Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1258433
over decades, along with the employ- ment methods. Laying down mortar fire, with the use of mortars of their own design, or the attack in Brighton - both associated with the IRA - are far beyond what the loose Islamic fundamentalist groups can achieve. As shown by some recent attacks in the UK, some of the terrorists are desperate enough to prepare fake ex - plosive devices, hoping for being shot by the intervening policemen. Firearms are a tool that is far more universal when employed in cases of various acts of terror. It is used mostly during the targeted attacks, namely the attacks aimed at killing a specific person or a specific group of persons, however, guns are also em - ployed when the group of victims also includes bystanders. It is also used in other scenarios, such as hijackings and other hostage situations. Guns also quite often serve as a symbol (even though the radical groups, especially the left extremists, have been using the AK, the RAF employed the MP5 as its symbol; this could be surprising in the era when this weap - on has been strongly associated with the counter-terrorist units. The SMGs, namely the .45 ACP Madsen, were recommended for the urban guerrillas by Carlos Marighel- la in the first terrorist handbook known under the title Mini-Manual of Urban Guerilla, issued in 1969. The author suggested that weapons as such made it possible to achieve high firepower while being portable and easy to conceal. This gun was being commonly used by the Brazilian Army and Police, thus being easily ac - cessible it has become quite common in other organizations, especially the ones that could benefit from weap- ons supply sponsored by the state. This is how the Czechoslovak Skorpi- on and Polish Rak SMGs appeared in the Middle East and Western Europe. Apart from SMGs, pistols and revolv- ers have been and still are quite com- mon. Marighella was recommending the .38 Special revolvers. Later on, the terrorists have been usually us- ing a broad variety of pistols. The contemporary attacks in Europe or the US are usually not inspired or sponsored by the nation-states. Sometimes we are speaking of „mad dogs" here, or cases such as the one of Breivik. The attack in question has not been a typical one, considering the European circumstances, due ANALYSIS