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Grumpy's hall of Shame

Happy April 15!!!

George the Third of England must be busting a gut right about now! Grumpy

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All About Guns Ammo

Remington Model 700 Chambered in 350 Remington Magnum (Looks like a non cure for Recoil Sensitive types like me!)

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A Victory! All About Guns Allies

Another VICTORY – Millions of Americans Bought Guns Last Month

Millions of Americans Bought Guns Last Month

Millions of Americans Bought Guns Last Month

Firearm retailers reported to their trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, that 40% of their customers during the Surge of 2020 were first time gun buyers. This works out to an estimated 8 million new gun owners in 2020, and March NICS data shows that surge in sales is a new era rather than a short-lived spike.

One year ago, we marked a new all-time record for monthly NICS background checks numbers after March 2020 saw more than 3.7 million, which bested the previous record by more than four hundred thousand checks. As the pandemic was joined by additional societal stressors, the surge in gun sales only picked up the pace. The March 2020 record only lasted until June 2020, and that record only stood until December. Comparatively low-points in between still set the records for each calendar month.

The number of NICS background checks continued to defy expectations. A new all-time record was set in January of this year and, well, here we are again. March 2021 reset the record with 4,691,738 total NICS background checks – nearly one million more checks than March 2020.

This total includes 1,145,307 handgun-related NICS checks and 666,772 related to long guns. It also includes 663,609 permit checks, bringing the year-to-date permit total to 1,816,772. Permits are important because some states allow the presentation of a valid permit in place of a NICS check for the purchase of a firearm. The NRA has also led efforts to allow Permitless Carry in twenty states, so far. Alternatively, some states require a permit to be obtained before one can lawfully acquire a firearm. The chart below shows the number of background checks for permits – not including permit re-checks – by year.  By the end of the first quarter of 2021, we are outpacing last year in terms of permit checks.

These permit numbers certainly include some first-time gun buyers, but do not factor into the estimate that 40% of gun shop customers were first-time gun buyers last year.

Let’s take a look at the checks related to handgun and long guns by year. Long gun related checks have been fairly steady since NICS came online but did peak last year at more than 7.13 million. Handgun related NICS checks increased steadily since the early 2000s, though 2015, 2016, and 2017 saw a larger than usual increase.

Then there was 2020. The number of handgun related NICS checks conducted last year beat the old record by more than 3.8 million. These numbers do not include checks related to multiple sales, sales finalized with a permit instead of a NICS check, or sales of certain types of pistols in some states. Again, there is nothing to suggest that interest in firearms among non-owners has changed since last summer and so we could reasonably apply that 40% estimate to the sales-related numbers. Not every background check leads to a sale and some sales involve multiple firearms, but we’re looking at estimates only. Based on that 40% report from retailers, there may be more than 1.2 million new handgun owners and 738,507 new long gun owners so far in 2021.

That is an estimate based on an estimate, but it is unlikely to be far off. It’s clear that the growth of the firearms-owning community experienced in 2020 is continuing into the new decade.

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All About Guns

Modern Marvels: The History of Cannons

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Darwin would of approved of this!

One of the dumbest things I have seen since leaving the Army

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Uncategorized

So true!

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All About Guns Ammo

300 AAC Blackout : What’s the Big Deal?

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All About Guns Anti Civil Rights ideas & "Friends"

NRA Opposes David Chipman for ATF Director

NRA Opposes David Chipman for ATF Director

During a press conference on Thursday, President Biden announced that he would once again be targeting law-abiding gun owners by ordering ATF to develop two new restrictive regulations. Aiming to accessorize the Department of Justice’s anti-gun leadership team, Biden announced his nomination of gun control lobbyist David Chipman for Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

It’s hard to imagine choosing a nominee who is more hostile to the rights of American gun owners than Chipman.

Chipman is a Gun Control Extremist

David Chipman’s current employer, Giffords, co-founded by United States Senator Mark Kelly, filed a brief in the landmark Second Amendment case, District of Columbia v. Heller. The brief argued that, “The Second Amendment Does Not Limit the Options Available to Cities to Address the Problem of Gun Violence.” Notably, Giffords argued that the District’s complete ban on the possession of handguns by law-abiding Americans was constitutional. Such an interpretation would have completely eviscerated the Second Amendment.

This extremist view put Giffords sharply out-of-touch with the American people. Nearly, three-quarters of Americans at the time thought the Second Amendment “guaranteed an individual right to own gun.” For those who might think that Giffords has moved on from such extreme views, their law center’s website still proudly notes that they filed the brief arguing “that the right to possess a firearm is not based on an individual right of self-defense, but rather related to service in a militia based on the prefatory language in the Amendment.”

Chipman Wants to Target America’s Rifle

In October 2018, Chipman argued in favor of subjecting all AR-15s and potentially all semi-automatic rifles to regulation under the National Firearms Act. Beyond the problems of subjecting the most popular rifle in America to punitive taxation and registration, such a move would likely lead to a decade long backlog in NFA registrations, effectively banning America’s rifle, firearm suppressors, and other firearms currently subject to NFA regulation.

ATF operates on a “normal” backlog of 9-12 months for NFA applications. Even with this backlog and despite the registry being nearly 90 years old, as of 2020 there were only 6.6 million firearms in the registry. And, in recent years ATF has had the capacity to process only about 350,000 NFA forms per year. Even using the most conservative estimate for the number of AR-15s in America, with ATF’s current forms processing capacity, the agency would clear the backlog in NFA forms sometime around 2070. And, that’s only if the agency didn’t process a single NFA form for a suppressor, short-barreled rifle, or other NFA firearm.

As an agent with ATF for over two decades, Chipman is familiar with the agency’s NFA form processing capacity. He likely sees such a delay as a feature rather than a defect.

Chipman reiterated his wish to subject existing AR-15s to the NFA in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” last year, but he further explained his position on future sales: “The biggest challenge we have is sheer numbers. It has been estimated that there are around 15 million assault rifles currently in circulation. I believe we should ban the future production and sale to civilians and afford current owners of these firearms the ability to license these particular guns with ATF under the National Firearms Act.”

Chipman Has Repeatedly Lied to Further his Gun Ban Agenda

Regular readers of NRA-ILA alerts are likely familiar with Chipman’s lies.

In 2019, we explained how Chipman was trying to mislead the public regarding firearms suppressors. He claimed that “The gun does not sound gun-like. It takes the edge out of the tone . . . This is how I would describe it: It makes a gun sort of sound like a nail gun.” As we said at the time, “The 30-35 dBA difference between a nail gun and a suppressed pistol will be perceived as at least eight times louder to the human ear.”

And, this wasn’t even the first time he lied about firearm suppressors. In 2017, Chipman claimed “Anyone who has worked in law enforcement for as long as I have will tell you that silencers were not designed to protect hearing, they were designed to make it difficult for people to identify the sound of gunfire and locate active shooters.” Again, at the time, we set the record straight by pointing out that he was simply flat wrong regarding the design intent of firearm suppressors. “Unfortunately for Mr. Chipman, Hiram Percy Maxim, the designer of the firearm suppressor, made his design intent perfectly clear.  Maxim wrote “The Maxim Silencer was developed to meet my personal desire to enjoy target practice without creating a disturbance . . . I have always loved to shoot, but I never thoroughly enjoyed it when I knew that the noise was annoying other people. It occurred to me one day that there was no need for the noise. Why not do away with it and shoot quietly?” At the time, Chipman’s employer also received three “Pinocchios” from the Washington Post for another misleading claim about firearm suppressors.

In the same Reddit “Ask Me Anything” discussed above, Chipman made the absurd claim that “At Waco, cult members used 2 .50 caliber Barretts to shoot down two Texas Air National Guard helicopters. Point, it is true we are fortunate they are not used in crime more often. The victims of drug lords in Mexico are not so lucky. America plays a role in fueling the violence south of the border.” Needless to say, no helicopters were “shot down” “at Waco.”

In testimony before the House Judicary Committee in 2019, Chipman claimed that the American gun market was “flooded” with “foreign made ARs.” Anyone even remotely familiar with the American gun market knows that this claim is false. Not only are nearly all AR-15s made in America, but continued strong demand for ARs seems to also refute his notion that the market was “flooded.”

It is clear that, if confirmed, Chipman would use every tool at his disposal to attack the rights of law-abiding American gun owners.

Chipman’s views on the Second Amendment and his work as a gun prohibitionist should disqualify him from serving as the Director of the ATF.

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All About Guns Anti Civil Rights ideas & "Friends"

Attorney argues Hawaii law is a ban on carrying guns By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press

A handgun sits on a desk in the Hawaii Department of Natural Resources hunter education classroom in Honolulu on May 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Marina Riker, File)

HONOLULU — A challenge to Hawaii’s strict gun laws was back before a federal appeals court Thursday, where an attorney representing the state tried to defend a law that allowed officials to deny George Young a permit to carry a loaded gun in public.

Young’s attorney, Alan Beck, said the law is a de-facto ban on guns outside the home.

Young wants to carry a gun for self-defense and says that not being able to do so violates his rights. His 2012 lawsuit was dismissed, with a judge siding with officials who said the Second Amendment only applied to guns kept in homes. It was Young’s third lawsuit seeking a carry permit to be dismissed.

He appealed. Three federal appeals court judges later ruled in his favor but the state asked for a fuller panel of judges to hear the case.

Hawaii County hasn’t issued a carry permit in 20 years, Young’s attorney, Alan Beck, argued.

“We do not take lightly the problem of gun violence, which the State of Hawaii ‘has understandably sought to fight,’” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2-1 ruling in 2018. “But, for better or for worse, the Second Amendment does protect a right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.”

If the ruling stands, it could lead to more guns in public in the few Western states under 9th Circuit jurisdiction where they are currently restricted.

O’Scannlain was among the 11 randomly selected judges who heard arguments Thursday.

“He would be perfectly happy with an open carry permit,” Beck said of Young. “He also would be perfectly fine if this court found that rather than having a freestanding right to concealed carry, he’d be open to carry concealed as a reasonable alternative.”

Judge William Fletcher asked if it would be a violation of the Second Amendment if applicants needed to show some immediate danger for why a gun was necessary for self-defense.

Yes it would be, Beck said: “Crime is not something that individuals can predict.”

Hawaii’s law is not a flat ban because individuals can carry firearms if they have good cause, said Neal Katyal, a lawyer representing Hawaii.

“Hawaii’s law is squarely rooted in a long historical tradition going back seven centuries,” he said. “That tradition shows that carrying firearms in public without good cause has never been part of the right to keep and bear arms.”

It’s likely the U.S. Supreme Court will settle the issue. It’s not clear when the 9th circuit judges will issue a ruling.

“Hawaii’s carry law is the most restrictive in the country,” Beck told The Associated Press. “Hawaii is the only place in the country where it’s effectively impossible to get a permit.”

 

 

 

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All About Guns Well I thought it was funny! Well I thought it was neat!

What every Son should get from his Dad on Graduation Day