Speaking of Gun Goofs on TV shows...

[Navy_Guns]

The thread about MythBusters reminds me...

Which is worse - CSI or Bones? I have seen plenty of retarded not-science on both. The CSI episode where they said that the head stamps on cases are made using an ESD machine was pretty funny. They even had one of those 2-second "video clips" of an ESD electrode burning the letters onto a case head! Man, would ammo get expensive if this was true! I think Jerry Bruckheimer is an idiot.

Last night my wife was watching an episode of Bones. I don't know if it was "live" or off the Tivo. Their geek squad was saying that a bullet had grazed a bone and that they could measure the marks left engraved on the bone and compare it to a bullet fired from the rifle to confirm that the wound was caused by that rifle. !!! Then they went on to say that it confirmed that it was "a military AR-15 rifle"... Last I checked my Marines don't cary AR-15's.

P.S. I thought the MythBusters episode where they were trying to ignite a gas tank with tracers was pretty bad. The graphic they put up explaining how air friction heats up the incindiary compound painted on the tip of the bullet (you know, the read part!) to ignite the tracer tip - I almost fell out of my chair.

 

[Tommygunn]

You know, I've developed some mixed feelings about this sort of thing. Yeah, I used to poke fun at TV when I saw hitmen screw silencers on the barrel of a .38 snubbie, and that sorta thing. I sorta got to the point where I said " blah, so what? this is wrong but it's JUST a TV program, sit back and enjoy it ... or the pretty women...whatever.
To some extent I still feel that way. But take the C.S.I. shows, for example; some trial lawyers are finding that the jury's perception of the LEO investigative phases of the law is being tainted by these shows. Juries want to have every tiny micro fiber examined at a crime scene, every genome of the DNA strand matched, paired, mated, folded, and stapled ... before they will convict. AS IF every fiber at a crime scene will ONLY be from a perp or a victime, since OF COURSE the scene was sterile before the crime happened.
Maybe we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss these innacuracies....
BUT perhaps society should realize....
THEY'RE JUST TV SHOWS!!!

 

[RustyShackelford]

.41 AE-IMI baby eagle; IDF-CSI

I saw a CSI(Las Vegas) where they found out a round was a .41Action Express from a "baby eagle" used by the IDF(Israeli military) by checking the pistol's barrel rifle grooves . The main suspect was an IDF veteran . I saw on a homicide grand jury for my county and our "csi" experts told us guns and ammo could not be checked like that.

Rusty

 

[kd7nqb]

It does not bother me when TV screws up guns because they screw up everything else. Also this is nothing new, even if you watch old episodes of Dragnet or Get Smart they mess up gun stuff all the time. Although I always have wondered why gun companies dont do more product placement. Example when we watch CSI and see them test fire a round into the water tank why is there not a box of CCI Blazers in plain view.

 

[NORTEXED]

Oh God no, that might support those right wing gun nuts

(Or is it left wing, I never can remember which one I am

 

[ceetee]

Although I always have wondered why gun companies dont do more product placement. Example when we watch CSI and see them test fire a round into the water tank why is there not a box of CCI Blazers in plain view.

Two reasons:

First... The products tested this way are those used by the bad guys. The only time you see or hear brand names, or details is when they're discussing the items as pieces of evidence. No manufacturer wants their product associated with criminals or law-breaking.

Second: They sell plenty of stuff without it. And anyway, how much stuff would you buy from the company that knowingly sponsors a TV show full of crap info about their product?

 

[Navy_Guns]

I know I know! Superman can't fly, lightsabers aren't real, and Pamela Anderson's boobs are fake, and real CSI agents don't get to interrogate the suspects and get a 100% confession rate...

Every stupid car commercial these days has fine-print disclaimers at the bottom for things that are obviously fake (as if we didn't know that the SUV driving under water isn't really meant to double as a submarine...), but these CSI and Doctor shows frequently spout absolute horse poop for the sake of drama and people believe it!

The gun-related horse poop just annoys me most because there's already too many people out there that are ignorant about guns and are prone to believe anything they see on TV about guns, especially if it's accompanied by a nifty graphic or fake video clip.

We had the "Beltway Sniper" incident in my area a few years ago and I had to stomach hearing news reporters call the .223 Remington a "high caliber rifle". They were making it seem like an AR-15 was a monstrous death ray and that these murderers must have had some serious training. Like it's so hard to hit a stationary man-sized target from inside 200 yards from a prone position with a scoped rifle. They were advising people to "duck and weave" when walking across a parking lot to avoid being shot. I finally had enough when they were discussing it on a local radio station and I called in to the show to defend the 99.99% of gun owners who aren't murderers. The host called me "Charlton Heston Junior" right before he hung up on me - I was so flattered!

 

[JesseL]

TV writers these days haven't got enough respect for their art or their audiences to care that every milieu has it's rules you have to play by. The way CSI handles forensic science, they may as well bring in a wizard to help them solve cases.

 

[carterbeauford]

The host called me "Charlton Heston Junior" right before he hung up on me - I was so flattered.

Where I come from that's a compliment, Mr. Heston is a good guy!

I don't pay attention to these TV shows anymore. Very rarely does a TV show have any credibility when dealing with guns.

 

[ceetee]

The way CSI handles forensic science, they may as well bring in a wizard to help them solve cases.

You'll know that CSI has jumped the shark when they bring in the psychic...

 

[cbsbyte]

Who really cares if TV shows are inaccurate. The show writers, don't know anything about firearms, they write for entertainment purposes of a population that knows little about the subject. I bet 99.8 % of the viewers would not notice the inaccuracies.

 

[MrPoker]

Mr. Heston is a good guy!

That he is. I am watching him in Earthquake right now. (Boring day)

 

[TX1911fan]

And even if they notice inaccuracies, they don't care. My wife told me to shut up about it, because she doesn't care. I don't mid with her, because she's also not going to develop her attitudes about guns from CSI. But others will, so it still bugs me.

 

[Rick O'Shea]

These days I'm just happy to see a trigger finger properly indexed and off the bang-switch (yes, I've seen it; still trying to decide if it's the show or the actor doing it properly).

As far as ballistic details, I don't worry so much. Not many folks will catch BS or errors and if the choice is between strict accuracy or drama, well....

If a show can show responsible gun handling, I don't care if they say they can tell a polygonal-grooved barrel from a bone fragment.

As far as Mythbusters (one of my all-time favorite shows), I'm personally delighted to have a popular, mainstream TV show that showcases, uses, abuses and generally has fun with firearms.
Jamie needs to teach the kids about the Four Rules (I cringed a lot during the "quick draw" show), but the fact that they're doing all this in San Francisco, PRK just amuses the doody out of me.

 

[JesseL]

Who really cares if TV shows are inaccurate. The show writers, don't know anything about firearms, they write for entertainment purposes of a population that knows little about the subject. I bet 99.8 % of the viewers would not notice the inaccuracies.

I care. These shows bill themselves as representative of the real world. The poor bastards that don't notice the inaccuracies tend to accept the inaccuracies as truth.

The more people there are out there with wrong ideas about the way things work, the harder it is for things to work right.

Remember, these people also vote and serve on juries.

 

[RedAlert]

Still, all in all, these inaccuacies are harmful to us in the end. Ever hear them talk about putting on the safety on a S&W revolver? Or how dangerous a semi-auto pistol compared to a revolver. If one wants to really make a comparrison, then a DA revolver is the equivilent of a Semi-auto pistol. Use of speed loaders can be equated as similar to magazines for pistols.
Semi-auto: Every time you pull the trigger, a round is discharged and the next round is advanced to the firing position.

I expect accuracy out of the media, they get paid enough, so as to not foster mis-conceptions among the uninformed.

RDF

 

[carterbeauford]

That he is.

What makes me laugh is when uneducated people throw his name out as some sort of insult, yet no one knows who Wayne LaPierre is.

 

[Working Man]

Also this is nothing new, even if you watch old episodes of Dragnet or Get Smart they mess up gun stuff all the time.

Hey there buddy... don't speak ill of Get Smart.

What makes me laugh is when uneducated people throw his name out as some sort of insult, yet no one knows who Wayne LaPierre is.

Because they are the folks from lala-land and have at least seen Mr. Heston on
the big screen... or boob-toob.

The VP of the NRA is a little too real for them.

 

[Mark_from_Iowa]

You'll know that CSI has jumped the shark when they bring in the psychic...

They have. In 2002.

http://www.tv.com/csi/stalker/episode/130885/recap.html

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Stoopid Skience Trix

Remember, these people also vote and serve on juries.

Not only that, some of them write laws.

Remember, the "cop killer" bullets that debuted in Lethal Weapon III? Remember how they were described as "Teflon coated bullets?" Remember that it was a FREAKIN' MOVIE?

Ya know, there are jurisdictions now where bullets lubricated with Teflon and Teflon-like plastics (which reduce friction and fouling) are ILLEGAL because they are -- you guessed it -- cop killer bullets.

When stoopid skience gets convincingly embedded in a WORK OF FICTION, it can result in stoopid grandstanding legislators writing a stoopid freakin' LAW.

Feel free to LOUDLY ridicule stoopid skience when it appears on the big or little screen -- failure to do so may result in institutionalized codification of idiocy.