Talk:Saturday night special

More recent data?
Can we get more recent data/sources than mid '80s? What's the point of using nearly 30 yr old data to 'disprove' that Saturday night specials are preferred or not in crime? Using that in a historical format of the condition when the term was being debated is fine, but the article reads as present tense, which obviously doesn't work. (Saying that revolvers are preferred by criminals and then saying tastes changed in the '90s--nearly 20 yrs ago!--is just sloppy.) Also, if the article is intended to be more historical, then documenting the rise & fall of the popularity of the term would be beneficial.

Also, much of the article is written with the assumption that Saturday night specials are by definition small caliber, but the definition given is simply cheap, low-quality guns. Sure, low caliber guns typically are cheaper, but there are plenty of cheap, low quality .45s out there, too. Either sources need to be added that require Saturday night specials to be low caliber or the refutation of the theory that they are used for crimes needs sources/evidence that do not reference/rely on caliber. 206.83.48.110 (talk) 12:57, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

I completely agree with this point, though it unfortunately seems relatively untouched since this critique was posted. Moreover, articles like this one from the Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/these-economists-think-it-was-guns-not-the-crack-epidemic-that-drove-the-90s-murder-boom highlight more recent analysis, using far more robust methods than questionnaires of felons, and come to the opposite conclusion.

Related to this point, I'm a bit confused why the current section has been allowed to stay as is at all. Given that it just lifts large amounts of text from a journal article and CATO technical paper, how is it not considered a case of Original research? There's no attempt to highlight a news source for analysis. 2601:19B:B00:C7B2:E9D3:612E:E623:4422 (talk) 20:56, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

The History of Saturday Night Specials ?
In the article it mentions that the term Saturday night special originated fairly recently in the 1960's. Many years ago I read a detailed history of firearms that covered the evolution of the whole field in detail, and I'm pretty sure the term 'Saturday night special' came from the 19th century, or earlier. I also seem to remember that it originated in the idea of the gun only lasting a single day - brought on Friday exploded on Saturday night. One of the most important things not mentioned in the article is that poorly or cheaply made or badly designed guns used to fail regularly, exploding when fired and quite frequently killing or injuring the people who fired them. This was a particular problem with early breach loaders, and especially before the development of modern gun steels.

This is a matter that should be easily solved by finding a new copy of the book or something similar. Unfortunately I don't remember the original exact title. Lucien86 (talk) 05:46, 26 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Interesting note, . This might be something the Wikipedia Reference Desk could help you track down. Obviously the more info you have, the better. Just a thought! Cyphoidbomb (talk) 06:07, 26 February 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm no expert in this area, but will try to hunt the book down. Looking on Amazon I think it might be 'The History of Guns' by DK publishing. This might also be the kind of thing that the Oxford English Dictionary research people might have the answer to? or Webster's.. Lucien86 (talk) 14:08, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

But why were they called "Saturday Night Specials" ?
Where did that name actually come from? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.215.78.126 (talk) 23:57, 23 February 2023 (UTC)


 * The name is widely believed a derivation of "N-word town Saturday night", a racist term that implies black have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than get drunk and violent. There are several discussions in Talk:Saturday_night_special/Archive_1 on adding this bit of history to the article, but the history of that slur has proven very hard to nail down.  -- Frotz(talk) 07:18, 8 October 2023 (UTC)
 * i guess it doesnt truly need to mention a race - was there really a race involved at all? Seems like plenty white folks know the deal and use the expression Old &#x1F4A9; 404 (talk) 10:51, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

racism of name?
I read the cited sources in the paragraph "Gun ownership advocates describe the term as racist in origin..." and those sources don't seem to support the claim about the term being racist in origin. They focus on policies as potentially racially and economically motivated and don't examine the term at all. I would suggest an edit for that paragraph to note that some critics believe the policies restricting "saturday night specials" to be motivated by the desire to restrict firearms ownership by poor and black individuals. Justinkrivers (talk) 19:05, 2 March 2024 (UTC)