Only Dipshits Sidegrip an Automatic
Mack the Knife
Because it looks so Hollywood.
By Brian Palmer
Posted Monday, Dec. 14, 2009, at 6:18 PM ET
Why wouldn't you just fire a pistol the normal way?As police chased
Raymond "Ready" Martinez through Times Square on Thursday, the street
hustler and aspiring rapper fired two shots, holding the gun sideways
"like a character out of a rap video." According to the New York Post,
Martinez's side grip caused the gun to jam, enabling police to shoot
and kill the suspect. What's the point of holding a gun sideways?
To look Hollywood, of course. Journalists and gun experts point to the
1993 Hughes brothers film Menace II Society, which depicts the side
grip in its opening scene, as the movie that popularized the style.
Although the directors claim to have witnessed a side grip robbery in
Detroit in 1987, there are few reports of street gangs using the
technique until after the movie came out. The Hughes brothers didn't
invent the grip, though. In 1961's One-Eyed Jacks, Marlon Brando used
it, as did Eli Wallach in 1966's The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.
Directors may prefer the style because it makes it easier to see both
the weapon and the actor's face in a tight camera shot.
the New York Post reported that Martinez's side grip caused the gun to
"stovepipe"—that's when the spent casing gets caught in the ejection
port, jamming the weapon—it's unlikely that the horizontal orientation
caused the failure. In theory, tilting a gun sideways—90-degrees
counter-clockwise for a right-handed shooter—means that gravity works
against the ejection of the spent casing. As a practical matter,
however, gravity is so weak compared to the force of the ejection that
jamming is no more frequent in the sideways position than in the
customary one. The more likely cause of the jam was Martinez's choice
of weapon and ammunition. The MAC-10 is prone to stovepiping—a problem
that's exacerbated by the use of hollow-point bullets, which may
become deformed and scrape the inside of the barrel, or underpowered
ammunition, which can slow the slide and throw off the mechanism's
timing.
While the side grip does not increase the risk of stovepiping, it is
terrible for aim. It's extremely difficult to properly use the top-
mounted sight on a handgun that is turned sideways. Not that this
matters much to the average street criminal. According to an FBI
study, 60 percent of them don't even use the sight. Aiming a gun
sideways has long been shorthand for risky, indiscriminate shooting.
The title character in George Washington Cable's 1894 novel John
March, Southerner, exclaims, "No man shall come around here aiming his
gun sideways; endangering the throngs of casual bystanders!"
During the first half of the 20th century, soldiers used the side grip
for the express purpose of endangering throngs of people. Some
automatic weapons from this era—like the Mauser C96 or the grease gun—
fired so quickly or with such dramatic recoil that soldiers found it
impossible to aim anything but the first shot. Soldiers began tilting
the weapons, so that the recoil sent the gun reeling in a horizontal
rather than vertical arc, enabling them to spray bullets into an
onrushing enemy battalion instead of over their heads.
Nowadays, the only time professionals use the side grip is while
holding riot shields, which limit their field of vision. Turning the
gun and raising it up make the sight slightly more visible.