By Philip Bourjaily

Fine English shotguns are a hot commodity, says Time magazine. Investors seeking to diversify their portfolios after the disasters of the last couple of years have discovered the fine gun market. The limited supply of fine guns – most makers build very few guns a year – keeps the market strong.

For instance, thirteen of Eric Clapton’s guns, including a pair of specially engraved William Evans doubles, recently brought over $700,000 at Sotheby’s.

Fine English doubles are appreciating at 3 to 5 percent per year, which isn’t much, but it’s steady. Besides which, in the event of complete global ruin, you have a gun – albeit one that only holds two shells.

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It is unfortunate with all the attention brought to New York slasher Maksim Gelman, we don’t hear as much about Joe Lozito, the man who helped disarm him in a bloody fight on the subway. Lozito says years of watching Mixed Martial Arts helped him survive.

By Philip Bourjaily

Before we get to our discussion question, here’s a little about the picture: Last month I wrote about the excitement of hunting a deer with a handgun, and a few of you asked for a closeup of the revolver and sight I used on the hunt. I shot a S&W 627, an eight-shot .357 magnum built on the large “N” frame normally used for the 629 .44 mag. I chose it because as a novice handgunner I figured a more massive revolver combined with a load milder than a .44 magnum would be a good way to start, and because I could practice a lot with cheap, low-recoiling .38 special ammo. I figured a good hit with a smaller bullet would beat a bad hit with a bigger bullet.

By David E. Petzal

On the weekend of February 12, Maksim Gelman, a 23-year-old Ukranian immigrant with a history of drug arrests, went on a rampage in Brooklyn, NY that left him charged with four murders, two assaults, and two robberies. His weapon of choice was an 8-inch kitchen knife. Four other kitchen knives were found in his car. On February 14, New York City’s Mayor for Life Michael Bloomberg released the following statement:

“This tragic event demands that America inject some sanity, some kind of reasonable controls, into its kitchen-knife laws. No one but a professional chef needs an 8-inch kitchen knife. No one but a professional chef needs an entire collection of kitchen knives. Why was this person, who had a criminal record, able to buy kitchen knives with no sort of background check? Because anyone can walk into a hardware or kitchen-supply store and buy any knife they want as easily as they can buy a blender or a colander.