Category: Gun Schtuff

BLUF:
Each month since March, NSSF-adjusted NICS background checks have set a record as the strongest ever recorded for that month.

FIRST-TIME GUN BUYERS GROW TO NEARLY 5 MILLION IN 2020

NEWTOWN, Conn. – NSSF®, the trade association for the firearm industry, updated retail survey-based estimates and concluded that nearly 5 million Americans purchased a firearm for the very first time in 2020. NSSF surveyed firearm retailers which reported that 40 percent of sales were conducted to purchasers who have never previously owned a firearm.

NSSF tracks the background checks associated with the sale of a firearm based on the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System (NICS). NSSF-adjusted NICS checks for January through July 2020 is a record 12.1 million, which is up 71.7 percent from the 7.1 million NSSF-adjusted NICS January through July 2019. This equates to nearly 5 million first-time gun owners in the first seven months of 2020. Continue reading “”

“I live for this event. I really do,” Moner said. “There’s nothing like seeing a woman pull the trigger on a firearm for the very first time. It’s like a light just goes off in her. It’s a moment of enlightenment.”

Detroit Women Flock to Gun Training.

Tanisha Moner has had a gun pointed at her twice in her life. Once by two strangers who kidnapped, robbed, and sexually assaulted her when she was 17. And, again, by another robber as she worked a management shift at a restaurant.

The traumatic experiences left her scarred, afraid of guns, shuddering at the sound of a firework and popped balloon. That changed the day she decided to face her fears and showed up for a gun-carry class at a local range.

“Succumbing to your own fear is the only thing that can stop you from doing anything you want to do,” Moner told the Washington Free Beacon.

She said that first gun-safety training class years ago helped her overcome her fear and ignited a passion to help others overcome their own fears. Continue reading “”

WHY “LARGE CAPACITY MAGAZINES” ARE IMPORTANT

Massad Ayoob

We recently discussed here the Ninth Circuit’s decision that limiting private citizens to a magazine capacity of ten rounds was unconstitutional.

The Court referred to them as LCMs, Large Capacity Magazines. We gun people call them Standard Capacity Magazines since that’s what so many of the firearms in question – handguns, rifles, and even shotguns – were originally designed for.  It continues to amaze me that people whose critical thinking skills are otherwise intact can’t “get it” on this issue.

First, of course, is the utter stupidity of believing that criminals who are prepared to commit murder and face life in prison without possibility of parole, or even capital punishment, will somehow be deterred from breaking a magazine limit law. But let’s look at the common questions of “Why do private citizens need more than ten bullets to defend themselves? And if they do, why can’t they just reload, or carry more guns?”

For one thing, most home defense guns are stored in secure places and not carried on one’s person when at home.  A home invasion can happen in seconds. When you grab the gun, it’s unlikely you’ll have time to grab more ammunition: what’s in it at the start is probably all you’ll have until it’s over, one way or the other.  Do you want the two rounds in a Joe Biden Signature Model double barrel shotgun against three or more armed home invaders?

For another, violent criminals running on adrenaline and often drugs and alcohol can soak up bullet after bullet before they run out of blood or a lucky hit short-circuits their central nervous system.  More bad guys wear body armor today than in the time of John Dillinger: current news shows violent Antifas wearing it openly.  And surgical bullet placement for a single bullet in tense life-or-death circumstances is more the exception than the norm.

Magazine limits have a disproportionate, disparate impact against the elderly and the handicapped.  It’s hard enough for someone in a wheelchair to get to a gun at all, never mind packing spare magazines or extra guns. And how does the wheelchair-bound victim get to cover to reload in any case? I can testify from experience that arthritic hands slow you down, too. How much of a nightmare is it to run out of ammo when you’re trying to save your family from a home invader? This article will give you an example.

If your state has a magazine capacity limit, the recent Ninth Circuit decision cited above offers some hope for the future. If your state allows you to have standard capacity magazines, fight like hell to keep them when, as they eventually will, Prohibitionists attempt to prohibit them.

 

And the number one state with most NICS checks so far this year is…….

Dwarfing all other states, FBI data show Illinois had 4.6 million background checks for guns in first seven months

(The Center Square) – Illinois topped the list of all states for firearm background checks so far this year, and is already on pace to blow last year’s numbers out of the water. And reports persist of people waiting beyond the three-day waiting period to pick up the guns they’ve purchased.

There are also more than 143,000 Firearm Owner Identification, or FOID card, applicants still waiting for their cards to be processed by Illinois State Police.

A state Representative says this is tantamount to civil rights being infringed.

Monthly records from the FBI’s NICS Firearm Background Checks report show in the first seven months of the year, there have been nearly 4.6 million checks. That dwarfs every other state, with only Kentucky coming close with 2.2 million checks from January through July. Continue reading “”

If the ammo shortage a few years ago didn’t educate you……..

Ammo Shortage May Last Until 2021.

Vista Outdoor CEO Christopher Metz’s quarterly earnings call, which took place earlier this month, indicates the current ammunition shortage may continue at least until 2021—perhaps longer.

“July firearms background checks were another triple-digit month, and we have said many times that ammunition sales typically take multiple months to catch up,” Metz told investors on the conference call. The comment indicates it may be the end of the year before retailers are fully stocked again, assuming cartridge demand stabilizes.

Olin’s quarterly report, also issued earlier this month, endorses that observation. The company said its Winchester Ammunition division experienced a 17-percent increase in orders during the three-month period.

“We expect this elevated level of demand to continue at least until the end of the year,” Olin CEO John Fischer said during his earnings call. Continue reading “”

The Japanese Attempt To Copy The M1 Garand

The main U.S. service rifle during World War II, the M1 Garand, earned notoriety not only from the nation that produced it and the soldiers that used it, but from those who faced it as well. The Japanese were no exception to this, as they tested and evaluated captured M1 rifles themselves during the war. They even went so far as to adapt John Garand’s design in the final two years of the war. This is the story of Japan’s attempt to make their own semi-automatic rifle, and how they tried to copy the M1 to give their infantry a more even footing against the superior U.S. forces they faced.

Even as early as the 1930s, Japan was attempting to develop a semi-auto military rifle. Image: Institute of Military Technology

Continue reading “”

Why Suppressors Are the Future

When we run into an entrenched, bureaucratic problem, the easiest way out is to find someone who has been through the maze. Even better is to find someone who has made it his mission to guide you through the maze. When it comes to buying suppressors, Brandon L. Maddox, founder of Silencer Central, is such a sage.

Maddox is a pharmacist with an MBA who got into varmint hunting when he moved to South Dakota years ago. He found that using a suppressor upped his game, but he had trouble navigating the system to get one. He also wasn’t happy with the product that was then available to him. So he built Silencer Central.

I spoke with Maddox recently to question him on behalf of gun owners and hunters who aspire to acquire a suppressor. Continue reading “”

Daniel Defense DDM4 PDW Pistol (300 Blackout) – First Rounds

Daniel Defense DDM4-PDW

Daniel Defense has established itself as a major player in America’s booming gun manufacturer market, garnering a solid reputation as well as lucrative military contracts. All this was done in the span of only two decades, a relatively short time considering the age of other popular manufacturers. At the 2020 SHOT Show, Daniel Defense announced a new addition to their line-up, the DDM4-PDW. Designed as a compact variant of their DDM4 series of AR’s, the DDM4-PDW takes advantage of the short-barrel-friendly ballistics of the .300 AAC Blackout cartridge. Continue reading “”

Couldn’t be the riots, looting and such could it? nahhhhh.

Survey: Gun Control Support Down Double Digits from Last Year.

A Rasmussen Reports survey shows likely voter support for gun control has dropped double digits since this time last year.

According to the survey, 52 percent of likely voters support stricter gun control now versus the 64 percent who supported it a year ago, and the 56 percent who supported it in years prior to that.

Forty-seven percent of likely voters “say they or someone in their household now owns a gun,” and among those likely voters in gun-owning households 27 percent “say they or someone in their family has purchased one within the last six months.”

On July 1, Breitbart News reported that the first six months of 2020 witnessed 6 consecutive records for firearm background checks.

In other words, January 2020 set the record for the most background checks ever conducted in the month of January, February 2020 set the record for the most in February, March for the most in March, and so on all the way through June.

June 2020 not only set the record for background checks in the month of June, but the most background checks in a single month, period. FBI numbers showed 3,931,607 NICS checks conducted in June, which beat the previous single month record of 3,740,688 checks, set in March 2020.

AUGUST IS NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS MONTH

While many of us practice our Second Amendment right through regular shooting, hunting, reloading and other gun-related fun each month, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) established August as National Shooting Sports Month in 2016.

Originally created as a promotion for retailers and ranges to attract new customers during the traditional summer slump, it’s become a celebration among gun owners with an emphasis on introducing new shooters to the industry, teaching firearms safety and sharing a collective love of shooting sports. Continue reading “”

This is real a question? Of course they are.

The Concealed-Carry Revolver: Is It Still Relevant?

Examples of small-frame revolvers

 

For no really good reason, there seems to be an attitude among prospective handgun buyers that holds the revolver in low esteem. In a majority of jurisdictions, Americans are legally permitted to carry firearms for personal defense and have long gravitated to the small, light, short-barreled revolver to play this role.

But times have changed and continue to change as I hunt and peck my way through this story. Shooters look into hideout guns of a different sort, largely because we now have hideout guns of a different sort. The short, light, flat, powerful and reliable defensive semi-automatic pistol is now a practical reality. They’re selling a lot of them, and they are crowding out the wheelguns. Continue reading “”

Henry Issues Safety Warning and Recall Notice of Henry Single Shot Rifles and Shotguns

Henry H015

Henry announced that it is voluntarily recalling all H015-series Single Shot Rifles and Single Shot Shotguns manufactured prior to July 1, 2020.  Henry has recently discovered a potential safety issue wherein, under certain conditions, it is possible that some of these models may discharge without the trigger being pulled if the hammer is partially cocked and released. To prevent the possibility of death or serious personal injury, you should immediately stop using all H015-series Single Shot Rifles and Single Shot Shotguns and not load or fire them until they have been upgraded.

The safety issue leading to this voluntary recall was discovered internally while testing the existing fire control system for a trigger pull upgrade.  This is the first product safety recall in the company’s nearly 25-year history.  Although not every Henry H015-series firearm may be affected, Henry Repeating Arms is requesting that all Single Shot Rifles and Single Shot Shotguns be returned to be upgraded free of charge pursuant to this recall to prevent the possibility of the firearm discharging without the trigger being pulled.  All H015 owners should visit the Henry H015 Recall website at HenryUSA.com/recall, email recall@henryusa.com, or call 1-866-200-2354 (M-F, 9AM ET-5PM ET) to obtain additional information and begin the upgrade process.

Henry Repeating Arms will upgrade all returned Single Shot Rifles and Single Shot Shotguns in the order in which they are received.  Henry Repeating Arms is ready to begin performing the upgrade as the firearms are received.  Information on the current turnaround time for firearms returned to be upgraded will be provided at HenryUSA.com/recall.  Henry Repeating Arms will make every effort to minimize the amount of time required to upgrade and return your firearm.  As a sign of appreciation to its customers, Henry Repeating Arms will also perform an unrelated performance upgrade to improve the trigger pull on all firearms returned pursuant to this recall free of charge.

And now something of interest for our friends south of the border

Sao Paulo Police Select the Steyr AUG SMG in .40 Caliber

Brazil’s Military Police of São Paulo State (PMESP) have selected the Steyr AUG in its submachine gun configuration to fulfil an order for 1,000 submachine guns. The Steyr AUG A3 in submachine gun configuration, feeding from a .40 caliber extended Glock magazines was the winning bidder for the contract. The Steyr beat out competition from B&T and Shield Arms. In the negotiation phase, Steyr offered the lowest final bid, $2,580 per weapon.

Presidential Message on National Shooting Sports Month 2020

During National Shooting Sports Month, we commemorate our Constitutional right to bear arms by celebrating America’s cherished past time of recreational and competitive shooting sports.

Our great Nation has a rich history of fostering responsible gun ownership.  In the early days of our Republic, turkey shoots encouraged community engagement and brought families closer together.  As our country grew, these local events developed into large regional and national events and competitions that drew thousands of spectators.  By the late 19th century, sharpshooters such as Pawnee Bill and Annie Oakley established popular shows with Wild West and other themes, touring the country with acts featuring their talent with firearms.  These pioneering American folk heroes demonstrated the courage, skill, and persistence necessary to excel in shooting sports and that reflect our founding values.  Today, we continue to promote interest in such social pastimes that celebrate our rich and unique history of shooting sports.

As we encourage our fellow Americans to take part in learning more about firearms this month, including safety and proper instruction, we also pledge to continue doing our part to ensure that our rights are never infringed upon.  Enshrined in the Bill of Rights, our Second Amendment protects the individual liberties of Americans to keep and bear arms.  Since my first day in office, I have made clear that my Administration will always protect and defend the Second Amendment.  We will continue to oppose those individuals and policies that attempt to tread on this essential and cherished liberty.

This National Shooting Sports Month, I ask those Americans who currently participate in shooting sports to share this cherished tradition with others.  Together, we can proudly ensure that the next generation knows how to safely and responsibly enjoy their Second Amendment freedoms.

“Jim Rasenberger’s biography of Samuel Colt, ‘Revolver,’ has lots of interesting details about the colorful inventor of the six-shooter but unfairly faults Colt for sins against present-day leftist orthodoxy.  But Rasenberger’s greatest weakness is to downplay the great consequence of Colt’s invention. It made men equal. Rasenberger becomes authorially apoplectic at times that revolvers were used against American Indians and Mexicans, for example—as if only Americans of European descent ever pulled a trigger.” –Tony Daniel

Revolver : Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America

Revolver|Jim Rasenberger

A sweeping, definitive biography of Samuel Colt–the inventor of the legendary Colt revolver–which changed the US forever, triggering the industrial revolution and the settlement of the American West.
Patented in 1836, the Colt pistol with its revolving cylinder was the first practical firearm that could shoot more than one bullet without reloading. For many reasons, Colt’s gun had a profound effect on American history. Its most immediate impact was on the expansionism of the American west, where white emigrants and US soldiers came to depend on it, and where Native Americans came to dread it. The six-shooter became the iconic weapon of gun-slingers, outlaws, and cowboys–some willing to pay $500 out west for a gun that sold for $25 back east.

In making the revolver, Colt also changed American manufacturing–his factory revolutionized industry in the United States. Ultimately, Colt and his gun-making brought together the two most significant forces of change before the Civil War–the industrial revolution in the east, Manifest Destiny in the west.

 

Steven Fjestad passed away last year, so this is the first edition not published by him since 1981.

Forty-First Edition Blue Book Of Gun Values 

With nearly 2 million copies in circulation worldwide, the Blue Book of Gun Values one of the most relied-upon resources in the firearms industry;has announced the release of its 41st Edition, dedicated in memoriam to the late publisher Steven Peter “S.P.” Fjestad. Spanning over 2,500 pages, the 41st Edition contains upwards of 1,700 trademarks with brief histories, approximately 23,000 descriptions of firearm models from across the globe including the new makes and models for 2020 and 500,000-plus up-to-date values for modern firearms and major trademark antiques. Additionally, the latest edition’s expanded serialization charts allow more years of manufacture to be determined on individual firearm makes and models. A feature of the book that collectors in particular will find helpful is its 80-page Photo Percentage Grading System (PPGS) to assist in determining the condition of a firearm, with guidelines available for pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns.

Magpul Wyoming Governor’s Match slated in Cody this weekend

The fourth annual Magpul Wyoming Governor’s Match will return to Cody on Friday. Presented by Vortex Optics, the match continues through Sunday at the Cody Shooting Complex. 

“Here in Wyoming, we cherish our right to own firearms and deeply respect what this means,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a news release last week. “Our Second Amendment, responsible and safe firearm ownership, and a true love of the outdoors all combine at events such as this and provide an excellent showcase for the rest of the world.”

This 12-stage multi-gun match will feature highly skilled participants from around the country. “Three Gun” competitions like the governor’s match require shooters to hit a series of targets at varying ranges with three different weapons as quickly as possible. They are scored based on time and accuracy. Continue reading “”