Guns in Syria
 

I'm getting a bit of an A-Team vibe out of all this. The RWS on the homemade tank is impressive.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2...rebels/100461/

I'm more impressed they are using a PS controller for a remote operated turret.

Not just a playstation controller, a shitty knockoff playstation controller

I can't imagine a lot of real playstations (or any other console) being sold in Syria.

Seeing all the improvised weapons reminded me of Junkyard Wars/Scrapheap Challenge, back when TLC aired programs that actually benefited society.

You'd be surprised what people can build when guns and ammo are in short supply

That's actually a USB gamepad for PCs, not Playstation.

http://www.geekalerts.com/dual-shock-usb-gamepad/

Specifically, http://www.gts-pc.com/product/GTS-801?lang=en

Not so much about guns per say, but anyone who has some time should read this piece about how the rebels are supplied from abroad and how convoluted that supply chain has become:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n04/ghaith-...e-easy-lessons

Basically, it is a giant mess where rebel "battalions" of 10-20 men are constantly formed, merged or dissolved, any semblance of organization is in name only and where the best funded and equipped units are the jihadist groups.

There's a video I found online (not too sure about linking it even with a warning, since it's basically a shock site full of porn and graphic violence) showing some rebels trying to devise a cunning plan to rescue a guy who was shot and is bleeding to death in a car. So they have one of their men lay down on what looks like a piece of cardboard attached to a wire and try to pull himself across the ground to the car, with the plan that he can just hold onto the guy and his friends can pull them back into safety. He paddles his way under the gunfire to the car and starts pulling the wounded man out. Then the cameraman puts the camera down for some reason for about 20 seconds.

When the camera comes back up, the guy they're rescuing is dead in the gutter about 10 feet away, the savior has the cardboard platform on top of him, and he's being repeatedly shot.

I still haven't figured out what managed to go wrong in 20 seconds.