Maryland’s requirement that concealed carry applicants must provide to the state a “good and substantial reason” to bear arms in public is gone.
Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday told state police that, in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down New York’s similarly restrictive requirement for handgun permits, they could no longer enforce it.
“Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision in New York law pertaining to handgun permitting that is virtually indistinguishable from Maryland law,” said the governor in a statement posted on the state government’s website.
“In light of the ruling and to ensure compliance with the Constitution, I am directing the Maryland State Police to immediately suspend utilization of the ‘good and substantial reason’ standard when reviewing applications for wear and carry permits,” he continued.
“It would be unconstitutional to continue enforcing this provision in state law. There is no impact on other permitting requirements and protocols,” said Gov. Hogan.
Maryland State Police said in a statement that its Licensing Division will update the online portal to accord with the governor’s directive.
The NRA-ILA chalked this up as another win for gun owners.
“For far too long, Maryland has prevented the majority of law-abiding citizens from exercising this fundamental right. This persisted as other states went shall-issue over the decades, and even as constitutional carry has reached 25 states in recent years,” said the organization in a statement.
“Now, MSP cannot arbitrarily deny permits to applicants who meet all objective criteria. As a result, more law-abiding citizens will be able to exercise their right-to-carry to defend themselves and their loved ones. The criminals, who have gotten used to menacing the public with impunity, will find fewer and fewer defenseless victims,” it continued.
However, NRA-ILA was quick to note that the work’s not done in Maryland as politicians there still work, by and large, to chill the 2A rights of residents.
“Maryland’s permit process is still plagued by the onerous requirements and a high processing time that far exceeds those of neighboring Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. This will still prevent many Marylanders of limited economic means from acquiring a permit. It is critical that gun owners and Second Amendment supporters remain vigilant going into the election season, and beyond, to make this right more accessible,” said NRA-ILA.
The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in the case known as, NYSRPA v Bruen case, may continue to pay dividends for 2A advocates in Maryland. Already, other key decisions on gun rights have been vacated by the high court and remanded back to the lower courts for review in the light of the Bruen decision, as GunsAmerica previously reported.
Included is a 2013 case challenging Maryland’s ban on so-called “assault weapons.”
It would almost seem ridiculous to introduce a product that was at least 25 percent more expensive than any of the other products a company manufactures in the depths of the Great Depression, but that is exactly what Smith & Wesson did when it introduced the .357 Magnum in 1935. Smith & Wesson historian Roy Jinks said that the top brass at Smith & Wesson felt that this new custom-made revolver would not have a large demand, given its $60 price tag. They were wrong. As soon as it was introduced, demand outstripped the factory’s capability to satisfy it. Barely 120 revolvers per month were shipped, and the orders were way more than that.
Like most of the magnum cartridges, the .357 Mag. was concocted outside the factory by enthusiasts. In this case, it was the brainchild of Phil Sharpe, a ballistician, writer and member of NRA’s technical staff from the 1930s into the 1950s. He collaborated with then-Major Douglas B. Wesson, grandson of founder Daniel Wesson. Elmer Keith designed the first bullets for the cartridge when he developed 160- and 173-grain semiwadcutter (SWC) bullets for the .38 Special in the early 1930s. The heavy loads featuring these bullets over 13.5 grains of Hercules 2400 proved to be very accurate in the Smith & Wesson .38/44 N-frame revolvers of that time.
Smith & Wesson needed something to answer Colt’s .38 Super, a cartridge designed for the M1911 that launched a 147-grain full metal jacket with a flat point at 1,225 f.p.s. and 490 ft.-lbs. of slap, enough to penetrate the door of a speeding getaway car. The .38 Special and 9 mm Luger just were not up to that task. Sharpe and Wesson brought Winchester into the mix to develop a suitable revolver cartridge. Winchester added 0.125″ to the length of the case and ran the velocity of a 158-grain SWC to 1,525 f.p.s. in an 8.5″ barreled revolver. The load was very effective for hunting, and Wesson toured far and wide hunting everything from woodchucks to walrus with his .357 Mag.
A size comparison between, from left to right, .38 Spl., .357 Mag., .44 Spl. and .45 ACP.
This load may be effective, but the revolver with such a long barrel was pretty unwieldy for the cop on the street. Smith & Wesson bobbed the barrels on its .357 Mag. to as short as 3.5″ for the law enforcement community. The 5″ and 6″ barrels were quite popular on the .357 Mag. until well into the 1960s, and even early ’70s. My 5″ Model 27—the model numbers came about in 1957—is a great balance of heft, sight radius and velocity. Though now in semi-retirement after some 40,000 rounds, it will still generate 1,280 f.p.s. with any good 158-grain bullet, and I have won a few impromptu matches with it.
The reviews of the .357 Mag. have been pretty consistent and positive over its 87-year life. Naturally, the experimenters have to play with bullet weights—everything from 90 to 200 grains, and perhaps beyond, have been tried. Flyweight 110-grain jacketed hollow points (JHP) churn up impressive velocities, like nearly 1,500 f.p.s. in a 6″ barrel, but typically have been a bit too fragile to maintain structural integrity and penetration. Hefty 180 and 190 grainers will plow through almost anything short of armor plate, but have trajectories like a rainbow. So, like most things, a compromise has been achieved.
For field use, I usually go with 158-grain SWCs in front of 14 grains of Alliant 2400 for 1,150 to 1,300 f.p.s. in my 4″ to 6″ barreled .357s. This is an excellent small game load, and I even dumped an 80-lb. feral pig with this load many years ago. Nowadays, when I carry a .357 Mag. it’s usually either a Model 342PD or a 2.5″ Model 66. I have had to recognize that bullet and powder technology has evolved since the Great Depression, and now carry Speer 135-grain Gold Dot Hollow Points SB (for short barrel) in them. This load has a great reputation as a fight stopper, and even I have to admit that it shoots as well or better than my own cast bullets.
The author’s Winchester Model 92 lever-action rifle chambered for the .357 Mag. cartridge.
The popularity of the .357 Mag. remains as strong as ever. In a modern world of semi-automatic pistols with magazines that hold the better part of a box of cartridges, virtually every manufacturer of revolvers—either single or double action—makes a .357 Mag. Much of this is due to the versatility of both cartridges and revolvers. Most know that you can easily shoot .38 Spl. in a .357 Mag. chambered gun and still get all the accuracy inherent of that particular piece. Wadcutters are as easy on the hands as a rimfire—no small matter to those of us with some arthritis in our hands. Too, wadcutters are easier on the budget than full-house magnum loads. But when plenty of thump is needed, a shooter can load up some “T-Rex” loads as they are sometimes called, featuring heavy bullets, slow-burning powders and magnum primers to deal with outsized problems.
Smith & Wesson isn’t the only manufacturer of .357 Mag. firearms. Colt just reintroduced its iconic Python in this caliber. Ruger has been building some of the stoutest .357 Mag. revolvers ever since the 1950s. My Flat Top dating back to the 1950s is one of the most accurate .357s in my collection. Kimber has been making a very nice double-action revolver chambered in .357 for a few years now. Nighthawk is importing and customizing the superb Korth revolver. Taurus has a .357 Mag. to suit just about anyone’s fancy. You need not limit yourself to revolvers, as Winchester, Henry and a host of European and South American replica manufacturers make lever-action rifles chambered in .357 Mag. as well. My Winchester Model 92 shoots very well, especially since I replaced the factory rear buckhorn sight with a Skinner aperture rear sight.
The .357 Mag. has ensconced itself into the shooting brethren so well that it is about as common—necessary?—as the .22 LR. Most shooters have at least one, even if their current tastes have migrated to other chamberings. It is simply that universal—and well earned.
World War II changed everything about life on planet earth. During this time, 56 million people lost their lives, and spinoff technology from war-related projects revolutionized everything from engineering, material science and electronics to transportation and food. Those terrible six years also saw quantum advances in small arms development — and just one part of this was a veritable explosion of submachine gun development.
Submachine guns (SMG’s) are compact fully automatic shoulder arms that fire relatively low-powered pistol cartridges. In the days before widespread use of body armor, the SMG reigned supreme as the ultimate room-clearing tool and short-range weapon. Practically every major combatant nation of the war had them, and their influence remains evident even today.
Germany
While the Germans suffered from a deplorable lack of standardization during World War II, the most common German SMG of the war was the iconic 9mm MP40.
The MP40 was an evolutionary development of the previous MP38. Where the MP38 was crafted around an extruded steel tube machined with flutes for decreased weight and increased strength, the MP40 used an inexpensive stamped steel receiver. Both guns look very similar. The MP38 can be identified at a glance by its longitudinal receiver grooves and a dime-sized hole in the magazine well.
The full auto-only 9mm MP40 was the first major military weapon to eschew wooden stocks. The furniture on the German gun was formed from synthetic Bakelite, and the rest of the weapon was optimized for mass production.
The MP40 enjoyed a sedate 500 rpm rate of fire and was remarkably front heavy. This feature combined with its nine-pound weight and modest 9mm chambering made the gun exceptionally controllable. About 1.1 million copies were produced between 1940 and 1944 before it was supplanted by the 7.92mm MP44 assault rifle (also known as the StG44).
Britain
After Dunkirk, the United Kingdom found itself with an army essentially intact but bereft of weapons. With the Germans poised to strike across the channel, the British desperately needed an inexpensive combat firearm that could be produced en masse using rudimentary equipment. Reginald Shepherd and Harold Turpin working at Enfield ultimately developed a truly revolutionary subgun — the Sten, named for the “S” and “T” of their names combined with the “en” of Enfield.
The selective-fire 9mm Sten in its simplest form consisted of a mere 47 parts and cost $9 to produce. That’s about $126 today. This pressed steel subgun cycles at around 500 rpm and feeds from a side-mounted double-stack, single-feed pressed steel 32-round magazine. The Sten breaks down easily into tidy components suitable for concealment and was widely distributed to underground forces in occupied Europe as a result.
The Sten gun was derided as the “Stench Gun” or “Plumber’s Nightmare” by its many detractors. The action was generally reliable, though the magazine fared poorly, particularly in dirty, sandy environments. The side-mounted magazine made operations from the prone convenient, something that doesn’t mean a great deal unless you’ve ever actually ducked incoming fire. The gun weighed a bit north of 7 pounds, and around 4.5 million copies were produced.
Soviet Union
More so than any other major combatant, the Russians faced an existential threat from the Nazis. Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion in human history, saw some three million Axis troops invade the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 over an 1,800-mile front. With its national survival on the line, the Russians churned out submachine guns like their very lives depended upon it.
Though the Soviets ultimately used several SMGs, it was the PPSh-41 that became a national icon. Designed by Russian small arms designer Georgy Shpagin, this 7.62x25mm bullet hose was called the “papasha” by those who used it. This loosely translates as “Daddy.”
The selective-fire PPSh-41 orbited around a simple pressed steel receiver and one-piece wooden buttstock. The gun fed from either a curved 35-round stick magazine or a 71-round drum. The Soviets eventually equipped entire battalions with this fast-firing weapon. With a cyclic rate of around 900 rpm, the PPSh was a fearsome close-quarters tool.
The Soviets produced around six million copies, and the gun remained in service in some of your less well-funded war zones well into the 1970s. The PPSh is awkward to carry and, in my opinion, unpleasant to shoot. I find the rate of fire to be a bit fast for my tastes, and the gun is notorious for ejecting straight up and dropping empties on top of your head.
United States
The United States entered World War II with whatever it had handy. As regards submachine guns, that meant the .45 ACP M1928A1 Thompson. Heavy, cumbersome, and expensive, the Thompson was obsolete before the first bomb fell at Pearl Harbor.
The M1928A1 was nearly identical to the M1921 John Dillinger used to terrorize the countryside during Prohibition. Built around a heavy milled receiver, the M1928A1 cost $209 in 1939. That’s about $2,900 today. The gun took 50-round L-drums as well as 20 or 30-round double-stack, double-feed stick magazines.
On the heels of last week’s landmark Supreme Court decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen, Majority Democrats in Trenton doubled down on even more Second Amendment infringements by passing yet another package of gun bills. This is the third gun-control package put forward by Gov. Phil Murphy, as the previous packages continue to be abject failures.
Your NRA-ILA was in Trenton last week to testify against these bills in both the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Senate Law & Public Safety Committee. This has never been about public safety, and gun owner concerns on these bills were resoundingly dismissed. Legislators were challenged to point to a single case in New Jersey where a .50 Cal was used in the commission of a crime – no examples were offered. It was also pointed out that not a single state has been able to implement microstamping because the technology is not feasible. Anti-gun politicians ignored these issues and moved forward with more gun bans, registration, and onerous requirements simply to possess a firearm.
The following bills cleared both chambers this week and are headed to the Governor for his signature.
A.1302 Ammunition registration.
A.1765 Manufacturer liability.
A.4368 Microstamping.
A.4370 Mandatory training for FID card issuance.
S.1204 Registration of guns by new residents.
S.2846 10 years in jail for previously legal gun kits.
S.2905 Bans .50 Caliber BMG.
In addition to last week’s Supreme Court ruling, which forced the New Jersey Attorney General to direct issuing authorities to stop enforcing “justifiable need,” the court this week also vacated lower court decisions on magazine and semi-auto bans and remanded those cases back to the lower courts for reconsideration. However, New Jersey politicians insist on passing more gun laws that ignore the Constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners. Rest assured, we will continue to oppose all infringements and vigorously challenge them.
Please continue to follow NRA-ILA alerts for the latest updates and developments.
Anti-Second Amendment politicians returned to Albany late this week and did the bidding of Gov. Kathy Hochul. She called the Legislature back into an “extraordinary” session this week. The session was anything but extraordinary. Lawmakers sat around in Albany for 36 hours while one party wrote the bill. In typical one-party-rule fashion, this was done under a “message of necessity” with bill language made available for the first time in the middle of the night. The normal three-day aging process for legislation was cast aside. The public was almost universally shut out.
Democrats in Albany are accustomed to getting their way. Why would anyone expect them to listen to the United States Supreme Court? As a result, they wasted little time scurrying to find workarounds in the wake of the landmark NYSRPA v. Bruen decision which struck down the state’s unconstitutional “proper cause” standard for the issuance of pistol permits. New York’s Governor and Legislature answered by drastically expanding “gun-free zones.” As one Senator remarked, this bill essentially makes the entire state of New York a gun-free zone. In remarkable fashion, they took this opportunity to go above and beyond simply thumbing their nose at the Supreme Court and expanded their attack on the Second Amendment to include everything from ammunition background checks, to point-of-contact status, to mandatory storage, among others.
The Majority Party initially said they were doing this to “comply” with Bruen, but in closing remarks those pretenses seemed to be dropped (or forgotten) when Senators began revealing their true motives. Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Washington Heights) said they were doing this to “counter” the Supreme Court. These actions almost certainly guarantee that New York will be back in front of the Supreme Court.
Today’s vote shows how little regard New York Democrats have for the rule of law and our institutions. This should come as little surprise, as the state has seen historic crime under a one-party-rule and bail “reform” in combination with anti- policing policies that have ceded control of the streets to criminals. Fortunately, New Yorkers will have a tremendous opportunity in November to replace Gov. Hochul and her cronies.
Please continue to follow these NRA-ILA alerts for the latest developments and updates.
North Carolina: Carry Permit Training Bill Going to Senate Floor
Today, the Senate pulled House Bill 49 from the Committee on Rules and Operations and will send it to the floor for final passage. It requires sheriffs to waive the training requirement for former concealed carry permit holders who apply for renewal within 60 days of their previous permit expiring. If the permit has been expired for more than 60 days, but less than 180 days, the training requirement is waived for the completion of a refresher course. This ensures that law-abiding citizens who inadvertently let their permit expire can apply for a new one without as much time and expense.
Though this bill is not a large step for Second Amendment rights in North Carolina, it is nonetheless another pro-self-defense bill that the General Assembly is sending to an anti-gun governor. Governor Roy Cooper is expected to veto this, as he vetoed the pistol permit repeal and the worshipper protection bill from last year.
This is a reminder to all law-abiding gun owners that they must be ready to vote this year to elect lawmakers who will work to protect their rights. Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org and your email inbox for further updates.
The war in Ukraine is unique in modern times. For me, not since World War II has the delineation between the “good guys” and the “bad” been more stark. Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for foreign volunteers to help repel the Russian invaders gave warriors from other nations the opportunity to strike a blow. More than 20,000 troops answered the call.
Now that the West has gotten tooled up in its support, Ukraine is a melting pot of weapons. Small arms from all over Europe and the U.S. can be seen in news footage. Most of the weapons used by Ukrainian-aligned fighters, however, are still AK-74 variants.
The Kalashnikov assault rifle is one of the most significant mechanical contrivances ever devised by man. This radically reliable combat tool designed by a Russian soldier went on to shape the geopolitical affairs of humanity in ways no one might have imagined back in 1949 when it first saw service. Since then, the Kalashnikov has undergone a variety of upgrades.
The first transformation took place in 1959 when the milled receiver 7.62x39mm AK-47 (which replaced a first, ultimately unsuccessful attempt at a stamped-receiver version) was supplanted by the exceedingly successful stamped-receiver AKM. That rifle went on to become the most-produced firearm in human history. It is simply ubiquitous.
In the mid-1960’s, the U.S. Army transitioned from the 7.62x51mm M14 (to learn more about the service life of the M14, click here) to the 5.56x45mm M16 (to learn more about the story of the M16, click here). The switch to a lightweight, high-velocity cartridge allowed troops to carry more ammo and offered increased firepower over the previous heavier, bulkier weapons. Throughout the war in Vietnam, the Soviets watched and schemed.
First introduced into series production in 1976, the upgraded AK-74 orbited around an entirely new cartridge. The AK-74’s radical new M74 5.45x39mm round was a rimless bottlenecked design that incorporated a variety of novel features.
The original 7N6 5.45x39mm cartridge propelled a long boat-tail 52.9-gr. bullet to around 2,900 feet per second out of a standard AK-74 barrel. The bullet included a 22.1-gr. mild steel penetrator encased within a jacket made from gilding metal. Gilding metal is a unique type of brass with a markedly larger percentage of copper than zinc when compared to more typical brass alloys. Most commonly this ratio runs about eight to one.
A lead insert filled out the projectile, but the manufacturing process typically left a small air pocket in the nose. This moved the center of gravity to the rear and ensured a tendency for the round to tumble violently upon contact with something soft and squishy. The Berdan-primed steel cases were finished with a brown lacquer.
The recoil energy of the 7N6 5.45x39mm round was 3.39 Joules. The American M193 5.56x45mm round produced 6.44 Joules. That of the Combloc M43 7.62x39mm cartridge was 7.19 Joules. The end result is exceptionally controllable.
The AK-74
The Soviets designed a family of weapons around their new 5.45x39mm round. The AKS-74U fills the submachine gun role, while the RPK-74 is used as a squad-level light machinegun. Today, the most common AK-74 infantry rifle is the AK-74M.
Introduced in 1991, the AK-74M includes a side-folding polymer buttstock and black synthetic furniture. About half of the parts of the AK-74M are compatible with the previous AKM. Both rifles utilize the same uber-reliable long-stroke, gas piston-driven action.
The chromed-bore barrel of the AK-74M is 16.3″ long with a 1-in-7.87″ twist rate. Both the front sight base and gas block were redesigned over the previous AK. Most AK-74 gas blocks now meet the barrel at a right angle, where the previous AKM version was rakishly swept back. The gas block includes a lug that will accommodate either a bayonet or the removable GP-25 under-barrel muzzle-loading 40mm grenade launcher. Original rifle magazines hold 30 rounds and are formed in two halves cemented together with epoxy resin. Subsequent versions were molded from ABS plastic.
Where previous Kalashnikov rifles had a threaded muzzle, the front sight base of the AK-74M has a sleeved extension over the muzzle end of the barrel that is threaded to accept a muzzle attachment. The AK-74M’s complex muzzle brake includes an expansion chamber, two vertical cuts at the muzzle end and three offset vent holes to help counteract the tendency of the rifle to climb up and to the right. There are two major types of AK-74 muzzle brakes in service. Only the geekiest of gun nerds can tell them apart. It is a superb design.
Range Time
The manual of arms is timeless Kalashnikov. The charging handle reciprocates rigidly with the bolt. Magazines must be hooked in front and rocked back to seat. The resulting leverage allows a full a magazine to be loaded easily with the bolt closed.
The right-sided fire selector is clunky but effective. Up is safe, and down is semi. The middle position is rock and roll. Just reading these two paragraphs will tell you everything you need to know to get the gun into action.
Recoil on the AK-74M is not a real thing, and the rifle is great fun on the range. In the hands of Ukrainian fighters, it is exacting a terrible butcher’s bill among invading Russian forces. Lightweight, effective, and utterly reliable, the AK-74M will no doubt figure prominently in the world’s conflicts for decades to come.
AK-74 FAQ
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about the AK-74 rifle.
What Is an AK-74?
The AK-74 is an assault rifle designed by the former Soviet Union. It first entered production in 1976 as an evolution of the AK-47 platform.
What Does the AK-74 Shoot?
The AK-74 is chambered for the 5.45×39 cartridge. The original 7N6 load used a 52.9-grain boattail bullet with a muzzle velocity of about 2,900 fps. Inside the bullet was a 22.1-grain mild steel penetrator.
Who Made the AK-74
Originally, the Soviet Union (USSR) designed and manufactured the AK-74. Since that time, manufacturing expanded to other Communist Bloc countries.
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What I call a nice blade and sheath!
