The Truth About Guns

About a year ago, outdoor retailer Gander Mountain launched several stores with a new concept. Instead of their typical wide variety of outdoor equipment and clothing, the half dozen new stores would be 30,000 square feet of nothing but guns, gun accessories and gun-related gear. However, with the falloff in gun sales over the past few months, they are backing off that idea, and remodeling at least some of the firearms supercenters to a new “flex” retail concept, bringing back in camping, fishing, boating and seasonal gear, most recently in the grand-reopening of the store in Grandville, Michigan. This follows a similar relaunch of their store in Toledo, Ohio . . .

and will presumably continue throughout the remainder of the new concept stores. The former guns-only stores will still have a heavier focus on guns than a standard Gander Mountain, but clearly there does not yet seem to be a need for the gun

We’ve already posted on the confrontation between Utah cattle rancher (and melon grower) Cliven Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Yesterday, Mr. Bundy declared a range war. So far . . . nothing. But reports coming out of the area – including intel from former TTAG contributor and talk show host Bryan Hyde – speak of a huge BLM presence outside the Bundy Ranch. The BLM’s deployed at least 100 agents to round-up Mr Bundy’s cattle from federal lands and ship them off to auction. The feds have called in sharpshooters (not snipers) to aid in their rustling court-sanctioned financial recovery operation. I’m sorry, but that’s insane on all sorts of levels. There are more than a

Following the shooting at Ft. Hood a couple days ago, the Texas Senate Committee on Agricultural Affairs and Homeland Security decided to hold a hearing — even though they were out of session for the year — on the topic of open carry. The usual characters showed up, from anti-gun Austin residents and Moms Demand Action radicals to people like CJ Grisham, whose testimony was sliced out into this YouTube video. The full 8 hour video from the session is available here, but if you listen to any one argument, this would be the one.

The voters of Louisiana approved an amendment to the state constitution strengthening the state’s gun rights back in 2012 with 73 percent of the vote. It also added the requirement that the court use the strongest level of judicial review, strict scrutiny, when reviewing Second Amendment cases. There’s a good discussion of the history behind the Louisiana amendment at the Volokh Conspiracy, by David Kopel. Following enactment of the amendment, courts have upheld bans on the possession of handguns by minors without parental approval and by felons on probation. The case that came up for oral arguments

A TTAG reader forwarded the following:

INTERIM GUIDANCE FOR PRIVATELY OWNED FIREARMS POLICY ABOARD MARINE CORPS INSTALLATIONS

Date Signed: 4/03/2014

MARADMINS Active Number: 176/14

R 031603Z APR 14

UNCLASSIFIED/

MARADMIN 176/14

MSGID/GENADMIN,USMTF,2007/CMC WASHINGTON DC DMCS(UC)/F002//

SUBJ/INTERIM GUIDANCE FOR PRIVATELY OWNED FIREARMS POLICY ABOARD MARINE CORPS INSTALLATIONS// . . .

REF/A/DOC/USD(I) WASHINGTON DC/17APR2012//

REF/B/DOC/CMC WASHINGTON DC PPO PS/05JUN2009//

REF/C/DOC/COMUSFFC AND COMMARFORCOM/31OCT2013//

NARR/REFERENCE

(A) IS DOD MANUAL 5100.76, PHYSICAL SECURITY OF SENSITIVE CONVENTIONAL ARMS, AMMUNITION, AND EXPLOSIVES.  REFERENCE (B) IS MCO 5530.14A, MARINE CO

“The state Senate has passed a bill to allow Tennesseans to openly carry guns without a state-issued permit,” wrcb.com reports. “The chamber voted 25-2 in favor of the bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Mae Beavers of Mt. Juliet. Beavers said the measure would keep the background checks and training requirements in order to carry concealed firearms, but would allow anyone legally allowed to own a gun to carry it openly.” Constitutional carry? Not quite. Concealed carry still requires a permit. Go figure.

Now that it’s officially official that the SIG Brace won’t turn your AR pistol into an SBR no matter how you use it (*wink wink*), PWS has jumped on the good news with a cool freebie announcement: Every MK107 AR pistol will now ship with a SIG SB15 brace at no extra cost . . .

I’ve been playing with the MK107 for several weeks, but testing has been hampered by some really crappy weather and my insane work schedule. Even so, I can report that the SIG brace turns this AR pistol from a top-shelf range novelty into the closest thing to an SBR that you’ll ever own without an NFA tax stamp.

Despite the extremely short length of pull, the SIG brace gives the MK107 the handling of an SBR without the hassle. The Magpul MBUIS aperture sights are all but useless with its 7.75″ barrel, but with a red dot it will shoot as accurately as you can shoot offhand out to 100 yards.

The MK107 isn&#821

“They have my cattle and now they have one of my boys. Range War begins tomorrow.” That’s yesterday’s deeply worrying prediction from one Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who ran afoul of the feds. abcnews.go.com reports that ”Bundy’s beef with federal land management officials dates back to 1993 . . . when Bundy’s allotment for grazing his cattle on public land was modified to include protections for the desert tortoise. Bundy, who told the Associated Press his family has been ranching this part of Nevada since the 1870s, continued to let his cattle graze anyway.” So the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took his cattle. And then, according to mynews3.co

The ATF has released this special advisory:

TEST, EXAMINATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF 7N6 5.45X39 AMMUNITION

On March 5, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) received a  request from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) to conduct a test, examination and classification of Russian-made 7N6 5.45×39 ammunition for purposes of determining whether it is considered  “armor piercing ammunition” as defined by the Gun Control Act (GCA), as amended. Since 1986, the GCA has prohibited the importation of armor piercing ammunition unless it is destined for government use or testing.  The

I understand why someone would want to shoot an iPhone with a 50-caliber rifle. Any product created by any company that calls its sales staff “geniuses” is cruising for a ballistic bruising. But Google Glass? To quote about a thousand movies, “noooooooooooooo!” First, the device is delicate. It’s simply no contest. OK, sure, using a KRISS Vector evens-up the odds somewhat. But no one expects Google Glass to survive much of anything (including the derisive comments sure to be posted below). To me, this video looks like someone shooting an orchid. I like orchids (for strictly Freudian reasons). Second . . .

I reckon wanton destruction of new things people covet – via firearm – sets the wrong tone for The People of the Gun. Yes, I know; I’m contradicting myself, Apple-wise. But just because you can shoot something doesn’t mean you should – any more than just because you can shoot someone doesn&#821

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/life/family/2014/04/07/guns-public-health-issue-even-kids-know/7436459/

Syndicated columnist Tracy Grant [via delewareonline.com] reckons Guns are a public health issue; even kids know that. Her dietribe [sic] starts by tugging on the heartstrings. “Keeping our kids safe becomes a decades-long obsession,” she opines, evoking the long lost spirit of Spandau Ballet. “Car seats and baby monitors; helmets and training wheels; stranger danger discussions, driving lessons and alcohol lectures. And yet what scares parents most is what we can’t possibly protect our children from: the random, inexplicable act of fate. Giving them a kiss on the cheek in the morning and not having them come home that night. Columbine. Sandy Hook. Aurora.” So how can we tell little Johnnie not to make a gun-shaped hand gesture and then stop a civilian disarmament advocate from becoming Surgeon General? How indeed.

Oversight Shooting Technologies in Blackfoot, Idaho — yes, the town boasts more than just the Idaho Potato Museum — is making a new gun sight. More than that, actually; it’s a new kind of sight. The See All Open Sight looks and feels like an advanced optic but it’s really more of a unique lovechild between a red dot-like optic and traditional iron sights. You can’t actually see through it and it doesn’t modify your vision in any way, but it’s much easier to see and to “align” than irons. A little explanation is needed here, so make the jump to learn more about the See All . . .

“Chicago conducted a 12-month examination of the Chicago Police Department’s crime statistics going back several years, poring through public and internal police records and interviewing crime victims, criminologists, and police sources of various ranks. We identified 10 people . . . who were beaten, burned, suffocated, or shot to death in 2013 and whose cases were reclassified as death investigations, downgraded to more minor crimes, or even closed as noncriminal incidents—all for illogical or, at best, unclear reasons.” Methinks Chicago’s being a tad naive . . .

By Sgt Patrick Hayes

I am deeply disturbed by the attitude of Fort Hood and III Corps Commanding General, LTG Mark Milley. His statements to the press that a “few minutes” response time for military Law Enforcement is “just fine” shows his lack of concern for his troops and their families. More than that, General Milley’s ignorant of the historical failures of the policies that turned military bases into “gun free zones”  . . .

I was a soldier from 1983-1993. We were not allowed to carry personal firearms on base, either on or off duty. Soldiers living in the barracks had to secure their firearms in the arms room. Married sol

“We don’t teach respect for guns in Philadelphia, not really. We teach fear, we preach abstinence, we mount political crusades and there are good reasons we do so. But none of that seems to work. So let’s try something new, not because we love guns, but because we respect their power — and we love our children.” – Joel Mathis in Let’s Teach Philly Kids to Use Guns-Properly [at phillymag.com]

“A desk officer was shot at four times Monday night after a man opened fire in the lobby of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division in Mid-City,” losangeles.cbslocal.com reports. “The suspect walked in the lobby of the building, located in the 4800 block of Venice Boulevard, around 8 p.m. and started shooting, Sky9′s Kevin Takumi reported. An officer returned fire and the man was struck. The desk officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with minor injuries, reportedly to his shoulder. The suspect was described to be in cr

People magazine sponsored a photo contest called “Real Beauty at Every Age,” but they apparently have very discriminating taste when it comes to the beauty that’s allowed to be entered in the contest. An Illinois couple said their submission was rejected due to the gun that the wife is holding. The magazine didn’t specifically say the gun was the reason, stating only that photos could be rejected for “size, focus, or inappropriate content.” The couple submitted a second photo, also with a gun, and saw it rejected as well, but a third photo without the gun was accepted. According to wect.com, the couple won’t be cancelling their subscription to People, if only because they never had one. Maybe Guns & Ammo would be interested in sponsoring a contest . . .

Your Lockdown of the Day™

This winter, self-defense groups sprang up in Mexico. The illegally armed uprising arose in reaction to drug cartel murder and mayhem, crimes committed with the full cooperation and collusion of local and state police and federal troops. When the self-defense groups replaced local law enforcement (such as it wasn’t), the federal government played kissy-face with the revolutionaries. The federales took-out a few [spare] bad guys and then “requested” that the “vigilantes” disarm. As we reported, the citizen militia told them to pound sand. And now the “fun” begins, so that narco-terror may proceed as normal. Make the jump for a borderlandbeat.com

A man attempted to board a bus in Battle Creek, Michigan, with an SKS rifle in his carry-on baggage. The rifle was longer than the bag, so the butt stuck out and was visible. Some of the riders called 9-1-1. I wasn’t there, so I do not know the totality of the circumstances, but it seems clear that that no one was threatened by the man, and that the rifle was reportedly unloaded. The police showed up and arrested the fellow for…what?  They’re apparently still trying to figure that out . . .

From wkzo.com:

The City’s Gang Suppression Unit responded and took the 25-year-old into custody seizing the gun and a fully loaded magazine. He has not yet been charged. It wasn’t exactly a conc