# Slingshots



## MA-Caver (Jan 3, 2012)

Illegal in some states... this guy makes variations as a hobby. He states repeatedly on the You Tube comments that he does not SELL these weapons. Considering the potential lethality of them, can't say I blame him. Still he has some remarkable ones that he created. 
Enjoy.
[yt]sZypZVxpyMM[/yt]

The close quarter sling shot (double knives, zapper, tac-light) is just too fricken cool for a slingshot. Dennis the Menace would've loved it. :lol2:


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## Buka (Jan 3, 2012)

I really like slingshots. But I wish he had showed the target, at least once!


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## MA-Caver (Jan 4, 2012)

Buka said:


> I really like slingshots. But I wish he had showed the target, at least once!


He has LOTS of videos on his YouTube channel... showing lots of other stuff... one of his slings actually cracked a brick... close range but that is what the slingshot is anyway... a close range weapon. I'm guessing anywhere between 5 to 15 feet maybe a bit more.


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## lklawson (Jan 4, 2012)

MA-Caver said:


> Illegal in some states...


Got a ref.?  I ask because the only places I see "slingshot" as illegal are listed in the same list as metal knuckles, billy clubs, and automatic knives.  In these cases, my research indicates that the actual weapon in question is what we now call a "Slungshot."  This is a simple flail consisting of a weight at the end of a flexible line or cord.  It encompassed everything from the classic Sailor's braided Slungshot to a rock in a sock.  My research shows fairly conclusively that the i/u spellings were used interchangeably prior to the 1930's or so and in news reports and "common communication" could easily refer to either device.  You'd have to figure out by context which was meant.  However, almost universally, the flail was associated with violence, either as a self defense tool or, much more often, as a criminal weapon.  The projectile firing tool is more often associated with juvenile mischief, like killing birds and breaking windows, than "serious" criminal misdeeds (though there was a very interesting reference to New York Suffragettes using "slungshots" to sling lead tokens imprinted with slogans through shop windows).

Though I'm still slogging through modern States laws and their myriad revisions, every time I come across "slingshot" in the criminal code, it's sandwiched in with Billy Clubs, Truncheons, Sand Clubs, Saps, "Slappers," Spring-Clubs, and similar, all right beside brass knuckles, and automatic/gravity knives.  This makes it clear to me that the Slingshot being referenced is the inexpensive criminal bludgeoning flail instead of the robin killing, window breaking, stone-flinging tool.

If you have a reference to slingshots being illegal and it's clear that it actually means the modern understanding of a slingshot, I'd love to see the State Code, please.  I'll even say pretty please if it'll help.  

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## MA-Caver (Jan 4, 2012)

lklawson said:


> Got a ref.?  I ask because the only places I see "slingshot" as illegal are listed in the same list as metal knuckles, billy clubs, and automatic knives.  In these cases, my research indicates that the actual weapon in question is what we now call a "Slungshot."  This is a simple flail consisting of a weight at the end of a flexible line or cord.  It encompassed everything from the classic Sailor's braided Slungshot to a rock in a sock.  My research shows fairly conclusively that the i/u spellings were used interchangeably prior to the 1930's or so and in news reports and "common communication" could easily refer to either device.  You'd have to figure out by context which was meant.  However, almost universally, the flail was associated with violence, either as a self defense tool or, much more often, as a criminal weapon.  The projectile firing tool is more often associated with juvenile mischief, like killing birds and breaking windows, than "serious" criminal misdeeds (though there was a very interesting reference to New York Suffragettes using "slungshots" to sling lead tokens imprinted with slogans through shop windows).
> 
> Though I'm still slogging through modern States laws and their myriad revisions, every time I come across "slingshot" in the criminal code, it's sandwiched in with Billy Clubs, Truncheons, Sand Clubs, Saps, "Slappers," Spring-Clubs, and similar, all right beside brass knuckles, and automatic/gravity knives.  This makes it clear to me that the Slingshot being referenced is the inexpensive criminal bludgeoning flail instead of the robin killing, window breaking, stone-flinging tool.
> 
> ...



http://www.slingshots.com/html/new-york-state-gun-laws.html

http://nhunting.com/forum/topic/6560-slingshots-are-illegal-in-some-areas/

Hope that helps. It's what I saw from another thread featuring the video and by request did the google myself that is what I came up with.


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## lklawson (Jan 4, 2012)

MA-Caver said:


> Hope that helps. It's what I saw from another thread featuring the video and by request did the google myself that is what I came up with.


Thanks.  Like I said, I'm still slogging through the legal.  I've done a metric crap-ton of historic research.  I've been through between 3,000 and 10,000 historic references in books, newspapers, and trade-publications.  Something like 95% of them were not useful to my research.  Massive numbers of them were "So & So attacked by/with a slungshot" or "Arrested for possession of a slungshot" or even just a plain-jane statistics table "Arrested for slungshot: [X number of people]."  Then there's a huge number of i/u spelling/meaning transpositions, fictional stories, poems, even humor and political cartoons.  And, of course, there are any number of stories that were picked up on the Wire and repeated in multiple publications.

But, every once in a very rare while, there will be a nugget of information that's useful.  Sometimes it's where on the body the slungshot was carried, paired with other weapons, a description of it's construction, in very rare circumstances it will include details on length or weight, and in very very very rare instances hints of actual technique and usage.

I've never been part of a needle-in-a-haystack search such as this, much less the guy initiating (and the sole researcher) for it.  At this point, it's a labour of love for me.  (My wife substitutes the word "obsession")   

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## Rich Parsons (Jan 4, 2012)

I like his Zombie Sling Shot.


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## mmartist (May 22, 2012)

Slingshots could really be lethal. 
One of my cousins once went with couple of his friends to a country fair. They had a little too much to drink and got into a fight with some other guys at one point one of the other guys pulled out a slingshot  and shot my cousin in the calf with a ball bearing from a truck. The thing went straight through the leg. As a result my cousin still has a slight limp.


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## Omar B (May 22, 2012)

As kids my cuz and I made sling shots for shooting birds.  Every few Sundays we would go to the bush and shoot a whole bunch of various types of dove and ball plate.  Now that's some good eating.


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