The Truth About Guns
Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
Updated: 1 week 1 day ago
I Challenged Brandy Richardson to Defend Off-Body Carry . . .
I’m not buying it. Floral patterned bags are way too flyover for me. Seriously, purse carry is a bad idea. For one thing, a carrier and her bag will soon be parted. At that point, the unarmed American’s got to worry about theft and the possibility that their firearm won’t be there when they need it. Secondly, as Brandy pointed out (and demonstrated) extraction is a bitch. Sure, there are bespoke concealed carry bags. And yes, “a” gun is better than no gun. But only until someone steals it. Then you’re back to no gun for you and a new gun for the bad guy, who might still be in the vicinity. The solution: on-body carry a smaller gun and/or change the way you dress. Women have so many more clothing options than [most] men. At the risk of alienating a new contributor, decide to carry it the right way. Three million failiaphotography viewers can’t all be men
Cleveland Suspends 63 Cops for Fatal Car Chase. For Less Than A Week
“The nighttime chase began last November when an officer thought he heard a gunshot from a car speeding by the police station in downtown Cleveland. A parking lot attendant thought it might have been a car backfire, a theory endorsed by the driver’s family,” foxnews.com reports. “The officer jumped into his patrol car and radioed for help. The chase went through neighborhoods, onto Interstate 90, and eventually ended in East Cleveland. Driver Timothy Russell, 43, was shot 23 times and passenger Malissa Williams, 30, was shot 24 times.” And so to the aftermath of that fateful, firearms-intensive pig pile…can you say slap on the wrist? . . .
Police Chief Michael McGrath said the suspensions were the result of disciplinary hearings, and violations ra
NRA-ILA: “The ATF Cited Not a Single Case in which an NFA Firearm Transferred to a Legal Entity was used in the Commission of a Crime”
The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) is fighting the push by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (And Really Big Fires) (BATFE) to make it more difficult for Americans to own firearms covered by the National Firearms Act (NFA). The NRA-ILA’s issued the following call-to-action . . .
As we previously reported, the Obama administration, via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has proposed a new rule governing appli
Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Cutaway Silencers
Kevin Brittingham has quite the selection of silencers in his collection. Every silencer company in the world looks at their competitors’ products to see what they’re up to and while some are happy with simply having x-ray images of the internals, Kevin likes to actually saw the cans in half to examine their guts. Make the jump to get a closer look at some of the autopsy photos . . .
Farago to Debate Former Gang Banger on Gun Control
I had it in my hand: a video of the gun control debate between myself and Dr. Arthur Romano [not shown] at Penn State. And then Dr. Romano was all like “I get to see it first and decide if it’s suitable for release.” Chump that I am, I gave the memory card back to the organizer who promised he’d send it to the booking agency. That was the end of that. It was also the end of our rematch at the Richard G. Lugar Academy; the international peace educator and certified nonviolence trainer decided he had better ways to spend his time than answering questions like “Would you want a gun if someone walked through the door and started shooting people?” So Conscious Campus has put me up against this guy . . .
<For All the People Who Think Machine Guns Are Banned in the U.S.: Knob Creek
In a recent post, a commentator opined that Texas can’t be considered truly gun-friendly until it restores residents’ right to open carry. Fair enough. By the same token, America can’t be considered truly gun-friendly until the feds roll-back the National Firearms Act to allow the sale of modern machine guns (and other stuff). Until then, this.
Question of the Day: Why Does America Have Better Gun Safety Than the Developing World? [Video NSFW]
Ryan writes:
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a gun friendly family. Dad was a cop (one of the good ones) and taught me the basics at a young age. I went into the military and served for a good bit of time and learned/trained much more with firearms, all the aspects of them. Not just firing/shooting, but handling, safety, maintenance, etc etc. I now own a child-killing AR rilfe and carry a .45 daily. Because other calibers may kill the body, but the .45 kills the soul. And so on. Maybe I’m compensating . . .
Anyways, having deployed in the sandboxes for numerous years, on the kind of the blunt tip of the spear, I have had numerous occasions to observe troops/soldiers from several nations handling firearms. In my albeit limited experience they’re……..meh. The good troops are good obviously, the normal ones are not typically ones I’d like to hang around with live ammo for extended periods of time.
So the question of the day, maybe, is how do other countries (assumably gun-friendly, or just gun crazy) deal with basic rules of safety and handling?
ED: We interrupt this 80 proof rant for a descrip
SAF Shifts “Guns Save Lives” Event to Day After Newtown Anniversary
“A coalition of gun-rights groups has changed the date for a celebration of gun ownership to the day after the first anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings,” newstimes.com reports. “Alan Gottlieb, president of the Second Amendment Foundation, said the event will be held on Dec. 15, not the day before, as originally planned. The groups had been criticized for scheduling Guns Save Lives Day on Dec. 14 — the anniversary of the massacre that claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators . . . In moving their event to Dec. 15, Gottlieb challenged those seeking tougher regulation of firearms to ‘drop their plans to further continue their exploitation and politicization of this horrific tragedy.’” Full marks for
Gun Review: Utas UTS-15 Shotgun
It seems like double-tubed shotguns are all the rage these days. Kel-Tec kicked off the craze in the U.S. with their KSG and the response from the public was so overwhelming that there were bound to be other players trying to muscle in on the market. One of those competitors is Turkish maker Utas Makine who have come out with their UTS-15 shotgun — a redesigned version of the Neostead NS2000. And while the shotgun looks like it’s right off the set of Aliens, is it something you’ll want to put in your safe or nuke from orbit? . . .
The first version of the gun was pretty much game over, man.
Please Don’t Read This Post About Piers Morgan’s New Book
CNN chat show host Piers Morgan’s got a book out today. Shooting Straight: Guns, Gays, God, and George Clooney takes aim at America’s gun culture, no doubt sealing his reputation as the doyen of disarmament. The bête noire of ballistic bubbas. Despite his odious reputation amongst The People of the Gun, not a lot of people know that (to quote Alfie). Which is not helpful in the sell-a-lot-of-books department. So, in the run-up to publication, Morgan’s seeking to get the word out—by ripping gun rights supporters a new you-know-what. Last night’s interview is representative of Morgan’s fresh, pedal-to-the-metal assault. Meanwhile, he’s
New From Redfield: Battlezone Tac.22 2-7×34 Scope
Can you use “battle” in the name of a scope intended for .22 rifles? How about “tac”? Why not? You never know what gun will be to hand when you need it most. Check out the specs here. They don’t include an MSRP, but Optics Planet lists it for $189. Press release after the jump . . .
BEAVERTON, Ore. — Redfield® introduces the latest model in their line of tactical optics, the Battlezone™ Tac.22™ 2-7x34mm riflescope.
Designed for .22 Long Rifle firearms, the Battlezone Tac.22 comes with two elevation adjustment dials. The first is marked in ¼ MOA increments, and the second is
Quote of the Day: Environmental Remediation Edition
“What we did not allow was the image of a rifle and the words ‘fully loaded’ because such an approach is inappropriate in today’s environment.” – Texas Christian University director of communications Lisa Albert, University bans guns, gun safety events, even pictures of guns (!) [via dailycaller.com]
Daily Digest: Pencils of Doom Edition
AR-15 for home defense? COR®BON has introduced their new Urban Response Ammunition in .223 Remington. It’s a high-velocity (2900 fps) 55 gr pill with a thin copper jacket over a soft lead core designed for low to medium penetration and minimum ricochet. Designed for self-defense use in close quarter urban environments such as subdivisions, apartment complexes, and mobile home parks, it’s loaded with low-flash powder in Lapua brass, and is compatible with all AR-15/M-4 rifles chambered in either .223 Rem or 5.56 NATO. Pricing is $63.75/50 from COR®BON.
U.S. Park Police arrested a man at the World War II memorial Saturday morning for carrying an unloaded .22 rifle and ammunition. He was car
Defensive Gun Use of the Day: Providential Purse Edition
“’He didn’t get the money, and I didn’t have to shoot anybody,’ (Gary) Spencer said, relieved. ‘The good citizens actually got to take one home yesterday. It felt good to help somebody out, you know, out there in the world.’” Spencer was cooling his heels on Monday morning, waiting in his car while his wife made a deposit. That’s when he was shocked t0 see a stun gun-weilding miscreant trying to make a withdrawal from another bank customer in the parking lot via the liberal application of ECT. Spencer has a concealed carry permit as does his wife. And while he wasn’t packing at the time, his wife had a Kel Tec .380 in her purse among the Tic Tacs and wet wi
TTAG Exclusive: Kirsten Joy Weiss Does Yoga With a Gun!
Blogger Lexi calls exclamation marks “the cheap whore of punctuation.” (Does that make semi-colons high-class hookers?) I deploy exclamation marks from time to time, using italics to signal my ironic intent. But some writers can get away with straightforward spear throwing. People like Kirsten Joy Weiss, whose middle name-branded enthusiasm for shooting is as pure as it is infectious. The video itself is all the “excuse” KJW needs for her title. OK, sure, a close-up shot of the blue balloon wouldn’t have gone amiss. But Miss Weiss’ reactions tell us (especially mobile devices users) all we need to know about her target’s deflation. And her elation. As I’ve said many times, The People of the Gun need the show more positive emotion; it’s the best way to spread the truth about guns!
Incendiary Image of the Day: Ballistic Blue Devilry Edition
Mike Krzyzewski is a 1969 West Point grad and later coached the academy’s basketball team before moving down the coast (and up in the AP rankings) to Duke. So when it came time for a team building exercise for his current crop of future NBAers, he marched them back to the home of the Black Knights for a little boom boom therapy. As nesn.com reports, “Freshman sensation Jabari Parker and his teammates were taken through an instructional program on how to properly use the guns, then they were given the go-ahead to get (in)position on the ground with their assigned assault rifles and fire off some rounds for target practice. The players seemed excited by the opportunity, posing with the weapons as if they were getting re
Colion Noir on What Makes You Feel Safe
The narcissism and stupidity I can deal with. If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t pay as much attention to politics as I do. But “burying your face in the bosom of the government” is an image I wish I didn’t have in my head. Too late.
How to Start a Conversation About Gun Control
Spreading the gun rights gospel isn’t easy for The People of the Gun living behind enemy lines. In many cases, it’s the love that dare not speak its name. [Note: Chef don't judge. Personal experience has proven that Blue State ballistic bashfulness is a survival skill.] But converting antagonists and recruiting fence straddlers is mission critical stuff. Colorado recall or no, Supreme Court intervention or no, we can not defend and extend our natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms by talking amongst ourselves. And it all starts with a conversation. A single, polite, civilized, focused conversation between two people about guns. Here’s my favorite a conversational gambit for newbies fighting the never-ending battle for RKBA one skeptic at a time . . .
Sports, politics and religion. Three no-go areas for polite conversation. So
Hickenlooper to MAIG: Stay the Hell Out of Colorado, Mkay?
This won’t make the diminutive dictatorial dean of disarmament happy. Not at all. With a third recall effort under way in the Centennial State, Governor John Hickenlooper has let it be known – in no uncertain terms – that he thinks members of the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex should stay out of his state for a while. As usatoday.com quotes the Gov, “Colorado is a state that people like to be themselves and solve their own problems. . . . They don’t really like outside organizations meddling in their affairs, and maybe the NRA gets a pass on that.” Bummer. It’s not lik