The Truth About Guns
Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
Updated: 3 weeks 4 days ago
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Flower Shell Edition
I used to know this gardener who was a demon in bed. When those seeds weren’t being planted the gardener taught me some basic lessons about making things grow. (So to speak.) I learned to prepare the soil, spread the seeds evenly and gently cover them with soil. The planting process was gentle, rhythmic and . . . where was I? Right, it was not something I’d attempt via shotgun blast. The dispersal wouldn’t be even enough. I wouldn’t know where all the seeds had landed, so covering them all would be problematic. As would firing off shells into the ground in suburban Austin. Other than that, what could possibly go wrong? Click here for flowershell.com. [h/t DS]
Quote of the Day: The Friends of My Enemy Are Not My Friends Edition
“I made the mistake of reading the comments to the NYT’s article. I had to stop after reading about 15 of them. The comments did not make me nauseous or make my blood boil. They scared the living crap out of me.” JeffR’s comment underneath our post New York Times Notice Sheriff’s Refusal to Enforce Unconstitutional Guns Laws
Daily Digest: Cooking the Books Edition
The image above (click to embiggen) is of what KTVU.com described as a “weapons cache” discovered by police executing a search warrant in Vallejo, California on Friday. The description of the weapons seized is listed as “two assault weapons, two semi-automatic rifles, a shotgun and three semi-automatic handguns.” The shotgun and handguns are gimmes, but which of the other four weapons are the “assault weapons?”
The Range Rover stolen during the carjacking and murder of a man in Millburn, New Jersey was found today in Newark, approximately 10 miles from the site of the shooting. Both suspects in the crime are still a
Homemade Laser Rifle Cooks Pork!
I was talking to Jason at Underground Tactical Arms about the world’s first 3D printed metal gun. [Click here for TTAG's review.] The gun’s manufacturer (Solid Concepts) is based in Austin, along with precision guided rifle manufacturer TrackingPoint. I suggested that Austin has become the silicon valley of firearms. I wondered what kinds of new and different firearms could be created with a 3D printer, given that the $600k machine can produce prototypes in days and create parts that injection molding machines can’t. “You want to talk about revolutionary,” Jason said. “What about a railgun?” Turns out that the University of Texas at Austin’s
Know the Enemy and Know Yourself
The Heller Foundation’s John Johnson writes:
In many cases, the recent spate of MDA (Mothers Demand Action) meetings is exactly what it appears to be – astroturf events rolled out by big money anti-freedom activists like Michael Bloomberg. The motions of these events are set to be on par with Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.), while appealing to the social justice bent of the civil rights movement. However, they are actually corporate sponsored skirmishes; with little, to no true moral framework. The end game is to remove firearms from the public – and they’ll use any tragedy involving guns to get their way. Basically it’s just deception masked as a grassroots movement . . .
All MDA events appeal to raw emotion only, without the tempering balance of reason or logic. Short of calling it communist in it’s approach, several defense rig
Sandy Hook and the Economics of Mass Murder
As TTAG’s resident FFL/industry contributor, I’ve been asked to write a one-year-later story about the tragedy at Sandy Hook as a segment of multi-part articles about the gun industry. Reader discretion is advised. This is an ugly business. Many gun dealers are hesitant to discuss the ugly truth, but I get to blog anonymously and share insights that many of you have come to enjoy. Let me be clear about something up front – this piece is an op-ed and is bound to shock and offend many of you. So if you’ve got the stomach for it, read on . . .
Rolling into the season in 2012 (the gun industry has seasons, hunting season/Christmas namely) the industry had several factors to contend with that I have discussed in the past. Q4 is where we make our money and pay the bills. Many dealers myself included typically post double/triple/quadruple sales volumes from summertime. We run out of stuff because our vendors run ou
Unarmed Ohio Woman Killed by Cop’s Negligent Discharge
Earlier today, we told you about the re-launch of Evolve which wants to be the sine qua non of firearms safety. And who isn’t for firearms safety, right? Though we don’t know what’s on the top of their current to-do list, they may want to consider getting into the remedial training of police officers in the four rules of firearms handling safety. It’s pretty obvious that the Chillicothe, Ohio PD has made an utter hash of it. Of course, whatever good Evolve can do in that area will come too late for Krystal Barrows, but we have to start somewhere, right? . . .
Irresponsible Gun Owner Of The Day: Willie Mitchell
Everybody wants to be Employee Of The Month. Who can resist the allure of reserved, close-in parking and the immortal glory of having your name and photo on the Wall Of Fame? Apparently not Willie Mitchell of Deerfield Beach, Florida. Even though Wal-Mart, his employer, gives none of these laurels to their Employees Of The Month, he completely lost his cool when he lost the award to a rival employee . . .
From the NY Daily News:
Willie Mitchell is accused of firing one round at the woman’s empty vehicle in the bizarre revenge scheme.
The woman told detectives Mitchell argued with her about their workload after she won the prize at the Deerfield Beach store. The award is for bragging rights only, but he was furious and threatened the woman before he stormed out, authorities said.
“I’m going to show you,” he told the woman
TTAG Exclusive: Kirsten Joy Weiss Trick Shot Bondage
I pity the poor fool who ever tried to restrain Kirsten Joy Weiss. This video show her ability to overcome physical impediments to manipulate her gun. (Of which she has many.) More than that, Kay Jay Dubs demonstrated some of her martial arts-based counter-moves during a recent visit to TTAG’s Texas HQ. I’ve got three words for that: don’t go there. And then there’s the whole “if there’s a will there’s a way” deal. Don’t be fooled by Kirsten’s girl-next-door demeanor. Ms. Weiss is one of the most determined and focused individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. And the way she approached that Robinson, holding a SCAR-16 . . . Oops! Did I say too much? Watch this space.
New York Times Notices Sheriffs’ Refusal to Enforce Unconstitutional Gun Laws
The stage is set for a bloody confrontation between gun owners who refuse to cooperate with the post-Newtown gun control laws and law enforcement officials intent on enforcing some states’ draconian, unconstitutional provisions. Not that there are a lot of LEOs who answer to that description . . .
Fifty-two of New York’s 62 counties have passed official resolutions condemning the New York SAFE Act and/or vowing not to implement its provisions. Sheriffs throughout New York have publicly declared that they will not enforce the mandatory “assault weapons” registration, the s
Evolve Re-Launches, Re-Introduces Itself to Gun Owners
When premium pistol purveyor Coonan announced that they’d allied themselves with Evolve, another group that had sprung up in the aftermath of Newtown, we used our considerable Google skillz to try to find out what the then-new-to-us operation was all about. And what we turned up didn’t look good. Based on their Facebook page and website, Evolve appeared to be your standard anti-gun rights operation thinly masking a disarmament agenda behind a poorly articulated message of preventing gun violence. Since then, however, we’ve spent a fair amount of time talking with Rebecca Bond, Evolve’s co-founder, about her reasons for starting the operation and what she hopes to accomplish with it . . .
She’s made a pretty strong case that their original roll-out (handled by people no long
Question of the Day: Do You Use Chamber Flags?
Chamber flags are devices that are designed to be highly visible and alert everyone in the vicinity that your gun’s chamber is empty. They’re required equipment at most competition shooting events, from 3-position smallbore to pro series 3-gun. But they’re just so boring and dreary. They feel too…plain. So I’ve started jazzing my chamber flags up with souvenirs from my other hobbies, just to cheer myself up a little bit. But even though Tapco sells a metric ton of these things a year, I’ve never seen them used outside of a gun show or competition. How ’bout you? Do you use them? Are they good range safety etiquette?
Gun Hero of the Day: Larry Pratt
The Executive Director of Gun Owners of America last got media props from TTAG for his interview with CNN’s doyenne of disarmament, Piers Morgan. In this chin wag with Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace, Larry Pratt frames the gun control debate in terms of self-defense. Which is exactly how it should be. Bonus! In stark contrast with the NRA, Larry slams NICS checks as the thoroughly useless security theater that they are. For telling it like it is with dignity, clarity and class, Larry gets another nod from The Truth About Guns.
Personal Defense Tip: Watch Out for the Midnight Munchies
You’re looking into the eyes–well, almost into the eyes–of a man who really likes tacos. Not in a ‘Get Late At The Bell’ kind of way, or even in a ‘Chuy’s Is The Best Fast Food In The World!’ kind of way. Instead, 28 year-old Adam Kramer allegedly likes tacos (free tacos, anyway) so much that he was apparently willing to go to prison and make a complete fool of himself for a plate full of them. He threatened an waitress with his sword, but she still completely pwned him and he never got his tacos. And now he’s going to prison. But it still should have been a DGU, because that would have prevented the other armed robbery that he attempted just a few minutes later. Happily, nobody got hurt.
Make the jump over to The Truth About Knives for the details.
It Should Have Been a Defensive Gun Use: Short Hills Mall NJ Edition
I’m going to skip around on this one. Let’s start with Millburn Mayor Sandra Haimoff’s comment after learning that an as-yet-unidentified 30-year-old Hudson County man was shot dead during a carjacking at the Short Hills Mall. ”Our police department is out there and I’m sure they’re doing everything that needs to be done. But it is upsetting and it’s unfortunate that this happened.” Yes the Millburn, New Jersey police force are out there, somewhere. Thanks to New Jersey gun laws, the police are, in effect, the only legally armed civilians in the Garden State. And I guess it’s just “unfortunate” that they weren’t on level three of the parking lot when this happened to happen . . .
Quote of the Day: “We Are Going to Confiscate Your Firearms” Edition
“If you do become prohibited, we are going to come confiscate your firearms. But only people who have done something in their life – committed a felony, committed a violent misdemeanor, they are a fugitive from justice or they have been deemed mentally ill and a danger to themselves or others. We need to take action and prevent those people from possessing firearms.” – Director of the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Firearms Steve Lindley quoted in California gun owners warily eye rifle, shotgun database requirement [via sac
NRA Speaks Out of Both Sides of its Mouth on Background Checks
The man on the right is former Congresscritter and DEA and DHS bureaucrat Asa Hutchinson. Asa recently resurfaced as the NRA’s point man for their post-Newtown National School Shield program; a worthy effort that changed not a damn thing. Here he is on CNN, criticizing the Justice Department for not prosecuting people who failed to pass a background check at a gun dealer. At the same time, Asa argues that background checks for private firearms sales are a bad idea because they force rural buyers to drive into town. That and no “criminal or bad actor’s going to go through this process.” The man on the left is Mark Kelly. The former astronaut and Navy man’s no dope. He made mince meat of Asa’s prevarication. The correct answer for the NRA? None. They made this bed, accepting
What’s Wrong With This Picture: Background Checks For Dummies Indeed
I’m not exactly sure when it happened, or even if it’s happened, fully. But at some point the Democrats replaced the Republicans as the “anything to stop crime” party. Yes, yes; I know. The Patriot Act. But there’s no mistaking the fact that the Democrat party and its supporters are leading the charge on gun control. They’re ready, willing and able to sacrifice personal liberty for an illusive ideal of crime prevention. Check the video above. Here’s their official platform position on the subject. . .
We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans’ Second Amendment right to own and use firearms. We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation. We understand the terrible consequences of gun violence; it serves as a reminder that life is fragile, and our time here is limited
Just Another Night On Smith Street
By Chris Hernandez
So there I was, minding my own business, taking a bathroom break at the station. This was late on New Year’s Eve in a small town. I was just a rookie with less than a year on the street. But even so, I knew crap was going to hit the fan at any moment. My shift had started several hours earlier. The first thing I had done was head to the worst part of town and check the crowd. What I saw was a guarantee something bad would happen before long . . .
Every small Texas town has at least one really crappy area. Ours was “100 Smith Street”. On this block stood two tiny falling-apart old houses, about 1200 square feet each, which had been converted into “nightclubs”. The clubs were directly across the street from each other, the only two structures on a trash-strewn, crack-infested, deserted block. And on weekend nights on this very small street, about 400 people would be in and around these two clubs.
The Business of ATF 41P
As many of you know, ATF has a proposed rule-making change under review about NFA transfers to legal entities. The big hubbub is all about how CLEO signatures could be required and it’s the end of the world and you should buy your NFA devices before you can’t any more. Everyone’s saying make your comments known, call your congressperson, etc. What am I doing about it? Absolutely nothing . . .
Okay, I lied.
In fact, I’m doing something more than nothing. I’m doing, as the old song from Steve Miller Band told me to do, I’m taking the money and running. Taking money from every person who thinks they will never get another stamp again after Obama closes the loophole. It’s amazing how much more effective ATF is at selling my products than I am. This past month, I have sold more cans to people freaked