The Truth About Guns

It’s ironic, in the non-Alanis-Morrissette sense, if you think about it: The Glock 17 pistol and its successors have been tirelessly vilified, demonized and even libeled by the firearms-hating American media since before it found a single owner on this continent. Yet the fantastic polymer dishwasher-safe double-stacker is the best possible example of firearm-as-tool. Consider the following scenario: You have been informed that you are 100% certain to be in a gunfight tomorrow and that you can only take one pistol and one backup magazine with you. You don’t know what the weather will be, what the number of opponents will be, what the lighting conditions will be. Nothing is certain but the this: you’re going to have to fire your weapon in anger. How many of us would take anything but a Glock? . . .

In a world where nobody had any personal attachment whatsoever to a firearm — a world where we chose a pistol the sa

This is easily the most excited I’ve been for an opening weekend in a long time. With the last few years showing us Texans the real meaning of drought, the whitetail population has been pathetic at best. Last year was a great year for killing off some cull bucks and hey, Dan got his first deer, but it was HOT all last summer, rain was nonexistent and my ranch was basically burned to a crisp . . .

But this year has been absolutely spectacular. We had a mild summer and this fall has been drenched. I was out at the ranch a few weeks ago and saw acorns everywhere and my pond is finally full again. A mild summer, lots of water, and a bumper crop of acorns means opening weekend is going to be the best one we’ve seen in years. The icing on the cake is a 

Tiger McKee of Shootrite Firearms Academy writes:

You’ve prepared and practiced with your weapon. You understand the principles and tactics necessary to defend against a violent attacker. Every day you carry your pistol. At the same time you pray it never sees action. But, tonight is the night. You’re going to face a threat intent on taking your life. The attacker is not quite human. He has no moral problems ripping out your gutty works with a knife, shooting you in the face, or methodically crushing your throat with his bare hands. He’s got nothin’ to lose. For you, failure means death. You die; lose your family and all your hopes and dreams. And, even though you’re completely aware of this fact, or soon will be, you have to completely ignore it . . .

“The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement.” Lee writes in

“People in the community are nervous to join a group (neighborhood watch) that was tarnished in the media and got a bad image with everything that happened. We really want to put those fears to rest and get the community going on the program.” – Sanford Police Department spokeswoman Shannon Cordingly quoted in Florida city bans guns for neighborhood watch volunteers [via chicagotribune.com]

Via bearingarms.com: What’s wrong with this picture? (click to embiggen) “Mr. Polen exited the passenger-side rear seat, and pointed an AK-47, which is very similar to this weapon here, at the officer…” Answers after the jump . . .

A M1 Carbine underfolder (.30 Carbine or 7.62x33mm) with an AKM magazine (7.62x39mm) and what appear to be 5.56mm rounds, plus a random unexplained pistol caliber cartridge. Original story (with video) at palmbeachpost.com.

Over the weekend I

Thanks to all of you who responded to my request for a Remington 870 to test Advanced Ballistic Concepts’ Multi-Impact shotgun ammo. That shout-out delivered first contact with ammo tester ShootingTheBull410, who’s now become a regular TTAG contributor. It also brought us a good half dozen Austin-area readers with Remington 870′s at the ready. So I thought, well, what could be more fun than a line of 870 shooters all firing at the same time, maybe slow-walking towards a target? And so TTAG’s holding an 870-fest at Best of the West range in Liberty Hill, Texas on Sunday, November 10, from 9am to maybe 1pm. If you’d like to attend please ping guntruth@me.com with subject l

“The mother of one of the first graders killed in the tragedy at Sandy Hook pleaded today that the 911 recordings and the crime scene photographs never be released,” wtnh.com reports. “A special task force on crime victims’ privacy must make recommendations to the General Assembly in j

Nick’s got a pet peeve: gunmakers who make a minor variation on an existing model and then make a big deal about it like it’s a brand new rifle. Personally, I like variations on a theme. I’ve got more than one Glock and now, maybe, a brace of Henry Repeating Rifles. Specifically, their “new” Henry Silver Eagle: a Golden Boy .22LR with a nickel finish receiver, buttplate and barrel band. I’m WAY too OCD to own a Golden Boy; one major scratch and I’d be on edge anytime I even thought about the gun. But man is that rifle a sweet shooter—everything a Marlin should be except dirt cheap ($849.95). Speaking of dear, the Original Henry Rifle repro’s finally made it to production. The lim

Dear VPC Supporter,

For women, gun violence is closely linked with domestic violence. Just look at the numbers: Ninety-four percent of women murdered by men were killed by someone they knew. At least 61 percent of the women who knew their killers were their intimate partners. And the most common weapon that men used to murder women was a gun . . .

These are some of the findings in our annual report, When Men Murder Women, released for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. We looked at the FBI statistics for 2011 — the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available — and found that 1,707 females were murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents. At the state level, South Carolina had the

Hornady’s released its new product lineup for 2014. [Press release with product-specific videos after the jump.] I’m not so sure about the company’s decision to stretch their brand into non-ammo products with a “Security Division.” While their clunkily-named ArmLock™ Box & TriPoint™ Lock Box looks better than the competition, the Rapid Safe is about as discreet as a Zombie T-shirt on Michal Idan. More to the point, anything that interferes with the Hornady = ammo association hurts the brand—long term. (They should have created a new brand.) In the short term I’ll have two please. Hornady’s new line of Custom Lite® low-recoil rifle and shotgun ammo could be a huge success, given the number of women and new shooters entering the market. There’s new stuff for [both] reloaders looking to decrease time spent away from the family and a beer mug to rival

“Few galas can boast as many lights, cameras and action as the Houston Police Foundation gala.” With a lead like that you gotta know this gem from chron.com is going to be a great story. And so it is—if you love you some police militarization. “The sixth annual soiree returned to its original location at the River Oaks mansion owned by Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta and wife Paige. The lights started blocks away, as parked police cruisers flashed without abandon, and continued up

I fully admit to being a 300 AAC Blackout fanboy. Ever since Kevin Brittingham handed me a suppressed 300BLK HK416, I was hooked. A heavy-hitting caliber in the same familiar AR-15 platform? Sign me up! So as soon as I got back home, I started trying to build the perfect AR-15 in the wonder caliber. And after much trial and error, I think I’ve got it figured out. Let me take you through my journey, with pictures and build notes from each step of the way . . .

My first foray into the world of 300 BLK was a 16″ version. I didn’t have an SBR-ed lower receiver handy, so while I was figuring out how to get that done I bought a 16″ 300 BLK upper from AAC and started tinkering.

I really like the factory-issue sights on my new Glock 19. They are not, however, night sights. So I’m swapping them out for TRUGLO Bright Sights. OMG I’d forgotten just how graunchy and heavy a standard-issue Glock trigger can be. It smoothes out after a couple of thousand rounds but why wait? I’ve ordered a Ghost Rocket 3.5 Trigger Connector. It takes some of the safety out of Glock’s Safe Action trigger but my trigger discipline is up to snuff and it reduced group size by 30 percent in my Glock 30SF. Enlarged slide lock? Hello? It’s a lock not a release. Grip tape? Gen4 fixed that. Wilson Combat

Dr. No was the first James Bond movie but the sixth book. In it Bond (James Bond) begrudgingly exchanges his .25 ACP Beretta for a Walther PPK chambered in the much more powerful .32 ACP, described as “a brick through a plate glass window.” [Click here for the clip.] The PPK was available in .380 as well, but that wasn’t a popular or well-known caliber in Europe. Although the Mossad are still partial to .22 for close range wet work, one assumes most people would buy a PPK chambered in the relatively small caliber for newbie instruction, target shooting and plinking. If so, that’s not a terrible idea . . .

New for 2013, the Walther PPK/S in .22 long rifle is very much like the centerfire PPK in almost every way, from controls to weight and size to machining, fit, and finish. It’s actually somewhat rare to find the .22 version of

Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s sympathetic voice is fairly convincing, but his lawyerly argument is better. That said, Cruz can be a bit dull in these settings. I’d like to see him in a cut-and-thrust debate with Hillary Clinton or one of her Democratic competitors regarding gun control. Yes. Yes I would.

We’re still more than 60 days out from SHOT, but G Outdoors isn’t letting any grass grow under their feet. They’re out with a new line of hide-in-plain-site handgun cases and they want to make sure everyone headed to Las Vegas knows about it. What’s the harm in a little discreet deceit? Their new gear will let you tuck a Taurus G2 in your “tissue box,” hide an HK P30 in with your “hazard markers” or file an FNS-40 in your “first aid kit.” They say the early bird gets the worm. Does that mean I’ll be stopping by booth 306? Only time will tell….

“I have no previous firearms training. I have no idea what carrying a gun entails. I don’t have the mindset to shoot and kill; I admit this about myself, which is why I have never had any incentive to become familiar with guns or permits for those weapons. So could I really say that I could protect the children that I’m watching over at any and all costs if I am unwilling to carry a gun in the classroom or on my person to protect them?” – Brittany Jordan, Guns in Schools: Not the Answer [via collegian.com]

We’ve previously noted the heavy support Terry McAuliffe is getting from Bloomberg in the Virginia gubernatorial race, to the tune of nearly $2 million. Now comes news that Bloomberg’s super PAC is dumping another $1 million into the final week of the race for Attorney General in a “saturation-level television buy” in support of Democrat Mark Herring over Republican Mark Obenshain (right above). Turnout for this election is expected to be low overall, so that means it’s easier to move the needle. And for governor, that needle is close. A

By Don Natale

Are instances of child violence on the rise? To tell the truth, I don’t really know, but I’ll go out on a limb and say it sometimes seems like it. There are good reasons why this could be true. Regardless, child violence is a problem worth solving whether the rates are increasing, decreasing, or static. To really start solving this problem, whatever its size, we MUST address the incentives and motivations for kids killing each other. Bullying is an obvious motivation. Bullying is a common feature of any population of the human animal. For kids, bullying used to be somewhat escape-able . . .

A child could seek refuge at home. A parent could move the child to another school. Now the bullying follows the child persistently wherever they go. It comes into their lives through their social media and cell phones. Frankly, I can’t imagine having that