No Stranger To Guns

The murder weapon - Taurus PT92 9mm

In the highly charged Oscar Pistorius murder trial that is now dragging into weeks of testimony, the evidence grows that Pistorius was certainly no stranger to guns. He not only kept the pistol that killed his girlfriend close at hand beside his bed, but was an avid shooter with an almost paranoid attitude about self protection. He frequented a local gun range and was proficient with guns as well as understanding the rules of engagement in self protection when it involved the use of deadly force.

On Valentine's Day of 2013, Pistorius got up in the night and put four bullets through his locked bathroom door into what he thought was an intruder from his 9mm Taurus stainless PT92 semi-automatic pistol, a weapon capable of holding up to 18 rounds. The person behind the door was his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, and it is presumed that she died instantly from one of the shots.

Smith and Wesson 500

Interestingly, Pistorius had just recently placed an order for what can only be called an arsenal of guns and ammunition totaling about $4,500 U.S.  That order was never delivered--cancelled when the details of the Valentine's Day event came out.  The order included an assault type rifle, three shotguns, and two revolvers--one of which was the monstrous Smith and Wesson model 500 revolver, to date the most powerful handgun in the world (replacing the .44 magnum Clint Eastwood carried in the 1971 movie "Dirty Harry").  Not your typical "plinking" gun, unless you plan on plinking elephants.

The shopping list

This now infamous invoice was a shopping list that most gun nuts could only dream about, including a variety of high power self defense and sport weapons and ammunition.

Much of the ammunition was specifically designed for self defense rather than just target practice or sport shooting.  Most self defense rounds are designed with hollow points to maximize the damage or "wound cavity" upon impact on the human body.

Pistorius was known to spend time at the gun range with friends, and even made a video of himself shooting a watermelon, which exploded upon being shot.  On camera, Pistorius' voice was heard to say "It's a lot softer than brains, but f***-- it's a zombie stopper!"

Vektor LM-6 assault rifle

When questioned on the stand by the prosecution if he knew what a "zombie stopper" was, he claimed not to have remembered saying those words, even though he admitted it was his voice when the recording was played.

The shadow of Pistorius' involvement with guns is further darkened by charges over an earlier incident in a Johannesburg restaurant, where a friend passed him a Glock .40 caliber handgun under the table, warning him that the gun's state was "one up", meaning a round was in the

Glock 27

chamber.  Aside from the stupidity of even taking a gun in that condition blindly under a table, Pistorius did not check the gun (a cardinal rule when being handed a gun).  Somehow, the gun was "accidentally" fired under the table into the floor.  Amazingly, no one was injured, but Pistorius claimed under oath that it just "went off" and that he did not even touch the trigger.  Glocks are well known for being relatively safe, even in a "one up" condition, and cannot even accidentally fire if dropped, because the firing pin is not technically "cocked" as with other types of guns.  The trigger has to be pulled directly and quite firmly from the front in order for the gun to fire.  A built-in trigger safety disallows pulling the trigger inadvertently from the side to discharge the gun.

A third gun charge stems from Pistorius being pulled over for speeding.  He was travelling with friends, who corroborated that Pistorius, after being irritated by a police officer "touching his gun", drove away and subsequently fired a shot through the open sun roof of the car, a distinctly irresponsible act.  Bullets go up, and must come down somewhere.

It's no crime to enjoy guns and shooting for sport, and everyone has the right to defend themselves and others, but the timing of Pistorius' large purchase, his seeming obsession with guns, and cavalier attitude about handling firearms can only bode badly for his case involving the questionable use of a gun for "self defense", in which the life of his girlfriend was brutally taken.  And this on a night when neighbors claimed to have heard loud "arguments" earlier in the evening.

-Mark (A contributing Court Chatter writer)