Mr. Eisenberg. Would it affect accuracy at close range?
Mr. Cunningham. None whatsoever. And there, again, the shortening of the barrel would affect the accuracy more than the use of .38 Special, due to the fact that your sight radius has been cut down.
Mr. Eisenberg. That is to say, when you shorten the barrel, the length between the front and the back sights is shorter, therefore giving more room for error?
Mr. Cunningham. Yes, sir. In other words, the movement of the front sight will cause more of a discrepancy at the target at longer ranges, due to the shorter sight radius.
Mr. Eisenberg. Is there any functional reason for cutting the barrel down to its present short size?
Mr. Cunningham. Sales appeal, I would say, is the main reason. Also, concealment.
Mr. Eisenberg. In your experience, is a short barrel, cut-down barrel weapon like this usually purchased for legitimate purposes by other than police officers?
Mr. Cunningham. Possibly a collector. Among target shooters, it is not a popular weapon, due to the short sight radius. Revolvers with 6-inch barrels are very accurate weapons. A target shooter would not use a weapon of the short barrel type. Therefore, it is not a very popular weapon for sportsmen.
Mr. Eisenberg. Does the cutting off of the barrel increase the possibility of concealment?
Mr. Cunningham. It does, because it makes it handier. I carried, when I was in the field 5 years—I carried my personally owned firearm, which had a 2-inch barrel, due to the fact that for concealment you could not see it when I wore a suit, and it was more discreet in the type of work I was doing.