The Truth About Guns

I’m a huge fan of the movie Heat. I love the (fictional) rolling gunfights in the streets after a heist gone bad, the in-fighting amongst the crooks as well-made plans fall to pieces, and the seemingly perfect plan that makes your heart pound as you wait for the inevitable to happen. To save heist-movie fans like myself from federal prison or being riddled with a SWAT team’s finest .223 ammo, Overkill Software created Payday 2: The Heist . . .

In Payday 2: The Heist you control an aspiring bank robber with a predilection for surgical gloves, decorated hockey masks and heavy ordnance. Your character works alongside three other like-minded thugs to pull off a bank heist. The three other players can be either AI or online players. And don’t worry about the getaway car, there is always a driver that will take

“All [Coolidge Police Officer Alan] Scott Urkov did was drop his daughter off at Entz Elementary School. Little did he know that what he was wearing that day would lead to a call from the principal,” myfoxphoenix.com reports. “‘There were some parents who were concerned about that fact that there was a fully armed officer on campus and they spoke to the principal about it,’ said Helen Hollands, spokesperson for Mesa Unified School District (the City’s largest employer). She says the principal spoke with Officer Urkov and asked him not to wea

Over at the highly testicular gunnuts.net Caleb reckons rifles are the way to go for home defense. He makes his case by pitting shotguns against rifles in four categories: Cost, Firepower, Shootability and Ease of Use. After giving the shotgun cost kudos, Caleb proclaims ”this post isn’t about home defense on a budget.” OK, then. And while we’re at it, I’d rather have nine rounds of Conversation Stopper than 30 rounds of Are We Done Yet? If cost isn’t an object, why not both? My Benelli and SCAR are BFFs. But if I had to chose, it’s Big Ben for the win. Which long gun do you prefer for home (as in in the home) defense?

Target stands are a pain in the ass, especially when you’re talking steel targets. They’re heavy, bulky and have a tendency to get all shot up. And when they inevitably do, replacing them is a further annoyance. So when Kevin Brittingham handed me one of these new target stands from The Last Stand, I was intrigued. I’ll have to try it out for a while before passing final judgement, but a stand you can make out of spare rebar and some small plastic bits sounds perfect for either a set-and-forget arrangement or a portable target systems. Make the jump for their presser . . .

The Last Stand LLC is proud to introduce an innovative and unique product to simplify the many demands of target shooting enthusiasts.

Recognizing the need for a versatile, adjustable, compact and economical target supporting platform, the Last Stand is the culmination of nearly two years of product development and testing.

By now you’re probably familiar with Joe Nocera’s intern-compiled, half-assed daily list of crimes and accidents involving firearms featured by the Gray Lady. After a sotto voce “tsk, tsk” over the number of gun sold in Maryland in the run-up to the go-live date for their new civilian disarmament laws (which Nocera didn’t even write), yesterday’s Gun Report was otherwise more of the usual context-free fare. Except, of course, for the above photo which they selected as an illustration . . .

It’s an obvious, naked play to the biases and stereotypes of the Times’ upper west side core readership. “See, this is what we’re up agai

Cook County doesn’t like legal firearms ownership. The Chicago machine is doing everything it can to make it as difficult as possible for law-abiding residents to exercise their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms under the new statewide concealed carry law. Put another way, “Cook County officials are concerned people who are not qualified to carry firearms will inadvertently be issued state permits allowing them to carry weapons for self-defense.” That’s nwitimes.com‘s take on the matter. Specifically . . .

“Still uncomfortable with the idea of gun play? Try setting and enforcing some common sense limits. Some parents establish a ‘no pointing or shooting at other people’ rule. I insist that all orange plastic tips remain on toy guns and restrict gun play to private areas outside of public sight. My boys also know that the play must stop immediately if someone expresses discomfort with the play, or if an adult or authority figure asks them to stop.” – Jennifer L.W. Fink, Is Gun Play OK? [via parade.com]

What’s this? Fan mail from some flounder? Nope. An apology from Michael Christensen, the Superintendent of Schools, Orange County Unified School District, to Haley Bullwinkle, the student forced to change out of her NRA shirt because “it depicted violence.”

“Canyon High School has a policy prohibiting clothing depicting or promoting violence.  In this incident, a student was referred to the counseling office by a security officer because she was wearing a shirt with a logo that included a rifle.  The student was instructed by a staff member to change her shirt and was

This Rolls-Royce Phantom I, once owned by an Indian Maharajah, failed to sell at Barrett-Jackson over the weekend. It had quite a long list of value increasing characteristics, such as the original build sheet and original factory tool set, the Howdah gun (double-barreled shotgun pistol) in the passenger compartment, and the hand-cranked .450-caliber machine gun towed behind, as well as factory installed gun racks and a hidden safe. Despite all that, nobody wanted it badly enough to bid up over the $450,000 reserve price.

Colin Powell eulogizes Tom Clancy. “Tom’s books were incredibly accurate. He didn’t invent impossible schemes. He i

The People of the Gun know what a real assault weapon is. Everyone else, not so much. Or, in fact, at all. Check out these answers to the question “In just a few words, how would you describe an assault weapon?” from a recent Reason-Rupe Public Opinion Survey:

• A SEMI AUTOMATIC
• ONE THAT HAS MULTIPLE BULLETS
• FULLY AUTOMATIC FUNCTIONING MILITARY WEAPON SPECIFICALLY USED FOR MILITARY FUNCTION
• A MACHINE GUN
• A WAY TO TAKE OUT A LOT OF PEOPLE WITHOUT HAVING TO RELO

In a last ditch effort to appeal to Jerry Brown’s less statist, gun-grabbing side (assuming there actually is one) the Firearms Policy Coalition and the California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees today delivered 65,000 letters from Californians urging Governor Moonbeam to veto the fourteen gun control bills stacked on a corner of his desk. As the cool kids say – and we mean this sincerely – good luck with that . . .

SACRAMENTO, CA — Earlier this morning, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) Managing Director Brandon Combs, joined by California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees (CAL-FFL) Legislative Advocate Craig DeLuz, delivered 65,000 letters from individuals urging California Governor Jerry Brown to veto the 14 gun control bills currently on his desk.

The gun bills include SB 374, a massive new ban on common semi-automatic rif

Nick saw TrackingPoint’s promo vid envisioning some future (or maybe current) sandbox, one with TP-enabled ballistics. Let’s say Nick was, well, skeptical and hoped TrackingPoint’s Oren Schauble would cut loose with some more deets. Or at least their whole vision thing for where they see the technology going. Well it didn’t take Oren long to crack back, directing Nick to a microsite they’ve set up, shotmade.com, along with the following excerpt:

We live in a time of disruptive technologies, where frequent advances change the world so fast we barely remember what it was like before.  As TrackingPoint has disrupted traditional small arms and optics technologies with the smart rifle by combining target tracking, sensor arrays, and ball

The first three stages of the competition went exceptionally well. The key in a match this size is to focus on a single competitor, one on your same skill level, and try to beat them – rather than gunning for Daniel Horner. In my case, I was using Jayson Smith as my yardstick and so far things were looking pretty peachy. The next three stages, though, would have me holding on by the skin of my teeth . . .

Stage 6 was a nifty setup that incorporated the natural terrain of Peacemaker National training Center into its design, using a hilltop and some trees as props for the stage. It was on this very site two years earlier that I had started the first FNH U

Or is that just a bunch of airy-fairy clap-trap spouted by those more comfortable donning a cloak of progressiveness and self-righteous narcissism? The lulz-worthy intro applying gun-grabby “logic” to the First Amendment to illustrate his point is dead-on. We’ll give you three guesses where Colion comes down as far the Second is concerned.

Timex started the whole torture test marketing misegos. The watchmaker’s “It Takes a Licking and Keeps On Ticking” commercials were an enormous success. According to Wikipedia, “By 1962, the Timex brand held the number one market share position in the United States where one out of every three watches sold was a Timex.” Hi-Point has never marketed its products as “cheap and indestructible.” The video above is not an official Hi-Point product demo. But it proves a point: even the least expensive modern gun is pretty damn tough. Quick aside: given

“A woman suspected of being involved in a car chase across central Washington was shot and killed by police outside the U.S. Capitol building this afternoon,” chicagotribune.com reports. “The incident, which sparked a lockdown of Congress, began when the woman tried to ram through security barricades outside the White House. An official said a Capitol policeman was injured when the car driven by the suspect crashed outside the Capitol.”

“U.S. Capitol Police announced on their emergency radio system that there have been reports of gunfire on Capitol Hill,” politico.com reports. “People in the many Capitol Hill office buildings have been asked to shelter in place, and move away from doors and windows.” They’ve received the following email: “Close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows. Take annunciators, Go Kits and escape hoods; and move to the innermost part of the office away from external doors or windows. If you are not in your office, take shelter in the nearest office, check in with your OEC and wait for USCP to clear the incident. No one w

“Mexican federal and state police have rescued 73 kidnapped migrants being held in a house on the border with Texas,” the AP reports. Let’s think about that. How do you hold 73 people hostage? With guns. How do you rescue 73 people being held by people with guns? With guns. How do you prevent someone from kidnapping 73 people? With guns. As in a person with a gun isn’t as easy to kidnap (not to mention rape and torture) as someone who’s been disarmed by their own governments. “The agenc