Hopefully you read the title of this article and clicked in because your gut reaction was “oh hellllll nah” or something along those lines. Good! Today I’m going to ask you to engage in a little thought experiment with me. We often hear “well guns should be regulated like cars” or “regulate guns like cars” from anti-gun people who have no idea how either of those things are regulated. Today we’re going to explore what would happen if guns were actually regulated like cars, and why that argument is absolutely nonsense.
We must have rules
Before we get started, let’s set the ground rules for this thought exercise. This is important because we need to have a consistent logical framework throughout this article, or we just end up in a rhetorical mudslide. So, the rules: owning a gun = owning a car; driving a car on public roads = carrying a gun in public, concealed or otherwise. Those are the base comparisons we’re using, just to keep things simple and consistent.
So, the next time someone says “we should regulate guns like cars” you can say “hell yes we should.” Think about it! To own a car that lives on your private property and you don’t drive on public roads there are…no restrictions. I can buy a car tomorrow from someone on the internet, have it delivered to my house, and as long as it stays on my property the government doesn’t have to get involved at all. Plus, there are no restrictions on what vehicle you can own. Do you want a massive V8 that goes 200mph? Cool, knock yourself out. Want SxS off-roader? Okay, just buy it. If we regulated guns like we regulated cars, I could buy a short barreled full auto AR15 with a suppressor and a D100 drum mag and there would be no regulation, as long as it stayed on my property.
This could be a full auto if we regulated guns like cars
Driving in public = carrying in public
“But Caleb,” you’re saying, “cars that can’t leave your property are kind of useless, right?” Well wrong, but hey let’s talk about driving on public roads. Operating a car in public is analogous to carrying a gun in public, so yeah let’s 100% regulate guns like cars. If guns were regulated like cars, here’s what I need to do to get a carry permit: take a test so simple we expect teenagers to pass it, pay a small fee to the government, and then boom not only can I carry in public, that carry permit is valid in all 50 states, no questions asked. Plus if we draw this analogy a little further, many public schools would offer classes to help you pass the carry test!
License and registration, please
“Okay okay, I’m tracking this,” you’re saying, “but what about insurance and registration? You have to have that!” Yes, you do. And it’s so widely available that policies are easily affordable to everyone. Can you imagine a CCW insurance market that was as competitive as the car insurance market? You’d be able to get everything from basic protection all the way to super insurance policies. It would be amazing since I’m a big believer in CCW insurance anyway. Again, this is just a thought exercise. Which brings us to registration. People get a little squicky when you talk about registration, which makes sense. But! Let’s follow this analogy. If I buy a beater truck to drive around my range, it doesn’t need to be registered unless I’m going to drive it on the road. So that short barreled full auto AR15 you bought for home defense? No registration. You just own it because it’s yours. The only guns you’d have to “register” would be your carry guns, and in some states you already have to do this. And again, there are basically no limits on what you could register. If you want to carry the gun equivalent of a Dodge Charger Hellcat…you can. Oh, and if you wanted to build your own car in your garage? Perfectly legal no questions asked.
Last, let’s talk about sport shooting. Let’s say you don’t want to carry a gun, you just want to compete. Cool! You never need to register anything. Think about all the amateur race drivers who trailer unregistered, un-plated cars to events every weekend. So if you want to take your gun from your home to a shooting event, it would be the same rules. Just make sure it’s locked up in accordance with FOPA’s travel guidelines, and you’re good. Maybe be a member of a shooting sport organization? I don’t know.
Let’s regulate guns like cars!
But the point here is simple: when someone says “let’s regulate guns like cars” it’s usually because they have no idea how guns or cars are regulated. All they think is “loldurr drivers license and insurance” are required, when in fact…regulating guns like cars would actually be pretty cool.
“Ghost Gun…” The terrifying term first popularized by a moron (and California State Senator) named Kevin de Leon back in January of 2014. But Los Angles is suing Polymer80 over their DIY firearms as DIY’s.. the terrible ‘Ghost Gun’ have been an increasing portion of the firearms recovered during investigations. The news story at the link states 40%, 700 guns total, were ‘Ghost Guns’ and says that 86% of those 700 had at least some parts from Polymer80. So this is all their fault!
The full quote that immortalized this stupid term…
de Leon, saying stupid things and winning stupid prizes.
“This is a ghost gun,” de Leon begins, holding an unloaded rifle in his hands. “This right here has the ability with a .30-caliber clip to disperse with 30 bullets within half a second. Thirty magazine clip in half a second.”
Those are certainly all words…
Senator de Leon was then mocked thoroughly for his utter and total ignorance of anything related to how a firearm operated. He was trying to get a bill passed that would mandate DIY firearm makers in California apply to the DOJ for a serial number for their home build before completing it. Which would be another wet blanket proposal that does nothing but irritate the law abiding, while the felons who ignore laws ignore that one also.
Federally, a serial number is required for commercial manufacturing. Technically anyone who is building a firearm to sell it, who also need the appropriate FFL, needs to serialize it. Off hand I believe the number is still 50 firearms in a calendar year built and/or sold requires the Federal Firearms License. Those firearms built for personal use do not require a serial number. Federal law and the ATF maintain this standard. Federal law additionally doesn’t recognize the building of a firearm if the firearm receiver is not more than 80% complete. An item either is or is not a firearm, ‘designed to become a firearm’ is not a legal category, which is how we got the 80% number. Regardless of what the item can be finished or built into an 80% receiver is nota firearm.
The receiver or frame itself, the part that does or would bear the serial number, is also the legal firearm (or not a firearm) and that part only is the regulated part as a firearm. Barrels, springs, slides, bolts, strikers, etc. are all not firearms, just the serialized or would be serialized part is/will be.
So let’s take a look at the CBS piece, and take it apart for a good cleaning. (As always, story in italics with my responses in between)
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The city of Los Angeles is suing Polymer80, believed to be one of the largest sellers of “ghost gun” kits and parts.
The lawsuit was filed in partnership with Everytown Law, which called ghost guns – weapons that don’t have serial number and are therefore untraceable — the fastest-growing gun safety problem facing the country. The lawsuit seeks an injunction ordering Polymer80 to stop sale of its ghost gun kits.
They don’t sell a ghost gun kit. They sell firearm parts and a part that is not a firearm until it is finished by someone into a firearm, just like a raw injection mold or forged piece of aluminum isn’t a firearm. Whether the person who finishes it is legally allowed to finish it, or take possession in any way of a finished one, is ultimately their felony to risk if they aren’t. Just like possessing a serialized firearm or acquiring one outside an FFL/DoJ approved channels. Sorry guys, criminals commit crime by not following the rules. Making more rules for them not to follow around legal products for everyone else.. is just silly.
“Nobody who could buy a serialized gun and pass a background check would ever need a ghost gun,” City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement. “Yet we allege Polymer 80 has made it easy for anyone, including felons, to buy and build weapons that pose a major public safety threat.”
You clearly don’t understand the anti-authoritarian and contrarian streak within humanity, my good fellow. They might ‘need’ it for no better reason than that it makes you grumpy, Mr. Feuer. Stating they don’t ‘need’ it proves, in a sentence, how disconnected you are from your arms buying public. They are sick of the garbage the political elites keeps feeding them while saying they aren’t violating their Second Amendment rights, they just have no choice in the matter.
These also don’t pose a ‘major’ public safety threat, they pose the same threat as every other illegally obtained firearm. They happen to be the illegal flavor of the moment for 4 in 10 of your firearms related cases it appears, but what about the other 6? Do we have data to support that the removal of the Poly80’s would have significantly reduced the crimes committed? Or would another method have been easily attainable and used in place of the Poly80?
Also, I love the very targeted and purposeful use of this picture…
(credit: LA City Attorney’s Office via CBS LA)
It’s smaller in the desktop browser format on their site, and to their credit there are some Polymer80’s in the back it appears… behind all the AR-15’s in the foreground. Such a subtle way to imply that Polymer80’s aren’t just ‘Ghost Guns’ but ‘Assault Weapons’ too.
When they aren’t… it’s just a Glock handgun. Not a Glock brand Glock handgun, but functionally it matches the models 17, 19, 20, 21, etc. that are all still on the approved firearm list for the State of California.
Polymer80’s ghost gun kits and components are frequently sold online and can be purchased by people prohibited from legally owning guns due to their criminal history or mental health status, according to Feuer.]
Yep, and people with suspended licenses for drunk driving are still fully capable of buying booze and putting a car in gear. Also people buying things on the internet!? How dare they!
[Ghost guns are increasingly being recovered at Los Angeles-area crime scene investigations, and Feuer says more than 700 weapons recovered by the LAPD in 2020 were made up of Polymer80 parts.
Just as we can track the market preference prior to the Poly80 to cheap, available, concealable handguns in the criminal circles, the Poly80 fits all those critical facets too. So do, I’d wager, many or most of the other 60% of recovered firearms that are not Poly80 ‘Ghost Guns’. Many likely defaced, stolen or illegally transferred, and still fitting cheap, available, and concealable as priorities. The Poly80 just happens to have an obvious, but still illegal, exploit criminals have used.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the recent spike in Los Angeles crime may be due to the rise in ghost guns.
“‘may’ be due to the rise in ghost guns.“
Ha! Haha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
That’s what you’re going with!? In a year long span since a worldwide pandemic kicked off, a year of lockdowns, a year of riots and civil unrest, a year of unemployment and strained work opportunities due to government mandated methods to curb infections, a year where the cops admitted they wouldn’t come to help you (unless you ‘really needed it’ so it was probably too late) because they didn’t want their officers infected, and a year that saw record shattering legal gun purchases due to the extreme national strain? You think its the ‘Ghost Guns’ driving that crime wave?
(BTW, anyone notice COVID deaths have suddenly gotten really quiet in the news? Funny that… not even an attaboy for Joe that they’re going down, if they are…)
“These are the weapons that our officers are coming against. These are the weapons that are being used on other Angelenos. They are being used by individuals who have no right, or ability to otherwise have lawful possession of a firearm,” Moore said.
Nice of you to slip ‘lawful’ into the statement, Chief Moore, that way you can be ‘technically correct’ and all. Because ability, as in physical ability, they have all day, all night, and twice if they have both hands. We can debate about their right to own a firearm again if they have completed a term of sentence, but legal ability sums it up.
The complaint accuses Nevada-based Polymer80, Inc. of violating California law by aiding and abetting in the manufacture of handguns that that do not comply with safety specifications required under the state’s Unsafe Handgun Act, failing to comply with certification and serial number requirements, and unfairly competing with licensed gun dealers who because their parts do not require background checks.
I already pointed out earlier that these are Glocks in all but name, and those are on the list, because Glock still pays your sin tax for them to stay on that list. But I also know that isn’t how your list of atrocious arbitrary ‘safety’ works. I’ll just mention it for the audience that a functionally identical handgun is on the list so that ‘Unsafe’ point is moot.
According to Feuer, Polymer80 shipped approximately 9,400 items to California customers between January of 2019 and October of 2020 – including at least 200 “Buy Build Shoot” kits that contained the parts necessary for a fully functional, untraceable gun.
Untraceable? Hardly. Credit card records and shipping addresses are still things, are they not? Just because you cannot pull a 4473 form in a formal ‘trace’ doesn’t make these untraceable or leave no evidence.
Speaking of a 4473 trace, we act like that is some instant 10-digit grid to a firearm’s location and ownership (for those unfamiliar with what a “grid” is, it would provide a GPS location accurate to within 1 meter. Military GPS usually uses 8 or 10 digit grids because being accurate within 10 meters or 1 meter of a location is usually precise enough, especially for artillery) when all it does is give the last time the gun was transferred away from an FFL once you find the last FFL that dealt with that particular firearm. The listed transferee might still own it or they might not. Traces aren’t magic, they’re background data that must correlate with a great deal of other points to provide useful information, and their lack of inclusion isn’t going to prevent prosecution of someone who had a firearm illegally from being prosecuted because they had a firearm illegally.
Polymer80 does not conduct background checks on its website, but simply asks buyers on its website to check a box verifying they are eligible under state and federal laws to purchase, own and use the components they are buying, according to Feuer.
Polymer80 doesn’t make firearms, please acknowledge that legal reality. They do not have to conduct a background check for parts that are not firearms. Can the parts be made into a functioning firearm? Yes. That is the DIY point. But working within the given legal realities, this is how the law functions. Polymer80 receiver/frames are not firearms. No background check. The onus for being in compliance with the law, if/when the Polymer80 is made into a firearm is on the assembler/finisher. Just as it would be if they went to the hardware store and made a firearm from those items, or 3D printed components and assembled a firearm that way.
The lawsuit also claims Polymer80’s advertising misleads customers in suggesting the purchase and possession of the company’s kits do not “reach the necessary state of manufacture or completion to constitute a ‘firearm’ under federal law.
They don’t. They checked. That’s why they are ‘80%’.
However, Feuer alleges the ease and speed in which a Polymer80 kit can be assembled into an operable weapon does in fact meet that federal definition, in violation of the law.
That is his opinion, not fact, and it is probably based upon the ATF raid against Polymer80 which is alleging the ‘Buy Build Shoot’ kits themselves violated the definition, the bundled SKUs specifically.
That is a stretch and the ATF knows it. The relevant part, the Polymer80 frame/receiver, isn’t the item under scrutiny, it is the total kit. Which means if the components had been purchased separately, instead of bundled, it would fall outside the definition of a firearm once again. So now we are playing some mighty egregious semantic games and dressing it up like they are coming down hard and fast on the DIY guns in the name of stopping their abuse by criminals. In reality they are thinly attacking the 80% definition.
The legal case might still fall in the ATF’s favor, which would mean the ‘Buy Build Shoot’ goes away, and may even mean records of BBS buyers get handed to the ATF so they can track down the unintentionally illegally transferred firearms. The reality, as they well know, is that this is a genie that has long left the bottle and is sunning himself by the sea-shore. Even a hard judgment against Polymer80 just means a new ’80’ will be built in its place, right at whatever the new line is and until they complain enough and arbitrarily move that line again.
The only other thing they can do is kick the hornets nest and have Congress move to ban DIY firearms, which won’t stop them, just make them illegal for no appreciable gain while burning a lot of the very little political capital they have. That with the nation still in hard times, lockdowns, and economic stress.
But as a piece of agitprop to imply that Polymer80 type firearms are the enemy, that they are illegal when they are not, that they are AR-15’s when they are not, and that they are the source of crime in Los Angeles… not a bad attempt, I guess.
Lights, switches, and cords. How do we keep it manageable, clean, and professional looking? Lights have been around for some time within the firearms industry. With that prevalence comes products to finally get those cables out of the way during weapons handling.
A beautiful product that won’t break the bank. This WireGuide System involves small M-LOK pieces that allow the user to wire your cables through the individual piece/pieces within the system and can be mounted anywhere on the rail.
There are three wire guide style options to route your cables and can be bought separately. 90 Degree Clamp: Routes the cable 90 degrees to bring it up from along side the rail to the top if need be. Thru Clamp: Using two separate channels this clamp feeds the wire parallel to the M-LOK slots. End Clamp: Used to grab the slack left and keep it encapsulated and close to the gun so it does not snag on anything
The individual pieces are small enough for two to fit into one M-LOK slot if needed.
Two 90 degree clamps used to route the cables in a right angle to travel up the rail. https://arsonmachine.com
Specs
Quality materials within products are a must. The Arson Machine M-LOK WireGuide System is made with 6061-T651 aluminum and uses Type III hard anodizingin black. A subtle yet thoughtful addition are the Grip Rings added to the piece. Arson Machines states it was added on the “top surface of each part to help with grip and help reduce visual signature.”
Arson Machine Upgrades
GripRings added to the clamp. Photo by NSZ85
Installation
When installing the WireGuide System you will want to use a small amount of Vibra-Tite or a medium-strength threadlocker on the M-LOK screws. When tightening, go just until snug then stop tightening. Many will overtighten M-LOK which can break the mount or damage the rail.
Why Can’t I DIY?
Paracord melted onto a barrel of a M4.
Well, you can. However it isn’t good practice due to the harmful effects it could have on the gun. Guns run hot. Anything that runs hot has the ability to melt things. Melt things such as your plastic zip ties, tape, or paracord. Often times operators will also wire it under the gas tube without noticing which makes it melt even hotter and quicker. So what? Heat dispersion is now changed. As well as the lengths you may go through to replace a gas tube or clean off the melted product. During time in the Army we saw paracord for optics melt to a gas tube after one trip to the range. It is just not worth it.
Firearms are investments. Treat them as such. Use quality products. We will spend hundreds of dollars on lights and switches and then won’t spend 12 dollars to properly mount them.
From the Product Designer and Developer
The developer, Jason Gifford, for the Arson Machine WireGuide System has both an engineering and military background. While talking the terms “simple and small” came up many times. He talked on the industry wanting to overcomplicate things and when doing that, the solution actually creates more problems. When talking about the “what and the why” behind the WireGuide System the developer stated, “We want to keep it as modular and small as possible. WireGuides are meant to corner the market on “small”, or at least that’s my intent. Any variations or modifications, will by design be in the direction of other products. IE; big and or janky.”
So how did he get there?
Funnily enough, arfcom. Jason was searching for an IR set up and found a thread on light set ups. His eyes and mind forgot the light and went to the terrible practices of users tieing their equipment down. After an hour of searching for a cable management system on the internet he realized that what he was looking for, a small and modular system, didn’t exist.
The first model printed by Jason was a hit with LE personnel, 2 more models later and the first batch was sold out before another batch could even be finished.
The developer ends our conversation with this. “Simple problems require simple solutions. We are holding low voltage wires on a weapon, simple. We are not sending cars into space. We will leave that to Elon.”
A simple solution to a simple problem, keeping your cables tidy.
Tucked away in a corner of the frozen north are two firearms accessory companies that are pushing the limits in their respective space. When people think “hotbed of gun industry activity” they probably don’t think of the suburbs near the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St Paul; and yet that’s where two innovative companies are producing game changing products in two vastly different sectors. Meet PHLster and HIPERFIRE.
You’ll get caught up in the…Hiperfire?
HIPERFIRE, pronounced “Hyper-fire” is short for HIgh PERformance FIREarms; hence the portmanteau creating the name. If you’re at all involved in the AR15 market, or the 3-gun and pistol caliber carbine scene, you’ve definitely heard of them. If you haven’t, well it’s your lucky day because we’re on the inside of one of the most creative trigger manufacturers in the US. HIPERFIRE focuses on the development of high performance triggers for AR platform rifles, including the SIG MPX. One of their triggers was featured in Keanu Reeve’s AR15 from John Wick 2 – that’s right, the sweet TTI AR that he used to blast those henchmen in the catacomb shootout. That’s a HIPERFIRE trigger.
“And this is where we grow the triggers to be big and strong.” – Nate, probably
What’s new?
In our recent tour at the HIPERFIRE facility, I spoke with Nate Rinehart, HIPERFIRE’s vice president of operations about their manufacturing and some upcoming products. All their triggers are made right here in the United States, and there are plans to expand the trigger line. Right now, across all lines they’re shipping 300-500 triggers a day, and that’s working around the supply chain problems that everyone is having with COVID-19 related shortages. However, the biggest news? AK trigger coming soon. That product expansion would place HIPERFIRE in the driver’s seat for the tactical rifle trigger market, meaning you could upgrade your AR, your MPX, or your AK with their product.
Put it in your pants
The other Minnesota company I visited is PHLster, which old heads like me might remember was West Philadelphia born and raised. They moved their operation to the Twin Cities a couple of years back, and have spent the time since then just absolutely running shop on the concealed carry game. Don’t like the switches on your TLR-1 or X300? PHLster fixes that. Want to carry medical discreetly? No problem. Want to carry a full size pistol in silkies? Say hello to the product that’s changing the concealment game: Enigma from PHLster.
Put all this down your pants
Dominate the market
I spoke with Jon Hauptman, the CEO of PHLster about their new product, Enigma. It’s a chassis system that allows you to attach most “wing” compatible holsters and carry without a belt. Scrubs, sweatpants, a kilt, whatever. Jon expected that Enigma would sell well to the hardcore CCW crowd, but he wasn’t expecting it to be a runaway success. Shipments sell out in minutes, and the back order is hundreds deep. That’s impressive going from a part-time kydex bender 10 years ago to a concealed carry thought leader.
The cold doesn’t bother me anyway
Sure, it gets cold enough in Minnesota to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. But that hasn’t stopped the Twin Cities from turning into a hotbed for industry innovation.
Image at GerbrandDefense, not in CA, but metaphorically illustrative
Hat tip to TFB for pointing this one out and publishing on it, but the ‘De-Certification’ of handguns in California continues their slow crushing process to ban handguns altogether, and they are getting away with it under their micro-stamping requirement.
Now, not every De-Certified handgun (list here) has been de-certified for the same reason, there are a multitude or reasons including some legitimate (ish) ones for why a handgun would be removed. The model might not exist anymore, the manufacturer might not either, and this does not prevent them from being privately transferred as I understand it.
As of January 1, 2001, no handgun may be manufactured within California, imported into California for sale, lent, given, kept for sale, or offered/exposed for sale unless that handgun model has passed firing, safety, and drop tests and is certified for sale in California by the Department of Justice. Private party transfers, curio/relic handguns, certain single-action revolvers, and pawn/consignment returns are exempt from this requirement. –CA AG Website
California has to approve every single retail available model of handgun, this is at the expense of the manufacturers to maintain. And since the microstamping requirement came to be implemented in 2013, by our current Vice President. New handgun model flow to California essentially stopped.
Current models already approved were/are maintained as sellable, but that is a challenging process. Any improvement made or any change made to the handgun requires recertification. Change the shape of your magazine release? Re-certify. Make the striker out of a better steel? Re-certify. Upgrade a part materially to increase its function or endurance. You guessed it, re-certify.
Once a handgun drops off the list through entropy and/or attrition it cannot be sold commercially anymore. CA Compliant is a dying breed, and the political elites of CA are fine with that. It was their goal all along, and they will parrot the entire time that their stacked supreme court said it doesn’t violate the Second Amendment.
“Impossibility can occasionally excuse noncompliance with a statute. But impossibility does not authorize a court to go beyond interpreting a statute and simply invalidate it.” – Supreme Court of California
Basically the Supreme Court played the skip card in UNO and said that just because this law is impossible to comply with doesn’t mean it is unconstitutional, but it might excuse not following the law… might. But that wasn’t what this case was about, obviously. Humans flying under their biologically granted own power is impossible, but certainly not unconstitutional.
They passed the buck to SCOTUS, who may deliver a favorable ruling… eventually. California’s own courts may strike the law down if forced, but only when the approved handgun list is actually at or near zero in order to demonstrate numerically it is in violation of the Second Amendment. There are still 805 certified models as of current. So obviously [sarc] this isn’t a violation of the Californians’ right to a handgun, they can still get 805 of them brand new. No infringement whatsoever, none to be found. Being entirely cut off from new handguns by an impossible to comply with, but not unconstitutional, law is just a weird anomaly and totally not the intention of the gun controllers who actively want to ban firearm ownership. Call it a gun law loophole that just happens to ban handguns bit by bit.
What does this mean right now?
Well right now it means that, for example, a new in box or used Walther P99 QPQ cannot be sold any longer. If you have one already, you’re okay, but you couldn’t go find a new or used one at a store. It doesn’t matter anymore that it was approved, it is not any longer and cannot be sold. Sorry to anyone who had one on the shelf.
This isn’t nearly as concerning outside of CA, we can get new handguns like the new PDP instead of the old P99. California can’t, they rely on older models for their whole commercial stock and have done so for a few years now. They may be New-in-Box (NIB), but they are old models and even if the model hasn’t changed but was upgraded in some way, that CA compliant design hasn’t been upgraded.
For example, the list of Walther’s you can buy are all .22 caliber, and the P1 (a P38 variant), that is it. FN’s, two 10 round variants of the Five-seveN, that’s it. Glocks appear to be stuck on Gen3’s. Beretta has nothing newer than the PX4’s. And the sad list goes on. As these models entropy and it isn’t worth the company’s time to keep producing them, or renew their certifications for dead products to serve an actively hostile state, these too will drop off the list.
I lost a “family member” this winter. It wasn’t a person, but it was still a sad loss. The deer camp cabin that was built by my grandfather after World War II said its last good bye.
This is a different property than the one I have written about before, which came to my side of the family much later.
This property was purchased by my paternal grandfather around the end of World War II. It was about 130 acres of wooded creek valley and mountainside. The creek was (and still is) an almost pristine trout stream with many good fishing spots.
Cabin construction began around 1945-46, when building materials were still quite hard to come by in the post-war period. Thus, it was built with war surplus and cast-offs – never beautiful in the classic sense, but it was functional and purpose built.
The cabin had to be torn down this past year. The diagnosis was terminal. It needed to happen but it’s still a bit difficult for me to acknowledge. For more than 70 years this glorified shack welcomed hunters, trout fisherman, and various family and friends to the creek valley and mountainside.
No Girlz Allowed
I have only a few childhood memories of the cabin, because girls weren’t allowed to go to deer camp in those days. But I do remember riding up with my maternal grandmother once to pick up my brother for school after opening day of buck season was over.
I was about twelve at the time and I remember walking up the creek with a hunting friend of my father – a jaunt that required several crossings over slippery rocks. I didn’t have waterproof boots on, and felt that I was too grown-up to be carried across. I thought I could hop the rocks instead, whereupon I took an icy bath in the December waters. I was mortified and my pride was bruised, in addition to the ignominy of having to wear a pair of my brother’s dry pants home. But I was given reassurance that there were two kinds of people at the camp – those who had fallen into the creek, and those who WOULD. So I at least got my ceremonial dip out of the way early.
I didn’t understand then, but I do now that the camp would have had no privacy for an adolescent girl amongst all those men in the 1970’s. During buck season the cabin was filled with various male in-laws and out-laws, a few family friends and only a loft filled with squeaky old bunks for accommodation.
I hated watching my father and brother load up the truck and drive away to camp every Thanksgiving weekend, but that’s just how it was. In those days at least in my family, the men went to the mountains and the women went to the shopping outlets. I wasn’t happy, but I accepted my fate.
Return to Camp
I grew up, got married, had children and life took over for a couple decades. In the interim, my dad – a beloved example of the consummate outdoorsman – passed on to the upland fields in the sky. The next time I returned to camp I was in my forties. That was the year that I bought my first firearms – 2009. I asked my brother and my uncle if I could come to deer camp that year and they said yes.
By that point my brother had begun taking his teenage daughter with him to deer camp, so “women in camp” wasn’t a big deal anymore. The generations of men who used to frequent the cabin were all slowly growing too old, or like my grandfather, my father, and my other uncle, had passed away. So my niece and I were at least some new blood to fill the ranks.
I had bought a Marlin 336 lever gun a few months after my first handgun purchase that year. I had worked to become proficient enough to hit a paper plate consistently at 50 yards, but that was as far as my rifle skills went. I wanted to see what being at the deer camp was about, but I didn’t think I wanted to shoot just yet. I just wanted to observe that year. But I brought the gun along to show my uncle and my brother nonetheless.
License
After a couple days of tagging along however, my uncle turned around one morning as we sat in some brush along the creek and said to me “Are you SURE you don’t want a license? If you can hit a paper plate you can hit anything you need to at the shot ranges we have around here.”
With that reassurance, the next morning we drove to the nearby village and I bought a hunting license at the gun shop. I still had my hunter’s safety class card from when I was twelve and amazingly enough they honored it.
This was the same shop that another time while we were waiting around for our turn at the counter there was an old codger who was there to have some work done on his rifle. The gunsmith pulled back the bolt on the codger’s rifle – and a live round fell out and hit the floor! That was the loudest clink I’ve ever heard in my life and afterwards you could hear a pin drop. That was my first introduction to “fudds” and I’ve never forgotten it.
Camp Stories
That first deer season at the cabin was a wonderful experience, because my uncle was able to pass on stories that I never got to hear as a kid. Like the time when he was a teen and his step-mother was starting to fry some trout from the stream on the wood stove when one of trout flexed and “jumped” right out of the fry pan! Or the time that “he” scared the bear instead of the other way around. There was yet another time when either he or my dad (I forget which) was outside at the outhouse, heard a “wildcat scream” and beat feet back indoors. They swear there used to be mountain lions up there decades ago. And I believe them.
Another story my uncle told was about a rifle he had years ago that had a very distinctive report. (I can’t remember what that rifle was anymore – maybe an 8mm Mauser??) He downed a deer, and no sooner had he finished gutting the carcass than other camp denizens – a father and son of the “in-laws and out-laws” category – came trotting up because they heard his rifle report and knew it was him. They each grabbed an antler and took off downstream with the deer and all my uncle had to do was carry the rifles. That really does say something about the old timers and how long they had been hunting together that they even knew the sounds of each others rifle shots echoing down the valley.
Landmarks
That first week at the deer cabin I learned the various landmarks around the property so that I could split off if I needed to and not get lost. My family did not use tree stands. They just had “spots” where one sat on a stool or used a foam butt pad on a rock or log. Some of the spots had designations like “the top of the fire lane”, “up the creek”, “out the log road”, “the power line”, and “down at the spring”. I also heard tales of various relatives and their favorite spots over the years.
Different Days
I asked my uncle lots of questions about deer hunting that first week. When I asked how long I should wait to track if I happened to shoot a deer, he said that my grandfather always told him to wait as long as it took to finish a cigarette. I have no idea how long that is, but it was apparently a useful metric back in the day.
Also in my grandfather’s day there wasn’t much talk about an “ethical shot”. In those days apparently, my grandfather said to “break it down” any way you could – because eating was a good thing. Definitely a different and hungrier time then.
Those different days also meant my grandfather could clear a path along the creek with his bulldozer, doze his own fire lanes, and try to blast out part of the rock face without any government entities telling him he couldn’t. Those days are long gone.
Creative Solutions
He was also known for “creative” solutions to problems. In the early days he apparently rigged up a DC electrical system for the cabin that ran off of a series of batteries in the lower storage area. That meant that they could put the antique kerosene lanterns away. But that system was apparently destroyed by water and freezing temperatures decades before I ever arrived on the scene.
By the time I arrived there was an electric hook-up. But even after my grandfather died around 1980, there were still echoes of his work all over the property – such as the previously mentioned fire lane. Along one of the trails is a (now rusted) boat license plate that he put up for a trail marker. And then there was the shopping cart tree…
Apparently my grandfather absconded with two shopping carts sometime in the 50’s or 60’s, which he then jury-rigged into a deer corn feeder. But after multiple decades the tree overgrew the shopping carts leaving a curious “double-take” type landmark.
My son with the “shopping cart tree” about ten years ago.
My experience as an adult at the cabin, in addition to deer hunting skills also taught me some life skills. Although drinking water was brought from home, it was an education to learn to wash dishes in boiled creek water that was always heating on the wood stove. There were also sponge baths in a basin of the same type water. With a single basin of water available you learned to wash top to bottom, cleanest to dirtiest and call it good.
Mice
Other clean-up was also important. Food had to always be kept covered and sealed due to the mice, so immediately cleaning up after yourself was a necessity. The mice were the real property owners at camp – we were just seasonal tourists. Indeed it was a nearly nightly occurrence to hear the snap of the mousetraps that were scattered along the baseboards as we usurped the mice’s territory for our own.
Those mice weren’t dumb, either. I remember hearing a story about one such mouse who lived in the dresser near the dining area. That mouse entertained himself by tormenting the dog – running from one end of the dresser drawer to the other and peeking out just long enough for the dog to see him and run to the other end of the dresser to try to catch him. Whereupon the mouse was already back at the opposite end (no doubt snickering in mouse-ish). When there is no TV or radio signal in the creek valley one’s evening entertainment devolves into to laughing at the mice and the dogs.
Outhouse
Then there was the outhouse. I had the benefit of the “new” one that was built with a concrete vault, but my brother, being there before my time, got to use the old outhouse that leaned to one side and had to be periodically “straightened”. Somewhere there is a photo of my older brother putting his back into one such “outhouse straightening party”. That outhouse was eventually condemned by a state environmental agency for being too close to the stream. You might be a redneck — if the government condemns your outhouse.
I learned a lesson even from the “new” outhouse though. It is wise to bring your baby wipes inside for the night during deer season. Otherwise you might have nothing but a frozen brick in the morning and have to use the toilet paper that the mice have been chewing on. Also as tempting as it is to put the lid down when you leave, don’t do it. When the heat generated down below hits the December air up above it causes condensation on the lid and you end up with a wet seat. Ick.
View from about 2010 – complete with outhouse.
Nope Door
The summer after my camp re-introduction I took my adult son up with me for a weekend to introduce him to the family landmark as well. This was in the summertime. I’d never been there when it wasn’t cold and someone hadn’t already opened things up. So I had no experience with the bug population.
When my son and I went to the lower storage area to turn on the propane we were in for a surprise. When we opened the padlock and swung open the door we were met with some of the largest spiders I’d ever seen in my life that weren’t tarantulas. Holy Crap! We both looked at eachother and closed that door right back up again. That was the “nope door”. Screw the propane, we made a campfire to warm our food instead.
Mouse Poop and Wasp Nests
Built with scraps and war surplus and repaired many times over the years, the cabin seemed to my eyes to be held together with nothing but the proverbial spit and baling wire. But it had to have been built better than that to have survived for so long. In its final years however the cabin was indeed more likely held together by mouse poop and wasp nests than anything else – I’m totally not kidding. The local guy who did the tear-down for us wanted to wait until after a few frosts this fall before starting the demolition – because of the wasps.
Slow Decline
It wasn’t a snap decision to tear down this family landmark. There was a long slow decline. First the wood stove chimney was condemned by the insurance company. Then the power connection to the building was lost in a storm a few years later. After that the whole thing was essentially in hospice.
The cabin was ultimately dealt the final blow by an ice dam on the creek which flooded the building beyond repair two winters ago. If it was barely habitable due to mice and critters and wasps before, the resulting rot and mold sealed its fate.
The few “valuables” that were saved from demolition were ephemeral things like decades of camp rosters listing deer season occupants and the rifles they brought with them. Fortunately, those were salvaged and my brother is recording them for posterity.
With demolition nearly complete in late fall of 2020, there was a new log jam and more flooding. Photos indicate that the creek bed shifted so that it now flows over where the cabin foundation once stood. In essence the creek valley has reclaimed what was once its domain. That’s actually a bit poetic and makes me feel better about the whole thing. The camp has returned to its source. I hope that my grandfather would be content with that.
The property remains beautiful, whether the building still stands or not. Those who dare the trek up the creek with its many crossings are rewarded with an almost primeval feeling. The ferns and mosses, the sound of side rivulets falling down the rocks to join the creek, the shady quiet – it’s overwhelmingly beautiful. Down in that creek valley you can’t hear the road, or even planes overhead. It’s very isolated because the only way in or out is along the cliff-walled creek bed or a few steep climbs that only the deer can negotiate. It’s just you, the water, and soul-soothing nature. I need to try to get back up there for a dose of that again soon.
A year or two ago my talented daughter painted a miniature portrait of the cabin for me as a Christmas gift. It was supposed to be a tree ornament but I leave it out year ‘round because I love it so much. It’s a fall scene of the cabin the way it appears in multiple family photographs – including the outhouse. It’s a great rendering. But the thing that makes it the most special to me is this — she painted it with the porch light on.
That’s the way I’d like to remember the cabin – with the light on in the gathering dusk, waiting to welcome us back from a beautiful day on the mountain.
At least for those of us who enjoy some cool aspects of fabrication, nerd culture, and unobtainable H&K G36’s and XM8’s. Tom made it happen and TommyBuilt Tactical produced an American Made G36 clone, and receivers to build out your own if you could get German parts.
Tom Bostic made that happen, but no good deed goes unpunished…
Dear TommyBuilt Tactical T36 Owner:
Greetings. We hope that you are enjoying your TommyBuilt Tactical T36, and want to thank you for your patronage.
With that said, we have received unfortunate news that the receiver of the T36 will now be classified by ATF as a machinegun receiver. ATF has recently determined that the blocks and restrictions manufactured into our semi-automatic receiver (which are a replica of the SL8 prevention method) are not sufficient and now require an auto sear block on this platform. We disagree with this position but do not make the regulatory decisions.
To this end, we at TommyBuilt Tactical are eager to work with our T36 owners and with the ATF to comply with the newly mandated requirements for this platform. Our counsel and team have met with our regulator to make attempts to resolve this issue. TommyBuilt Tactical has made and had approved by the ATF an upgraded semi-automatic receiver including more restrictive blocks, the newly required auto sear block and other various upgrades.
So we are clear, there is no current intent by ATF to criminally charge any TommyBuilt Tactical T36 owner for the possession of contraband, or to prosecute TommyBuilt Tactical for any wrongdoing. To this end, my team and I have been authorized by ATF to replace the existing T36 receivers with an upgraded “TG36” receiver. There will be a minimal cost to you of $225 to upgrade to the new TG36. It is critical that you send your receiver to me for an upgrade. The ATF has made it clear that if your T36 is not returned for upgrade to the TG36, it will be considered contraband and subject to seizure.
Once seized you will lose your entire T36 assembly. The resolution that we are offering will allow you to keep ALL of your components in an upgraded state at a minimal cost.
We are a small business and already overwhelmed. This unexpected determination is a substantial financial hardship for us all. Please refer to our website (www.tommybuilttactical.com) for more details on this situation and instructions on exactly how to send in your receiver for replacement.
Again, we appreciate your patience and understanding.
Thank you for your support,
TommyBuilt Tactical LLC
TommyBuilt got worse than the “Zucc,” they got the ATF C&D… and they lost the argument that their product was not a machinegun. I don’t know the details of the legal back and forth, but I have heard rumors. It ultimately doesn’t matter though. If you are a current T36 owner you have two options, return your rifle/pistol/SBR for an at cost upgrade to the new ATF compliant format… or the ATF can seize your gun as a new production machinegun in violation of the NFA.
Does it suck?
Yep.
Will it cost you some money?
Yes. TommyBuilt has to re-receiver your gun and that was an $849 part.
ONLY send the stripped bare receiver or barreled upper, and the lower (DO NOT ship all parts or your complete firearm to TommyBuilt Tactical) If you absolutely do not have the means to remove the stock or brace you may leave it on.
Our preferred method of shipping is USPS priority large flat rate boardgame box. This box is available free at the Post office or you can request online that they deliver one to your home. The SKU is GB_FRB for this box.
Ship to: TommyBuilt Tactical 2620 West Socrum Loop Rd Lakeland FL 33810
Each TommyBuilt customer is important to us and we working to upgrade these as quickly as possible. They will be upgraded in the order in which they are received. We are estimating our turn around time to be 3-6 weeks depending on the volume received. Your patience is greatly appreciated
Should you have any questions about your specific firearm please leave it in the section below. Please DO NOT call or email TommyBuilt Tactical or message Tom or TommyBuilt on Facebook or Instagram regarding your T36.
ALL correspondence will come from upgrade@tommybuilttactical.com.
If you have a T36, please be patient with the TBT team. They got got punched by the ATF ruling and lost the argument, it happens.
If you want to order a new TG36 that is compliant, I urge greater patience. I will be ordering this year, especially after Tom and his crew put in the sweat equity first to defend your product, and then when that became impossible, to make it right in the most doable manner possible for the customers. Yes, its going to cost some money, but that isn’t TBT’s fault. Give them a hand, give them support, lend them you patience and don’t drill into them on the $225… now if you want to send an articulate and low/no profanity nastygram to the ATF expressing your displeasure at their strange and sudden attack on a small business making Title I firearms, by all means. But this deal is ultimately inked in the books and in motion already.
Ann Arbor, MI (February 16, 2021) The G43/G45 magnifiers developed by EOTECH® were initially launched to the world at SHOT 2020 and first deliveries were expected to begin in the 2nd quarter. These optics offer vast improvements over the G33 in overall length and eye relief. What wasn’t planned were the three massive hurdles that were dished out in 2020.
First, COVID19’s middle finger to the world forced businesses to go remote, limiting key areas of final development such as product qualification and testing. Also, the pandemic severely disrupted the supply chain process and the ability to receive consistent components. Add to the mix, political and civil unrest, which unfolded during the summer, drove firearm and accessory sales through the roof. As a result, part suppliers struggled to keep up with the demand. As if the dumpster fire wasn’t big enough, L3/Harris provided kerosene in the form of additional production delays and shifts in product focus. Inevitably, L3/Harris pulled development funding altogether to make the company’s year-end bottom line more attractive to their shareholders.
In August 2020, EOTECH was re-born after a well overdue divestiture from big corp. The last five months were spent unscrewing much of the in-place structure and focus. From that, new commitments to product development and customer service became a top priority, and to fix the delayed launch of the magnifiers.
“The new magnifiers are a key component in our product line and provide major benefits to those who use them in tandem with our holographic sights,” said Mark Miller, Product Manager. “It was crucial to get them into production and to our customers but not at the sacrifice of quality and performance. Testing and validation took some time but it ensured the end product was worthy of wearing the EOTECH brand.”
As of February 1, 2021, both G43 and G45 magnifiers have begun shipping with volume ramp-ups to occur in the next few weeks. For more information on the magnifiers and other EOTECH products, please visit www.eotechinc.com.
In Hand
I actually handled one of the new G43’s yesterday at my LGS, Gerbrand Defense, and I my say that I continue to enjoy the miniaturization of certain optical techs. In the past, the RDS/Holo & Magnifier combination took up the real estate and the weight of an LPVO, while limiting the functionality to something like an Elcan SpecterDR.
Which is to say, very functional but with things it cannot do that LPVO’s can. Granted, it holds a couple advantages still too, NOD use and unrestrained eye relief (magnifier flipped away) chief among them. The new 43 seems to deliver everything the 33 did in about 2/3’s the space with perhaps a little additional clarity, eye relief, and field of view. Those all still feel narrowed like any other magnifier, but they felt improved.
Anyway, shop away. It’s tax season and President Biden is rearing to give out cash, buying something they don’t want you to have with it seems appropriate.
It’s your DUTY to be READY. The Walther Police Duty Pistol.
Walther’s timeless innovation has once more achieved a breakthrough never seen before in firearms with the PDP elite handgun. Whether you are on the job or with the family, it is your duty to stay ready for any situation that may come. Now, you can do so confidently with the groundbreaking advancements afforded by the Walther PDP. With revolutionary ergonomics, SuperTerrain Slide Serrations and a brand-new Performance Duty Trigger, this is the next evolution in world-class ingenuity for pistols.
No other handgun can put all the tools you need at your disposal like the Walther PDP. It’s a handgun specifically designed to maximize readiness no matter the circumstance, and with the support of Walther’s historic ingenuity, it’s guaranteed to surpass all expectations time and time again. The unique design offers versatile advantages when you need them most, providing supreme performance in any condition, making this the go-to choice for shooters who demand excellence every single day.
As the ideal firearm for those seeking unmatched versatility, dependability and effectiveness in both concealed carry and conventional service situations, the Walther PDP is how you stay ready.
There’s the company promo line.
Let’s get to the gun(s).
Here’s the short, short, short version.
It’s a PPQ with a new slide to support optics, deeper serrations, and the frame texture from the Q4SF panels molded into the polymer. It shoots with that PPQ goodness, the trigger lives on. They also added an 18rd full size frame to lineup. Done.
Yes, folks. I used the precious 9mm from my own hoard on this preview review. Gerbrand Defense was able to offer it at sub-orbital prices, although it is sadly out of stock now.
Now the long version.
Full review in process [read: looking for more 9mm and a dot to throw on top]
The PDP, Police Duty Pistol, is the logical evolution of the PPQ, Police Pistol QuickDefence (they’re German, it’s the Euro spelling). The line is launching with two frame sizes and three slide/barrel lengths, although the 5″ barreled variant is only being offered on the fullsize frame (as of now). This is yet another international manufacturer standardizing on pistols with red dot optics.
For any existing fans of the PPQ pistol, especially the M2 variant, the PDP will feel right at home to you.
As you might expect from a modernized offering, it is Optics Ready. The slide is where the PDP departs most drastically from its PPQ legacy, although the frame also takes some inspiration from the Q4SF, notably in texture. You can track the PDP’s legacy back to the P99, it has come far and offers more than ever.
They’ve partnered with C&H Precision to offer plates that you can purchase directly through Walther’s website, however you get one Walther plate for free. Just use the plate request form from Walther and pick your optic style of choice, the corresponding plate is on the way. If you know what you want ahead of time you can order it and have it ready and waiting of course, however you do get one free.
With the number of people who ditch the stock optic plates offered with other handguns for upgrades, like C&H or Forward Controls, I like this offering method. It doesn’t burden someone who isn’t going to use an optic, or use one right away, with small parts to lose. It also doesn’t saddle the optic using owner with a bunch of ‘cost effective’ plates that they will only use one of, and may replace later anyway with a dedicated machined plate. It goes right to the dedicated plate option, with C&H offering a higher grade “Defensive Division” on Walther’s site. Trading some wait time for less clutter and a higher grade offering.
Don’t worry, little guy. I’ll find you a dot. Eyeballing that ACSS Holosun…
Oh! They have light rails too, so X300U or TLR-1HL it and get right to work with a few light indexing optic compatible holsters. PHLster Floodlight, for example.
Speaking of holsters, branded Comp-Tac’s will be available shortly from Walther directly (if they are not already). Tier 1 Concealed, Tenicor, PHLster Pro’s (in addition to the current Floodlights), C&G Holsters, DeSantis, Safariland, and TREX Arms will all have offerings.
I am a hardcore PHLster man myself, and if you say leather I will probably say DeSantis, but picking a holster is like picking a good pair of pants and we all have our brands of preferences.
A review in a preliminary pair of paragraphs, then the official press release.
The PDP retains everything we loved about the PPQ M2, trigger, magazine, and slide lock/release, while it adds the modern optics capability from the factory. They took a solid approach to the mounting equation that, while delaying mounting the dot immediately (without additional cost), offers the user a more solid method of doing so. It is a welcome addition into modern fullsize and compact duty pistols.
In my personal opinion, the compact shoots the best. But that might just be because it awakens all the old PPQ familiarity. The 4″ 15rd capacity gun is a pleasing form fitting evolution of its legacy models. The new 18rd 4.5″ gun is a welcome change from Walther, who had previous been rather endeared to the, admittedly very comfortable, 15rd frames while relying on extended magazines to reach higher capacities. For the larger pawed crowed it will make the Walther’s a more accessible pistol option, and with 4″ barreled slides still being an offering in the full frame, concealment shouldn’t be a problem.
OFFICIAL: Walther launches the PDP, its new flagship handgun. It’s your duty to be READY.
Walther, a company defined by over a century of engineering passion, precision workmanship and innovation, has entered a new era of manufacturing with its flagship elite handgun. The PDP, Performance Duty Pistol, has been designed by Walther to be READY, no matter the circumstance.
With revolutionary Red Dot Ergonomics engineered into the pistol, the PDP platform has been designed around making the switch to the popular red-dot sight system easier for the new RDS shooter and faster for the RDS veterans. The SuperTerrain serrations are uniquely shaped to protrude above the surface of the slide allowing for quicker and more responsive hands-on engagement with the pistol. Walther’s brand new Performance Duty Trigger shortens the length of travel and increases the tactile definition of the trigger break making the best striker-fired trigger on the market even better. The PDP is the most modular and versatile pistol ever designed by Walther and every PDP model comes red dot READY.
Available in 9mm, the striking design provides supreme performance in any condition, making this the go-to choice for shooters as an ideal firearm in both concealed carry and conventional service situations. The PDP is launched in two distinctly different frame sizes – compact and full size – as well as three different slides lengths – 4” and 4.5” in compact models, and 4”, 4.5” and 5” in full size models.
The PDP is the next evolution in world-class ingenuity for polymer frame pistols. Packed with features, Walther’s PDP is specifically designed to maximize readiness no matter the circumstance. The Walther PDP is how to stay READY.
“At Walther, we believe it is our duty to engineer the best possible pistol for anything our customers may encounter. We want them to focus on being READY for anything and not thinking about how or if their pistol will perform, we have done our job so they don’t have to worry about it.” Jens Krogh Vice President of Marketing and Product Development Walther Arms USA.
WALTHER PDP FROM MSRP: $649.00 For more information on Walther Arms, visit waltherarms.com/PDP
The White House has issued a direct call to action for gun controllers to rally around, and the full press of bad policies are on it… because of course they are.
Ban ‘Assault Weapons’ and high (standard) capacity magazines because… no credible data or study indicates that action would curb shooting deaths meaningfully or with any reliability. No one can credibly claim assault weapons or magazine bans would curb homicide rates. It is the most shot in the dark wishful thinking of proposals, but it certainly earns those feels points.
Make background checks ‘Universal’ because no one would abuse a public access to NICS. This wouldn’t place an undo burden on FFL’s to run checks for people not actually shopping with them, but needing a private transfer. Nor would it impose a financial and time burden on more destitute and vulnerable Americans, making this hurt the poor the most. It certainly wouldn’t be ignored by many as a completely unenforceable mandate, as the ATF and other federal agencies prosecute a meaningless number of prohibited transfer attempts when compared to the number of denies, and have a rather abysmal false positive rate by comparison.
And, of course, allow a direct assault against firearm manufacturers because people misusing their products is their fault directly and every single person employed by the gun industry has a heart filled with hate and evil for daring to make useful life saving tools owned by a hundred million Americans and used responsibly every single day…
Oh, and you have the right to be armed to defend your life, that has be infringed. That is an enshrined right enumerated in the Constitution of this nation and no sitting part of the government, elected or appointed, has the authority to deny you that right unless you give it to them.
So, don’t.
Now our watch begins (to quote a great show with a terrible finale) and we must be vigilante, not only of the ridiculous proposals like H.R. 127 which ultimately doesn’t have a prayer of passing, but the proposals slipped in beside it because they look much more reasonable in scale. An old trick.
Universal Background Checks are going to be their goal. It is the most ‘reasonable’ proposal to attempt and the least invasive. It would be a win for them, a big one that they have been promising their demanding mayors and mothers for a long time. It is their most logical next bite of the elephant. It would win them political points without angering their more 2A supporting bases too much, because their voters who own guns still support them widely for other reasons and this will be seen as reasonable. It doesn’t ‘take the guns’ after all and the new owners will not understand the long slow boil that gun control is until they’ve been in the pot awhile.
An assault weapon and magazine ban are the rallying cry, UBC’s are the goal. The current one. Make no mistake, if there is an opportunity to attempt the rest they will certainly exert that pressure, but don’t assume that just because the loudest ideas are moronic that all the people trying to push these policies into place are morons. They are not.
These idiotic, feel good, ‘look at me helping’ policies will hurt millions, save no one, but they will claim it theoretically saved someone. Probably a kid. Then when the next tragedy strikes they will use that as leverage, that they weren’t allowed to go far enough. The next bite. Appeals to emotional feel-goods as ‘common sense’ is another old tactic. The appeal to have to ‘do something’ is too. Expect them all to be used and the useful idiots to line up behind them.
The Good News
The good news is that Gun Culture 2.0 is switched on and ready to resist this in the information age. We aren’t dealing with a lulled base of gun owners like in the 90’s, when they pushed too far even then. We have an active, better informed, quicker on the digital trigger, base of owners that is larger than ever and fresh off of a world wide event that proved the government is not coming to help you… it is up to you.
So the White House can shout for their gun control base and the anti-gun US Congress critters can clap like the trained seals that they are, but the pressure will come back at them hotter than ever and quicker than ever as they try and weaken the Second Amendment.
Keep an eye on the small moves, removing protections on financial transactions and attacks on the PLCAA. Look for the UBC push as the “reasonable” compromise. And if you voted for a gun controller because the 2A is not a make or break issue for you personally, as a gun owner you must be ready to hold them to account when they put pressure against you.
The 2A is for everyone, which means anyone putting pressure on it is working against your best interests. Period. They are against you, no matter what issues you and they support together, they are attacking one of your most personal and closely held rights as a human being. The right to protect yourself.
Don’t entertain the derisive platitudes of “but we haven’t taken all the guns” or “nobody really needs that” because that hollow lie should concern you greatly. Anytime an entity of power doesn’t want you to have something that can threaten them, you should be suspicious. Anytime the are making emotional pleas instead of using reasoned rationale and logic, you know they are selling you a bill of rotten goods.
Good data stands on its own, and if banning any of what was listed would make a good damn bit of difference that information would be everywhere and solid. Sure there would still be detractors, flat-earthers are a thing. But in reality we have a steady diet of liars using framed statistics and of appeals to emotion over reason. Organizations not wanting to feel the state, federal, or social hammer of displeasure come for them so they parrot the lies to get by. They don’t really have a dog in the fight and can be pointed to as a voice of authority. When you hear doctors supporting gun control it is largely a self-interested move, it doesn’t harm them and might maybe do some good so what’s the harm?
Good intentions do not overrule good data.
The False Appeal to Victimhood
We don’t stack car crash labs full of car crash victims, we use safety engineers, material specialists, and product designers to pick an incident apart and see if something can be made better/safer/more survivable.
Yet we (or rather the gun control crowd) put David Hogg, a victim, up as a policy authority instead of physical security specialists?
In what other field do we allow emotion to overrun reason like this? Cars? Alcohol? Food? Tobacco products? Each of them has victims involved, but the crash victim of a drunk driver is not seriously entertained if they state vehemently that all cars and alcohol should be banned, or vehicle speeds should be limited, or even that someone convicted of drunk driving once should never be allowed to drive again and that it should be a serious felony to do so.
Yet we (they) allow this leeway, and encourage it, with the far less deadly firearms? Seriously, magnitudes less deadly. 95,000 alcohol related deaths to 39,707 firearm related deaths, CDC 2019.
It’s asinine through any objective lens, but it is our reality to oppose for the next few years.
However, we know our pressure matters. Look at how the ATF reacted and retracted on braces? It doesn’t mean they are done with that topic, but public servants do in fact have to give some credence to the ‘public’ that they serve too. Be sure not to miss an opportunity to make your position politely and firmly known on your state topics and federal topics.
In the last ammo crisis, revolver shooters were largely spared the carnage. While prices did increase, 38 Special and 357 Magnum ammo remained readily available for the duration. Not so this time around, where gun stores are showing bare shelves and online retailers are charging $1.90 a round for FMJ. Why is 38 Special so hard to find?
The first problem is a demand problem. According to NSSF’s final tally, approximately 8.4 million first time gun owners entered the market in 2020. When they came in, they brought an unprecedented demand for guns and ammo, as well as some interesting purchasing habits. There was a surge in demand for 1) pump-action shotguns and 2) revolvers. If we take a wild guess that even 10ish percent of the new gun owners bought a 38/357 wheelgun, that’s 800,000 people. If each one of those people bought 100 rounds of ammo, that’s 80 million rounds of 38 Special that didn’t need to exist before 2020.
To further understand why 38 Special is so hard to find, we need to look at how ammo is made. The big companies like Federal, Winchester, or Magtech/S&B have dedicated lines to make high-demand rounds such as 223 Remington or 9mm. All those machines do is make those rounds, and they’re not easy to convert over to different cartridges. Lower demand cartridges (like 38 Special) are made on different machines that can be switched from one caliber to another with a bit more ease. Those machines have to make everything else, so one week they could be making hunting rounds and the next week 38 Special JHP for personal protection. Plus, they can also be converted to make 9mm…you get the idea, right? Increased demand for everything and the same or reduced capacity?
Plus, the last piece of the puzzle: the small pistol primer. 38 Special takes small pistol primers, the exact same kind that, you guessed it, 9mm takes. So the final clue in why 38 Special is so hard to find is that: primer diversion. If I’m Winchester and I’m trying to allocate my primers, everything is going to fill my monster back-order of 9mm ammo, and if I can squeeze out a few million rounds of 38 while I’m at it, that’s nice. Otherwise it’s make 9mm all day all the time, baby.
Like the entire ammo crisis, the issue isn’t complicated. 38 Special is hard to find because of supply and demand. It’s just we’ve need seen this kind of demand before.
The Aero Precision Pistol Caliber Carbine, named the Enhanced Pistol Caliber – 9, will be live and available soon.
Like dates are picked, have been communicated, parts are flowing to boxes, boxes are filling in-stock bins, and despite the mad rush that 2020 put on their developed production, Aero Precision is delivering the 9mm goodness.
However if you want a chance at one early, and without having to beat the refresh button without mercy, we are doing a giveaway with Aero. So click and get on this list, the first list for the new EPC-9, and be ready to open the other avenues of pursuit soon.
For the curious, The EPC-9 will be dedicated Glock magazine 9mm variant of the M4E1 essentially. Build you prefect PCC from their selection of components and hit the range, competitive circuit, or an ammo compatible home defense carbine.
It’s a direct blowback gun.
Why?
DBB works, it works well in pistol calibers. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel on working systems, you just need to build them to run… a lesson MP5 clones live and die on learning.
The following condensed chart is from TacticalGear.com and compiles estimates and available NICS data from 2020. There are some raw errors (like listing Michigan as a NICS exempt state) however the data matches what has been more widely reported from different sources on the raw numbers nation wide.
We blasted past the old record (2016) estimate by 34% in 2020 and that reflects several aspects of the market that converged. “New” gun buyers in 2020 made up nearly as many purchases as all gun buyers in 2011. That is a dramatic decade shift.
But as we jump into 2021 and with months and months of pandemic surge having hit the market hard, what are we looking at?
The first month of 2021 shattered the previous record (of the previous month) by 10%. We will see if the numbers hold in February-April, which have a tendency to be strong because of tax season. Biden angling to give everyone another $1,400 for ye olde bread and circuses will also likely go into impulse spending. The paltry amount won’t pay months worth of rent, utilities, etc. But it will get someone a TV, game system, or a new AR. For many who are not unemployed but simply had their work circumstances altered, this will almost certainly be used as impulse money. That has positive aspects, especially if spent at smaller businesses that have seen hard hits during the shutdowns.
But the prevailing attitude in America continues to be, ‘Arm Up’. People are still worried, tensions are still high, and with millions of new owners who are about to experience their first round of ‘The Government would rather leave you defenseless and promise you sh*t it can’t deliver, because scary gun is scary’ the landscape looks stacked to be a banner year in gun sales.
While COVID-19 and the riots fueled purchases last year, the Biden administration is set to keep stoking that fire hotter and hotter in 2021.
So we’ve got that going… I’ll be tackling this in a bit. But Democrats and anti-gun orgs are going to use their best bloody shirts waving form in order to drum up political capital. Despite the landscape on guns having drastically changed, they can still beat this drum for money and we can see the normal tactics in play.
So the forecast is more guns and combating bad legislation.
