"Mark W" <s@o> wrote in message
news:47696922$1_4@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
>
> <pawelgolanski4@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:b8d19b86-484f-47ce-ab11-dc9cb26af61f@s19g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
>>A small team of Nissan development engineers working in their spare
>> time have transformed a 350Z into a highly tuned 'Saturday Special.'
>>
>> http://tuning-styling.blogspot.com/
>
> I thought a Saturday Special, or rather a Saturday Night Special was a
> cheap firearm that would probably blow up if used.
>
Here Goes
Saturday Night Special
Firearm Bans in the United States
1870 Tennessee
First "Saturday Night Special" economic handgun ban passed.
In the first legislative session in which they gained control, white
supremacists passed "An Act to Preserve the Peace and Prevent Homicide,"
which banned the sale of all handguns except the expensive "Army and Navy
model handgun" which whites already owned or could afford to buy, and blacks
could not.
("Gun Control: White Man's Law," William R. Tonso, Reason, December 1985)
Upheld in Andrews v. State, 50 Tenn. (3 Heisk.) 165, 172 (1871) (GMU CR LJ,
p. 74)
"The cheap revolvers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were referred
to as `Suicide Specials,' the `Saturday Night Special' label not becoming
widespread until reformers and politicians took up the gun control cause
during the 1960s. The source of this recent concern about cheap revolvers,
as their new label suggest, has much in common with the concerns of the
gun-law initiators of the post-Civil War South. As B. Bruce-Briggs has
written in the Public Interest, `It is difficult to escape the conclusion
that the `Saturday Night Special' is emphasized because it is cheap and
being sold to a particular class of people. The name is sufficient
evidence -- the reference is to `niggertown Saturday night.'"
("Gun Control: White Man's Law," William R. Tonso, Reason, December 1985)
1879 Tennessee
Second "Saturday Night Special" economic handgun ban passed.
Tennessee revamped its economic handgun ban nine years later, passing "An
Act to Prevent the Sale of Pistols," which was upheld in State v. Burgoyne,
75 Tenn. 173, 174 (1881). (GMU CR LJ, p. 74)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1882 Arkansas
Third "Saturday Night Special" economic handgun ban passed.
Arkansas followed Tennessee's lead by enacting a virtually identical
"Saturday Night Special" law banning the sale of any pistols other than
expensive "army or navy" model revolvers, which most whites had or could
afford, thereby disarming blacks. Statutewas upheld in Dabbs v. State, 39
Ark. 353 (1882) (GMU CR LJ, p. 74)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1893 Alabama
First all-gun economic ban passed.
Alabama placed "`extremely heavy business and/or transactional taxes'" on
the sale of handguns in an attempt "to put handguns out of the reach of
blacks and poor whites."
("Gun Control: White Man's Law," William R. Tonso, Reason,December 1985)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1907 Texas
Fourth "Saturday Night Special" economic handgun ban.
Placed "`extremely heavy business and/or transactional taxes'" on the sale
of handguns in an attempt "to put handguns out of the reach of blacks and
poor whites."
("Gun Control: White Man's Law," William R. Tonso, Reason, December 1985)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1941 Florida
Judge admits gun law passed to disarm black laborers.
In concurring opinion narrowly construing a Florida gun control law passed
in 1893, Justice Buford stated the 1893 law "was passed when there was a
great influx of Negro laborers in this State....The same condition existed
when the Act was amended in 1901 and the Act was passed for the purpose of
disarming the Negro laborers....The statute was never intended to be applied
to the white population and in practice has never been so applied...".
Watson v. Stone,148 Fla. 516, 524, 4 So.2d 700, 703 (1941) (GMU CR LJ, p.
69) [emphasis added].
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1988 Maryland
Fifth "Saturday Night Special" economic handgun ban passes.
Ban on "Saturday Night Specials," i.e. inexpensive handguns, passes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1988 Illinois
Poor citizens singled out for gun ban in Illinois.
Starting in late 1988, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and the Chicago
Police Dept. (CPD) enacted and enforced an official policy, Operation Clean
Sweep, which applied to all housing units owned and operated by the CHA. The
purpose was the confiscation of firearms and illegal narcotics and consisted
of warrantless searches and of a visitor exclusion policy severely limiting
the right of CHA tenants to associate in their residences with family
members and other guests. Tenants had to sign in and out of the building,
producing to the police or CHA officials photo Id. Relatives, including
children and grandchildren, were not allowed to stay over, even on holidays.
CHA tenants who objected or attempted to interfere with these warrantless
searches were arrested. The ACLU filed a lawsuit seeking declaratory and
injunctive relief on behalf of the CHA tenants against the enforcement of
Operation Clean Sweep. The complaint was filed in the United Sates District
Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on December
16, 1988, as Case No. 88C10566 and is styled as Rose Summeries, et al. v.
Chicago Housing Authority, et al. A consent decree was entered on November
30, 1989 in which the CHA and CPD agreed to abide by certain standards and
in which the scope and purposes of such "emergency housing inspections" were
limited. (GMU, p. 98)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990 Virginia
Poor citizens singled out for gun ban in Virginia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld a ban
imposed by the Richmond Housing Authority on the possession of all firearms,
whether operable or not, in public housing projects. The Richmond Tenants
Organization had challenged the ban, arguing that such requirement had made
the city's 14,000 public housing residents second-class citizens. (Richmond
Tenants Org. v. Richmond Dev. & Hous. Auth., No. C.A. 3:90CV00576 (E.D.Va.
Dec. 3, 1990).) (GMU, p. 97)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1994 United States
President seeks to single out all poor citizens residing in federal housing
for gun ban.
The Clinton Administration introduced H.R. 3838 in 1994 to ban guns in
federal public housing, but the House Banking Committee rejected it. Similar
legislation was filed in 1994 in the Oregon and Washington state
legislatures.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1995 Maine
Poor citizens singled out for gun ban in Maine.
Portland, ME gun ban in public housing struck down on April 5,1995.