The Truth About Guns

The Campaign to Stop Gun Violence (CSVG) and CNN host Jake Tapper got into a Twitter war on whether or not your humble scribe was booked on The Lead to discuss the Metcalf imbroglio. [Click here for the full exchange.] I’m wondering if Tapper was under pressure to cancel my appearance (given that I’m a “insurrectionist & misogynist”) and now denies the interview was ever planned. That doesn’t make much sense but the only other explanation is that Mr. Tapper and his staff had a failure to communicate. From our end the truth of the matter is pretty simple . . .

Truth be told, CNN producer Elizabeth Chmurak and I exchanged seven emails in all. We also had two rather congenial phone calls. Here&#8

The Outdoor Wire has printed a response form now former G&A technical editor Dick Metcalf to his firing. In short, Dick’s upset. And he fears for both the First and Second Amendments. And all of you and your “voices from cyberspace” are to blame. Have at it:

When the present controversy erupted a week ago, I was asked by Guns & Ammo/InterMedia management to write the following “clarification and elaboration” on the December Backstop column for use on the G&A website. I did so, but the decision was made to wait and see how the situation developed. I was also asked to hold off on making any comments in any other forum, and no other response appeared in any G&A/IMO forum at all. Then, after Paul Erhardt’s column appeared in the Shooting Wire yesterday (http://www.shootingwire.com/features/228219), IMO was contacted by two major firearms industry manufacturers, stating that they would do no further business with IMO if it continued with its present personnel structure. Within hours, Jim Bequette resigned as Editor of Guns & Ammo, and my relationship with all I

What happens when a concealed carry license holder wards off a robbery attempt in Spokane, Washington, by displaying a legally owned firearm in his own apartment? He gets a big atta-boy from the local PD. But if he’s a student and rents that off-campus apartment from Gonzaga University, the gets his guns confiscated in a midnight raid. And he will, in all likelihood, be expelled. That appears to be the most likely outcome of a University Disciplinary Board hearing today to determine the academic fates of Erik Fagan and Dan McIntosh . . .

After the robbery attempt, the two seniors dutifully reported the incident to the local constabulary as well as campus police. As relayed by gonzagabulletin.com,

Cruising through New Jersey’s unconstitutional firearms laws I happened upon N.J.A.C. 13:54-6.7. That would be “Regulations during a civil disturbance or declared emergency period. (a) In the interest of the public health, safety and welfare, firearms dealers shall discontinue the sale of firearms and ammunition upon notification by the Superintendent or the chief of police of the municipality where the firearms dealers’ business is located, that a civil disturbance or other emergency exists.” I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of the Jersey po-po deciding when and whether a gun dealer can deal when the deal goes down. I mean “if.” If the deal goes down. But what if Boston’s “

The phone rings and who should be on the other end of the line but Joe Nocera. The New York Times’ resident civilian disarmament agitprop propagator. The writer responsible for the contextless anti-gun feature called The Gun Report, which recently represented American gun owners with a picture of an armed Ku Klux Klansman. Before the appearance of an Aussie “study” linking gun ownership to racis

Those who push the cause of citizen disarmament work hard to demonize guns. They try to make the public display of arms a shameful thing, something that “decent” people simply don’t condone. And they’ve had a considerable amount of success. As recently as the 1950s people carried rifles and shotguns in New York City without so much as a sideways glance. In liberal fascists’ version of reality, the public display of firearms is perfectly acceptable, even laudable, as long as the person with the weapon is wearing a uniform, indicating they’re an agent of the state. But trade the uniform for ordinary clothing and the that open display becomes cause for alarm because…shut up . . .

In Ohio recently, the open display of a gun led to potentially dangerous consequences that might yet have legal fa

On the left coast, a new law that was recently passed required that all sales of handgun ammunition take place “face-to-face,” outlawing all internet sales. Also included was a requirement that sales records be kept as to the buyer, caliber and so forth. It was the holy grail of ammunition registration, a Chris Rock-esque scheme to make purchasing ammo as prohibitively expensive and onerous as possible. And on Wednesday, a California court threw the whole thing out the window . . .

The specific reason why the law was overturned isn’t because they were a violation of the Second Amendment (because what self respecting California judge would ever rule in favor of the 2A?). Instead the California Superior Court decision said the requirements were unconstitutionally vague. Thanks to t

“Personal protection is the top reason Americans own a gun, as was true in 2000 and 2005. This, rather than views on the Second Amendment, may explain why moving toward greater gun control, as Obama and many Democrats have sought to do, is so difficult. Those who own firearms for protection may feel that their own personal safety is a vital need on which they do not wish to compromise.” – Gallup, Inc.’s Art Swift, Personal Safety Top Reason Americans Own Guns Today [at gallup.com]

I really can’t explain this one at all, as it comes with no attribution or sourcing. A law enforcement officer in riot gear bangs the butt of his 40mm grenade launcher on the ground, while looking down the barrel, and the gun goes off and shoots him in the face. Don’t worry, the video’s not graphic. (Or I’m sorry, depending on your predilections.) A better use of the grenade would probably have been to shoot the guy with the camera. At least if he was knocked out, the camera’d be steady . . .

Adam Kokesh pleaded guilty on Wednesday to several charges relating to a July 4th incident where he videotaped himself loading a shotgun at Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza. Kokesh was released from jail, where’s he’s been for nearly four months, pending sentencing in January. Though he had a trial scheduled for November 18th, Kokesh rep

“Florida lawmakers late Thursday voted down a bill to repeal the ‘stand your ground’ law linked to the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin,” orlandosentinel.com reports. “The 11-2 vote in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee likely kills any repeal effort in the Legislature this year. But a separate Senate measure still pending could revise the self-defense law first passed in 2005.” Oh great. Strangely (i.e. not) the tussle over SYG divides along party lines . . .

“The evidence is overwhelming that ‘stand your ground’ keeps Floridians safer,” Gaetz said, adding that most state residents support the law . . .

The stand your ground law … is not w

Major Van Harl [via Ammoland.com] writes:

The Hi and Lois cartoon in the Monday paper caught my attention because I did not think it was funny. In the first panel Hi while driving his car is beeping the horn. In the next panel you see a pretty young woman jogging with ear buds in her ears. The caption in the second panel has Hi saying “she must be wearing honk-canceling headphones.” We are suppose to laugh but the truth is the young woman is a future victim of an accident she could have avoided or worse yet the dead or injured subject of a criminal attack. All because she has music blaring in her ears via tiny little speakers she pushed deep into her head that block out the sound of the

TTAG reader JJ sent us the link [click here for the written report] with the above in the subject bar and this message: “So that government officials NEVER get the idea that they can get away with raping you blind. Sure, they still try to do it here, but as was shown with Manchin-Toomey and Colorado, Americans don’t suffer overreaching fools for very long.” To which I’ll add that Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms (RKBA) helps deter this kind of confrontation in the first place.

As predictably as the sun rising in the east, Guns & Ammo editor Jim Bequette issued an apology yesterday for Dick Metcalf’s poorly conceived December issue column and promised that Dick would no longer be penning anything more for the magazine. The problem is that I don’t really buy it. G&A should have known better. Or rather, I think they did know better. Editor Bequette was on his way out (or up) at the end of the year anyway, so it seems he had little to lose letting this anti-2A nonsense fly. Basically this whole thing has the fragrance of the Fulton Fish Market dumpsters to me . . .

Let’s be frank, Bequette not being able to guess how Metcalf’s article would be received speaks volumes. Either he’s tremendously naive or he thinks that his audience is. This is especially true given the absolute f

TTAG’s Old Fat White Guys will no doubt remember Thunderbirds. The supermarionation science fiction series featured, uh, marionettes. Puppets prone to saying “FAB!” when given their marching orders. Unlike OFWG, FAB didn’t stand for anything, really. How fab is that? I have no idea what the letters in Israel’s FAB Defense stand for but I like the cut of their jib. Their

And it’s not a goofy-looking zip-gunnish thing. They printed themselves a 1911. Here’s Solid Concepts’ press release:

Solid Concepts, a world leader in 3D Printing services, manufactures the world’s first 3D Printed Metal Gun.

Austin, TX – Solid Concepts, one of the world leaders in 3D Printing services, has manufactured the world’s first 3D Printed Metal Gun using a laser sintering process and powdered metals. The gun, a 1911 classic design, functions beautifully and has already handled 50 rounds of successful firing. It is composed of 33 17-4 Stainless Steel and Inconel 625 components, and decked with a Selective Laser Sintered (SLS) carbon-fiber filled nylon hand grip. The successful production and functionality of the 1911 3D Printed metal gun proves the viability of 3D Printing for commercial applications . . .

“We’re proving this is possible, the technology is at a place now where we can manufacture a gun with

There’s a popular analogy going around that tries to link guns and cars. “You need a license to drive a car!” gun control advocates scream, “and it needs to be registered! Why not do the same thing with dangerous guns? It’s only common sense!” It’s a line so popular that even a wolf in sheep’s clothing at Guns & Ammo fell for it. But if you actually take a second and dissect that argument, it completely falls apart of its own weight. Guns are, in fact, already far more heavily regulated that cars. In fact, treating guns like cars would require a reduction in regulation, not an increase. So, let’s take a peek at the truth behind these claims . . .

TTAG thoroughly debunked an Australian “study” linking American gun ownership with racism. But we’re not stupid. We know that once flawed stats that demean, diminish or defame American gun owners hit the ‘net the civilian disarmament industry’s all over it like a cheap suit. Case in point: Elie Mystal over at abovethelaw.com. Not only does the Harvard grad turned litigator turned self-professed “online provocateur” take the Ozzie study at face value—and then some—he returns to the convolut

“The gun that a 20-year-old New Jersey man used to shoot up the Garden State Plaza [not shown] and ultimately turned on himself had previously been confiscated by police and was only recently returned to the shooter’s brother by order of a judge,” toledoblade.com reports. “Police previously took possession of the rifle — modified to look like an AK-47 and registered to Richard Shoop’s brother, Kevin Shoop — after what Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said ‘may have been a domestic violence incident.’ In fact . . .

Recently — perhaps within the last few weeks, Molinelli said — a judge granted a request to return the gun to its