January 21

1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded in Zurich, Switzerland when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother.

1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.

1861 – Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.

1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit.

1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury in connection with him being charged with spying for the Soviets since the 1930s.

1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by 1st Lady Mamie Eisenhower

1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, is launched from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board, testing the launch escape system.

1968 – US Marine Corps and Army troops defending the  Khe Sanh Combat Base in northwestern Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam are brought under siege by forces of the North Vietnam Army, while near Thule Air Base in  Greenland, a B-52 bomber crashes, contaminating the area after its payload of nuclear bombs rupture. One of the 4 bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

1976 – Commercial service of the Concorde airliner begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.

1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes near Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 of the 71 passengers and crew aboard.

1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.

 

Missouri AG prioritizing Biden social media collusion lawsuit, defending Second Amendment law

(The Center Square) – A lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration for alleged collusion with social media companies and defending Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act are priorities for Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

Litigation in both cases began while Republican U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt was serving as Missouri’s attorney general. After the State of the State address on Wednesday, Bailey, who was appointed in November to replace Schmitt, said depositions in the social media collusion case are leading toward an injunction.

“We have documentary evidence, we have testimonial evidence and we intend to seek more evidence in the coming weeks,” Bailey said in an interview with The Center Square. “We’re on an expedited discovery timeline. At some point, we’re going to get into a procedural posture where we’re going to ask for an injunction to prevent further coercion and collusion from the federal government and prevent Biden and his team from censoring speech.”

Missouri v. Biden was filed by Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry in May and they were granted a motion for discovery to expedite a possible preliminary injunction in July. In addition to releasing documents in the case, they released the transcript of a deposition of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical advisor who recently retired.

Last week, Bailey released emails from White House Digital Director Robert Flaherty and other associates to major social media platforms. It included an email from Flaherty to Facebook asking why a video by Tucker Carlson on COVID-19 vaccines didn’t violate the social media platform’s standards.

“What we’ve demonstrated and what we believe is going on is censorship because it’s unelected federal bureaucrats targeting specific speech that they disfavor and asking that it be removed from big-tech social media platforms,” Bailey said. “That’s the problem. It stifles free, fair and open debate and it undermines our First Amendment. There should be marketplace of ideas that is free from government censorship.”

Bailey said defending the Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act in lawsuits also will be a priority. The city of Arnold filed a lawsuit and St. Louis city and county and Jackson County filed a separate suit seeking to overturn the law. Both lawsuits claim the law restricts local police cooperating with federal law enforcement on gun violations.

“The Second Amendment is what makes all of the other (amendments) possible,” Bailey said. “It prevents enforcement of federal firearm regulations that exceed or violate the Second Amendment. We need to be going after criminals and not guns, first and foremost. I think most law enforcement officers in the state of Missouri agree with that. If we spent more time going after the criminals and not the guns, we will have safer streets.”

Bailey said the Missouri law is aligned with the principles of the authors of the U.S. Constitution.

“The founders understood that, number one, our rights come from God and not men,” Bailey said. “The federal constitution was a floor, not a ceiling, and the states could be guarantors of individual liberties. So the state legislature wants to expand upon the foundational rights codified in the Second Amendment and they have authority to do that. It’s about federalism and individual liberty.”

Analysis: Illinois Sheriffs’ Resistance to AR-15 Ban Latest Frontier for Second Amendment Sanctuary Movement

In the state often credited with kicking off the nationwide movement, so-called Second Amendment Sanctuaries are being put to their most significant test yet.

Shortly after Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D.) signed a bill banning “assault weapons” and certain ammunition magazines into law last week. Illinois gun owners have 300 days to register or otherwise dispose of the thousands of different models of guns affected by the ban. If they don’t, they could face serious criminal charges.

However, the actions of local officials across the state are calling that possibility into question. Many have begun to mobilize in opposition to enforcing the law. Sheriffs and State’s Attorneys of more than 80 Illinois counties have released statements decrying the law as “unconstitutional.” Most have publicly declared that they refuse to enforce it against otherwise law-abiding citizens.

“Until further direction from our courts, the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office will not expend the resources of Effingham County to ensure law-abiding gun owners are registering their firearms with the State, or arresting, otherwise law-abiding individuals, solely for their non-compliance with HB5471,” Effingham County Sheriff Paul Kuhns said in a public release.

“My office will exercise strict prosecutorial discretion in circumstances relating to enforcement of House Bill 5471, ensuring that the clearly-defined Second Amendment rights of our citizens remain undiminished,” Effingham County State’s Attorney Aaron Jones added. “While my office remains committed to protecting the citizens of Effingham County by prosecuting violent crimes, I have no intention of turning otherwise law-abiding citizens into convicted felons solely due to non-compliance with House Bill 5471.”

The sentiment was echoed in jurisdictions around the state with model language provided by the Illinois Sheriffs Association. Nine in 10 of the state’s sheriffs have now publicly declared their intention to disregard the law, according to the Associated Press

The sheer number of prosecutors and sheriffs who have come out against enforcing the new ban represents a new high water mark for the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement. That’s fitting for a trend that has its roots in none other than Effingham County, Illinois.

Resistance to gun control from higher up in the government has existed in some form for decades. The successful challenge of the Brady Act’s initial requirement that local law enforcement use their resources to conduct background checks on gun buyers in 1997’s Printz v. U.S. is one early success in the power struggle. Beginning in the mid-2000s and through the early 2010s, a handful of deep red states and localities around the country even passed resolutions suggesting that they wouldn’t obey gun laws they viewed as unconstitutional–though they were often primarily symbolic measures that have never been put to a significant test.

Those earlier efforts began to crystalize into the modern sanctuary movement starting with Pritzker’s 2018 election. Effingham County officials, alarmed by his win and the possibility of an assault weapons ban, passed the first resolution credited with coining the term “sanctuary” as applied to the Second Amendment. The resolution, which quickly spread to 70 additional counties across Illinois and later other states like Virginia, was a simple declaration that local officials would view any of the gun-control laws then under consideration by the legislature as unconstitutional.

“We’re just stealing the language that sanctuary cities use,” Bryan Kibler, former Effingham County State’s Attorney, told the Associated Press in reference to the immigration “sanctuary” movement at the time.

“We wanted to get across that our Second Amendment rights are slowly being stripped away.”

Now, faced with a new set of gun-control measures, a similar dynamic is at play.

But unlike those previous resolutions, which predominately surfaced ad hoc wherever new gun-control measures were a possibility, the current crop of non-compliance declarations are being announced in response to a law that has passed. That creates a new paradigm testing the mettle of officials on both sides. Without local law enforcement support and few options to force their hand, backers of the ban are left without many options. The state’s gun owners could very well decide to disregard the registration requirement, and local law enforcement may well follow through on their promise not to bother them.

That has happened before.

Following the 2013 passage of the SAFE Act in New York, the refusal of some sheriffs to enforce its ban on certain guns and magazines coincided with widespread non-compliance. The most recent data suggests only about four percent of the guns required to be registered under the SAFE Act have actually been registered.

“It’s not that they aren’t aware of the law,” Paloma Capanna, a firearms lawyer who obtained the registration data,

told Hudson Valley One in 2019. “The lack of registration is a massive act of civil disobedience by gun owners statewide.”

Since ninety percent of Illinois’ sheriffs are vowing to look the other way on this latest ban, it’s hard to see how the results don’t end up looking similar in the Land of Lincoln.

Of course, it remains to be seen how resolved the Illinois sheriffs are in refusing to enforce the gun ban and corresponding registry requirement. The rapid groundswell of opposition has already provoked a backlash from many of the state’s top Democratic lawmakers, including Governor Pritzker.

He has repeatedly suggested that the defiant sheriffs are “violating their oaths of office” and has threatened to fire  those that refuse to enforce the ban. However, it does not appear that he has the power to remove duly-elected sheriffs from office under Illinois law.

Even if he can’t directly remove the local officials, Pritzker may hope to sway or replace them by other means. Or bypass them altogether.

“It’s our state police and law enforcement across the state that will, in fact, enforce this law, and these outlier sheriffs will comply or, frankly, they’ll have to answer to the voters,” Pritzker told NBC 5.

It’s possible the political pressure could wear some sheriffs down and cause them to reverse course. Or some might have misread what their constituents want and get an earful from residents clamoring to see a gun ban enforced. Pritzer could also prioritize using state police resources to try and enforce the ban on their own, though that would be a very tall order without local support.

If not, the rapid and organized adoption of non-enforcement policies across broad swaths of Illinois in response to a gun ban and registry requirement may become the biggest success story of the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement to date.

January 20

250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the persecution of Roman emperor Decius for failing to perform sacrifices to the Roman gods.

1265 – The first English parliament to include commoner representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster

1567 – Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.

1649 – The trial of Charles I of England at the High Court of Justice begins

1783 – Great Britain signs preliminary articles of peace with France, setting the stage for the official end of the Revolutionary War later in the year.

1887 – The U.S. Senate ratifies a treaty allowing the U.S. Navy to lease Pearl Harbor Hawaii as a naval base.

1909 – Automaker General Motors buys into the Oakland Motor Car Company, at Pontiac, Michigan, which later becomes GM’s Pontiac division.

1929 – The first full length talking motion picture, In Old Arizona, is released.

1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner are sworn in for their second terms as U.S. President and U.S. Vice President; the first time a Presidential Inauguration takes place on January 20

1942 – At a conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, Nazi officials discuss the implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish question”.

1961 – John F. Kennedy is inaugurated the 35th President of the United States of America, the youngest man to date elected to that office.

1981 – 20 minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages.

2021 – Joe Biden becomes the oldest person, at age 78, to take the oath of office of the President of the United States.

Interesting pistola. Slightly lower MSRP than the Ruger

Read all of that, then tell me the “SHOOTING ILLUSTRATED STAFF” doesn’t need some remedial training in operating systems.

First Look: Smith & Wesson M&P 5.7 Pistol.

S&W M&P 5.7

Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. has unveiled a new M&P handgun chambered for the relatively modern 5.7×28 mm cartridge. The 5.7x28mm caliber keeps increasing in popularity across the market today and was first developed by FN during the 1980s for use in their PDW style firearms such as the P90.

This new M&P pistol has a magazine capacity of 22 rounds with a full-size 5-inch barrel and uses a gas-operated, locked-breech mechanism that supports the pressure and specifications of the 5.7mm cartridge. This system is somewhat different as opposed to the more traditional Browning inspired delayed blowback tilting mechanisms commonly seen used with standard handgun rounds that operate at lower pressures. Due to the alternative design considerations the M&P 5.7 is also slightly thinner than typical Smith and Wesson M&P Series handguns.

The M&P 5.7 includes an optics-ready cut slide ideal for micro slide-mounted, red-dot electronic sights. The 5-inch barrel on these pistols also has a threaded muzzle cut for 1/2×28 inch threads. The extremely crisp single action trigger of the pistol is enhanced by the flat face of the trigger shoe. Two 22- round magazines ship with the pistol as well.

“The M&P5.7 is an exciting new pistol from Smith & Wesson that incorporates a gas-operated Tempo Barrel System to effectively harness the 5.7x28mm round, creating a lighter recoil for an overall better shooting experience. Like all Smith & Wesson firearms, the M&P5.7 is proudly made entirely in the USA and is backed by the Smith & Wesson Limited Lifetime Service Policy. Whatever your purpose, the M&P5.7 is versatile, fun, and a must-have,” says Andrew Gore, Product Manager, Handguns.

The new M&P 5.7 has a retail price of $700. For more information on this new pistol and other firearms sold by Smith And Wesson, please visit their website at smith-wesson.com

Driver fires shots at would-be carjackers in Oak Law

OAK LAWN, Ill. — Police are looking for two suspects after a driver thwarted a carjacking in Oak Lawn on Wednesday.

The incident occurred just before 3:30 p.m. in the  6500 block of W. 89th Place. Police say the two armed suspects tried to steal a car but the driver had a gun and fired at about eight shots toward them.

The individuals took off in a black Jeep, which police later located in the 6200 block of W. 90th Street.

According to police, an unidentified getaway driver picked up the suspected carjackers in an older white Dodge Charger with damage on the rear passenger door.

The victim was not hurt.

This was a request for a temporary injunction to stop enforcement while the case makes its way through the system.

I think this is simply lawyers being lawyers and making sure that other lawyers have the opportunity to bill more hours, but it sure makes me wonder why even Justice Thomas wouldn’t even respond to the clear poke in the eye this is by the State of New York.

Supreme Court Rejects New York Gun Retailers’ Bid to Block New Concealed Carry Laws

The Supreme Court rejected a bid by New York gun retailers on Wednesday to block a slew of new gun control laws in the state, which they argued violate their Second Amendment rights and hurt their businesses.

There were no noted dissents in the order or explanations from the justices for their decision.

January 19

1810 – The temperature at Portsmouth, New Hampshire drops from 54°F to minus 12°F in one day.

1817 – An army led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.

1861 – Georgia, Florida and Mississippi declare secession from the United States.

1883 – The first city electric lighting system, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.

1915 – French engineer Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.

1920 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.

1937 – Howard Hughes, flying his H-1 Racer, sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.

1945 – During World War II, Soviet forces liberate the Łódź Ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 survive the Nazi occupation.

1946 – General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.

1960 – Japan and the U.S. sign the US–Japan Mutual Security Treaty

1977 – President Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino a.k.a. Tokyo Rose

1981 – United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.

1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.

1991 – Over Iraq;
USAF Cpts Rick Tuleni and Larry Pitts flying F-15s, each engage and shootdown Iraqi MiG-25 fighters.
USAF Cpts Craig Underhill and Cesar Rodriguez, flying F-15s, each engage Iraqi MiG-29 fighters, with Underhill shooting down his MiG and Rodriguez’ dogfight maneuvers resulting in the Iraqi pilot flying into the ground in an attempt to evade him
USAF Cpt David Prather and Lt David Sveden, flying F-15s, each engage and shootdown Iraqi Mirage F1 fighters
Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.

1996 – An engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia and tank barge North Cape  ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island causing a massive spill of over 800,000 gallons of heating oil.

2013 – Retired Saint Louis Cardinal player, Stan Musial, dies, age 92, at his home in Ladue, Missouri.

Teen stops home invasion with mother’s handgun

MONTVILLE, Ohio (WJW) – Brayden Jarrett says he was home from school last Tuesday, looking out the living room window, when he noticed a strange car parked sideways in his driveway.

“The car stood in the driveway for a little bit, so I walked into our kitchen because we have a window in the kitchen and I looked out and I saw the dude and I’ve never seen this dude in my life,” said Jarrett.

His mother was at work, but Jarrett, who is 16 years old, knew that she kept a 9mm handgun in the house and he knew where it was stored.

He says he is familiar with guns, in part, because he has been hunting.

“I knew there was a gun in the home. My mom had a gun, I knew it. I grew up with guns, so I knew about the safety, I knew where the gun was and everything,” he told FOX 8.

“My gun is unloaded. The clip is next to it and he knows where it’s at, so he grabbed it and he held onto both pieces and he stood in this (living room) doorway,” said Ashleigh Jarrett, his mother.

Brayden said he stood there watching the door as the outside door opened. He knew if it was a delivery service dropping off a package that they would leave it there.

But when the intruder started opening the inside door, he says he loaded the gun.

“I didn’t say anything but when I cocked the gun back and pointed it at the door, he said, ‘Oh (expletive),’ and ran,” Brayden said.

He immediately called his mother at work.

“When he called me, he asked smart questions first. ‘Did you have anyone coming over?’ ‘Were you expecting any packages?’ before he then said, ‘Well, I think someone tried to break in and I had to pull your gun,’” said Ashleigh.

Brayden said the car drove past their house again, and after Ashleigh posted about the break-in on social media, neighbors helped identify it.

At the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office, Brayden says he was able to pick the suspect out of a photo lineup.

The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office has charged Zachary Stutzman, of Hartsgrove, with burglary.

Ashleigh Jarrett says she knows Stutzman only as a friend on social media, although they may have mutual real acquaintances in real life.

She believes he may have used her posts to learn her routine.

But they were only into the second day of a new routine for her son, who he may not have expected to be in the house.

She is now cautioning people about what they post on social media.

“Anyone can see your schedule. If you are posting that you are at your place of business or you are posting that you are out and about and for someone who is mostly alone, it leaves you open for vulnerability and it gives somebody just a key into your life,” she said.

Ashleigh says she now has cameras watching over the inside and outside of her house, something she never thought she would have to do.

She is grateful to have a teenage son who is now also her protector.

“He’s so laid back. I have more anxiety about this than he does for sure. I lined up the school and told them to set up a counseling meeting if he needed it and his exact words were, ‘I’m not afraid of guns. All I had to do was pick a gun up and aim it, I didn’t have to use it,’” said Ashleigh.

“I didn’t want to pull the trigger on the guy. That would have been a whole different situation, but when I knew when it first happened, I had to stay calm,” said Brayden.

Escambia County shooting deemed self-defense; Juvenile shooter won’t be charged

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies say a juvenile who shot a 47-year-old man Monday in Escambia County will not be charged.

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office says the shooting around noon on Saxon Street is a self-defense case.

According to the sheriff’s office, the man who was shot — 47-year-old Patrick Antoine Davison — is charged with Aggravated Battery (domestic violence). Jail records show he is also facing charges of fleeing/eluding police, resisting arrest and driving without a license.

Davison was hospitalized for his injuries Monday afternoon following the shooting.

Der apfel fält nicht weit vom baum (The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree)

Klaus Schwab’s Father Ran ‘National Socialist Model Company,’ Exploited Nazi Slave Labor.

Davos frontman Klaus Schwab’s daddy, Eugen Schwab, while the Third Reich was ravaging Europe in the 1930s and 40s, served as managing director of Escher Wyss Ravensburg, an engineering firm that constructed turbines and fighter plane parts for the regime.

While the elder Schwab worked in this capacity, the Nazis awarded Escher Wyss Ravensburg the prestigious title of “National Socialist Model Company” for all of its hard work in the service of the Führer.

To achieve this recognition, Escher-Wyss Ravensburg, under Eugen Schwab’s leadership, utilized Nazi slave labor and prisoners of war in its facilities.

Ravensburg itself, aside from the slave factory, was the site of numerous Nazi crimes against humanity, such as forced sterilization for the purpose of “racial improvement.” But to Eugen Schwab, that was just the cost of doing business with the Third Reich.

You want to make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs, right?

Klaus Schwab’s sanitized Wikipedia page contains none of the gruesome details of his daddy’s wartime activities, other than to say “his parents had moved from Switzerland to Germany during the Third Reich in order for his father to assume the role of director at Escher Wyss.”

Newsweek ran a corporate “fact check” in which they cherry-picked a falsely attributed image of Eugen in a Nazi uniform as a way to seem to disprove his connection to the Third Reich entirely. But deep into the article, Newsweek subtly admits that it’s all true — which almost no one will get to, thanks to short attention spans:

The posts shared online in May, 2022, claim Klaus Schwab’s father, Eugen Schwab, was a close ally of Hitler, and include a photo of the World Economic Forum leader alongside a man in Nazi uniform… the photo shared online is not of Eugen Schwab, but of Nazi general Walter Dybilasz… Klaus Schwab’s father, on the other hand, was the managing director of a subsidiary of Zurich-based engineering firm Escher Wyss. 

The history of Eugen’s relationship with Nazism in general is complex… Eugen Schwab was a member of some National Socialist organizations, but that alone does not prove any relationship to German high command or a belief in Nazi ideology. While the Escher Wyss branch in Ravensburg, Germany, (which Eugen managed) used prisoners of war and forced laborers, it is not clear whether the company was forced to do so by the Nazis or because of a lack of workers.

So, Eugen Schwab was an avowed National Socialist, and yes, okay, his firm did use Nazi slave labor. But, you see, that doesn’t mean he was a Nazi. And maybe Escher Wyss had to use slave labor to make their products for the Nazis because of a worker shortage.

This is a common tactic in corporate media: Take a false claim that circulates on the web (in this case, an image incorrectly identified as Eugen Schwab) and use that single post to discredit the entire factual connection between Schwab and the Nazis.

Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Unconstitutional Illinois Gun Ban

BELLEVUE, WA – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the recently-signed Illinois gun ban legislation, alleging it to be unconstitutional and asserting the state has criminalized “a common and important means of self-defense.” The case is known as Harrel v. Raoul.

Joining SAF in this legal action are the Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, C4 Gun Store LLC, Marengo Guns, Inc. and a private citizen, Dane Harrel. Named as defendants are Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Illinois State Police Director Brendan F. Kelly, and other officials in their official capacities. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

“Illinois has banned the future sale, importation, purchase, delivery and manufacture of the most popular rifle in the United States, along with their standard capacity magazines,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “People who already own such firearms must now register their guns with the State Police. This ban violates the constitutional rights of Illinois gun owners, and we intend to prove it in court.

“Once again,” he continued, “Illinois lawmakers are scapegoating firearms and people who own them in a transparent attempt to convince people they are doing something about the horrible violence the state has suffered in recent years, especially in Chicago. In reality, it’s an effort to distract the public from the fact that these same lawmakers have been unable or unwilling to crack down on criminals responsible for violent crime.”

Modern semiautomatic firearms banned under the new Illinois law have been deliberately mischaracterized as “assault weapons” and even “weapons of war,” Gottlieb explained. He called this patently dishonest and deceitful.

“Anti-gun politicians tout this sort of legislation,” Gottlieb observed, “while they know it really won’t accomplish anything beyond creating the false public impression they are making the community safer. No neighborhood, no city, and no state ever became safer by restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

 

There’s a non-threaded barrel option for the states that ban that.

SHOT Show: The Henry Homesteader 9mm Semi-Automatic Carbine

I’m a big fan of pistol-caliber carbines. I know a 5.56 rifle is better, but 9mm is a lot cheaper to shoot. I blame the restrictive nature of my home range maxing out at 100 yards. Maybe that’s why I love PCCs.

Admittedly, most PCCs are predictable. Base it on the AR design and and make it take GLOCK magazines. At SHOT Show range day, however, we were greeted by a new entry in the class from none other than the lever gun maestros at Henry.

That’s right…Henry has released a semi-automatic 9mm carbine that has all the charm of a Henry rifle.

That charm is in the wood furniture and classic layout that makes me think of the early Marlin camp guns. It’s simple, but simple is good.

The Homesteader has the same beautiful finish you get on most Henry guns and it’s offset by what appears to be a stainless steel bolt. The gun is simple, but packs all the features of a more modern platform. It’s like a retromod take on a 9mm PCC.

Inside the Homesteader

The Homesteader is more than pretty wood furniture. The gun features a forward peep sight mounted to the barrel, which is quite fast and precise to use. I’m not sure if I’d prefer open sights for speed, and it would take more lead downrange to figure it out.

If you decide you want a red dot, the receiver is tapped and ready for a rail. The Homesteader features a tang safety reminiscent of the Mossberg 500 series shotguns more than bolt action rifles. It’s quick and easy to push and pull in and out of action.

In front of the trigger sits an ambidextrous bolt release. In front of the magazine sits an ambidextrous magazine release. It’s odd, but I feel like I could get used to it.

The magazines vary. Henry has five- and ten-round proprietary magazines, but the magwell is modular. You can get options to take (yes) GLOCK, Smith & Wesson M&P, and SIG P320 magazines. That’s a very smart move.

The barrel is threaded with the industry standard 1/2×28 threading for easy suppressor attachment.

The gun uses a blowback action, but they must be using some kind of tuning or a great recoil spring. You don’t have the same recoil you expect from blowback guns. It’s light and friendly, much like the Ruger PC Carbine with its dead blow blowback system. The Homesteader is a sweet shooter and had some real classic charm to it.

American walnut just appeals to me. This gun was a total surprise, but apparently, they briefly introduced it at NRAAM as a Friends of the NRA model. It flew under my radar, but no longer. Full review to come when we get our hands on one.

January 18

1778 – James Cook discovers the Hawaiian Islands, naming them the “Sandwich Islands” in honor of the then First Lord of the Admiralty, the Earl of Sandwich

1896 – An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith at Davidson College, North Carolina.

1911 – Eugene Ely performs the first landing on a ship, flying a Curtiss Pusher onto the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay.

1943 – The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rise up in against the German occupation.

1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20, a Vickers Viscount, crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 passengers and crew on board.

1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler”, is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1969 – United Airlines Flight 266, a Boeing 727, crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 38 passengers and crew aboard.

1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’ disease.

1981 – Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first 2 people to BASE jump from objects in all 4 categories: Buildings, Antennae, Spans (bridges), and Earth (cliffs).

1983 – The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals to his family after revoking them because he had been previously paid for playing 2 seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics

1990 – Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting operation.

1993 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 US states.

2005 – The Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial jet, is unveiled in Toulouse, France

Wichita man shot by gas station employee after fight breaks out near downtown

Wichita police are investigating a shooting at a gas station near downtown Wichita early Sunday that left a man seriously injured, police spokesperson Juan Rebolledo said in a news release.

The shooting was reported around 1:25 a.m. at the JumpStart gas station at the intersection of Broadway and Murdock. Officers arrived and found a 28-year-old Wichita man who has been shot in his upper body, Rebolledo said.

The man was taken to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. He underwent surgery and is now in stable condition, Rebolledo said.

Investigators learned that the man got into an argument with two JumpStart employees after he was asked to leave the business. The man refused and got into fight with the employees, according to Rebolledo. One of the employees pulled out a handgun and “fired at the suspect after the suspect began to attack him a second time,” a police news release read. The 28-year-old man is cooperating with detectives.

Today, January 17

1706 – Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston, Massachusetts

1781 – Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.

1873 – A small group of less than 50 Modoc warriors led by Captain Jack (Kintpuash), defeat a force of over 400 troops of the U.S. Army, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Frank Wheaton in the First Battle of the Stronghold, along the south shore of Tule Lake in northeastern California, during the Modoc War.

1893 – Newspaper publisher, and former Minister of the Interior, Lorrin A. Thurston, backed by U.S.  interests, leads the Citizens’ Committee of Public Safety to overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliuokalani, to form the Republic of Hawaii on Oahu.

1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean

1903 – The El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.

1917 – The United States buys the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million

1920 – Under powers of the 18th amendment to the Constitution, the National Prohibition Act, named after Representative Andrew Volstead,  goes into effect, prohibiting the possession of alcoholic beverages except under government regulation.

1944 – During World War II, allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino in Italy with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 55,000 Allied casualties.

1950 – Thieves steal more than $2 million from the Brink’s armored car company’s offices in Boston.

1961 – President Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the “military–industrial complex” as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.

1966 – A B-52 Stratofortress collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing 7 airmen, and dropping 3 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.

1977 – Gary Gilmore, convicted for multiple murders and sentenced to death, is executed by firing squad at the state prison in Draper, Utah, the first person executed after the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty.

1991 – During the opening of the air campaign of Operation Desert Storm, LCDR Scott Speicher of VFA-81  flying off the USS Saratoga, in a F/A-18C Hornet is shot down by a Mig-25 and killed, the first American casualty of the War.
Later in the day over southwestern Iraq, LCDR Mark Fox and LT Nick Mongilio of VFA-81 each engage and shoot down Iraqi MiG-21 aircraft, the only US Navy air victories of the war.
Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel.

1994 – An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hits the Northridge area of greater Los Angeles, leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.

1998 – The Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair is made public.

2016 – President Obama announces the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or in other words a new nuclear deal with Iran.