Gun & Prepping News #89

Some links that may be of interest: 

•  "Why Does the .44 Special Keep Hanging On?"--American Rifleman. With Lipsey releasing a Nightguard revolver in .44 Special, the author decided to look into why this cartridge refuses to die, including the following:

    Like the .45 Colt, the .44 Special launches large-caliber bullets at moderate velocities. This provides suitable levels of bullet energy at typical handgun distances. This round has been used successfully to harvest medium-sized game, including whitetail deer and hogs, along with smaller game at closer ranges of around 75 yards or less. Although it would not be correct to call the .44 Special a "soft-shooting" round, it can yield desirable results without the muzzle flash, noise and wrist-snapping levels of recoil associated with magnum cartridges.  

    These shooting characteristics have also led to the .44 Special finding its way into various snub-nosed carry guns. Over the years, the .44 Special has proven to be an effective defensive option. And because this round operates at slightly lower pressures (15,500 psi) than the .38 Special (17,000 psi), it has been paired with smaller, lighter models, like the Charter Arms Bulldog, along with medium-frame configurations including the Ruger GP100 and, of course, the Smith & Wesson Model 396.

• "America’s Lever Revolution"--American Rifleman. The lever action rifle is a uniquely American weapon--it was invented and refined in the United States, and saw much wider use in the United States than anywhere else. The article goes over the history of this style of action before ending with a note on its renewed popularity. 
• And speaking of the renewed popularity of the lever action: "Henry’s Lever Action Supreme Rifle (LASR): Old Meets New"--The Truth About Guns. The key features is that it uses detachable box magazines (with the author noting that Magpul magazines work best), it uses an internal hammer with a tang mounted safety, it has a threaded and free-floated barrel, and adjustable trigger. It is available in .223/5.56mm, .300 Blk, and .450 Bushmaster. 
• Some more firearm history: "The Blunderbuss: Roar of the High Seas"--NRA Blog. An excerpt:

    Boasting a short stock, the blunderbuss was a hybrid of a pistol and a carbine, often hip-fired due to its short length and powerful recoil, comparable to a modern shotgun. The blunderbuss fired a cache of lead balls propelled by a large powder charge, though users, whether by necessity or imagination, could and often did fill the firearm with anything that would fit and cause damage when fired, including nails, rocks, glass, or “bundle shot,” a series of metal rods packed together that, when blasted from the bore, effectively became tiny spears. Needless to say, the more crudely fashioned projectiles were not good for the integrity of the barrel, but in the heat of battle, served as dangerous implements. Blunderbusses were also used for crowd control or clearing the decks, as the mere sight of the gun in hand served as a deterrent to potential challengers.

    Blunderbusses could also be found affixed to ship’s railing or gunwales via a mounting swivel, becoming an improvised boat gun to clear decks when approaching alongside another vessel. The gun’s flared muzzle made it easier to load in the chaos of battle, particularly in some of the more precarious places aboard ships, such as rigging and water-slicked decks rocking port and starboard.

    Blunderbusses appeared in the 17th century, seeing use up until about 1840. The height of the blunderbuss coincides with the “Golden Age of Piracy” in the mid-1700s, ....

• "The Fire Control Sequence: 3 Steps to Perfect Round Placement"--American Rifleman. The author lists the three steps as follows:
• "Step one: draw out from your holster like your life depends on it."
• "Step two is visual verification."
• "The third and final step is the trigger press without disturbing alignment."

As to step two, take note:

 

    Step two is visual verification. Using either irons or a dot, you have a very short time to call the shot. If it’s good, then move on to step three. If not, you will need to make micro-corrections. Micro corrections are needed because of any unnecessary input into the gun on the way out or at the very top of your drawstroke. Input and corrections cost time. 

 

[snip]

 

    Step two depends on if you are shooting irons or optics. If irons, it’s a focal-plane shift from hard-target focus back to the front sight, or at least to the front of the muzzle. If you're using a carry optic, you stay target-focused and remain simply aware of the dot.

    Either way, you don’t have all day. You only have time for rapid verification. If you do not have alignment, you will need to make time-consuming micro-adjustments. 

Another factor that might require corrections is if the gun doesn't naturally point for you. Perhaps you can train your way out of it, perhaps not. 

• "Is the Weaver Stance Dead? Reasons Why It Still Matters"--Shooting Times. An excerpt:

    ... I’ve shot both the Weaver and the isosceles, and I do not believe the isosceles is a good stance for real-life combat situations, any more than a trap stance is good training for driven grouse or that firing a .458 off a bench prepares you for buffalo in the long grass. Certainly, it is not as natural and flexible as the Weaver, no matter how many IPSC hot-shots have used it to win matches.

    Before Jack Weaver came along, handgunners had tried various methods of two-handed shooting. Weaver ingeniously took the age-old human “prepare to fight” position and adapted it. The Weaver is, essentially, the stance used by boxers. It is also the stance used by top wingshooters on wild birds. A right-handed shooter stands with the left foot forward, feet about 18 inches apart, body angled, weight on the balls of the feet, but mostly on the forward foot. The shooter is leaning into it, eyes focused like a wolf on a caribou.

    This boxing stance is the most natural human fighting position. Modern attempts to discredit it as being “outdated” have proven misguided, as witness an aging Floyd Mayweather’s almost laughable demolition of MMA Conor McGregor last August.

    The isosceles is praised as a “rigid platform,” but in most tactical situations rigidity is not nearly as useful as flexibility. You never know what you’ll be faced with. You might be carrying a child on one arm and have to shoot one-handed. You could be on the ground, shooting under a car, or having to shoot around the corner of a building. Once you learn the Weaver stance, you can adapt its principles to almost any situation.  

The primary advantage to the isosceles is when wearing body armor as it presents the strike face squarely at the target. Mass Ayoob has noted, however, that if you are in an isosceles stance and have to twist the torso, it will convert to a Weaver stance. 

    And speaking of Mass Ayoob, here is an article he wrote on "Basic Two-Handed Shooting Stances" covering the Weaver, isosceles, and Chapman (aka, modified Weaver) stances, including how to stand and hold the gun for each, and the pros and cons of each. 

• "Remington Performance Wheelgun 22 Rimfire Built for Classic Revolvers"--Shooting Sports USA. The round uses a 39 grain truncated bullet with a muzzle velocity of  770 fps. The subsonic speed is supposed to provide less recoil and less noise when at the range. 
• "Rising Costs Threaten to End Hunting as We Know It"--Petersen's Hunting.  The author asks "if we price out the next generation and current hunters that don’t have extra discretionary income, how are we making hunting on public land inviting? How are we honoring the heritage of hunting?" Hunting has historically been an activity for the wealthy and I suspect that is the future of hunting. 
• "MOLLE vs PALS: Key Differences Explained"--Chase Tactical.  Short version:

MOLLE (pronounced as Molly) stands for Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment. Introduced by the U.S. military in the late 1990s, it replaced the older ALICE system and fundamentally changed how soldiers and operators carry gear. MOLLE is not a single product. It is the entire load-bearing ecosystem, encompassing plate carriers, tactical vests, magazine pouches, dump pouches, utility pouches, backpacks, and every other modular accessory that attaches to a PALS-equipped surface.

And:

PALS, or the Pouch Attachment Ladder System, is a grid of webbing that allows MOLLE-compatible gear to be attached to any MOLLE-equipped surface. Often confused with MOLLE itself, PALS is the framework or infrastructure behind the modularity of MOLLE gear. The horizontal rows of stitched webbing you see on backpacks, plate carriers, chest rigs, and other tactical gear are the PALS system.

• "SurviveX Large First Aid Kit Review"--Apartment Prepper. The author describes the kit thusly:

The SurviveX Large First Aid Kit is primarily focused on general wound care. It is stocked with medical supplies for treating cuts, scrapes, wounds, lacerations, burns, blisters, and fractures (bandages, gauze, splints, burn gel, antibiotic ointment among others) rather than ailments needing internal medication. It is a kit you can keep in your home, vehicle, as well bring with you on camping or hiking trips. It contains 200+ items (in the Large version) enough for general care for around 3–6 people. 

    The kit sells for $120 on Amazon. So why get this instead of a commercial kit intended for businesses or schools? There are seems to be three things that stood out in the review: (i) the bag into which it fits has Molle attachments allowing it to be secured to a pack or the attaching devices you can purchase for vehicles; (ii) it's wound treatment goes beyond the basic gauze and adhesive bandages found in most kits to include actual medical shears and zip stitch wound closures; (iii) it included additional items needed for outdoors such as a splint, survival whistle, and glow sticks. The downsides, mentioned in the article, is that "it does not include pain relief medications, allergy medicines, or stomach aids, or tourniquet" or any clotting agents. In other words, you will still need to add items or carry a separate trauma kit; as well as any medications you want to carry. 

    Is it the best deal? That is something you will have to answer yourself. For instance, you can get almost everything in the SurviveX kit in another kit that costs only $53, then add a SAM splint for $15. The bag isn't as good as the SurviveX, but if you are going to be carrying it in another bag, it probably won't make a difference.  

    The reviewer's conclusions, however, is that "[t]he SurviveX Large First Aid Kit is an excellent investment for anyone serious about upgrading their first aid supplies. For an apartment dweller, it’s like a 'mini-ER' in a small footprint that won’t clutter your living space.​ If you’re tired of digging through a chaotic mess of loose gauze and adhesive bandages that no longer stick, this kit is a worthwhile purchase."

Weekend Reading #64

•  First up is an article by Greg Ellifritz entitled "What an Escaped Mental Patient Taught Me." It is a look back to a different time. It was the 1980s and Greg was in high school, working a part-time job at a K-Mart department store when an escaped mental patient showed up and started doing crazy things. Ellifritz and some of the other young men working there were tasked to try and keep the crazy contained until police arrived. Anyway, a look back to the 1980s and an important life lesson for Ellifritz that has nothing to do with combat or self-defense.
• And another from Greg Ellifritz--this week's Weekend Knowledge Dump.  Some of the links that caught my attention in particular:

• Massad Ayoob's discussion on whether to engage or stand-down, which looks as some cases involving the initial aggressor rule and when a threat ceases to be a threat.  
• Mark Luell shares some of his experiences teaching a self-defense class; and, if you go to the bottom of the article, a link to where you can download a copy of the course curriculum.
• Massad Ayood discusses lethal force against a mob. Most of the article is about the trials of the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, but with some thoughts about the BLM riots of 2021 (when the article was written) thrown in.  But the article should really be taken as a lesson in how the law has shifted in the past 250 years from one where a mob included everyone in the group to now where a "mostly peaceful" protest group is comprised of  "homicidal aggressors being sharks swimming in the protective sea of peaceful protesters" against whom you cannot use lethal force. It is this shift that allows the "homicidal aggressors" to hide behind a wall of "peaceful protestors" as they deal their violence, or suddenly rush out to mete out their violence. 
• Another historical piece that looks at women's concealed carry on the American frontier. 
• And another historical piece--"I use State of the Art Technology"--that looks at the history of night sights, weapon mounted lights, and lasers.
• Matthew Donovan writes about "mouse guns" and the defensive niche they fill. If you scoff at the idea of ever carrying such tiny handguns, you might not be familiar with the first rule of a gun fight, which is to have a gun.
• An article discussing the overall decline in quality of Smith & Wesson revolvers, but also noting that Ruger is also experiencing declining quality in its revolver lines. 
• And an interesting piece from Matt Larsen on how drone warfare is actually increasing the odds of having to resort to hand-to-hand combat as troops are driven into bunkers and trenches. 

• This article was actually part of Greg's Weekend Knowledge Dump, but I decided to give it a different treatment because it is not related to self-defense or firearms: "Mate Selection for Modernity" from Quillette.  This is an article about hypergamy (which I've discussed many times before in this blog as well as when I was doing podcasts with John Wilder) and how it has changed the modern dating marketplace. An excerpt:

Dating and the process of mate selection have changed. The rise of hook-up culture, proliferation of dating apps, and ever-increasing age of first marriage are evidence of this. This current situation can be summarized along four parameters:

1. Increasing female achievement.
2. Growing variability in male status and competence.
3. An evolutionary desire among females to marry up.
4. The globalization of the sexual marketplace and resultant collapse of local status hierarchies.

Together, these conditions have created pronounced imbalances in the modern sexual marketplace. Put plainly, an increasing cohort of successful women are chasing a shrinking number of high-value, commitment-averse men.

Hypergamy works well for women in a male-dominated society. But not so much now:

    Successful women face a shortage of demographically superior men to marry. Indeed, the nascent decline in marriage has been attributed to a putative shortage of economically attractive partners for unmarried women. Applying data imputation methods to national survey data, researchers found that unmarried women face an overall shortage of partners with either a bachelor’s degree or yearly income exceeding $40,000.

    This asymmetry in the sexual marketplace has been well documented in Jon Birger’s book Date-onomics as well as an article penned by myself and Rob Henderson.

    Premised on sex ratios, a surplus of women in education and economic groups caters to men’s desire for multiple partners. The relative rarity of men within these groups means that women, in competition with other females, are more likely to conform to the sexual strategy of males. In these environments, hookup culture is more prevalent. In contrast, environments in which men are numerous see more long-term relationships.

Of course, women are to be pitied for being shallow, where if men refused to date or marry because of a shortage of attractive women, it would be considered evidence of misogyny. And on the subject of dating and meeting people, Greg also linked to this article: "How To Read People: 5 Secrets Backed By Research." But I've known women who understood what this article teaches and were quite skilled on using their body language to manipulate men. 

• We are finally on the cusp of really entering the space age. Robert Zubrin had once written that we would not see significant space exploration and development until launch costs fell below $1,000/kg. In "Payloads used to dictate the terms of launch. That’s finally changing," Stephen Clark discusses the impact of SpaceX's Starship, with more than 100 metric tons cargo capacity, noting:

    A new report from the Aerospace Corporation helps elucidate why satellite companies are optimizing for Starship. It’s big and reusable, and once operational, it could cut the cost of launching a kilogram of payload into orbit by an order of magnitude from the Falcon 9. This means costs could come down from a few thousand dollars per kilogram to a few hundred.

    Karen Jones, a space economist and lead author of the paper, said her research supports some of those optimistic cost projections. She outlines three scenarios, two of which assume an initial launch cost of $100 million for each fully reusable Starship and Super Heavy booster, with marginal costs of 20 or 35 percent. This is in line with the marginal costs of the smaller, partially reusable Falcon 9, which SpaceX can launch for as little as $15 million per flight on a dedicated Starlink mission.

    This would bring the per-kilogram launch cost for a fully loaded Starship down to $133 to $233 after 10 reuse cycles. A more optimistic scenario with a $50 million initial launch cost and 20 percent marginal cost would reduce payload costs to $67 per kilogram for a Starship/Super Heavy launch at full capacity after nine use cycles. That’s less than it costs to fill the gas tanks of most SUVs. If SpaceX can make these more optimistic ambitions a reality, it would validate a claim made by Elon Musk in 2022 that a Starship flight could eventually cost as little as $10 million.  

The future is bright provided we can survive The Great Filter: liberal women, mass immigration, and socialism.  

• There may be a way to finally give satellites infinite "fuel" for their thrusters: "'Acceleration without fuel:' Revolutionary superconducting thruster harnesses Earth's magnetic field in 1st orbital test"--Space.com. The article explains: "Superconducting magnets can convert solar energy directly into momentum in space and provide a source of acceleration that needs no fuel, but until recently, the technology was too large and complex to fit on a satellite. That's no longer the case." 
• And last, but certainly not least: "Here We Stand"--Wilder Wealth & Wise.  The principles that made the West great. 

A Losing Argument

United Airlines and Delta are facing class action lawsuits from passengers who paid extra for window seats and then placed in seats with blank walls. United's argument is "that 'window seat' refers only to a seat's position, not a guaranteed outside view." In other words, they are arguing that "window" doesn't mean "window" in the common and ordinary meaning of the word, but has a double-secret, insider, technical meaning that no ordinary passenger would know. Good luck with that argument. 

China Decimating Fishing Off West Africa

BBC News (via Yahoo) reports that Chinese fishing trawlers are devastating fishing grounds near the coast of Sierra Leone in an official exclusion zone; and, according to the fishermen, even cutting the nets and line used by the native fishers. More generally, the article explains:

    West Africa remains the global epicentre for illegal fishing. An estimated 40% of the world's unlicensed catch can be traced to its waters, according to a 2024 global report.

    The study estimated that this costs West African nations a combined $10bn in lost revenues, and risks the food security of millions of people. Commentators say that the situation has not improved in the subsequent two years.

    Thomas Turay, president of Sierra Leone's Fishermen's Union, says that the average catches for his members are down some 40% in recent years. And he's in no doubt where the blame lies.

    "The illegal fishing is too much," he says. "The sea belongs to us, but for the foreign trawlers, they come at night and violate the seven-mile exclusion zone, they come right into the shore here."

And according to the fishermen, the overwhelming majority of the illegal fishing is done by Chinese vessels (as if that should surprise anyone). 

American Expat In Ireland Experiences Diversity

The New York Post reports that "NY mom who recently moved to Ireland beaten to death inside home as police hunt someone she knew." She violated one of the basic principles of self defense: don't hang around stupid and dangerous people. You practically have to go to the bottom of the article to find out anything about this person "she knew":

    The unidentified person of interest, described as an asylum-seeking Middle Eastern man in his late 20s or early 30s, had lived in the Killarney area for over a year since arriving in Ireland, having previously lived in France and Turkey, the Irish Independent reported.

    Carney and the man are believed to have known each other, and last saw each other on Sunday and Monday.

    Neighbors reported hearing an argument between a man and a woman coming from the newly built Homeland estate Monday afternoon, with investigators looking into whether Carney was killed out of a fit of jealous rage, according to the outlet.     

NATO Leaders Have A Gun Problem

The problem is that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave each of the NATO leaders a Gumusay .357 Magnum revolver (which looks to be a copy of the Colt Python) engraved with their respective names, as well as 500 rounds of ammunition.  

    The Belgian premier, Bart De Wever, handed his to Brussels’ airport police to be secured in a safe.

    An aide to Polish President Karol Nawrocki told ‌Radio RMF FM that his revolver was awaiting customs clearance ‌at Warsaw Airport and would be kept in an appropriate place “so that it is firstly safe and secondly respected as a gift”.

    “Certainly no one will be shooting it,” he added.

    The offices of the Dutch and Swedish ⁠prime ministers said their revolvers had been take to their respective embassies in Ankara. The Dutch one was due to be disabled while the Swedish one was awaiting import paperwork.

    The gun given to Britain’s Keir Starmer came with a cleaning kit and 500 bullets, a Downing Street source said.

    Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s revolver was already stored at the seat of government, the Palazzo Chigi, along with other state gifts.

    E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ‌was intending to donate hers to a military museum. 

Truck Guns

In "Truck Guns, Part 1: From Stagecoaches to Tacomas" at The Firearm Blog, the author contends  that anyone seriously interested in personal defense needs a truck gun, but doesn't really delve into why other than this brief comment: "Regardless of circumstance, when you find yourself on the open road, you need to be armed and ready for unexpected dangers that may present themselves in an emergency. In such cases, a pistol may be unable to provide an opportunity for gaining the advantage, but the truck gun has become a standard in mobile personal defense." The author purportedly has experience in special operations, so that might be shaping his thinking; but perhaps he has some specific scenarios or situations of which he is thinking but doesn't share.

    Self-defense--particularly outside your home--is based more about getting safely away from danger rather than directly engaging the threat. Having a truck gun presupposed having the truck (or some other vehicle), which means that the vehicle gives you the means of getting away. Consequently, a truck gun would be most useful if you can't get away for some reason: your attackers are in vehicles and intent on pursuing you (e.g., some of the motorcycle groups we've seen in the past chase down and attack drivers that have angered them); or your vehicle is blocked in or broken down or otherwise cannot move. But even then, will you be able to access your truck gun? It's no use to you if the weapon is locked in your trunk or a locked storage box underneath a seat while you are driving. 

    That said, if I go shooting in the desert--even if it is only to shoot handguns--I always bring along a rifle or carbine for self-defense purposes because of its longer range and greater ability to penetrate a barrier over the handgun at my waist. I've been harassed a few times while out shooting; and I know people that have had confrontations with angry drunks.  I leave the long arm where it is easily accessible and carry it with me if I have to walk any distance, such as to place or move targets. 

 

    The bulk of the article is on what makes a good truck gun. And, briefly, the author believes the truck gun should be the size and general configuration of a PDW (personal defense weapon) firing a rifle round. The two rounds he specifically mentions are the 7.62x39 (for those wanting an AK style weapon) and 5.56. I suppose you could add a supersonic .300 BLK round to the mix. He recommends using an inline compensator, blast deflector, or suppressor to contain or redirect the blast since you will be operating in or around a vehicle and all that glass; a folding stock or collapsible wire stock (which, if using an AR based weapon, means using one of the attachments that allow you to fold the buffer tube--he recommends the Dead Foot Arms MCS); a weapon light; and some sort of night vision attached to the weapon. 

Woke Activists Figure Out New Way To Make Sure Blacks Won't Succeed

The Daily Mail reports: "Woke activists push for 'Black English' to be taught in Democrat state's preschools to combat 'harmful language hierarchies'." The article relates:

    Supporters say teaching the dialect, also known as African American English (AAE) or African American Vernacular English (AAVE), will help 'combat harmful language hierarchies.'

    The Black Californians United for Early Care & Education group is part of a movement advocating for Black English to be recognized as a legitimate, rule-based language in preschool classrooms on par with other languages. 

I'm reminded of that famous scene from Airplane where the crew is trying to find someone that can speak Jive (starts at the 55 second mark).

 VIDEO: "I Speak Jive - Airplane! (5/10) Movie CLIP (1980) HD"
Movieclips (3 min.)

I'm sure that the reason for this push for African American English is to force the replacement of white teachers with black teachers without expressly wording it that way. But the consequences could be devastating for black children who will be at a disadvantage in speaking and communication in the larger world. You might cast your mind back to George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion, or its musical adaptation, My Fair Lady, in which the Eliza Doolittle character seeks the help of Henry Higgins, a linguist and phonetician, to teach her to speak better in order to open more opportunities and advance her socioeconomic status--without which she would have been doomed to a life selling flowers (and who knows what else) on street corners. 

SpaceX Just Launched A Satellite Testing A Betavoltaic Power System

From Space.com: "SpaceX just launched the 1st-ever nuclear-powered commercial satellite." Per the article, the BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability) satellite, built by Florida-based company City Labs, was launched on July 7, 2026. 

BOHR is a novel cubesat demonstration mission from City Labs, which is testing out its proprietary "NanoTritium" betavoltaic micropower source in space for the first time. Similar to how spacecraft like NASA's Voyager probes' radioisotope thermoelectric generators produce power from the heat emitted from their plutonium cores, City Lab's NanoTritium device harnesses the beta particles emitted from the radioactive decay of tritium, which can be converted directly to electricity using a semiconductor. 

A beta particle is a high-speed electron or positron emitted during the radioactive decay of an unstable atomic nucleus. Most of you are probably familiar with tritium because it is used to make night sights for handguns and other weapons. 

    This launch and satellite is just a test of whether the power generation system; but the satellite is not, itself, powered by the NanoTritium system but still relies on solar power. City Labs explains the betavoltaic system as follows:

    NanoTritium™ betavoltaics convert energy from tritium decay directly into electrical power. In a betavoltaic device, beta particles emitted by tritium interact with a semiconductor structure, generating electrical current.

    Unlike conventional batteries, which store a finite amount of chemical energy, betavoltaics continuously generate low-level power from the natural decay of tritium. This makes them well suited for systems that require reliable, long-duration operation without charging, replacement, or routine maintenance.

    City Labs develops custom NanoTritium™ betavoltaics to fit a broad range of form factor and output requirements. 

 If you are interested in reading more on the topic, here is the Wikipedia article on betavoltaics. 

Killer Fog

On December 1, 1930, a thick fog started to roll into Belgium which eventually covered the entire country as well as large swathes of Europe and the southeast of England. By December 3, 1930, the death toll from the fog in the Meuse Valley in Belgium rose to 64 people. It was particularly devastating in the heavily industrialized Meuse Valley:

    The damage was immediate. Within three days, thousands of people in the Meuse Valley were suffering from respiratory problems, notably throat irritation, chest pains, coughing fits, difficulty breathing, increased adrenalin, nausea and vomiting.

    Over 60 people suffering from heart or lung disease died in two days. Many of the victims were under 30 years old; the youngest one was only 20 years old and died while walking home from a party. 

    One of the worst hit areas was the town of Engis, which had already garnered a reputation as Belgium’s most polluted town, where 56 of the deaths happened.

It is not the only time there was a deadly smog, as the same article notes that "the Great Smog Of London in 1952 killed around 12,000 people, according to modern estimates." (See also, "When the smoke clears: The legacy of killer smogs"--American Association for the Advancement of Science).

    The video, below, goes over the Meuse Valley incident, a similar incident in the U.S. in 1948, and even looks at a couple incidents in Africa where whole villages were wiped out by noxious gases apparently emitted by volcanoes. 

 VIDEO: "In 1930, A Mysterious Killer Fog Swept Across Europe"
Swegle Studios (18 min.)