EDITORIAL
Smith & Wesson just really making our day

We imagine there are sporting types out there who actually envision themselves bringing down a charging bear with a handgun.

We also imagine there are police officers who wonder if their body armor will have any chance of stopping a blast from the new Smith & Wesson .50-caliber Magnum handgun.

It's a five-shot revolver with an 8-inch barrel, a pound heavier than S&W's famous .44 Magnum (the one that emboldened "Dirty Harry" to say "Make my day") and with three times the muzzle velocity.

S&W says the primary market for it will be big-game hunting. If that's the case, we doubt that many will be sold.

Is this product the something new and different needed to reverse the decline in U.S. handgun sales? Perhaps. But we hardly see it as an advance in civility.