It has recently been argued that "Saturday Night Specials" or "Junk Guns" are becoming a bigger problem than before. These are informal names for small, inexpensive handguns of low quality. The Junk Guns have a short barrel length of three inches or less. It makes them easy to conceal but decreases their accuracy. Low quality materials and construction make Junk Guns prone to malfunctions. For these reasons, Junk Guns are generally viewed as unreliable weapons for self-defense and a potential hazard to consumers (Wintemute GJ. Ring of fire). Junk Guns have usually been low-caliber weapons, but many Junk Guns now being manufactured fire medium and higher-caliber ammunition (Wintemute GJ. Firearm design and firearm violence) and as a result, are more deadly (Zimring FE).
             The media perpetuates the myth by displaying these guns have a lot to do cause with crime. It went on to describe how Junk Guns accounted for eight of the ten gun models most commonly confiscated by the law enforcement agencies in California (Wintemute GJ. Ring of fire). In 1999, Junk Guns accounted for five of the top ten firearm models recovered by police in a geographically diverse set of thirty-two US cities and seven of the top ten firearm models recovered from juveniles (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms).
             The involvement of Junk Guns in crime appears to be disproportionate to their share of the handgun market. Comparing police trace requests per 1,000 guns manufactured over a 4-year period, Wintemute (Wintemute GJ. Ring of fire) found that handguns made by manufacturers that specialize in Junk Guns were 3.4 times higher to be traced to crime than were handguns made by manufacturers that do not produce Junk Guns. Handgun purchasers with a history of arrest are more likely than other handgun purchasers to select a Junk Gun (Wintemute GJ, Parham CA). Among handgun purchasers with no prior criminal record, Junk Guns purchasers
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