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
Ask Josh: What Does Barrel Taper Do?
TTAG reader and fellow Marksmanship Training Center member Luke Skywalker (not his real name, but he wanted to tell his friends he made me call him that) had a question on barrel taper and just what it does for a rifle.
“My question is about barrel taper. I see lots of guys talking contour and I’ve been shooting heavy Savage varmint (contour) at 1K for years and I never needed a thicker tube.
Continue reading Ask Josh: What Does Barrel Taper Do? at The Truth About Guns.
Update and Advice on the ATF Rule Change [VIDEO]
This Week in Gun Rights is TTAG’s weekly roundup of legal, legislative and other news affecting guns, the gun business and gun owners’ rights.
Update and advice on the ATF proposed rule change
We’ve been talking about this for a while, but last week saw the ATF finally posted the purported final version of their new “frame or receiver” rule. The clear intention of the ATF’s rulemaking is to vaporize the 80% market.
Continue reading Update and Advice on the ATF Rule Change [VIDEO] at The Truth About Guns.
The National Rifle Association: A Case Study in How Not to Operate a Non-Profit
By Elizabeth Schmidt, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The National Rifle Association keeps getting itself into trouble by flouting the best practices all nonprofits should follow.
As I often explain to college and graduate students who are learning the basics of nonprofit management, all nonprofit boards of directors should ensure that those groups uphold their missions without wasting money. These students also learn that it’s against the law for nonprofit board members or staff to benefit through the personal use of the group’s assets.
Supreme Court Unanimously Strikes Down Warrantless ‘Caretaking’ Firearm Searches
The Supreme Court has unanimously struck down warrantless so-called “community caretaking” searches of homes for firearms in a decision handed down today. In the search prompting Caniglia v. Strom, Rhode Island police responded to a wellness check request by a man’s wife and confiscated his firearms.
The police hung the legality of their warrant-free search on the “community caretaking” exception that allows them to search a vehicle that they’ve impounded.
Alabama Sheriff’s Dept. Captain Fired for Supporting Constitutional Carry
Can you be fired for expressing political views that don’t align with those of your boss? Increasingly, it seems, you can but more of these cases are winding up in the courts. Given what just happened to a Mobile County (Alabama) Sheriff’s Office captain, there seems to be a good chance the courts will be involved in another one of these situations.
Shane Stringer was fired from his law enforcement job with the Mobile Sheriff’s Office last week.
The Latest Springfield Hellcat Magazine Ups Little Pistol’s Capacity to 15 Rounds
Springfield’s Hellcat was the second micro nine capable of packing a double stack’s capacity into a gun the size of an EDC single stack. As we covered recently, SIG didn’t take kindly to that and has launched a lawsuit claiming the Hellcat’s magazine violates their patents.
Springfield, however, hasn’t slowed down and has now released a 15-round Hellcat magazine for users who want a little more.
Springfield sent out the initial presser well before SIG announced their suit, so the timing of the release of the new magazine happens to be coincidence.
Chicago’s Gun Camp, Lead and Taught By the Fastest Rapper Alive
By Waysun Johnny Tsai
GROWING UP IN CHICAGO WITH MUSIC, GANGS AND GUNS
I grew up piss-poor with my mother in some of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago. The gangs were so bad where we lived that I got robbed at knifepoint for my elementary school’s M&M fund raising money when I was just eight years old. Our neighborhood was so bad that my Huffy bike that I got for my birthday was stolen the day after I got it.
City of Newton, Mass Freaks Out Over a Proposed New Downtown Gun Store
By Jim Hammond
Newton, Massachusetts is a wealthy suburb that is only nine miles from downtown Boston. The proximity to Bean Town has always been a boon for commuters who desire an easy drive to the city, and the pleasure of living in a peaceful community where the median income of its citizens is $127,000. However recent upticks in criminal behavior in Boston has created real concern for residents of Newton.
In 2019 there were 28 fatal shootings in Boston.
California Woman Shoots Machete-Wielding Burglar She Found in Her Closet
Waking up to an armed intruder in your house would be any home owner’s worst nightmare. If you’re a single mother with two young kids in the house, finding a man wielding a machete in your bedroom closet immediately kicks you into “momma bear” mode.
That’s what happened to a California woman who woke up to the sound of a man rummaging through her walk-in closet. The thief — Ocean Burger (his name, not a restaurant) — was armed with a number of knives and a machete when the un-named woman grabbed a handgun and confronted him.
Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department Has Trained a Dog to Sniff Out ‘Ghost Guns’
The average canine has about 50 times the olfactory sensors as you do. That means he can smell things you can’t (and many times wouldn’t want to). That’s why police use breeds like Bloodhounds, Labradors, German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois for everything from rescue work to tracking down criminals on the run, sniffing out trapped or lost people, or finding bombs or a joint in a traveler’s pocket at an airport.
But imagine how discerning a dog’s sense of smell has to be to determine if your gun has a serial number or not.
Subway Slashers Illustrate the Need for Armed Self Defense in New York City
From the CCRKBA . . .
Friday’s slashing spree in the New York City subway underscores the need for immediate reform of city and state concealed carry laws so that honest citizens have the ability to fight back and defend themselves against such viciousness, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
“We know at least three people were violently attacked by several people,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.
Gun Meme of the Day: Life Finds a Way Edition
Innovators gonna innovate.
Continue reading Gun Meme of the Day: Life Finds a Way Edition at The Truth About Guns.
Does a Graduated Step Toward Constitutional Carry Make Sense for Some States?
We the People of the Gun have debated constitutional carry vs. shall-issue for quite some time. The shall-issue debate breaks along the dividing line of a perfunctory NICS check vs. training/testing/qualification requirements. The debate is familiar so there’s no need to go over it again here.
But it’s dawned on me that this isn’t strictly a binary choice: constitutional carry vs. shall-issue. There might be other solutions that are worth considering.
Around the time of the founding (centuries before and decades later) there was a practice of a judge ordering a carrier to obtain a surety to guaranty his keeping the peace.
Economic Study Concludes There’s ‘No Evidence’ That Gun Buybacks Reduce ‘Gun Violence’
By John Miltimore
Shortly before Christmas in 2018, a woman named Darlene voluntarily turned in a 9mm pistol to the Baltimore Police Department. It was just one of about 500 firearms the department collected that day as part of the city’s gun buyback program, which paid citizens somewhere between $25 and $500 in exchange for their firearms and high-capacity magazines.
Darlene, however, had a confession. She was turning in her 9mm, she told a local news reporter, so she could “upgrade to a better weapon.”
Like what?
Troy Industries Will Relocate from Massachusetts to Tennessee
Another prominent gun industry company is abandoning an anti-gun northeastern state for friendlier climes. Firearm and accessory maker Troy Industries has announced that it will be relocating its headquarters and manufacturing operations from West Springfield, Massachusetts to Clarksville, Tennessee.
From clarksvillenow.com . . .
The company is moving to Tennessee in part because of the “changing climate” for the firearms industry in Massachusetts, according to Steve Troy, president and CEO of Troy Industries.
Repeal of Citizen’s Arrest Law Will Endanger the Lives of Georgia’s Citizens
Miguel A. Faria, M.D.
This week Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed into law a bill that made the Peach State the first in the nation to repeal its citizen’s arrest statute.
“Today we are replacing this Civil War-era law, ripe for abuse, with language that balances the sacred right of self-defense of person and property with our shared responsibility to root out injustice and set our state on a better path forward,” Mr Kemp said, as reported by The Hill.
Gun Meme of the Day: Circle Back Edition
I found a great deal, though, so really I saved us money today.
Continue reading Gun Meme of the Day: Circle Back Edition at The Truth About Guns.
Refuse to Use Hate Speech: Taking Back the Language From Gun-Grabbers
by Lee Williams
I was on a good friend’s radio program Sunday night when one of the other guests raised a tremendous point: We need to take back our language from the anti-rights crowd and the legacy media.
Specifically, words like assault weapon, mainstream media, gun violence and many more have been creeping into our vocabulary and – mea culpa – even some of my stories.
NYC Mayor Candidate, Former NYPD Cop Says He’ll Carry a Gun if Elected
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is in denial about the city’s crime. His time as the accidental mayor of Gotham is winding down just as crime has risen, leaving residents scared to walk the streets. Even Times Square is unsafe.
That’s not a standard that’s good enough for mayoral candidate and former cop Eric Adams. In one of the most strict gun control cities in America that’s in one of the most strict gun control states, Adams said he will carry a firearm if elected mayor.
Firearms Expert Ashley Hlebinsky Schools Senators on the Truth About ‘Ghost Guns’
If U.S. senators were hoping to give a lift to the Department of Justice’s proposed rule to redefine a firearm, they underestimated Ashley Hlebinsky.
She’s a historical powerhouse when it comes to guns. Hlebinsky testified before the Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, in a hearing titled: Stop Gun Violence: Ghost Guns. Hlebinsky started by shredding any pretenses of false authority by those using loaded terms and ended her opening statement reminding senators whom they represent.