The Truth About Guns
Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
Updated: 1 week 4 days ago
Daily Digest: Mixed Messages Edition
New Haven, Connecticut police arrested three teens in connection with a couple of recent robberies, one of whom was in possession of a homemade “zip gun.” After interviewing them, police searched the home of another juvenile who’d manufactured the gun, and recovered another assembled gun, a partially assembled gun and components intended for assembly. That individual told police he’d manufactured and sold more than a dozen of the improvised weapons. I’m sure the buyers all passed background checks.
When I saw a headline at the normally left-leaning Slate (they run @GunDeaths after all) that said
Self-Defense Tip: Warning Shot?
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Randy Smith [above] arrived home after work to find three young men intent on stealing his stuff, one of which was standing on his porch. Smith “brandished” his carry gun and kept all three bad guys at bay until the cops arrived (who somehow managed not to shoot Smith or his dog). “I’ve been broke in once before,” Smith told
Pumpkin Carving Contest! Well, Not Carving . . .
The Exorcist-style piano music is appropriately creepy, minor key chord changes and all. And the idea that boys at SilencerCo carved those pumpkins with that .22 caliber firearm is perfectly fantastic. But I have to say Hickok45′s Pumpkin Killing Methods IV has it all over the softly, softly approach, even though there’s only one ballistic assault included therein. Got a pumpkin blasting video to share? Send the YouTube link to guntruth@me.com with DIE PUMPKIN DIE in the subject bar. [NOTE: blasting not carving.] We’ll chose a winner by Halloween and send them a box of tracer ammo. Hey, it’s the least we can do to scare the antis.
PETA “Air Angel” Drones to Monitor Hunters
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) don’t like hunting. They don’t consider it ethical. Practical. Or desirable. The anti-hunting org would like the rest of the world to see it their way. To that end, they’re promoting, selling ($324.99) and deploying video-enabled Air Angel Drones [above], complete with a flying bunny logo. In terms of stopping hunting perhaps PETA should have opted for a winged pig logo. Anyway, I predict we’re going to see—well someone’s going to see—a lot of crash videos on PETA’s Drone-specific YouTube channel. Here’s PETA’s sales pitch . . .
Using your hobby drone, you can collect
ATF Hires Wave of New Employees for NFA Branch, Wait Times Expected to Decrease
Wait times for NFA paperwork are getting ridiculous. When I applied for my first tax stamp, the wait time from submission to reciept was almost exactly 7 months. A year later, the wait time was the same for my SBR. But now, reports are coming in that the forms submitted today will be approved in approximately 15 months from the date of receipt. In short, there’s nothing short about it. And thanks to the way the NFA branch was funded, there were no new hires coming on board at the time. A while back we posted an update about some new hirings at the NFA branch that was giving us some hope that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and tonight we have more good news. . .
We had initially reported that eight new examiners were being hired (nine total, minus one to replace Sarah Jones),
Incendiary Image of the Day: McGraw Hill Doesn’t Understand the Second Amendment
TTAG reader MP writes:
I am a first year law student. I was studying for a criminal law midterm and came upon this question from McGraw Hills’ website [highered.mcgraw-hill.com] that features quizzes on their “criminal law for the criminal justice professional.” I’m unsure if the site and book were created before the Heller case but this question stuck out like a sore thumb. As you can see I gave the correct answer. [ED: actually not. Heller gave a thumbs-up to "reasonable regulations." As the left-leaning Dixie Chicks sang, there's your trouble.]
In Soviet Russia, Videos Shoot You
You may remember James Yeager’s winning oevre singing the praises of K-VAR’s commie Kalashnikovs. K-VAR liked what they saw enough to make the promotion a monthly competition and it appears that our own James Grant won in October with this gem featuring a score that will make you want to goose step past Lenin’s tomb. That means he’s in the running for K-VAR’s grand prize, a trip to the SHOT Show. K-VAR’s site indicates the winner will be picked “through a public voting process” that apparently hasn’t started yet. So while you can’t support our own Sergei Eisenstein yet, we’ll let you know how you can once the voting starts.
Ruger Adds Three Non-Entries to Its 10/22 Contest
Ruger reads TTAG. But I bet we weren’t the only gun guys disappointed by the lackluster quality of the 10 finalists for their design a 10/22 contest. Why else would the company send an email blast linking to three non-entries with the words “vote for me” underneath the pics? “Your feedback could influence another future Ruger product” the email teases. So it’s a contest within a contest without a prize. Go figure. Checking out the three also-rans, I reckon they’re at least as good if not better than the ones Ruger chose for the final vote. Orville from Texas’s modded 10/22 [above] uses after-market parts to create a “tack driver” of a rifle with which he “nailed
Cops Probe Salisbury MD Rappers for Music Video Guns
For some strange reason—the first Amendment?—the video above has not [yet] been pulled from YouTube. This despite: “Wicomico County State’s Attorney Matt Maciarello raised concern about the video and said multiple law-enforcement agencies are investigating if any laws were broken. Salisbury [Maryland] TV stations WMDT-47 and WBOC-TV 16 did news reports on those concerns Thursday. County Administrator Wayne Strausburg on Thursday evening also emailed a link to the YouTube video, titled ‘Jungle,’ to The Daily Times. Maciarello on Friday said once law enforcement has knowledge of something like the video, it would be irresponsible not to investigate.” Riiiight. ‘Cause they’s using guns! More specifically (for those who can’t watch the above in their cubicle) . . .
In the video, several people have guns and there are people in ski masks. Some of the rap group’s members are holding s
Not-Yet-New from Ochoco Arms: Multi-Laser Shotgun Sight
Sam Harris’s staff aren’t at the beard-pulling celebratory stage yet. Ochoco Arms’ patented multi-laser shotgun sight doesn’t have a military or law enforcement buyer and it’s not available to you, Joe Q. Public. But it’s a pretty good idea: using a lot o’ lasers to see where all the pellets will go when you unleash the dogs of war via scattergun. And it’s starting to pay off. “On Oct. 18, Ochoco Arms won the concept-stage competition at the Bend Venture Conference and received a $10,000 prize,”
Gun Rights Mole Exposes Moms Demand Action Leader’s Hypocrisy
Over at georgiapacking.org commentator debbiedowner went undercover and “joined” [via Twitter] Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Three Days in the Shoes of a Gun Activist chronicles her journey into the heart of darkness. First, this is how she did it: “Going in headfirst would get me blocked, so I had to come up with a strategy. I decided I would assume the role of a “
Obscure Object of Desire: $2,000+ Suppressed SUB-2000 SBR
Some ideas are just too good to pass up, no matter how much the taxes are to get it done. Today’s 0bscure object of desire definitely falls into that category. A firearms genius in Florida has designed this $2,000+ Kel-Tec SUB-2000 rifle to be a suppressed SBR that not only folds in half, but also has a rotating, free-floating rail to allow you to mount optics on it and still fold the gun. This isn’t just a one-off project gun, either. It’s going into production with a little help from some Sunshine State firms . . .
Trayvon’s Mom: Oppose Stand Your Ground Laws Because Guns
Having Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, testify before a Senate committee on stand your ground laws is like asking Meryl Streep to testify about pesticides. Neither one knows the first thing about their subject, but it’s sure to grab a few headlines. And there you have the reason for Ms. Fulton’s appearance today before Tricky Dicky Durbin’s dog and pony show on Capitol Hill this morning. “Fulton will argue at the 10 a.m. hearing that the Feb. 26, 2012, shooting of her 17-year-old son and the acquittal of George Zimmerman over the summer shows that the laws are confusing.” Of course, anyo
Henry Shuns NJ for WI, ATI Leaves NY for SC
Last November TTAG reported that Hurricane Sandy hammered Henry Repeating Arms’ New Jersey factory; the natural disaster ripped the roof off their Garden State digs and flooded their factory floor. The following April, TTAG reported that Henry was back in a big way. Production returned to normal. Guns were going out the door in record numbers. Even as Henry recovered its economic equilibrium, lever gun impresario Anthony Imperato shared his resolve to build guns in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Et voila!
Daily Digest: Backups To Your Backups Edition
So @GabbyGiffords & @ShuttleCDRKelly, can you provide us an exact list of the "16 mass shootings" since Sandy Hook? http://t.co/qaQ3e88lg7
— Bearing Arms (@BearingArmsCom) October 25, 2013
A few days back, Ammoland reported that Space Cadet Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords sent yet another tiresome open letter to Congress in which they made the claim that since Sandy Hook, “there have been 16 more mass shootings in communities across America.” Though they declined to actually list those incidents specifically, the Civilian Disarmament Move
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms [With Less Than 10 Rounds] Shall Not Be Infringed
Over at Ammoland.com AWR Hawkins writes:
The momentum in the gun debate has clearly shifted toward gun rights proponents as the NRA continues to stand on the clear language of the Second Amendment. Whereas 2012 ended with Democrats working their constituents up into an emotional fervor to ban entire classes of guns, expand background checks, and ban “extended magazines,” now nothing sounds sillier than the suggestion “The right of the people to kee
Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day: Melissa Ann Ringhardt
“According to a news release from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, [Melissa Ann] Ringhardt [above] had been living in the Read family home for the past few months,” 12newsnow.com reports. “On Monday, Ringhardt was left in the home with 5-year-old John Read and another 6-month-old child belonging to Kayla and Joe Read. Ringhardt told investigators that she was carrying a handgun on her person in the home that day because she was scared being at home alone. The handgun was a semi-automatic .40 caliber pistol. Ringhardt left the handgun on a coffee table in the living room and went to the bedr
St. Helens, OR OK’s Teachers to Carry Concealed—Just Like Parents!
“A school board in St. Helens, Ore., voted to allow teachers and staff to pack heat on school grounds. St. Helens School Board chairman Marshall Porter told ABCNews.com that the board lifted a ban that prevented school employees from carrying guns on campus with concealed weapons permits [last] Wednesday.” Teachers with a concealed handgun license can pack heat in the District’s two elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and three alternative schools. They now have the same rights as parents with a concealed handgun license, who are exempt from both Beaver State prohibitions and the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990–which really needs to go away. If there’s a school shooting during a Repu
How Much Fun Can You Have For $140? Airguns On TTAG!
With all the heated discussion of gun-grabbing politics, CCW ergonomics and wound ballistics that goes on around here, you’ll have to forgive us if we’ve overlooked some of the most popular shooting sports equipment in the world. Our Armed Intelligentsia may find it unnatural to use ‘ballistics’ in the same sentence as ‘pneumatics,’ but airguns are a huge business. They can be a great low-cost practice aid for powder-burning gun guys or a great sport in their own right. Modern break-barrel airguns can spit out .177 pellets with enough velocity to beat a .357 Magnum slug to the target, and a handful of monstrously expensive airguns can toss huge .357 and .45 slugs with enough grunt to drop a small whitetail in its tracks. We’ve recently hooked up with Pyramyd Air to begin bringing you the straight dope from the world of air-powered shooting . . .