The Truth About Guns

From the Moms Demand Action For Civilian Disarmament/Gun Sense in America website:

Moms Demand Action will mark the one-year anniversary of the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, with No More Silence, a campaign to honor the lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary, and to show our resolve never to be silent again about the epidemic of gun violence . . .

Join us. Participate in our week of action, create a paper bell craft, and mark the day of the anniversary with dozens of “No More Silence” events all across the country. At each of these events, we will ring bells to remember victims of gun violence, and to demonstrate our commitment to be vocal and persistent in working toward common-sense gun reform.

Join us to commemorate this solemn anniversary with No More Silence:

On Saturday, December 14, Moms will gather in more than 35 states to honor the victims of the

In Louisiana, a court case is headed to the Supreme Court that’s based on the right to keep and bear arms amendment that was overwhelmingly approved by voters there last year. The case is one of those that people point to as showing the insanity of current law. Rico Webb, a 22-year-old man with no criminal record, was in his girl friend’s car when it was stopped for a broken tail light. He had possession of a legal handgun and he told police that he had a “blunt” (small cigar with marijuana filler) in his backpack . . .

Possession of the marijuana blunt alone would be a misdemeanor. Possession of both the blunt and a handgun, under the inflexible drug and gun laws of Louisiana, meant a felony conviction with a sentence of 5-10

By Mike Morrison

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely seen the incredible progress Solid Concepts made with their working, 3D printed 1911. I bet you watched all of Cody Wilson’s printing antics and the horror they elicited among the anti-gun community. But you may not have considered some of the greatest threats to the future of printing firearms. If you look in your safe, you’ll see their names printed all over your favorite firearms . . .

3D printing is set to revolutionize industrial production. It provides designs and ramps up initial production. Printers likely won’t replace mass production, but will decrease barriers to entry for new

Goths probably don’t rappel down many buildings (and the whole idea of Goths & Guns has an image problem since the Columbine shooters went crazy) but these black multicam pants look pretty neat if you’re into camo. I’m not, so I’ve only got one question: do we call them ‘tactigoth’ or do we call them ‘gothical?’ 

I’ve had a pair of Tru-Spec 24/7 khakis for about two years. Khakis look ‘outdoorsy’ instead of ‘mall ninja,’ but like all Tru-Spec 24/7 gear they’re insanely rugged. They’re my go-to pants for a day at the shooting quarry in rain, snow or shine, and they’ve held up amazingly well through hard use. Their only damage is a mend w

Police: Gun buyback program aims to remover (sic) firearms from Oakland streets the mercurynews.com headline proclaims. Which is stupider than normal. Yes, the FUD is strong with this one. “After last year’s successful gun buyback program that removed more than 600 firearms from city streets, police and two anti-violence organizations will hold a similar event on Dec. 14.” Right. The otherwise worthless, broken ass guns Oaklanders exchanged for booty we “removed from city streets.” Like bags of heroin. Or thugs locked away in jail. Can I get an Oy Vey

On December 9th, the the Undetectable Firearms Act (UFA) will expire. The Act—a clear infringement on American’s natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms—was a hysterical response to the GLOCK 17. Gun control advocates wrongly accused Gaston’s polymer handiwork of being undetectable by metal detectors. There ought to be a law! And so one was proposed. The NRA caved. Wikipedia . . .

When you’re handloading ammunition, there has never really been a good way to check that all of the dimensions are correct. Sure you can grab your calipers and check every dimension of every finished round, but that’s time consuming and inefficient. Especially when you’re slicing up existing 5.56 brass into 300 BLK brass, you want to be doubly sure that your handloads will fit perfectly in the chamber without any issues. That’s where something like this slot gauge comes in handy, from Sheridan Engineering . . .

The concept is simple: the gauge mimics a 300 BLK chamber and lets you double check that all of the dimensions are correct. The barrel end of the gauge is calibrated to ensure the proper COL of a loaded bullet. The breech end has markings that let you check that the shoulder is in the right position. And the o

I’ll let you form your own opinions, but note that the black markers are fatal shootings and the blue ones are just punctures. All I’m going to say is that maybe the problem isn’t law enforcement or a lack of gun control, maybe the problem is…economic? Map by Kevin L’Herrou, from Reddit.

“If you go to a couple of places and can’t find the ammunition you need, fear sets in. The next time you see that ammunition for sale, you’re going to buy everything they’ve got.” – Mark Johnson, Guns for Christmas: After year long buying frenzy, dealers unsure what market holds [at thepiedmontjournal.com]

“The SAFE Act isn’t the only example, but it’s certainly one of the ones that points the most to the fact that our government isn’t listening to the people, and we are the government,” said Sheriff Timothy Howard of Erie County, New York. “Do you want law enforcement people that will say, ‘I will do this if I’m told to do it, even if I know it’s wrong.’?” . . .

Space Cadet Mark Kelly is at it again, spreading complete falsehoods in pursuit of his anti-gun agenda. From his latest mailing: “If you or your family have ever visited an airport, courthouse, or even some hospitals and schools, you know that a metal detector can be the last line of defense between your loved ones and a criminal with a gun.” I guess I have a different definition of “last line of defense” than he does. But here’s the rub: If it’s currently illegal to have a gun that’s undetectable by a metal detector, but you were taking it t

By Adam Caporello

Small town America did me no favors. The quaint Massachusetts village of less than 6,000 had no crime to speak of, so doors were kept unlocked at all times. We were raised comfortably oblivious to the reality in which most people live. For that I am mostly grateful. Mostly . . .

Growing up I became familiar with your typical bolt-action .22 rifles and single barrel shotguns, I have the Boy Scouts to thank for that. However, I had never even considered the prospect of handling or owning a handgun, especially not for daily carrying. Handguns were items to be strapped to the hips of police officers and security guards.

I couldn’t tell you if it was due to growing up in liberal Massachusetts, my parents leaving the doors unlocked in our relatively crime-free neighborhood, or perhaps just sheer ignorance, but it never even crossed my mind that an ordinary citizen could or should ow

Reader BgreeneA3 writes:

I keep hearing the term “police militarization” thrown around here. To that I ask, when have the police NOT been militarized? Police, sheriff or any law enforcement type organization are in fact “para-military”  and always have been. They all have an organized rank structure, like the military.  They wear uniforms, like the military. They have a set use of force policy (rules of engagement) like the military, etc., etc., etc., . . .

As for police uniforms looking more military or “tactical” again, look to the military. The standard military dress uniform looks like police uniforms from the early 1900′s. In the 50′s and 60′s the wool top coats were pretty much dropped but it’s a military uniform. The military has evolved from the uniforms worn in WW1 and WW2 into a more useful uniform for field wo

Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly is a populist, not a conservative. As such, O’Reilly has demonstrated his willingness to throw gun owners under the proverbial bus on numerous occasions. For example, he strenuusly defended a State’s “right” to ban and yes confiscate firearms during a declared emergency. O’Reilly’s not-so-evil twin, Glenn Beck, is also soft on gun rights. At the NRA Convention in 2012, Beck told TTAG that he doesn’t support Constitutional Carry because “we’re not ready for it yet.” That said, I love watching the dynamic duo’s dynamics when they share screen time. O’Reilly hates Beck. He never misses a chance to pull rank, diss and humiliate his former colleague—who seems to found a set of stones since he split from the Fox family (the old interviews were genuinely cringe-worthy). In this segment, Beck shows a gun. Yes, a gun.

By Kirk Butts

Guns have been a part of my life since I could realize that I was, in fact, alive. From an early age I was taught by my father about firearms; how to handle them, how to shoot them, how to clean them and most importantly, how to respect them. We lived in the Indiana suburbs and never had the luxury of going shooting whenever we wished, but that love for guns stayed with me during those long gaps between the range. It grew throughout my childhood and into manhood. Squirt guns became cap guns. My ancient (and broken) Daisy BB gun gave way to a Crossman air rifle. In college, I purchased my first “real” firearm: a 1966 Yugoslavian M59/66A1 SKS. I am a proud conservative gun owner who comes from a family of proud conservative gun owners . . .

My girlfriend’s story doesn’t quite mirror mine. If she played baseball, her position would be so far out in left field that she’d be on the other

“Even as gun ownership per household has decreased over the last four decades, according to data from the research center NORC, that declining popularity hasn’t translated to a drop in sales,” huffingtonpost.com reports. And then . . .  ”Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a gun control advocacy group, attributes that trend to aggressive promotion from gun lobbyists looking to capitalize on tragedies like Newtown and other mass shootings. ‘The reality is that in America, fewer people are owning more guns,’ said Watts. ‘They have to keep marketing to [gun owners] to buy more weapons.’” They don&#8

As we pointed out earlier, the Empire State gun grab is a go. Make the jump for images of the rifles listed above . . . [h/t Don]

“This is not Tokyo, this is not Finland. This is the United States of America.” – Texas Lieutenant Governor candidate Dan Patrick, To GOP, gun rights a big weapon for votes [at dallasnews.com]

A gun dealer (not shown) who was prosecuted and sentenced to federal prison during the aftermath of Fast & Furious may soon walk free. A Federal magistrate ruled that Ian Garland deserves a new sentencing hearing due to errors made in the original proceeding, which saw him convicted because, according to prosecutors, he “had reason to believe the firearms he sold were destined for Mexico.” For his part, Ian is protesting his innocence, saying “I’m nothing more than a scapegoat. I’m here because the ATF let me sell for 18 months to people they knew were smuggling arms to Mexico…. It’s because of that stupid Fast and Furious operation.” His attorney added, “After these guns surfaced in Mexico and a Border Patrol agent was shot dead, they kind of reversed course and started prosecuting this firearms dealer that they were allowing to sell. And I honestly don’t think Ian fully knew what was happening with these guns.” But I bet Holder did&#823

“Brandon James was in for quite a shock Tuesday night,” myfoxdetroit.com reports. “He says he went to bring in the garbage bins when he realized his daughter’s car, just recently driven in from Colorado for Thanksgiving, had been stolen – right out of their Ridgewood Street driveway on Detroit’s west side. Inside the 2013 Nissan Ultima was one thousand rounds of exploding ammunition.” Holy gang bangers go BANG Batman! Exploding ammo! “Police treated this incident as a high priority; the massive amounts of explosive ammunition is said to be armor piercing.” Armor piercing exploding ammo? Now that IS a serious sitch. “In a matter of hours police located the vehicle only three blocks away, but it was up on blocks. The wheels and rims were gone – and so was all of the ammunition.” The

By Kristen May

I grew up in a family where wild game, from pheasant and duck, to antelope and deer, was a regular feature of the table. I can remember fighting with my siblings for the last piece of deer sausage from my grandfather’s last hunt, and winter meals of pheasant cacciatore. N.R.A membership simply was a fact of life for my grandfather and his brothers, and yet I was never afforded an opportunity to so much as see my grandfather’s prized hunting rifles. I don’t think it was any conscious decision on the part of the men in my family, I simply think it never occurred to them to buy the coveted Red Ryder BB gun for the nieces and granddaughters as they did for the nephews and grandsons . . .

As a consequence, my only gun education came from the: “if you ever see a gun anywhere call an adult immediately” and the “Little Johny