[post number 10]
The technique for firing a revolver several times in rapid succession which involves holding the gun in one hand and cocking the hammer of the gun with the palm of the other hand in a "fanning" motion before each firing, which is often seen in "western" movies, is not a Masonic sign. A single cocking of the hammer of the gun with the thumb is the motion that has been used as a Masonic "mafia" sign. The usual scenario has involved the gun being pointed at a person who continues to resist the will of the person holding the gun, who then cocks back the hammer, which is seen as increasing the level of threat, which makes the person being threatened submit to the will of the person holding the gun.
Another situation which can form a Masonic sign is when a child plays the role of a gun fighting cowboy, using his fingers and thumbs as guns or using toy guns. If the child has no opponent who is also firing toy guns or imaginary guns or arrows but continues with unusual persistence or seems to be acting with genuine hostility, then the child is probably acting on the instructions of his parents who are bonded to the Masons.
Another situation where "the straight shooter sign" might be seen is in court cases. A lawyer who is with the Masons might do the straight shooter sign if he or she is the prosecutor and wants any juror who is bonded to the Masons to judge the defendant guilty, or if he or she is the lawyer for the defendant and wants any juror who is bonded to the Masons to find the defendant innocent. The result might be that innocent people may be found guilty and guilty people may go free, in a somewhat systematic way. In court cases, as in other situations, some operational cover is used, to protect a lawyer [or other person] from the accusation of being linked to organised crime. So if the straight shooter sign is done, it is done in such a way that it is not seen by those who are not bonded to the Masons. If the lawyer has his arms raised in a gesture of emphasis or drama, he or she could hold the fingers splayed out, with the thumb pulled back so that the hand is flat. This will achieve the straight shooter sign with the thumb and index finger. Another way to do it is for the person to place their hand on their chest when speaking of themselves [especially with the word "myself"], with their fingers splayed. The hand is flattened on the chest so that the shooter sign is achieved. A third way is for the person, in this situation a lawyer, to count a list of factors with their fingers, extending the thumb on "one" and the index finger on "two", forming the shooter sign. The counting on the fingers is often stopped for any numbers that are counted after two. The intention has been to do the shooter sign.
A Masonic sign that seems to have developed from the straight shooter sign is the tick, or check mark. Whether this mark was introduced by the Masons in previous centuries and adopted by the wider population or came into use from someone else, the situation today is that the tick/check mark is in general use for administrative and educational purposes when handwriting is used on paper. The extension of its use into advertising and other media applications seems to be motivated by the intention to send a Masonic sign. This is especially clear when the down stroke of the tick/check mark is thicker than the diagonal stroke as this seems to represent the way the thumb is thicker than the index finger, as seen with the "shooter" hand sign. Another touch is to have the tick/check mark in the colour red, symbolizing blood.
The shooter sign can also be represented in a person's stance in a photograph or film. One foot is positioned in the normal toes-forward foot placement. The other foot is turned outward and placed out to the side a bit, from the normal standing foot position. This creates, with a bit of imagination, a tick/check mark in the way the feet are aligned. This stance also makes the leg which is out to the side, look a little longer, because this leg is not bearing weight and the hip bone angles down towards this leg. Because one leg looks a little longer than the other, this leg positioning has been nominated by the Masons as a Masonic sign, being a bit similar, as it is, to the way the index finger is longer than the thumb, as seen in the shooter sign. A touch that can be added to this leg positioning as Masonic sign is shadow. The origin of this touch probably is the sun dial, an instrument fixed in a public space used to tell the time of day, by looking at the position of the shadow cast by an angled piece of metal [part of the instrument], which was used by the ancient Romans. The piece of metal used with the sun dial has a shape like a tick/check mark that has been tilted back around 90 degrees. At some times of the day, the shadow cast by the piece of metal looks similar to a tick/check mark, and perhaps was a factor in the adoption of the thumb and index finger hand sign.
Looking at some other hand signs, a sign related to the thumb and index finger shooter sign is one where the fingers are together and the hand is held flat and is pushed into a front or side pocket of one's pants or jacket, excepting the thumb, which is left on the outside of the pocket. I said I had come up with names for most of the hand signs. This one could be called "the holstered gun". What it means is that the person who is doing the sign is not on an operation, or if they are, it is a low-key, long term operation. It is usually seen in photographs rather than in daily life. A variation is to bend the hand slightly at the knuckles to suggest the shape of a holstered revolver. An example of this hand sign can be seen on the ninth of the photograph pages in the book Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno, on the lower half of the page, to the right side of the photograph.
On the next page of this book, in the photograph in the lower part of the page, Bonanno is doing a hand sign that could be called "the bow", because the hand is made to resemble an archer's longbow. A statue of Julius Caesar from ancient Rome has either been the model for this hand sign or an early example of it. To do this sign, a person makes a curve with the four fingers of one hand and straightens out the thumb, holding the thumb so that it very nearly touches the curved index finger. The angle of the hand is such that a person looking from the front can see the curve of the fingers and the straightened thumb. Once again, this hand sign is usually seen in photographs rather than in daily life. It is a hand sign of general Masonic mafia meaning.
Another hand sign of rather general meaning is one I am calling "the Mona Lisa finger split on the hips", which is done by placing one or both hands on the hips with a gap of more than normal width between two of the fingers of the hand or hands, usually the upper two fingers. This sign has been done by women who are bonded to the Masons, in, for example, high fashion photography. It has a sexual connotation. There has been a similar sign for males where they have one index finger straight, along the top of their belt from the hip, with a gap between it and the middle finger. The index finger acts as a phallic symbol with this hand sign [also a sexual connotation]. Variations to these fingers-on-hips hand sign designations have appeared.
These hand signs on the hips may have developed from what is perhaps a sign that was introduced by the Masons a long time ago, that being the placing of the fists on the hips to indicate strength or to indicate anger. Here, the Masons see the way the arms bend at the elbow and the way they are opposite each other as resembling two compasses set in a pattern, like the symbol of the two crossed compasses, where the points of one compass go diagonally up and the points of the other go diagonally down. It should be noted that the fingers-on-hips hand signs are quite easy to create in photography through digital manipulation of the image, perhaps in combination with poses requested by the photographer who might be bonded to the Masons.
There is a hand sign that has been nominated to male artists and performers who are with the Masons, which could be called "the Colosseum thumb sign on biceps". This hand sign is done by folding the arms so that each hand is around the upper part of the opposite arm and the thumb of one of the hands is not relaxed, but instead is stretched up, similar to the "thumbs-up'' sign from the Colosseum in Rome. This sign [on the biceps] is done by male artists, performers and other males who work in various media arts [who are with the Masons and] who are commenting on their work or the work of others. The up stretched thumb is approximately on the biceps, invoking an image of the muscular gladiators of the Colosseum.
A variation of this sign is the thumb up stretched on the cuff of a suit jacket, designated to ceremonial occasions. One may have also seen the thumb sign on the hips, sometimes done by dress designers. One may have also seen the shooter sign on the upper arm, with the thumb on the biceps and the index finger extending over to the triceps, with a gap between the index finger and the middle finger. Here, the index finger bends around the arm. What seems to be suggested by this is that the person doing the sign engages in some overtly illegal activities, such as marijuana dealing. This sign can also be done, when seated, by placing the shooter sign on one's leg in such a way that the index finger bends slightly, with the shape of the leg.
Another hand sign is one that could be called "the pen", which has been designated to writers of various kinds who are with the Masons, [either accepted into their ranks or bonded to them]. This hand sign is done by resting one's forearm on something such as the armrest of a chair and holding the index finger of this arm in a position which has the end of this finger about one centimetre, or half an inch, forward of the middle finger. The hand is held in this position long enough for others with the Masons to notice it. With bonding to the Masons the writer is expected to make the Masonic agenda of war, social conflict and self-interest appear to be the natural state of the world.
A hand sign that there has been some awareness of, is one that could be called "the pinkie extension". This has been described as a point of etiquette, but is actually a Masonic hand sign. It is done when drinking tea or coffee in a public setting. The thumb, index finger and middle finger hold the handle of the cup in the normal way, but the small finger, the "pinkie", extends out away from the others in an abnormal way and is straightened. But one would need to be careful in judging whether a person's hand position is this "pinkie extension" hand sign because the pinky might move out naturally to some degree.