Bill Mahr was recently talking with the infamous gun hating Micheal Moore, saying he has guns, and he has no plan on giving them up. This is a bit of different type of tune Mahr seems to be singing just five short months ago, when he preaching how the NRA is an assassin group.  Mahr goes on to proclaim there had been over a dozen break-ins over the last six months and Mahr wants a fighting chance if he were to wake up in his bed versus being “mowed down”.

Here’s a clip from his show criticizing the NRA and gun ownership.

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The SHOT Show that the NSSF puts on every year will not longer be managed Reed Exhibitions.  While there is an official statement, but if I had to guess the events earlier in the year when Reed Exhibitions decided to prohibit AR15 style Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show. There is no word as to who may take Reed Exhibitions place in putting on the SHOT Show that is held every year.

The official NSSF statement from the blog is:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, today announced that it has reached an agreement with Reed Exhibitions to terminate the agreement the parties had for the management of the SHOT Show. Accordingly, effective immediately, Reed Exhibitions will no longer be manager and producer of the SHOT Show.

Reed Exhibitions provided excellent service to NSSF and the customers of the SHOT Show for more than three decades, however, the company’s decision to restrict the sale of certain types of firearms this year at its consumer hunting and fishing show — an event unrelated to NSSF and the SHOT Show — was in conflict with NSSF’s mission to serve the shooting sports industry. As a result, both organizations decided it was in the best interest of the SHOT Show to end their relationship.

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“OK, I got it. More muskrat and mice might be alive. OK.  I think we can put up with that.”  - Joe Biden

This is the second in a three part series.  The first focused on the disconnect between what politicians and the media say is needed and what they are doing to achieve it.  The third will focus on the decision to build an AR-15 variant and the complexity of choices for it.  This edition focuses on the need for hunting and how it relates to the Second Amendment.

Hunting has been around as long as people have.  In many portions of the US, hunting has changed from a primary source of sustenance to something that is done occasionally.  Some folks have stated that there is no longer a need for hunting in the U.S. since “you can buy meat in grocery stores”.  I decided to take a look at the factors that would contribute to no longer needing hunting and see which ones, if any were met.  Beyond that, I wanted to look at why AR rifles are getting used more in hunting and how this all ties back in to the Second Amendment.

So why hunt?  If meat is available in grocery stores – doesn’t that fulfill the entire need.

• No food insecurity (i.e. enough for everyone)
• Readily available free-range, low fat, non-GMO, and non-antibiotic meat at prices everyone can afford.
• Invasive species no longer a threat to people, ecosystems, and agriculture
• Ecosystems are in balance with predators controlling wildlife population

Food (in)security. Of all the different questions, this is was the easiest to find statistics on.  The USDA refers to it as “access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members”.  In 2011 only 14.9% of U.S. households had food insecurity.  That is entirely too many hungry people. This No Need for Hunting claim fails this test.

Readily available, free-range meat.  In order to pass this test, the meat must be available at a wide range of grocery stores and butcher shops.  While none of the shops had much, if any, meat that fit the requirements, several did have pork on sale.  A whole pig was available for $1.25/lb.  This was for a common factory raised pig.  By comparison wild pig would have a comparable cost of $.38/lb.* The numbers used for calculating these are at the end of the article. This No Need for Hunting claim fails this test.

Invasive Species.  For this to pass, invasive species should not be widely present or causing large amounts of damage.  Invasive species cover a great portion of the U.S. and threaten agriculture and other animals.  Whether it is pythons in Florida, Armadillos in the Midwest, or feral pigs across the U.S.  invasive species continue to increase their presence.   To keep things short, pigs remained the focus for this test.  According to MSN “Feral pigs can be found in more than three-quarters of the U.S. and are responsible for an estimated $1.5 billion in damages each year.” This No Need for Hunting claim fails this test.

Ecosystems in Balance.  For this test to work, wildlife populations should be self controlling between predators and prey.  Populations of both groups should be largely in balance with neither one gaining in relative numbers. Typically humans have been the cause of imbalance, expanding suburbs into previous wood or farmland and killing natural predators.  Deer in neighborhoods, cougar attacks, or overproducing prairie dogs all show an imbalance.  This document by the State of NC even states “Hunting during the legally established hunting season should be the preferred method of reducing a deer population where weapons are legal.” Once again, another No Need for Hunting claim fails the test. In short, none of the tests against hunting passed.  Instead hunting has been something that controls both game animals and invasive species.  It provides a way for people to pass along knowledge of safe handling of firearms, traditions, and skills from one generation to another.  For over two decades states have provided hunter education courses that help ensure a common baseline understanding of skills, equipment, safety, and sportsmanship to hunters.  It is rare to see an experienced hunter display the ignorance of firearms components or the mishandling and lack of safety that several politicians frequently exhibit.

So what does hunting have to do with the Second Amendment?  A conversation I had recently with a Special Forces soldier really highlighted it for me.  He stated that as they went through the qualification course and training it was easy to see those who were most comfortable with firearms.  They were the ones that had prior firearm experience, often while growing up and commonly through hunting.  Once in the military some of them had to refine their skills and change some of their processes, but it was relatively easy with the strong foundation. When considering the skills needed for a militia member the knowledge and skills with a firearm are certainly useful.  The early U.S. soldiers who expanded their hunting skills based on the tactics of the Native Americans served as a precursor to the modern Rangers.  From both the historical and practical perspective I believe hunters and hunting provide foundational qualifications needed for the militia identified in the Second Amendment. _______________________________________________________________________________________ *My high school math teacher from 20 years ago will read this and he will call me at home for not showing my work.  For the domestic price I checked with several local businesses that sell whole hogs for cooking.  They all provided very similar prices.  To determine the wild hog price the following numbers were used.  Rifles are durable items and last generations.  For the rifle cost I used $25 to represent a portion of the purchase and maintenance costs with another $10 for ammunition. I added another $10 to the hunting cost to cover any fuel for driving to the hunting area or some ancillary costs.  This equates to $45 for 120 pounds of pig. ~$.38/lb.  Another comparison I was provided showed ground venison (deer) burger $.98/pound. Ground hamburger $3.00+/pound.

Travis grew up in the Midwest in an area where firearms and hunting were the norm.  As an Army officer he has served on active duty and the reserves including overseas tours in Korea and Afghanistan.  He has had the opportunity to shoot many types of small arms and has seen the results of most modern military weaponry.  Presently he works with cyber-security and resides in North Carolina with his family.

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The oldest firearm manufacture in the world is threatening to move it’s US headquarters from Maryland to Virginia. Citing laws as the reason for the move, I can’t help but to wonder if the politicians are trying to pass these laws will regret it come November.

Beretta has been making guns since 1526, so I would imagine a company that old knows how to deal with making a smooth transition to a new location.  Now if Beretta was closer to where I live, I hope I can convince someone to let me get a tour of their new location.

If you aren’t sure why this is such as big deal, just keep this in mind, the 9mm Beretta offers the M9, is carried by almost all the servicemen in the US, so it’s not likely Beretta is going out of business anytime soon.  Beretta also owns Benelli, a well known shotgun maker that also happens to make the shotgun carried by several branches of the military.

Good for Beretta for standing up to these politicians, who forget where their paychecks come from, THE PEOPLE!

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This is the first of a multi-part series for Gun and Game that takes a look at Second Amendment rights and relevant gun usage in the 21^st Century.  This article focuses on some of the issues for the current gun control debate and what could be done to resolve them.

While having a conversation with Chris, the owner of this site, he asked what my opinion was on some of the proposed gun control legislation and whether I would write something for his website. He knew some of my background including military service with a tour in Afghanistan, a disagreement with misquoted research, and an interest in finding the common ground for a given situation.  Basically the opposite of most elected officials. I wanted to make sure I had a solid base before writing this article.  As part of the research for this, I read a tremendous amount of studies, articles, and opinion pieces.

This was followed up with research of online forums and interviews with people from a broad range of backgrounds.  Gun rights supporters, proponents of pending legislation, people who had been shot in combat, people who grew up in rural areas where hunting was the norm, people who live in urban areas, gun owners, concealed carry people, and those with no firearms in their homes.  Several of the people fit in multiple categories.  My thanks go out to each of them for taking the time to speak with me and help me understand their views, even if we didn’t agree fully on the issues.

The different people I spoke with provided their view on where common ground might lie in the middle.  To paraphrase one person, “I don’t understand all of the terminology but want to see gun violence reduced.  If the proposed legislation doesn’t have the right wording – what should it have in it?”

With that in mind – here are some of the issues and a quick run down of “doing something” that could actually produce results.

The Issue: Inadequate Information. There are multiple studies cited by the different groups to back up their positions.  The misquoting of research to support individual positions made a Presidential debate look completely transparent.       Unfortunately, too many people and media outlets accepted the referenced quote as completely quote valid.  Reports are published on how people misuse firearms but what about the ones who are responsible gun owners?  How can we emulate the successes of millions of firearms owners whose guns are not used in crimes?

What Media Outlets Could Provide: During the Presidential debates, CNN, other media outlets, and independent groups looked at what was said, read the supporting information, then published articles on how close to reality the statements were.  Unfortunately, the widespread, public service fact checking seems to have disappeared when it relates to firearms discussions.

What Government Could Provide: Several articles cited were produced under government direction.  The government can make more information available and accessible to researchers.  In addition, providing contextual information will help the researchers and the public to make valid conclusions.  How do the numbers of deaths resulting from Scary Black Guns (SBG)s, handguns, baseball bats, swimming pools, and surgery mistakes compare to each other.?

The Issue: Gun Laws.  If something isn’t where we want it to be, then new laws get proposed.  Many pieces of current legislation seek to prohibit SBGs, something that makes up a very small percentage of gun related crime.  When the legislation provides exemptions to special interests and receives their endorsement, it should cause concerns for the average citizen.  If it is an “assault flashlight” I don’t want to encounter a police officer using it.  A retired police officer even less so.   Firearms legislation presently makes the federal tax laws look simple by comparison.   Above all, if proposed legislation is supposed to provide a form of protection or deterrent how does it reform or replace other existing and ineffective legislation?

What the Government could provide: A site that hosted lists of all the current legislation, allowed easy searching, and could provide context relevant information would be tremendously valuable. This sounds like a great challenge for the Department of Justice.  I look forward to the Government 2.0 website and app that helps people understand and be compliant with the laws.  Don’t make people accidental criminals because they didn’t do a sufficient Google search for firearms laws in every county they might pass through on a trip to a hunting location.

The Issue: Innovation for Firearm Safety:  Many gun control advocates complained that the firearms industry has not proposed additional safeguards. What doesn’t get stated are the number of innovations related to locks, safes, and even education classes.   Locks are designed to delay someone from getting access to an item.  Accepting that delays are an effective safeguard  – why not look at other forms?  If the existing gun industry doesn’t have new ideas, why not expand the pool of innovation?

What the Government could provide: I talked with some manufacturers about their challenges with bringing new things to market, and they brought up the patent system and the delays in the system.  If innovation for firearms safety is actually a priority, then provide a Presidential Directive or Legislative proposal to expedite those patents through the system.

The Issue: Background Checks.  Most people support expanded background checks.  Especially if it is used to help make sure the person they are selling a firearm to is, at least according to the database, someone who is reasonably safe to sell to.  Right now it isn’t even an option.

What the Government could provide: For background checks – provide an App.  If the checks are not mandatory, at least have them as an option – most people would self-select to participate.  Allow individuals to initiate the checks.  Requiring all sales and checks to occur at a FFL would cause undue additional costs in both fees and time to the transactions.  Don’t make it harder for people to be safer.  In many states people who have a problem with gambling can call a number and have their name added to a “no gambling” registry.  Why not let people self-select to be on the restricted list for purchasing firearms?

Many states let people voluntarily place their name on lists so they won’t be allowed in casinos or other places for gambling.  Why not offer something like this on a national level for firearms purchases?  If someone has personal reasons or a concern that they should not be purchasing firearms, let them sign up for a period of time 3, 6, 12 months or even 5 years.

Straw Purchases: Essentially this is people purchasing firearms for others who could not otherwise purchase them.  This seems to get tied in closely with performing background checks and requires a gun registration database to be effective.

What the government could provide:  Presently the public lacks information about government backed straw purchase programs.  The one commonly discussed is the “Fast and the Furious”.  Are other programs in place and are the senior members of government aware of them?  This petition seeks to require the current and future presidents to having visibility on federally endorsed straw purchases. Additionally, the government could supply educational information on what a straw purchase looks like and how to avoid selling to a straw purchaser.  Perhaps even identifying existing laws related to these purchases and seeking what works best from the existing legislation.

Safe Gun Handling:  Common guidelines for safe gun handling and storage have existed for years.  The amount of media pieces or press conferences that showed mishandling of firearms was amazing.  If a commentator, legislator, law enforcement official, or anyone else doesn’t have the basics of handling a firearm, they shouldn’t be demonstrating things to the public.

What the Media and Government could provide:

Don’t show unsafe practices unless clearly identifying them as such.  Provide accurate statements about capabilities.  The NRA provides a handy reference on their website that covers many of these items.  There are even classes that deal with firearm handling.  These range from the Hunter Education classes in each state to training and education courses.  I have an open invitation from a firearm safety instructor in Iowa to provide a free two-hour course for members of the media and elected officials.  The only restriction is they need to attend the entire two hours, not just show up for five minutes as a photo opportunity.  Since Iowa is part of the early campaigning, which future presidential candidate will show up first?  Mr. Biden?

In the next article in this series we focus on the hunter/conservationist perspective.  The third and final article in the series is titled – “How I started researching gun legislation and ended up building a 6.8 SPC for boar hunting”.  If you have insights or anecdotes you would like to contribute, please join in the discussion on the Gun and Game forums.  Provide a link.

Travis grew up in the Midwest in an area where firearms and hunting were the norm.  As an Army officer he has served on active duty and the reserves including overseas tours in Korea and Afghanistan.  He has had the opportunity to shoot many types of small arms and has seen the results of most modern military weaponry.  Presently he works with cyber-security and resides in North Carolina with his family.

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Olympic Arms is the latest to join this movement, releasing this statement:

Olympic Arms is a staunch believer in and defender of the Constitution of the United States, and with special attention paid to the Bill of Rights that succinctly enumerates the security of our Divinely given Rights. One of those Rights is that to Keep and Bear Arms.

Legislation recently passed in the State of New York outlaws the AR15 and many other firearms, and will make it illegal for the good and free citizens of New York to own a large selection of legal and safe firearms and magazines. We feel as though the passage of this legislation exceeds the authority granted to the government of New York by its citizens, and violates the Constitution of the United States, ignoring such SCOTUS rulings as District of Columbia v. Heller – 554, U.S. 570 of 2008, McDonald v. Chicago – 561 U.S. 3025 of 2010, and specifically the case of United States v. Miller – 307 U.S. 174 of 1939.

Due the passing of this legislation, Olympic Arms would like to announce that the State of New York, any Law Enforcement Departments, Law Enforcement Officers, First Responders within the State of New York, or any New York State government entity or employee of such an entity – will no longer be served as customers.

In short, Olympic Arms will no longer be doing business with the State of New York or any governmental entity or employee of such governmental entity within the State of New York – henceforth and until such legislation is repealed, and an apology made to the good people of the State of New York and the American people.

If the leaders of the State of New York are willing to limit the right of the free and law abiding citizens of New York to arm themselves as they see fit under the Rights enumerate to all citizens of the United State through the Second Amendment, we feel as though the legislators and government entities within the State of New York should have to abide by the same restrictions.

This action has caused a division of the people into classes: Those the government deems valuable enough to protect with modern firearms, and those whose lives have been deemed as having less value, and whom the government has decided do not deserve the right to protect themselves with the same firearms. Olympic Arms will not support such behavior or policy against any citizen of this great nation.

Olympic Arms invites all firearms manufacturers, distributors and firearms dealers to join us in this action to refuse to do business with the State of New York. We must stand together, or we shall surely fall divided.

Sincerely,

Brian Schuetz
President

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nce again all the media folks covering the SHOT Show have been invited out to Boulder Pistol & Rifle Range in Boulder City, Nevada minutes away from Hoover Dam. The latest and greatest is put on for testing for all that attend.

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The SIG MPX allows for “in the field” changing of barrels to meet the needs of any operation.  The firearm comes in multiple configuration from semi-auto, and select fire for government teams.  The SIG MPX will come in 9mm, 40 S&W, and .357 SIG.  The the different barrel configurations offered the longer .357 SIG could very easily offer armor piercing capabilities where M4 or MP5 setup is not an option.

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Since the President spoke about gun control last December gun, ammo, and accessory sales have been through the roof. Mapul, the creators of the infamous polymer magazine for the AR15 and Military counterpart  has been accepting backorders for the black PMag at Brownings and a few other online retailers.  Rumors are that the backorder number has hit over 1 million backorders…..

Guess I won’t be seeing an iPhone 5 case from Magpul anytime soon…until then here is the Facebook status that set everything in motion today.

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SHOT Show 2013 is finally here once again! I’m finishing up packing for the week long event that hopefully will set the stage for what is to come in 2013.  Many companies have already begun releasing information on their new products.  We’ve even begun posting some of the offerings from ATI Gun Stocks, and a few other great partners.

My biggest predictions for this year is that the zombie craze is over – not the cool zombie targets, but the zombie covered everything.  I will admit it was fun, and I really enjoy my ATI Zombie stock for my Mossberg 500 but it’s time to put that to bed.  I’m also interested to hear how the industry will be taking on the politics since this will require everyone to come together to facedown the politicians that try take away our given rights.

If you are unfamilar with what SHOT is…think of it as a CES for the firearm/hunting/outdoor industry.  We will be blogging and posting in the forum with pics and other interesting things I find out there this year. Last year it was amazing and the stats show that. Here is a blurb from the official site:

The largest trade show of its kind in the world and the fifth largest trade show in Las Vegas, a city of trade shows, the 2012 SHOT Show set an overall attendance record of more than 61,000, including new highs for buyers at 36,383 and media at 2,466. Though show organizers deliberately reduced the size of the show to better accommodate attendees at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, still some 1,600 exhibitors filled booth space covering 630,000 net square feet. The show attracted industry professionals from all 50 states and 100 countries.

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