The Truth About Guns

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Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
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Daily Digest: Divine Intervention Edition

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 21:00


Indiana pastor Carl Sanders walked into a Dollar General in Evansville Friday night to find a masked man holding an unknown object wrapped in plastic and demanding money from the clerk. When the man turned toward Rev. Sanders and ordered him to the ground, Sanders pulled his own (actual) gun and ordered the would-be robber to the ground. The

CT Memorandum of Lies Defends Disarmament. Help Us Pull it to Pieces!

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 20:00

Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy has filed a Memorandum of Law asking the U.S. District Court to dismiss legal action against Bill 1160: ”An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety.” The memo argues that “the challenged Act does not implicate or burden Plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights, does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is not unconstitutionally vague in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The opening paragraph is a thinly veiled tissue of lies . . .

Deaths and injuries caused by firearms in the United States each year are epidemic.

There are over 31,000 firearm-relat

New from Advanced Ballistic Concepts: Multiple Impact Bullet

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 19:00

You remember my APB asking for the loan of an Austin-area Remington 870. I can now reveal my hidden agenda: I need an 870 to test Advanced Ballistics Concepts’ Multiple Impact Bullet. As you can see above, the round require its own choke tube—if you want to improve the performance of your smooth barrel shotgun. ABC offers three chokes tubes that cover 95 percent of all existing scatterguns. But this is the one they sent us. Thanks to our readers’ generosity we’ll soon be testing 12-gauge Multiple Impact Bullet ammo on, well, isn’t it obvious? Our new friend and ammo-testing contributor ShootingtheBull410 will also provide more scientific evaluation. And then we’re going to celebrate with a Remington 870 Schützenfest! But before all that a little history . . .

I first ran i

Medium is Extremely Anti-Gun

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 18:00

 

Medium is the brainchild of Twitter founder and billionaire-to-be Evan Williams. I think it’s supposed to be a blend of Twitter, Reddit and a blog. Or maybe Pinterest, Digg and Tumblr. It’s impossible to say right now. At the moment, only a small group of invitees can create content. “What we’re doing is ordering things by our best guess of the relative quality/interestingness of the different items,” Ev avers, “according to the people who have seen them.” Medium contains a section called

TTAG Exclusive: Kirsten Joy Weiss Shoots Upside Down

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 17:00

Kirsten Joy Weiss doesn’t know the name of the Pilates pose from which she shot the balloon in the video above. “All I know is that my Pilates instructor told me to do it, and before he could say ‘slowly’ I was in it,” Kirsten texted me. “Freaked him out cuz he can’t do it. I’m terrible at some other stuff though.” Having grilled Ms. Weiss on her expertise on a range of activities I can report that she sucks at hypnotizing race car drivers. But only because she hasn’t learned how. Nor am I going to teach her, lest TTAG’s resident sharp shooter “convince” a hot shoe to let her fire her gun from a NASCAR racer at full chat. On second thought . . .

Eli Meir: Why I Broke Shabbat to Go to the Alamo Open Carry Rally

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 16:00

I was pleased to run into a fellow member of the tribes in San Antonio at the Open Carry rally. In the video above, Eli Meir mentions the Holocaust when talking about the life-or-death importance of gun rights. Good for him. Good for all us. Despite the unimaginable scale of that slaughter, Jews don’t have a monopoly on suffering; all humans have a history of systemic persecution in their past. Nor do Jews have exclusive rights to the words “never again.” It means the exact same thing to a lot of people, especially those who appreciate the history of the Alamo, where two Jews died defending the mission from the Mexican Army.

Are You Into Leather? You Should Be

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 15:00

By Jack Furr

The following information about leather gear (holsters, belts, magazine pouches) and other ancillary gear of the concealed carry permit holder as well as the professional law enforcement officer has come to the author over a 20+ year career in law enforcement and training LEOs, military and civilian personnel. Much of this time was spent while working at several prominent training facilities within the U.S. In Arizona I worked alongside a man whom I consider iconic in holster design and development…Mr. Bruce Nelson. When time permitted, we talked about these designs, the materials they were made of, how it enhanced draw performance, security, the ability to re-holster one-handed, leathers that were strong, durable and light. It was an important education in what constitutes a professional carry system by a professional law enforcement officer, holster user and superb holster craftsman . . .

There are realities that must be faced when you venture into the area of armed c

The Guns of the Texas Alamo Gun Rights Rally

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 14:00

The rally at the Alamo in San Antonio Saturday was all about the right to carry a long gun openly, and naturally there were some pretty nice looking guns on display. And in some cases, pretty nice looking people who were holding the guns on display. See: above, a young woman who styles herself as Molly Pitcher and was carrying a CMMG AR-15. Make the jump for more pictures . . .

 

Illinois Legislators Try to “Dismantle” Concealed Carry Law

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 13:00

The Illinois State Rifle Association has sent out an email blast warning of new bills designed to denude The Land of Lincoln’s freshly-minted concealed carry law. And trumpeting three bills that would reduce the burden on law-abiding citizens seeking to exercise their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. They are . . .

HB3646 – DANGEROUS BILL – Bans Concealed Carry in any restaurant that has alcoholic beverages on the menu. Drastically reduces your choices on when and how to protect yourself. This bill is a foot in the door to create a growing list of places where you will be prohibit

Question of the Day: More Guns Less Quality?

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 12:00

 

TTAG reader MJ writes:

I work at a SMALL gun shop in eastern Wyoming, and we have had numerous issues arise in the past two or three months concerning problems with brand new firearms that seemed to be overlooked when leaving the factory.  Such issues include: crooked buffer tube on S&W M&P AR, dust cover that wouldn’t close on a Ruger SR-556 piston AR (not a big deal, but still), all the compact XD’s we just had to ship back due to recall, and earlier I believe I read something about a recall on the S&W Shield.  We obviously attribute this to the mass surge in firearms purchasing this year, which in turn relates to ramped up production and a lack of tight quality control.  Are we, being a small gun shop, receiving batches of less closely examined firearms? Or are many dealers noticing this? Thanks. Keep up the good work.

BREAKING: Shots Fired at Nevada Middle School, 2 Reported Dead

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 11:37

According to the most thinly-sourced CNN report of all time – and that’s saying something – police have responded to a report of shots fired at a Sparks, Nevada middle school. ABC News (who posts an actual photo of the school) reports that the suspect “has been neutralized.” Which means he’ll be described as a slavering, blood thirsty, card carrying Tea Partier and NRA life member. At least initially, until someone who actually knows something talks to the press. Here we go again.

UPDATE: nydailynews.com reports,

Gun Review: Volquartsen Snake-Fluted Barrel Rifle

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 11:00

When the wind dies down in the west, you grab the opportunity. You don’t waver, you don’t put it off ‘til tomorrow, you don’t wish it was warmer–you go. That’s why when I looked out of my snow feathered and ice crusted window to see if it was a good day for testing, the answer was yes. The crystallized pine branches weren’t moving — no wind — and thats all I needed to see. Fast forward to the range . . .

Two foot snow drifts were the only obstacles between the target and me. Heck, 50 yards isn’t that far. And I wasn’t about to wait for a “better” day. Warming up the barrel with a few shots, I got in a number of groups before the sun set. My breath hung heavy in front of me, exhaled in a relieved smile. The groups matched the test group beautifully, and the gun performed well.

This is How Anti-Gunners See The People of the Gun

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 10:00

 

After attending the open carry rally at the Alamo, I scanned the nets for accounts of the event. Most of the news stories were reasonably fair if editorially unbalanced. (Six hundred-plus pro-gun attendees and a dozen Moms Demanding Action across town and guess who gets “equal” time?) I found the real after-action action in the comments section underneath the articles. usnews.nbcnews.com‘s Texas gun owners stage rally at the Alamo garnered well over a thousand comments. Scanning the battlefield in my flameproof trousers I found this dietribe [sic] by Zen609 particularly in

Quote of the Day: Go Ahead and Own One Edition

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 08:00

“You can have guns for hunting. You can have them to ward off Mexican drug lords or whoever is going to storm into your house. Keep them there, in a locked safe. And if we by chance ever need a well-regulated militia for a revolution or zombie apocalypse, by god, we’re going to be really happy you were born with a micro-penis.” – Matt Bors, Dear Gun Nuts [via medium.com] [h/t A-RA]

Obama’s New EPA Regulations Force Last Lead Smelter in USA to Close

Mon, 10/21/2013 - 07:00

According to TFB, the final source for lead in the United States will be forced to shut down thanks to the new EPA standards that the Obama administration is mandating. Apparently the facility would cost $100 million to bring up to code, and the company that runs it would rather strip the site and sell it than spend the money to refurbish it. From STL Today . . .

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the company “made a business decision” to shut down the smelter instead of installing pollution control technologies needed to reduce sulfur dioxide and lead emissions as requ

AR-15 Rifle Choices

Sun, 10/20/2013 - 20:00

Jim Golden writes:

USA --(Ammoland.com) –  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The AR-15 market is on fire. In my last post I talked about current AR-15 market trends. Long gone are the days of only ABC AR-15 choices, for ARMALITE, Bushmaster or COLT. As of autumn 2013, there are almost countless AR-15 product choices available on the market. Even still, almost daily there seem to

The True Cost of Buying a Handgun

Sun, 10/20/2013 - 18:00

By Rob Aught

Sticker shock. Anyone who has ever shopped for a car knows what it is. I was somewhat surprised to find out it applies to firearm purchases as well. Fortunately, when I went to buy my first firearm someone was kind enough to warn me that just buying a gun is not the end of what you need. Buying a firearm by itself is like buying a computer without a keyboard, monitor, and mouse. Yes, you now have a computer, but it’s worthless for anything more than an expensive paperweight . . .

Now, if you’re an experienced shooter, this article may not be for you. You may have all the whizbangs and doo-dads you need and going into a store to buy a new firearm is all you have to do. This is largely for people who are new to guns and I’m going to provide a template for planning your purchase and give a specific example. I am going to focus on handguns because

Random Thoughts About Hoplophobia in San Antonio

Sun, 10/20/2013 - 16:00

 

At first I thought the Mom from Moms Demand Action was just being a bitch. When I asked her politely if we could talk for a moment she point blank refused. Tersely. Aggressively. She wouldn’t even tell me her name. This after spending twenty-minutes hanging around with an Al-Jezeera reporter at the back of the crowd at the Alamo gun rights rally, and another ten minutes answering questions on camera for a nationwide TV audience. Checking her pin-prick pupils and remembering her extremely stilted performance in front of the camera, I backed off . . .

When she unknowingly dropped a paper on the ground, I slowly moved forward, picked it up and handed it to her. This minor act of gallantry had the expected but nonetheless welcome effect

New York City Ends Seven Day “Murder Lull”

Sun, 10/20/2013 - 14:00

“The first killing occurred at 6 p.m. on Friday in the South Bronx,” nytimes.com reports. “Two friends were standing in front of 680 Tinton Avenue near the John Adams Houses when a gunman opened fire, the police said. Tyrek Singleton, 28, of the Bronx was shot in the torso and pronounced dead at Lincoln Medical Center. His 26-year-old friend, who was not immediately identified, was shot in the leg. He told investigators he did not know the gunman.” Yeah, that’s what he said . . . I wonder if anyone involved was a gang banger. I don’t wonder if gun control could have prevented this killing. Because it didn’t. On to the next . . .

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