The Truth About Guns

In a recent After Deadline Blog post (Newsroom Notes on Usage and Style) entitled ‘Getting Guns Right,’ the New York Times’ Philip B. Corbett acknowledged something The People of the Gun have known virtually since they could read. He quoted a correction the Times recently ran:

A picture caption on Thursday for a special report about Americans’ relationship with guns referred incorrectly to the gun that an 8-year-old boy used to kill his first turkey. It was a 20-gauge shotgun, not a .20-gauge.

In one sense, it’s a tiny lapse — an unnecessary decimal point. But it’s the type of error that might leave some skeptical readers wondering whether we know what we’re talking about on this subject.

Wait. You mean the Grey Lady has been expoun

Despite the defeat of new gun control laws on the federal level, the antis are still running around proclaiming “nine out of 10 American favor universal background checks.” The stat-based kvetch reminds me of nothing so much as that old advertising tag-line “four out of five dentists recommended sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.” Like the Trident gum come-on, the UBC claim is an attempt to reframe gun control as a socially acceptable, indeed desirable practice. It most assuredly is not. Americans have a natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. Any law—any law—that infringes on that right is wrong and should be resisted. Anyway, what the hell is a Universal Background Check when it’s at home? Well . . .

I tried to explain the concept and its dangers in a post entitled Universal Background Checks for Dummies. [Click

“I work for a private security firm and we are very interested in your product, but I do have some questions. Are they suitable for self defense and home defense? What kind of wound vectors do they produce? As you know, keeping eco friendly in these times is very important for all of us and we are trying to become as eco friendly as possible.” Undisclosed customer enquiry, quoted in Flower Shell’s inventor on his need to spread seeds with a shotgun [via wired.co.uk]

More than a few members of our Armed Intelligentsia reckon they don’t need many bullets in their carry gun. “The average gunfight is three, three, three,” the Rabbi (a.k.a., David Kenik) opines. “Three yards, three seconds, three rounds.” While that adage seems to back up the argument that a relatively low-capacity mouse gun or 1911 is sufficient for self-defense, the Rabbi carries a 16+1 round Springfield XD-9. And a backup revolver. Here’s why . . .

Late Friday night, we broke the news that Kevin Brittingham had prevailed in his lawsuit against the Freedom Group. The interest in that bit of news has been high, from both consumers and people within the industry. Saturday afternoon Kevin gave me a call and wanted to discuss what happened in a little more detail than can be expressed through a screenshot of an email . . .

The lawsuit itself clearly took a toll on Kevin and his family. Starting with being thrown out of a company that Kevin founded, the entire experience has been emotionally draining. “I can’t imagine worse than a big corporation screwing with you and your family,” Kevin said. At the time of his dismissal Kevin was still owed millions of dollars from the sale of Advanced Armament to Remington, plus millions more in back pay and other financial obligations. Freedom Group failed to pay any of that and by the terms of his co

TTAG reader Pascal writes:

United Van Lines has just released their move data. Unsurprisingly, there has been — and continues to be for the most part — a mass exodus from the Northeast. abc.go.com reports: “University of California, Los Angeles economist Michael Stoll said in the United Van Lines’ news release that business incentives, industrial growth and lower costs of living are attracting jobs and people to the West and Southeast.” Why is this gun-related? Those Northeast progressives and gun grabbers are moving to many gun friendly states in search of jobs. They bring themselves, their families and their anti-gun message along with them too. Sooooo if your one of

I have a feeling cops in Malaysia are like cops anywhere. Just sayin’ . . .

I counted 34 separate stories about the Colorado Springs tragedy (Girl, 14, mistaken for burglar, killed by stepfather in Colorado Springs) and five about the Piedmont, South Carolina homeowner who was wounded but shot an intruder who later died (Homeowner Shoots, Kills Suspect In Attempted Home Invasion In Anderson Co). So why is the bad DGU so much more newsworthy?

Since Magpul came out with their 40 round PMAG earlier this year, it was guaranteed that other magazine manufacturers would follow suit and come out with their own 40 round magazines. One of the first overseas knockoffs I’ve been sent is this IK-520 magazine from MWG Industries.

For the most part, yes. On the outside, the magazines appear to be just as structurally sound and well made as any of the second tier magazines I’ve come across. They don’t have the Magpul level of fit and finish, but they’re a far cry

“Molon Labe” Was Uttered By An Arms-Controlling Tyrant newtrajectory.blogspot.com proclaims. The post is interesting and well-researched. But it fails its mission to pull the historical, rhetorical rug from underneath supporters of armed defiance. Sure, the screed provides some interesting if incomplete information about Spartan society. And yes, Baldr Odinson (contributor to our old pal Mikeb302000′s blog) offers a convincing case that the expression was most likely invented post facto. But his dietribe [sic] fails to establish that “gun extremists” who use the expressi

by Alan Brooks

Christmas just got a little merrier for those of us in central Texas with the grand opening of a new outdoor range just south of Austin. The Shooting Ranch welcomed its first customers the day after Christmas with an apparently spectacular machine gun shoot on their demolitions range. I couldn’t make it to see the machine guns, but I drove out the next day to take a look at the facility and to meet with James Stinson, the owner. James is a serial entrepreneur with a unique vision for the 150 acre plot of former cattle pasture that The Shooting Ranch is built on . . .

“I want this to be the Schlitterbahn of shooting,” James said, referring to the famous Texas waterpark. The current four ranges (a 300 yard rifle range,

“I remember giving creative writing assignments to students instructing them to write a page or two on whatever they wanted to talk about. Adam would write ten pages, obsessing about battles, destruction and war. In my years of experience, I have known (redacted) grade boys to talk about things like this, but Adam’s level of violence was disturbing. I remember showing the writings to the Principal at the time. Adam’s creative writing was so graphic that it could not be shared.” – Adam Lanza’s teacher

Kevin Brittingham founded Advanced Armament Corp, which became one of the biggest silencer manufacturers in the world. He later sold the company to Remington Defense, another gun company owned by Freedom Group, but stayed at the helm raking in staggering profits while constantly butting heads with upper management. As the relationship deteriorated Freedom Group fired Kevin from the company he founded. He sued Freedom Group over the firing, a court case in which, thanks to a text message earlier this evening from Kevin confirms, he whipped FG’s ass.

The suit was over a number

“There are only five more days until the new gun laws go into effect for our state, that means a dash to register assault weapons or high capacity magazines,”

The following letter to the Editor was written by the Director of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse Susan Rogers regarding the New York Times article ‘When Right to Bear Arms Includes the Mentally Ill‘:

To the Editor:

As someone who has a mental illness, I was dismayed to read your article about guns and violence. It misses the point, which is that the United States needs much stronger gun control laws for everyone . . .

Although the prevalence of mental health

By Tom in Oregon

Durning the FNS-40 contest I decided to rummage through the safe for an FN-related object. I found what I was looking for and since I knew where its brother was, I called my buddy and got his for a photo session. A few months back, my friend and I were negotiating a deal with a gentleman for a shop full of reloading equipment, components and whatever else the gent was looking to sell. He had several guns set to go on the auction block, too. As my friend had already bought three from him at very reasonable prices, I knew I was in, too . . .

After inspecting all of the Dillon equipment he had, a price was settled upon. We loaded everything up and were walking out the door when the gent said, “reach into one of those boxes.” I did and pulled out a shotgun that looked very familiar, but in 35 years of gun shows and collecting, I had never seen one before.