The Truth About Guns
Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
Updated: 1 week 2 days ago
A Visit to Axil’s Booth for a Hearing Test and Custom Fitting
I shoot quite a lot, as you might imagine. I’ve also been shooting a heck of a lot of suppressed firearms, which I typically do without hearing protection on/in my ears because I’m often reviewing the performance of the suppressors themselves. While this is usually, in theory, “hearing safe,” that isn’t the case with every gun/ammo/silencer combination, plus repeated and long-term exposure can still cause hearing damage.
As I have warned others, your hearing doesn’t grow back.
HEY, LOOK AT ME: Oregon Man Surrenders His Two-Gun Arsenal To Police After Uvalde Massacre
We all thought that Florida Man sets the hightest bar for head-scratching moments. Now an Oregon man by the name of Ben Beers rolled his only ace in the game of conspicuous virtue signaling to step up and challenge Florida Man to hold his beer(s).
Mr. Beers’ claim to fame: he has publicized his act of contrition in surrendering his AR-15 rifle and a 9mm pistol to the Hillsboro, Oregon police department for destruction as a result of the Uvalde school massacre.
New From Dead Air: SIERRA-5 5.56 NATO Silencer
Dead Air Silencers released their first dedicated .223/5.56 suppressor, the Sierra-5, at the NRA show this weekend. It’s a compact, heavy-duty silencer designed specifically for 5.56 use without barrel length restrictions.
Available with either a Dead Air Xeno or KeyMo mount included, the Sierra-5 is threaded with the “industry standard” 1.375×24 mount pitch so the sky’s the limit for choosing and using your favorite mounting system
I like the checkering on the body.
Continue reading New From Dead Air: SIERRA-5 5.56 NATO Silencer at The Truth About Guns.
A 10mm Revival? SIG Officially Launches The 10mm P320-XTEN
Whether you’re a SIG SAUER fan or not, it’s hard to ignore their P320 pistol. Its innovative modular design and good functionality and ergonomics have not only earned it an enduring presence in the civilian and law enforcement markets, but it’s also become the primary sidearm for the United States Armed Forces with its variants, the M17 and M18 pistols.
Earlier this month, Dan Zimmerman managed to get his hands on one before its official launch at the inaugural SIG SAUER Freedom Days event, and both from his article about it and my conversations with him, it’s a winner.
Continue reading A 10mm Revival? SIG Officially Launches The 10mm P320-XTEN at The Truth About Guns.
Houston NRA – Light Crowds on Both Sides of the Street
The story in Houston: turnout. Both the protesters outside the George R. Brown Convention Center where the NRA is holding it’s annual meeting and exhibits and the attendance inside on the convention floor and those bothering to sit in on the association’s annual meeting were far lighter today.
Outside, as with yesterday’s far larger crowd, police kept the protesters across the street from the convention center. The number who showed up to waive signs and chant slogans at NRA attendees today was down sharply.
Continue reading Houston NRA – Light Crowds on Both Sides of the Street at The Truth About Guns.
New From POF USA: Phoenix 9mm Subgun Style Pistol
Patriot Ordnance Factory (POF) released the Phoenix 9mm pistol at NRAAM this year. It’s a straight blowback AR-style gun with a non-reciprocating, forward-mounted side charging handle on its monolithic upper receiver and a vertical Picatinny rail at the rear.
Magazines are unique to the Phoenix and hold 35 rounds.
Mag release and safety are fully ambidextrous, and the charging handle can be swapped from left to right side.
Continue reading New From POF USA: Phoenix 9mm Subgun Style Pistol at The Truth About Guns.
All Kids Should Know What To Do In An Active Killer Situation
This may not be a popular opinion to put out there, but as a mom and a reasonably serious gun owner — I’ve made it my entire career, after all — it needs to be said. If you have kids, you are responsible for giving them the tools to make it in life, and that includes teaching kids of all ages what to do if they’re ever faced with an active killer.
Does that seem harsh?
FBI Reveals Six ‘Active Shooter’ Incidents Stopped By Armed Americans in 2021
Why is it that America’s legacy media refuse to report on the proven benefits of firearm ownership? Is it because doing so would reflect poorly upon the (mostly) Democrats who would like to legislate away our God-given right to keep and bear arms?
Here’s another story the New York Times has failed to mention: everyday armed Americans stopped not one, not two, but six active shooters in 2021 alone – nearly 10% of active shooter incidents reported across America in 2021.
New From Rock Island Armory: VRF14 Semi-Auto 12GA Firearm
Don’t confuse the new VRF14 from RIA for a shotgun. This 26-inch long, 12 gauge, magazine-fed gun is legally defined as a “firearm” since it doesn’t fit into any other definition. It takes Rock Island Armory’s VR series magazines, which are available in 5-, 9-, and 19-shell capacities.
That’s a beast. Looks like a blast to shoot!
MSRP is just $599.
Wild.
Continue reading New From Rock Island Armory: VRF14 Semi-Auto 12GA Firearm at The Truth About Guns.
Off Duty BORTAC Agent Drove 40 Miles To Storm the Uvalde School and Take Down the Killer
The more that comes out about the botched police response in Uvalde, Texas, the worse it looks for the local cops. It turns out that while UPD officers waited for a key or some such nonsense, an off-duty Border Patrol tactical agent drove 40 miles from having lunch to storm the school and neutralize the social misfit killer.
The BORTAC Gigachad who breached the school, neutralized the shooter, and had a bullet grazed his scalp in the process.
Gun Meme of the Day: Snitches Get Stitches Edition
They pointed and called him a LeBron, which I believe is code for whiny baby.
Continue reading Gun Meme of the Day: Snitches Get Stitches Edition at The Truth About Guns.
Uvalde Shooting Update: Tragedy, Good Work, and Unimaginable Error
Earlier today Texas Department of Public Safety Steve McCraw gave an update on the timeline and chain of events of the recent school shooting in Uvalde. His statements were, to put it mildly, jaw dropping.
After reviewing much of the video evidence, we now know how the shooter gained easy access into the school.
A teacher had propped a door open.
We don’t know why yet, and there’s no reason to assume any collusion, but the teacher tragically propped a door open roughly one minute before the shooter crashed his truck and began the attack.
NRA Houston: Modest Crowds Inside, Headline-Grabbing Protests Outside [VIDEO]
The NRA annual meetings and convention are well under way here in Houston. This is the first NRAAM in three years, the last two falling vicim to COVID fears, so the Association, its members and hoplophiles are happy to have the gathering back up and running. But a couple of aspects to this year’s event are keeping crowds noticeably lower.
Longtime attendees have no doubt noticed lighter crowds on the convention floor.
That photo was taken about 30 minutes after the show floor opened this morning.
Judges Don’t Take Well to a Lawsuit Arguing an Elephant in a New York Zoo is a Person
Human judges at the New York Court of Appeals appeared irritated that human attorneys representing an anti-hunting group clogged up their docket to argue that Happy the elephant, an animal in the care of the Bronx Zoo, is not an animal but instead is ‘a person.’
The case has wide-ranging implications on hunting, conservation and animal agriculture communities and for wildlife management from sea to sea.
“If Happy is a person, does that mean that I couldn’t keep a dog?,” Judge Jenny Rivera asked the attorneys representing the Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc.
Bette Midler Encourages Armed Protests of NRA Annual Meetings
No words. I mean…just…wow. Two days ago, outspoken gun control advocate and professional witch, Bette Midler, literally told the world in a tweet to “come armed” in order to protest the NRA conference.
AT THE GEORGE R BROWN CONVENTION CENTER IN HOUSTON TEXAS, THIS WEEKEND. Come armed. https://t.co/QNUJkLGEqh
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) May 25, 2022
This is insane on so many levels. Just to pick one, how can she possibly reconcile protesting firearms with firearms?
West Virginia Police Say Woman With CCW Stopped a Mass Shooting, Saved Lives
Charleston Police Department’s Chief of Detectives Tony Hazelett credited an unnamed Charleston concealed carry license holder with stopping the threat following a shooting Wednesday evening. Police say Dennis Butler returned after being lectured about speeding through an apartment complex where kids were playing. He parked his car and began shooting at a graduation party with an AR-15.
A woman among the group of 30 to 40 people saw Butler, 37, in his back seat firing on the group.
Cops Now Using Virtual Reality to Train With Their TASERs
By Michael Balsamo, AP
A combative man approaches, moving quickly toward a police officer who pulls out a Taser. The man is wearing a heavy jacket, which could mean the prongs that would generate an electronic current and send him to the ground might not work.
It’s a scenario that’s played out over and over for police officers across the U.S., sometimes with fatal consequences. The scenario was highlighted recently with the police shooting death of Patrick Lyoya, who was shot in the back of the head by an officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during a struggle after the officer tried to fire his Taser twice at Lyoya.
Continue reading Cops Now Using Virtual Reality to Train With Their TASERs at The Truth About Guns.
Some Californians are Trading Their Guns for Less Than a Half-Tank of Gasoline
There’s an old expression about stupid. Specifically…you can’t fix it. Such is the case on the Left Coast of America where some Californians are trading tools with which they could defend their homes and families for a half-tank of gas as part of a gun buyback scheme under way in Sacramento.
That’s right: Californians can trade a GLOCK for a $50 gas card…or about nine-ish gallons of gas at today’s prevailing prices in the Golden State’s capital city.
Another Parkland? What Took Police So Long to Enter the School in Uvalde?
As more details of tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas emerge, one disturbing thing now stands out: the apparently long, long time it took to end the threat to the children in the school.
For those of us who have had law enforcement training, the events in Uvalde fly directly in the face of what police have been taught since Columbine. Prior to that atrocity, the accepted thinking in law enforcement was to gather a sufficient team, enter the building carefully, and then methodically end any threats using negotiation if possible.