The Truth About Guns

You may recall our recent Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day post on New York State Homeland Security Commissioner Jerome Hauer. A reporter reported that Mr. Hauer drew his GLOCK and used its laser to enhance a Powerpoint presentation at a “highly secure state emergency operations center below State Police headquarters.” The kicker: the Commish’s laser lasered several members of a Swedish delegation. Let’s hope Mr. Hauer’s Homeland Security team members are better at damage control than the boss. “Spokesmen for Hauer and the governor’s office had declined to answer questions about the incident for weeks b

By Ralph

It takes time to get the bugs out of a new product. This is true in the world of guns, cars, computer software, and any complicated consumer or industrial product. Hop into the TARDIS with me and I’ll illustrate my point. In 1983, I bought a BMW 318i. It was a brand new model in its first production year (nominally 1984, but they released the cars early). Mine was number 54 in the production run and probably arrived on the first boat from Bremen, which should have been enough of a warning . . .

The car got a lot of attention from car guys, just plain guys and the occasional attractive person of the feminine persuasion. It also got much unwanted attention from the local constabulary when I depressed the long, skinny pedal a bit too aggressively.

While my driving experience was ten kinds of fun, my ownership experience was not trouble-free. There was an air hose that kept workin

According to 12 News an unnamed man was cited by Beaumont, Texas police on Saturday while standing in front of a gun store and wearing a banana suit…with an AK slung across his back. Nothing to see here, officers: the man was working for the store’s owner. Notice I said cited, not arrested: the man was also waving a placard with an arrow, directing customers to the ‘Grand Re-Opening’ sale for the Golden Triangle Tactical store. This open display of commerce apparently violates a Beaumont municipal ordinance, which bans soliciting business while on or alongside a roadway . . .

The tropical fruit hawker was also questioned about his rifle (duh), which was equipped with a 50-round drum ma

My review of the new Remington R51 was fairly comprehensive. So comprehensive that RF decided that the text and photos comparing the R51 to other, relatively small carry guns was TMI. In particular, I wanted to compare the size and characteristics of the R51 to two handguns: the iconic GLOCK 19 and my Commander size 1911. So, let’s do it . . .

R51 sitting atop a GLOCK 19

The R51 has a slightly less chunky profile than the Glock 19, and, being a single stack gun, it’s slightly slimmer as well. By “sligh

Is your non-suppressed AR or AK just not loud enough for your tastes? Are you tired of your shooting sessions not attracting enough attention from angry neighbors and sullen LEOs? Ares Armor and Snake Hound Machining have the answer to this question. And if you couldn’t hear the question, it’s probably because you’re already deaf . . .

The descriptively-monikered ‘Loudener’ is a single-chamber muzzle brake that doesn’t really give a crap about recoil reduction. It’s designed for only one purpose: maximum muzzle blast. As a free side-benefit, it also maximizes muzzle flash from your SBR, AR or AK pistols.

Here it is in action on an AK ‘Draco’ pistol. These already compete with the Mosin-Nagant M44 carbine as pe

American Bar Association and Office of the Mayor of Philadelphia
Present
Taking Aim at Gun Violence: The Myth and Meaning of the Second Amendment

Please join us on March 6, 2014, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m., at the National Constitution Center for an in-depth discussion of current Second Amendment law and other developments in the fight to reduce gun violence in our community. This complimentary program will include the latest developments in the legal, legislative and public health fields, with experts from each area available for question and answer sessions . . .

• Opening Remarks

James Silkenat, President, American Bar Association

• Public Health Perspectives

Jon Vernick, John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy & Research

Susan Sorenson, Firearm

To hear the dead-tree writers tell it, the Remington R51 is the greatest thing since Gaston Glock’s wundergun emigrated to the U.S. Over at American Rifleman, Mark Keefe extols the R51′s virtues without mentioning a single drawback. Guns & Ammo’s write-up is similarly glowing; the R51 got the author to “see the light” about compact nines. The R51 sure looked nice from the spec sheet. TTAG wasn’t on the guest list to Big Green’s all-expenses-paid junket in the desert to test Stage One guns, and Remington packed up the R51s at Media Day of SHOT Show before any writers

Señor Funker Tactical’s got it goin’ on: helmet, beard, thigh holster, the lot. And man, is he quick! Nice work but . . . I’m no fan of the blink-and-you-miss-it gun disarm video genre. The videos always start with the bad guy standing just in front of our hero, gun pointed at the good guy’s head, just inches away. One, two, three, go! The disarm is as clean, fast and surgical as an A-10 airstrike. Only A-10 strikes aren’t always that clean and armed assaults are entirely unpredictable. If nothing else, both the good guy and bad guy are in motion. For another, most armed assaults are ambush attacks. While there’s nothing wrong with learning gun disarm techniques [click here for a krav maga video with some helpful advice] the overall principle is what’s important: speed, surprise and violence of action. Mindset beats tools and technique. You don’t

The National Rifle Association is gradually moving away from its not-entirely-undeserved rep as a repository of OFWGs (Old Fat White Guys). The gun rights org’s decision to hire YouTube sensation Colion Noir as an official NRA spokesguy marked a sea change in the NRA’s modern marketing efforts. While we await a female African-American NRA front-of-the-house commentator (not to mention a Hispanic and openly gay team member), it’s important to realize that the NRA is reflecting the trend towards gun rights inclusivity (a.k.a., diversity), not creating it. You can see it at any urban gun range: men and women of color exercising their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. You can read it in our comments section. But you won’t see it or hear it in the mainstream celebration of Black History Month. Shame. As always, it’s a long road to freedom.

“If he had left his firearm in the car, we wouldn’t be here today. This would have never happened.” Assistant state attorney Manny Garcia, quoted in  Florida Man Is Denied Bail in Killing at a Movie Theater [via nytimes.com]

Texas federal prosecutors took a bite out of crime last week, when a former ‘McGruff The Crime Dog’ actor named John R. Morales was sentenced to 16 years in prison for drugs and weapons charges. Morales was paid to appear in a costume like this one as McGruff The Crime Dog, giving crime-prevention speeches and tips to children. His kibbles, er, troubles all started in 2011 when he was pulled over for speeding. . .

This traffic stop wouldn’t end with a ticket, though, because Morales had stupidly left the diagrams of his indoor marijuana grow operations sitting on the front seat of his car. After a police dog (a real police dog) alerted for the presence of drugs, officers searched the car and obtained a search warrant for Morales’ home.

There they discovered a two-room Among the ‘arsenal’ seized by police were 27 guns, 9,000 rounds of ammo, and a grenade launcher. I’d call that a &#821

The uneasy peace in Mexico’s Michoacán region was shattered last week when Zacán villagers discovered the severed heads of four residents in plastic bags left on a small terrace near the local church. [borderlandbeat.com pieced together a report from Facebook posts.] The Knights Templar cartel killed these innocents to remind the Mexican freedom fighters who’s in charge – and it ain’t federal troops (seen standing near the dumped body parts, in the picture after the jump). Zacán’s not far from Tingüindín. Two days two days previous, security forces discovered a mass grave in Tingüindín containing at least 20 bodies. And now . . .

The vigilante “self-defense” groups in Mexico’s Michoacán state on Satur

Eagle-eyed TTAG reader TF spotted a link to a U.S. Postal Service Solicitation for Assorted Small Arms Ammunition. It’s actually a pre-solicitation notice; the feds won’t tell applicants (or inquisitive journos) the calibers or amounts until the official solicitation is released. We did learn that the ammo’s for the “standard needs of the Postal Inspection Service and Postal Police.” The main reason that we bring this to your attention: to highlight the recently defeated attempt to strike down t