Category: Gun Schtuff

Analysis: Where Will SCOTUS Come Down on ‘Ghost Guns’?

The Supreme Court is set to consider a challenge to the ATF’s unfinished frames and receivers rule, and there are some clues as to how they might rule.

On Monday, the Court agreed to take up Vanderstok v. Garland. The case centers on whether the ATF overstepped its authority by significantly expanding its interpretation of what constitutes a “firearm” under federal law. The outcome will determine the viability of selling unfinished parts, such as “80 percent” AR-15 lowers, without a federal gun dealing license. It will likely have a major impact on the homemade gun market that commonly uses those precursor parts.

The Court’s decision to grant cert is the result of a government appeal against the ruling of a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The lower court sided with gun-rights plaintiffs and found the rule was likely “unlawful.”

Taking up a case that went in favor of the gun-rights litigants could be a sign that the Court wants to reverse that lower court decision. In fact, the Court’s tendency to take up cases where it wants to overturn the lower court is one of the main reasons to think it will go in favor of the NRA in the group’s First Amendment case. But that’s probably not what’s going on in this case.

Unlike challenges to state laws or state law enforcement, this case deals with the enforcement of federal law. The federal government requested the Court take it up. It requires the Court to settle an issue to avoid incongruity in how federal law is enforced nationwide.

If the Court didn’t take up this case, it would leave the ATF’s rule in place everywhere but the Fifth Circuit. SCOTUS prioritizes settling these sorts of questions, and it’s a reason to think that granting the case doesn’t say much about why it took it up beyond that.

What does say something about where the justices might come down is the record they’ve already established in this case.

The Supreme Court has already intervened here twice. Both times, it sided with the government. Both times, it blocked lower court injunctions against the ATF’s rule.

That might suggest that the justices will side with them on the merits, but that’s probably not the right read of what happened.

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SCOTUS Grants Cert in SAF VanDerStok Frames, Receivers ‘Finale Rule’ Case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in the case of the “Finale Rule” on frames, receivers and parts kits announced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in April 2022, and subsequently challenged by several entities including the Second Amendment Foundation.

The case is known as Garland v. VanDerStok. It has been described as a case about so-called “ghost guns” built without serial numbers, but the issue is far deeper. It is really about the ATF’s alleged violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), and usurping the authority of Congress.

In a statement from SAF, Executive Director Adam Kraut hailed the announcement.

“We are delighted that the Court has agreed to hear our challenge to ATF’s frames and receivers Final Rule,” Kraut said. “ATF has continuously exceeded its constitutional authority and violated the separation of powers by creating law – a job reserved exclusively for Congress. It is time for the Supreme Court to remind ATF that it may not do so and affirm the judgment of the Fifth Circuit.”

SAF was joined in its intervenor complaint by Defense Distributed, a Texas-based firm. In their original complaint, they stated, “To comply with the Second Amendment,” the complaint alleged, “the promulgating agencies needed to jettison balancing tests and consider only whether their regulation is ‘consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’ Yet because that did not happen—itself a key APA violation—it is no surprise that the new Final Rule tramples true historical traditions.”

The Associated Press is reporting that arguments in the case “won’t take place before fall.” That could push a ruling back to possibly June of 2025.

According to SCOTUS Blog, “A federal district judge in Texas invalidated the rule and entered a national injunction against it. By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court then stayed the order pending resolution of an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and any cert. petition; Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh voted to deny the stay.”

For more than a half-century, since passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, the ATF did not consider parts kits or unfinished frames and/or receivers to be firearms. But that changed 15 months into the Biden administration.

“This case typifies the Biden administration’s war on the Second Amendment,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “Clearly under Joe Biden, the ATF has unilaterally set itself up as the sole authority on firearms regulation, bypassing Congress and arbitrarily changing long-standing regulations to suit the administration’s anti-gun agenda.”

As noted by NBC News, after the high court granted the stay while the trial moved forward, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “mostly ruled for the challengers.”

“Because Congress has neither authorized the expansion of firearm regulation nor permitted the criminalization of previously lawful conduct, the proposed rule constitutes unlawful agency action, in direct contravention of the legislature’s will,” the Circuit Court ruled.

The Biden administration does not want to lose this case, which is not actually a Second Amendment case, but has considerable bearing on how far the government can go to regulate firearms without violating the right to keep and bear arms.

It does make you wonder if the demoncraps aren’t actually invested in gun manufacturers. I mean, they are a duplicitous lot.

Americans Stock Up on Firearms in Response to Biden’s Pushes for Gun Control

American citizens are stocking up on firearms as Democrat President Joe Biden ramps up pressure to strip them of their Second Amendment rights, according to a new report.

A bombshell study from a pro-gun group found that so-called “high-capacity magazines,” often defined by liberals as magazines with more than 10 rounds, are extremely common despite the efforts of Biden to demonize them.

In fact, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) discovered that Americans collectively own 700 million magazines with a greater capacity than 10 rounds, a new report shows.

Biden’s extreme anti-gun rhetoric, especially his comments about the futility of an American militia against a standing army, have not helped calm the nerves of millions of Americans who see gun ownership as the last defense against tyranny.

But Biden has a tall task indeed if he wants to get Americans to forfeit their firearms.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) found that 46 percent of detachable magazines owned by Americans are rifle magazines with a capacity of over 30 rounds.

The findings are a stinging rebuke of Biden’s alarmist gun rhetoric, which often paints “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines as dangerous and unusual “weapons of war.”

In a statement, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane said:

“The data establishes that law-abiding gun owners overwhelmingly choose magazines that have the capacity to hold more than ten rounds for lawful purposes including self-defense, target shooting, and hunting.”

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Marines Ditch 100-Year-Old Marksmanship Standards.

The United States Marine Corps announced earlier this month it is changing the shooting standards to which it has adhered for more than a century. The new system will reflect accuracy as well as the speed at which a Marine delivers hits on target.

Re-evaluation of the century-old marksmanship qualification standards began in 2018, when a combat lethality study found an unexpected loss in proficiency in engagements at unknown distances, or when the Marine or target were on the move. The Marine Corps is investing $34 million to better train its troops with the new system, phasing out an approach that required delivering 30 rounds at established distance in two minutes. The old scoring system didn’t differentiate between lethal shots and those that may not stop an aggressor or readily identify distances problematic for a particular shooter.

“This is about increasing lethality,” Col. Gregory Jones, commander of the Weapons Training Battalion—part of Training Command at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia—told Stars and Stripes. “This is not your granddad’s rifle range.”

Marines are required to annually prequalify and qualify with their rifles. If a prequalification score met standards, it could be accepted for both in the past. Now it must be at the expert level, not just at marksman or sharpshooter performance, to do so.

In addition, the Marine Corps has begun allowing entry-level shooters to support rifles with their magazines. The change reflects improvements in magazine design and strength as well as widespread success using the approach in civilian competitions.

“The rifle range in 1907, it’s not bad or good. It’s what we had when we had … a 1903 Springfield [rifle], which was an 1890s technology,” Jones explained to Stars and Stripes. “Now we have an M-16A4. The test is not as true a measure of lethality as it was when we had older, outdated technology.”

When I was assigned to my first duty station at Fort Lewis, the 9th Infantry Division had just drawn the – then new, now obsolete for the past 15 years  – M16A2 rifle. We all thought we had achieved Nirvana, and when we qualified the percentage of those who qualified Expert, yours truly among them, astonished the command echelons.
We shall soon see what hath been wrought.

The Army Has Finally Fielded Its Next Generation Squad Weapons

U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, observe a Next-Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) machine gun with fire control during a Program Executive Office Soldier Operational Kit demonstration at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

The Army has officially fielded its brand-new Next Generation Squad Weapon rifles to its first unit, bringing an end to the service’s decades-long effort to replace its M4 and M16 family of military firearms.

Army Futures Command announced Thursday that soldiers from 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, accepted delivery of the XM7 Next Generation Rifle and XM250 Next Generation Automatic Rifle ahead of training in April.

Produced by firearm maker Sig Sauer, the XM7 is intended to replace the M4 carbine in close combat formations, while the XM250 will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW. Both new rifles are chambered in 6.8 mm to provide improved range and lethality against enemy body armor.

The Next Generation Squad Weapon series also includes the XM157 Fire Control smart scope, built by Vortex Optics, which integrates advanced technologies such as a laser range finder, ballistic calculator and digital display overlay into a next-generation rifle optic.

The fielding “is a culmination of a comprehensive and rigorous process of design, testing and feedback, all of which were led by soldiers,” Col. Jason Bohannon, manager of soldier lethality for the Program Executive Office Soldier project, said in a statement. “As a result, the Army is delivering on its promise to deliver to soldiers the highest-quality, most-capable small-caliber weapons and ammunition.”The XM7 rifle

The XM7 rifle. (U.S. Army photo)

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Ruling: Millions of NRA Members Exempt From Pistol Brace Ban

The ATF can’t go after NRA members over guns with pistol braces on them.

That’s the outcome of a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge on Friday. US District Judge Sam A. Lindsay sided with the gun-rights group and enjoined the federal agency from enforcing its rule reclassifying pistol-brace-equipped guns as short barrel rifles (SBRs) under the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA). The decision keeps any NRA member who owns a braced gun from facing six-figure fines or imprisonment if they didn’t register their gun by last year’s deadline–something most owners didn’t do.

“[C]ompliance with the Final Rule is not discretionary, and the NRA’s members face severe penalties for their failure to comply with the Final Rule,” Judge Lindsay wrote in NRA v. ATF. “Accordingly, both of the final requirements for injunctive relief are satisfied because the threatened injury to the NRA’s members outweighs the threatened harm to the Defendants, and enforcement of the Final Rule under the circumstances will not disserve the public interest.”

The ruling is a concrete, if temporary, win for the NRA. While the group has lost millions of members due to an ongoing corruption scandal, and it’s unclear exactly how many remain, those who’ve stuck with the group will now enjoy protection from the long arm of the ATF. The decision puts NRA members under the same legal umbrella employed for members of the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Gun Owners of America through previous rulings.

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FBI Figures Show Crime Fell as Americans Stocked Up on Guns in 2023

FBI figures reported by NBC News on March 19, 2024, show that crime fell during 2023, a year in which there were over one million background checks a month for gun purchases.

On July 4, 2023, the Washington Examiner noted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks for gun purchases have been over a million a month for 47 straight months.

On March 19, 2024, Breitbart News spoke with National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Mark Oliva and he said it has now been 55 consecutive months of one million-plus NICS checks.

This means, leading up to 2023 and throughout 2023, Americans were pouring into gun stores to acquire firearms, yet “fourth-quarter numbers” reported by NBC News showed “a 13% decline in murder in 2023 from 2022, a 6% decline in reported violent crime and a 4% decline in reported property crime.”

Former CIA analyst Jeff Asher commented on the lower crime figures, saying, “It suggests that when we get the final data in October, we will have seen likely the largest one-year decline in murder that has ever been recorded.”

There was a similar situation after gun sales surged in 2013. Breitbart News pointed out that private gun sales skyrocketed during 2013 with 21,093,273 background checks, and, according to the FBI, “offenses” in the categories of violent crimes and property crimes decreased during the first six months of 2014.

On a broader scale, Breitbart News observed a 2012 Congressional Research Service study showing gun ownership jumped from 192 million privately owned guns in 1994 to 309 million in 2009. At the same time, the “firearm-related murder and non-negligent homicide” of 6.6 per 100,000 Americans in 1993 fell to 3.6 per 100,000 in 2000 and as far as 3.2 per 100,000 in 2011.

Three Shots in Three Seconds
There are good reasons why this is an oft-quoted statistic in the firearms training world.

“Three shots in three seconds at three yards.” That was Lt. Frank McGee’s iconic summation (aka “McGee’s Paradigm”) of the typical gunfight of New York City police officers during the 1970s. Lt. McGee was the head of the NYPD Firearms and Tactics Section at that time. His analysis came from the Department’s SOP-9 report, which began compiling statistics about the gunfights of its officers in 1969. Although the scope and name of the report has evolved over time, it is still published by the NYPD and is available online. McGee’s Paradigm hasn’t changed much over the past 50 years.

Three shots in three seconds is an example of a par time. Par time means a given amount of time to perform a task or event. The concept is used in a variety of sporting and other contexts. Most Police firearms qualifications are shot as par time sequences.

Learning to shoot a given number of rounds in a given period of time is an important aspect of developing defensive marksmanship skills. It emphasizes the concept that once an attack indicator is given, the defender will have a limited amount of time in which to repel the attack. In addition, learning to make good hits in a given amount of time increases the probability of a successful defense and reduces the probability of errant rounds that can endanger innocent members of the surrounding community.

Since most gunowners are limited to shooting at indoor ranges, learning to shoot against a time standard has always been an issue. Shot timers usually work by tracking the noise from each shot and are therefore not always useful in the indoor-range environment because of adjacent shooters. Besides this, casual shooters are generally unwilling to spend over $100 for a shot timer.

The widespread nature of smartphones and Bluetooth earbuds have given us a solution to this problem. There are several timing apps for Smartphones available online. Used in conjunction with Bluetooth earbuds underneath earmuff-based hearing protection, practicing marksmanship with a par time is now easily accomplished.

The Nevada Concealed Firearms Permit Qualification Course can be easily adapted as a practice regimen for McGee’s Paradigm. The course consists of six shots at 3 yards, 12 shots at 5 yards, and 12 shots at 7 yards, for a total of 30 shots. As a test for Nevada’s Permit, it is untimed, but we can break it into a series of 3-second sequences for practice. Six shots can be divided into three sequences; one shot, two shots, and three shots. The 12-shot stages can be broken into two series of six shots, each beginning with a different starting position. Those two series can be further divided into the 1-2-3 shot sequences.

Range view

By subdividing the series at each distance, incorporating the timing element becomes less difficult and intimidating for shooters who have never been introduced to shooting against a time standard. For instance, one shot in three seconds at 3 yards on a silhouette target is not a particularly difficult task. Following that, we can introduce more shots into the same time period by making the sequence two shots and then three shots but keeping the same three second standard. Incrementally increasing the number of shots increases the difficulty in a less intimidating way. As the number of shots increases, the hits will probably spread out, but as a learning experience, that’s okay.

When the distance increases, the number of shots initially returns to one, but the par time remains same, then the number of shots gradually increases again. When a slightly more difficult starting position is used, the number of shots returns to one and then gradually increases.

Here’s one way the Nevada CFP Qualification could be shot using a par timer app, ear buds, and two different starting positions.

Low ready

Low Ready

Set the target at 3 yards

  • Use a par timer app with ear buds.
  • Start from low ready, pointed below the base of the target.
    • Fire one shot in 3 seconds
    • Fire two shots in 3 seconds
    • Fire three shots in 3 seconds

Set the target at 5 yards

  • Use a par timer app with ear buds.
  • Start from low ready, pointed below the base of the target.
    • Fire one shot in 3 seconds
    • Fire two shots in 3 seconds
    • Fire three shots in 3 seconds
  • Start from the mid-point of the drawstroke, bore parallel to the ground.
    • Fire one shot in 3 seconds
    • Fire two shots in 3 seconds
    • Fire three shots in 3 seconds
Midpoint of the draw

Mid-point of the draw

Set the target at 7 yards

  • Use a par timer app with ear buds.
  • Start from low ready, pointed below the base of the target.
    • Fire one shot in 3 seconds
    • Fire two shots in 3 seconds
    • Fire three shots in 3 seconds
  • Start from the mid-point of the drawstroke, bore parallel to the ground.
    • Fire one shot in 3 seconds
    • Fire two shots in 3 seconds
    • Fire three shots in 3 seconds

Upon finishing, the shooter will have fired 30 timed rounds at increasing distances using two different starting positions, which serves a good introduction to timed shooting for defensive purposes.

To finish up a 50-round box of ammo and improve marksmanship basics, shoot a series of untimed groups. The NRA Basics of Pistol Shooting https://www.nrainstructors.org/CatalogInfo.aspx?cid=56 Level I test is perfect for this task.

The test consists of a total of 20 shots on four targets. The target is a 4-inch circle at 10 feet. To shoot the test, place your target and shoot five shots at it. The NRA standard is that all five shots must be in or touching the circle. Tape or replace your target and repeat three more times for a total of 20 shots.

This 50 round practice regimen introduces shooters to two important practice principles. First, an introduction to timed shooting using different starting positions and then refining their marksmanship skills by shooting groups; these are useful and challenging tasks.

Americans Not Buying Gun Control. Instead, They’re Buying Guns.

President Joe Biden is still pushing gun control onto the American people. He’s absolutely convinced the public wants restrictions on our right to keep and bear arms. At least, he’s convinced of that when he can remember what a gun actually is.

Regardless, the president has been pushing it since he started campaigning in 2019, so it’s no surprise that it’s been a point of consistency.

What is surprising is that despite all the studies and polls that try to tell us that the public wants restrictions, they truth is that they’re buying guns like crazy.

The nation’s gun-buying binge remained robust last month amid the Biden administration’s latest plans to cut sales and intimidate customers.

The FBI said it conducted 2,336,390 checks through its National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the industry trade group, said that included an estimated 1,343,478 specifically for gun sales.

February was the 55th consecutive month that gun sales approved by the FBI exceeded 1 million. NSSF said the number was likely higher since the FBI count does not include all other legal pathways to obtaining a firearm.

The NSSF’s Mark Oliva said this was likely a reaction to Biden’s efforts to tighten gun control, which isn’t overly surprising.

During the Obama administration, the president was the gun salesman of the year for eight straight years. Biden has been no different.

I’ve long maintained that a lot of people want guns but because these aren’t inexpensive items nor higher ticket goods the whole family will enjoy day in, day out, firearm purchases get put on the back burner. Folks figure there’s always time to get them.

But when someone like Biden comes along and starts to rattle the saber about restricting things, “there’s always time” becomes “I’d better do something while I can.”

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. More than 28.1 Million Modern Sporting Rifles in Circulation.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) recently released a “Firearm Production in the United States and the Firearm Import and Export Data” report which indicates that 28,144,000 modern sporting rifles (MSRs) have been put into circulation since 1990. MSR production increased 32 percent from 2020 to 2021 alone.

The figure includes the latest data provided—up to and including 2021—by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (BATFE) Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Reports. “The data continues to show that the modern sporting rifle is the most popular centerfire rifle sold in America today with over 28.1 million in circulation and being used for lawful purposes every day,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and CEO. In addition, he added, “The continued popularity of handguns demonstrates a strong interest by Americans to protect themselves and their homes, and to participate in the recreational shooting sports.”

In 2021, according to the findings, more than half of the 21,037,810 total firearms made available for the U.S. market were either pistols or revolvers. In all, 12,799,067 were handguns, 4,832,198 were rifles and 3,406,545 were shotguns. The figure includes firearms domestically produced plus those imported (minus exported firearms).

Total domestic firearm production reported in 2021 was 12,521,614—an increase of 28.6 percent over 2020 reported figures. Firearm and ammunition manufacturing accounted for more than 12,400 employees producing over $5.6 billion in goods shipped in 2021. “This report demonstrates the strength and durability of the U.S. firearm manufacturing sector and the U.S. firearm sales markets,” Bartozzi said.

As for more recent figures, BATFE’s interim 2022 estimate showed a total of 11,217,388 domestically produced firearms. Of those 6,148,877 were pistols, 830,800 were revolvers, 3,575,322 were rifles and 662,389 were shotguns. The Bureau’s interim report will be updated once complete figures are compiled.

In all, NSSF estimated the total number of firearms in civilian possession from 1990 to 2021 is 473.2 million.

BLACK HILLS PICKS UP $30 MILLION NAVY/MARINE CORPS AMMO CONTRACT

South Dakota-based Black Hills last week beat out five other ammunition makers to deliver 9mm ammo to the Navy and Marine Corps.

The $30,885,083 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract covers the procurement, manufacturing, testing, inspection, and packaging of 9mm barrier blind cartridges to the Navy and Marine Corps. These will be for use in the services’ front-line 9mm pistols including the Beretta M9 and SIG Sauer M17 and M18.

The rounds were chosen for “combat purposes to provide enhanced terminal effects,” as described by the contracting agency, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division, in Norco, California. NSWC Corona first listed the contract opportunity last June and had six competitive bids submitted.

Although it is not disclosed what loads were submitted for testing, Black Hills introduced its Honey Badger Line of self-defense ammo in 2015, which used a monolithic copper solid projectile to consistently penetrate barriers. In its 100-grain +P version, the Black Hills Honeybadger 9mm archives 1,250 FPS velocity out of a 4.4-inch test barrel and generates 347 foot-pounds of energy. The company also makes a 125-grain Subsonic Honeybadger.

 

The Black Hills 125-grain 9mm Subsonic Honeybadger
The Black Hills 125-grain 9mm Subsonic Honeybadger. (Graphic: Black Hills)

Compare this to the standard M1152 load developed by Winchester which was selected in 2016 as the ammunition supplier for the U.S. Army Modular Handgun System program. Using a 115-grain flat nose full metal jacketed bullet, the 9x19mm Luger round has a distinctive shape. With a brass case and military primer, it has an advertised velocity of 1,320 FPS at the muzzle which translates to 445 foot-pounds of energy. Downrange these shifts to 1,301/432 at 5 yards and 132/387 at 25 yards, according to the tables provided by the company.

The work on the Navy’s new barrier blind cartridge will be performed at Black Hills’ Rapid City plant and is expected to be completed by February 2029.

A New Wave of Women’s Sporting Guns
Reimagined models fill a long-overlooked niche

A composite of two women's sporting guns

Top: The Syren Tempio Light, offered in 20- and 28-gauge, weighs between five and a quarter and six pounds. | Bottom: Fabarm designed the 12-gauge L4S Sporting Compact with a Monte Carlo stock.

Grace Callahan calls them “Frankenstocks,” and she doesn’t miss them  one bit. A hunter, top-level shooting instructor, and eight-time member of the National Sporting Clays Association All-American ladies team, Callahan grew up shouldering shotguns with bulky stocks made with pieces and parts that adjusted to individual shooters. “I started shooting competitively when I was fifteen,” says Callahan, who is now twenty-nine, “and all that honking big hardware added a lot of weight. And those guns were ugly, too.”

That changed five years ago, when Callahan picked up a Syren Tempio shotgun, a model designed for women from the muzzle bead to the butt plate. The 12-gauge over-and-under sported lightweight barrels and a trigger that could be adjusted for smaller shooters. The stock fit her like no other shotgun she’d ever tried, and the receiver boasted elegant engraved roses that she found striking but not overly feminine. “I was about to move forward with a fully custom stock because I wanted something that wasn’t so ugly,” she says. “I pulled the trigger on that Syren and I knew right away: This is what I’d been looking for forever.”

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CMP WILL BE OFFERING A NEW M1911

Tennessee-based SDS Imports has partnered with the federally chartered Civilian Marksmanship Program to offer an alternative to those looking to get a GI milsurp 1911.

The CMP has been in the Army surplus M1911 business for the past half-decade, drawing up to 10,000 each year since 2018 from a dwindling supply of 100,000 mostly World War II-era guns long-stored at the Anniston Army Depot. However, everyone realizes these guns are in short supply – leading to a lottery system by CMP to sell them to the public with prices starting at $1,050 for even a very well-worn pistol – and eventually the Depot will run dry.

With that in mind, in a partnership announced at SHOT Show, the organization and SDS have teamed up with Tisas to produce a special CMP M1911A1 model for sale to the public to help fund its national youth-focused marksmanship efforts.

Tisas-made CMP M1911A1
The production of a new-manufactured M1911 for the CMP is big news. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The .45 ACP Government model, according to SDS, will be “a museum-grade reproduction of a mid-war M1911A1 as it was issued during the Second World War.” This will include “United States Property” markings, a Type E hammer, and reproduction WWII-style brown plastic grips – although an extra set of walnut double diamond checkered grips will be included with each gun.

The slide, frame, and small parts will be Manganese Phosphate finished, and there will be no MIM parts used in the manufacturing process. Like most Tisas 1911s, it will have Series 70 internals.

Tisas-made CMP M1911A1
In a nod to the special status with the marksmanship organization, they will be “CMP” marked. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

 

Tisas Model 1911 A1 U.S. Army .45 ACP Review: Your Value GI-Style 1911?

“The CMP is pleased to announce our partnership with Tisas USA to provide this extraordinary CMP-branded, museum-grade replica of the M1911A1 to our many customers and competitors,” said CMP CEO Jerry O’Keefe. “This pistol will make a great companion piece to the surplus M1911A1 pistols sold by the CMP or just a great pistol on its own to shoot or collect! This is part of CMP’s effort to expand our pistol offerings both in sales and competitions.”

Tisas-made CMP M1911A1
The Tisas-made CMP M1911A1, left, compared to a GI milsurp model, right. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Tim Mulverhill, CEO of SDS/Tisas USA, said, “We are quite honored and very excited to have partnered with the Civilian Marksmanship Program on this project. Being able to take our historically accurate Tisas M1911 A1 and offer it in an exclusive CMP model is a great opportunity for Tisas to show their commitment to helping train and educate United States citizens in the responsible use of firearms.”

The MSRP for the Tisas-made CMP M1911A1 will be $479 and will be sold through the organization, with proceeds going to help fund its mission.

Numerous Amici Join NCLA’s Ask for Supreme Court to Rule Against ATF’s Unilateral Bump Stock Ban

New Civil Liberties Alliance
Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General, et al. v. Michael Cargill

Washington, D.C., Feb. 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ten U.S. Senators, ten law professors, and multiple civil liberties groups, policy research organizations and attorneys have filed 13 amicus curiae briefs supporting the New Civil Liberties Alliance’s position in the Garland v. Cargill case that bump stocks are not machine guns. Representing Texas gun shop owner and Army veteran Michael Cargill, NCLA challenges the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Bump Stock Final Rule and ATF’s expansion of the criminal scope of a statute by administrative fiat. The Final Rule reversed ATF’s long-standing recognition that bump-stock-equipped firearms are not illegal machine guns, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rightly shot down the Rule early last year.

NCLA has arranged for former Texas Solicitor-General Jonathan Mitchell to present oral argument to the Supreme Court on Mr. Cargill’s behalf on Feb. 28, urging the Justices to confirm the Fifth Circuit’s ruling. NCLA thanks the amicus parties for standing with Mr. Cargill and thousands of other legal purchasers of bump stocks.

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You can’t stop the signal……….

Criminals with 3D home printers easily ginning up machine guns by making a ‘switch’

CHICAGO (WLS) — Handguns in the wrong hands can be dangerous enough, but there is a new threat underway with lethal weapons even more easily available because some are concocted right at home.

Some criminals rely on 3D printers to alter pistols and transform them into fully automatic weapons.

In Lake County, Illinois, crime scenes covered with dozens and dozens of shell casings reveal that modified guns are becoming a regular threat for police and the public.

“We have crime scenes now with up to 90 or 100 shell casings. It’s reasonable to believe that more innocent people would be injured because of the lack of control of the firearm when it’s fully automatic,” said Sgt. Matthew Harmon with the Lake County Special Investigations Group.

In June 2023, 14-year-old Pierre Johnson was killed in a hail of gunfire in the Fuller Park area. Video obtained by CWB Chicago shows armed suspects rapidly shooting after turning the corner of a building.

Attacks like that can be made possible by a tiny, Lego-like device called a switch.

Tharea Johnson is still grief stricken at the loss of her son and dumbfounded by the firepower now plaguing Chicago neighborhoods.

“You got 100 bullets shot in seconds; not minutes, seconds,” she said. “How do you get this gun? Where do you buy it?”

The switch instantly changes a semi-automatic pistol into a machine gun-style weapon, and is the cause of what some in law enforcement are now calling “an evil arms race.”

Will Panoke, an Assistant Special Agent in Charge with Chicago ATF, said the creation of these devices on 3D printers has escalated this to a new plateau.

“It has absolutely, because of the accessibility of 3D printers and the ease of creating these pieces within an hour or so and being able to affix those onto firearms within a matter of minutes, has really caused a serious problem for our communities,” he said.

The ATF provided the I-Team with time lapse video that shows the easy birth of an illegal gun switch. ATF data reveals a six-fold increase in seized switches across the country the past five years.

And an I-Team analysis reveals a significant jump in Chicago arrests linked to modified guns the past several years.

There have been almost 1,000 arrests in each of the past two years. Juvenile arrests were seven times higher in 2022 compared to 2020 and the majority were 17-years-old.

The surge in modified guns is on display in the well-hidden sheriff’s vault in north suburban Lake County, Illinois where the I-Team was invited to see some of the weapons gathered in the new arms race.

Sargent Matthew Harmon with the Lake County Special Investigations Group, said offenders caught with gun switches vary in age.

“I would say primarily the demographics are late teens to mid to early 30s that were seeing them. Many of them are involved in other crimes that we investigate and they possess these weapons as well,” he said.

Tharea Johnson said her son is proof that the new gun war can’t be lost. She said she is still trying to cope emotionally with the loss of Pierre.

“I hear Pierre’s name every time I open my phone, and my heart drops every time, every time,” she said. “What are we gonna do, kill each other forever? Until there is no one here? Cuz that’s what we’re doing.”

But Johnson is determined to use her tragedy to help other families who are still struggling everyday with gun violence. She said she is trying to connect with other teens in the area who might feel hopeless and she’s reaching out to other victims who might feel alone.

And there is a warning from federal authorities about the tiny gun switch. It may be small in size but it carries a big punishment. If you’re convicted of possessing a machine gun conversion device, the penalty is up to 10 years in federal prison and more than $10,000 in fines.