The Truth About Guns

By Brian P.

There is a natural progression to black rifle disease. It starts, naturally enough, with the rifle, and ends – if it ever really ends at all – with many more rifles and accessories than the infected individual thought (s)he needed. When a new shooter obtains their first AR, if they’re unfamiliar with the malady, they may begin to accumulate accessories of dubious quality. As a shooting community, the most important thing we can do is to push new AR owners towards quality options and upgrades. It’s only too easy to yell at the new guy on the forums, telling him to go buy an Aimpoint or Trijicon. After all, what’s a little more credit card debt? You don’t want to run junk accessories do you? . . .

The problem with that approach is not everyone is at the same level in their shooting career. To cultivate passion in a sport, one must first enjoy it. I want to find and recommend products that let new

Now that 2013 is officially in the rear view mirror, we can take a moment to reflect on the turd sandwich that was last year. It started off on an awful foot, the ripples from Newtown lasting the entire year. It derailed not only the civil rights advocacy that has been going strong for years, but also a major part of a president’s agenda and caused no small amount of sturm und drang in congress. Throughout it all we were there, reporting from the trenches (seen here in the SHOT Show press room in 2013) bringing you the latest firearms news. Here are some of the most read articles of the year, broken out into three categories . . .

General Gun Related Stuff

1. Oops: Red Jacket Firearms Loses Their FFL

“[Jeanne] Doucette said the assault occurred after she and [Marc] Adams, both 39, had met for a drink at Miller’s after Adams finished his shift as chef for a downtown food cart,” c-ville.com reports. “Adams tripped and fell in front of Derriere de Soie lingerie store. As he was getting up, a man approached quickly, said something that Doucette couldn’t make out, and kicked Adams while he was on the ground, before being joined by his friends who beat Adams severely, breaking his ankle, cracking ribs and knocking out one of his teeth.” The assailants also pummeled Doucette, who “suffered bruising to her head and tea

Press release:

MAGPUL INDUSTRIES ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR RELOCATION

Company Is Moving Operations to Wyoming and Texas

Magpul Industries announced today that it is relocating its operations to Wyoming and Texas.

The company is relocating manufacturing, distribution and shipping operations to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Magpul is leasing a 58,000 square foot manufacturing and distribution facility during the construction of a 100,000 square foot build-to-suit facility in the Cheyenne Business Parkway. The Wyoming relocation is being completed with support from Governor Matt Mead, the Wyoming Business Council and Cheyenne LEADS. Magpul is moving its corporate headquarters to Texas. Three North Central Texas sites are under final consideration, and the transition to the Texas headquarters will begin as soon as the facility is selected. The Texas relocation is being accomplished with support from Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Economic Development Corporation . . .

“Magpul made the decision to relocate in March 2013 and has proceeded on an aggressive but deliberate path” says Doug Smith, Chief Operating Officer for Magpul Industries. “These dual moves will be carried out in a manner that ensures our operations and supply chain

We recently reported that the NY SAFE Act’s provision banning the loading of more than 7 rounds of ammunition in a magazine had been found unconstitutionally vague by the state’s Supreme Court, something we all knew but took many months of wrangling to get the anti-gun politicians in New York to understand. However, it now appears that at least one district attorney (Onondaga County, to be specific) thinks that just because the law is unconstitutional doesn’t mean that he won’t enforce it.

From localsyr.com:

Less than a year after New York passed historic legislation regulating guns in the state, a Federal judge has made a ruling saying the controversial laws are constitutional.

The judge in Buf

I love me some tactical shotguns. They’re as close to a one-stop shot as you can get in a firearm. They’re perfect for making solid objects disappear in an explosion of bits. Don’t try that at home. Or in a police patrol car. OK, Austin, Texas police officers Shelly Holmstrom and Vincent Giles didn’t try to blow the bejesus out of their squad cars with their department-issued scatterguns, but by God they managed it. The video above features a rather confused performance in terms of preparing a shotgun for police duty. To be clear, a “cruiser ready” shotgun has a full magazine, an empty chamber and the safety on. “Call ready” means a full mag, chamber loaded, safety on. And “Shoot Ready” means a full magazine magazine with the chamber loaded and safety off. As always, a finger never goes on the trigger until it’s time to shoot. All that said, a one-day suspension for the officers and some TTAG IGOTD hardware o

Mother Jones, Gawker and other sensationalist news sites are preparing to release articles beginning next Monday detailing the “assault weapons trafficking” that goes on through reddit.com. We know it’s coming — we’ve seen the emails, we’ve talked to the contacts that they’ve tried to meet with and we’ve seen the discussions — and this is being spearheaded by a gun control advocacy section of Reddit called /r/gunsarecool that dances with joy every time there’s a mass murder. Truth be told, Reddit’s gun sales sections are no different than any other website that lists firearms for sale on the net, but because Reddit is one of the most popular websites, the suggestion that a beloved site could be the source of &#

“In Operation Fast and Furious, the Mexican drug cartels found an easy way to supplement their own illegal ways. Worse yet, the Obama administration has yet to publicly hold anyone accountable for this disastrous policy. Unfortunately, guns from Fast and Furious will be found in operations like this for years to come.” – Senator Charles Grassley, Fast and Furious guns turn up at Mexican resort shootout [at cnn.com]

[h/t Dirk Diggler]

Cull of the Wild. Geddit? The New York Times headline is a riff on Jack London’s classic shaggy dog story Call of the Wild. In London’s book, Buck goes from domesticated doggie to back woods brawler. In the article about East Hampton’s deer infestation, the editorial board contrasts “privet hedges, gentle dunes and white-seashell paths . . . a vision of a natural world tamed and tailored t

Earlier this month, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America convinced Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop to inject an anti-gun litmus test into his police department’s firearm procurement process. Nine days later, 109 Garden State mayoral members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns told the world they’re happy to sacrifice cops’ safety for political correctness. A week after that, Rabbi Joel Mosbacher returned from a European civilian disarmament tour to announ

Kel Tec is known for making interesting looking firearms… and then only ever making approximately three a year per model. Despite the nifty design of, say, the KSG or the Sub-2000, there’s never any on the shelves and there’s no indications that Kel Tec is ramping up production to meet demand. Nevertheless they’re soldiering on, introducing two new rifles at SHOT Show this year that seem to be in the same bullpup-esque vein as the popular RFB and Tavor SAR rifles. All we have on them at the moment is this ad from a magazine (via PT) but rest assured we’ll get you guys more info as soon as we land in Las Vegas. Looks like we have plenty of time though — the ad notes that the 5.56 version will be available “late 2014″ with the others following eventually. Available being a relative term, I

Not everybody’s idea of “home defense” is to fire two negligent discharges into the air from a double-barrel shotgun. Some of us think it might be more effective to actually shoot the ammo *at* an invader. And for more and more people, they’re foregoing the shotgun and instead reaching for an AR. An AR-15 for home defense? Why not? Powerful, low recoil, easy to aim, high capacity, easy for smaller shooters to handle. It may not be everyone’s choice, but it is the most popular rifle sold. Surplus military ammo, though, is probably not the most suitable round for home defense. In this video, ShootingTheBull410 takes a look at Winchester’s PDX1 223 Defender; it’s purpose-built ammunition designed specifically for the modern sporting rifles and for personal defense use.

The Truth About Guns gives Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America a great deal of coverage. More than a few commentators are unhappy about this editorial “obsession.” They’ve pointed out – as have we – that Mother Demand Action (MDA) is a sham. They have nowhere near the popular-never-mind-active support of gun rights groups. So why give the doyennes of disarmament the oxygen of publicity (as Margaret Thatcher warned journalists covering the IRA)? Doesn’t that simply raise MDA’s profile and, thus, spread their message? To parap

The Age of Miracles has not passed! The Huffington Post’s gun rights kapo has penned an article that points out that Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (MDA) is like those Hollywood Western towns: an empty facade meant to stir emotion and . . . that’s it. In fact, one wonders why the HuffPo published “Mike the Gun Guy’s” post The Confrontational Gun Control Strategy That Just Might Work. It does more to ding MDA than a hundred TTAG exposés. Well d’uh. The proggy website is read by “progress

If you don’t want to get your dander-up, don’t. Nurse your hangover in [relative] peace. Don’t read the “legal arguments” from Buffalo Federal District Judge William M. Skretny, who ruled yesterday that New York’s SAFE Act is constitutional (except for the bit about only being able to load seven bullets). Nor do I recommend you read the New York Daily News’ editorial on the decision The gun nuts lose again. Or Moms

If RF had his way, there’d probably be a giant banner across the top of the website proclaiming our awesomeness with one of those cheesy “visitor counter” widgets. But I made a deal a few years back: keep the cheerleading to a minimum and I’ll do a full stats breakdown every quarter and post it for all the world to see. Well, another quarter just ended and that means it’s once again time to draw back the curtain and give you, our readers, an eye-full of the site’s latest stats. And if I could use three words to describe how we’re doing, they’d be “better than ever.”

The first quarter of this year spiked our stats so hard that it took nearly six months to get back to the normal trajectory. There’s a standard and predictable growth pattern that we’ve seen in terms of readership, and anything beyond that tends to freak me out just a little bit. But ever sin

“The driver, 30-year-old Norman Gurley of Michigan, was pulled over for speeding,” dailycaller.com reports. “A highway patrolman noticed wires running to a secret compartment in the car and arrested Gurley, even though there were no drugs in the compartment. The officer also claimed he smelled marijuana in the compartment — giving him probable cause to search it — though none was ultimately discovered. It makes no difference whether police find drugs or not, according to a new Ohio law that prohibits secret compartments.” True story. As TTAG tipster One_if_by_land1776 points out, “welcome to the world of pre-crime.” And say goodbye to Fourth Amendment protections.

“Pro-gun activists are worried about losing their guns and moms are worried about losing their children. You tell me who’s going to win.” – Shannon Watts, Founder, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America quoted in The new leaders on gun safety in 2013? Moms [via msnbc.com]

FNH USA is the current manufacturer for the M16A4 and M4 series rifles for the U.S. military, so it might come as a bit of a surprise that despite the insane demand for AR-15 rifles in the United States FNH USA didn’t make a version of the firearm for civilian sales. But starting in 2014 FNH USA has announced that they’ll finally be producing two models of AR-15 rifles for the civilian market, one with a fixed A2 stock and one with a collapsible stock.

Word on the street is that the guns won’