The Truth About Guns
Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
Updated: 5 days 23 hours ago
Spotted in the Wild: ZiPFactory ZiP Gun
You may recall TTAG’s two-star review of the ZiP gun. “The owner of USFA has promised me another ZiP to test very soon,” Jeremy S emailed. “They’ve made some production line upgrades and the new ones are supposed to run like tops. Apparently I’m supposed to receive ‘the first one off the line.’ I still have my doubts, plus they obviously aren’t addressing the fact that you have to stick your damn fingers in front of the muzzle to operate the bolt, but I intend to give it a fair shake.” Meanwhile, bravo to our man Michael for not saying anything about solutions looking for problems. To be fair, usfirearms.com offers a carry solution for their not-so-bad boy: the $20 Zip belt clip. Which is nearly a tenth of the total cost of the pistol. An enigmatic choice for sure, but no
New from Desert Tech: MDR Bullpup
There were two themes this year at SHOT Show: bullpups and 3D printing. With the insane success of the Tavor, bullpup configuration rifles are popping up all over, and Desert Tech is no exception. We’ve reviewed their DTA SRS rifle last year and loved it, so I have no doubt that this will be just as good. But the models we saw at the show weren’t complete — they were just 3D printed pre-production mockups. Which brings me to theme #2: 3D printing. Every new gun, from the new BAR to the SIX12 is made (at least partially) out of 3D printed parts. I’ll
Open Carriers Rally in Beaumont, TX
Texans continue to march in support of Second Amendment rights. After Derek Poe was arrested for disorderly conduct while carrying a rifle slung over his back with the muzzle down to a gun shop in the Parkdale mall a month ago, supporters organized an open carry march in Beaumont . . .
From 12newsnow.com:
BEAUMONT –
Marching along Dowlen Road in Beaumont Saturday with rifles slung on their backs and signs in the air, dozens of Southeast Texans exercised their right to openly carry long arms. It is a right they feel is being attacked.
Virginia Lawmakers Pass Concealed Weapons and Suppressor Reform, Resist Police Pressure
Use of Silencers is encouraged in Europe
Virginia lawmakers chose to reform the state’s gun laws in spite of pressure by police agencies to keep restrictive measures in place. HB878 reforms an antique law that gives local police a veto over obtaining federal permits for suppressors, short barrelled rifles and shotguns, full-auto firearms and “destructive devices.” Because of a controversial vote in 1986, the existing privately owned stock of automatic firearms was frozen, creating an artificial shortage that resulted in sky-rocketing prices for legal automatic firearms. The cheapest automatic firearms available to collectors are now
Mexican Federales Disarm 1200 Michoacan Police
“Mexico has disarmed more than 1,200 local police officers suspected of colluding with drug traffickers in Michoacan state and arrested 38 members of the notorious Knights Templar drug cartel active in the region,” AFP reports. “ [Federal security official Alejandro Rubido] Garcia said federal forces have taken control of 27 municipalities in the western Mexico state and disarmed 1,209 of the local police officers. The officers will undergo investigations, Garcia said. They are accused of colluding with gangs by the vigilante militias that have taken up arms in recent months in restive Michoacan state.” So the Mexican federales are cleaning-out the cartels and their
CA Sen. Kevin DeLeon on Those Spooky ‘Ghost Guns’
California State Senator Kevin DeLeon, one of the Golden State’s most committed citizen disarmers, beclowned himself recently while jumping on the “ghost gun” scary-meme-of-the-day bandwagon. YouTuber David West posted the above video takedown of DeLeon’s knowledge-free press event and it’s been viewed over 636,000 times. In less than three days. Looks like gun there’s no shortage of rights supporters on the left coast.
Chris Dumm’s Pick of the SHOT Show: SIG/Sauer P320
Why is the P320 my top pick from the 2014 SHOT Show? Three words: Striker. Fired. SIG. The fact that it comes in three interchangeable calibers and three different frame/barrel sizes and uses existing P250 frames and barrels and magazines and two different trigger styles is just icing on this deliciously-layered cake. Check out this video . . .
If the production guns feel as good as the SHOT Show samples and shoot as accurately as my older P250s, this gun should be a tremendous success.
No Liability for NJ Officials in Short Hills Mall Murder
New Jersey Dan Roberts at Ammoland.com writes:
The recorded 911 call from the desperate and traumatized wife of NJ Attorney Dustin Friedland, who was murdered just before Christmas in the parking structure of the Short Hills Mall were released last week. Friendland was viciously gunned down while defending his wife from a team of violent criminals who wanted his new Range Rover SUV. The call paints an agonizing and difficult to listen to portrait of the immediate aftermath of the attack, with Friedlands wife frantically begging to know where the Police and EMS units were, while her husband lay dying in front of her . . .
Turns out it took approximately eighteen minutes for the first Ambulance to arrive on the scene, due to a combination of apparent confusion over exactly where the incident was located. As well as the astonishing
BREAKING: Smith & Wesson M&P Pistols to Fall Off CA DOJ Approved List
Hot on the heels of Ruger’s announcement that it will allow all of its pistols to fall off the California Department Of Justice approved list, ending Ruger’s pistol sales in the Golden State, Smith & Wesson’s taking their M&P pistols off the menu. Guns Direct Facebook page let slip news of [what is in effect] a manufacturer boycott: “Attention: California gun owners. Smith & Wesson Corp. just informed us that all the M&P pistols will be falling off the Ca DOJ list of approved handguns in the next
Strangest Gun At SHOT: Bonhus Arms CL-380
By ShootingTheBull410
Bondhus Arms showed off their first product, the CL-380, a tiny (and bizarre) new idea for a pocket pistol. The CL-380 is literally no wider or longer than a credit card, weighs just eight ounces, and offers two shots of .380 ACP from its diminuitive 2.1″ twin barrels. Part of the design philosophy is that they wanted to make something that “didn’t look like a gun.” Well, they certainly succeeded there . . .
Pulling this block of metal out of your pocket, it looks more like a … well, I guess a Zippo lighter, than a gun. And getting it ready to fire takes a few steps; you first have to “deploy the blast shields”, then rotate up the trigger plate into position. I pointed out that a lot of people don’t like having even a manual safety on their gun, so it seemed unlikely that they would want to execute a sc
Texas Mall That Banned Guns Over Open Carry Losing Tenants
In Israel, no one complains about the open carry of rifles
Parksdale mall in Beaumont, Texas banned guns from their establishment after one of their renters open carried a rifle slung over his back to his firearms business in the mall, and someone complained. Police arrested him for “disorderly conduct”. The mall said that they have always been anti-gun, but they never bothered to post the legally required signs before. There may be a reason for that “lapse” . . .
Remote Control Hobbies is the second business to leave. That follows Golden Triangle Tactical, the shop Derek Poe was headed toward when he was arrested for open carrying a rifle.
From 12newsnow.com:
“We had to second think if we were going to stay. We made the decisi
Guns of the [Most Recent] Mexican Revolution
As we reported earlier, Mexico is in the throes of a revolution. Thousands of so-called “vigilantes” have taken control of areas of extreme lawlessness, rejecting the federal governments’ “protection.” The Mexican citizen militia – for that is what it is – have armed themselves with whatever comes to hand. They’re securing captured firearms the police and military and bringing out guns that have been squirreled away for years, hidden from the government ever since the federales turned their back on their citizens’ Constitutional rig
“Popcorn Murder” Fuels Gun Control Feeding Frenzy
“Opponents of any kind of gun restrictions argue that they are meaningless, since criminals by definition don’t follow the law, and therefore won’t allow gun laws to hamstring their criminal behavior. That’s true. But gun violence isn’t only committed by classic criminals, as recent gun-related tragedies show,” Susan Milligan writes at usnews.com. “Even though there is steadily accumulating evidence of the futility of criticizing the gun culture, certain episodes prod me to go there. One of those occurred last week, when an unarmed man was shot dead after assaulting a f
Will BHA’s New 7.62x54R Pistol Mean the End of 7.62x54R Ammo Imports?
Back in the 1980′s, 7.62×39 ammo was widely available in both the all-lead variety that we see today as well as the mass produced steel core variety. Since the rounds were only used in rifles, while the ammunition fit the definition of “armor piercing” as per the law, the ATF couldn’t touch it — only “armor piercing” handgun ammunition can be banned from sale. But then some damned fool designed the Draco 7.62×39 handgun, and the ATF jumped all over that like a fat kid on a bacon cheeseburger. Steel core 7.62×39 practically vanished overnight, and prices skyrocketed. Now, Black Horse Arsenal‘s new BHAKR54 might to do the same thing to 7.62x54R ammo . . .
This isn’t to say that Black Horse Arsenal is doi
Nick Leghorn’s Pick of the SHOT Show: NY-Legal 50-Round Magazine
To be honest, I wasnt really impressed with the 50 round magazine from FAB Defense. And I still don’t think it was the awesomest thing at the show — that goes to the Gilboa double barreled AR-15. But the reason I picked this one was because it had the biggest response. Even Gizmodo, the dependably gun-hating cesspool of internet “journalism,” picked up the story and tagged it as “scary.” That one post was read by over 32,000 people, and helped push up our “likes” on Facebook by a few thousand. In fact, it was the most-read story of the week. You can’t argue wi
Guns Are Bad – Unless They Aren’t. Exposing the Whine in Weinstein
Michael White writes:
Harvey Weinstein gave the world blood-soaked films including Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction. Now he wants to destroy the National Rifle Association. Take out the NRA, he argues, and real-life mayhem diminishes. “They’re going to wish they weren’t alive after I’m done with them,” the movie producer and financier told shock jock Howard Stern. Sounds like a line from one of Weinstein’s films? Well, he didn’t stop with the NRA. He also intends to sink the market value of gun manufacturers by scaring away investors. The truth is, few people have done more than Weinstein to glamorize and profit from gun violence in movies. Weinstein’s on-screen body count probably rivals the real-life tally of Delta Force. Just try counting the corpses in Django Unchained. Hard to keep up, isn’t it? . . .
Weinstein knows that at the box office, splattered bodies pay. Django
New(ish) from Barrett: M240LW Light[er] Machine Gun
The M240 machine gun is a marvel of modern engineering. It will reliably lay down a massive weight of fire on the enemy. But there’s a problem: the thing weighs a ton. Lightweight compared to a M60, but still too heavy to be used to its full capability. FNH USA came up with the original lightweight M240 in their M240L or “Lima,” which used a titanium construction to make the parts lighter. But Barrett’s M240LW is what I call the Kim Kardashian solution; slice and dice until all you’re left with are the bare essentials for life. And a big butt. Superhuman shooter Jerry Miculek likes big butts (and he cannot lie).
Quote of the Day: Death Be Not Easy Edition
“We can anticipate gun aficionados clamoring that ‘who wouldn’t point a gun at an unknown intruder in their home??’ — something we can all surely understand — but let’s play devil’s advocate. What if there wasn’t a gun? What if the homeowner, instead, had a stun gun, a bat; a knife? Isn’t it likely that having that gun in his hand made it too easy for him to pull the trigger (reportedly four or five times) and kill an unarmed teenage boy already making his way out of the house? Of course it is. Guns simply make death — accidental, intended, suicidal – far too easy.” Lorraine Devon Wilke, Beyond Mental Health and Gun Control Is This: Guns Make Death Too Easy [via
Daily Digest: Gas Jets Edition
The photo above is evidence that the Denver PD does not mess around. That bullet hole is the aftermath of a single shot taken on Tuesday by a member of the Denver PD against a hostage taker after that man refused to release the woman he had held at gunpoint for over an hour, and then pulled her back as if to go back inside the store. That glass door is not the first thing the bullet went through, if you get my drift. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition, and died Friday night. Click the photo above for the (not-graphic) video and the rest of the story. . .
A Colorado group, Guns for Everyone, is going around Colorado attempting to bring gun safety and gun knowledge to all people regardless of their financial situation. They