The Truth About Guns
Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
Updated: 1 week 4 hours ago
Quote of the Day: Someone Had To Say It Edition
“After all, where would we be without the knowledge that Democrats are pinko-communist flag-burners who want to tax churches and use the money to fund abortions so they can use the fetal stem cells to create pot-smoking lesbian ATF agents who will steal all the guns and invite the UN to take over America? Voters have to decide whether we’d be better off electing Republicans, those hateful, assault-weapon-wielding maniacs who believe that George Washington and Jesus Christ incorporated the nation after a Gettysburg reenactment and that the only thing wrong with the death penalty is that it isn’t administered quickly enough to secular humanist professors of Chicano studies.” – Cato Institute/P.J. O’Rourke Supreme Court amicus brief filed in Susan B. Anth
Stand Strong Connecticut
Send your STAND STRONG CONNECTICUT photo to guntruth@me.com. We’ll post them on our Facebook album [click here to view.] Please put STAND STRONG in the subject field of your email.
Daily Digest: It’s Not Magical Dirt Edition
One previously unmentioned facet of the new Illinois gun freedoms is how landlords, building owners and managers will deal with the prospect of tenants and visitors legally toting guns. Private property owners can, of course, prohibit handguns on their premises, so declaring leasing offices off limits to guns is obviously legal, but what about individual apartments? The general consensus is that a rental property can prohibit concealed firearms anywhere on the property, including individual apartments . . .
if the lease contains specific language to that effect. “We are going to be prohibiting [conceal carry], absolutely,” said Victor Rodriguez, property management consultant for Hispanic Housing Development Corp., which handles 3,600 units in the Chicago area. So if you live in or around Chicago, be sure to read the fine print.
“Just give them what they want.” A 19-year-old college student was killed on the South Side o
Canadian Gun Confiscation Begins. Again
by Andrew C.
I live in the frozen wasteland of Canada and get my news via the Morse code receiver in my igloo. Hearing furious beeping, I slid inside from the backyard curling rink to find myself facing the news that our gun control regime has given up the pretense of respecting civilian gun ownership and began moving guns from legal ownership status to prohibition. Before I explain any more, it’s important to understand the mess of our gun laws to some degree so here’s a quick primer. Be warned, none of it makes any sense . . .
In Canada, all private firearm ownership is illegal. You are granted the privilege to own guns by possession of a license. The licensing scheme has three major classes–Unrestricted, Restricted, and various flavours of Prohibited (all arbitrary and unfair, primarily based on what you owned when the government passed sweeping ineffective gun control legislation).
Incendiary Image of the Day: Berry Good Idea? Edition
I like Ralph [not shown]. Ralph is a friend of mine. Ralph is a friend of ours. And Ralph reckons there’s no need to be respectful of gun control advocates’ sensibilities. He’s happiest getting down in the gutter with them and giving him both barrels – metaphorically speaking. As for whether or not gun rights advocates should tone down their rhetoric so as not to scare the firearms fence straddlers, well, that’s just not in Ralph’s nature. Nor, apparently, Dave Barry’s. I have pretty daughters and a sense of humor. But I wouldn’t wear it. Not because Austinites would be offended – as some would be. Because funny T-shirts tell a joke and . . . stay there, long after you “got it.” Saying that, I would definitely wear it around the house, especially when my daughters’ boyfriends were around. Trust, but intimidate. [h/t CN]
All 12 Members of Georgia Mayors Against Illegal Guns Oppose HB 875. What Else Do You Need to Know?
Press release:
ATLANTA, March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Twelve Georgia mayors came out in strong opposition to HB 875 today, one of the most aggressive rollbacks of public safety laws of its kind. HB 875 [link added] would expand the scope of Georgia’s existing dangerous Stand Your Ground law to protect criminals, virtually eliminate the crime of carrying guns on college and university campuses, and force cities and towns to allow guns into their government buildings. The mayors shared their concerns in a letter sent to Governor Nathan Deal, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and legislative leadership. The letter is available
Moms Demand Action Kicked Out of Staples HQ
The photogenic employees of Michael Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action anti-gun agitprop group have been agitating for months to have Staples ban guns from all of their stores. I’m still not exactly clear on why they’ve locked on to Staples as the target, since the office supply store isn’t really the highest-profile retailer out there, and hasn’t been receptive to their advances. Especially after today, when Moms Demand Action tried to deliver a petition to Staples’ corporate headquarters — and were kicked out of the building . . .
From the Framingham Patch:
Members of the Massachusetts chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in
How To Give Away .22 Ammunition
As I’ve observed the scarcity of .22 ammunition over the last year, and considering the inventory that I’d accumulated over the previous decades, I wondered what to do with it. I was in the enviable position of having more .22 ammo than I would likely shoot over the course of my remaining life. I seem to shoot less and write more these days. I could sell it. Prices are high. But, my church has reminded me that generosity is a virtue. So I decided to give some of it away . . .
The problem is that people don’t really value what they get for free. I wasn’t willing to give it all to someone else who would just stick it in their storage vault, or sell it so that they could pocket the money. Ten rounds of .22 may not be much, but there is an enormous difference between having 10 rounds of ammunition and having no rounds of ammunition. I also want people to read what I write. Writers are funny that way.
So, I went to the Yuma Gun show this past weekend with a couple of thousand rounds of .22 ammo (mostly Remin
Parsing Peruta’s En Banc Petitioners
By Mark Norcross
When Sheriff William Gore of San Diego announced he would not seek further review of the Ninth Circuit’s three-judge Peruta decision, some believed that he had caved to pressure from our favorite special interest groups (Brady, MAIG, et al.). Conspiracy theorists among us thought he might have held back in order to avoid a possible review by the United States Supreme Court. A review that, given the currently-continued presence of the Heller/McDonald majority on the bench, could threaten the continued validity of all discretionary issue licensing systems throughout the country. And in particular, the may-issue concealed carry licensing schemes held as constitutional in the Second, Third and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeals (that’s New York [
Fitchburg Police Chief: We Need a National Gun Registry
“Police say holes in firearms records make it difficult to track the source of weapons they recover from crime scenes,” sentinelandenterprise.com reports. “The ongoing investigation of a shooting on Fulton Street last month has shed light on an issue Fitchburg Police Chief Robert DeMoura said is putting his officers’ lives in danger.” You ready for this? Sure you are . . .
According to Massachusetts law, all residents must notify the Firearms Records Bureau of all sale
Squee! Hatsan’s Alpha Youth Air Rifle Is Here!
Who says pink camo doesn’t work? Hatsan’s new Alpha Youth air rifle in ‘Muddy Girl’ camouflage will basically disappear in your younger daughters’ hands. As long as she likes pinking. Beyond the cute factor, though, the Alpha Youth was designed with younger, smaller shooters in mind. I’ve got a couple of younger, smaller shooters in the family who are itching for some good weather to help me test it . . .
This airgun is petite in all dimensions. It weighs 5.3 pounds, has a 13-inch length of pull and requires only 15 pounds of effort to cock. Velocity from this break-barrel spring piston gun is a modest 495 fps with .177 lead pellets.
It comes with high-profile Tru-Glo fiber optic sights, which are super-easy to explain to new shooters. It’s also got an automatic thumb safety; these drive me crazy on shotguns, but for youth air rifles they’re a pretty good idea.
Win a Walther P22
Is there some unoccupied space in your gun safe? Do you need a good plinker to use when training new shooters? Fear not. Our friends at Florida Gun Supply are giving away a brand spanking newWalther P22. All you have to do to enter is click the image above or make the jump to log in through Facebook or using your email address. Finding ammo, though, is up to you.
Stand Strong with Connecticut: Show Your Support
To those of us who live outside the benighted backwaters on both coasts where enacting ever more inventive restrictions of citizens’ gun rights is otherwise known as Tuesday, the state of affairs in Connecticut is more than a little disturbing. It’s an indicator of just how bad things have gotten in the laughably-named Constitution State that gun owners in New York feel the need to express their support. So why leave the burden to those similarly afflicted? You can show your support for your fellow gun owners in Connecticut, by sending an I Stand with Connecticut selfie like the one above to us along with a brief paragraph letting them know you have their backs. Email your pic and graph to us at guntruth@me.com with I STAND WITH CT (all
Gun Review: PWS MK114 Rifle
The debate has raged for years: AR-15 or AK-47. Precision or reliability, direct impingement or piston, 5.56 NATO or 7.63 x 39. Usually the process of choosing a “perfect” rifle for competition, self defense or even hunting is filled with compromises that need to be weighed in order to determine which tool fits the job best. But not with PWS’s line of rifles . . .
The AR-15 market is about as diverse as a redhead convention in Finland. Some might use a different bolt carrier here or a new handguard system there, but very few actually offer legitimate “improvements” over the basic design that Eu
TTAG Exclusive: Kirsten Joy Weiss Shoots a Flying Soda Can
I know we can make it. I know darn well, we can work it out. Oh, yes, we can, I know we can, can. Yes, we can, can, why can’t we? If we wanna, yes, we can, can. I know we can make it work. I know that we can make it if we try. Oh, yes, we can, I know we can, can. Yes, we can great gosh Almighty. Oh, yes, we can, I know we can, can. BOOM! That’s enough of that, then. Thank you Kirsten.
Why This Pastor Advocates the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
By Paul McCain
Over the past few months I’ve noticed a sort of pattern. TTAG finds and quotes a guy or gal wearing preacher-duds and inevitably it’s some left-winger spouting off on gun control, demonizing firearms and firearm owners, and excoriating the right to keep and bear arms. Worst of all recently was a so-called “Lutheran” bishop honking off about how churches should be places where guns aren’t necessary, they are bad, bad, bad and blah, blah, blah. At that point I decided I’ve had enough and decided to write up this little piece . . .
Allow me to respond not as simply a firearms enthusiast but a man who also happens to be a Lutheran pastor. I’ve been one coming up on twenty-five years now. I can stomach all the anti-Christian rants
Quote of the Day: Unthinkable Edition
“It’s really a combination of a radar system and an AI-based computer system. It would have been unthinkable to make it just five years ago, because the computing power and hardware were just not there.” – Professor Nick Bowring in 3D Printed Guns Can’t Fly Under This Radar [at tomsguide.com]
BREAKING: Facebook Considering Banning Gun Related Pages
Gun control is losing steam. After doing their best to use the tragedy in Newtown to limit the constitutional rights of American citizens when it comes to owning and using guns, the millions of dollars and countless hours of campaigning led to exactly nothing happening on the national level and very little on the state level. Even those changes that did squeak through are being fought tooth and nail in the judicial system, and gun control advocates are quickly losing ground there as well. The reason is obvious: gun owners are well organized, engaged, and motivated. So naturally the next step for gun control advocates is to pressure Facebook into banning gun related pages — which they’re doing.
From VentureBeat:
Facebook may announc
Daily Digest: I Meant To Do That Edition
Shyanne Roberts, 9 years old, was to be in Trenton, NJ today, to testify against the proposed New Jersey legislation limiting magazine capacities to 10 rounds. The reason she’s going? Because this fourth-grader is a nationally-sponsored competitive shooter who won second place at the New Jersey State Ruger Rimfire Challenge Competition in October, beating not one, but two retired police officers, and the proposed law would prohibit two of the guns she uses in competition. She currently uses a GLOCK 19 9mm, which comes standard with a 15-round magazine, and her sponsor is currently building her a fully custom AR-15. . .
which also
Connecticut Carry to State: Enforce Your Gun Grabbing Laws or Repeal Them
Connecticut Carry has had enough and they aren’t pulling any punches. Noting the embarrassing lack of public compliance with the gun control laws they enacted, and what they call the “tyrannical dystopia” that Constitution State legislators have created, they’re issuing a challenge: put up or shut up. Enforce the laws or repeal them. An old saying about being careful what you wish for comes to mind . . .
Rocky Hill CT, March 3, 2014: A recent media tidal wave based on false reports and bad journalism has proven a few things about the 2013 Gun Ban: people from Connecticut and around the nation are tired of being threatened; are ready to make a stand; and the State of Connecticut does not have the stomach to enforce the edicts and laws with which they threaten gun owners.
For years, Undersecretary Michael