Firearms - what is it? Concept and classification

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

When they talk about the use of firearms by the police, what do they mean? What objects are usually designated by such a term, often frightening impressionable inhabitants, far from any violence? These days, firearms are the subject of interest for many men… What can I say, and women too.

What is it about?

The most relevant problem of formulating the concept under consideration is for criminologists, forensic experts, who often have to deal with unusual and new, literally on the go, invented tools that can harm a person. A firearm is an object that to this day does not have an unambiguous definition in the specialized literature. However, for the layman everything is much simpler: as soon as you say a phrase, the corresponding image immediately appears in your head.

Official Approach

It is now customary to say that firearms are items that are designed to hit a target (obstacle, human, animal) and fit the criterion of firearms. This term refers to the process of work: the defeat is produced by the release of energy,provoked by a reaction in a gaseous substance. A firearm is a product designed for repeated use, so it can be called reliable.

A fairly precise wording of the term can be found in the Federal Law of our country, dedicated to the features of different categories of weapons. About what kind of firearms there is, it is indicated here with the clarification that these are objects, devices with which you can give signals, and not just hit the selected target. In this case, the interaction with the target is due to mechanical processes. Special firearms, conventional - in a word, any - use projectiles moving in a given direction in their work. Not only gunpowder, but also other substances can act as an energy source.

Terminology: different approaches

Many lawyers in their work prefer to rely on the definition formulated by Komarinets in 1974. He pointed out that the concept includes such a throwing weapon, which is equipped with projectiles set in motion by powder energy.

Another relevant definition of the term can be found in the works of Pleskachevsky, who believed that a device is supposed to be created to repeatedly hit a target (human, obstacle, animal) at a distance. The shells used can vary significantly - buckshot, bullets, shot. Thermal decomposition, as Pleskachevsky pointed out, is the main source of aiming movement, and it is precisely thisdesign feature allows you to attribute the product to the category in question.

Classification

It is customary to allocate police firearms (service), civilian, combat. Within the categories there is a division into several types. Each class has its own usage rules. The laws regulate the storage of firearms - individual standards have been developed for each group.

Civilian weapons

Such products are designed for use by ordinary citizens for sports, while hunting. In addition, civilian weapons make it possible to self-defense while complying with the regulations of the law. Such items cannot fire in bursts, and there is no more than 10 rounds in the drum or magazine.

Civilian weapons are usually classified by type. For self-defense, a long-barreled, barrelless gun is used, loaded with cartridges that affect the enemy with gas, light, and sound. Traumatic weapons also belong to the category of firearms. Relatively recently, the legislation did not consider this group of products for self-defense in the appropriate capacity, but a few years ago, additions to the regulations were adopted that changed the position of the authorities.

There is also a sporting weapon. This is a smooth-bore, equipped with a rifled barrel. Finally, hunting - a weapon with a rifled barrel or a smoothbore, and can be supplemented with a rifled part (size within 140 mm). There is a combined hunting weapon.

Service

This category includes, for example, firearms of police officers. However, the group includes any types of weapons in question that are used by officials in the performance of their duties. It's not just about government employees. The use of firearms by employees of legal entities is allowed if a special permit has been obtained declaring the ability to store, transport, use a specific unit.

Service weapons can be used as a means of self-defense, as well as in the performance of obligations assigned to a person. This is implemented solely with the aim of protecting the he alth, life, property of people. In some cases, the use of weapons is allowed as a way to protect natural resources, cargo, correspondence.

Combat weapons

This category includes small arms, edged, hand weapons. Applicable only under certain conditions.

Melee firearms

This group includes a rather interesting example - the so-called scout knife, which attracts the attention of connoisseurs of the best examples of its class. Briefly, the item is called NRS - a special scout knife. From the point of view of the layman, this is almost a spy invention, somewhat reminiscent of the legendary ninja. As far as we know now, NRS are used only in specialized units, but ordinary employees do not use them. A shooting knife cannot be used for mass destruction, inas part of an organized attack in formation. But the craftsmen handle it silently and very effectively. Such activities are necessary during reconnaissance and as part of special operations.

HPC is visually most similar to the common bayonet commonly used in the military, and outwardly gives the impression of a weapon designed for hand-to-hand combat. The design feature is a single-shot device installed in the handle and secured with a latch on top.

Russian knife

The uniqueness of the NRS is in the ability to accurately hit a target at a distance of up to 25 meters. The charge produced by such a knife pierces a two-millimeter steel sheet or an army helmet (tests were carried out on samples made in 1968). The firing process itself is not accompanied by noise or visual effects. The NRS, as many experts agreed, is a very serious and dangerous intelligence weapon, especially in capable hands.

Flaws: any?

According to some experts, the only weak feature that the LRC "sins" is the low rate of fire, since after each shot it is necessary to reload the weapon. The process is not easy: the barrel is unscrewed from the handle, a fresh cartridge is inserted, the structural element is returned to its place, the latch is installed - and a new bullet can be fired. The NRS uses 7.62 mm SP-4 cartridges. With a relatively small projectile mass - only 9.65 grams - the HPC has a very high destructive power.

The cartridges used in the firing knife wereinvented for use in such firearms that do not make noise during operation. For the first time they were used in the PSS "Vul", a little later they were used in the work of the OTs-38 revolver. The LDC is actually a cross between these two models of weapons. The cartridge for it is designed according to a special technology: inside the sleeve, powder gases are cut off. There is a steel piston in the sleeve, it is from it that the jerking movement transmitted to the bullet comes. The piston itself cannot jump out, as the passage narrows. Powder gases are stored in the shell, and the pressure reaches 100 MPa, and after about half an hour the sleeve is discharged. However, practice has shown that sometimes it takes up to six months.

You need to be able to use

The LDCs will not be trusted by anyone: there are very few scouts allowed to use such weapons, and they all undergo a special training course. This applies not only to the features of hitting the target, but also to safety rules, since with inept use of the NRS, it can cause significant damage to the shooter himself. And if you try to disassemble or break the sleeve, you can pay with your life for such an experiment.

As part of the training course, scouts are told that the bullet is located inside the cartridge case, the cartridge is very unusual, and the weapon has additional combat power due to a reliable sharp blade.

Universal

A distinctive feature of the NRS (everything is as it should be for a scout weapon!) Is that the product is useful everywhere andeverywhere, many-valued and multifunctional. It can be used as wire cutters and will not break if used as a lever. A shooting knife is also a screwdriver, a latch. Holes are provided for crimping detonator caps.

The blade butt is supplemented with teeth, thanks to which it can be used as a saw that can handle nothing less than a ten-millimeter metal bar. The blade at the tip is slightly beveled along a smooth trajectory, due to which even a quilted dense textile object can be easily pierced. With the help of the blade part, the reconnaissance armed with the NRS will not retreat in front of the steel walls: the blade copes with millimeter-thick sheets. The blade is made of high quality, durable metal covered with black chrome plating.