This is going to be the first in a new series here at MVAP. Expect a stream-of-consciousness type thing where I spew random gun-related thoughts.
As most of you know, this editor is a big proponent of the 2nd Amendment. I’m all for a well armed populace. As Robert A. Heinlein said (or more correctly, had one of his characters say it) in the book Beyond the Horizon, “An armed society is a polite society, Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”
Heinlein may have been romanticizing the old west or the pre-civil war south, where duels often settled personal disputes. However, Heinlein was an old-school libertarian, almost anarchistic in his views on government, so this view wouldn’t have been outside his beliefs.
While I tend to agree with this thought, the way society is fraying at the edges gives me pause. Before you jump to conclusions, I still think everyone should be armed, and more importantly proficient. Let’s be honest, most people don’t train with their firearms enough. On that note, look for more firearms training articles, quick and easy things that will improve your proficiency and accuracy.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
That’s the first stanza of a poem called the Second Coming by William Yeats. I’m beginning to think that the centre cannot hold in our society. Make of that what you will, I may just be in a mood. Anyway, that feeling is why I’ve been writing so much about guns and prepping of late.
In some less depressing news, SCOTUS granted cert in Garland v Cargill. That’s the bumpstock ban suit. Oral arguments will be sometime in the spring term. As WhiteKnightLeo pointed out to me, that case is less about 2A and more about the Chevron doctrine. For those who don’t know, the Chevron doctrine is an administrative law principle that compels federal courts to defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous or unclear statute that Congress delegated to the agency to administer. This case has the potential to dismantle the administrative state.
The Supremes also granted cert in NRA v Vullo. In that case the NRA is suing because the State of New York sent veiled threats to banks and other financial institutions about doing business with the NRA.
BOLO: Springfield imported Imbel 5.56 FAL
If anyone ever sees one of these for sale, please, PLEASE let me know. I didn’t know they existed until I saw the video, and now I’d trade my firstborn for one. . .
There was a time when this editor would jump on a new cartridge as soon as it hit the market if it was at all interesting. As a result, I have a number of rifles chambered in now-obsolete cartridges like the .24×45 Sharps sitting in my safe. I have gotten over that habit.
However, Hornady just introduced the .22 ARC, and I’m intrigued. It was designed to fit in an AR-15 length action and shoot heavy-for-caliber bullets. There are three factory loadings available, 88 and 75 grain ELD match and 62 grain ELD VT (a frangible varmint bullet). Hornady says it rivals the .22-250 in velocity, but as of yet I haven’t seen any published numbers.
Wrapping up, if you support 2A organizations, you may want to take a look at the Firearms Policy Coalition. They are a no-nonsense gun rights group and are the ones behind a lot, and I mean a lot, of gun rights lawsuits. Whoever runs their twitter account is really funny.
Deer hunting seasons are opening across the country, in fact the Northern zone here in NY is open now, so I’m bringing you an article about deer guns.
What makes a good deer gun? Other than shooting a deer with it that is. Some of it will depend on your local laws. There are places where you have to use a shotgun, others allow rifles and some allow rifles, but require the use of a ‘straight-walled’ cartridge. Still others restrict the use of autoloading rifles.
Until recently, my home state of NY split the state into two zones, Northern (Adirondack mountain region) and Southern. Rifles were ok to use in the Northern zone only, you had to use a shotgun shooting slugs in the Southern zone. As of this year, rifles are ok to use state-wide with a couple of exceptions in densely populated areas.
NYS deer and bear Zone map. The black line indicates the division between Northern and Southern zones. The yellow/orange color indicates rifle, white indicates shotgun/handgun, blue is bow only and black is closed to deer hunting.
So, once we take the heavy hand of the government into account, the question still remains: what makes a good deer gun? That will depend some on the type of hunting you do and the terrain you hunt.
Is your gun and chosen load accurate enough? The vitals on a deer are an oblong of about 6″ x 8″. So, you need to be able to shoot a group that’s smaller than that. Most new rifles and dedicated slug guns are more than capable of that with the right ammo. Keep in mind the ranges you expect to shoot at. A gun that shoots a 2″ group at 100 yards is a gun that shoots a 6″ group, or worse, at 300.
There are also velocity and energy concerns as you stretch the range. It’s pretty commonly accepted that 1000 lb-ft of energy is needed to ethically harvest deer. Some of the smaller calibers just don’t carry the energy needed all that far. Some of the larger calibers ruin too much meat.
This editor is lucky enough to have a relatively large collection of firearms to choose from, and has hunted deer with quite a few different types and calibers of gun. I took my first deer at 13 with a Mossberg 190, a 12 ga bolt action. I still have that gun. My longest shot at a whitetail was in south Texas, a 475 meter (519 yards) shot. That was with a custom .30-378 Weatherby and the deer dropped like it was poleaxed. (As an aside, the round I used for that shot was a handload, a 210gr Berger VLD Hunter bullet over 99.5 grains of Retumbo powder for a measured muzzle velocity of 3270 fps. That combo kicks like a mule but really delivers the long range punch.) I’ve taken deer with .223 on up to .50-90 and a lot of other calibers in between. Most recently, I’ve been using a Tikka T3 chambered in 7mm-08.
The Perfect Whitetail round
Frankly, I’ve come to the conclusion that a 140 grain 7mm-08 is as close to an ideal chambering for eastern deer hunting as you can find. I am aware this is a controversial take, however I have my reasons. Mild recoil, excellent ballistics, very good terminal performance all wrapped up in a tidy little package. Would I look elsewhere if I was hunting somewhere that longer shots, 500m or more, were the norm? Yes. But for anywhere else, it’s 7mm-08. I like that round for black bear as well, but I switch to 150 bullets for that.
So MVAP, what are you taking into the woods this fall? What round do you think is the best for deer hunting? Does your state have any restrictions on what you can use? Sound off in the comments. . .
Let’s face it: this world is one solar flare away from returning to the 1800’s. It’s up to you to be prepared. Part of that preparation should include firearms. This article will point those of you who aren’t like this editor (HI, my name is KITDAFBS and I’m a gunaholic) in the right direction.
There are a couple of criteria to look at when assembling your TEOTWAKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) arsenal. Whether you’re looking for a pistol, rifle or shotgun – and I suggest all three – the same basic criteria apply: ammo availability, capacity, reliability/availability of spares and accuracy.
Pistols
Sig P320 AXG with Leupold Delta Point Pro red dot
I recently wrote about the best carry concealed caliber. In that article, I wrote that 9mm is the best caliber for concealed carry. For many of the same reasons, 9mm is my first choice for SHTF. Not only is 9mm the most commonly available pistol cartridge, it’s reasonably potent. 9x19mm NATO is also lighter compared to, say, .45 ACP. That allows you to carry more rounds for a given weight.
As far as the guns themselves go, for SHTF, I’m going with a duty or full-sized pistol (4.5″-5+” barrels). I’m going with something like the Glock 17/19/34, Sig P320 or P226/9, Beretta M9 or the like. All three of those brands have a well-deserved reputation for reliability and with the exception of the Sigs finding replacement parts shouldn’t be that difficult. Why a duty/full-sized pistol over something smaller and concealable? In a SHTF scenario, I’m not worried about hiding my sidearm from anyone. Additionally, the extra barrel length can provide better accuracy because of the longer sight radius.
That’s not to say the 1911 doesn’t have a place in TEOTWAKI. It does. It’s just not going to be my first choice. While a well sorted 1911 is an absolute joy, one that has even the most minor thing wrong with it, and I’m including being dirty, can be a finicky beast. Unlike most modern pistols, the 1911 requires fitting for most replacement parts (extractor, I’m looking at you. . . ) and a competent ‘smith for just about any repair. Meanwhile, I’ve seen broken Glocks returned to service with duct tape and baling wire.
If you’re a wheel-gun person, make sure you have ample stocks of ammo for your piece. 20-30 years ago, it wouldn’t have been hard to find ammo for .38 spcl or .357 magnum. Today, well good luck. With the current ammunition market, .38 and .357 have become much rarer, .44 mag almost non-existent and god forbid you have something like .327 federal. . . To be honest, handloading is basically your only chance.
Ammo
While we’re on the subject of ammo, a couple of thousand rounds is a good start for handguns. I’d say the same for shotshells, but I would look at tripling that number if my primary long gun was going to be a scatter-gun. As far as ammo for my primary rifle goes, I think you should have something between 5 and 10 thousand rounds on hand. Remember, you aren’t going to be able to just run to the local Wally-World and grab another box or two when you need it.
You also need to store your ammo correctly. I have a dedicated ammo locker that has a dehumidifier running all the time. I also store ‘ready’ ammo in surplus steel ammo cans. I usually chuck a couple of those desiccant packs in with the ammo, just to keep the moisture down. For most folks, the ammo can is the way to go. It’s compact, stackable, easily obtained and easy to transport. For reference, you can get about 1200 rounds of 9mm in one .30 cal ammo can (pictured above).
Shotguns
Benelli M4 Super90/M1014
I will be the first to admit I am not a shotgun guy. I prefer, and if I’m being honest far more proficient with, rifles and pistols. That said, the shotgun most certainly has a place in your SHTF arsenal. The shotgun is the most versatile platform in that situation. You can use it to fill the cook-pot and defend yourself.
So, what type of scatter-gun should you be looking for? A 12 gauge repeater of some sort, either pump or auto-loader, with interchangeable choke tubes or barrels from one of the reputable manufacturers. I’d avoid the ‘bargain’ Turkish brands, but that’s me.
Whatever way you decide to go, pump or auto-loader, make sure you have the proper shells to feed it in a variety of shot sizes. I’d (have) stock(ed) up on #6 shot (for small game) #3 shot (ducks) and bb shot (geese) as well as buckshot and slugs.
I have a couple of “tactical” shotguns in my collection, and they work well for the tasks they were designed for; breaching and close-range shooting. My Benelli M4 has an 18.5″ barrel, and most other “tactical” shotguns are in that range. I’d consider that length barrel sub-optimal for hunting birds, either upland or waterfowl. Will it work for birds? Yes, but. . .
When SHTF I’m going with a field gun (26-28″ barrel) because a rifle is going to be my primary long gun.
Rifles
Custom AR with EOTech XPS and 3x magnifier
Get a 20″ AR chambered in 5.56 NATO. Really, that’s my advice for rifles. Why an AR? Easy, it’s commonly available, easy to work on if something breaks and parts are all over the place. The caliber recommendation is slightly more nuanced, you can fire .223 rem in a 5.56 chambered gun safely, but not the other way around. There are other factors too, like ammo availability, and weight per round that mitigate against other AR calibers like .300BLK.
I’d want something with a 20″ barrel, to maximize the performance in 5.56 NATO. 16″ barrels look cool, but based on the testing I’ve seen you go from around 3200 fps with a 55gr M193 out of a 20″ barrel to 2800 fps out of a 16″. That’s a pretty big drop for not a lot of benefit. It gets worse with 62 gr M885 and 77gr MK 313 rounds.
You can find decent quality ARs for less than a thousand bucks. Palmetto State Armory is one ‘bargain’ AR that I’d look at if I needed a cheap rifle. Looking at the PSA site, they have a 16″ rifle for $659.99. I’d also look for a ‘flat-top’ rifle vice a carry-handle. It makes optics mounting much easier.
Optics
L-R Vortex Razor, EOTech EXPS-3, Primary Arms SLx red dot
Yes, you need optics. 30 years ago, while I was still a young paratrooper, I’d have said optics are contraindicated on a combat rifle. Now, I say irons are contraindicated. Simply put, a proper combat optic is easier to use than irons, especially in a high-stress situation. Twenty years of the GWOT have put to rest the idea that optics aren’t robust enough for combat.
The question becomes what optic? I can’t answer that question for you, at least not directly.
I have a few preferences, learned through experience, in what optic I run on any of my firearms. My primary AR, the one I regularly train with, wears a Vortex Razor 1-6×24 LPVO with a Vortex Viper reflex sight on a 45 degree offset mount. For the terrain around here, the additional magnification is a must. The offset mounted reflex gives me a quick and dirty way to engage close-in surprises. If I was in a more urban setting, I’d likely run something like the EOTech XPS line or one of the red dot sights from Vortex or Primary Arms with a flip-away magnifier like the setup pictured above the rifle section
Are either of those setups right for you? I don’t know for sure. Maybe you live out west. If that’s the case, look for a ‘traditional’ rifle scope with plenty of magnification. Whatever optic choice works for you, do not cheap out. I’m not saying run out and buy a $10k Schmidt and Bender or Unertl. There are plenty of quality optics in the $200-300 range. I recommend you avoid the cheap chinesium imports.
While we’re looking at optics, I’m going to take a paragraph and discuss lights. Get yourself a good one. It should be LED, take replaceable batteries and have at least 500 lumens of output. Make sure you have a good supply of batteries.
Weight
As this isn’t a big concern for me personally, I’m in my mid 50s and I still regularly ruck with 80lbs, so I had WhiteKnightLeo write the following section.
Weight isn’t a category mentioned at the top – that’s because Leo is here to add this section. The watchword for you when TEOTWAKI is to take very careful note of how much your stuff weighs. In a breakdown of social order, odds are most of us are going to be staying close to home – but that won’t be an option for everyone. Worse, some of us who chose to stay will be forced to leave.
When you’re at home, having a fully-loaded Kel-Tec KSG-25 with a full-length shell rack won’t be too much hassle – despite it weighing in at nearly 16lbs. But if the rioters suddenly set your neighborhood on fire, that’s going to be quite the mass to haul around, in addition to your bug-out bag and anything else you have to flee with. A 25-round box of 00 shotshell weighs about 2.5lbs. 50 rounds of 9x19mm NATO clocks in at 1.34lbs. 50 rounds of 5.56x45mm NATO weighs 1.41lbs. All of that is just fine when it’s sitting on your garage floor – not so much when you try to load it into your car, or if you’re forced to hoof it.
Lighter weapons and smaller calibers do tend to sacrifice ballistic performance, but the benefit you get is portability and maneuverability. In the hands of a sufficiently-skilled marksman, a lot can be accomplished with a .22WMR, and you can easily carry a lot more ammunition, even on foot – 50 rounds of .22WMR weigh in at only 0.56lbs. So if you want to run heavy – which should depend on whom you think will target your neighborhood in the event of TEOTWAKI, and how defensible said locale is – you really want to keep up on your fitness.
Real life loot drop
Kitdafbs again. In other words don’t be ⬆that guy. I regularly run into a guy like that at the range, and I told him straight up that if the world goes pear-shaped, I’m shooting him first and taking anything I think is useful.
Spares
Spare parts are an often overlooked subject when it comes to SHTF. Keep in mind, you aren’t going to be able to call up Brownells and order a replacement firing pin for your gat. Do yourself a favor and build a small stockpile of the items you need to keep your firearms running. Firing pins, various springs and AR bolt gas rings are all items that wear out or break relatively regularly. Do a little research and find out what tends to break/wear out on the firearms you have, and buy them. Teach yourself how to replace them as well.
Get a supply of batteries too. If you’re running anything with an illuminated reticle, including red dots and reflex sights, you need spare batteries. Lay in a supply of CR123, AA, AAA, and whatever coin cell batteries you may need for your optics. Store them in an airtight, waterproof container away from extreme temperature changes and they will stay fresh and fully charged for a good long time.
As always, if you have any questions about anything discussed in this article, hit me up in the comments below.
It should strike any honest person that to claim a firearm is “defective” or that its maker is “liable for damages” because a malicious person used the weapon to harm someone makes about as much sense as suing an automobile manufacturer because a malicious person used a car to harm someone. In both cases, the assumed results necessitate acceptance of the fact that both products actually operated as designed.
Of course, few honest people would claim that gun-grabbers are peaceful. In fact, the desire to disarm peacefully-minded people is aggressive, malicious, and has proven to be one of the evilest forces in the history of man.
So, it might come as no surprise to learn that the government of Mexico and a handful of U.S. left-dominated state governments have been pushing a civil liability suit against multiple U.S. gun makers, implying that the manufacturers were “negligent” and that their products operated in some sort of “faulty” manner.
What might come as a surprise is the fact that many other state AGs are lining up to support the gun-makers to stop the case from moving ahead.
Morality, the U.S. Constitution, and a 2005 federal statute remind us that the second set of AGs are spot-on.
“Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a coalition of 20 states’ attorneys general to defend the Second Amendment and the U.S. firearms industry against a lawsuit by the Mexican government that seeks to hold the gunmakers liable for gun crime south of the U.S. border.
The Mexican government is seeking $10 billion filed in a civil lawsuit against several major U.S. firearms manufacturers, saying these companies are responsible for the violence in their country.”
Yep. The gun MAKERS. Not the users.
The Mexican government is focusing on what it calls “marketing and distribution practices” that “amount to actively facilitating the trafficking of their guns in Mexico.”
Curiously, they didn’t cite Joe Biden, who was vice president when the Obama Administration got caught conducting “Operation Fast and Furious,” a George W. Bush Admin-era plan that was renamed and given the “go” to “walk” firearms into Mexico so they would fall into the hands of drug cartels, then be brought back into the U.S., where gun-grabbing politicians would use the “flood of guns” as a pretext for more gun-grab legislation.
“Article 160 of the Federal Penal Code authorizes government employees to carry guns. Article 161 requires a license to carry or sell handguns. Article 162 provides penalties for violations, and also bans the stockpiling of arms without permission. Article 163 states that handguns may only be sold by mercantile establishments, not by individuals. Further, handgun carry permit applicants must post a bond, must prove their need, and must supply five character references.”
And he adds:
“The most important gun laws are contained in the Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives. It establishes a Federal Arms Registry controlled by the Ministry of National Defense. Both the federal and state governments are required to conduct public information campaigns to discourage all forms of weapons ownership and carrying. Only sports-related advertising of firearms is permitted.
Title Two of the Federal Law of Firearms allows possession and carrying of handguns in a calibers of .380 or less, although some calibers are excluded, most notably .357 magnum and 9mm parabellum.
Members of agricultural collectives and other rural workers are allowed to carry the aforesaid handguns, .22 rifles, and shotguns, as long as they stay outside of urban areas, and obtain a license.”
The Mexican suit last fall was ruled ineligible to proceed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, but Reuters reports that 16 left-dominated U.S. states are involved on behalf of the Mexican appeal to the First Federal Circuit of Appeals, and they include: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Which might add some valuable information to vacationers researching which states they’ll want to avoid if they hope to limit the use of their tax money going towards gun-grabbing AGs.
Reuters notes that the Mexican and leftist U.S. state governments mentioned above are targeting “Smith and Wesson Brands Inc (SWBI.O) and Sturm, Ruger and Co (RGR.N), as well as Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc, Beretta USA Corp, Colt’s Manufacturing Co, Century International Arms Inc, Witmer Public Safety Group Inc and pistol-maker Glock Inc.”
But they not only have no logical or moral justification to attack these peaceful businesspeople, on the “gun-grabbing state” level, this grandstanding breaches the Second Amendment’s prohibition against any government infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, any restriction on sales and marketing also impedes on the right to freedom of speech purportedly protected by the First Amendment, and it breaches a major 2005 statute.
Which is how this obnoxious push by these obnoxious government agents actually serves as an excellent learning opportunity.
Here’s the lesson:
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to create the court system above the state supreme courts and below the federal Supreme Court. As a result, Congress can write legislation that prohibits certain kinds of suits/cases from entering those Congressionally-created federal courts. And in 2005, a GOP-dominated Congress passed the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act” (PLCAA) to block liability suits against gun makers from entering federal courts. As a result, cross-state suits against gun makers for “civil liability” when the firearms operate as they were designed to operate — those are blocked.
Which appears to be something that Joe Biden doesn’t like.
Indeed, our final major lesson comes in the fact that Biden is rabid to see the PLCAA killed. He not only has tried unconstitutional “Executive Branch” administrative attacks on gun parts and accessories to be instituted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE/ATF), he has, since at least 2021, demanded the removal of PLCAA.
Perhaps he might want to learn from Mexico’s example: gun grabs don’t stop violent crime. Leaving firearms in the hands of the tax-snatching government not only doesn’t stop violent crime, it leaves peaceful civilians in danger of more attacks by criminals in and out of the offices of the state.
All people have an inherent right to keep and bear arms. The Mexican government and all the state AGs that have taken its side stand against our Natural Rights, and theirs is a stand… for evil.
The battle lines are drawn, and this case, which likely will see the First Circuit recognize the protection provided by PLCAA, clearly and starkly shows us those sides.
Now, it’s up to us to spread the word, and remember the facts and principles involved.
It was bound to happen. A gun manufacturer has waded into the cesspool that is woke. What’s surprising, at least to me, is the fact it was H&K.
Angela Harrell, marketing manager for HK USA tweeted out the screenshots below in response to a tweet about the Miller Lite feminist ad. I had to use screenshots because the original tweets were deleted fairly quickly.
The blowback was instant and harsh. It only got worse when Ms. Harrell’s identity was discovered. You see, Angela was/is a bikini model.
Fortunately, HK’s marketing department saw the error of it’s ways.
My policy has been to save commentary/opinion pieces for the weekdays as individuals tend to be busier on weekends. This is an exception because there are currently a number of good guys with guns cases in the public eyeas referenced in the article.
How Hollywood Uses TV To Lie About Good Guys With Guns
When an alleged armed robber barged into Ranchito #4 Taqueria on Jan. 4, almost every customer froze with fear. But one good Samaritan, an unnamed 46-year-old man, quickly jumped into action to protect himself and his fellow patrons. He used a concealed gun to shoot the alleged perpetrator and returned the stolen cash to the terrified patrons, only later to discover that the firearm the alleged robber used was a fake.
Despite the customer’s heroic actions, he has received nothing but condemnation from corporate media after the alleged thief was declared dead on the scene. Unfortunately, this media treatment is nothing new. Over the past few years, only a few good Samaritans have received any press despite the overwhelming number of these brave individuals jumping into action.
In December, for example, a man stopped an active shooter at an Amazon warehouse parking lot in the Phoenix, Arizona area. The police called the man a “good Samaritan” and credit him with likely preventing further bloodshed. In another case later that month, an active shooter at a Tucson, Arizona bar threatened many people but was “stopped short by a heroic customer with a gun.”
You may not hear about many of these stories outside of local media accounts, but they occur all the time. There are dozens of cases in recent years in which concealed handgun permitholders stopped what, according to police, would have otherwise become mass public shootings.
These good Samaritans saving the day would make gripping stories, but we don’t see much news on these cases. National entertainment television also fails to reveal the truth about these good Samaritans: For decades, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox have refused to feature even a single successful defensive gun use by a civilian. You would never know Americans successfully use guns defensively on average approximately 2 million times a year, or that they use guns four to five times more frequently to stop crime than to commit it.
Entertainment programs always show defensive gun uses going wrong(the sole exception in the last decade is Paramount’s “Yellowstone”). Typically the citizen fails to defend himself and ends up murdered, accidentally shoots a loved one, or poses a danger to himself and the police. After the Supreme Court decision this past June striking down New York’s restrictions on concealed handguns, television shows have begun to demonize concealed-carry permits.
Here are just a few examples from the 2022-23 television season so far:
ABC’s “The Rookie,” Jan. 3, 2023: Against the adamant advice of a police officer, a legally armed civilian intervenes in a bank robbery. Despite his good intentions, he only succeeds in getting himself and another civilian shot. To make matters worse, the armed civilian’s intervention allows the bank robbers to escape. “Leave it to a good guy with a gun to really screw things up,” remarks the police officer. About 4.5 million viewers saw that episode.
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted,” Nov. 22, 2022: After a criminal bashes a person’s head with a rock in Central Park, a good Samaritan chases the criminal. The criminal shoots at the permit holder, who shoots back but misses and ends up severely wounding a female bystander. The FBI agent characterizes the permit holder as a “vigilante.” When the permit holder tells an FBI agent the police need to do their job, the agent grabs the permit holder and exclaims: “We are, but it only gets harder with idiots like you playing cops and robbers!” More than 5.1 million people watched this episode.
NBC’s “Law & Order,” Nov. 6, 2022: In this episode, a woman pulls her permitted concealed handgun out and mistakenly threatens to shoot two people who were police officers. The police almost end up shooting her in self-defense, proceeding to arrest her “for pulling a gun on a cop.” They explain that despite her permit, she doesn’t know the rules for carrying guns and that she is “lucky to be alive.” About 4 million people saw this show.
CBS’s “Blue Bloods,” Oct. 28, 2022: When robbers try to take a woman’s $20,000 watch, she pulls out her permitted concealed handgun to protect herself. As a result, she is severely wounded by the robbers. Others who were robbed of their watches by the same criminals didn’t have guns and weren’t harmed. “Got the gun for protection … so much for that,” says the victim. Almost 5.8 million people viewed this show.
NBC’s “Chicago PD,” Oct. 5, 2022: At first, it appears a civilian has successfully defended himself against a robbery. Later, it becomes clear that the “good Samaritan” was actually the lookout who had turned on his robbery crew. Just shy of 6 million people saw this.
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted,” Sept. 20, 2022: This episode has two different examples of defensive gun uses failing. In the first, a family is murdered before the father is able to get off a shot. “So much for a good guy with a gun,” an FBI agent remarks dismissively. About 5.3 millionpeople saw this episode.
Many other episodes display failed defensive gun uses, and these are just the ones involving people legally carrying outside their homes. None of this should be too surprising, as it is well-known that gun control groups are working with Hollywood writers and producers to introduce gun control themes into shows.
My organization, the Crime Prevention Research Center, has found a total of 360 active-shooter incidents from 2014 to 2021. Of these, an armed citizen stopped 124 (more than one-third). We are more confident of the completeness of our data in the most recent years, and 49 percent of active shooting cases in 2021 were stopped by armed civilians. When we exclude shootings in gun-free zones, the figure rises to 58 percent.
In not one of these 124 defensive gun uses did a permit holder accidentally shoot a bystander. Not once did a permit holder get in the way of the police. But anyone who watches entertainment television would have no clue that this is the case.
People can’t escape the political bias in television entertainment. The message from these shows is clear: Don’t use guns for protection. If you do, it will cause much more harm than benefit. It is bad enough that news programs provide just one side of this debate. But the bias has a real effect on the gun control debate and prevents Americans from doing what keeps them safe.
Come next January, Alabama will be the twenty-fifth state to allow concealed carry without a permit. Alabama will soon join Indiana, which in March of this year passed a new statute allowing permitless concealed carry—sometimes called “constitutional carry.” In 2021 alone, at least six states passed their own provisions legalizing permitless concealed carry: Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. Essentially, any law-abiding citizen over a certain age (usually eighteen or twenty-one) can now carry a concealed firearm in these states. Twenty years ago, only Vermont allowed unrestricted concealed carry. Over the last ten years, however, more than twenty states have adopted new laws deregulating the carrying of firearms.
Why is this happening now? On the most simple level, these laws have passed because lawmakers and constituents at the state level have advocated for them. Moreover, whatever opposition exists among interest groups and the public has been insufficient to block their passage.
On a deeper ideological level, increased ease of concealed carrying is likely the result of a growing feeling among much of the public that they need increased access to firearms for self-protection. In other words, the spread of constitutional carry points to a growing sentiment that state and local authorities are insufficient to provide a reasonable expectation of safety from violent crime and that private self-defense is therefore more necessary now than in the past.
Moreover, many of these laws expanding concealed carry have been passed over local law enforcement’s objections. Police organizations have been among the most vocal of opponents of new constitutional carry measures, yet Republican lawmakers—a group often happy to fall all over themselves announcing how much they “back the blue”—have passed these laws anyway. The continued spread of constitutional carry suggests that even among conservatives there are limits to supporting law enforcement on a vague philosophical level. Rather, the passage of these laws suggests a growing lack of faith that even well-meaning law enforcement can or will provide meaningful defense from violent criminals when the need arises.
Declining Faith in Institutions
The survey data continues to point to declining public faith in public institutions, and this includes law enforcement and the legal system. As faith in these institutions falls, the perceived need to provide one’s own defense naturally increases. As one sociologist puts it, “legal cynicism” leads to greater demand for “protective gun ownership,” and “lower levels of police legitimacy are significantly related to a higher probability of acquiring a firearm for protection.”
In the worst cases, this can even lead to extralegal “self-help” with a firearm. This phenomenon has been explored by historian Randolph Roth, who notes that declining perceptions of state legitimacy can lead to high violent crime rates. That is, when private citizens believe that official coercion will be insufficient to restrain criminals, they may feel the need to take matters into their own hands.
Moreover, crime data in some cases suggests a correlation between gun ownership and high crime. Advocates of gun control naturally interpret this correlation as evidence that guns cause more crime. Yet the causality more likely runs in the other direction: more crime leads to more people arming themselves. Statistical studies are insufficient to prove causality in either case, as a RAND study on gun violence notes:
Whether [the correlation between guns and crime] is attributable to gun prevalence causing more violent crime is unclear. If people are more likely to acquire guns when crime rates are rising or high, then the same pattern of evidence would be expected…. existing research studies and data include a wealth of descriptive information on homicide, suicide, and firearms, but, because of the limitations of existing data and methods, do not credibly demonstrate a causal relationship between the ownership of firearms and the causes or prevention of criminal violence or suicide.
And as one National Institutes of Justice study concluded after surveying young residents of high-crime areas,
most participants said they carried guns to increase their feelings of safety. “They held a widespread belief that they could be victimized at any time, and guns served to protect them from real or perceived threats from other gun carriers.”
The sense that personal protection is needed is likely stronger in high-crime areas, but the sentiment certainly is not unique to these areas. Suburban and rural advocates for broadening concealed carry frequently invoke the need for personal protection from violent crime as justification for new laws expanding the right to carry in nearly every situation.
Laws Passed over Police Opposition
Although many individual police officers support nearly untrammeled gun ownership for law-abiding citizens, many others do not. In Alabama’s legislative battle over permitless carry, for instance, “the bills have been roundly criticized by police and gun control advocates, who argue that removing permits poses a safety risk to citizens and officers.” The head of Alabama’s Sheriff’s Association wants to change the Second Amendment to ban concealed carry altogether. And elsewhere, “some of the loudest opponents of permitless carry laws are the police. They spoke out in Indiana, Texas, and Kentucky but that didn’t stop lawmakers from passing ‘constitutional carry‘ laws.” In Georgia, many law enforcement officers voiced their opposition to concealed carry, much to the delight of the state’s Democratic Party. In Ohio, constitutional carry has been opposed by the Fraternal Order of Police—the public labor union that provides free lawyers to abusive and incompetent police officers. Even in Republican-controlled legislatures—where professed support for police runs high—police efforts to quash expanded concealed carry have failed repeatedly.
The continued spread of constitutional carry is, of course, related to the surge we’ve seen in private gun ownership overall. For example, Americans in 2020 and 2021 went on what CNN calls a “gun buying spree,” and this included a 58 percent spike in gun purchases among black men and women in 2021. Violent and destructive “mostly peaceful” protests exposed the police’s limited ability to do much other than protect government property during periods of unrest. And in the wake of lockdowns, which shut down vital social institutions such as churches and schools, crime surged in the US, and not just in the “usual” places like urban cores. Police legitimacy also suffered a serious blow with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies’ abject failure at the Uvalde school shooting in May of this year. The officers who chose to do nothing while children were massacred will likely face no serious legal repercussions, and this will further highlight that police officers are under no legal obligation to actually protect the public from violent crime.
It’s no wonder that permitless carry continues to make gains in American states. In the past, many Americans may have simply trusted the regime to provide “law and order.” But that sentiment is apparently becoming more and more rare.
Houston’s Democrat Mayor Sylvester Turner held a gun buyback event in a church parking lot where residents could turn in their firearms and receive a gift card ranging from $50 to $200 with no questions asked.
The funds used for those turning in firearms came from the American Rescue Plan — aka American taxpayers.
There was no limit on the number of firearms that could be turned in by an individual, nor was there any restriction on the types of handguns, as long as they’re functioning.
A man showed up to the buyback bringing dozens of 3D-printed firearms. The Houston authorities had no choice but to accept them and hand over gift cards in return. It only cost the man $3 to print each firearm, of which he made 62. He received $50 per 3D-printed gun for a total of nearly $3,000 in gift cards.
Army Announces 2 New Rifles for Close-Combat Soldiers BY C. Todd Lopez , DOD News
The Army recently awarded a contract to manufacturer SIG Sauer for two new soldier weapons: the XM5 rifle and the XM250 automatic rifle. For soldiers involved in close-quarters combat, the XM5 will eventually replace the M4/M4A1 carbine rifle, while the XM250 will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon.
Additionally, both new rifles will use the new 6.8 mm common cartridge family of ammunition as well as a new fire control system.
“We should note that this is the first time … in 65 years [that] the Army will field a new weapon system of this nature: a rifle, an automatic rifle, a fire control system, and a new caliber family of ammunition,” Army Brig. Gen. Larry Q. Burris, the Soldier Lethality Cross-Functional Team director, said.
The new system also arrived much quicker than anticipated, Burris said.
“This is revolutionary, and we arrived at this point in record time because we leveraged [the] middle-tier of acquisition rapid fielding authorities to enable speed and flexibility in defining requirements,” he said.
Burris said the Army was able to do in 27 months what might otherwise have taken anywhere from eight to 10 years.
It’s expected that the first unit of soldiers involved in close-quarters combat will be equipped with the new system in the fourth quarter of 2023, Burris said. Soldiers involved in close-quarters combat include 11B infantrymen, 19D cavalry scouts,12B combat engineers, 68W medics, and 13F forward observers.
“The fielding of the weapon is based upon ammunition production,” Burris said. “As the vendor is able to produce ammunition and then Lake City [Army Ammunition Plant in Missouri] ultimately comes on, what we don’t want to do is field a capability to a unit where we don’t have training ammunition or contingency ammunition, if required. That’s what drives the fielding of the weapons.”
Army Brig. Gen. William M. Boruff, the program executive officer in the Joint Program Executive Office, Armaments and Ammunition, said the new 6.8 mm ammunition will initially be produced by SIG Sauer, but that the Army will eventually take over production of ammunition at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Missouri. After that, SIG Sauer will become a second-source provider of the new ammunition.
“We already have started preparing the site for the new building,” Boruff said. “The new building will be stood up in Lake City Army Ammunition Plant and it will start producing around [fiscal year] 25/26. We’ll work with SIG Sauer. We’re clearing some space now at the Lake City facility to start production.”
When the time comes, Boruff said, the Army will have enough of the new ammunition to begin fielding the new rifles.
“The capability increase that these weapons provide over the M4 and the M249 is what’s really exciting,” Army Col. Scott Madore, the project manager for soldier lethality, said. “It’s a significant change: the way it fires, the way, when you apply the fire control — which was previously awarded back in January — when you apply that to these weapons systems, it improves or increases the probability of a [hit] for the individual soldier. It reduces aim error, and it’s a game changer. That’s really what excites me about these two systems as we saw them go through testing.”
Burris also said that in addition to improved accuracy, the new system also provides greater energy on the target.
The XM5 weighs about two pounds more than the M4 it will replace, Madore said, while the XM250 weighs about four pounds less than the M249.
The initial ten-year contract with SIG Sauer allows for up to 250,000 weapons to be purchased, but that allows for other services, such as the Marines, to also be fielded the weapons if they express interest.
For the Army’s close-combat and special operations forces, about 120,000 weapons will be needed.
The new rifles will be paired with the XM157 Fire Control system, which will increase accuracy and lethality for the close-combat force. The XM157 integrates, among other things, a variable magnification optic, backup etched reticle, laser range finder, ballistic calculator, atmospheric sensor suite, compass, visible and infrared aiming lasers, and a digital display overlay.
As I lack knowledge on such weapons, I will leave it to our Veterans to provide knowledge and opinions on the new choice.
It’s been about 6 weeks since I last shared my experiences selling firearms. Some things have changed, others have not.
Let’s start with the background check numbers. According to the FBI, there were some 2.88 million NICS checks run in July. While still a substantial number, there was a marked decrease from June (3.05m) and July of last year(3.64m).
Why the decrease? I honestly can’t say. At least where I work, Inventory is higher than it’s been in more than a year. We also have a wider selection of firearms than we’ve had for the same time period. Perhaps it was just the summer doldrums.
That said, It seems that sales are picking up again. This past Wednesday I processed 14 transactions in a six hour period. I haven’t been that busy since last July during all the riots and such. And that wasn’t a one off thing, traffic has picked up after the July slowdown.
As I said above, guns are becoming more and more available. While browsing through our distributors sites recently, I saw a lot less out of stock firearms.
If you’re in the market for a Remington 870, they seem to be hitting stores. Prices are a bit higher than you might remember, but that may just be the Hologram’s inflationary pressures.
Ammo is starting to loosen up some. And better, I’m not seeing the same 30 faces every day looking for ammo. It’s more like 15-20.
Now for a little industry news. The hologram imposed new sanctions on some Russian businesses. Big deal you say, its the GD Russians. Well, those sanctions affect ammo and gun imports. While it isn’t an outright ban on gun and ammo importation, it does place limits on the permits needed to import those products. While the sanctions are in place no new permits will be issued and no renewals will take place.
