Speaking of rival gangs, most troubles between organisations tend to be sorted amongst themselves. Looking through the testimony of actual 1%ers, the majority of them are packing, but the only time they actually pull out their weapons is when they come to blows with a rival gang. One particularly vocal biker has pointed out some of the inconsistencies in Sons Of Anarchy, noting that the sort of huge gun battles which erupt between, say, SAMCRO and the Mayans on the show don't have much basis in reality. Not only the amount of gunfire expended comparable to the amount of people who actually get hurt, but also the idea that they'd be having a huge fight in broad daylight in the first place. Whilst they may not be one of those authorised biker clubs, outlaws do get up to many of the same things as their legit brothers. If there's one thing we see a lot of in Sons Of Anarchy - besides the sex, bikes, guns - it's parties. And picnics. It's the group hanging out, sometimes with their families, having fun. Which is what they do in real life, too, and often for charity - although many suggest that this is a cover for criminal activities, and in 2005 a charity toy drive descended into a gun battle between two rival gangs. So there's something else they've got right: the hair triggers that SAMCRO wield aren't too dissimilar from actual gangs. The only difference is that some of the most violent document cases against outlaw gangs doesn't take place in California, but in Canada. Yes, Canada. Nice, mostly-polite Canada. Over the past two decades they've been living through what has been dubbed the Quebec Biker war, which has involved more than 150 murders, 84 bombings, and 130 cases of arson, all related to territory disputes and rival gangs. We're not sure if they're quite at those numbers in Sons Of Anarchy but boy, they come close. And now we know it isn't gratuitous, it's just realistic!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/