The Truth About Guns

“Certainly people have a right to defend themselves in their home but they do not have a right to make it a free-fire zone, and the chief, or his spokesperson, should never put that in the minds of people. We must operate not on the basis of fear but on the basis of understanding and how we as a community can come together to stop the violence.” – Ron Scott of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, quoted in Homeowners using deadly force against intruders: Has it gone too far? [via 

This one slipped through the cracks for a few days, but Kansas legislators passed a bill last Saturday that would seem to encourage the practice of open carry in that state. Open carry is already legal in Kansas, but HB 2578 reinforces that with a state level preemption, saying that cities and counties are prohibited from adopting or enforcing regulations regarding firearms, and further prohibits any regulations relating to federal firearms licensees that are more restrictive than similar regulations regarding the sale of any other commercial goods. The new law specifically and categorically nullifies any ordinances, resolutions or regulations already in place prior to the effective date of the bill. Read on for one of the more ridiculous Lockdowns in recent memory . . .

Your Lockdown of the Day™ comes from

Remington Arms has thrown in the towel re: claims that their flagship Model 700 rifles are not drop safe/safe from unintentional discharges. The company has just announced (on a Friday, of course) a Voluntary Product Recall of all 700s and Model Seven’s with the X-Mark Pro triggers manufactured from May 1, 2006 to April 9, 2014. No doubt The Freedom Group this announcement accompanies an agreement to settle the lawsuits filed against the company by injured parties. Equally certain: the payout will trigger the arrival of an entire fleet of ambulance chasers. Add in the cost of this recall and man, that’s got to hurt. But not as much as getting shot by your own rifle. Press release after the jump . . .

Remington Announces Voluntary Pro

by One if By Land 1776

On Saturday night I was a guest of TTAG and Dan Zimmerman at a local event. His wife, my wife and other like-minded folk attended a Friends of the NRA dinner where hundreds of gun nuts get together and place bids on donated items. One of my clients, Mid America Arms, was in attendance offering their FFL services to make sure winners of firearms passed the appropriate background checks before taking possession of their rifles, pistols and shotguns . . .

This event happens twice a year and all the money is used to support local shooting sports programs. The National Rifle Association mothership gets very little, if any, and none goes to the political side of the operation. It was a big crowd of people from all walks of life, essentially tossing money around to help promote and protect a healthy gun culture.

Could Moms Demand Action assemble such an event? Twi

By Greg Herman-Giddens

Back in January, TTAG posted a piece by FirearmConcierge on gun trusts. The author works as a gun dealer and has published several posts about firearms retail, pricing, and the business side of guns. The post we respond to today is “The Truth About Gun Trusts – and How Attorneys Lie to Get Your Money.”  Although the author makes several accurate points—some about misleading advertising and another about the poor quality of trusts from gun dealers—the piece is primarily saturated with false statements . . .

To clear up a few points:

Boilerplate gun trusts
The author makes broad claims that all gun trust attorneys use boilerplate l

No question: the “standoff” at the Bundy Family Ranch in Nevada is growing more tense with each passing hour, as media and militia pour into the area and the feds tool-up for an old-fashioned confrontation over grazing rights and cattle. It must be said (and was, kinda by our man Hyde earlier): the Bundy family is doing nothing to calm the situation and much to roil it. Earlier today, the Bundy family suggested the feds may have cut cell tower service to disrupt communications amongst their supporters. Now this from The Bundy Ranch’s Facebook page . . .

Ryan Payne one of the Main Militia who has been here protecting Cliven has reported it was HIS brother in law who reported the conf

In my younger days, I had a bit of a lead foot. Osmium, actually. More than once I ended up on the wrong end of the law. So when it came time to choose a license plate at the DMV I never ever considered a vanity plate. Why make it easy for someone to remember my plate? Now that I’m older the same rule applies to everything: my car, house and guns are conspicuous by their non-conspicuousness. OK the Mercedes Cialis is a bit bling, but, as Edna Mode says, no capes! I mean, no tattoos. While the guy above doesn’t have a gun tat, myfoxdc.com re

South African reader Gideon Joubert writes:

In the early morning hours of February 14th 2013 world famous paralympian Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, four times through the door separating the toilet from the rest of the bathroom in his Pretoria residence. All four of the shots fired from the Taurus 9mm parabellum struck Ms. Steenkamp, one fatally wounding her in the head. The prosecution headed by Senior Advocate Gerrie Nel, who successfully prosecuted former South African Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi on corruption charges, accuses Pistorius of premeditated murder. The defence counsel headed by the formidable Senior Advocate Barry Roux argues that it was a tragic accident . . .

According to Oscar Pistorius’

By Bryan Hyde

I’ve been a longtime friend of Cliven Bundy’s son Ryan and I took the opportunity to visit him yesterday. I’ll admit that my heart rate picked up as I was headed toward the Bundy Ranch yesterday afternoon. I had seen the photos of the federal sharpshooters and Bureau of Land Management agents as they threatened and intimidated unarmed members of the Bundy family earlier this week . . .

I watched the video of David Bundy following his release from custody after being arrested for taking video outside of a ‘First Amendment Zone’ set up by the BLM. The Tuesday clash between rowdy protestors and other BLM rangers was still fresh in my mind as we crossed the Nevada state line.

Driving South towards Bunkervill

So you’ve tried every standard type of holster under the sun and can’t abide dragging around a boat anchor pistol all day long. Some people are recoil sensitive, you’re carry sensitive. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. The thing is, you still want to have a gun with you wherever you go. That means off-body carry, with the attendant compromises that go along with not having possession of your mohaska at all times. You’re not alone. Plenty of gun owners out there go that way. The problem is, fanny packs are, well, fanny packs. So if you’re a dood, that leaves you with some kind of turse . . .

I watched The Rifleman as a kid. One-hundred-sixty-eight episodes and 120 dead bad guys later I had a permanent case of lever fever. The affliction flares up from time to time; I’m burning through ammo in my recently-arrived Big Horn Armory Model 89 S&W 500 lever gun. Grizzly Custom Guns will soon be sending me the custom-fitted heavily modified Marlin .357 I commissioned in 1979. A couple of years ago, lever guns were all the rage – including “cowboy tactical” models. Lately, I haven’t heard much about them. Maybe it’s because Marlin’s screwed the pooch. ["Please note: Newer 'MR prefix' Marlins will incur additional charges to correct issues from the fac

A couple days ago RF posted a “Pro Tip” from Ammoland on measuring shot group size. I’m not a pro, but I took exception to some of the assertions in that write-up. After I did a little whining in the comments it was suggested that maybe this actually warranted a follow-up post. So… here she is. What was inaccurate in that Pro Tip piece and how can you measure your groups more easily, precisely, and quickly? Well first . . .

A Quick Primer:

Why measure center-to-center? Well, what we’re looking for is the largest spread between the precise points where the bullets impacted. We don’t want to count the diameter of the holes in that measurement, just the very center point of the holes. For instance, if you line up at 100 yards with your .50 BMG and you shoot 5 rounds precisely thr

Texas DPS started switching over to the new Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm handguns recently for their state troopers. The polymer framed striker-fired handguns are popular with police departments and competition shooters. The ability to carry more rounds per magazine (9mm vs. .357 SIG) in a lighter gun were among the stated reasons for the change. But it appears that the latest wave of recruits in training have experienced an “unacceptable” number of issues with the new gun, and the department is rolling back the changeover, moving back to their tried and true SIG SAUER P226 pistols in .357 SIG. As an owner of a P226, I can’t say I blame them. Here’s the word to the troops from the man himself, forwarded by a source close to TTAG . . .<

“The director of the Federal Air Marshal Service [FAMS] is resigning after being investigated for his role in an alleged operation to acquire guns for officials’ personal use, FoxNews.com has learned. Director Robert Bray’s home was raided in December in connection with the ongoing probe. Law enforcement and congressional sources told FoxNews.com that Bray’s recently announced resignation, which is effective in June, is directly related to the investigation. Bray allegedly is among several officials who were obtaining weapons through this operation.” Here’s h

“If the soldiers at Fort Hood had been armed, it has been claimed by some, then first responders to the shooting would have been confused about who was the killer—with everyone in the same uniform and many with guns present. I don’t think there would have been much confusion: The bad guy would have been the one bleeding on the ground.” – Arthur Z. Berg in How to Stop a Would-Be Killer at a Military Base [at wsj.com]

“John Winkler, 30, was one of three men being held and attacked by a 27-year-old man with a knife at an apartment on Monday night,” reuters.com reports. “He and another man ran out of the apartment to get away, but sheriff’s deputies called to the scene thought he was the assailant and shot him, the Sheriff’s department said. Here’s how it went down, according to the County Sheriffs’ statement . . .

“The apartment door suddenly opened and a male victim came rushing out,” the department said. “He was covered