Sad Little gun

[G.A. Heath]

If my camera was working I would take a picture and show you this sad little pistol I was asked to look at today, but first I will tell you the story and then I will describe the gun.

The sister of one of my coworkers was assaulted by her ex-husband outside a local restaurant in town over the weekend and her family feels she would be better off armed. So located an old .22 revolver one of them owned and asked another co-worker to look it over. While laughing he asked me to inspect the weapon and give him a second opinion (I knew something was wrong at this point). So I look at the poor thing inside its holster and immediately think "Its a cap gun." I remove it from the holster and discover the frame is broke through the top strap from the rear sight down. The frame is also broke through the bottom strap thus rendering this gun in two non-OEM configured pieces held together by its internals (Probably the trigger group). The gun has the following markings:
On the frame:
Imperial Metal
Prod. Ince.
NYC USA

On the barrel:
22 CAL SHORT
MODEL IMP

I don't know if I should laugh or cry over this gun's condition and/or the fact they wished to use it for a SD weapon.

[numist]

I'll bet it hurts like heck if thrown hard enough.

[Venus Pax]

Either they're very uneducated or they don't genuinely care about her safety.

[mctowalot]

Sad but true. I'm new here and want to be carefull to not appear to be passing judgment. One of the reasons I registered was to be able to gain others opinions and advice. But in this case it seems the lady in need of a SD item is not at all familar with firearms so why not recommend a big 'ol canister of O.C. and then some proper firearms education and training. In just the short time that I joined the forums I really gained insight to the matter of liability and morality in regards to self defence. I see the (sad) humor here - but I also see someone needs to reach out to this lady to protect both herself and others. Thank God you were available to look the piece of junk over prior to her needing it, using it, and suffering injury to herself or innocent bystanders. Bye the way, I really despise violance against women, but I'll have to end my suggestions here to remain innocent.

[Mike1951]

Does sound like a perfect candidate for a gun buy-back, though.

Might be reason enough not to toss it away.

[KD5NRH]

The sister of one of my coworkers was assaulted by her ex-husband outside a local restaurant in town over the weekend and her family feels she would be better off armed.

If she's not going to carry, take her to the range and show her the difference between .22lr and 20ga #4 buck. Then take her to the pawn shop for a cheap 20ga.

If she's thinking about carrying, at least have her look into the KelTec P32 or a good .357. She doesn't have to load .357s, but something like a GP101 would sure feel better in the hand than the KelTec in a confrontation.

[numist]

She might benefit from a S&W 442. Good gun for someone who's starting out. Airweight and hammerless. Point and squeeze and it works every time. NRA class a must no matter what weapon is chosen though.

[G.A. Heath]

The other co-worker(an Ex-Marine) who was first asked to look at the weapon will probably be the one dealing with training the first co-worker's sister. He used to teach an armed SD class and is used to dealing with people who know nothing regarding guns. As for the pawn shop suggestion the closest pawn shops are more than 30 miles away and she would be able to purchase long guns only there (Out of state). The nearest pawn shops in state are located over 60+ miles away.