The AR-15’s popularity has been driven quite far by the carbine variant of the rifle. Carbine variants with their 14.5 or 16-inch barrels and collapsing stocks dominate the market, and for a lot of people, they are a great option. I still see the classic rifle variant of the AR-15 with a 20 inch barrel as a very viable option. Not to say anything bad about shorter carbines, AR pistols, or SBRs.
Most companies who produce a rifle variant of the AR-15 present it as a marksman’s rifle or an A2/A4 clone. Nothing wrong with that, but what about an alternative option? There are lots of different kinds of carbine builds out there, but I wanted to present a rifle build. I call it the Light Rifle. My goal with this particular model was to modernize the full-sized rifle on a budget, while still using quality components.
I chose Aero for a few reasons. First and foremost, I wanted a quality option at a good price. Aero Precision makes excellent rifles and does so at a rather attractive price range. You can find cheaper, but you won’t find better quality at such a low price.
I also wanted the upper and lower to be built. I enjoy building AR-15s, but I do trust professionals to do it more than I trust myself. Aero is one of the few companies that offers a 20 inch AR these days. This specific model is the M16A4 lower from Aero and the A4 upper without the Knight’s rail.
The 20 Inch Barrel
The reason for the 20 inch barrel is simple. This is what the rife was designed with and what length gets the most out of the 223 Remington/5.56 NATO chamber. The round gains a bit of velocity through the longer barrel. Extra velocity equals extra oomph.
Extra oomph is a scientific term. That extra oomph often translates into better penetration through ard cover with less energy lost. At longer ranges, the increased velocity can lead to more damage against a fleshy target. At close ranges, the extra velocity allows for a greater chance for hard armor-piercing capabilities. This is especially true for M193 rounds from a 20-inch barrel.
It’s important to distinguish that its not just steel armor, and not all steel armor is created equally. Lower end steel armor from fly by night companies might as well just be target steel. If the company seems new with prices too good to be true, then it likely is. AR500 Armor, for example, ensures they explain their ratings and distinguish between what one set of plates can do versus another.
Even ceramic plates have weak points around the outside of the plate a complete stop on the sides is never guaranteed.
That extra velocity also helps make the round better suited for most hunting loads. A lot of 223 Remington rounds with soft points designed for hunting work best from a 20-inch barrel when it comes to expansion.
The Handling Effect
The 20 inch barrel AR gets you extra velocity as well as a smoother handling rifle. Recoil is lighter, and concussion is reduced as well as muzzle climb. The rifle-length gas system allows for a smoother and reduced recoil impulse. This Aero Precision M16A4 clone handles like an absolute dream. Since the trigger lacks the three-round burst function, it’s much better than the USMC M16A4 trigger.
On the other side of the equation, the 20-inch rifle is harder to use in and out of vehicles, as well as in close range CQB situations. As someone who served at a time when only Squad leaders and above got M4s, I’ve cleared numerous rooms with an M16A4 and its 20 inch barrel in MOUT towns across the Marine Corps. Often with an M240 slung around my back because the Marine Corps rarely makes sense.
Given a choice, I would take an M4 profile or shorter gun for inside the home. However, I still feel comfortable clearing rooms and buildings with a full-sized AR-15 rifle. It’s not as comfortable or as easy, and you do have extra precautions around corners and when stacking up. It’s a training issue you can overcome.
A bonus to the extra barrel length is extra standoff distance is you equip a pointy stabby thing to the gun.
Fixed Stock – The Why
A fixed stock is not a requirement of the light rifle or any rifle length AR-15. Throw whatever stock you want on the weapon. I did like the fixed stock on my Aero Precision M16A4 clone, but I didn’t necessarily love the M16 stock. I popped it off and attached a Magpul MOE rifle stock.
An adjustable stock does give shorter shooters more options, but I find the Magpul MOE’s 13.5-inch LOP perfect for me. This stock is heavier than most M4 stocks, and at 14 ounces, some stock weighs less than half of it. I do find the extra weight to better balance the rifle with it’s longer 20 inch barrel.
Additionally, the stock’s length is always the same, and I always know what to expect when I throw it to my shoulder. The Magpul MOE stock also gives you a rather larger storage compartment for stashing cleaning gear, spare parts, and even Skittles.
Finally, it’s beard friendly and affordable.
Modular Light Weight Handguard
As far as quad rails go, there is no better option than the Knight RAS rail. However, the light in light rifle necessitates we trim a little weight. A free float rail isn’t going to happen with the front sight base.
Modular and much lighter rails now exist, which makes the gun less front heavy. I went with the matching Magpul handguard, so the colors matched! Finding modular handguards for a rifle with a front sight base with a 20 inch barrel isn’t always easy, and Magpul offers a proven option.
Also, it’s an affordable option for an affordable rifle. The handguards have M-LOK slots, and you can make it as modular as you choose. Other options exist, and some may even be better, but I am a fan of the Magpul series.
Optics
Modern rifles need modern sighting solutions. The modern solution for a modern world is a low powered variable optic. These optics allow for both close quarter’s encounters with their illuminated reticles and 1X capable settings. As the distance increases, so does the magnification up to 10X these days. A 1-6X or a 1-8X is perfectly acceptable. I use an Athlon Argos BTR 1-8X. It’s an affordable, high-quality optic option that fits our needs.
If you wanted to put the light in light rifles, a prismatic fixed power optic is a good choice as well. The Marines recently dumped their ACOGs fro LPVOs, but these optics are still very capable. Some newer prismatics are very tough and very capable. The Primary Arms and Swampfox lines are impressive prismatic options at a really great price.
Iron Sights
I do thin the Front sight base on a 20 inch rifle makes a lot of sense. On the affordable front, you may not be able to add an optic right away. If that is the case, then add a carry handle rear sight. The long sight radius makes the gun stupid easy to shoot accurately. In fact, the carry handle comes with the Aero M16A4 upper is the perfect rear sight.
As far as back up iron sight, the Magpul MBUS sights are also a good, low profile choice. I have a rear Troy sight on mine simply because it was an extra I had laying around. If I had to purchase a new option, the MBUS sights would be perfectly compatible.
Light Rifles For All
This isn’t a gun for everyone, but I do see a rifle that’s perfect for a variety of tasks. It can be a defensive carbine, a hunting rifle, a fun gun, or even a competition rifle. While the carbine may rule I do believe the 20 inch barrel AR-15 is still a worthy contender and a damn fine choice when it comes to choosing an AR-15. I’m not the only fan of rifles with 20 inch barrels. Check out Keith’s articles on his version of the M16A5 and his 2020 update. We share very similar tastes in rifles and full-sized EDC handguns.
The fourth rule of gun safety is often stated as “know your target and what is beyond it.” Simple enough, but people often focus on the latter half – what’s beyond your target. It is important to know your backstop, but we shouldn’t neglect the most important part of this rule: know your target.
To me, that’s the fourth rule of gun safety is really about target identification first. Every year, there are three or four or more tragic stories where a homeowner shot their spouse or child because they thought the spouse or child was a home invader. All of this is because someone failed to know their target. Target ID is a critical step in the shooting cycle and the self defense process.
Target ID is important regardless of whether you’re a cop, an armed citizen, or in the military. The critical decision of “does this person need a bullet” isn’t one that should be shortcut or shortchanged, because if we get that wrong in any context we could end up taking someone’s life who didn’t need to die. That’s why the fourth rule of gun safety is so important – target ID saves lives.
It is important to be aware of your backstop as well. Once you’ve identified your target and it’s something that needs bullets, are you in an environment where a poorly placed shot could have a negative outcome for a bystander? That’s something you have to bear in mind, coupled with your marksmanship ability. Fortunately with modern defensive ammo, there is little risk of over penetration, and the best backstop is the bad guy, but that doesn’t obviate our need to be sure of our background and surroundings.
The fourth rule of gun safety often gets lost among the other three more commonly quoted rules. You could make an argument that it’s the most important. Like I said above: target identification saves lives.
BB guns have changed quite a bit since the Red Ryder I owned when I was 8. My impression of BB guns was that they are cheap toys for kids. Fun for sure, but generally not useful beyond teaching sight alignment and gun safety. Times have changed, and BB guns have apparently gotten a lot better, and a lot cooler overall. The new SIG P365 Air Gun is an excellent example of this. I kind of just walked past the SIG air guns when I see them on shelves on gun stores, but sadly I never took a good long look.
The P365 Air gun is one of the newest SIG air guns, and it’s also pretty damn affordable. With a lot of us looking for train at-home options, an Air Gun might be the ticket. I carry a P365 as my EDC gun, and it seemed like the SIG P365 Air Gun might be an excellent tool for doing some backyard training. The gun is the exact same size as a standard P365 and is only about 4 ounces lighter than the real thing.
It matches the P365 in almost every way imaginable. The grip, the magazine capacity, the controls, and more are identical to the real deal SIG P365. There are a few differences; the air gun variant lacks night sights but has similar sights overall. The magazine release is not reversible, and you are forced to have a manual safety. Other than that, it’s 100% P365. The slide is even made of metal.
It’s a semi-automatic BB gun that utilizes 4.5mm bbs and is powered by cheap and available 12-gram CO2 cartridges. The disposable components are ultra-cheap and make this an affordable all-around design.
The Training Aspect
Obviously, the SIG P365 Air Gun cannot compete with a real gun for training. It won’t replace real range time, but it can supplement it. The SIG P365 Air Gun will fit the vast majority of P365 holsters. The only time they won’t work is if the holster does not fit the SIG P365 with a manual safety.
In terms of training, it does offer you an ultra-cheap means to practice drawing and to fire into a target. It does give you something a little more than just dry fire. This BB gun is a blowback design, and that means the slide moves like a real gun. This allows you to practice with some recoil and noise, as well as moving sights that have to be tracked.
It’s easy and quite enjoyable to do simple things like failure to stop drills, double taps, and more. It also allows you to build muscle memory and improve speed. The SIG P365 Air Gun is a fun tool that does give you a step above dry fire training for your stuck at home training regiment.
On top of that, it’s a fun, safe, and easy tool to train kids with. I started my shooting career with a bb gun, and it was nowhere near as cool as this one. My son loves it, and he blasted away a dozen magazines worth of BBs and CO2 while learning how to use the sights and building confidence.
How the P365 Air Gun Runs
The SIG P365 Air Gun is incredibly reliable. It seems to feed and shoot without any issues. I’m about a thousand BBs deep, and the gun runs flawlessly. It does seem to eat through CO2 quite fast. Three or four magazines in and the CO2 starts getting super weak. These CO2 cartridges are luckily very affordable and can be bought by the dozens if you so choose.
As the CO2 dies, the air gun might be firing two bbs at one time. It also obviously won’t shoot as far or as fast, so the point of impact changes. Just change the cartridge when it gets weak. I do love that the slide locks back to the rear when your empty, and I appreciate those little details. The magazine also holds 12 rounds, which is the most popular P365 magazine anyway.
Accuracy wise it’s still just a BB gun. At 15 yards, it’s still accurate enough for headshots. The BBs tend to group at about three to four inches wide at this range, and it groups somewhat unpredictably. It’s not a marksmen’s BB gun by any means, but solid enough for training purposes.
The trigger isn’t as good as the P365, and it requires you to fully release the trigger. I mean, you might as well hit the trigger guard because the trigger reset is long. It’s not a heavy trigger, though, and it decently mimics the feel of a P365 trigger.
Final Shots
The SIG P365 Air Gun is a fun little BB gun that can also serve as a competitive training tool. It’s more interesting than just dry fire and does allow you to practice shooting in the safety of your backyard. The little guy is reliable, easy to use, and mimics the P365 also flawlessly. It’s also reliable, well made, and fun to use. They seem to be available for around 70 bucks, and that’s an awesome investment into an excellent training tool.
SIG also produces P320, 1911, P210, and P226 models in both BB and pellet gun models. On top of that, they are producing a Pro level Airsoft variant of the M17, which might be an interesting force on force tool. Check out their list of airguns here.
I get it. Hell, I’ve been it. The AR-15 is a cookie cuttered platform that can get… stale. Like flat root beer or corn chips that didn’t have the bag rolled up right. You’re just kind of done with it.
The AR-15 is the most invested in platform of the firearms market here in the US. The AK might arguably be on the worldwide scale but that argument really doesn’t scale modernization into the equation, millions upon millions of the AKMs are still just as ‘Nyet! Rifle is Fine! Just add colored duct tape’ as they have been for decades.
So, what to look at if you don’t want another AR but you still want it AR~ish? Tim has a list in the video that he is liking and I have mine. Tim hits on a salient point that most rifles and carbines worth the time and resource to buy are more expensive than a comparable AR-15… that’s what happens when the whole of the market supports a single product.
Hell, even IWI makes an AR now. A pretty damn good one actually. And it’s because they, like others before them have and others after them will, are supporting the strong demand of the market for the one rifle that clearly everyone should support.
But that does get boring, I know.
That’s part of the reason I own so many ‘not ARs’ like I do ‘not a Glock’ handguns. It’s fun to see others take on the idea, especially when they do it well. Seeing the ‘million ways to build the mouse trap’ when they work well is just plain neat sometimes. It’s why we like rifles like the MCX, Bren 2, & HK433 despite them basically still just doing what the M4 does, it’s because they aren’t an M4 but they work well that we feel a sense of refreshment.
I’ll be doing a video on those 3 specifically in the near future, as I believe they represent what is essentially the edge of current service rifle tech at present in the 5.56 field.
One rifle I want to mention that Tim does not is the XCR.
If there was ever a little company that I am just damn straight impressed with for keeping on the grind its RA. Talking with Alex at SHOT this last year and ordering this little guy was a real treat. I know my buddy Mike, who writes for us every now and then, still loves his XCR-M but this L just reaffirms the work they’re doing.
This gun has never stopped evolving. In a way that is especially impressive due to the fact it was keeping up with the aforementioned AR-15 and was introduced as a competitor in the SCAR program but lost due to no BFA. Long stroke piston with adjustable gas port. Buyer selectable M-LOK or Keymod negative space rail systems which Alex implemented… and he didn’t have to. He could have said, “no, 1913 rails are fine and I’m just going to make sure the gas system and springs and all that are running.” He didn’t. He has kept this whole thing inline with emerging tech. 2-Stage trigger, check. Adjustable and folding stock with equivalent brace system, check. Negative space monolithic receiver rail systems, check. Freefloat barrel, check.
It’s a testament to the little shop doing big things. It’s a damn fine little truck gun. About the only two criticisms I have, and really it’s more like one and a half..
First, I want the industry to stop using muzzle breaks, enough, no more, especially on short barrels. Someone orders an 18″ competition gun, fine. Everything else needs to run flash hiders and/or close proximity compensators. Breaks are dumb on anything that isn’t a gamer gun, or a precision rig (usually magnum caliber too), or a suppressor host. Comps and flash hiders, folks.. Comps and flash hiders.
And the other is an A2 grip.. C’mon.. 1985 called and said they made a mistake. Start using K2’s or B5’s or Mod 3’s as the standard already. This is the half criticism because it’s such a small easy thing to change out. A2’s are the ‘Glock Iron Sights’ of AR type platforms and its essentially just a stand-in until you add your preferred grip. It isn’t meant to stay there.
The raised garden bed I built out of old shelves as a stress reliever.
My Gawd, the internet is a wasteland. Well, even more of a wasteland than it usually is. Social media is awash in self-appointed infectious disease experts, constitutional scholars, and economists. It’s gotten so that people will call you a “sheep” and a “government pawn” if you tell them the freakin’ sky is blue.
I for one am experiencing outrage burnout and am having an allergic reaction to ignorance. Stupidity gives me hives – can I get a medic alert bracelet for that?
I just can’t even anymore. From the self-appointed “mask experts” to Canadians banning coffee companies with gun-like names, I just want to turn it all off and walk away. I have more social media “friends” on 30- day mute than I ever have in my life. Can anybody else feel me here?
Everybody’s an “Expert”
I haven’t been to the range in over 2 months, because I just can’t find the motivation for it. I’m even struggling in the writing department as you can probably tell.
I go to work. I go home. Lather, rinse, repeat.
My dreams are telling me that I’m suppressing the stress and worry (just like everybody else).
A few weeks ago I had a dream that I was back in residency. I was getting a reaming from some unknown person who informed me that I was in danger of failing the program because I hadn’t been clicking that purple box down in the corner of the screen, which I was supposed to run all of my something-or-other through. And everyone else apparently got that memo but me.
That’s probably medical “survivor’s guilt” – my subconscious thinks what I’m doing is “not good enough” because I’m in a “safe” little pediatric practice and not in the ICU or ER in New York.
Over the weekend I had a nap dream. I was outside away from home and saw a tornado on the horizon. I ran into a hotel of some sort, trying to find a basement. There weren’t many people around but no one seemed concerned about the tornado. I also couldn’t find the basement despite running all over the place, down some stairs etc. Then I woke up.
Those are stress/worry dreams. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is having them. We are all worried about the future, how we are doing, and what dangers lie ahead.
BUT – there are ways to deal with it, and I have been doing my best to channel all of that into constructive projects and away from tinfoil and outrage for outrage’s sake.
So – I do have some projects I can talk about, but they are not about firearms. They are more like “self-sufficiency” or even “adult learning” if you will. Maybe I should just break it down into bullet points – cuz those are the only bullets I have for you currently.
In no particular order, I present –
Things I’ve Learned in 2020 so far.
Snow on May 8th is damn depressing when you’ve worked hard on a survival garden.
Learning to use a hand drill/carpenter’s brace is harder than it looks on video.
There is no shame in using nails instead until you are higher on the learning curve.
Nails pulled out of one thing can still be pounded into something else.
Used/abandoned shelves can be almost anything you want them to be.
Building kits are a nice bridge into Do-it-yourself projects.
Asking people on the internet about power tools can be a bit like asking for firearm-buying advice.
Asking the above does give people something else to talk about besides masks and the government, though.
Ordering stuff from Amazon gives you lots of cardboard to use in your garden.
Spray-painting stuff is hella fun – or maybe that was just the fumes talking.
Friends who are smart and otherwise respected can still be wrong – even if I like them.
Don’t get bored and start your tomato seeds too early or you may end up with 3-foot tall starts that are trying to blossom in butter tubs while it is still frosting outside overnight.
Keeping a garden journal may help to remind me of the above for next year.
Remembering varmints eating garden goodies from last year is good incentive to install some fencing this year.
Remembering varmints from last year is good incentive to look into a very quiet Umarex Air Javelin. What? Oh no, I would never consider hunting out of season in my yard. Pay no attention to the rabbit recipes in my favorites file. ( I do legit have a farm-raised rabbit in my freezer I need recipes for – honest)
Not everyone is handling the current situation in an emotionally healthy manner.
Trying to be patient with people not handling things in a healthy manner can be very difficult.
Pounding nails helps a lot with the above.
Sometimes it’s all about your attitude. I have realized that having a financial setback several years ago put me in a much better position to handle the current situation. Therefore – blessings are sometimes only apparent from the perspective of time and distance. It pays to try to keep some perspective, even when things are difficult. You never know if the experience is trying to teach you something you may need.
Stay Heathy, Stay Flexible, and try to Stay Positive!(Somebody remind me that I said all this the next time I need to pound nails. And let’s just keep the bunny recipe thing between us, mkay?)
Watching Forgotten Weapons and listening to the soothing educational tones of Ian’s voice should be a COVID-19 lockdown staple at this point. And this video is no different. This time around he is taking a look at “The Scout Rifle Study” and giving some thoughts.
For anyone who doesn’t have the 20 minutes to enjoy the whole discussion, here is a quick version of what Ian’s looking at so you can come back later.
The Scout Rifle was/is an International Universal Rifle concept born in the mind of Colonel Jeff Cooper, the man who pioneered and gave us much of what we consider foundational in modern shooting and training setups.
This rifle needed to be light, capable against medium to dangerous game, easy to reload, and about as internationally legal as it could get. It’s all well and good that here in the states I can use any of my .308 battle rifles, with a 5 round magazine, to hunt and that in most locales I don’t have a capacity limit for defense purposes, but that is far from the standard internationally.
That means bolt action. And bolt action, in the era before detachable box magazines became standard, meant top loading. This, combined with a couple other factors Cooper outlined, like balance and peripheral vision retention, give ‘Scout Rifles’ their distinctive forward mounted optical suites, usually a long eye relief lightweight LPVO called a scout scope. These were similar in design to handgun scopes where the shooters eye was expected to be quite a distance from the optic, not the 2-4″ we’re used to on modern carbines.
Ian goes into this very nicely in the video (seriously, hit play) but I’ll touch on it too.
The ‘Scout Rifle Concept’ feels… overthought.. and in modern times probably obsolescent at best. With the exception of international legality for hunting and the small market that covers, most of whom can probably afford more than one ‘universal rifle’, a shooter’s need for a rifle are probably best served by a box magazine fed carbine in auto-loading or manual loading format in an intermediate caliber.
In other words… an AR-15, and its peer group of rifles, with a lightweight optic. Maybe a .308 or 6.5 variant for more terminal performance against larger/dangerous game. But in the modern era of 10, 20, and 30 round box magazines we don’t need a clear space over the action even on a bolt gun. In the modern era of ever more improved field of view LPVO options and offset sights we don’t need the periphery visuals claimed by a scout scope.
I think these concepts are most evident in what we are using in weapon systems like the M110A1 DMR/CSASS, the Mk20 SSR, and their predecessor in the Mk12. These were and are reasonably light and mobile scout platforms. The Steyr Scout rifle, the rifle that is the epitome of the concept with the added flexibility of detachable magazine and conventional optic mounting, is a 6.6lb gun slick. A SCAR is only 8lb. The new 716i from SIG is 8.5lb. So if we assume they’re all .308’s and we add the same optic to each of them, your 1.5-1.9lb additional weight is allowing you to quadruple your magazine capacity, shorten the rifle by 2-3″, and adds incredible follow up shot capability in semi-auto, and are still quick as ‘bolt guns’ with disabled gas systems if locality requires it. As universal rifles you can hunt and fight, with there is really no comparison.
The Scout was a good thought experiment, it critically tackled a series of criteria in a functional way that fit its design era. It has been surpassed however, just as many firearms before it have and the rifles of today will one day be also. Even my beloved SCAR is falling into a ‘generation behind’ slot as we move into the 2020’s. This doesn’t invalidate any of them as loveable firearms to own, shoot, and enjoy. It simply means that progress and hard use test concepts and sometimes concepts fall short.
Fort Worth, TX (May 13, 2020) – XS® Sights is pleased to introduce the XTI®2 DXS® Ember Standard Dot® 45-Degree Offset Iron Sights for AR-15 rifles. The second generation XTI2 sights are a close-quarters, secondary sighting solution for rapid transition from a magnified primary optic. Eliminating the need to adjust magnification reduces target engagement time when every fraction of a second counts.
The XTI2 features taller bases than its predecessor for easier sight alignment without having to break a standard cheek weld, and the base angle has been increased to accommodate wider lens optics. The front sight measures 0.140” wide and now features an Orange Ember Glow Dot for increased visibility.
“Our new XTI2 express sights are engineered for rapid sight acquisition in close quarters,” said Zack Kinsley, Product Marketing Manager for XS Sights. “These advanced offset iron sights are also ideal for 3-gun competitions when targets are close – within pistol range and where magnified optics make target identification more difficult. XS’s proprietary Orange Ember Glow technology provides a high contrast front sight in bright light and is instantly charged by the sun’s UV rays, causing it to glow in shadows and low light settings such as vehicles.”
XTI2 sight sets are mounted in front of the primary optic to reduce snagging on chest rings. The sights ship with thread locker and a front sight adjustment tool.
MSRP: $180.00
For more information on XS Sights, visit xssights.com.
About XS Sights
XS Sights is known for making the fastest sights in any light. For more than 20 years, the XS team has created some of the most innovative sights on the market today for pistols, rifles and shotguns. Whether used for personal defense or hunting, these sights are designed and built to be the absolute best for their specific purpose.
Beefy. Yep, beefy is how I’d describe the Zero Tolerance 0308. Thicc also comes to mind, but beefy sounds like a better descriptor. The ZT 0308 is the newest knife from Zero Tolerance, and it is a tactical flipper with a massive blade and full man-sized grip. The blade itself is 3.75 inches long, 1.375 inches wide, and .16 of an inch thick. The overall length is 8.875 inches and weighs 7 ounces. It’s a big boy, but the 7-ounce weight isn’t terrible.
If you’re not familiar, Zero Tolerance makes knives that last, and last, and last. Their knives are second to none as far as hard-working, duty grade knives go. Their long history of success and premium blade designs have given them a mighty reputation. That long history of awesomeness translated well into the ZT 0308 design.
The Beastly ZT 0308
This is a tactical folding knife with a flip to open design. Big blades on flippers typically take a little effort to open. Zero Tolerance has found a way to make the flipping motion as smooth as butter, regardless of how big the blade is. The KVT ball bearings used in the flipping device provide a very smooth transition from closed to open. It takes just a little pressure and allows for quick blade deployment. The blade always opens and springs into action with a satisfying thwack.
The Zero Tolerance 0308 has a G10 grip panel on one side and titanium on the other. Both sides are textured identically and provides for a solid grip. The grip itself is also filled out and not afraid to be wide. This makes it a natural fit in my 2XL sized hands. Part of the titanium grip is the liner lock with a two screw secured hardened stainless steel insert to catch and hold the blade. It won’t slowly chip away or break over time.
Unlocking the blade is easy, too, and sliding the blade back into the handle is simple and smooth. The flipper spins into place and is textured to act like a handguard. A short, but still protective handguard. The pocket clip is also reversible, so lefties can easily carry it too.
Ergonomically the ZT 0308 is rock solid and very comfortable to use. I haven’t run into hot spots with heavy work, and the grip texture is aggressive enough to stick to gloves and not slip and slide if you gotta wear gloves.
The Blade of the 0308
The ZT 0308 has a long blade, but length isn’t all that matters. Girth is important, and this knife is girthy. The ZT 0308’s blade is made from CPM 20CV steel. This is a premium grade steel that is very corrosion, corrosion-resistant and can be sharpened to a near razor’s edge. The edge holds well and doesn’t have much give to it.
The blade has jimping on the back of the blade for good thumb placement, and above that is an aggressive swedge. This reduces weight and makes it easier to cut clean through soft, but thick materials. The blade has a long belly that gives you 4 inches of cutting edge, and it cleanly cuts through cardboard, rope, and even flesh. By flesh, I, of course, mean cutting chicken and steak up in the kitchen. Seeing as how it’s a tactical knife, you can’t rule out the idea of using it as a defensive tool.
The blade is also strong enough to baton used and to cleave through thick vines, and even be used for light prying. It goes well beyond what the average EDC pocket knife can do. It could be called into action as a survival knife should a good fixed blade not be on hand. Fieldwork is most certainly in its wheelhouse.
This Big Boy and You
This big chopper is most certainly not a good choice for carrying in formal or business attire. It will most certainly ruin the lines of a suit. However, in streetwear, work clothes, or your LARP gear, the ZT 0308 is most certainly well suited. It’s a working knife up for tasks of most sizes. If you don’t mind a little weight in your pocket, the ZT might be for you. Zero Tolerance has made an excellent knife, but for knife guys, that’s not a big surprise. Check it out here.
Today we’re taking a look at this interview with the Taurus CEO, Bret Voorhees. Bret was with Walther for some time, and recently moved over to take over the reigns at one of the largest brands in the firearms industry.
Taurus and I have a bit of a checkered past. I have owned several Taurus guns, including a PT92, a .45 ACP revolver, a .357 revolver, a 9mm revolver, and a famously bad Model 82 revolver. One of the things we talked about during the interview was Taurus’ past QC issues and how they’re working on getting them fixed, and I was pretty impressed with Bret’s responses.
One of the other interesting discussion points that came up was how they’re currently getting guns into the country. Right now the only domestic production they have is for .22 pistols, so the rest of their lines are made in Brazil. But because of COVID, the flights they were using to get guns air freighted into the country are shut down. So what did Taurus do? Started chartering private jets from Brazil to fly guns to Miami. It’s the most gangster thing I’ve ever heard of, and I love it.
Despite my best attempts, I couldn’t get Bret to divulge any secrets about new products, but they do have “something big” coming. I’m cautiously optimistic to see what it is, because I’ll say that Taurus has never lacked for creativity. I think a lot of people in the firearms industry, myself included, are really rooting for Bret at Taurus to do great things. It would be awesome if we had three quality revolver brands out there, and I’d also like to see Taurus bring more firearms production into the United States.
Under federal law, they require no background check or serial number, making ghost guns a growing weapon of choice for criminals.
CBS News 60 Minutes is set to enthrall us with the terrifying tale of the ghostgun… Because de Leon certainly failed too impress.
I don’t know about you.. but I am absolutely shivering. Not in fear, though. It snowed here in Michigan.
Let’s see what kind of universe realigning reporting the ole’ 6-0 has for us, shall we? Buckle up.
As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps through the country, panic and fear have caused a run on hand sanitizer, toilet paper and guns.
Yes, there was a run on firearms as folks came to the sudden realization that society is fragile and they are ultimately responsible for their own safety. Crisis has that effect on people.
Retailers tell us they have never seen such a surge in firearms sales.
Nope, it probably saved many small businesses by giving them a healthy revenue boost when they were about to be shuttered by the government over being, “non-essential”. It’s reported 3.7 Million NICS Checks in March and 2.9 Million in April, nice!
One kind of weapon that has been selling out is a build-it-yourself firearm known as a ghost gun because it skirts most federal gun laws. There’s no background check and no serial number, making ghost guns invisible to police and almost impossible to trace when used in a crime. We were surprised that it’s all perfectly legal. After a year and a half of reporting, we discovered that ghost guns, once mainly popular with gun enthusiasts, have also become a weapon of choice for criminals, manufactured by gangs and used in mass shootings.
… What?
Invisible to police!? The cops can’tfind a gun in someone’s waistband, pocket, or wherever if it just doesn’t have a serial number!? It becomes ‘invisible‘ through some magic mathematical process where a cop can only see it and use it as evidence in a crime if somebody put some numbers and letters on the side? Do the police have to let a criminal go free if they’re in possession of a ‘ghost gun’ because there is just some crazy voodoo where they can’t see the gun and therefore can’t prosecute a criminal for being in possession of it?
No? None of that is true? A felon in possession is still a felon in possession? Okay..?
Almost impossible to trace… Oh! I get it now. You’re still under the magical mystical illusion that just because a gun has a number written on the side and that number, at some point or another, is written on a piece of paper and in a book somewhere else that it generates some sort of legendary crime fighting powers.
Sorry to bust your bubble CBS but… it doesn’t. Serial numbers help with data organization, but just like anything else (any other product with a serial number on it) it doesn’t grant it some magical GPS capability or record its user history or anything of the like. It grants Law Enforcement a possible avenue to establish a custody chain or return a stolen item to its rightful owner.
Let me illustrate just how weak this argument is. I, me, myself, have been the victim of firearms theft. Three stolen guns from my vehicle, parked in a close friend’s driveway. My friend was also burglarized but they only took money and some little items from his car.
Did the fact that my guns have serial numbers prevent that crime from occuring? Nope. Did those numbers make the guns easy to find as the responding officer just said, “Hey Siri, find Serial Number _________.” and the mythical serial number matrix got to work? Nope. Did the detailed information I gave the officers, make, model, color, modifications, accessories, etc. even make it into the report that they followed up with me on a few days later? Nope. Did the one firearm that has since been recovered magically prevent its illicit user from doing a dastardly deed with it because it had a serial number that I owned and had gone through the requisite background check for, but they certainly had not? Nope.
Did the presence of that serial number in any way mitigate the risk of that firearm, in the hands of a criminal, to law enforcement or the public? Does a serial number alter the inherent risk posed by a 9mm handgun? Is a non-serialized 5.56 rifle more dangerous than a serialized one, if fired at you or a police officer in anger? Does the presence of a serial number meaningfully impact the likelihood that an officer responding to a situation knows that a firearm is involved?
Nope.
So why in the name of all that we hold holy are we losing our minds over GhostGuns again?
“They get used in crimes, Keith!”
So do guns that get stolen from the cops. All of which have serial numbers. Or that the cops sell to cartels… oh, are we not bringing that one up? Fast & Furious? Okay.
Oh, and how did I get my stolen firearm back, you may wonder? Funny story. The serial number helped there. But the only reason I have this one back is Crimey McCriminal, who was out on bail after committing crime.. and being found in possession of my stolen gun which is also a crime.. and being a convicted felon in possession of my stolen pistol which is yet another crime.. got himself shot and killed by Crimey O’Criminal, a rival in the whole committing violent crime thing. So since they no longer needed my pistol as evidence that Crimey McCriminal had committed a violent crime and other felonies, as he was now dead, they gave it back to me.
Now, what did the serialnumber accomplish in all of this? What did that mystical, wondrous, crime fighting and preventing series of characters do?
They allowed me to retrieve my property by driving across the breadth of the state. 5 hour round trip for the privilege of reacquiring my property. That is what the serial number did. And I am grateful the serial number was there for me in that way.
Serial numbers, like model numbers or names, are for inventory control and tracking. That is it, really. They are of incredibly limited utility beyond ancillary data. That ancillary may prove useful in building a criminal case for a larger crime like arms trafficking where inventory is a key factor, but is hardly going to be the make or break as a fact in a case if Crime O’Crimeboss sells a crate of rifles and handguns to an undercover agent or if O’Crimeboss’ convict crew gets caught with weapons on them. Serial numbers or no, they just caught all the felonies.
Most crimes involving firearms have nothing riding on the whether or not firearm has a serial number, except for if it had one and it was removed to further a crime.
Where did this stupid term take root anyway?
Oh, yeah. This lukewarm IQ’d MENSA reject. Then we turned it (and him) into the meme it so rightly deserved. Go team internet.
But we have digressed from 60 Minutes for long enough. Back to their brilliant Ghost Gun breakdown.
We sought out America’s top gun cops, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the ATF, to find out exactly what a ghost gun is.
Nobody tell the FBI they aren’t the top cops anymore. Also nobody watch Waco on Netflix… *Pssst, EVERYBODY should watch Waco on Netflix* But yes, the ATF is hand in hand with the firearm industry as the most prominent direct regulatory authority.
Thomas Chittum, ATF’s assistant director of field operations, gave us rare access to its West Virginia weapons repository and told us the latest additions here are ghost guns.
Rare access? I feel like a FOIA request would probably get you in. However check out this deep, informative, meaningful, totally not cherry picked, and chronically under detailed interview exchange.
Bill Whitaker: What’s the difference between these two guns? *shows two Glock like handguns*
Thomas Chittum: Well, this is a firearm that was manufactured by a licensed manufacturer. The law requires them to mark them with certain markings, including a serial number. This is not marked. No background check is completed when you purchase it. It’s made at home by somebody using commonly available hand tools.
One is a GLOCK, Inc. Glock, the other is an 80% frame completable with Glock parts.
Bill Whitaker: So, they both do the same thing.
Thomas Chittum: They both shoot.
My favorite part of this whole exchange is the “using commonly available hand tools” as if the Glocks that come from GLOCK, Inc. have some sort of secret extra machine that makes them “traceable” during final assembly. Newsflash: They don’t. It’s just a small strip of stamped metal with a number on it that they put into a book. The final products atGLOCK are assembled using “commonly available hand tools” just like the 80% ones.. less tools, in fact, because mass production has made it worth investing in a few tools to make it even more expedient to produce guns.
As Chittum says, usually, if you bought a gun at a store, it would have a traceable serial number and you would need to pass a background check under federal law. A ghost gun can circumvent all of that, because it’s put together from unfinished, untraceable parts.
“Traceable” is their magic word. It’s as “traceable” as a point of sales receipt makes it. The inventory can be tracked from the manufacturer to the first point of sale.. and that’s it. There is no reliable way to “trace” accurately beyond that point. It’s a shot in the dark. If they can they can, if they can’t, oh well. The whole thing is ancillary data. What are they going to do with it? What game changing piece of information can they track if someone passed a background check and took a gun home and then there is no reliable way to track movement of anything beyond that. That the gun was purchased and/or stolen? No shit.
“Traceable” is just ancillary data, but it gets treated like it’s this invaluable law enforcement tool that cannot be lived without, like thousands upon thousands of criminals are walking free from courtrooms and rearming “invisible” to cops because they couldn’t ‘tracethegun’. If only it had a serialnumber and CSI could solve it an hour plus commercial breaks!
Bill Whitaker: It’s virtually invisible to you and government.
Thomas Chittum: It also makes it challenging to keep it outta the hands of people who are not allowed to possess firearms.
Hmm, Chittum didn’t like term invisible. Maybe because “invisible” and “Ghost Gun” are patently stupid and their unique challenge to law enforcement and threat to the community at large is dramatically overhyped for gun control brownie points? Nah, couldn’t be that.
*Dramatic Scene Change*
Bryan Muehlberger: Up to that day, I never heard the term ghost gun. So I didn’t even know what that was.
I didn’t either until de Leon, Bryan, and I work in this industry. Then I learned the thirty caliber clip in half-a-second truth… and I was very very confused as to why they would less this man speak as an authority to anything.
Bryan Muehlberger found out one day last November. There had been a mass shooting at his daughter’s high school and 15-year-old Gracie was murdered.
And the young man who had brought the gun to school, the 80% frame built 1911, commited suicide. He fired one magazine of ammunition killing two classmates, injuring three others, and then killing himself.
Does Bryan or anyone else seriously believe that the lack of a serial number was the only thing that allowed this tragedy to unfold? Is that the theory? Not that mental health is an incredibly complex and multifaceted subject and that this child, who had just had a birthday, was suffering with something? Not that this young man clearly had demons he was fighting? Not that there are a myriad other ways to cause destruction and havoc and this was just the one chosen, the one convenient? Is our working theory that this unserialized 1911 was the only method that would have been convenient enough to fit all the necessary criteria for a tragedy?
“It might’ve helped…” – Someone who doesn’t want to postulate data realistically to see the actual odds of influencing the likelihood or outcome of a tragic event.
And so would the poor kid being killed in a car crash the week prior, but I don’t see anyone lining up to advocate that theory. All murderers should die in car crashes before they commit murder! Let’s start a hashtag. Criminals, take a break.
Bryan Muehlberger: They bring in one of the head doctors. And just like you see on the movies, he sits across from you with that real quiet kinda solemn stare, right at you. And I just– I just remember sayin’, you know, like, “Please, no. Don’t– don’t tell me the bad news, please.”
This was the aftermath at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California. A typical Thursday morning disrupted, the quad littered with backpacks after students dropped everything and fled for their lives. That’s where Gracie was waiting for friends before class.
Bryan Muehlberger: She was about as close as I am to you right now. Shot her right through the backpack and right through her chest, And thankfully he didn’t aim at the back of her head. You know, at least we got to see her face one more time.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva arrived at the scene not long after the shots were fired.
Bill Whitaker: This kid shows up at school. What happened?
Alex Villanueva: He shows up at school. He has a backpack. His mom had– had packed the lunch for him. But in the backpack was also a .45 auto that was loaded.
Carrying that loaded ghost gun was Nathaniel Berhow, a high school junior. In addition to Gracie, he shot and killed Dominic Blackwell and wounded three other students. He saved the last round for himself.
None of this, none at all, is remotely demonstrating how a serial number improves the odds of preventing homicides. We’ve been told by an ATF employee that guns without serial numbers are a ‘thing that exists’ and then Whitaker tries to put words in his mount, “invisible.” which the ATF employee doesn’t bite on.
Now we are entreated to the emotional pain of a father who lost his daughter when another father’s son stole one of his firearms and committed a multiple murder/suicide at his school… and it is being leveraged to say that “Ghost Guns” are the problem. How did Berhow get a firearm? Stole it! From his father. Were any of the firearms illegal? Was Berhow’s father a prohibited person and had gotten around the law to illegally acquire guns that his son then stole and used to kill his classmates and then himself?
There is a lot to unpack here… and a lot of responsibility to lay at various feet long before we get to the gun without a number on its side.
Bill Whitaker: He’s 16 years old?
Alex Villanueva: Uh-huh (AFFIRM). Just turned– that was his birthday.
Bill Whitaker: How does a 16-year-old get his hands on a gun? He’s– he’s underage.
Stole it. You know who else was, ‘he’s– he’s underage’, Audie Murphy. Google him real quick, he also was famous for using a gun. He just used it against Nazis, real German Third Reich Nazis. Why are we still trying to imply that once people hit their teenage years that they cannot reason on an adult level? Oh yeah, if it fits the tragedy of a narrative you are trying push we can shift blame… so long as that shift doesn’t hit the wrong people.
Alex Villanueva: Underage, but his father was a gun enthusiast and was in possession of a lot of weapons. They were ultimately confiscated because he was detained for psychiatric evaluation.
Bill Whitaker: So he– the father was not supposed to have guns.
Alex Villanueva: And all the weapons were removed legally at the time.
Implication seems to be that Berhow’s father had his firearms confiscated for a psychiatric evaluation and may have been a prohibited owner from that point moving forward, and that this occurred before the murder suicide. If he was, and he broke the law by assembling an 80% 1911, that is on the Berhow’s father. As is control of his firearms, legal or otherwise. A legal statute is present in most localities that makes a minor’s misuse of a firearm a crime of the guardian, often a felony. But if Berhow wasn’t a prohibited person, even after the pysch-eval, then this whole line is just obfuscation. Meaningless drivel to drum up the sounds of a case that “Ghost Guns” are more dangerous than serialized commercial inventory.
Was Berhow’s father a prohibited possessor? Or did he just choose not to pursuit the legal hassle of reacquiring his property after the evaluation? Was he in that process anywhere but had purchased new 80% items legally in the meantime and assembled them legally?
The whole narrative feels like an emotional lever that tries very very carefully to lay justenough blame but also make that person being blamed a victim of the evil serial numberless 1911.
Sheriff Villanueva suspects that’s when the father turned to ghost guns and his son got his hands on one. Six months later, the Saugus investigation is still ongoing.
Ohhhh, ‘ongoing’ you say. They would be swift to tell us if Berhow’s father was an illegal possessor. Of that I am confident.
Alex Villanueva: This is the actual weapon that was used in the Saugus shooting. It is a ghost gun. It was assembled. We don’t know by who. But we believe it was the father of the suspect and it came into possession then of the shooter himself.
Ghost gun parts…
Regular gun parts. Like every other gun part. “Ghost Gun” only means no commercial serial number on the receiver/frame, which is and always has been one part.. The difference between a “Ghost Gun” and a commercial firearm is onepart that does or doesn’t have a random number on it.
…can be used to fabricate a handgun or even an AR-15. The parts are widely available across the country in stores and online. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, they have been flying off the shelves. They’re shipped right to your door. Not much harder than ordering a pizza.
And so are serialized guns too, but they’re landing at middleman FFL’s first. You said so at the beginning of the piece 60 Minutes. I would even hazard a guess that far more serialized guns moved, retail wise, than 80% items. 6.6 Million background checks in March and April. Why aren’t we losing our minds over those? Is that not a scary enough angle because those have serial numbers?
If you had to assemble a pizza with punches, drills, and it cost a few hundred dollars I guess the pizza comparison.. kind of works… But, whatever… it’s about as salient a comparison as they’ve made so far.
We bought a kit online for $575…
Just like a pizza.
…that has everything you need to make a 9 millimeter handgun. It came in parts…
Things have parts? And people but those parts together? I wonder if that’s what firearm manufacturer employees do?
…like IKEA furniture but for firearms, and even includes the drill bits you need to put the gun together in the comfort of your own home...
Scandalous! They made their product convenient for the consumer! How dare they!
… Why is it so easy to buy? Because federal gun law only regulates a part, called a frame or a lower receiver. But until you drill out holes and file down a bit, in the eyes of federal law, it’s just a hunk of metal or in this case plastic.
Engineering > “Law”
Where does the endless chase stop? Do you prohibit people owning CNC Machines, 3D printers, or even shopping for pipe at Home Depot without an FFL? Any line you draw in the sand is going to be meaningless, it won’t prevent people from building firearms because firearms are ultimately fairly simple machines. Ban “80%” and an engineer will come out with a 75%. Ban “any part intended to be used as part of an unserialized firearm” and you’ve mildly shifted the black market of firearms, and made another paper tiger law.
YouTube videos will show you step-by-step how to turn that piece of plastic or metal into a gun.
They also show you home plumbing tips, car maintenance, chemistry, and why the last two Star Wars movies were crap. The directions that come in the kit tell you how to finish it too, not just YouTube. Also, per the ATF and Federal Law, 100% legal to do.
Murder, still 100% illegal to do.
“bUt MaH TRaCeABilitY!”
Alex Villanueva: So you have pretty much it’s open season, anyone who is a prohibited person that wants to arm themselves now has a very easy way to do it.
They had easy ways before, too. That’s your job. These criminals weren’t failing background checks and got picked up, and they sure as hell weren’t unarmed just because they had a conviction. What is the ‘failed’ background check turnover rate again? How about the prosecution rate for failed background checks that don’t get later overturned?
Sidenote: The false positive rate in NICS is estimated at about 94% with prosecutions amounting to 0.1%… not 1%, 0.1%, 77 cases brought charges out of 71,010 initial denials. (2009, Federal numbers, CPRC)
But, if you’re a felon or judged mentally unfit for example, federal law says you’re not supposed to have any kind of firearm. Build a ghost gun? No one knows you have it.
Steal a gun, have a less scrupulous individual you know straw purchase a gun, trade for a gun, buy a gun legally because you can. Nobody knows that you have that one either, not really. There’s a receipt with a number on it somewhere called a 4473 that has a number or numbers of the guns you bought.. but it is in a dusty box, nobody knows.
There are upwards of 600,000,000 guns in this country alone. We don’t know where all the ones with serial numbers are, are you insane? Do you know how math works? Do you know how knowingthings works?
The ATF, FBI, Sheriff, etc. don’t know where all the legal guns are. They don’t even know where all the highly regulated NFA items are, they have the most accurate records on ownership of them but they don’t know. ‘Nobody knows‘ you drive drunk, distracted, or otherwise recklessly either. But if you were caught doing so in the past there may be a record of your history of past events, but that isn’t knowing either.
They don’t want to or need to know, either. It would be a huge mass of valueless data that they couldn’t even get a kickback on by selling it to ancillary marketers. Knowing will only ever become a valuable datapoint if a behavior puts them on LE’s radar. You want to know who would get the most value from “traceable” firearms data? People who sell firearms and stuff for firearms.
Ironically, California has some of the strictest state gun laws in the U.S., and yet it’s the epicenter of this growing problem.
Ironically? Predictably. California has a bunch of dumb unenforceable rules. Take a wild guess how many rifles are in California with illegal “features” among their 40,000,000 inhabitants. Go ahead. Make dumb rules, people ignore them, erosion of legitimate authority continues.
Bill Whitaker: Where on your list of worries do these ghost guns fall?
Alex Villanueva: Well, along with terrorism, active shooter, this is w– way up there on the list.
Hmm, the largest Sheriff’s office in the country and in anti-gun California is headed by a guy who says a couple other scary things, then adds these are, “way up there on the list.” Really? Terrorism and Active Shooters are on par with regular old firearm possession? I bet he’s scared of 11+ round magazines too.
Villanueva oversees the largest sheriff’s office in the country, and he says over the last year, the number of ghost guns turning up in LA county investigations has jumped by 50%.
Remember, going from 2 to 3 is a 50% jump. If it were from hundreds to thousands of incidents you would be seeing real numbers. But the numbers must not be scary enough so we need the percentages. Also, did total investigations go up 50%? Did they go up even 5%? Did they show a spike that is outside normal variability that is theoretically attributable to an increase in the popularity of 80% firearms?
Hmmmmm. Nope.
Odd as it may seem, it looks like crime in LA County has factors far more poignant, and independent of access to 80% firearms, that contribute to crime rates. Using anecdotes of crimes where an 80% firearm was found to make them seem more dangerous is as weak an argument is saying .50 BMG Caliber rifles are too dangerous for civilian hands and using a money embezzler who bought one was an example of why.
Alex Villanueva: Domestic assault, assault with a deadly weapon, distribution of child pornography, possession a child pornography, armed with a ghost gun. Domestic violence, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon, drug deal.
Bill Whitaker: Wow.
Wow indeed. I fail to see how ‘armed with a Ghost Gun’ is any worse than just ‘armed’ in any of those scenarios. Is any evidence presented that remotely suggests these crimes wouldn’t have taken place sans ‘Ghost Gun’? No? Is there any evidence that the only path to these criminal individuals being armed was an assembled non serialized firearm, or even the only reasonable path and that other avenues of acquiring a weapon would have been cost and risk prohibitive enough to dissuade them? No.
It’s an epidemic that has blindsided police across the country.
Blindsided? Really? Dangerous nuisance seems like a more apt description.. but so is a tweaked out meth head trying to squat one out naked on a sidewalk.
Without a serial number or paperwork, ghost guns are very difficult for law enforcement to trace or track. Which is why Thomas Chittum and the ATF are struggling to get a handle on the problem.
Bill Whitaker: How many of these guns are on the streets, you have no idea?
Thomas Chittum: Uh, no, I have no idea.
They have no idea how many guns there are period. The estimate has a ~200,000,000 unit margin of error.
Bill Whitaker: And how many crimes are being committed by these guns, you have no idea?
They have an idea.
Thomas Chittum: Well, not with precision...
See.
…They still represent a minority of the firearms that are being used in crimes. But we do see that they’re increasing significantly and rapidly.
So, they’re still a minority but are taking over a portion of the criminal gun market. Are crimes increasing overall? Doesn’t look like it. Or is this just a shift in preferred gun, not crime rate? Like we’ve seen time and time and time again as technology advances and the ‘Saturday Night Special’ of the era changes from one model to another depending on what is cheap and available.
Bill Whitaker: So you have no idea how many guns are out there, and you don’t know who has them.
Thomas Chittum: Uh, right.
They have no clue, they didn’t know before 80% receivers got big and they don’t know now. They can’t. It’s a Gordian Knot. The only way to “solve” it would be to violently rip out the entire system by its constitutional base. Not a good plan.
Here’s what our reporting found, contacting local and national law enforcement over the course of a year and a half: at least 38 states and Washington D.C. have seen criminal cases involving ghost guns.
Really? Not even all 50 states? With the amount of chaos and carnage these untraceable death machines should be sowing and we only have ‘criminal’ cases in 38 states?
There were at least four mass shootings…
You guys keep changing the definition on that one, are we at ‘literally any time more than one shot is fired in anger’ yet?
…violent police shootouts…
I don’t know many non-violent shootouts. Kent State, maybe?
…high-profile busts of gangs making and selling ghost guns on the street, and cases involving terrorism and white supremacists.
You mean to say that assholes use cheap available guns? Good thing Capannone didn’t have guns. Boy can you imagi… ohhh that’s what Chicago Typewriter meant.
But Dimitrios Karras says that’s not his clientele at all.
He is a former Marine and one of the first to get into the business of selling ghost gun parts in California ten years ago.
Dimitrios Karras: Between 300,000 and 500,000 individual units have passed through my hands.
Bill Whitaker: Over what period of time?
Dimitrios Karras: Last ten years.
Bill Whitaker: It sounds like a lot to me.
Dimitrios Karras: If I was–
Bill Whitaker: That– that’s just from your store?
Dimitrios Karras: That’s just– that’s just from what– what I’ve been involved in. There’s a lot of companies that are now in this industry and there are multiple millions of these things that have been created throughout the country at this point.
Bill Whitaker: So who is buying these kits?
Dimitrios Karras: It’s guys in hardhats. It’s also the people who like to work with their hands and do this sort of thing anyway.
It’s guys and girls who shop at Rockey Brass. Go get ya one and make Villenueva poop himself a little bit. It’s the American thing to do.
Millions, literally millions of these things in circulation but they’re a minority of firearm problems still and we aren’t seeing a significant shift in firearm related crime rates. It’s almost as if a $700 assembly kit isn’t the cheapesteasiest way for a criminal to get a gun. Some people are certainly taking advantage of it to avoid detection, but some people believe it’s none of anyone’s business what you own.
Alex Villanueva: I’d say hogwash to that entire idea.
Bill Whitaker: Hogwash.
Alex Villanueva: Hogwash. Absolute hogwash. The only (LAUGH) people that are interested in that are not enthusiasts into, you know, tinkerin’ around with machines.
Bill Whitaker: A hobbyist.
Alex Villanueva: No. They’re not hobbyists. These are people that should never have a firearm. And that’s how they found a way to get one.
Uh oh, sounds like someone has preconceived notions of guilt. That isn’t troubling from the County Sheriff of LA at all, is it?
Karras insists the store where he now works, which touts just how invisible their ghost gun parts are, has safeguards to prevent ghost gun parts from getting into the wrong hands.
Bill Whitaker: And what are they?
Dimitrios Karras: Um, I’m not gonna get too much into it because it would undermine our ability to use them.
And in the event something happens, Karras would be a fool to give out ammunition (pun intended) in the form of those methods that could sink his business even if they did nothing wrong and someone misused a gun after buying it and building it.
Bill Whitaker: Do you ever worry that someone who’s buying one of these kits might have a mental illness or, you know, be planning to use an AR-15 for something that’s horrible, unimaginable?
Dimitrios Karras: Does a car salesman worry that– someone might take a car that they’ve sold to them and drive it through a crowd of people?
Bill Whitaker: So you see them as the same?
Dimitrios Karras: I do.
They are the same. The misuse of an item, an object, a tool against other people is the same. The difference that people get so wrapped around is that a weapon is meant for fighting. That gun is a toolforfighting. They refuse to acknowledge, in some self-righteous delusional variant of human existence, that the ability to fight is a necessary thing. That tools to that end are necessary. They are the last chance for someone when polite society fails them (you know in like a national crisis or something) for any reason and under any circumstance. There is also no way for their to be good weapons and bad weapons, the idiocy of “assault weapon” bans and magazine capacity limits and “Ghost Gun” scare tactics all come from places of profound ignorance. A good person with every weapon is never a threat. A bad person with any weapon is always a threat, but much less of one to the person who also has a weapon.
Cliche? Yep, I hated writing that. But when this 60 Minutes deep dive into “Ghost Guns” and the threat they represent amounts to conjectural fear mongering over a microsegment of the illegal arms market that is trackable and explained as a product shift, not an increase outside normal variances, it’s really hard to lend credibility to the analysis as “thorough”.
Guns that are cheap and available will always dominate in criminal spaces. These are available but despite millions of kits flooding the market, they still aren’t cheap. Not like a throwaway used old semi-auto .25, old .38 revolver, or any stolen gun.
Karras’s home state, California, is phasing in a law to regulate ghost gun parts like regular firearms. Three other states and the District of Columbia have passed their own restrictions. But Villanueva says that’s not enough.
Alex Villanueva: We need national laws, or federal, from Congress that covers a total ban on the creation or the selling of these ghost gun kits.
Because prohibition works so well. It got rid of all the alcohol and bumpstocks! Meth too.
Bill Whitaker: State-by-state is not gonna do it?
Alex Villanueva: It doesn’t because then you can just defeat it by going to another state.
In today’s political climate, new federal gun control measures seem unlikely.
So that leaves it to the ATF to determine what is and is not a gun. Currently, ATF says a ghost gun not a gun.
Because it isn’t. And even if they change it now you can’t put the genie back. People keep trying and it keeps working about as well as a screen door in a flood.
But the ATF has changed its thinking on similar issues recently. After the 2017 massacre in Las Vegas, the ATF and the Department of Justice banned bump stocks, an accessory that turned semi-automatic weapons into machine guns.
The ATF made a calculated decision to attack a gimmick device that they had sketchy legal grounds to do so (a lot of ATF moves are based on precedent and the fact Congress does not want to change anything and lose seats) and hope that popular opinion and the opinion of the President would let the change stand without congressional action. They banned bump stocks, the specific device used in Las Vegas, similar items are still perfectly legal. Also, those bump-stocks aren’t gone. They didn’t all get turned in. We know this. Just as we know having Law Enforcement waste their energies hunting them down is an impossible task. The policy change is therefore a Paper Tiger. And the effect on any likelihood of a future event of similar catastrophic results as Las Vegas taking place were entirely immaterial, we’ve written on the here before.
Former acting director of the ATF, Thomas Brandon, helped implement that change and was ready to recommend to his bosses at the Department of Justice that they reclassify certain ghost gun kits, like the one we ordered, as firearms because of how easy they are to put together.
Bill Whitaker: You were alarmed at what you were seeing?
Thomas Brandon: Yeah. And so I said, “Well, right now we have a public safety concern.”
Bill Whitaker: You thought that the ATF should reclassify these kits as firearms?
Thomas Brandon: Yes as the head of the agency at the time– I said, “I’m gonna do everything I can for public safety with my team.” If you wanted to buy a kit and make your own gun, it’s just gonna hav– have a serial number on it.
Thomas Brandon retired last spring before any action was taken. We asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives if there was any follow-up on Brandon’s plans and were told, “ATF routinely reviews our practices, procedures, and determinations; however, it would be inappropriate to comment on internal discussions. ” Thomas Chittum says the ATF is doing everything it can.
They are. They really are, but Congress being unwilling to act in any manner to make their jobs easier, like opening NICS access to the public for free to make conducting a background check a lesser issue, or removing any number of other hamstringing regulations, or making positive efforts to modernize, kind of limits what they can do under ‘everything they can’.
Bill Whitaker: Is this just one of those political hot potatoes that nobody wants to touch?
Thomas Chittum: Well, gun law’s one of the most divisive topics in America. And ATF sometimes finds itself in the middle.
Seriously, go watch Waco.
As for Saugus, it was the first high school mass shooting with a ghost gun. Bryan Muehlberger, a pistol owner himself, says if something isn’t done about ghost guns, it won’t be the last.
Bryan Muehlberger: I’m not against owning guns, but I also believe strongly that this is a serious problem that’s occurring that no one knew about. So I just feel like something needs to be done. It’s just– it’s become too easy.
Become too easy?
Bryan, you might be too young, as I am too young, to remember… but you could order a gun in a Sears catalog by mail and it came assembled and ready to go for a few dollars, before all the FFL’s and NICS and 18 or 21 to buy and any of the gun control in the last 90 years. A machine gun could be mailed to your doorstep if you wanted it. A full auto Thompson was $200 (yes, a car was $400 in that era for scale) we aren’t anywhere near that level access anymore. These changes started decades before Columbine brought us into terrifying era where school shootings became a violent outlet.
Become to easy from what? From when? Bryan I am truly sorry you lost your daughter, just as I am sorry for anyone who loses a loved one, especially before their time. But CBS used you. They used to in a obfuscation campaign to attack an issue within gun control that they see as an opportunity to gain ground and get more of the bans that they want.
Because they, unlike you, are against owning guns. At least they’re against you owning guns. They, of course, are special elite people deserving of armed protection.
The US Military has a brand new toy for precision shooting made by shooters for shooters. The Mark 22 Advanced Sniper Rifle, a variant of the popular Barrett MRAD.
The new rifle is a one stop, works for everyone’s needs, build the best rifle for mission system currently built. Topped with whichever service’s preferred glass (Nightforce for SOCOM, Leupold for Army, and usually Schmidt and Bender or Trijicon for the USMC) the MK22 offers precision static support fire out to 1500 meters and can be configured for both anti-personnel and anti-material missions in one kit.
The system comes with 3 calibers, the .308/7.62×51 is being relegated to a training round because it is safe to shoot on just about any available training range the military has access too, the .300 Norma Magnum is the high BC ‘standard’ sniper variation for precision shots against enemy personnel, and the .338 Norma Magnum will be used in the anti-material role and replacing M107’s
The move to replace .50 BMG with .338 Norma Magnum is one that is mirrored in SIG’s new GPMG, also in use with SOCOM/Marine Raiders, because it offers you almost all the range benefits and terminal effects in a substantially lighter weapon. The MK22’s can be deployed and rapidly reconfigured by a user in a maintenance environment or armorer out of the one travel case/deployment kit and can be maintained by mail back barrel parts instead of losing access to a rifle that has simply burned its barrel life.
Legacy systems like the XM2010, Mk13, and M40A(whatever we’re on) were often hamstrung by requirements to field a caliber already in use so they were only able to squeeze marginal improvements out of fielding the systems in the long run.
The MK22 was built as a ground up optimized mission sniper system and so the ammunition selections were purposefully not tied to legacy, with the exception of .308 as the sniper trainer. There is certainly something to be said for having the moderate velocity moderate ballistic coefficient .308 as the trainer due to snipers having to run the harder math and make better corrections to get hits, plus cost savings, and then installing the faster more accurate magnum rounds for training on ranges that can support it and on mission. The modular nature of the MK22 and MRAD systems means that if 6.5 became preferred for SOCOM guns they wouldn’t need whole new rifles either, just a new batch of easily made barrels.
The same could be true of the Army or Marines going to 6.8, easily available ammo pile for training by going to a new barrel as old ones wear out.
The only downside I can see is this makes me want to spend money on a precision gun… and I probably shouldn’t… but that hasn’t stopped me in the past.
The 3rd rule of gun safety seems to be the most straightforward of the four rules: never point a weapon at something you’re not willing to destroy. Makes perfect sense, right? We never want the muzzle of the gun to cross over something we wouldn’t want to put a bullet in.
But even that’s not true, because we all holster our guns at some point, and it doesn’t matter how you carry, because at some point that gun is going to be pointed at you. Sure it’s perfectly safe so long as you holster with good technique, but the real fact is that we’re pointing the gun at ourselves during the act of holstering. Now, it is possible to holster without ever flagging yourself, but that’s a conversation for later.
If we examine the 3rd rule of gun safety with the same critical mind we applied to the first two, we can apply some logic. When performing administrative gun handling tasks like loading, unloading, we always want to make sure the gun is pointed in a safe direction. A safe direction could be a brick wall that will stop a bullet, it could be a clearing barrel, or it could be 1,000 miles of empty desert. The point of a safe direction is so that if we make a mistake, or worse yet the gun suffers a mechanical failure and goes off, the bullet won’t harm anything, be it people, pets or property.
The 3rd rule of gun safety is also where we can start to appreciate the layered nature of the 4 rules. In order to have a negative result, you must break at least two of the 4 rules at once. Not that you should do this, but if you point a loaded gun at your cat you’re intentionally breaking rule 3. But if that’s all you do, and you don’t break rule 2 and pull the trigger, the cat will live. (please don’t point loaded guns at your cats)
That’s the genius of the Four rules. They build a layer of safety around gun handling, and if we apply a little critical thinking, like we’ve done, we can be even safer by understanding their intent and interpretations.
The video of the death of Ahmaud Arbery has sparked national interest in a way that only a story that has vigilantism, racial tensions, guns, law enforcement nepotism, and being in the southern United States could… seriously, it’s a perfect storm of controversy.
The narrative, depending on where you look, ranges from ‘Unarmed 25 year old black man, suspected of being inside a house under construction, pursued by former/retired LEO and his son in their pickup truck, confronted, a fight ensued, shot and killed.’ to ‘Jogging black 25 year old killed by white father and son caught on video.’
Also, depending upon where you look, the obvious overt racial aspect of this is played higher or lower in the motive que. I’ve heard and read all the explanations from either side of the story I could find. Read both 911 transcripts prior to the shooting. Read a story where a relative of Arbery was said to have ID’d him in surveillance video around the property under construction or maybe another property, it wasn’t clear. Been told that Arbery was in boots, not running shoes and shown grainy screen captures that purport to show an unlaced boot. Read that Arbery was a fitness type and ran regularly. Read a couple things that state Arbery had a record, but I haven’t seen it produced. Read that the local investigators marked this as a “clear case of self-defense” but that has since become highly questionable.
I’ve been told Arbery ‘shouldn’t have rushed two guys with guns’ from people who emphatically state that if two guys with guns corned them it would be game on because they, “always carry.” Having a conversation with someone who says they would take out two gun toters John Wick style after advocating Arbery “just comply” with the hostile commands of two gun toters (with no authority over him) is an interesting perspective…
The video, which gives us a 36 second window of information including the three fired shots, seems to indicate one thing above all else…
This was entirely avoidable.
As of this writing both Travis and Gregory McMichael have been arrested for murder and they, at best for themselves, must hope they have enough evidence to end up in a similar situation to George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in self defense, was able to prove with witness testimony and injury reports that Martin had been trying to crack his skull open… This after Zimmerman chased Martin with no legal authority, other than being the neighborhood watch captain or some such, and provoked a confrontation.
Provoking.
A.
Confrontation.
Is.
Stupid.
The reason Zimmerman is a free man is that he was not the person to escalate the confrontation to lethal, and he could prove it. What he did was still stupid.
The McMichael’s are going to have a damn hard time framing this in the same light. Jumping into the bed of a pickup truck with a .357 and having your son chase the man, who you said you think you saw trespassing in a residential construction site, down with a shotgun riding shotgun is epic degrees more aggressive than Zimmerman’s actions were chasing Martin.
If you were in the situation, as a concealed carrier from Arbery’s perspective, and had drawn and shot the two armed men who chased you down in a pickup truck while you were on foot, your defense attorney would have an absolute field day getting you acquitted. Any attorney with a pulse would be able to articulate that Arbery’s life was in danger as two unknown armed men cut him off in a pickup truck and then the driver got out and threatened him with a shotgun.
The video doesn’t show the first fired shot, we hear it happen out of frame. But whatever happened in front of the McMichael’s truck caused a shot to be fired, the next we see is a physical struggle between Arbery and Travis McMichael over the shotgun. During that struggle two more shots are fired and Arbery is hit. Arbery then collapses in front of the McMichael’s truck in the road, where he would die.
Known
We know, from the video, the 911 transcripts, and the McMichael’s own admissions that a call was placed to 911 to report a trespass in a home construction site and alleged that the individual they currently saw, Arbery, had been seen on surveillance camera prior to this. We know that a second call was placed to 911 that said the individual, Arbery, was running down the road. During both calls the dispatcher attempts to ascertain what was observed that was criminal and is not really given an answer beyond the alleged observed trespass of the construction site.
We know that the McMichael’s decided to pursue the running individual, Arbery, to make a “citizen’s arrest” as they claim. They decided to do so armed overtly and openly. We know that they drove down Arbery and cut him off with their truck as he is running down the road at a pace consistent with exercise.
We know Travis McMichael, who was driving, got out of the truck with the shotgun. Travis McMichael can be seen on the driver’s side of the pickup as Arbery runs around the truck on the passenger side. The camera follows Arbery.
We know a shot was fired, out of camera frame, and that when Arbery and Travis McMichael come back into frame Travis and Arbery are struggling for the shotgun in front of the truck. It isn’t known if the first shot was fired at Arbery or if it was the result of the struggle over the shotgun. At the point where they both come back into frame they are struggling in front of the truck. Travis, out of frame, had to have moved in front of the truck while Arbery ran around the passenger side. Gregory McMichael was riding in the truck bed.
We do not see the specific circumstances that led to the first shot being fired. We don’t know if Travis fired in an attempt to make Arbery pause, to injure him, or in response to Arbery grabbing or attempting to grab the shotgun after they had both come around the front of the truck. We do not hear what, if any, words were exchanged during the confrontation. We do not know if the first shot was deliberate, accidental, or negligent.
We do know that of the string of burglaries alleged to have been motivation for this confrontational “citizen’s arrest” the one actually on record was the theft of a 9mm handgun from out of one of the McMichael’s unlocked vehicles and in front of their house.
We also know there is a history between Gregory McMichael and the local law community, as he is a retired investigator. We know two people recused themselves from the case due to prior connections to the McMichael family and after an information request by an Air Force MP acquaintance of Arbery led to questions about the investigation. This began the line of inquiry into whether or not Gregory McMichael’s prior connections as an investigator led to favoritism or other misconduct on the part of investigators so as not jail one of their own retirees and/or his son.
Unknown
We don’t know what Arbery was doing prior to the video, if he was trespassing or not. There might be evidence to that effect out there but I have not seen footage to indicate Arbery was caught anywhere else on camera as has been alleged. We also do not know if any property or any other evidence of any kind of misconduct on Arbery’s part has been presented in direct connection with this incident. I’ve seen a couple blurry screenshots that allege to show a hammer Arbery dropped while running in an attempt to call into question the ‘just jogging’ narrative.
[Newsflash: The ‘Just Jogging’ Narrative, doesn’t matter. Arbery could have left the construction site with a sawhorse over each shoulder and pushing a rolling tool chest full of power tools and the actions of the McMichaels would still be lining them up to catch their murder charges.]
We do not know what, if anything, was said between Arbery and the McMichaels.
We do not know the exact circumstances of the first shot fired. We do know the shooter, Travis, and his father have a vested interest in claiming self defense as the motive for the shot(s) that killed Arbery. If they cannot claim that then.. well, murder charges. Manslaughter if they’re lucky.
Thoughts
What a stupid and entirely avoidable way to end or ruin the lives of three people…
Didn’t we learn this lesson? Wasn’t this type of vigilantism proven to be roughly as intelligent as playing with a live high-voltage line while drenched in flammable liquids? Do we need to have a Paul Blart: Mall Cop remake where he actually makes a “citizen’s arrest” but ends up in prison because he misread a set of circumstances and assumed outcomes he couldn’t possibly know for certain?
It’s a sad state to have put yourselves in when your best outcome is a jury believing you were idiotic, overzealous, but sincerely altruistic vigilanties just trying to help their neighborhood
When you make something ‘your problem’ that didn’t need to be.. you inherit the whole damn mess. Every detail that you know and don’tknow. And every mistake you make within that situation is yours to own, and yours only, because you stuck yourself into it.
Instead, always assume you don’tknow what is going on and make all of your conscious decisions about cautiously becoming involved atall from that point of view. Your lawyer will thank you.
The thought process that would have changed this entire scenario, resulting in one less dead man, two less murder charges, and one less racially charged police scandal – “Huh, I think that man is trespassing on my neighbor’s housing construction. I will call the police and tell them I believe someone is trespassing on the construction project and give them his physical description. I might even call my neighbor and ask first, or wait until I see him next time and ask, instead of making dangerous and potentially life altering assumptions.” The End.
Mine hasn’t arrived yet… You can see my review of Steve’s here. In short, these things are awesome and still fall on the middle end of the price spectrum for high-end LPVO optics.
I just found out today I have a couple more SIG optics on the way, so I will keep you up to date on those. More than anything else though Josh and Henry’s footage shows off a lot of what the Razor has that I couldn’t show with a freehand phone camera.
The Razor Gen III cracked the code on a great many elusive features on LPVO optics. Front Focal Plane illumination was one. Battery life is another and I have a theory on how. The third ties into the other two. A reticle system that is useable without being in the way at high magnification setting.
So how did they do it?
THEORY: They used RDS lens coating as part of the etched reticle, which solved the three problems.
Problem One: Thick reticle on maximum zoom. An RDS coating is translucent, using it on the etched reticle you can see through it even if the reticle is overtop of the target. The target is visible through the reticle which is pretty much the ultimate way to solve this problem. We have a way to see past the reticle that does not rely on the reticle being thin (and therefore nearly useless at low power and hard to illuminate).
Problem Two: Illumination brightness. This was also a problem that has been solved in red dots by a combination of coated lenses and high efficiency LEDs. But unlike in an RDS, the whole lens in a magnified optic cannot be coated to catch the LED without significantly affecting light transmission. Each light transmission medium you add makes keeping a useable image that much harder to maintain and a magnified optic uses far more parts than a red dot sight that affect that image. Luckily we don’t need to the whole system to illuminate, we need the center reticle to illuminate. Using the dark translucent lens coating as the reticle itself is brilliant (see what I did there). It would be far too dark if it were the whole lens, but it isn’t the whole lens. The dark coating also takes advantage of reacting to the LED at much lower power settings than other illumination systems, just like current generation red dots, which brings us to problem three
Problem Three: Battery life. LPVOs are battery hogs on a level that even older EOTech models would look at with disdain, if they didn’t have the benefit of variable magnification. This was always due, especially in FFP reticle systems, to the LED having to burn absurdly bright against very small portions of a lens to produce a useable contrast. The reticle is an absurdly small portion of the overall lens surface area that needs to react to the LED while also not flooding the optical housing with extraneous light that will obscure the sight picture. It’s a delicate balance and the compromise, until now, has always been battery life gets sacrificed and/or the reticle illumination isn’t bright enough. Vortex seems to have solved both life and brightness by using the coating or whatever equivalent has produced the translucent reticle.
Wendy Cukier, a Ryerson University Professor and president for the Canadian Coalition for Gun Control has hit the nail on the head. She just doesn’t seem to realize it with her other statements.
“If you don’t have the resources and the knowledge to actually implement them, the won’t work, and we have seen evidence in recent years that the provisions that are in the law are simply not being applied.”
Wendy, you are soooo close! So close to that mental leap, that final step into understanding that law does not and cannot dictate behavior if someone does not voluntarily comply with its edicts and that enforcement of any law is a challenge that must be quantified in the law’s crafting. You’re so close to realizing that gun control doesn’t work on the threats you are trying to control… But you won’t get there.
Cukier praised Trudeau’s move to ban 1,500 firearms by name (including AR15.com) but said there were significant gaps and that there could be problems enforcing the law. Her solution to this sounds like making it even harder by giving Canadian Law Enforcement even more things to enforce unjustly on folks who haven’t harmed anyone.
Trudeau has stated Canadians have rightful need for things like hunting rifles and shotguns but not for weapons designed to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. Mr. Trudeau, you clearly have a knowledge gap that you are quite likely to refuse to correct as you have clearly never heard of HME.
This is a fundamental and willful misunderstanding of technology and the purpose of a firearm. There is no “safe” rifle or shotgun to be shot with. There autoloading and ergonomic firearms developed in the past century plus, starting during the WWI era, are all about as bad to be shot with is anything else.
The myth of the “reloading bad guy” is just that, a myth. Ammunition capacity limitations have never curbed casualty counts, look at Virginia Tech and University of Texas, that has always been dictated by the actions and counteractions of those directly involved in the incident.
I get it. I understand. You see no need for arms in private hand and do not have enough personal, social, and technological awareness to understand the glaring problems in plans like this but you are willing to praise them as “steps in the right direction” because they include the buzzwords ban and assault weapon.
It doesn’t matter how this gets done, or doesn’t because it cannot be effectively enforced, it had the buzzwords so it must be good. Like the SAFE Act in NY. Buzzwords = Good! Actual logistical practicality or encroachment on the free exercise of your citizens? Meh, don’t look too hard at that.
“Laws are only words on paper.”
Yes! Exactly correct! But your direct follow up to that statement is ‘more law’ will get the thing we want done, less homicide. Gaps in enforcement are always part of law. Inefficiencies are always a part of law. The law already prohibits killing, now it prohibits some methods of killing and leaves others untouched. It shows a fundamental misunderstanding or a willful deception of the public trust in promising these measures will work when you’ve already said, “Law are only words on paper.”
Gun controllers continue to be blissfully ignorant well meaning folks, or deliberately deceitful to leverage power. I am convinced most folks fall into the first category. I don’t think we have a large crop of power grabbers right now, they are waiting for the well meaning morons to do the hard work for them with that genuine misguided altruistic fervor. Then they, those who will leverage the power advantages put into place by the well meaning morons, will just slide into place and have the additional advantage of not being the ones who established the policy, it is just so convenient that it is there.
The ones fighting hardest against us out front do not understand. The ones quietly supporting behind them, do.
