From: gwyn@arl.mil (Doug Gwyn )
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Glock, Berretta or Taurus 9mm - What to buy?
Followup-To: talk.politics.guns
Date: 16 Jun 1995 22:25:14 -0400
Organization: U.S. Army Research Laboratory APG, MD.
Lines: 30

In article <3rs3mg$4be@xring.cs.umd.edu> benchr@teleport.com (Ross Bench) writes:
#In article <3rocvc$qi9@xring.cs.umd.edu> tperez@tiger.lsu.edu (T  Perez) writes:
##... But using your logic, how much do you pay for a 'good'
##hammer or a 'good' toilet seat? In other words, do not base your decision
##on what the gov't uses.

While the advice is sound, the argument raises one of my pet peeves.
We should all realize how the news media biases their reporting in
favor of entertainment rather than objectivity, and how politicians
grandstand to surry favor with the electorate.  Certainly this has
affected us (adversly) as gun users.  Therefore we ought not to
accept at face value the stories about federal procurement a la
Sen. Proxmire's "Golden Fleece Awards".  *Every* one of the half-
dozen or so Golden Fleece Awards of which I've had inside knowledge
has been a total fraud by Proxmire and the news media.  The two
items referred to above are examples.

The hammer in question was an explosion-proof model, i.e. non-sparking,
to be used in an explosive mixture of air and flammable vapors.  The
"toilet seat" was a custom Fiberglas molding for use in a small number
of military aircraft.  The prices were *not* out of line for
specialized equipment being ordered in small quantities with high
overhead (largely due to *Congressionally mandated* paperwork).

Another example was the superfine-finish gyroscopic bearing shaft
exhibited as an example of a "15-cent item one could buy in a hardware
store".  People, your news media and politicians are routinely LYING
to you and you should not believe anything they tell you without an
independent, objective investigation.