NEWINGTON, N.H., (February 16, 2022) – SIG SAUER Electro-Optics is pleased to announce the ROMEO2 Red Dot sight is now shipping – a mil-spec reflex sight, built for maximum durability and tested to withstand the extreme environments of every mission.
The ROMEO2 is a Red Dot Reflex Sight that features a molded glass aspheric lens with high-performance coatings for superior light transmittance and zero distortion, a selectable circle dot reticle available in 3 MOA, 6MOA, or 10MOA, and offers D.A.R.C. (Dark Adaptive Reticles and Coatings) technology to provide ideal reticle brightness and target clarity while using a Gen3+ night vision device, MOTAC™ (motion-activated illumination system) and MAGNETAC™ (magnetic activation) that automatically turns the optic off when holstered and on when drawn. The sight has a 7075-aluminum housing and comes with two (2) steel shrouds for three (3) different optic configurations, to include fully enclosed and sealed. The ROMEO2 will fit all SIG pistol slides with the PRO slide cut and many other slides cut to accept the DPP. A spring-loaded side battery tray with push-button release allows a battery change without the need to remove the optic from the firearm. The ROMOE2 was designed, developed, tested, and assembled in the U.S.A.
The SIG SAUER Electro-Optics ROMEO2 is now shipping. To watch the product video or learn more about the ROMOE2 and the complete SIG SAUER Electro-Optics line of products visit sigsauer.com.
About SIG SAUER, Inc. SIG SAUER, Inc. is a leading provider and manufacturer of firearms, electro-optics, ammunition, airguns, suppressors, and training. For over 250 years SIG SAUER, Inc. has evolved, and thrived, by blending American ingenuity, German engineering, and Swiss precision. Today, SIG SAUER is synonymous with industry-leading quality and innovation which has made it the brand of choice amongst the U.S. Military, the global defense community, law enforcement, competitive shooters, hunters, and responsible citizens. Additionally, SIG SAUER is the premier provider of elite firearms instruction and tactical training at the SIG SAUER Academy. Headquartered in Newington, New Hampshire, SIG SAUER has over 2,700 employees across eleven locations. For more information about the company and product line visit: sigsauer.com.
When I’m not doing gun stuff I like to enjoy creative media. Movies, shows, and games. Something I discovered after going down one of the YouTube rabbit holes is that I also like critical reviews of movies, shows, and games. I also enjoy a drink now and then, a good action novel, and funny commentary in a Scottish accent.
All of these things led me to The Critical Drinker, a serious satirical YouTube Channel run by Will Jordan. Will is the Author of the Ryan Drake series, a CIA spy thriller, direct action book series about the aforementioned character taking on the bad guys and doing spy stuff. It’s fun, and distracting, and a good escape from the grind. Everything I want out of my entertainment medias. Will Jordan and Larry Correia currently top my fun authors list.
But why I am I linking a borderline slurry video review of The Daily Wire’s indy film project?
A number of reasons. First among them is the base soundness of the advice. Second is the fact that a major school shooting is back in the news because of the Remington settlement.
Run. Hide. Fight. is the title of the independent action thriller flick about a high school teen who helps save her school from a Columbine style school shooting attack by the simple act of putting up smart resistance. The movie is a movie, so its dramatized and the characters do silly movie character things sometimes. It’s also clearly the efforts of a new, inexperienced, and emerging studio into the creative space.
Run. Hide. Fight. is the stop, drop, and roll of mass casualty attacks.
It is the most basic summation of priorities in workplace, school, or public shooting events. Shooting response is generally taught in some non-offensive (as possible), OSHA approved cartoon, powerpoint, or other ‘we need to check this off our list for workplace safety insurance reasons’ manner.
Workplace safety, especially for low likelihood events, is usually discussed in a very, “We are doing this because our work procedures mandate we talk about this.” tone that undercuts the overall seriousness of many emergencies. Shootings aren’t the only one that get this treatment, but some place like an autoshop with lifts are much more likely to have real world experience with events like crushing injuries than shootings so its staff, new and old alike, are more likely to consider these things ‘real’ where shootings are notional and not a real workplace threat.
It’s the same sort of mental blockade we operate on when it comes to basic firearms handling, or lack thereof, because we do not have a grounded basis for the injury that can result. Our understanding of the injury (unless we are among the small percentage of people in the world who have seen or felt gunshot wounds) is entirely perfunctory. It is notional. Unlike sharp objects or hot objects, which are injuries most of us have experienced, gunshots are theoretical and we do not have the reactive reworld experience to act in the same manner for avoidance.
Look no further than the amount of mouth breathing morons who will sit and record footage of a shooter in a building they are also in, but would be running to a safe place if the building was on fire.
We reactively and instinctively understand fire. We don’t understand gunfire. It isn’t real to us in the same way.
The behavior we are trying to enact on a reactive level, and largely failing, is the three most likely courses of action to reduce the likelihood of becoming one of the casualties.
Run.
Distance is your friend. The people at risk during a shooting are those nearest the shooter. We are assuming the shooter will be indiscriminate, although that is often not the case. The reaction is valid even if the shooter is looking for singular or specific targets, you are safer with more distance.
Hide.
If distance can’t be gained because circumstances do not allow it, being out of sight and out of mind is the next defensive measure. Being hidden is subject to the motives of the assailant. An assailant looking for you specifically will be checking the places you are supposed to be, if they know, like your desk or the common areas. So be elsewhere as soon as feasible. An assailant looking for targets of opportunity needs just enough closed doors or other barriers between you and them to be make you inconvenient to generate safety. An assailant meticulously searching spaces, and willing to damage their way through the typical barriers we put in place for privacy, will be difficult to hide from.
Fight.
Run is unavailable or nonviable as a reasonable way to protect yourself. Hide is unavailable or nonviable as a reasonable way to protect yourself. You must now cause enough damage to your threat to make them stop being a threat. This may result in their death or permanent disfigurement.
That sucks for them, so it won’t suck for you.
So, both an independently written and produced action flick about very emotive subject matter and reminder to stop, drop, and roll but for mass casualty attacks.
Gun Rights 101 hits the high points clearly and succinctly. Yzaguirre covers 40 “Big Lies” in 40 pages, with one or several “Fire Back”s that counter them. It’s perfect for the newly interested gun owner and advocate. Yzaguirre hits the high points of controversies in just a paragraph or two of accurate, easily communicated information that can be just as easily passed on by the reader to others. I wish I’d thought to write it. (If I had, I’d have expanded the Table of Contents to note each of the 40 lies so that each could be turned to directly.)
Tyler Yzaguirre is the founder and president of the Second Amendment Institute, a non-profit advocacy and legal foundation in the Washington, D.C. area. It is the newest of the set of activist pro-RKBA organizations, founded in 2016. The Institute worked with Dick Heller on Heller v District of Columbia (“Heller II”), in which the Supreme Court struck down four egregious obstacles to ready gun ownership in the District in September. Through its project Students for Self-Defense, SAI also recruits college students on campuses nationwide for pro-rights activism. In September, SAI hosted its annual Defending Freedom Action Summit in Richmond, which Yzaguirre likes to call “CPAC for the younger generation.”
[Full disclosure: I know Tyler and, despite the “younger generation” moniker, was a speaker at the DFAS. SAI is a growing organization with fresh energy and, as in other pro-2A organizations, I am a life member.]
I found I might respond differently to some of the arguments he covers. For example, about the falsehood that “States with more guns have more gun crime,” his comments don’t show how state-by-state or national statistics contradict that. And I’m skeptical that as many as “0.98% of legally owned guns were used in violent crimes” even in Texas. This isn’t supported by the footnoted reference, and conflicts with data I know.
There are near 400 million guns in the United States, where over 1,200,000 violent crimes occurred in 2019 (the latest year the FBI reports). That yields a much lower proportion, 0.3% if each crime were committed with a different gun. But in reality it is even far lower for two reasons: The great majority, 72%, of violent crimes aren’t even committed using firearms, and so many, perhaps 48% of violent crimes and up to 85% of urban firearm homicides, are committed by gang members reusing the same guns.
However, the point of this book is not to arm the typical new pro-gun enthusiast with masses of hard statistics. It is to provide easily grasped responses to common anti-gun tropes–and indeed, the comebacks are all relevant, concise, and effective.
The second half of the book is a thorough review of the 21st century’s two seminal Supreme Court Second Amendment decisions, Heller and McDonald. Heller confirmed the Constitutional right of individuals to “keep” arms and McDonald “incorporated” (extended) that right to the whole USA beyond the District of Columbia. Yzaguirre summarizes how these cases came about, the arguments presented, and what the decisions meant to the RKBA in much more (but very readable) detail.
This is a useful addition to the literature, falling between the plethora of articles describing each decision but much handier a than full-on academic book length treatment of them. And it’s timely, as we await SCOTUS’ decision in Bruen v New York State which should clarify the “bear” portion of our “right to keep and bear arms.” Let’s hope to see that case added to the book in its next edition.
Gun Rights 101 is well worth the $17.76 asked. Get it? Good.
Got it? Even better. If not, go get it.
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— DRGO Editor Robert B. Young, MD is a psychiatrist practicing in Pittsford, NY, an associate clinical professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
A rifle that could be seen as "compliant" displayed in the Sandy Hook lawsuit. It is only annoyingly less functional than "assault weapons"
In a chilling precedent that opens the way for more lawsuits against manufacturers for products their consumers misuse, Remington has agreed to pay $73 million dollars to the suing families in the Sandy Hook case after they alleged the products were marketed dangerously and that the weapons are substantially similar to the M16.
NOTE: This is a procedural public precedent, not a legal precedent, as this was settled and not finished by adjudication.
Remington Arms agreed Tuesday to settle liability claims from the families of five adults and four children killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to a new court filing, marking the first time a gun manufacturer has been held liable for a mass shooting in the U.S. – ABC News (full article at link)
Remington agreed to pay the families $73 million.
The settlement comes over seven years after the families sued the maker of the Bushmaster XM15-E2S semiautomatic rifle that was used in the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
The lawsuit, now settled, stated that both the AR-15 sold by Remington is substantially similar to the M16 and M4 rifles used by the military (objectively true, but also true of most products the military uses. These aren’t main battle tanks.) and that they had been reckless in their advertising.
Bushmaster Ad, via HuffPo
The allegation was the combination that the similarities between military arms and the AR-15 and the ‘macho’ advertising encouraged the aggressive behavior in Adam Lanza that resulted in the massacre at Sandy Hook.
This is a stretch in logic. We know this is a stretch in logic. Drug ODs were just confirmed to be more lethal than vehicles and firearms combined, but that doesn’t change the optics that were just created towards suing manufacturers of ‘Assault Weapons’ instead of pharmaceutical companies.
This is a highly dangerous precedent. Especially for smaller manufacturers who operate on tighter margins.
For any manufacturer or retailer who as ever run an ad that could be considered edgy, macho, aggressive, or otherwise encouraging violence in any abstract sort of way… considering these are weapons and violence doesn’t change all that much, beyond initiation, between defensive and offensive that opens a ton of terrifying doorways.
From Remingtons perspective it may have finally been cheaper to settle, I don’t know, but from the industry’s point of view this is offering a gateway for lawsuits after any shooting. This might include retailers too, small little mom and pop shops that can’t read a customer’s mind and have no information beyond what they volunteer and what the FBI says back from NICS. This could cripple small start-ups if their rifle or handgun gets used in a shooting of high enough profile.
This will hurt the industry, unless the terms of the settlement are far more favorable than I believe them to be.
Oh boy, let’s dive into holster selection, specifically a focus on basic holster selection. We aren’t going to be playing the acronym game and talking about OWB, IWB, and all that. No, we aren’t talking about the type of holster, who makes it, or where you stash. We are going higher level here. We are going to look at a variety of features that are important when it comes to holster selection. This advice could easily be applied to any holster used for concealed carry.
Rough Order of My Priorities for Holster Selection
It’s tough to make this a traditional listicle where I list the most important features in reverse or standard order. None of these are so much more important than the other. These features are all critical for holster selection, but I pay attention to some more than others. So it’s a rough order of my priorities.
Safety
Well, duh, holster selection is no different than anything else with guns. Safety is the first priority. How does safety apply to holster selection? Well, good question. First, a holster should deny access to your trigger. The trigger should not be exposed when holstered. This prevents anything from getting in between your trigger and holster and firing the weapon.
Speaking of the trigger, the holster shouldn’t have anything that can interact with the trigger. I don’t think I’ve seen a holster that does this intentionally, but plenty that do it accidentally. Lots of soft leather holsters and hybrid holsters will flex after being used for short periods. That flex will occur around the trigger guard and inside the trigger, which can interact with the trigger in a bad way.
If you go leather, you need to be willing to pick the very best leather makers out there. A good leather holster isn’t a cheap leather holster.
Holsters should be properly fitted to the gun. The gun shouldn’t move around inside the holster unless in the act of drawing or holstering the weapon. If the weapon moves around inside the holster, it’s unsafe and won’t sit still. If it doesn’t sit still, the trigger could easily be interacted, and the weapon fired. Or it could just fall out, embarrassing as well as unsafe.
Security (Inside and Out)
Security is the best term I could use to describe internal and external retention and should be a big factor in holster selection. Internal retention refers to how well the weapon is held within the holster. I see very little need for an active retention device (button, hood, strap, etc.) for concealed carry. However, you don’t want the gun popping out when you climb into your car, stand up too fast, or do any normal movement throughout your day.
Different people have different requirements, and most modern holsters allow for the adjustment of retention. You can easily increase the retention level by twisting a screw or adjusting a shock cord.
External retention is how the weapon stays put. What clip or loop system does it use to keep the holster and weapon tied to your belt. I avoid FOMI clips and prefer dual clips with belt catches sized appropriately for your belt. Loops also work very well. Avoid cheap, crappy clips that are likely to break, fail, or tend to not properly attach to your belt. I like metal, but it’s not a necessity.
Access
Another big part of holster selection is how fast and easily you can draw the weapon. Drawing involves a proper grip and proper clearance from the holster to achieve. I need to establish a good firing grip before I draw my firearm and act to engage a threat. When the holsters are too tight to the body, you can’t get a solid grip, and if the holster is too loose, the grip won’t remain in a predictable place.
Does the firearm offer enough clearance to clear your pants? If it’s an IWB rig and it’s made poorly, it might sit too low, creating a lip of material over the top of the holster. This can catch a part of your weapon or weapon accessory when drawn.
Reholster
I don’t need to be able to do one of those super quick, cool-looking reholsters. Those are dumb, and dangerous. I do want to be able to safely reholster without drawing my belt or using my other hand to do anything other than clear my cover garment. This means the holster cannot collapse when I draw or reholster.
This is where we go back to leather holsters. A good, stiff leather holster won’t collapse after the gun has been drawn. A polymer holster also won’t collapse. If the holster collapse when the gun leaves it, leave that holster in the 1870s.
Concealment
Finally, last but not least, concealment for a concealed carry holster is pretty important. However, it’s often more of a personal thing. Some people conceal different holsters better than others. What can matter is adjustability and modularity. If you can adjust the cant add a foam wedge or a claw, you might be able to help increase concealment.
Holster Selection Matters
We spend a lot of time (and money) choosing the right gun and the right ammo for concealed carry. Settling for a holster, you saw in a Facebook ad alone shouldn’t be the norm. Spend the time, and yes, the money, to find a good holster that checks off the priorities listed above.
An often-asked question by newcomers to the AR-15 space, is “can an AR compete with the accuracy of a bolt action rifle?” In all honesty, the premise of the question is a bit ridiculous.
While the AR-15 and clones have come a long way, they were never meant to compete with the accuracy of a bolt-action firearm.
Both guns are built for separate, strategic uses. It says a lot however, that you can simply attach an upper receiver conversion kit to an AR-15 and improve accuracy substantially.
While a replacement upper receiver isn’t the only thing you’ll need to significantly increase the accuracy potential with an AR-15, it can be proof enough that the modularity and market strength of the component parts for the AR-15 are such that you really can make vast improvements on what used to be a mainstream, relatively accurate firearm, and now has the potential of shooting sub minute-of-angle easily.
The Benefits of a Semi-Auto Platform
Again, this flawed logic that allows so many to ask whether an AR-15 can compete with a bolt gun doesn’t consider the other benefits that you get from using an AR-15 or a semi-automatic firearm in general.
But this isn’t an argument about which gun is better for which situations – it’s an article about the potential to compete favorably “all-in”, with a bolt-action firearm for things that perhaps the AR-15 was never intended to be used for.
For example, over the past decade or so the AR-15 has found quite a market in the hunting industry. Ordinarily a small caliber centerfire rifle wouldn’t have been able to span the huge spectrum of game targets in North America.
But the AR-15 has done so, of course thanks in part to such mainstream adoption and innovative ballisticians.
In the rest of this article, we’ll talk about things that have to do with accurizing the AR-15 and being competitive against other styles of firearms.
While we’re not ready to say that an AR-15 can compete one-on-one with a bolt-action rifle at long distances, the AR-15 has a lot of room for growth and many innovators in the AR-15 marketplace have made it their job to prove that it will be possible someday.
Do you need to compete on the most stringent accuracy requirement in a static way?
When you deep-dive into the concept of accurizing an AR-15, the question that should really be asked is whether you need to compete with a bolt action rifle on some static variable. Are you trying to compete with a bolt-action, say on Benchrest activities?
If so, it might not make as much sense as, say, competing with a bolt action rifle on large game animals for hunting.
The same might also be true if you’re trying to compete with a bolt-action hitting steel targets at 600 yd that measure more than a foot in diameter.
An AR-15 is going to be able to compete favorably, if you put the right components, time, and effort into building the firearm for doing so.
That’s the real benefit of the AR-15 platform: it can be many different things and do them well. The bolt action rifle only does one or two things well. It is always a specialist.
And competing against the bolt action on accuracy or simplicity at the granular level simply isn’t going to happen now. Bolt Actions are the star of the show if those are your priorities.
So, the real question again becomes, “Do I need to hit a game animal in a 13-inch area of their body consistently, or do I need to hit a quarter minute of angle at 400 yards?”
One task is quite reasonable to do, the other may not be so reasonable on an AR-15 – depending of course on how you build the rifle.
What are you trying to accomplish with the accuracy of your rifle? This will help to dictate how finite the accuracy needs are
So, what are you trying to do with this accurized AR-15?
Some obvious places where the AR-15 can be built to keep up, and even compete quite favorably from an accuracy perspective might be as follows:
Hunting large game
Hunting intermediate game at intermediate ranges
Varmint hunting – depending on the target and the cartridge upon which the rifle is built
Target’s that don’t have high scrutiny on group size, like steel or static targets without bull’s-eyes
Shooting under 400 yards
Anti-materiel or anti-personnel purposes in a law enforcement or military capacity, high precision at ranges under 250 yd
General home defense purposes
Large property or Ranch purposes
Depredation
Competition shooting where hits on target count more than group sizes
Where budget is not an issue
Let’s explore some of these concepts further, to determine how it is that we can fairly stack an AR-15 up against a bolt gun.
We believe the average reader might be quite surprised how well an AR-15 built to the right specifications can’t compete against something so purpose-built as an accurized bolt gun.
Hunting accuracy compared between an AR and a Bolt gun
As stated above, when hunting, the sweet spot to dispatch a game animal may be as small as 6 inches and as large as 15 inches, depending on the size of the animal. There’s a lot of room in that breadbasket, or even that headshot, if necessary, for accuracy deviation.
And that’s the matter that is at the heart of the debate: why do you need a sub quarter minute of angle potential if you only need to consistently hit a 13-inch target somewhere within its radius at 200 yards?
For tasks like this, a baseline AR-15 out of a factory will be plenty accurate enough to take this game animal.
The same is true for other game targets, including smaller targets, even at much greater distances. For example, one might be able to put on an upper receiver that’s geared towards the .224 Valkyrie and shoot a varmint at 400 yards that’s the size of a groundhog.
The extreme velocity and inherently good accuracy of the cartridge may be enough to carry you through that task consistently. The projectile doesn’t have enough time to manifest significant bullet drops or windage concerns.
Of course, if you extend that distance out to 800 yards, you’re going to need to be in a different class of projectile, or a different class of cartridge.
This is also where the AR can shine. Instead of using an AR-15, moving up to the larger AR-10 or 308 Winchester AR pattern, one can easily achieve this kind of accuracy. How does one achieve this kind of accuracy “easily”?
By utilizing a different class of cartridge, including something like the 6.5 Creedmoor. Out of a standard AR, built on the larger 308 platform, with a substantial barrel and the right loads, one can easily get close to half a minute of angle potential.
That said, achieving half minute of angle is a feat in any firearm, even a bolt gun, where many factory offerings don’t even offer that kind of accuracy out of the box.
So, with enough of a mindset, the appropriate willpower and deep enough pockets, anything’s possible with the AR platform when it comes to hunting accuracy.
Competition accuracy potential compared between an AR and a bolt gun
Shooting competitions have been a mainstay for AR-15 shooters in the past decade. They’ve been able to stay competitive because the AR-15 isn’t prioritized in competitions that are measured by the inch.
Rather they feature heavily in competitions that measure by the ability to hit a target at a static distance of a static size within a static time frame.
This is especially true when multiple targets need to be hit at distance in short sequences. In fact, the AR-15 has become so popular in competition circles because it is semi-auto and the ease of getting back on the target make it super simple to out-compete a bolt-action firearm.
Of course, you’re not going to take a bone stock AR-15 out of the factory box and put it up against a heavily tuned bolt action that’s been built on a monolithic chassis, bedded properly, accurized, and tuned with loads to hit sub-minute-of-angle or better at long ranges.
These guns were built to do different things.
That said, taking some of the concepts from the bolt action rifle world and putting them into the marketplace of the AR has allowed new innovative thinking on the lines of accuracy to come about.
Now there are factory-matched high-tolerance sets of receivers with substantial barrel attachment provisions that allow for heavier, higher-tolerance barrels with greater length and bespoke rifling twist rates and chamberings.
Gone are the days that you could only find a 16, 18, or 20-inch barrel in a light configuration or an HBAR. A lot has happened since the days of when Colt ruled the AR-15 landscape.
Built on a select receiver, utilizing AR-15 or AR-10 components, one can now build a gun with a one-off bespoke built barrel in their chosen caliber. What you can do now with the proper tooling and component parts is significantly more than what you could do even five years ago.
On the back of the introduction or even re-emergence of cartridges that push the agenda forward for accuracy, and still function and fit within the confines of the AR-15 platform, pretty much anything is possible competition-wise if you have the skill set, the time, and the money.
A final word about competition shooting with the AR-15 or AR-10 – any reasonable shooter is going to opt for a bolt-action firearm where that gives them the greatest competitive advantage.
No one goes into a competition expecting to lose because they need to hit a certain static variable of accuracy and can’t compete by means of the hardware they brought to the competition.
Shooters aren’t out there going into the realm of the bolt action, carrying a bone-stock AR-15, and trying to disrupt a quarter minute of angle at 600 yards or more. Competent shooters make transitions when they need to maintain competitiveness.
Specialized accuracy needs regarding the AR platform
Where should you look at, component-wise, if you are trying to make a highly accurate AR-15 or AR-10?
Below are listed in no specific order some of the component parts you want to pay particular attention to ensure that you have the right kind of accuracy potential.
The barrel should be the appropriate length, built to the appropriate dimension, chambered properly, and rifled to meet the load expectations that you have for shooting out of the firearm
The bolt and carrier should be properly fit, and the upper receiver channels should be lapped and honed to ensure concentricity
A proper trigger group, adjusted to the shooter’s needs should be a focal point
Balance is incredibly important in a competition or heavily accurized firearm. The AR-15 and AR10 tend to become quite front-heavy making it difficult to pull off the “consistency” component of an accurized rifle
A rock-solid front-end and bipod are necessary
If a bipod is not available or not allowed in a specific setting or competition, the balance of the rear part of the rifle becomes more important.
The upper and lower receiver should be mated together properly with close tolerance fitment if possible
The right optic and a lot of practice and experience on the range with the loads you plan on shooting through the rifle can be the game changer
The above bullet points shouldn’t push you away from prioritizing other aspects of your build on the AR platform when you’re going for accuracy, however these tend to have the biggest impacts immediately on the accuracy potential of a given firearm within the space.
Cost concepts when comparing an accurate AR to an accurate Bolt Action rifle
It should be abundantly clear by now, that accurizing an AR-15 to put it on-par, or at least in a competitive realm with a standard bolt action straight out of the factory, which generally will shoot sub minute of angle, isn’t particularly expensive. However it is relatively expensive compared to the bolt action.
When trying to move into the realm of half minute of angle that’s where things get quite a bit more expensive, and you can generally expect to spend at least two and a half times the cost on an AR-15 to get it to 1/2 minute of angle that you will have to spend on a bolt action rifle for the same accuracy.
If your bolt gun costs $1000 out of the factory and shoots ½ MOA, it will cost you more than $2,500, generally to build an AR that can do the same, performance-wise.
You may be in over your head if you would like to be in the quarter minute of angle class with an AR-15. An AR-10 is significantly easier to get into the quarter minute angle arena, however even it will cost 4 or 6 times as much as it costs to get a bolt action into the quarter minute of angle arena.
It should be mentioned also, that to build a consistently performant bolt action rifle in the quarter minute of angle category is itself, quite an endeavor. Single hole targets are possible as outliers, with regular bolt-action builds, but to consistently build a quarter minute of angle capable bolt action rifle is difficult.
To build a quarter minute of angle AR-15 or AR-10 is substantially more difficult than that. Further, an AR-10 will be less expensive to get to ¼ MOA than an AR-15.
When we say an AR-10 is easier to build a quarter minute of angle gun upon, it’s because of the cartridge availability and the longer action, which utilizes a heavier powder charge to compensate for some of the ballistic inefficiencies that are inherent in shorter cartridges with smaller projectiles.
With some of the newer cartridges on the market, like the 6.5 Grendel, the .300 Ham’r, and the .224 Valkyrie, among others, it is possible to shoot a quarter minute of angle, if you want to, and are within reasonable ranges, say under 350 yards.
Even then, this will be an expensive endeavor, and 350 yards would be at the extreme range of capabilities to keep those stringent accuracy requirements.
How accuracy improvements correspond to increasing weight and other concerns in the AR platform
Another concern the AR-15 or AR-10 will have other than cost and balance issues, is that it’s going to weigh more than a comparable bolt action.
Because of the build style of the AR-15, the fact that it’s made from two separate halves, and the inclusion of aluminum as the rigid central architectural structure, you lose the rigidity you might otherwise have in a bolt-action style rifle.
To compensate for that, each component part must be built to a separate rigidity standard, that is higher than that of the component parts of the bolt action, outside of its monolithic chassis.
When we refer to “monolithic chassis” rather than specifically talking about new takes on fully machined bolt action chassis, we refer to the idea of a stock and the integral pillars or bedding styles that allow the placement of the action into a monolithic structure, rather than something marketed as being built monolithically.
As a final note, in addition to a heavier weight rifle to achieve the same types of accuracy requirements, you will probably also find that at times, because of extreme demand, it is difficult to source certain accurized products, because demand is such that a wider swath of the market is contemplating accuracy style builds with the AR-15 and AR-10.
At the same time the makers in that space are significantly fewer than the mainstream component part makers. As the market matures and more competitions are shot well with an AR platform, and as hunting becomes a more central focus for the AR market, we will see more makers devoting more time to making more accurate parts.
Conclusions about competing from an accuracy perspective on an AR, with a bolt action rifle
To sum up: if you want to build an AR-15 or an AR-10 that’s as accurate as a bolt action – it’s possible.
What that means however, still needs to be prefaced by the user. You aren’t going to compete 1-to-1 with a bolt-action in certain endeavors. You won’t be shooting benchrest with single hole targets at 600 to 800 yards anytime soon with the AR-15, generally, even if you spend a bundle on your rig.
It simply isn’t built with the integral rigidity needed to compete with purpose-built bolt guns for that endeavor.
However, you can easily compete in the field on game targets. It’s been proven that you can also compete in competitions, where group size is deprioritized against rapid shot placement and total target hits.
What you will run up against, and the caveat when trying to accurize the AR-15 currently, is that it will cost you a lot more, the firearm will weigh more than a comparable bolt action for the same accuracy level, the sourcing of parts will be more difficult, and you’ll have your work cut out for you.
A final note: the AR-15 has come a long way. It’s also got a lot more room for growth than the bolt action rifle. Now is the time to start exploring if building a highly accurized platform-specific AR-type rifle is for you.
If becoming a gunsmith is an ambition you hold, then it’s best not to rush into it without considering how to make this type of business viable from a financial perspective.
Even if it is your passion to work with firearms, the reality is that unless you take certain steps, your small business could fail irrespective of your skills and expertise.
With that in mind, here are some of the most important steps you will need to take on the road to building a profitable gunsmith business.
Write a business plan
Every startup needs a business plan. This document will not just plot the trajectory you hope to take as you grow your operations, but should also highlight some of the challenges you will face along the way.
Writing an effective business plan is additionally advantageous because it will help you to secure early investment in your fledgling firm. It’s all about proving that there is the market to support you with demand for your services based on industry trends, as well as that you have the means to satisfy your customers.
Procure the right equipment
Gunsmiths rely on a range of tools and machinery to carry out their duties efficiently and effectively. Specialized, gunsmith-specific lathes are particularly important in the modern era, but they can be prohibitively expensive.
This is where second hand equipment can be your savior. With a used lathe machine from Revelation Machinery, even small firearm workshops can be kitted out with cost-effective gear that still gets the job done.
It’s definitely sensible to research the equipment you will need for your gunsmith business, so that these requirements and their likely costs can be included in your business plan. Being realistic about this upfront will help you avoid overstretching yourself, or forgetting something vital.
Secure investment
You need a cash injection to get your gunsmith business off the ground, and there are a few ways to go about this.
With a business plan in hand, you could court private investors, or you could seek a business loan from a traditional lender instead.
Alternatively if you have your own cash saved up, you could rely on this to set up the foundations of your company. However, this carries the greatest risk in terms of exposing you to the financial implications of your business failing, so it might not be ideal for everyone.
Whatever the case, your business plan should be the blueprint that lets you not only get the money you need, but also to work out how much you actually require in the first place.
Master marketing
Unless prospective customers know that your business exists, they won’t be able to take advantage of its services. Gunsmiths have the benefit of being an in-demand profession, and it makes sense to market yourself in trade magazines and relevant publications both in print and online, where you will be able to connect with your target audience with ease.
You also have to foster your own web presence, as a bit of digital marketing can go a long way, especially if you are on a tight budget. Aside from setting up a website for your business, creating social media accounts is important.
Sharing videos of your work on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube will establish your brand, introduce you to new customers and serve you well in the long term.
Keep customers happy
When you begin to gather momentum with your gunsmith business, it’s crucial to do your best to satisfy those early customers so that they keep coming back to you in the future.
Retaining loyal customers is easier and more affordable than winning over new ones, and this applies whatever area of business you are in.
This is the official ATF Social Media post for Valentine’s Day. If you are bitter at your ex, get revenge by sending the ATF after them. Hate your ex’s dog? Same solution.
The said, “Valentine’s Day can still be fun even if you broke up.”
Gone through something that is generally considered one of the more traumatic social situations in our lives? Use it for vengeance with the ATF! Turn them in for ‘illegal’ gun activities. I’m sure nobody would ever abuse this suggestion during this emotional time of their lives after a close intimate relationship went to hell in a handbasket.
Criminal misuse of police resources is never a thing, that’s why it is a crime after all.
SWATing (Where a false high priority call is put into the police in an attempt to get a tactical team to kick in somebody’s front door and arrest or shoot them) isn’t a thing either, right? That’s why we have a whole term for it. SWATing.
The fact that the official Social Media minion for the ATF put this brazzen a message out into the world is meme grade at its finest. The most common reaction I’ve seen online is, “No, they didn’t!”
It seems farcical, but it is the absolute honest Valentine’s Day post from the ATF. Snitch on your ex for revenge. Ballsy. Bold. Progressive even!
The Federal Agency that gets clowned more than the TSA… bold move, let’s see how it works out for them.
From an Public Relations standpoint this is a very very baffling post. It encourages some of the worst excesses of human nature and emotive behavior associated with revenge. It comes off as trying to be tongue-in-cheek, but with incredibly dark and vicious undertones.
Police have been used to abuse ex-significant others. Law Enforcement have been used to harass and intimidate. The ATF themselves do not have a stellar track record of using restraint (Waco, Ruby Ridge) in situations involving firearms and are therefore the organization a vengeful ex would absolutely pick to overreact and harm someone.
The ATF should be running the absolute most vanilla accounts on social media that they possibly can. Every charity event. Every time they help a little old lady cross the street. Any community educational event or anything that can be a sunshine and rainbows post of the good the ATF does. Those should be their only focus in the social media sphere, they have enough negative baggage they have to carry.
Nope. Vengeance with extreme prejudice and malice of forethought.
The boys are back for a quick talk on the leaked pistol brace documents from the ATF, massive non-compliance, and the possible Washington State magazine ban. Thanks to our sponsors for keeping the show on the air!
Have you decided to take the plunge and try to grow a garden in 2022? If not, why not?
If the past two years of supply chain chaos hasn’t taught you anything, then the current inflationary hell and threat of war in Ukraine should be showing you the wisdom of growing at least “some” of your own food cheaply.
Add the current situation to the reality that if things REALLY go south, it will be too late to teach yourself the skills you need to keep your family’s tummies full. Rice, beans, and MRE’s only go so far. Eventually you will need fresh vegetables to keep your nutrition and spirits up, and the most reliable way to have that is to grow it yourself. With Spring waiting around the corner, why not start now?
I personally learned a lot with my 2020 and 2021 gardening efforts. 2022 looks to be no different. Let’s talk about what I’m trying this year, and see if that doesn’t further convince you.
2022 things I haven’t tried before…
Seeding from the grocery store
With the success of growing dry beans for storage for the first time last year, I’m ready to try to grow even more high-protein food crops. Except this time I’m gonna try seeding with what I already have.
We use a lot of lentils in my house so I’m going to grab a handful from the bag of store lentils and stick them in the ground. Every thing I have read says that you can do it. I have even heard of people buying one of those 15 bean variety dry soup bags and planting all of those kinds of beans. I don’t have the space for that, but red lentils and green lentils are do-able. I might even have one spare tub to stick some chickpeas in just to see. (Homemade hummus – mmmm)
Growing onions from seed
Up until last year I didn’t even know you could buy onion seed. I had only ever seen onion “sets” (pre-started mini onion bulbs). But I found some in my seed catalogs and decide to try. Not wanting to waste money buying commercial seed trays, I decided to use egg cartons and start the seeds in my big south window. My hope is that before they outgrow the “cells” in the egg cartons, the onions will be ready to put outside. In this USDA growing zone (6b) I can set them out in mid-March or so. That will free up window space when it’s time to start the tomatoes and peppers.
Starting from seed instead of “sets”.Onion sprouts chasing the winter blahs away.
Bunching Onions in a window container
Although I had a great onion harvest last year, I discovered that it wasn’t enough. I go through a lot more onions in my cooking than I ever imagined. I was able to “cure” the biggest ones and store them in the basement, and the smallest ones I chopped and dehydrated for future recipes. But I’m running low already and what’s left will likely not get me to the next harvest. So I’m trying to grow “bunching onions” in the window to get me through.
Bunching onions never bulb-up and you eat them as green onions, and they only take 60 days (according to the seed packet). So I put some in a large-ish pot in the window and we’ll see what they do. My hope is that these will be up and producing for the cook pot around the time that last year’s onions have been used up. (Yes, I know I could just go buy more from the store, but this is an experiment durn it!)
If it works, this will be a good SHTF prep. If you can grow bunching onions in a window without even going outside, then that is a secure food source and tasty adjunct to stored food supplies for those stuck in apartments and houses without yards.
Indoor Carrots – one more try
This is something I have already tried before – without great success. But I want to try one more time. My outside efforts proved that I CAN grow carrots in containers, I just think my indoor containers were too short and the carrot variety too long.
So this time I’m growing in a laundry detergent container (I am not a hoarder) which is a few inches taller than my previous indoor pots. And this carrot variety only gets 4 inches long. I’ve got a few spouts already, but it will take a few months for results. We shall see. IF it works, then this is another apartment-dweller’s option for adjunctive nutrition.
Indoor short carrots in a laundry detergent container.
Row covers/Cloches
Something else I’m going to try within the next month or so is setting some garden seedlings out early under cover. Covering tender seedlings allows the soil around them to warm a few degrees, while still allowing the sun to penetrate. The covers also protect from wind and overnight frosts when it’s still a wee bit early in the season.
You can buy commercial “cloches” as they are called, from garden supply places – but at ridiculous prices. Priding myself on being a CheapAss Gardener(tm) however, I’m going to use leftover takeout salad bowls (from three years ago before I started growing my own – I’ve got at least a dozen) and a bakery cake cover I salvaged from our garbage (I am not a hoarder). I’ll use small tent stakes and landscape staples to anchor them in the wind and we’ll see what happens.
Trash to Gardening Treasure
More CheapAss Gardening
Besides being a CheapAss It is important for me to note that I’m also doing these kinds of “salvage” experiments to provide examples of how in an economic downturn or collapse you can use the “trash” that is around you to grow edible plants without needing to use expensive and hard to find resources.
-I’m still using the same duct tape covered takeout bowls from three years ago to start some new herbs in the window this year.
-I’ve still got plastic lined shoeboxes from the other year that I’m starting leaf lettuce and spinach in.
-My first raised bed that I made out of old bookshelves is holding together (although sprouting fungi) and though it looks worse for wear I’m going to get a third growing season out of it for free.
-I made a third raised bed out of lumber left over from last year’s deck build, and still have more of that and a couple pallets left to make some raised strawberry beds.
-I paid a tree guy to come take down a volunteer Bradford Pear (invasive and does not bear fruit), and he told me they sometimes leave loads of wood chips for people for their gardens – also free.
-I’m debating the cost of additional fencing to expand the garden again to make room for the strawberries and save them from the deer. That definitely will NOT be free, but hopefully will be “paid for” through the money that I didn’t spend on everything else.
So that’s the plan (or at least part of it) for this year’s [Hopefully END of] Pandemic Garden. Have I convinced you yet?
2016 doesn’t seem that long ago, right? It’s been six years! A lot has changed since then. Single stack 9mms were the hotness in 2016, and everyone produced one. This includes a little company called Honor Defense which produced their own single stack, striker-fired, polymer-frame pistol known as the Honor Guard. In 2021, Savage released their own new pistol, the Stance. Immediately some eagle-eyed viewers noticed the Stance looked a lot like the Honor Defense.
The Honor Defense Honor Guard was pretty typical in terms of polymer-frame single-stack 9mms. It had a few bells and whistles and even became an approved back-up and off-duty carry pistol with a few law enforcement agencies. Everyone has to have an edge or a take that no one else has, and the Honor Guard had the FIST model. FIST was a backronym that stood for Firearm with Integrated Standoff.
It was part of the frame integrated a stand-off device into the gun that extended half an inch beyond the barrel. The idea was that you could shove the gun into a bad guy’s body, and the slide wouldn’t come out of battery, so you could still fight. I’m still not sure how effective or useful the tool is, but hey, it was a thing.
What About the Stance?
Savage hasn’t made a handgun in years. I mean, their most famous handgun, the Savage 1907, was a sweet shooter and armed the Pinkertons as well as competed in a sidearm trial in the United States. The Savage Stance appeared in late 2021 and portrayed a single stack 9mm. Most new compact pistols are ‘micro’ compacts, but the Stance kicked it old school.
Well, as old school as 2016 gets. The Savage Stance came out swinging with a variety of frame and slide colors as well multiple magazine capacities, and even models featuring lasers. I was curious, but when I saw the comparisons to Honor Defense, I knew I had to get to the bottom of this rumor.
The Stance doesn’t have a FIST, or at least none of the models that have been released have the FIST. Now how closely is the Stance related to the Honor Guard? Well, Honor Defense went out of business a few years back, but my local gun store had one hidden away that never sold.
This allowed me to whip it out, compare it to the Stance and see where the familiarity began and ended. Well, I can certainly see the comparisons. Sure, they are both polymer frame, striker-fired, single stack 9mms, but that describes 20 other handguns.
What They Have In Common
The first thing I tried was magazine compatibility. Sure enough, the Honor Guard mags squeezed right into the Savage Stance, activated the slide stock and all.
A side-by-side comparison of the frames showed that they are the same in terms of shape and size. Both have rear inserts that allow you to reshape the weapon’s grip and alter the rounded rear to a smaller, flatter rear grip.
The Savage Stance keeps the ambidextrous controls of Honor Guard, including the option for a manual safety. It also appears that the sights are the same, and you can use Glock 43 sights with the Stance. Like the Honor Guard, the P320, and the P365, you get an integral, removable chassis that could open up the world to different frames in the future.
Maybe Savage will offer an aftermarket FIST grip module. From the ground up, the Savage Stance seems to be an Honor Guard. Savage likely licensed purchased or licensed the design and built their own.
Where The Stance Strays
Savage didn’t just purchase the Honor Guard pistols and remark them, Savage. The Stance does feature a number of differences and improvements. This includes a much more aggressive grip texture that clings to the hand.
Savage altered the slide slightly melted down the angles and edges. They also lightened the slide with a series of cuts, five on each side, to be specific. These cuts also act as forward slide serrations.
Savage also released a ten-round magazine, Honor Defense put out a seven and eight-rounder, but never a ten-round magazine. From the outside looking in, I think the Stance is a better gun, but until I get some testing in, it’s hard to say.
The Honor Guard famously, or infamously, was not exactly drop safe. I’m willing to bet Savage didn’t make the same mistake. I plan to find out and watch this space for more information.
Announced a little while back, and then delayed due to COVID and raw material problems, the much anticipated P210 is here!
“But, Keith!?” you may inquire, “Why would I buy an 8 round single action, alloy single stack when I can get a P365?”
Fair question. That is something only you can answer. Why would you carry a 5 shot J-Frame when a Glock 19 exists? Why does anyone carry something someone else doesn’t consider optimal?
Simple.
Comfort and aesthetics. The P210 is a pistol designed to cater towards both of those, but aesthetics especially. I carry a P365 12 shot when I need both optimal and convenient, but most of the time I carry a P229 Legion. Why? Because I like that gun. It fits me. The P210 Carry is a gun that is just going to fit people. They don’t need 13+1 or something similar in the frame, 8 fits them. They don’t need the lightest polymer because allow fits them. It all just fits.
Simple as that.
NEWINGTON, N.H., (February 10, 2022) – SIG SAUER is pleased to announce the latest release in the historic line of P210 pistols – the P210 CARRY. This pistol combines the historic lineage of its iconic Swiss predecessor with the ideal characteristics and necessities the modern consumer expects in a carry pistol.
“The SIG P210 is regarded as one of the most legendary, reliable, and accurate firearms in the world; the P210 CARRY pays homage to the foundational craftsmanship of its forerunner while maintaining the features, weight, and balance of an ideal carry pistol,” said Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Commercial Sales, SIG SAUER, Inc. “The alloy frame lightens the weight, the slim low-profile grips with wrap-around checkering allow for an ideal purchase, and the shortened slide features the hallmark P210 signature reverse rail design bringing the premium P210 shooting experience to a carry gun.”
The SIG SAUER P210 CARRY is now shipping and available at retailers. To learn more about the P210 CARRY or watch the product video with Phil Strader, Director, Product Management visit sigsauer.com.
About SIG SAUER, Inc. SIG SAUER, Inc. is a leading provider and manufacturer of firearms, electro-optics, ammunition, airguns, suppressors, and training. For over 250 years SIG SAUER, Inc. has evolved, and thrived, by blending American ingenuity, German engineering, and Swiss precision. Today, SIG SAUER is synonymous with industry-leading quality and innovation which has made it the brand of choice amongst the U.S. Military, the global defense community, law enforcement, competitive shooters, hunters, and responsible citizens. Additionally, SIG SAUER is the premier provider of elite firearms instruction and tactical training at the SIG SAUER Academy. Headquartered in Newington, New Hampshire, SIG SAUER has over 2,700 employees across eleven locations. For more information about the company and product line visit: sigsauer.com.
You might have heard the name Wagner Group pop up quite a bit these days. With the Russia/Ukraine situation degrading, we’ve heard more about Wagner Group. Wagner Group is a Russian Private Military Company, although PMCs are illegal in Russia. They’ve been accused of war crimes in Syria and Africa, and the scuttlebutt is that they are an unofficial part of the Russian military.
The Wagner Group is shaded in mystery, and they’ve become the Kleenex of Russian Mercenaries. Several Russian PMCs seem to be operating worldwide, including in other African hotspots and in Venezuela, who may or may not be connected to Wagner Group. Today we aren’t examining the full history or shady nature of these mercenaries, but we will examine the gear and guns of Wagner Group.
Wagner Group – Small Arms In Syria
Not surprisingly, the most popular firearms among the Wagner Group are Russian pattern small arms. There seems to be an assortment of Russian small arms in the hands of these mercenaries. We first saw them operating in Syria. (Off-topic, they got their asses handed to them by an American Special Forces ODA.)
They seem to wield the last generation of Russian small arms in Syria. The few photos we have show the men of Wagner wielding both AKM rifles and classic AK-74 designs. These 7.62×39 and 5.45x39mm rifles served as the backbone of the Russian military forces for decades. To this day, they are still found in the hands of police and reserve units.
The AK-74 series also seemed to wear the GP-25 and GP-30 under-barrel grenade launchers. These fire 40mm grenades and are a force multiplier for troops on the ground.
Squad Support Tools
In addition, Wagner Group mercs wield the RPK-74 as the light machine gun and support weapon of their forces. The RPK-74 is less light machine gun and more infantry automatic rifle. It’s a magazine-fed automatic rifle with a much longer and heavier barrel, paired with a heavier receiver and a bipod. It lays down suppressive fire to allow maneuver elements to move.
To complement the RPKs, the full-powered, belt-fed, 7.62x54mmR PKM has also been seen. It’s a rugged and reliable machine gun designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov himself. The PKM provides longer-range, more powerful fire support with the sustained fire of a belt-fed weapon.
For designated marksmen, the SVD Dragunov provides 600 meters of accurate fire. This semi-auto, fully-powered 7.62x54mmR rifle gives the squad more range and effective precision fires. The SVD comes in a few configurations, and at least one photo displays what appears to be an integrally suppressed variant of the rifle.
The Rusich Group
The Rusich Group is loosely connected to the Wagner Group. Wagner already had some serious Nazi ties but embraced the Nazi symbolism in full force. The Rusich group popped up in Ukraine and seemed poised to go back. There seems to be a Rusich group fan page that shows pictures and videos from the Rusich group.
Like Wagner, they are armed with Russian small arms. However, according to these Instagram posts, the Rusich guys seem to be carrying the much more modern AK-12 series of rifles. These are Russia’s latest service rifles and come equipped with folding collapsible stocks, an optic’s ready system, enhanced ergonomics, and so much more. These are very modern guns and haven’t even fully armed the Russian military.
The Russian Africa Expedition
Russian Mercenaries from Wagner Group popped up in places like Mali and the Central African Republic representing Russian interests. They’ve also committed a fair number of crimes and deployed mines in civilian areas. You know, criminal stuff. However, the BBC obtained a Samsung tablet left behind.
Check the full article here because it’s fascinating. They found a wish list of some kind on that tablet, including detailing small arms and ammunition requests. This list details a request for 270 AK-103 rifles.
The AK-103 is a modern AK rifle that utilizes the 7.62x39mm and traditional AKM magazines. These mercs also wanted optics and night-vision devices and a tank and 120mm mortars. The AK-103 makes sense in countries where the 7.62x39mm tends to be more prevalent than the more modern 5.45.
Wagner Group Mercs also requested 28,000 rounds of 7.62x39mm ammunition, besides a rather interesting request for 2,000 rounds of 9x54mmR ammunition. The Russians took the 7.62x54mmR and necked the round up to 9mm. This seems to be a popular Russian hunting cartridge, and Saiga produced semi-auto variants, but they don’t seem to be aimed at military use. It’s an interesting round to request.
Accessories
The weaponry wielded by Wagner has also been outfitted with a variety of modern accessories. This includes night vision optics mounted to rifles, giving the mercenaries an edge in nighttime firefights. Most of the AKs seem to be equipped with various Russian or Eastern European reflex sights.
AK’s aren’t the most optic’s friendly of rifles, but it’s far from difficult to equip them. The AK 12s seen with Rusich groups seem to be outfitted with more modern variable optics that grant a greater level of magnification.
Another frequent accessory is suppressors. Specifically, the Russian produced PBS-1 for 7.62x39mm rifles and the PBS-4 for 5.45 caliber rifles. This grant Wagner Group mercs better command and control and another edge at night fighting. Plus, suppressors make weapons much more controllable, and suppressed fire is golden.
Shady and Squirrelly
The Wagner Group’s small arms are predictably Russian, but predictability stops there. Most American PMC’s carry assault rifles and even some light support weapons, but not to the level Wagner Group arms up. Grenade launchers, mortars, and a lot of machine guns make them seem more like an infantry squad rather than a Private Military Company. This is a brief look into the arms of Wagner Group and if developments occur in the near future, look forward to an update here.
In two shocking headlines that surprised me not at all (with another below those as well), the news articles that populated my daily download for the term ‘Assault Weapon’ all dealt with the disastrous course of action that is enforcing an assault weapon ban.
The first one, bans lead to increased sales, thus doing the opposite of what a ban is supposed to accomplish by decreasing the supply of ‘dangerous’ arms in the wild. We’ve seen the unbridled evidence of this every ban, small and large, since the national one in 1994. That one had the least impact on driving pre-ban sales as communication about it was slower and more obscured. It was also most widely supported as, at the time, it sounded like a good idea to enough people.
Prohibition, with caveats, had never been tried before after all. [/sarc]
Wherever a ban is proposed, purchases go up to get in before it is illegal. None of these bans have the gumption to enforce themselves with an iron will, not even California’s draconian measures are actually enforced all that well. Plenty of people with completely prohibited (in California) rifles that are perfectly functional, legal, and safe as soon as you cross into a less insane state. California’s law enforcement community do not have the resources, time in a lifetime, nor suicidal wish to go hard after these.
So the weapons just roll in when other crimes are associated with them and then California blames their neighbors for not banning them too. That’s the safest route afterall, do nothing meaningful and shift the blame. Heaven and all the stars above forbid you do things like actual meaningful criminal justice reform, they’d have to let out all the people the Vice-President locked up.
Inconsistent nonsense undermines the authority of law, the belief in the correctness of law, and trust of and in politicians to make law that is just and right. There’s a reason satisfaction with our politicos, regardless of partisanship, is in the rolling dumpster fire territory and this gun control nonsense does not assist at all.
Gun control is only popular in the entrenched ignorance demographics, those who don’t know and who do not care to know how badly the policies harm people who are not (ostensibly) the targets gun control are supposed to go after. Criminals who ‘shouldn’t have firearms’ and such. The ‘wrong’ people, despite very poorly defining who the wrong people are.
But hey! Did you here we’re giving out crack pipes? $30,000,000.00 worth of crack pipes! Did we decriminalize substance use and provide a clean method of use to foster treatment?
We’re totally just here for the livestock auction.
In case you were living in a news blackout the other week, we have a new reason to think of the ATF as complete jackbooted government thugs.
The bad news is that a Pennsylvania Amish man was recently raided by the ATF for selling firearms without a license. The good news is if this plays out in the best of possible ways there “could” be grounds for a SCOTUS challenge.
Now, I don’t know how much “history of religion 101” you can stand in a short article about gun rights, but a brief explanation will help with understanding the whys and wherefores of this particular situation. The short of it is that the Amish have a long history of religious persecution. They even have their own Book of Martyrs.
The Amish and Mennonites were both part of the Anabaptist movement in Europe in the 1600’s and 1700’s , which was itself part of the larger Protestant Reformation.
One of the tenets of their faith is the rejection of infant baptism. This resulted in much religious persecution in Europe. Another tenet is separation from the rest of society and non-involvement in government affairs. Yet another is conscientious objection to military service.
When these Anabaptist sects immigrated to North America it was largely because they were fleeing religious persecution and were seeking the freedom to believe and practice their faith as they chose.
Enter the US Constitution and the First Amendment. Despite their general non-involvement in governmental affairs, the First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion allowed the Amish and Mennonites to fight for themselves in court many times over the last couple centuries. These battles have taken place everywhere from local school boards to the draft board, to the Supreme Court. The Amish are no strangers to defending their rights.
One of the fights the Amish have won in some states is over photo ID. Several states allow Amish to have photo-less ID cards, and they are permitted to have photo-less passports to travel to settlements in Canada.
Why is this an issue? Many Amish sects have a prohibition against the taking of photographs. This belief is apparently rooted in the biblical admonition against the making of graven images. It also goes against the religious admonition against being prideful.
So if your religion prohibits you having a photo ID, and the government requires you to have photo ID in order to purchase a firearm, then the government is violating BOTH your First Amendment AND Second Amendment rights. Do you see where we’re going here?
If the Amish are pacifists and reject military service, why do they need firearms you may ask? Well, firstly, because it’s a RIGHT and not a “need”. But it’s also because the Amish hunt. And since many of them farm, they also need to keep their farms clear of varmints. A groundhog hole can break the leg of a valuable plow horse or mule. Raccoons raid henhouses. Deer raid cornfields. Coyotes prey upon lambs and newborn calves. Amish need firearms to help protect their livelihoods and feed their families. For the slow kids at the back, once again, the 2A is NOT about the “national guard”.
Apparently the ATF rules on personal firearm transfers are notoriously vague when it comes to just “how many” personal sales one can do before being required to have an FFL. This could be SCOTUS Gold if this fellow proves to have been just trying to help his church brothers and sisters eliminate farm varmints and bag a deer or two, without having a religiously prohibited photo ID.
That part isn’t yet clear and will have to come out in court – if formal charges are filed, rather than the ATF just harassing this American citizen and taking his guns. At the very least, firearm sales don’t seem to have been this dairy farmer’s principle occupation. In addition to dairying he also apparently operates a foundry.
Don’t these three letter agencies (well, technically 5 letters these days) have anything better to do than suppress the rights of Amish dairy farmers? Apparently not.
IF the ATF and DOJ decide to charge this guy in an attempt to sacrifice him upon the altar of Grampa Gropey’s gun agenda, the optics are going to be really terrible. The only reason to hope that they DO is for the court challenges that will inevitably arise. The Amish and the gun community both know how to fight in court. This could be an interesting intersection. We should all watch this closely.
