Why Do Rappers Hold Their Guns Sideways?

Why Do Rappers Hold Their Guns Sideways? slate, source

Because it looks so hollywood.

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?

While 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

This is my first try at this forum, and I'm no weapons expert but I wanted to hear the opinions of some of our more experienced members.

Are we looking at people influenced too much by hollywood and just not having the knowledge of proper usage? I realize this article was inspired by a criminal, but the mention of his posture and grip seems to point to a stylized self perception.

One of the papers even got the gun jam wrong. So even the reporters are getting things wrong here.

I also found this brief history to be interesting.

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.

Are the criminals that emulate rappers and hollywood doing so for a style or a callous disregard of safety and innocent bystanders?

[edit on 18-12-2009 by Seiko]

could be both for your question. either way, its practicing ignorance.

It's to look cool, but is actually stoopid


the title and the question

reply to post by platipus


Yes I guess I should have used an and/or in that question as it can obviously be both.

It just seems that the style is more important then the usage here. Should I find myself in a situation where I'm forced to defend with a weapon I'd be less concerned about my appearance of "coolness" and more worried about success.

It just seems we're looking at some confusing priorities.

You're looking way too much into it.

They know very well what the correct way to hold a gun is , but they are posing as gangsters, so they hold their guns like morons to emulate them appropriately.

Rapers are very intelligent, but their target audience is not.


[edit on 12/18/2009 by JPhish]

I figure I'll watch and learn. When I start seeing Special Forces untis holding their sidearms sideways then I'll be a sideways shootin' MoFo.
'Till then I'll stick with the standard missionary style. Oh wait, we were talking about guns weren't we? They're both so much fun I get confused.

reply to post by JPhish


I realize the video stance is for show, and the article explains the close in face shots seem to be easier with the side hold. But we're also looking at a real life situation where the perpetrator held his weapon in such a fashion.

Maybe the rappers and hollywood types do it for simple aesthetics, but what about the real life situations influenced by such a display?

if youve ever shot a gun; a powerful handgun:there is much kick, the idea is to straighten the arm fully locking the joints in the elbow before shooting sideways so the shot has less recoil.

Tupac said so............. Just to be cool like their lil thug buddies.

I shot a .9mm sideways once, all i got was a hot shell in the eye. really not fun, or cool.

Just a 2nd degree burn in my tear gland.

[edit on 18-12-2009 by gandhi]

Reply to post by Ausar

This is a joke, right?

You lock your joints and fire a 454 Casull handgun. Tell me how that works out for you.

They shoot sideways because they're lazy morons. Same reason they wear their pants around their ankles and turn their baseball caps to the side like some inbred with Down syndrome.

Can't see images on mobile. Anybody post this classic yet: www.thegunzone.com...


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by Seiko
reply to post by JPhish

 

Maybe the rappers and hollywood types do it for simple aesthetics, but what about the real life situations influenced by such a display?

I said it my previous post; they are morons. I'm not going to sugar coat it.

Whether they are doing it for aesthetic reasons or because they seriously think it is more accurate. It's utterly retarded.

There is no logical reason to ever hold a gun like that.

I wonder how her black eye looked after this shot!

Hopefully the recoil breaks his nose so he learns his lesson.

WRONG on so many levels . . .

Babies and monkeys have more common sense. At least they’re holding it with two hands!

Sadly, of all the pictures here, the monkey was the closest to a correct pose.

Sorry, i couldn't resist

[edit on 12/18/2009 by JPhish]

You answered it in your 3rd quote..

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.

So they can spray their big macs in crowded clubs/streets/drive bys wherever the fights going down..

I agree with thisguyrightthere. One of the main reasons for a gun to jam as in a stovepipe is due to "limp wristing". When you hold a gun sideways you don't have control of the weapon properly which causes the weapon to torque and this causes the slide to fail to work the way it was designed.

This was pretty danged funny. img.dailymail.co.uk...

Also the black eye photo was great as well.
On a side note, I would be more than willing to "instruct" her on how to "handle a gun."

But yeah, people hold a pistol sideways like that because they are stupid and want to look "cool."

The entire stance is like a "Fu Pig" look... "you are nothing to me, not even worth the time of properly sighting you in. I'm just gonna point and shoot."

It's the only way they can shoot straight. Seriously though not a good idea in real life. That can lead to alot of pain.

You're all wrong...

The sideways handgun is a gangster/mobster pose, to be sure, but it's done for a very practical reason.

When a gangster/mobster executes a victim or stages a "hit," one of the biggest problems for the killer is collecting his brass bullet casings from the scene of the crime.

The police can use brass casings to identify a murder weapon as surely as recovering the bullets themselves. And when you have both bullets and casings, you've got some solid evidence for firearm identification.

When the police recover bullets and casings at multiple crime scenes, they can link one shooter to several crimes, right?

Fired in the traditional style, a semi-auto handgun will eject the casings laterally, over a wide area, making it difficult for the gangster/mobster to find his casings, especially at dimly-lit crime scenes.

Ah! But if you turn the gun sideways, the casings are ejected vertically, straight up or straight down, so they collect right at the shooter's feet, essentially.

This makes it infinitely easier to locate and recover casings, so the shooter can make a swift and clean departure from the crime scene. So he's not out there on his hands and knees feeling around in the dark when the cops pull up.

Simplicity.

— Doc Velocity

Why Do Rappers Hold Their Guns Sideways?

That's easy. Because they are stupid gangster wannabes and think it makes them look cool.

They should use those guns to off themselves. Waving them around like they are something special is only going to get someone killed so it might as well be them to begin with and clear the gene pool of these idiots.

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Wow, good point! I had never thought of it that way.


I still think the other points stand, though. This dude shooting at cops wasn't a hitman. He was a moron.

I can understand the less recoil princible, but I don't think it's a good idea to sacrifice accuracy to lessen the recoil. You can still lessen the recoil by locking the joints in your elbows while holding the gun in both hands.