Category: Gun Schtuff

This is about a court case where the parents of one of the people killed in the Las Vegas mass shooting is suing Colt on the premise that an AR-15 is really a machinegun. ust some inventive BS from the usual ambulance chasing type lawyer likely figuring that Colt will make big payout, but remember, Colt has been bought by CZ and I think they’ll fight this one.

Oh my: One dead on Alec Baldwin set over prop-gun “misfire” (Updated)

How could a prop gun loaded with blanks have killed a cinematographer on a Hollywood film location? Investigators in New Mexico want to know that too, and that’s not the only mystery in this story so far. The man who fired the shot(s?) was the star of Rust, Alec Baldwin, who hasn’t been charged in the incident, and appears devastated by it:

 

The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department confirmed Thursday night that Alec Baldwin “discharged” the prop gun that killed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on the set of the Western feature film on location in New Mexico.

Hutchins, 42, died not long after being transported to a hospital in Albuquerque, NM this afternoon. Souza, 48, remains in a local hospital; his condition is unknown. …

Deadline earlier reported that Criminal Investigators were called to the scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch just outside Santa Fe as sources informing us that a principal castmember cocked a gun, hitting Souza, 48 and Hutchins, 42, on set. The entire location went under lockdown during the investigation. The castmember, now identified as Baldwin, was unaware of the type of ammunition in the gun, we’re told. A rep from the production said that “Production has been halted for the time being” on Rust and that “the safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority.”

Traditionally, the prop master or armorer is responsible for fire arms and fire arms safety on a set such as Rust.

We should be cautious about first reports on this shooting, as we should be with any such incident. We should be doubly cautious about piling on with people whose politics and personality we don’t approve. At the moment, this looks like a completely unintentional accident that has nothing to do with politics or personality, and there’s no reason at this moment to jump to any conclusions otherwise.

There are a couple of puzzling elements to this, however. If the pistol didn’t have live ammunition, it’s tough to understand how two people got wounded on the set from one shot — possible, but strange. Deadline’s initial report that director Joel Souza was wounded has been walked back subtly since the first reports; he’s now being described as hospitalized for unknown reasons, which is a smarter way to approach this. It’s also strange to see it reported as a “misfire,” which would normally indicate either a non-shot or some sort of explosion in the pistol itself.

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Cimarron’s next project is to build a replica 1897 pump-action Trench Gun

Yeah, it’s a commercial. So?

I’ve got one. AK has one, or more, and The Firearm Blog put one through a 505 round test

Mossberg Maverick 88: The Affordable Self-Defense Shotgun

In my home state of Ohio, there was a time when shotguns were a multi-purpose hunting and personal defense tool. We hunted deer, turkey, waterfowl and upland game with our shotgun (oftentimes a single shotgun with multiple interchangeable barrels), and they were the firearm of choice for home defense. Shotguns were the most popular long gun for local law enforcement agencies, and trap, skeet and sporting clay shooting competitions drew huge crowds.

Things have changed since then, but shotguns remain a popular and versatile choice for many hunters and shooters. For those who feel that a scattergun is simply the best option for personal protection, Mossberg’s Maverick 88 remains a popular choice, and with good reason—this reliable and affordable pump-action 12-gauge offers plenty of stopping power when you need it most.

The Maverick 88 is a no-frills cousin of Mossberg’s legendary Model 500 pump-action shotgun, and although the two guns are aesthetically and mechanically similar, they are not identical guns. Both the Maverick 88 and Mossberg 500 come with sturdy dual extractors and twin action bars, anti-jam shell elevators, positive steel-to-steel lockup for added durability. The Maverick 88, however, features a crossbolt safety in front of the trigger guard instead of the tang-mounted safety found on the Model 500. The Maverick 88 is assembled in Mossberg’s Eagle Pass, TX, facility.

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Six States Boast More than 1 Million Carry Licenses Each

Six Second Amendment friendly states now boast more than one million active concealed carry licenses/permits each, including Florida with more than 2.5 million licenses in circulation, one of several revelations in the updated annual report on Concealed Carry in the United States from the Crime Prevention Research Center.

The other states are Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Texas.

It is the kind of news that sets off alarms in the gun prohibition lobby. Anti-gunners and their allies on Capitol Hill are determined to reduce the number of armed citizens. But the new CPRC report says the exact opposite has happened over the past few years, especially over the last 12 months. Since October 2020, the nation has seen two million additional permits/licenses approved, bringing the number of legally-packing adult Americans to 21.52 million, and that’s not all. Read the report’s abstract here.

Twenty-one states now have so-called “constitutional carry” where no permit is required to carry a firearm. According to the CPRC report, “While permits are soaring in the non-Constitutional Carry states, they fell in the Constitutional Carry ones even though more people are clearly carrying in those states.”

Texas is the newest permitless carry state, yet more than a million Lone Star gun owners still have permits, allowing them to be recognized under reciprocity laws in other states.

In all, the report from CPRC’s founder and President John Lott—the researcher and author—and researcher Rujun Wang lists 15 states in which more than 10 percent of the adult population is licensed to carry. In addition to the states mentioned earlier, the roundup includes are Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

Tennessee, incidentally, is where Smith & Wesson is moving a large part of its current Massachusetts operation, taking hundreds of jobs out of the Bay State and the accompanying revenue to friendlier surroundings.

The 69-page CPRC report offers several other revelations, among them being that “8.3% of American adults have permits. Outside of the restrictive states of California and New York, about 10.0% of adults have a permit.”

The Supreme Court on Nov. 3 will hear oral arguments in a case challenging New York’s “proper cause” requirement to get a carry permit, which officials routinely use to deny permit applications. Only the privileged seem able to show “proper cause” while average citizens cannot. The case is known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

Another CPRC revelation: “In 2021, women made up 28.3% of permit holders in the 14 states that provide data by gender, an increase from the 26.4% last year. Seven states had data from 2012 to 2020/2021, and permit numbers grew 108.7% faster for women than for men.”

Increasing numbers of women are arming up, a pattern that has been building in recent years. With reductions in police manpower as a result of the “defund the police” movement that started in 2020 following the death of George Floyd while being restrained by Minneapolis police.

The CPRC report also notes that in three states where race and gender data is collected, there were “remarkably larger increases in permits for minorities compared to whites.” The report also reveals that four states keeping track of race between 2015-2021, “the number of Asian people with permits increased 93.2% faster than the number of whites with permits. Blacks appear to be the group that has experienced the largest increase in permitted concealed carry, growing 135.7% faster than whites.”

 

Been there. Done that. Know the family.
The range and gun store will still remain open for business.

Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot Going Out With A Bang

Twice a year for the past half-century or so, the rolling hills around the small Kentucky town of West Point have echoed with the sounds of full-auto rifles, booming explosions, and the roar of the crowds at the Knob Creek Gun Range’s Machine Gun Shoot. But while the gun range will continue its operations, this weekend will be the last hurrah for the venerable festival of firepower.

That’s right. The Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot is coming to an end.

The April shoot was canceled because the COVID-19 pandemic, so crowds are expected to be big. WDRB started getting calls about traffic backups on Dixie Highway and Highway 44 before 8 a.m. on Friday, when people started making their way to the site.

Anyone who has ever attended the events over the past 50 years can describe feeling the vibration of the barrage of bullets during the open shoots. Those participating in the shoot take aim at a variety of targets including used appliances, abandoned vehicles, and barrels of fuel with pyrotechnic charges attached. When one of the bullets hits the barrels, there is a huge explosion and flames that last for several minutes.

One of the highlights of the twice-a-year event has been the nighttime shoots, which will thankfully live on in videos that have received hundreds of thousands of views online.

As you can see in the videos above, the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot is a big deal, drawing in thousands of attendees for a shooting celebration that’s become a treasured tradition for many gun owners. So why is it going away?

According to a comment on the gun range’s Facebook page, it’s not government intrusion or the rising cost of ammunition that’s to blame. The owners of the range say that they’re just ready to slow down a little.

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Study: More Than 21-Million Concealed Carry Holders, Up 10.5% In 2020

During the Coronavirus pandemic, the number of concealed handgun permits has soared to over 21.52 million – a 48% increase since 2016. It’s also a 10.5% increase over the number of permits we counted a year ago in 2020. Unlike gun ownership surveys that may be affected by people’s unwillingness to answer personal questions, concealed handgun permit data is the only really “hard data” that we have. This increase occurred despite 21 Constitutional Carry states that no longer provide data on all those legally carrying a concealed handgun because people in those states no longer need a permit to carry.

These numbers are particularly topical given that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the concealed carry case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association V. Corlett in November. That case will determine whether those requesting permits need to provide a “proper cause,” which means a good reason for obtaining a permit.

A copy of the report is available here 

 

Ruger Announces Their First Marlin Rifle Release

MAYODAN, NC., Oct. 06, 2021.

Christopher J. Killoy, Ruger CEO, said the first Marlin rifle to be delivered in December 2021 from their Mayodan, NC plant will be the Marlin model 1895SBL in 45-70.

Killroy indicated that the company will release this model first and will be followed up by some 336 models and the popular model 444 as well. These centerfire rifles will then be followed up by some model 1894’s in 357 and 44 magnum.

He also indicated that the Marlin famous Microgroove and Ballard rifling have been replaced with their method of rifling and that initial results are offering extremely good accuracy that they are use to producing from their other centerfire rifles in the Ruger line.

The model choice for first release is a proven best seller from past Marlin releases and is anticipated to sell very well.

The company emphasized that although initial availability will be light they expect to ramp up quickly.

More Firearms Imported in 2020 Than Ever Before

More firearms were imported into the United States in 2020 than any other year on record.

That’s according to the ATF’s 2021 annual report on firearms commerce in the United States, which was released Monday. The report showed a massive surge in gun importation. The numbers climbed to over 6.8 million firearms in 2020, marking the highest level on record.

Firearm Imports by year
Firearm imports by year / ATF

The ATF’s Firearms Commerce Report is an annual compilation of statistics kept year over year in order to track changes in the gun industry.

“This report presents data drawn from a number of ATF reports and records in one comprehensive document,” the bureau said on its website. “It also provides comparative data from as far back as 1975 for context, analyses of trends over the years, and a fuller picture of the state of firearms commerce in the United States today.”

The report is notable in light of the record-breaking level of gun sales the country has seen in recent years, with reports of domestic firearm manufacturers struggling to increase output during the pandemic in order to meet the unprecedented surge in demand. Many of the most popular firearms on the civilian market–including Austrian-made Glocks–are produced by foreign companies, suggesting increased importation was necessary in order to meet the heightened consumer demand.

Handguns were the most commonly imported type of firearm in 2020, representing 59 percent of imports. Meanwhile, shotguns and rifles represented 28 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Turkey, Austria, and Brazil represented the three most prevalent sources of imported guns in 2020, respectively, with each country contributing more than a million total firearms.

2020 Imports by country
2020 Imports by country / ATF

Other notable findings from the ATF report indicated that the agency processed more than 500,000 National Firearms Act (NFA) applications in 2020, the highest level on record for a single year. NFA applications and ATF approval are required when attempting to make, transfer, or import an item regulated under the NFA, such as a short-barreled rifle or silencer.

NFA forms by fiscal year
NFA forms by fiscal year / ATF

The report found that Texas was by far the state with the highest total number of registered NFA weapons (1,006,555), followed by Florida (518,725), and Virginia (423,707), respectively.

There’s A Reason The Market Isn’t Providing Smart Guns

Gun control fans aren’t happy. They can’t seem to get their way through either Congress or most state legislatures. It’s frustrating, to be sure.

However, it seems that some people believe there’s an alternative. Basically, they think the answer is for the gun industry to just start making smart guns.

While many politicians at the state and federal levels are unable to pass gun reform legislation, there are other things that can be done to defend both human life and the constitutionally protected right to own a gun. The private sector must step up to make guns safer in order to reduce gun violence.

In today’s polarized political climate around gun culture, little can be done at the federal level to reduce gun violence and encourage the passage of meaningful legislation to reduce the prevalence of guns in American life. Experts have taken steps to attempt to reframe gun violence as a public health issue and have changed their language from “gun control” to “gun violence prevention” in an attempt to take control of the narrative. This rhetorical adjustment moves from the idea of “taking your guns” to one of safe gun purchase and use. If these cultural changes become more mainstream, more can be done to pass legislation to reduce gun violence.

In the meantime, other steps can be taken to mitigate the risks posed by guns. If comprehensive policy can’t be passed, the other option is to turn to the private sector to address this problem. If gun manufacturers made guns safer, it would help to prevent a significant amount of gun violence deaths. Obviously, this would not solve all of the United States’ problems regarding guns, but it would be a start.

There are technological innovations that could be implemented in guns to make them safer for consumers. One innovation is designing guns that only work for specific people by connecting the guns to RFID tags on watches or rings. Another is using biometric technology by requiring proof of identity to use the gun, such as voice activation, a retinal scan or a fingerprint.

The final strategy is using “microstamping” technology so that guns imprint unique marks on the cartridge casings as the rounds are fired. In a similar approach, in May, the Justice Department proposed a rule to require gun-making kits to include a serial code in order to crack down on “ghost guns,” untraceable weapons assembled by individuals in their private residences rather than licensed manufacturers.

Oh, they’re so adorable when they think they know what they’re talking about, aren’t they?

Alright, let’s break these down one by one.

First, let’s understand why the private sector isn’t already providing this, assuming the technology works as advertised (more on that in a bit). After all, wouldn’t “safer” guns be better for everyone?

Sure. Except that no one wants them.

Seriously, talk to the gun-buying community sometimes. I have. I have yet to encounter a single gun buyer that would gladly pick up a smart gun tomorrow if their local gun store had one at a competitive price. If none of the established customer base wants one, then it would be imperative to attract people to form a completely different customer base. The problem is that most people who are interested in buying guns already have them or are quite content to buy what’s already being sold.

In short, there are no customers interested. Companies aren’t going to push products that absolutely no one wants.

And there’s a reason for it. A lot of them, actually. One is that none of the technology in question is actually proven. A firearm is one of those things you need to work the moment you need it to work. My Glock 19 does. My buddy’s 1911 does. Another friend’s GP-100 in .357 does as well.

These are firearms we can trust with our life.

Not only that, but if my Glock or my friend’s 1911 or any other semi-auto jams, there’s the old “tap-rack-bang” trick to get the weapon back up and running in the blink of an eye.

Tell me, just how do you get a biometric scanner to recognize your fingerprint if it’s being stubborn? If it doesn’t work, you and your family may die.

I’d just love for the author to explain how this makes a gun safer. I really and truly would.

Just yesterday, I touched on the problems with RFID technology applied to guns. That hasn’t exactly changed overnight, now has it? The author doesn’t address these concerns, probably because she wouldn’t quite know how to do so.

And don’t get me started on microstamping. That’s a technology that’s been talked about for years and still doesn’t work.

I think that just leaves “ghost guns.” However, what the author doesn’t recognize is that manufacturing guns at home is still legal and you can do so without a serial number so long as you don’t intend to sell it. While the proposal will hurt those who want incomplete receivers, there are still plenty of tools out there that will allow you to make your own firearms. The policy change won’t actually stop that.

So really, the most impressive thing here is just how wrong she is about the effectiveness of just about everything. In fairness to the author, that is pretty impressive. It takes work being that wrong about stuff, so go her!

Smith & Wesson to Relocate Headquarters to Tennessee

Move includes headquarters and significant portion of operations due to changing business climate for firearms
manufacturing in Massachusetts

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ Global Select: SWBI), one of the nation’s oldest
firearms manufacturers, announced today that it is moving its headquarters and significant elements of its operations to Maryville, Tennessee in
2023. Smith & Wesson has been based in Springfield, Massachusetts since the company was incorporated in 1852.

DOJ Asks More Time to Process Over 211K Comments on Proposed Arm Brace Rule

The Second Amendment Foundation sued the ATF over its flip-flopping on how it regulates arm braces for AR15-type pistols, and now the Justice Department needs more time to review more than 211,000 public comments. (Screen snip, YouTube, Sig Sauer)

Nine months after the Second Amendment Foundation sued the Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in federal court over ATF’s flip on how it regulates stabilizing braces on pistols, the DOJ and SAF jointly asked for a continuation of a stay in the legal action to allow processing of more than 211,000 public comments on a proposed rule on “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached Stabilizing Braces.”

The process is expected to require more than four months.

Under the original proposal, guns with stabilizing braces would suddenly be regulated under the National Firearms Act the same as short-barreled rifles. That would require a special license and $200 fee for each firearm fitted with a brace.  Without the special license and fee, guns fitted with the stabilizing braces would be illegal to own.

Back on May 4, the court granted an agreed motion for a stay, which was extended on June 15, after the defendants published the proposed rule in the Federal Register seeking public comment. The comment period was 90 days, during which time the agency was flooded with comments.

According to a Joint Status Report filed with the court, it will take more than 120 days for the DOJ to process all the responses. All parties agreed to the delay, according to SAF and have requested that they be allowed to file another Joint Status Report on or before Jan. 19, 2022.

“Depending upon the DOJ’s final ruling,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, “SAF reserves the right to amend the court filing to include provisions of the new rule.”

Joining in the SAF lawsuit were Rainier Arms, LLC and two disabled private citizens, Samuel Walley and William Green.

In addition to DOJ and ATF, the lawsuit also named acting ATF Director Regina Lombardo and Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, in their official capacities. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. The case is known as SAF et. al. v. BATFE, et. al.

When SAF filed the lawsuit, Gottlieb acknowledged, “There are several issues at play in this case. It concerns the failure of the agencies and its officials to abide by long-established and Congressionally-mandated rulemaking requirements, threatening rights protected by the Second Amendment. Another issue is the question whether the Executive Branch has the authority to re-define stabilizing braces without approval of Congress. This is especially important to disabled persons because these devices were originally developed to benefit shooters with physical disabilities.”

However, stabilizing braces are now used by people with and without disabilities and more than 2 million have been sold, the lawsuit estimated.

In late August, SAF reminded gun owners about the original Sept. 8 deadline for comments. At the time, Gottlieb warned, “ATF wants to reclassify millions of stabilizing brace-equipped pistols by making them subject to the National Firearms Act. If that happens, current owners of such pistols would need to register their guns and pay a $200 tax on each one, or turn it in to the ATF, or take one of several other undesirable options.”

When I was stationed in Germany, our smallarms shop was the support shop for 3rd COSCOM’s headquarters. When Beretta came out with the large headed hammer pin and slotted rail slide as a fix for the slide breaks noted in early U.S. production, I got the job to swap them out on the COSCOM commander’s pistol. To be honest, except for the special serial number series, I could tell no difference from any other issue M9 I had seen.

EXCLUSIVE: RARE U.S. ARMY ISSUE GENERAL OFFICER BERETTA UP FOR GRABS

Typically, the only way to get one of the coveted and extremely rare General Officer pistols is to become a general in the U.S. military. About that…

The Army’s General Officer Pistol program dates back to at least 1972, when the service’s Rock Island Arsenal began producing M15 pistols for general officers, a gun that led to the now-popular Officer series of M1911s. Marked with serial numbers prefixed with the letters “GO,” the program switched to issuing M9 Berettas in the 1980s and, in 2018 in a story covered previously by Guns.com, to Sig Sauer M18 GO models.

Other than the special serial number range, GO models are issued for operational use and are essentially no different from standard-issue pistols.

According to U.S. law, at the end of their service, generals can purchase their issued pistols, which are unfathomably rare, museum-worthy collectibles if not retained by the family. As noted by the Army, famed WWII Gens. Omar N. Bradley, George S. Patton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower all purchased their guns when they left the military

A rarity, the General Officer M9 in the Guns.com Vault was obtained directly from a retired U.S. Army general who had more than thirty years of successful military experience spanning the Cold War and Desert Storm, including more than five years with the famed 82d Airborne Division.

General Officer M9 Beretta 9mm pistol
Its serial number, GO-00787, sets it apart from standard martial M9s or guns produced for the consumer market. (Photo: April Robinson/Guns.com)

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Data Study: 18 Months of Ammo Sales during a Pandemic, Protests, and the Biden Presidency.

In our previous data study on the initial effects of the pandenmic on our business, we outlined increased sales due to the public’s growing leeriness of COVID-19, starting from February 23, 2020 when the news coverage became ominous.

That’s only part of the story, however, because over the last 18 months, we’ve experienced a particularly charged election year, BLM protests amid calls to “defund the police,” a contentious transfer of power, and most recently a surprise ban on popular Russian ammo.

These events in particular, set against the backdrop of the ongoing response to the pandemic, resulted in demand spikes. Looking at the data below, you’ll get a sense of a high level trend during the pandemic and then see how that trend changed during certain specific time periods, like the BLM protests, when already-elevated demand went up even more.

To give a pre-pandemic baseline of sorts, over the past 18 months our overall sales have increased as follows:

  • 590% increase in revenue
  • 604% increase in transactions
  • 271% increase in site traffic
  • 77% increase in conversion rate

This data is from February 23, 2020 – August 23, 2021, when compared to the previous 18 months (August 24, 2018 – February 22, 2020).

Below are tables which list the top 10 states, ordered by our total sales volume, and how they fared during these recent demand spikes when compared to the previous time period, respectively. We also listed which calibers were most popular in those top states.

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