The Truth About Guns

There are many likely contributors to the fact that Utah has had zero school-related shootings. Utah is one of the states that has the least restrictions on Second Amendment rights in the nation. It’s one of the few that doesn’t forbid concealed carry permit holders from carrying their personal defensive firearms in schools. Utah has very little crime, with one of the lowest homicide rates in the country. And as stated in this article from ksl.com, it’s likely that when you are in Utah, someone near you has a concealed carry permit . . .

Pedersen believes the fact the state has so many gun-friendly laws and concealed weapons permit holders may actually be a deterrent to these types of rampages. The shooter doesn’t know what he’s up against.

“Odds are your neighbor, your person that you

ShootingtheBull410 writes:

It’s not a vest in a case. It’s a vest that is a case. A simple unzip, throw it over your head, fix a couple of buckles (practice!) and you’re protected in a hurry. It’s ELSA (Emergency Life Saving Armor). [ED: Born Free. Geddit?] When I saw it, the clever rig was loaded with DKX Level IIIA armor plates. It can also fit any industry-standard sized plates. In briefcase configuration, it’s completely nondescript. A paramedic, security guard or SHTF-type carrying ELSA could be completely incognito. Without armor or spare mags the vest case scenario weighs two pounds; the recommended DKX plates weigh just a pound each. MSRP is $449.

The final court decision has been issued in the case of Kevin Brittingham’s lawsuit against Freedom Group and Remington over his sudden firing a couple years back, and it’s a way better read than I expected. Not only is it a complete and total smackdown against Remington, but it was so entertaining that I found myself chuckling at times. The full test is available for download here, but for those who don’t want to wade through all 117 pages of brilliantly written legal analysis I’ll try to summarize . . .

Kevin Brittingham founded AAC, and his success was due in part to the culture that the company cultivated. They even went so far as to give silencers to peop

“The full coalition members roster is no longer posted on the Mayors Against Illegal Guns [MAIG] website,” David Cordrea points out at examiner.com, “and the disappearance happened right after Gun Rights Examiner questioned why Michael Bloomberg was still listed for New York City and pointed out that his successor, Bill de Blasio, had not yet committed to joining the group.” David reckons the removal of the list of MAIG mayors is down to political antagonism. Or simple site maintenance. I reckon MAIG’s finally figured out that it’s not

This police body-cam video shows Coeur d’Alene [Idaho] Police Officer Spencer Mortensen ordering Eric Byron Johnston to drop two knives before shooting him. [Click here for spokesman.com's story.] Yes, the Tueller Drill tells us that there’s precious little time to shoot a quick-moving assailant. But Mr. Johnston doesn’t appear to be rushing Officer Mortensen. More to the point, why didn’t the officer retreat? Couldn’t the cop have backed out and waited for some non-lethal resolution? Nope. As our commentators point out below, retreating would have exposed the officer to additional danger. Suicide by cop? Mentally unhinged? Or just plain dumb? Either way, our condolences to both the family of the perp and the policeman who ended his life.

The good folks at Gemtech are stepping up their game with their new titanium G-Core suppressors.  These solid two-piece cans are the result of tons of research using the latest computational fluid dynamic (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) software. While all that may sound rather geeky, the results are hard to beat: tough-as-nails, full-auto rated, user serviceable cans at a reasonable price . . .

“If I sound emotional, it’s because I have people threatening my kid. It’s because I have people threatening to kill me right now [that] I’m having to talk to the FBI and have private security to keep my children from being skinned alive and shot at.” Hunter Corey Knowlton quoted in Winner of black rhino hunting auction: My $350,000 will help save the species [via cnn.com]

A Houston, Texas gun range (not pictured) has filed suit against the city to avoid being shut down over what it calls an “antiquated ordinance” requiring gun ranges to have steel bullet traps. Top Gun of Texas has a state of the art rubber bullet trap, installed during construction in 2009 by Action Target of Utah. Since then, the range has passed annual inspection and had its permit approved every year until now, when they were advised their permit would not be issued because they were operating out of compliance with the 40-year-old city law. The range points out that “the state of the art in the 1960s is antiquated today. The old-style bullet trap detailed in the ordinance worked by firing a bullet into a steel plate pointed downward at a 45-degree angle. The lead bullet would hit the steel plate, disintegrate, and fall into pieces on the sand pile below. We have since come to realize that inhaling lead particles is not a good thing. That is why the rubberized system is now th

A “ghost gun” is a firearm that isn’t registered with the government. Especially and specifically modern sporting rifles made from so-called “80 percent lower receivers”: parts that do NOT have to be registered as firearms with the ATF. There are, of course, federal rules for these guns. You can not, for example, sell them to others. Nor can you pass them on to your progeny. But is that good enough for California’s civilian disarmament extremists (a redundant term but there it is)? Nope. The Golden State gun grabbers have introduced SB 808 to force these “ghost guns” into their regulatory maw. Or, if you prefer, to turn their legal owners into criminals. Gun rights advocates are organizing opposition but how do you defend “untraceable guns”? By saying that guns shouldn’t be traceable, to gu

Second amendment supporters at Arizona capitol in 2013

A recent poll from the Seattle Times ran through the blogosphere with decidedly positive results for Second Amendment activists. In spite of splitting 2A supporters with two answers, the total came at 79% in favor of a strict reading of the Second Amendment (no infringements) and 18 percent in favor of the status quo. Only 7% were for increased restrictions on second amendment rights, even worded as a “background check” measure . . .

RF kept me pretty busy scouting for gun gear at the SHOT Show, but I played hooky long enough to scope out at least a few fantastic new knives. Spyderco’s brand-new Domino is at or near the top of that list, but it isn’t the kind of knife we expect to see coming from Golden, Colorado: a frame-lock flipper. It’s no traditional Spidey, but it’s definitely Spinelli-worthy totally bitchin’. And pretty expensive. And almost certainly worth it if you’ve got the budget.

Jump over to The Truth About Knives for the details.

“Mexico has long suffered blistering violence and crime at the hands of its homegrown drug cartels,”

SIG/SAUER had some big product launches this week, and the factory flat dark earth version of the P2022 wasn’t really one of them. The polymer P226-alike gets only a mild makeover this year with a factory FDE treatment and SIGLITE night sights. The 2022 is a much better gun than its lowly place in the SIG/SAUER catalog would suggest . . .

SIG doesn’t show it much love, but it’s actually an outstanding full-size pistol. (Read Nick’s 2012 review here.) We hope this mild makeover shows that SIG plans to keep it around for a while unlike the superseded P250, which (despite SIG’s repeated denials) probably has a remaining shelf like of less than two years.

Shotguns are incredibly versatile firearms, excellent for hunting, self-defense, planting seeds and reducing the number of unwed mothers. We can now add opening a beer to that list. Or not. Yeah, let’s go with not. Putting your hand anywhere near the end of a shotgun as bits of lead exit the barrel at 1100 to 1200 feet per second may not be the stupidest thing you can do, but it’s close. Damn close. Close enough to make Elvis’ infamous ballistic reaction to Robert Goulet’s TV performance seem sensible. And earn our unidentified sud quaffer IGOTD hardware. Let’s hope he doesn’t drink to that. [h/t Tyler Kee]

“Gun owners in Connecticut registered about 50,000 assault rifles before the Jan. 1 deadline, state public safety officials reported Friday as they drew close to completing the task of processing reams of related paperwork,” ctnewsjunkie.com reports. “That rough estimate comes more than two weeks after the deadline to register banned rifles and ammunition magazines — steps required by last year’s gun control legislation passed in response to the Sandy Hook shooting.” Reader CTsheepdog wonders . . .

“How is that there were 50,000 rifles registered versus less than 40,000 LCM’s [large capacity magazines] declared? Second, how do we reconcile 50,000 rifles against an official state analyst group suggesting over 370,000 rifles back in April 2011?

“The Republican Party candidates are running against the SAFE Act — it was voted for by moderate Republicans who run the Senate! Their problem is not me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.” – Governor Andrew Cuomo, Cuomo: Extreme Conservatives…have no place in the state of New York [at capitol timesunion.com]

Harvey Weinstein appeared on CNN Chat Shows host Piers Morgan’s program this evening to address accusations of hypocrisy. Critics of the Hollywood movie producer – who recently announced his decision to green light a film that would “make the NRA wish they’d never been born” – have pointed out that Weinstein’s previous movies relied heavily on “gun violence” to put bums on seats. While not exactly owning the contradiction, Harvey acknowledged it and swore off gratuitous gun violence in future productions. “The change starts here,” he told Morgan. “I’m not going to make some crazy action movie just to blow up people and exploit people and make some crazy action movie.” Pinkie swear promise?

“An Iraq War veteran who filmed himself loading a shotgun in the nation’s capital was given two years of probation—but has no plans to stop his gun rights activism,” nydailynews.com reports. “Adam Kokesh told Judge Patricia A. Broderick during his sentencing on Friday that he would ‘refrain from civil disobedience.’” This from the man who said (in the aforementioned video) “we will not obey.” And so . . . ”Hours after the hearing, he uploaded a YouTube video [above] and pledged to continue vlogging about gun rights . . . All of the charges against him amounted to more than seven years in prison. But Broderick suspended Kokesh’s one-year jail sentence in favor of two years of probation after noting that the man had followed all her order

January 11th marked the one year anniversary of the passage of the NY SAFE Act, and Second Amendment advocates across New York marked the anniversary with a “Shot Heard ‘Round New York.” Opponents of the SAFE Act gathered at multiple locations around the state and fired a single shot in unison to protest the law and send a message to Albany. WHEC Rochester did a surprisingly evenhanded job of reporting the story, however, I got a decidedly FUDD-ish vibe off the man interviewed that left me with a bad taste. What possible points could he be referring to?

Your Lockdown of the Day™ comes from Henrico, Virginia, where Glen Allen High School was placed on a two hour lockdown on January 7th and searched room-to-room by SWAT for a student who was r

Here at TTAG, we cover optics exactly to the extent that they enhance or enable your shooting. Redfield’s new $200 ‘Battlefield’ binoculars promise to do exactly that. Especially if you’ve got a spotter . . .

These 10×42 binocs give your spotter an edge in calling your corrections, because they’ve got the same MOA reticule that Redfield ‘Battlezone’ scopes have. Having a reticule on your spotting scope is extremely helpful; I know this because the longest shot I ever took (1140 yards) was spotted in by a former Delta sniper with a reticule spotting scope.

The Redfield Battlefield binoculars have an MSRP of $199, which is pretty good for a full-warranty optic from an American manufacturer.