Category: Gun Schtuff
NRA Puts Gavin Newsom on Notice: Lawsuit Coming over ‘Glock Ban’
The NRA put California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on notice that a lawsuit is coming over AB 1127, the bill Newsom signed to enact a ban on new sales of Glock handguns.
AB 1127, the “Glock ban” bill, takes effect July 1, 2026.
Breitbart News reported that the “Glock ban” bill accomplishes its prohibition by labeling Glocks a “machinegun-convertible pistol.”
Such a definition sets the stage for other language in the bill, which says, “This bill would expand the above definition of ‘machinegun’ to include any machinegun-convertible pistol equipped with a pistol converter and, thus, prohibit the manufacture, sale, possession, or transportation of a machinegun-convertible pistol equipped with a pistol converter.”
The NRA pounced on the new ban, with NRA-ILA executive director John Commerford saying, “Gavin Newsom and his gang of progressive politicians in California are continuing their crusade against constitutional rights.”
He continued, “Once again, they are attempting to violate landmark Supreme Court decisions and disarm law-abiding citizens by banning some of the most commonly owned handguns in America.”
Commerford concluded, “This flagrant violation of rights cannot, and will not, go unchecked.”
Newsom Signs Glock Ban Bill Into Law
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been calling himself a Second Amendment supporter for several months now, but if anyone had any doubts about his lack of sincerity those can now be put to rest. On Friday afternoon the governor signed AB 1127 into law, which will outlaw the sale of Glock handguns in the state starting in January.
In addition to AB 1127, Newsom also signed legislation that will require sales of gun barrels to go through an FFL and a background check, as well as AB 1078, which replaces California’s “1-in-30” handgun rationing law (which is already on hold thanks to a lawsuit) with a “3-in-30” law. The bill, however, states that California will return to its previous one-gun-a-month scheme if it’s ultimately upheld by the courts.
As you can imagine, gun control activists are thrilled to see California become the first state in the nation to outlaw the sale of some of the most popular pistols in the country, and they’ll be making a major push for other blue states to adopt similar bans in the months ahead. From Everytown for Gun Safety:
“We applaud Governor Newsom and state lawmakers for putting California at the forefront of the fight against DIY machine guns, which are just as scary as they sound,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “It speaks volumes about the gun industry’s fixation on profits that only a new law can force it to take the most basic steps to prevent mass carnage.”
“Governor Newsom, state lawmakers, and California volunteers continue to prove that the days of putting gun industry profits over our lives are long gone,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. “DIY machine guns should never have had a pathway onto our streets, and today, we’re taking a big step to get them out of our communities. Our movement will keep fighting to hold reckless gun manufacturers accountable — because they shouldn’t get to profit off our tragedies.”
AB 1127 theoretically allows for Glock to change the design of its Gen 3 model to block the installation of illegal switches, but even if the company could take that step CalDOJ would view the redesigned pistol as a new firearm subject to the state’s handgun roster, and it would be rejected due to a lack of a magazine disconnect feature. That’s the reason why newer Glock models haven’t been approved for sale in California, though the Gen 3 was previously grandfathered in to the roster.
The NRA is already vowing to sue Newsom over the ban.
My guess is most of the other national Second Amendment groups will soon be filing suit as well, and we’ll probably see a coalition or two combining forces to take on the new laws.
So far there’s been no word from Glock on the new legislation, which is part of a broader effort to prohibit the sale of the popular handguns. The cities of Chicago, Baltimore, and Seattle are also suing the company, claiming the gunmaker is willfully allowing the illegal conversion of their pistols into full-auto machine guns through the installation of illegal switches. New York also has a similar Glock ban bill pending in the legislature, and now that Newsom has signed AB 1127 into law that could start moving as well.
The gun control lobby can’t ban handguns outright, so their new strategy is to go after the most popular pistols on a piecemeal basis. In the short term, Glock sales will likely skyrocket in California, but unless AB 1127 is stayed via an injunction those sales will come to a screeching halt once the new law takes full effect.
A Handgun is No Longer Enough: The Evolving Standard for Armed Self-Defense
The Sovereign Citizen and the Imminent Threat
The right enshrined in the Second Amendment was not a mere allowance for hunting or personal security; it was a profound constitutional imperative designed to ensure the survival of the republic.
Our Founding Fathers deliberately vested the ultimate responsibility for public safety and the nation’s defense in an armed, prepared citizenry they called the American Militia. They understood that the collective strength of the people, armed with common, readily available firearms, was the most resilient check against tyranny, invasion, and civil catastrophe.
As Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story stated, the right to keep and bear arms “has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers.” Furthermore, James Madison argued that an armed citizenry, trained and ready, is “the best and most natural defense of a free country.” Their intent was clear: a free state is secured by a citizenry that is equipped to defend itself against the three distinct threats of tyranny, foreign invasion, and domestic unrest.
Today, this core mandate remains profoundly true, especially in the face of alarming official warnings. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) recently issued a sobering advisory that the U.S.-designated terrorist group Al-Qaida and its Yemen-based affiliate (AQAP) remain intent on striking America. This is not a theoretical threat; it is a live intelligence concern.
READ MORE: US National Counterterrorism Center warns of threat from al Qaeda
This reality has been sharply articulated by law enforcement leaders. My local Butler County, Ohio, Sheriff Richard K. Jones, reflecting on warnings from the FBI regarding imminent terrorist threats, stated, “The terrorists are here… it is just a matter of time before they attack. The national government can’t take care of it all. There are more local police than the FBI. It all comes down to preparing for it.” To meet this level of threat, preparation must surpass outdated standards.
GOA, Partners Request Summary Judgement on NFA Provisions
We’re kind of in a special time right now. While the Hearing Protection Act and SHORT Act didn’t land quite like we wanted, with the new fiscal year, we can buy short-barreled rifles and suppressors without the $200 tax stamp.
The problem, though, is that we still need NFA paperwork, and those products will still be entered into the NFA database.
That’s a database whose stated existence isn’t about registering scary devices to keep them out of naughty hands. It’s about making sure whoever has them has paid the tax.
And the fact that there’s not a tax on these items anymore means there shouldn’t be a registration requirement.
While Congress insisted on leaving that in, unfortunately, Gun Owners of America and its partners have filed a lawsuit to try and fix the issue. Now, they’ve just filed a motion for summary judgment in the case.
From a press release:
Yesterday [October 7th], Gun Owners of America, Inc., Gun Owners Foundation, together with a coalition of plaintiffs including Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc., Silencer Shop Foundation, B&T USA, LLC, Palmetto State Armory, LLC, SilencerCo Weapons Research, LLC, Brady Wetz, and fifteen states led by Texas, filed a motion for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The motion seeks both a declaratory judgment that certain provisions of the National Firearms Act (NFA) are unconstitutional and an injunction to halt their enforcement as applied to newly “untaxed” firearms—including short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles, silencers, and so-called “any other weapons” (AOWs).
GOA’s coalition of plaintiffs challenged the NFA’s making, transfer, and possession restrictions on these “untaxed” firearms, arguing they are unconstitutional following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Pub. L. No. 119-21) (“OBBB”), which President Donald J. Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025.
Effective January 1, 2026, the OBBB eliminates the NFA’s taxation requirements for these categories of firearms, leaving behind vestigial registration requirements that no longer serve as proof of payment of any tax. As a result, we argued that these excessive regulatory burdens go beyond Congress’s taxing power, cannot be defended under the Commerce Clause, and violate the Second Amendment.
With the filing of this motion for summary judgment, GOA and GOF now expect the Trump Administration to take an official position on untaxed firearm registration and file a response on or before November 6, 2025.
Erich Pratt, GOA’s Senior Vice President, issued the following statement:
“The National Firearms Act’s onerous registration requirements for untaxed firearms are a relic of a taxing scheme that no longer exists. These provisions violate the Constitution by exceeding Congress’s authority and infringing on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans. We urge the Court to strike down these unconstitutional restrictions and protect the rights of our members, supporters, and millions of gun owners nationwide.”
John Velleco, GOF’s Executive Vice President, issued the following statement:
“The NFA is the strictest federal gun control law in the nation’s history. Even so, NFA-regulated weapons have proliferated in recent years, quickly becoming favored tools of the home defender, hunter, and hobbyist alike. This lawsuit takes aim at FDR-era restrictions that never should have been passed in the first place. We look forward to taking a big step towards restoring the Founders’ original vision for American gun owners.”
This is a bit of a test for the Trump administration.
They’ve already done more for the Second Amendment than any previous administration in my lifetime, but there have also been some cracks that I don’t like seeing. The DOJ has defended a few questionable gun control laws, for example. Here, they can make a clear position on the matter, and one that should make perfect sense in the long run. The registration is about a tax that no longer applies to suppressors and short-barreled firearms.
If the DOJ does the right thing here and agrees with GOA and its allies, then what we’ll see is a world where you can walk into a gun store, buy a suppressor with just a NICS check, then take it home without any further paperwork than you would buying a single-shot .22.
I’d say that’s how it should be, but it’s not. We shouldn’t even have to go through that, but it would at least be far more acceptable than the current status quo, where you go to the ATF with hat in hand and ask, “Mother, may I?”
That’s not how our rights should work. We should be able to buy what we want, when we want.
But this is just the first step in a process of getting to that point. The Department of Justice can help with that, but even if they don’t, there’s a long road ahead, and we can and should follow the process to the very end. We need this killed throughout the country and done so in a way that leaves no ambiguity, so states figure they can do their own registries on these devices.
Good luck to the plaintiffs on this one.
Any gun you have on hand is better than the one you aren’t carrying
The Case for Mouse Guns:
Is there any use for calibers smaller than 9mm?
Under certain circumstances, I sometimes carry small guns in small calibers, such as .380 ACP or .32 S&W. Upon learning this, people often express surprise and ask me how confident I am in successfully defending myself with a caliber smaller than 9mm. I take them down Memory Lane to 30 to 40 years ago, and tell them a story:
I grew up in a time when everyone “knew” 9mm was weak and the only serious choice for self-defense was a .45 ACP. The gun culture of the ’80s and ’90s treated caliber as gospel: a bigger bullet meant better “stopping power,” and if you weren’t carrying a full-size .45, you weren’t taking self-defense seriously. That conventional wisdom turned out to be … let’s just say not totally true. As our understanding of terminal ballistics has matured, we’ve learned that all service pistol calibers are inherently limited, and effectiveness has more to do with shot placement and penetration than bullet diameter.
I started out as a .45 ACP disciple in my youth (“…because they don’t make a .46”). Like many shooters of my generation, I believed I was better prepared because my pistol held a “serious” caliber. Years of training, experience and study stripped that illusion away. I learned that what matters most is not the size of the hole, but your ability to put that hole in the right place under stress and the ability of the cartridge to propel the bullet deep enough to poke holes in vital structures. This leads to a question: If gun culture was wrong about 9mm back then, perhaps we’re now wrong to dismiss sub-9mm calibers.
If you do this and your vehicle doesn’t have an actual safe, or vault, you’re what’s termed a ‘Loot Drop’
Las Cruces police urge residents to stop leaving guns in unattended cars
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) — The Las Cruces Police Department is asking gun owners to stop leaving firearms in cars. The department says 75% of stolen firearms in Las Cruces since 2022 have been taken during automobile burglaries.
“Of the 578 firearms reported stolen between Jan. 1, 2022, and Sept. 24, 2025, 429 were taken from the gunowner’s vehicle,” a department spokesperson explained. 143 were stolen from houses.
“The increased number of firearms stolen from vehicles is a trend that’s been seen nationally.”
Police recommend that residents remove firearms, ammunition, magazines, and accessories from unattended cars. They also recommend you roll up your windows and lock the doors, remove guns before loaning a car to a friend or leaving it at a repair shop, and stop showing casual acquaintances and strangers your guns.
Trump Can (and Should) End Semi-Auto Import Ban Right Now
My first “evil black rifle” was an AK that I built from a kit. Yeah, I know, an evil “ghost gun,” though the term was still years away from becoming uttered, much less mainstream. A gunsmith friend told me to get an 80 percent receiver, a parts kit, and some compliance parts, then we all gathered at his workshop for a day of building AKs, general BSing, and some grilled burgers partway through the day.
It was an absolute blast.
We had to get a parts kit, though, because we couldn’t just import completed AKs, even modified to semi-auto only. During Bush Sr’s administration, he banned the import of semi-automatic firearms for “non-sporting purposes” such as those so-called assault weapons.
My parts kit was a Romanian AK that had the receiver cut in three places with a torch. Now, they also cut the barrels, all because people built guns.
However, as Trump has set this term as the most pro-gun administration in my lifetime, there’s something else he could do, and gun rights groups should be asking for it, as David Codrea notes at Firearms News.
“There’s something else Trump could do quickly that would not require Congressional approval,” this column reported online last November in Donald Trump and Republicans Owe Gun Owners, and It’s Time to Collect. Focused on pledges the president had made to gun owners to solicit their votes, the article explored decisions within the president’s power to make that would help make good on his promises.
What Trump could do, on his own authority, is end the 1989 import ban on semi-automatic rifles pejoratively designated as “assault weapons.” That ban, put in place by Republican President George H.W. Bush, imposed “a permanent import ban on 43 types of semiautomatic assault rifles, including the Chinese-made AK47 and Israeli-made Uzi carbine,” per The Washington Post. The rationale was they “were not being used for sport as required by the Gun Control Act of 1968.” This approved gun control by a Republican president opened the gates for many states and municipalities to ban military-styled semi-auto firearms nationwide without a peep from the Bush Administration or his anti-2A Attorney General William Barr who would later become President Trump’s “best people” attorney general during his first term.
The ban would be “very easy” to overturn, Firearms News Editor-in-Chief Vincent DeNiro assessed. But how? GCA ’68 was a law enacted by Congress. The classification of the semiautos was not.
“President Trump doesn’t even need Congress to get rid of the unconstitutional 1989 ‘assault weapons’ import ban, he just needs to order the BATFE to declare all imported semi-auto rifles as ‘sporting,’ which is what these same models are considered when domestically produced,” DeNiro explained last year. “If he wants to go down in history as a Second Amendment hero, he can make this happen on day one.”
That’s the absolute truth, but Trump didn’t do that on day one, unfortunately.
Still, he could do it now. Semi-autos are still imported. They’re made domestically as well. There’s literally no reason for this ban to be in place except to make it harder to lawfully own these firearms.
More than that, groups like Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, the NSSF, the National Association of Gun Rights, and the NRA should all be challenging the Trump administration to do just that. Lift the import ban. These weapons are, in fact, used for sports–three-gun competition is a sport, as is varment hunting, deer hunting, and so on–and the ban is wrong on every level.
President George H.W. Bush was not a friend of the Second Amendment. That’s clear as day, and he set the stage for the federal assault weapon ban in 1994 by this action. He made it clear that these particular rifles were too dangerous for regular citizens to own, at least in his view, and as the leader of the Republican Party at the time, it gave a green light to a lot of lawmakers that this was OK.
It wasn’t.
It’s time to end this and do it now.
Smith & Wesson Announces Grand Opening of World-Class Training Academy
Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ Global Select: SWBI), a leader in firearm manufacturing and design, announces today the grand opening of the new Smith & Wesson Academy.
At Smith & Wesson, our mission extends beyond the production of premium firearms – we are committed to empowering those who carry them. Continuing the esteemed legacies of both the former Smith & Wesson Academy and the Shooting Sports Center in Springfield, MA, which collectively were operational for decades between 1969 to 2017, the newly established Academy serves as a vital resource that reinforces our continued dedication to self-defense training, firearm proficiency, and firearm safety.
Situated on the 236-acre headquarters campus in Maryville, Tennessee, this state-of-the-art facility serves as a premier training destination, featuring pistol and carbine ranges, a multi-purpose flex range, a 300-yard rifle range, and a two-story immersive shoot house. The Academy’s design also incorporates classrooms, a fitness center, and offices that will house a team of world-class experts leading the training programs. Starting this weekend, a registration portal will be available on the Smith & Wesson Academy website for a variety of training courses focused on pistol, carbine, and rifle platforms. These courses will range from introductory skills and safety to advanced techniques.
The Smith & Wesson Academy team will be led by renowned instructor Mark “Coch” Cochiolo. Mark is a retired U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer with over three decades of service in Naval Special Warfare. Throughout his distinguished military career, he has operated in a range of elite roles, including special warfare operator, breacher, weapons instructor, training officer, and operational tester. Mark completed four SEAL deployments to the Western Pacific and served eight years with the Navy’s premier counterterrorism unit, where he conducted operations across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. His final assignment placed him in a senior leadership role as Chief Warrant Officer responsible for training and combat systems with Naval Special Warfare Unit Three (NSWU-3). Following his retirement from active duty, Mark transitioned to instruction, applying his operational expertise to train the next generations of Navy SEALs. As a contract instructor for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training, he developed curriculum and trained more than 4,000 SEAL candidates in marksmanship and tactical weapons handling. Recognized for his precision, discipline, and leadership, Mark remains an influential figure in the special operations community.
“My decision to partner with Smith & Wesson stems not only from their strong alignment with my values but also from my personal experience carrying a Smith & Wesson for the past 30 years. Throughout my career, I have worked with a variety of firearm platforms, and I am grateful for the opportunity to leverage that experience in developing effective curriculum at the Academy, helping as many individuals become proficient with their firearms as possible. Smith & Wesson produces dependable, quality firearms – at the Academy, we’ll teach you how to use them,” said Mark “Coch” Cochiolo, Director, Smith & Wesson Academy.
August Gun Sales Climb Back Over the 1 Million Mark.
After the first monthly sales dip below 1 million in over five years last month, August gun sales popped back up of the million threshold. August’s total of 1.09 million gun sold, however, was a 9.9 percent decrease over the August 2024 total.
The NSSF’s Mark Oliva tells us that . . .
NSSF is encouraged to see the adjusted NICS background checks top 1 million in the month August once again. We know there is a strong and continued interest in lawful firearm ownership and these figures bear out the truth that Second Amendment rights are valued. These figures are more than data points. They represent Americans from all walks of life who are, quite literally, investing in their safety, security and freedom.
Here’s their press release on the August numbers . . .
The August 2025 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,091,342 is a decrease of 9.9 percent compared to the August 2024 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1, 210,995.
For comparison, the unadjusted August 2025 FBI NICS figure 1,743,509 reflects a 19.4% percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,163,540 in August 2024.
-
- Top-5 States for Adjusted NICS Checks: TX, FL, CA, PA, VA
- Top-5 States for FBI NICS Handgun Checks: TX, FL, CA, PA, VA
- Top-5 States for FBI NICS Long Gun Checks: TX, FL, CA, PA, VA
Please note: Twenty-eight states currently have at least one qualified alternative permit, which under the Brady Act allows the permit-holder, who has undergone a background check to obtain the permit, to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer without a separate additional background check for that transfer. The number of NICS checks in these states does not include these legal transfers based on qualifying permits and NSSF does not adjust for these transfers.
The adjusted NICS data were derived by subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks and permit rechecks used by states for CCW permit application checks as well as checks on active CCW permit databases. NSSF started subtracting permit rechecks in February 2016.
Though not a direct correlation to firearms sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data provide an additional picture of current market conditions. In addition to other purposes, NICS is used to check transactions for sales or transfers of new or used firearms.
It should be noted that these statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold or sales dollars. Based on varying state laws, local market conditions and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.
CARVING .45 CALIBER AUTOMATICS OUT OF STEEL WWII UNION SWITCH AND SIGNAL MOVIE 44524
How ‘Ghost Gun’ Rules Are Running Slap Into Reality
Privately made firearms, billed in the media as “ghost guns,” have been part of the fabric of America since before this country was a country. You often had to buy all of the parts, then assemble it yourself with a bit of woodworking.
Now, those days are back, and lefty politicians hate it. Sucks to be them.
See, today, the technology is different, but the principle is the same. You buy some parts, make some other things, and in the end, you’ve got a gun. Only now, with technology, while some are trying to ban “ghost guns,” they’re running straight into the reality that the digital landscape isn’t playing well with their hopes and desires.
“ There is a ghost in the shell, and authorities are attempting to exercise it before it becomes what radicals are calling the “new Second Amendment.”
According to law enforcement sources, 3D-printed ghost guns are one of the fastest-growing threats to public safety. In just three years, the ability for any New Yorker to produce a killing device in their own home has grown exponentially. In 2022, police said the lower receiver of a handgun could be made using most 3D-printers, leaving would-be gun manufacturers only to have to order the additional parts. Now, in 2025, about 96% of a firearm can be made in any home, leaving only screws and springs to be added to make it operable.Police say this rapid progression of the deadly tech is being spearheaded by fringe groups through online chat rooms, open-source file-sharing websites and video platforms like Odysee. Cops say these gun aficionados are sharing their own designs on these pages, not necessarily because they are dangerous trigger-pullers themselves, but because they are looking for glory from their peers. However, once these schematics hit the web, anyone and everyone can access them.The ‘New Second Amendment’
Dubbed “3D2A” and ”3D Printing For All communities,” these groups not only aim to share information with one another over the net but also to help perfect their designs, with the aim of making the weapons more durable, effective, and easier to use.“I started this group due to too many people who want to control the actions of others. Free speech is encouraging, and like minds prosper. If you want to post about 3A stuff also, feel free. This group doesn’t restrict any topic; all I ask is no bashing members,” the description of one 3D printing Facebook group read. ”
The moment it became viable to 3D print the receiver of a firearm, any hope for gun control evaporated. Anyone with a few hundred dollars and an Amazon account–and some of them are unscrupulous enough to use someone else’s few hundred dollars via identity theft–can get the means of creating firearms all their own. The other parts needed are minor repair parts that not only aren’t serialized, but really can’t be.
Plus, if you somehow restrict those, someone out there will come up with designs that use off-the-shelf springs and screws.
Of course, lawmakers have banned “ghost guns” in a number of states, but how has that worked out for them? About the same as what we see when they banned felons from buying guns. It’s almost like criminals break the law as a matter of course, and that gun control only impacts criminals.
Whoops.
Then again, it’s not like these people can comprehend cause and effect. If they could, they’d have stopped being progressives years ago. Instead, we have this inane bunch running things in far too many states.
If it were just their proggie fellow travelers, I’d be fine with it, but there are good people trapped there who get caught up in this fiasco, and that’s a major issue, which is why they need to get this smacked through their thick skulls.
More good advice from fellow shootist Sheriff Wilson
Taking Care Of Your Guns
Your life may depend on it, so take good care of it.
As a young man I spent a lot of time around older shooters and old lawmen trying to learn as much as I could. One of the things that most of them had in common was how well they took care of their guns. Many of them were shooting guns from the pre-WWII era, but those guns were still in very good shape. When they shot them, they cleaned them and generally wiped them off at night with an oily rag. They generally understood how their guns worked and could replace worn parts when that became necessary.
The armed citizen doesn’t need to be a firearm expert, but they do need to know how their choice of a defensive firearm works. It is also important to know what type of failures are common to a specific type of firearm, how to spot them and what to do about it.
Many semi-automatic pistols should have their mainspring replaced on a regular basis; some gunsmiths advise that every 1,000 rounds would be a good interval. One should also learn how to check the extractor and ejector for excessive wear. Semi-automatic pistol shooters quickly learn to spot the malfunctions that are caused by a faulty or worn magazine. And for goodness sakes, a bad magazine belongs in the trashcan, not among your practice gear.
Revolver shooters need to make sure that each chamber in the cylinder lines up properly with the barrel; spitting lead is a good indication that this is not the case. In some revolvers the ejector rod can come loose and tie up the gun; preventing that is an easy fix if one knows what to look for. Some revolvers have an external screw on the front of the grip frame that puts tension on the mainspring and keeps it in place; this should be snug and tight to prevent misfires.
I think that we often fail to realize the wear and tear that guns can receive from the mini-explosions that we call shooting. Gun parts wear just a little bit every time we pull the trigger. If an armed citizen will take the time to visit with a good gunsmith, they can quickly learn wear-related and other problems that might occur in their particular firearm. Then regular cleaning sessions and just taking the time of give the gun a good once over can often catch the problem before a misfire or failure to fire occurs. Simply put, you may have to bet your life on it, so it is a good idea to make sure that gun is in good working order.
She Used to HATE Guns, Now She’s Getting Her Rhode Island Concealed Carry Permit.
As you may be aware, this is National Shooting Sports Month. Yes, that means you should get your ass away from your screen and out to a range somewhere and shoot a gun. Or two. Or more. This month is also an ideal time to take someone who’d new to shooting with you. Teach them the four rules. Get them started the right way. Then watch the smile on their face the first time they pull the trigger. The more shooters and gun owners we have, the easier it is to defend and extend our Second Amendment rights.
If you need help in convincing that noob you know to go out to the range with you, this video from YouTuber Gothix is a great tool for doing just that. Gothix — AKA Vanessa Rosa — is relatively new to guns and the whole shooting thing. But over the last couple of years since getting started, she’s come a long way.
And she’s done it in the deep blue gun rights hell that is Rhode Island. In fact, she’s now the Rhode Island state director for Women for Gun Rights. Watch the video and listen to hurdles she has to clear in order to buy a gun, ammo, and then, finally, take the test for her concealed carry permit in her benighted little state. If she can do it where she lives, so can you. And so can the person you’ve been trying to convince to go to the range with you.
Comparison of guns per population….
Comparison of gun ownership per capita by country.
These are rookie numbers America. pic.twitter.com/rPk0rsmoS2
— Steve 🇺🇸 (@SteveLovesAmmo) August 8, 2025
Fiocchi America Moved into TKG’s Brands, Hevi Shifting from Oregon to Missouri
News came this week that Fiocchi’s U.S. arm will be moving under the same umbrella of ammo brands maintained by the Kinetic Group.
Formerly part of Vista Outdoor, last year’s purchase of several classic American ammunition brands, including CCI, Federal, Hevi, Remington, and Speer by the Czechoslovak Group, became TKG. As the Czechoslovak Group – which has held a majority stake in Fiocchi since 2022 and quietly became the 100-percent owner of that ammo company in April – the writing was on the wall that its U.S. operations would be consolidated with TKG.
“We’re excited to have Fiocchi of America officially join of our group of world-leading ammunition brands,” said Jason Vanderbrink, Chairman and CEO of TKG.
As part of the shift, Fiocchi America’s Ozark, Missouri, shotshell plant will become “a center of excellence for shotshell products,” and Hevi will move its operations from Oregon to Missouri. Fiocchi is also building a $42 million lead-free primer plant in Arkansas.
“Ozark is just outside of Springfield, Missouri, a fantastic location for ammunition manufacturing, the outdoors, conservation, and support of the Second Amendment. HEVI-Shot will have a great new home here and will continue its 25-year legacy of loading the best steel, tungsten, and bismuth shot for waterfowl and upland hunters,” said Vanderbrink.
Hevi was formed in Oregon in 2000 by a group of hunters frustrated by the performance of steel shot and eager to create better non-toxic loads.
ATF Pistol Brace Rule Tossed After DOJ Drops Appeal
The Biden-era ATF rule restricting pistol braces was vacated Thursday after President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice agreed to drop its appeal in a federal lawsuit, delivering a major victory to gun-rights advocates, Breitbart reported.
The move marks a significant reversal in federal firearms regulation and concludes a lengthy legal battle over the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ 2023 rule that reclassified AR-pistols with braces as short-barreled rifles under the National Firearms Act.
“This afternoon, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and the federal government agreed to a joint dismissal of the government’s appeal in our Mock v. Bondi lawsuit, a case that successfully challenged the Biden ATF’s ‘pistol brace’ ban and secured injunctive relief for gun owners while the case was being litigated to final judgment, which completely vacated the rule,” the Firearms Policy Coalition said in a statement.
The pistol brace rule was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 31, 2023, and was met with immediate legal opposition. It sought to bring AR-style pistols equipped with stabilizing braces under the purview of the National Firearms Act, subjecting owners to the same requirements as those purchasing fully automatic firearms. That included mandatory registration and additional federal scrutiny.
Gun-rights groups hailed the dismissal as a pivotal legal win. The company Daniel Defense, a prominent manufacturer of AR-15 rifles, also praised the outcome on social media, proclaiming the ban “terminated.”
Firearms Policy Coalition CEO Brandon Combs emphasized that the regulation contradicted Second Amendment protections.
“As we explained in the case filings, braced pistols are not short-barreled rifles. But either way, they are unquestionably arms protected under the Second Amendment,” he said. “We are thrilled to have secured this important win for liberty and excited to take on even more unconstitutional laws so you can exercise your rights when, where, and how you choose.”
The legal resolution comes as broader gun policy debates continue to unfold nationwide.
In June, the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Maryland’s ban on assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines, letting a lower court’s decision stand.
That state law, enacted in 2013 following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, specifically bans the AR-15 and similar firearms. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, ruling that Maryland may constitutionally prohibit the sale and possession of such weapons. The Supreme Court’s decision not to take the case was seen as a significant victory for gun-control advocates.
Although the AR-15 is banned in Maryland and eight other states, it remains legal in 41 states. The rifle is estimated to be in circulation in numbers ranging from 20 million to 30 million units, making it the most popular gun in America.
The Evolution of Law Enforcement Revolver Training: It all began with Theodore Roosevelt.
Police revolver training goes back to the 19th century and President Theodore Roosevelt. Before he was the President of the United States, he was President of the New York City Police Commission from 1895 to 1897. When he began that position, New York policemen furnished their own revolvers for duty. Roosevelt was impressed by the .32 Colt New Police revolver and ordered 4,500 to be issued to the New York police. Being dismayed by the lack of proficiency of the officers, Roosevelt instituted a school of pistol practice. He required officers, or “roundsmen,” as they were called, to practice and qualify with their issued revolvers.
Formal police revolver training began to become more common in the 1920s and 1930s, at least for large organizations. The Los Angeles Police Department began marksmanship training for its officers in 1925. Its range facility was comprehensive enough to be the venue for the shooting events of the 1932 Summer Olympics. The LAPD Pistol Team and Los Angeles Sheriff Department Team were well known in the 1930s for their prowess at exhibition shooting.