The Truth About Guns

In the comments on Nick’s post about Franklin Armory’s new gas-operated .17 WSM AR-15, I played “Debbie Downer” on the likelihood of seeing a high capacity, double-stack magazine for the rifle. Why? Well, it’s not easy to get a rimmed cartridge to reliably feed from a box magazine in a semi-automatic firearm in the first place, let alone from a double-stack mag. End up with one rim behind the next and you’re clearing a jam. “Crashbbear” responded, “tell that to Kel Tec’s PMR 30.” Good point. There are actually two unique features in the PMR-30 mags that prevent feeding issues. Let’s have a look…

First, let me just preempt comments pointing out that other magazine-fed semi-autos chambered for rimmed cartridges exist. They do, yes

The Freedom Group is not TTAG’s BFF. We weren’t invited to Front Site to test Stage 1 (pre-production) versions of Remington’s new carry pistol, the R51. When I had a look at the R51 on the Show floor, all that agita counted for nothing. Nothing I saw at Remmy’s booth disabused me of the notion that Big Green’s fashioned a game-changing carry pistol. It’s not just the R51′s price (MSRP $389), caliber (9mm), capacity (7+1), concealability, extremely low bore axis (the Pedersen “hesitation locked” breech action reduces muzzle flip), all metal construction (reduces felt recoil), or female-friendliness (easy racking slide). It’s all of it. Not since the .32 caliber Colt 1903 has there been such a seemingly perfect combination of characteristics for everyday carry. I say s

A definite highlight of Media Day was running two mags of 5.56 full auto through the sub 6-pound Daniel Defense MK18. This excellent little rifle features a 10.3-inch cold hammer forged barrel (1-7 rh twist). The new Daniel Defense furniture on this rifle is pretty nice as well – it’s very ergonomic and features soft touch rubber overmoulding.  It feels softer and more “grippy” than the Magpul furniture I’ve been running on my AR . . .

Th

Flying back from Vegas, I found myself sitting next to someone who doesn’t own a handgun but wants to. Again. Seriously, this happens to me all the time. These newbies think that buying a gun is like finding Nemo. I mean Neo. There is The One. If they know something about guns, they fully expect GLOCK to be The One Gun To Rule Them All. Which it is, sometimes. Here’s my two-step process to guiding people to the right gun . . .

1. What do you want the gun for?

A) Concealed carry
B) Home defense
C) Target practice/range fun

If the first time buyer wants a gun for concealed carry, I recommend they pocket-carry a hammerless revolver: a 

After spending four days walking up and down the aisles at the SHOT Show, we’re happy to report that the whole zombie green thing seems to pretty much be dead. On the other hand, we did see a few manufacturers promoting guns adorned in “arctic white” stocks, and scope manufacturers such as Schmidt & Bender offering scopes finished in white. And, as Chris already posted, Tapco is producing AR furniture in white. Will this be a new trend, or is white just the color of the month? More pics of the limited edition Steyr AUG stock after the jump . . .

Quite why an image of such inescapable beauty would be derided by a commentator, I have no idea. Oh wait. I do. The image is in a gallery of gun photos published in The Land of Hope and Glory, a country so hoplophobic they call their fastest trains high speed rail service (instead of bullet trains). “Obviously only for balance I think it would be also informative to see in detail the beauty of the results of these bullets in any motion you like on the previously living targets,” toywithwords opines, his comment dripping with Ye Olde sarcasm. Hello? This is the U.K.’s right wing newspaper. Sigh. There’s naught as queer as folk. Click

“Many gearheads will remember that the 1970s-era Dodge Dart‘s claim to fame was that its motor was so durable (though not necessarily powerful) that one could shoot bullets into the engine block,” green.autoblog.com recalls. “Decades later, Toyota has taken a page out of that testing process. With some industry members and analysts questioning both the viability and

“As we have seen in the last year, grass roots support for the rights of gun owners has repeatedly trumped big-money campaigns funded by people such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others who agree with Weinstein. As long as the political left and its Hollywood ATM machines keep showing their contempt for the Constitution, the NRA has little to fear from Harvey Weinstein or Meryl Streep.” – Jonathan S. Tobin, Guns, Hollywood Hypocrisy, and the NRA [at commentarymagazine.com]

An eagle-eyed reader found this little gem at rcmp-grc.gc.ca: “The Firearms Internet Investigations Support (FIIS) Unit provides a range of Internet support services, both in the firearm applicant screening process and directly to front-line police officers. The CFP FIIS gathers information from a variety of open sources and, when potentially criminal activities involving firearms are detected, the information is forwarded to the police of jurisdiction for further investigation. In 2012, the CFP FIIS unit screened 2,793 firearms licence applicants and forwarded 55 follow-up reports, regarding high-risk applicants, to CFOs. In addition, the FIIS unit generated a number of files for police investigation and identified poten

“A billboard touting assault rifles as ‘Pure American’ as baseball and apple pie is stirring up controversy,” myfoxphilly.com reports. “Thousands of cars pass by the billboard in Chicago every day alongside a giant rifle is the American flag and Second Amendment in one corner and the Christian fish and the Statue of Liberty in the other. Slide Fire, the company behind the advertisement, is promoting how its product can effectively modify an assault rifle from semi to fully automatic.” Huh? It looks to me like Slide Fire<

There are many likely contributors to the fact that Utah has had zero school-related shootings. Utah is one of the states that has the least restrictions on Second Amendment rights in the nation. It’s one of the few that doesn’t forbid concealed carry permit holders from carrying their personal defensive firearms in schools. Utah has very little crime, with one of the lowest homicide rates in the country. And as stated in this article from ksl.com, it’s likely that when you are in Utah, someone near you has a concealed carry permit . . .

Pedersen believes the fact the state has so many gun-friendly laws and concealed weapons permit holders may actually be a deterrent to these types of rampages. The shooter doesn’t know what he’s up against.

“Odds are your neighbor, your person that you

ShootingtheBull410 writes:

It’s not a vest in a case. It’s a vest that is a case. A simple unzip, throw it over your head, fix a couple of buckles (practice!) and you’re protected in a hurry. It’s ELSA (Emergency Life Saving Armor). [ED: Born Free. Geddit?] When I saw it, the clever rig was loaded with DKX Level IIIA armor plates. It can also fit any industry-standard sized plates. In briefcase configuration, it’s completely nondescript. A paramedic, security guard or SHTF-type carrying ELSA could be completely incognito. Without armor or spare mags the vest case scenario weighs two pounds; the recommended DKX plates weigh just a pound each. MSRP is $449.

The final court decision has been issued in the case of Kevin Brittingham’s lawsuit against Freedom Group and Remington over his sudden firing a couple years back, and it’s a way better read than I expected. Not only is it a complete and total smackdown against Remington, but it was so entertaining that I found myself chuckling at times. The full test is available for download here, but for those who don’t want to wade through all 117 pages of brilliantly written legal analysis I’ll try to summarize . . .

Kevin Brittingham founded AAC, and his success was due in part to the culture that the company cultivated. They even went so far as to give silencers to peop

“The full coalition members roster is no longer posted on the Mayors Against Illegal Guns [MAIG] website,” David Cordrea points out at examiner.com, “and the disappearance happened right after Gun Rights Examiner questioned why Michael Bloomberg was still listed for New York City and pointed out that his successor, Bill de Blasio, had not yet committed to joining the group.” David reckons the removal of the list of MAIG mayors is down to political antagonism. Or simple site maintenance. I reckon MAIG’s finally figured out that it’s not

This police body-cam video shows Coeur d’Alene [Idaho] Police Officer Spencer Mortensen ordering Eric Byron Johnston to drop two knives before shooting him. [Click here for spokesman.com's story.] Yes, the Tueller Drill tells us that there’s precious little time to shoot a quick-moving assailant. But Mr. Johnston doesn’t appear to be rushing Officer Mortensen. More to the point, why didn’t the officer retreat? Couldn’t the cop have backed out and waited for some non-lethal resolution? Nope. As our commentators point out below, retreating would have exposed the officer to additional danger. Suicide by cop? Mentally unhinged? Or just plain dumb? Either way, our condolences to both the family of the perp and the policeman who ended his life.

The good folks at Gemtech are stepping up their game with their new titanium G-Core suppressors.  These solid two-piece cans are the result of tons of research using the latest computational fluid dynamic (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) software. While all that may sound rather geeky, the results are hard to beat: tough-as-nails, full-auto rated, user serviceable cans at a reasonable price . . .

“If I sound emotional, it’s because I have people threatening my kid. It’s because I have people threatening to kill me right now [that] I’m having to talk to the FBI and have private security to keep my children from being skinned alive and shot at.” Hunter Corey Knowlton quoted in Winner of black rhino hunting auction: My $350,000 will help save the species [via cnn.com]

A Houston, Texas gun range (not pictured) has filed suit against the city to avoid being shut down over what it calls an “antiquated ordinance” requiring gun ranges to have steel bullet traps. Top Gun of Texas has a state of the art rubber bullet trap, installed during construction in 2009 by Action Target of Utah. Since then, the range has passed annual inspection and had its permit approved every year until now, when they were advised their permit would not be issued because they were operating out of compliance with the 40-year-old city law. The range points out that “the state of the art in the 1960s is antiquated today. The old-style bullet trap detailed in the ordinance worked by firing a bullet into a steel plate pointed downward at a 45-degree angle. The lead bullet would hit the steel plate, disintegrate, and fall into pieces on the sand pile below. We have since come to realize that inhaling lead particles is not a good thing. That is why the rubberized system is now th

A “ghost gun” is a firearm that isn’t registered with the government. Especially and specifically modern sporting rifles made from so-called “80 percent lower receivers”: parts that do NOT have to be registered as firearms with the ATF. There are, of course, federal rules for these guns. You can not, for example, sell them to others. Nor can you pass them on to your progeny. But is that good enough for California’s civilian disarmament extremists (a redundant term but there it is)? Nope. The Golden State gun grabbers have introduced SB 808 to force these “ghost guns” into their regulatory maw. Or, if you prefer, to turn their legal owners into criminals. Gun rights advocates are organizing opposition but how do you defend “untraceable guns”? By saying that guns shouldn’t be traceable, to gu

Second amendment supporters at Arizona capitol in 2013

A recent poll from the Seattle Times ran through the blogosphere with decidedly positive results for Second Amendment activists. In spite of splitting 2A supporters with two answers, the total came at 79% in favor of a strict reading of the Second Amendment (no infringements) and 18 percent in favor of the status quo. Only 7% were for increased restrictions on second amendment rights, even worded as a “background check” measure . . .