The Truth About Guns

TTAG reader Chip K saw Moms Demand Disarmament’s anti-gun agit-prop and thought, well, that makes sense. On some level. This level.

By ST

This is hard to write. Those of you with a biblical background may be familiar with the story of Paul. One of the most noted Apostles in the good book got his start persecuting the very thing he became later in life. It was a lesson lost on me growing up in the Baptist community in urban Chicago. It’s no secret guns aren’t the favorite topic among the dwellers of that metropolis and I was no different. I wrote many a lauded term paper in high school supporting the Assault Weapons Ban . . .

and I pitched a proper teenage liberal fit when the Supreme Court ruled in a fashion which meant Al Gore lost the election. Yes, I used to be one of those radical, low information voters who’s easily swayed by CNN and Al Sharpton. It’s a good thing time travel isn’t achievable yet because sometimes I want to go back and slap myself so hard I’d probably ce

Remember the brouhaha when Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin put gunsights on a map showing where Tea Party voters could/should unseat Democrats? The outcry from the left was intense. The President himself lambasted the right for incendiary rhetoric. And yet here we are, two-and-a-half years later and the President is lambasting Congress for “holding a gun to America’s head” and the anti-gun group Moms Demand Action feel free to put a gunsight on the back of a mother’s head to . . . well the image doesn’t say what. The text accompanying the image calls for “common-sense measures to keep guns out of the hands of abusers.” In other words, disarmament. Which squares perfectly with their overall goal of civilian disarm

For the first two thirds of the competition, life was pretty good. I stumbled a bit on stage 4, but it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t recover from. The next three stages would be, in comparison, a train wreck. The thing about shooting the match with the staff is the time frame is compressed. For the normal match attendees, they shoot three stages a day over three days. For our squad, with the re-shoots and the shortened time frame, we had just finished shooting eight stages in one day and we had three stages left to go. We were exhausted, both physically and mentally. But with the finish line in sight, we wanted to push through and get the match done . . .

Don emailed us his recently completed AR build. “The only thing not made in the USA is the Aimpoint.” Whatchew got?

Just about every shooter owns, has owned or will someday own a Mossberg Model 500 shotgun. Like a Winchester Model 94 or a Ruger 10/22, the old Mossy is just one of those guns that endures forever while newer designs come and go. It’s always been a snap to swap Mossberg 500 barrels, and now it’s literally a snap to swap out just about everything else. The Mossberg FLEX 500 is the most modular shotgun system ever made. It’s the Stoner 63 of pump-action shotguns. Is that cool or what? . . .

The Basics

A few months ago, Mossberg sent me a basic FLEX 500 shotgun, and then sent me all the pieces-parts you see here. No single shooter would ever need or pa

A Personal Note from Dudley Brown

Dear XXXX,

Grassroots gun rights supporters have already successfully recalled two gun-grabbing Colorado state senators for their anti-gun votes. Now it’s time to go retire a third, and regain a pro-gun majority back in the Colorado Senate. A large, grassroots effort to recall State Senator Evie Hudak, one of Colorado’s leaders for gun control, is now underway. With your help, we can recall her from office. In case you need a reminder of just how anti-gun Senator Hudak really is, keep this in mind . . .

- She

Regular readers know that TTAG’s been cross-posting (in our own clothes I swear) with marksperson Kirsten Joy Weiss. As the Keystone State shooter ascends the ballistic ladder of fame one shot at a time, she’s paying close attention to your comments and suggestions. One bit of feedback that came through loud and clear: why you shootin’ a $3k Anschutz target rifle, girl? The simple answer: because her $1k Volquartsen target rifle hasn’t worked out. Yet. The more important answer: good question. To assuage critics Ms. Weiss is casting about for a new rifle. I’ve hooked her up with a Marlin man: a gunsmith who is to lever guns what Steinway is to pianos. To be clear: KJW’s .22 will be a heavily breathed-upon Marlin. Why? Here’s a list of major post-Freedom Group suckage from the lever guy, who makes his living putting

“Why should anyone have to retreat or take an ass-whipping if a criminal attacks them?” – Chuck LaRosa (not pictured above), Protesters rally against ‘stand your ground’ gun bill [at dispatch.com]

Connecticut Carry President Richard Burgess press release:

In a letter dated September 10th, 2013, the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) admitted to ‘mistakes’ in sending threatening letters to citizens that were the subject of ex parte restraining orders and unlawfully demanding the surrender of their firearms under the threat of arrest. The letter comes as an apparent response to Attorney Rachel M. Baird’s criminal complaint sent to the FBI against the DESPP for deprivation of civil rights . . .

While the DESPP assures us that these kin

In our photo galleries “Guns of the Capitol Hill Shooting” (click here and here) we saw a whole lotta ARs goin’ on. And HK 416s. But this guy was rockin’ it old school. Name that gun and discuss why it’s still a fine choice for taking out an assault Infiniti and/or its driver (but not the passenger). [h/t Dylan]

I’m not entirely sure that holding a bad guy at gunpoint is a good idea. I’m definitely sure that re-enacting a defensive gun use (DGU) for the media is a bad idea. Anything you say or do is admissible as evidence and there’s no lawyer there to tell you—or the jobbing journo—to cease and desist. But hey, it worked-out for George Zimmerman and it makes for great DGU material here. And there’s one less [humiliated] bad guy on the streets, thanks to Betty Collins. Wait. Did you see the paper that Ms. Collins holds up at :54? Thomas Lee Johnson is back on the streets. I bet Mr. Johnson’s friends and family watch TV. What does that tell you?

By B.R.

Being from a Mid-Western state, I grew up around guns. I was one heck of a crack shot, judging Kentucky windage and “bullet drop” with my single shot BB gun, nailing those empty soft drink cans off the wooden stump in the back yard. I eventually grew up, went to college, and didn’t think much more about shooting those BB guns, rifles, or pistols that I used to when I was a kid. But there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve been “lucky” in any one of the following situations . . .

• An unfamiliar man sees me getting into my car, opens the door, gets in and says “I’m gonna ride with ya”
• An unfamiliar man walks up to the passenger door of my car and knocks on it asking for money while I was ordering at the drive through at a local fast food restaurant
• An unfamiliar man walks up to me face-to-face at bad-breath-distance at a gas station

Thanks to a lack of baby-sitter coverage I was unable to join TTAG writer Alan Brooks at Asgard Training to secure my Texas Concealed Handgun License. Bummer. It could have been even more of a bummer; Alan couldn’t source the required 100 rounds .45 caliber ammo. Nor could he find 100 rounds of .38 for his GF. Luckily, I had a supply. His near-miss illustrates a sad fact: popular pistol caliber ammo is still is short supply here in The Lone Star State. How’re things in your neck of the woods?

The RI GOP is RIP. If Rhode Island Republicans held a baby-eating contest to raise money, it would barely ding their election chances. That said, the baby-eating thing would be far more acceptable to the New York Times editorial board than the current fundraiser: an AR-15 rifle raffle. “The Republican Party of Rhode Island is attracting well-deserved scorn for its plan to raise money Sunday by raffling an

*California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey or New York restrict or prohibit ownership of “high capacity” ammunition magazines. If you’re a terrorist living in Somalia, no problem. You can own as many ammunition magazines of whatever type you like. As they say, whatever you can get. Like a MagPul EMAG (fits an HK416) and a standard issues magazine for an MP7. And where did the terrorist group Shabab get these examples? From . . .

a more than reasonably successful

“I don’t want to shoot him but if somebody comes here, sure I will shoot him. I’ll shoot him and I will kill him. If I’ve got to shoot my gun, you’re not going to believe it, these bullets will go all over his body. So next time, the people won’t do that to anybody else.” - Van Dyke Liquor Market owner Steve Bahoura quoted in Detroiter Sleeps In Liquor Store With Shotgun To Prevent Robberies [via detroit.cbslocal.com]

“My son, trying to defend his home and himself, he discharged my firearm, striking one of the suspects.” Suspects? Why the cop-speak? Well, because Ken Patmon is a Houston cop himself. His 18-year-old son was home alone Wednesday afternoon. After a knock at the front door went unanswered, two doods decided to let themselves in through the back door. The kid got on the phone with his father, then he got a gun . . .

“‘This is our home, and he’s my son,’ Patmon said. ‘If I’m not there to protect him, we try to teach our children to do what’s right, and I just thank God that he’s OK.’” That’s more than can be said for one of the two home invaders who’s now certifiably dead. The other lit out for parts unknown.

The sheriff’s tre

By ST

Being a prior service college student is a strange experience sometimes. In some respects it’s like being a character on the Twilight Zone: you see things others do not. I had the occasion to visit a university office which shared its building with a four-story dormitory. As I waited in the office, a cable installer visited the twenty-something receptionist. She handed over the log, let the guy sign the binder and gave him a master key without verifying a single piece of ID. Sure he was wearing a company jacket with the company logo, but that didn’t mean squat . . .

A bad guy with planning skills, a credit card and time could gain access to any building on campus they wish with only a cable company blazer and a smile. That’s just one security hole I noticed, but hardly the only one.

This university makes a big deal about key card access and locked doors at their  residence halls. Unfortunately,

TTAG reader BE notes:

Gotta love the hipster checklist:

Less bangable (as if possible) clone of Janeane Garofalo? Check!
Crappy two-chord guitar work? Check!
Weak chorus? Check!
Hipster glasses? Check!
Hipster derby hat? Check!
Beta male hipsters with ironic old-timey beards in the background? Check!
Cheesy symbolism that an eighth grader could whip up? Check!

All we need now is a MacBook and a messenger bag for this video to be even more cliche.