BAR Loon's weapon of opportunity

[vze422fs at verizon.net]

Loon apparently seizes a weapon from Lepescu's room, one of two crossed
BAR's.

<http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/browning.htm>

<http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m1918.htm>

This weapon is most usually associated with the Korean war. It is the mother
of all assault rifles. It was considered a light machine gun with
semi-automatic selectable versions.

It was not usually considered a civilian weapon. There were a few sporting
versions produced by Browning, but they were unpopular due to their weight
in comparison to a simple bolt-action 30-06. I seem to recall a
semi-automatic shotgun version called the BAR-5.

It is curious that Lepescu would have one of these, let alone two, displayed
on his wall. I don't think people were allowed to keep fully automatic
weapons as souvenirs. This would be the equivalent of walking into someone's
apartment today to find AK-47s on display, though the BAR was far more
powerful.

This is just a breakdown in verisimilitude that I spotted in this story.
Maybe TRP was using the Browning because its reputation would be familiar to
people in 1959 who recalled the Korean war, or because of his naval
experiences with Marines who considered it a favorite weapon.

Just tossing it out there.

Hey Otto,

Thanks for throwing the text up on your website. I had never read it before.
Kind of completes my Pynchon catalogue.

Joe