The Truth About Guns
Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
Updated: 2 days 22 hours ago
Is 6.5 Grendel the New 300 Blackout?
You wait all year to buy ammo in a popular caliber and BANG! another caliber becomes popular while you’re waiting. This time it’s 6.5 Grendel. Wikipedia tells us “the 6.5mm Grendel design goal was to create an effective 200-800 yard AR-15 magazine length loaded cartridge for the AR-15 platform that evoked Anglo-Saxon epic poetry when fired surpassed the performance of the native 5.56 NATO / 223 Remington cartridge.” Et voila! The Hannah Montana of AR cartridges offers a flatter trajectory and greater terminal energy at extended ranges than either the 5.56 or 7.62.” And all you gotta do to take out deer and varmints with 6.5 Grendel up to
OMG! Guns in Cars! At Schools! OMG!
Bush the Elder’s Gun Free School Zones Act was one of the most irresponsible pieces of legislation ever signed into law. Uncle Sam’s decree that Americans’ right to keep and bear arms ends at the school gates is not only unconstitutional, it puts our children in harm’s way. Specifically, the Act prohibits an otherwise law-abiding citizen from bringing a firearm “within a distance of 1,000 feet from the groun
Random Thoughts About Furries and Firearms
everydaynodaysoff.com posted this video of a furry firing a firearm. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, furries dress up in fur-covered costumes and have sex with each other. Or themselves. Or whatever. I’m with the pasta commercial on this one: chef don’t judge. In fact, I reckon Skulblaka’s video is a perfect example of what the framers of the United States Constitution had in mind when they added the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights. Sorta. But let’s start with the Declaration of Independence . . .
Gun control advocates often cite The Declaration of I
Question of the Day: Is Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America A Racist Hate Group?
This pic [via Mike V's Corner] re-labels three posters produced by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mayors Against Illegal Action). Is it a co-incidence that the white kids get the guns? Is it right? Shouldn’t minorities get guns to protect themselves from white racists? In fact, isn’t gun control racist? If voter ID laws are racist because they inhibit poor minority voters’ rights, aren’t gun control laws racist because they inhibit poor minority voters’ gun rights? Which would make any organization promoting gun control a racist hate group. Specifically, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Am I wrong?
Gear Review: 300 Below Tactical Triad Cleaning Kit
300 Below has been in business since 1966, doing primarily cryogenic tempering of car parts, tooling, sporting goods, gun barrels, and the like. Next week, 300 Below will be introducing its new firearms cleaning and lubrication products, all of which are available in a kit called the “Tactical Triad.” TTAG received early notification of this pending product release and, even better, some of the goods to check out. Naturally, I had a couple dirty firearms and a filthy suppressor just itching to be cleaned . . .
The headline product here is PRISTINE cleaning solution. It’s billed as a non-toxic, non-flammable, non-caustic, non-etching, residue-free, reusable, environmentally-friendly, biodegradable solution that removes carbon deposits, greases, and oils, as well as copper foul
LA Candidate for Sheriff Will Issue Concealed Carry Permits – Subject to “Mental Health Evaluations”
Press release from Paul Tanaka, candidate for Sherrif:
(Gardena, CA)- In light of the 9th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruling regarding Concealed Carry Permits in San Diego County, former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka released the following statement:
“Los Angeles County is known as one of most difficult counties in California in which to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon (CCW). Of the 10 million residents currently residing in Los Angeles County, only a few hundred individuals have been issued a CCW permit. I understand the need for caution when allowing civilian residents to legally carry firearms in public . . .
However, as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment I also believe in a person’s right to defend themselves, their families and their homes from possible threats; if it is done in a responsible manner.
As Sheriff, I will follow all appli
Quote of the Day: Hobby Horse Edition
“As I’ve written before, as a nation we seemed to be consumed by this romanticized narrative of reaching for a gun to defend home and hearth from a bad guy. The reality is, an armed society is a dangerous society — to itself, above all others. Homicide, suicide, accidental shootings — is that an acceptable social cost for the rights of gun enthusiasts to pursue a hobby? - Scott Martelle, For women, guns in the home prove especially deadly [at latimes.com]
Daily Digest: Took A Real Shot Edition
Aero Precision Inc. floated this on their Facebook page a few days ago. Here’s the video where they dumped a bunch of dirt on it, shook it out and fired it. Would operate with? [h/t ENDO] Read on . . .
There was a very brief Lockdown of the Day™ at Michigan State University yesterday. About 1 p.m. students and staff received a text message warning them of
Arrests Swell Size of Andrews, TX Open Carry March
The recent open carry march in Andrews, Texas follows a similar even a month ago. Thanks to two arrests linked to legal open carry, the demonstration doubled in size. No charges have yet been filed against the OC’ers; they remain in legal limbo. James Franklin of the Midlands/Odessa CATI has told me that they’re applying for several more permits for more marches to educate the people of Andrews about their Constitutional rights . . .
Over 80 people participated in the February 15 march, in a small town near the Texas panhandle.
Illinois FOID License Holders Up 33% Since 2009
From a bunker somewhere deep beneath Springfield…. No, this isn’t another ‘Downfall’ takeoff. It’s much better. What you see above are almost-complete statistics for Illinois Firearm Owner Identification cards applied for and issued over the last six years. This was sent to us by an unimpeachable source who we know has access to the the data. You remember all of those whistling-past-the-gravyard pronouncements from those on the anti-gun left? . . .
The ones claiming that the boom in firearm sales since 2008 was a result of a relative few
Smith Shipping Cali-Compliant SDVE Pistols
As semi-auto pistols gradually fall off the Golden State’s yes-you-may-buy-one list, Smith & Wesson announced today that they’re now shipping Cali-compiant SD9 VE and SD40 VE handguns (see Tyler’s review of the SD9 VE here). In a circumstance that probably vexes The Nation’s Most Attractive Attorney General, Smith’s SDVEs were certified as A-OK prior to the new microstamping requirements. And as long as you like them as they are – Smith can’t a
California Microstamping Law: What Goes Around Comes Around
“Notice there were quite a few revolver introductions this year?” Mark Keefe [not shown] asks over at americanrifleman.com. “There’s a reason for that.” That would be the Golden State’s microstamping law, which affects semi-automatic pistols (which spit out shell casings) but not revolvers (which don’t). Non-microstamping firearms are dropping off the approved handgun list like lemmings jumping into the sea (e.g. all new and slightly imp
IL Senate President: Pictures of Guns Scar Kids for Life
Don Harmon is the president of the Senate in Illinois, and boy does he hate the idea of citizens carrying guns. Even with the entire judicial system informing him that yes he really does need to respect all of the amendments to the Constitution and not just the fashionable ones, Don believes that it is his job to make it as hard and as tedious as possible for any one of his constituents to carry a gun. It’s an opinion that he made clear in a recent article, and which I will enjoy ripping apart for the next few minutes. Join me, won’t you? . . .
Don starts off spouting the party line that Illinois is being forced – forced! – to adopt a law that will turn their state into the wild west, complete with blood flowing in the streets.
With a judicial gun to our heads, the Illinois
Maybe Columnists Should Undergo Mandatory Factual Safety Education Before They’re Issued a Laptop
The ignorance of most members of the dead tree media never ceases to amaze. Take, for example, columnist Winston Jones who unleashed this little gem: ”I’m not sure why there’s so much emotion behind the Second Amendment. There’s never been an effort in the United States, that I know about, of the government to take away citizens’ guns. They are regulated so that felons can’t legally possess them” . . .
Some cities have tougher gun laws than others, but nowhere do I see the Second Amendment in danger. … I believe every state should have a gun law that includes gun safety education. Anybody who gets a carry permit should have to demonstrate they know how to safely and properly use their firearms.
Well Win
ATF Report: AR-15 Manufacture Doubled From 2011 To 2012
Because we’re a few months into 2014, the ATF has just released their annual “Annual Firearms Manufacturing And Export Report” for the calendar year…2012. It’s a year late and a dollar short, so we’re lucky that good news can (in this case) wait . . .
So what’s the good news? It’s that the manufacture of AR-15 pattern rifles more than doubled from CY 2011 to CY 2012, to a paper number of over 825,000. I say ‘paper’ number because that 825K doesn’t include any AR-pattern pistols like this PWS MK107.
Question of the Day: How Important Is Piers Morgan’s Departure?
TTAG and our Facebook page lit up last night when we announced that CNN chat show host and notorious anti-gunner Piers Morgan had retreated from the electronic field of battle. Coming on the heels of the 9th Circuit Court’s dismissal of California’s “good cause” concealed carry permitting provision, you’d be forgiven for thinking gun rights are ascendent. In many way, in many places, they are. In many ways, in many places, they aren’t. The storm clouds are gathering in Connecticut and New York’s SAFE Act is profoundly unsafe The courts have rubber-stamped these and other gun control regimes. And anti-gun pols keep getting voted into power. So what’s more important: cultural victories like
Ammo Review: American Eagle Suppressor .22 LR & 9mm
It’s been almost two years since I moved back to Washington from an 11-year hiatus in California. The instant 10% “raise” due to the lack of a state income tax was great, but the real moving present to myself was a suppressor. It took me a couple months to get everything squared away here, then another 10 to actually take possession of my new toy once I wrote that $200 check to the ATF. It’s no exaggeration to say that I then spent the last eight months looking for a .22 LR load that will reliably cycle the action of a semi-automatic rifle and remain subsonic. Despite the scarcity of .22LR these days, I was able to find and test a handful of loads…and none of them worked. They were either too weak to cycle the action, too non-standard to cycle the action, or powerful enough to cycle but therefore reliably supersonic. Enter American Eagle’s “Suppressor” ammo . . .
NY Post: FN FiveseveN an “Armor Piercing, Bad-Ass” Gun
In the grand tradition of Plaxico Burress, another prominent Big Apple sports figure – Nicks guard Raymond Felton – has been nabbed on a weapons charge. And in the grand tradition of New York media outlets, nypost.com put their vast knowledge of firearms (did you know the FiveseveN is a 28mm handgun?) on display in reporting the incident. “Knicks struggling point guard Raymond Felton allegedly pointed a huge, armor-piercing handgun at his estranged wife during an earlier domestic dispute, sources said. Ariane Raymondo-Felton - who recently filed for divorce – brought Felton’s Belgian-made pistol, an FNH 5.7×28, to the 20th Precinct on the Upper West Side . . . .”
Apparently not everyone loves Raymond. Felton allegedly broke rule number two &#