "banning" is helping them "making them safe", when instead it is harming them: nobody law-abiding remains to come to their aid, while abusers and thugs wield powerful weapons, unopposed. Instead, benighted government officials ban common farmer livestock varmint rifles by the hundreds of thousands (see: Canada, just now).

So, no -- if someone wants to ban something, then they should darn well consult with anyone who knows something about that item, to see if A) it makes sense, and B) if it will actually prevent the violent from obtaining/using it.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#269

Post by floxy »

kec wrote: post #161
anonlawyer wrote: post #140

I'd say $220 mil is a pretty good price for a company that hasn't introduced an innovative product in 50 years. Colt's main products are the AR-15 (introduced ~1963), the various 1911 models (introduced in—duh—1911), and the single action army revolvers (introduced in 1873). It must be a hell of a marketing effort to keep flogging 50–150 year old products.

Can you name any small arms manufacturer who has introduced a successful, innovative design in the past 50 years? The design space seems pretty well explored at this point.

Thoughts on Kel Tec?

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#270

Post by aksss »

NoOneNew wrote: post #188
setr wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

take a look at https://animagraffs.com/how-a-handgun-works-1911-45/ and tell me this ain't ENGINEERING

Dont forget the hundreds of years of engineering required just to get to the 1911. It's not like the 1911 was pooped out one day. Pistol and revolver engineering is amazing for the fact reliability and predictability are the forefront of needs. Everything else is technically optional. It's and industry that's standing on the shoulders of giants without a doubt. To be faaaaaair, without Colt's revolutionary wheely gat…

For certain, but let’s not forget that the time period of the late 19th-early 20th century represented a flowering of innovation and invention across all areas of life and tooling that is arguably very unique in human history. That spirit and the thinking that was applied in such diverse areas is staggering, and as I read more about it (say, 1868-1915ish?) the more I’m convinced it’s very under-appreciated.
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