The Truth About Guns

The Seattle Times is running a poll about two initiatives that will be on the ballot in the next Washington State election.  Instead of two questions that the voters will face, the poll asks three, summed up thusly . . .

Do you think background checks should apply to:

All gun sales, as proposed in I-594

Only for sales by licensed dealers, as proposed in I-591

No one. Americans hav

Oops, I did it again. I played with a shotgun. And shot the squad car dead. To be fair, I think we can assume that this is Austin Police Officer Dustin Turner’s first negligent discharge. But it’s the third reported negligent discharge with a shotgun for the Austin Police Department in one month. You may recall that two – count ‘em two – APD officers received a one-day suspension for firing their shotguns inside their patrol cars, earning themselves a place on TTAG’s illustrious IGOTD roster. Now comes word from

Does concealed carry have a deterrent effect on crime? “Allowing citizens without criminal records or histories of significant mental illness to carry concealed handguns deters violent crimes,” John Lott concludes in his stat-laden report Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns. Common sense would also suggest a link – if only because a perp shot by an armed citizen has remarkable deterrent effect on the bad guy’s future predation. So I’m going with “yes.” But that’s a far cry from suggesting that the prospect of concealed carry deters crime. Citing Chicago’s falling firearms-related homicide rate,

Hunting shows hunt far and wide for a new concept to appeal new and existing audiences. As we all know (or knew what I used to link to Israeli supermodels), sex sells. Does it work both ways? Will women and gay hunters tune into Run2Gun to see Jordan Miller work out? I mean, the “some of you” that Mr. Miller refers to when he says “some of you may be thinking there’s no way I can do a traditional barbell squat” are, what, 80 percent of American hunters? These are not the exercises that OFWGs (Old Fat White Guys) are looking for. It’s too bad this isn’t a fitness program for armed self defense for all sexes, ages and body types. Anyway, do you work out and eat right? Is your ability to fend off attackers part of your motivation?

After decades of success with traditional hammer-fired DA/SA pistols, SIG SAUER is jumping into the world of striker-fired hanguns with a completely new design that’s also modular — and multi-caliber. But why the mysterious blue box? . . .

Because the P320 is so new that it hasn’t officially been announced yet. There are no photos of it, but SIG has leaked plenty of other details in advance of the official launch at the SHOT Show. Until then, here’s what we do know:

• Striker-fired like a GLOCK or Springfield XD.
• Serialized fire-control group like the not-too-successful P250.
• Modular frame and slide/barrel assemblies in Subcompact, Compact, and Full sizes.
• Available in 9mm, .357 SIG, .40 and .45 ACP with double-stack magazine capacities the same as the P250.
• SIGLITE night sights are standard.
• MSRP: $713 for a complete pistol; additional frame kits and caliber conversion kits will be extra.

We’re still waiting for a lot of other details, though:

• Will it use P250 magazines?

In 3-gun competitions, stage designers love to be evil. And the definition of “evil” in this case is setting targets out at 3 yards, and then forcing you to quickly shift and engage some more at 300 yards. Doing that with the same rifle without switching optics is tough, since too much magnification on close range stuff will suck almost more than too little magnification at long range. Normally you’d need to find a balance between the two and settle for something in the middle, but Leupold’s Mark 6 1-6x20mm scope asks the question, “why not have your cake and eat it too?”

Quick full disclosure notice here. For the last year I’ve been shooting with Team FNH USA, and Leupold is one of their sponsors. As such, use of the scope was part of the deal. However, now that the year is over and I’m no longer sponsored by FNH USA or Leupold, I can give a relatively impartial

The New York Times’ article Banished for Questioning the Gospel of Guns “exposes” gun journo “extremism.” It’s based on an unsurprisingly sympathetic profile of Dick Metcalf. You may remember Mr. Metcalf as the Guns & Ammo writer given the old heave-ho after writing a column suggesting that government regulation of gun rights isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Suffice it to say, Warren Zevon’s

“There is a strong public safety need for this information to be accessible to the NICS, and some states are currently under-reporting or not reporting certain information to the NICS at all. This proposed rulemaking is carefully balanced to protect and preserve individuals’ privacy interests, the patient-provider relationship, and the public’s health and safety.” – Kathleen Sebelius, Obama Seeks Tighter Mental Health Restrictions on Guns [at bloomberg.com]

So a left-leaning pro-gun control commentator watches a video of a courageous commuter tackling an armed robber and advises viewers “don’t try this at home kids I’m telling you you’re going to get shot.” Whether or not you think that’s wise counsel isn’t really the point. This kind of armed encounter involves so many variables it’s impossible to play ‘parse the pistol.’ But one thing’s for sure: if you’re going to attack your attacker, do so with as much force as you can possibly muster. Go all in as quickly and violently as you possibly can. No holds barred. (Forget the friggin’ iPod.) It’s that aspect of Krav Maga, rather than any trick techniques, that makes it such an effective method of self-defense. But you don’t have to master it to use it.

The regular Bodyguard .380 handgun is considerably chunkier than the other pocket pistols out there, thanks in part to the laser sight that is integrated into the frame. Now, S&W has unveiled their new M&P version of the gun that is considerably more svelte and seems to have some machining cuts in the slide and other locations designed to make it easier to holster and draw. However, it’s still a mouse gun in .380 ACP so we’ll have to see if its a better shooting handgun than its thicker cousin. Full details on S&W’s site with more to come as we get to SHOT Show.

“A SPECIALIST police anti-gun squad has claimed criminals in a Yorkshire city are dodging detection by forcing “vulnerable” people to store their weapons – after revealing that last year saw a four-fold increase in firearms seizures,” the UK’s yorkshireeveningpost.com reports. “The Operation Quartz team – set up in 2009 to combat gun and drug crime in Leeds – confiscated 27 weapons from criminals over the course of 2013, having seized seven the previous year. The fi

Reader DanRRZ sent this in with the following comment: “I’m not a Glock guy to begin with but I don’t get this in .380. Its marginally bigger that the Shield in a less potent defensive caliber.” I can’t say I disagree. You?

Two Alabama men are in custody and one of them is recovering from surgery to his groin region after threatening a homeowner while prowling his property. According to police, Paul Reed and Aaron Lawson were trying to steal scrap metal from a property (not shown) in Marshall County, Alabama. They didn’t take any steel or copper, but Lawson did manage to flee with a small quantity of lead. Unfortunately it was in the form of a rifle bullet shot into his groin, and he won’t even be able to recycle it because it will almost certainly be held as evidence in his upcoming trial . . .

Over the last 23 years, Smith & Wesson’s Performance Center has hand-crafted some of the world’s finest shooting firearms. While the division breathes on a wide range of S&W models, their revolvers are the Center’s crowning achievements. For 2014, S&W PC is introducing five new wheelguns: the M929 “Jerry Miculek Signature Model” (eight-shot 9mm competition revolver with a 6.5″ barrel), M686 (seven-shot .357 Magnum revolver with a 2.5″ barrel), M629 (six-shot .44 Magnum with an 8-3/8″ fluted barrel), M460XVR (five-shot 460 S&W Magnum revolver with a 3.5″ barrel) and the M986 Pro Series (seven-shot 9mm competition revolver with a 5″ barrel). Prices unknown. While I’d be happy to have any of these firearm

“Glock is still billing the new Glock 42 as a pocket pistol. Its not,” Rob Pincus writes at gunmartblog.com “It’s still too long (0.47″ shorter than Glock 26) and still to tall (0.04″ shorter than the Glock 26) to be considered for true pocket pistol use. Yes, a Glock 26 can be pocket carried, but its hardly a practical EDC [Every Day Carry] method. The same will also ring true with the Glock 42. People are going to have to carry it in a traditional holster. What Glock basically did was to produce a Ruger SR380 with a Glock pedigree that will be probably be a little bit better… Whoopideedoo! Its still going to cost $50-$100 more than the Ruger.” So . . . what IS the best pocket pistol? For me, it’s a an Ruger LC9 or a

On an AR-15 rifle, just about everything is replaceable and customizable. It’s one of the things that makes the gun so desirable, useful and the best selling firearm in the United States. But one part in particular has never gotten much love from the modding community: the magazine release. Until now . . .

The magazine release is a small, but important part of the gun, and the design of the receiver means that there aren’t a lot of options when it comes to modifications. There have been alternate designs for the button for ages, but almost all of them require either extensive modification to the gun or a custom lower receiver to work. But the folks over at ODIN Works have come up with a way to give you a bigger magazine release button without any permanent modifications to the gun.

Robert forwarded me the announcement email with the subject “NEW GUN!! OMG NEW NEW NEW NEW!”, so you can tell that he’s wallowing in my usual pre-SHOT Show pain. You see, I have a pet peeve about companies introducing “new” rifles when they’ve only changed one or two little things about their existing products. Like making it a new color, or changing the caliber in which it’s chambered. Like this latest announcement from Ruger, now offering their very nice American Rifle (introduced last year) in two new varmint calibers. I mean, it’s nice to see more options in chambering, but calling it a brand new rifle is more than a little overkill. Needless to say there’s more coming, so I’ll go stock up on whiskey.

That’s a whole lot of KA-BLAM! in one small package. One small convenient package. Tannerite hasn’t made an official product announcement on this one yet; we’ll add it here once the presser drops. For now, imagine the possibilities! And pity poor FPS Russia, hidden away in the Witness Protection Program, is denied a chance to blow stuff up with the latest and greatest binary explosives.

“Passing common-sense gun safety legislation – including expanding background checks and making gun trafficking a federal crime – remains the most important step we can take to reduce gun violence.  The vast majority of Americans support these critical measures, which would protect our children and our communities without infringing on anyone’s Second Amendment rights..” White House Press Release: FACT SHEET: Strengthening the Federal Background Check System to Keep Guns out of Potentially Dangerous Hands [full release after the jump]

FACT SHEET: Strengthening the Federal Background Check System to Keep Guns out of Potent