The Henry Homesteader has been quite the draw. Henry, a lever gun company, has produced a semi-automatic, 9mm pistol caliber carbine. The gun was a hit at SHOT and fun to shoot to boot. For many, the wood furniture and old-school appearance were a major draw. As great as M-LOK and pic rails are, they can be tiring to look at. While the homesteader innovated by taking a step back, it’s not the first time we’ve seen a wood-stocked PCC. Let’s celebrate the OG retro PCCs many have forgotten about.
Marlin Camp Carbine
The Marlin Camp Carbine is the gun most likely to draw a comparison to the Homesteader. These retro PCCS were blowback-operated designs that chambered either 9mm or .45 ACP. The guns used popular pistol magazines of the era. That era was 1985 when the gun was first produced. Glock didn’t dominate just yet. The 9mm variant used S&W 59 and 69 magazines, and the .45 ACP variant clung to the classic 1911 design.
These guns had traditional wooden stocks and were optics-ready. Their barrels were 16.5 inches long, and the gun was 6.75 pounds. They were fairly light and fairly handy. Camp Carbines were produced all the way until 1999 and are still fairly common these days on the used market. They aren’t fancy but do have that charm and old school cool.
Ruger Model 44
The Ruger Model 44 is one of two retro PCCs from Ruger that both chambered the mighty .44 Magnum round. The Model 44 was originally called the Deerstalker, but Ithaca didn’t care for that, and Ruger went to the plain Model 44. The idea was for a short, light, and handy carbine for hunting in dense woods. A direct blowback design was not possible or safe with a .44 Magnum, so Ruger used a short-stroke gas piston design.
The Model 44 has an internal magazine that held found rounds of .44 Magnum. It was loaded much like a shotgun. The Model 44 is a pretty cool design and was fairly influential. The Ruger Model 10/22 would later use a similar layout and design, but minus the short-stroke gas piston system. The Model 44 lasted from 1960 to 1985.
Ruger Deerfield Carbine
After discontinuing the Model 44 Ruger went back to the .44 Magnum PCC with the Deerfield. They brought the gun back in 2000, but it was only produced until 2006. This makes it the shortest living of our retro PCCs. The Deerfield uses a short-stroke gas piston design like the Model 44, but was different in several ways.
It used an open-top design, much like an M1 carbine. The gun also used a removable, four round rotary magazine. Aftermarket options could ratchet capacity up to ten rounds. I imagine the Deerfield would be great for defensive use in ban states. Sadly it wasn’t very popular and died a quick death.
Retro PCCs Rule
The Homesteader offers shooters a little something different. It’s still a simple, blowback operated POCC, but it’s made with the same quality Henry is known for. Plus, the old-school look is tough to beat. As we can see, it’s not the first to take that approach either. I want a Homesteader, but if Henry were to make a .44 Magnum semi-auto, I’d have to snatch it up. A man can dream.
Regardless of how permissive a range is and how complex a drill or stage is allowed to be built, static targets are still static targets. We know they’re there. We know they aren’t going anywhere. We cannot help but game the drill, course, or scenario a little bit to maximize our efficiency. We want the highest scores and quickest times. This is normal human behavior, it’s how we better complete tasks that require repetitive sequential motion.
There is a significant drawback though. We are unable to effectively build that crucial stimulus and response path from our eyes, our most important sense in shooting against a real threat and determining a threat from a non-threat. Our eyes drive the gun, and when its time to pull the trigger they are our last best check at making certain what we are shooting is the target we should be shooting.
The most common ‘make do’ in range training is to use an audio stimulus instead. We use a beep on a shot timer or the instructor will yell “threat” or “contact”, some prior arranged audio trigger, to let us know that the target is now a ‘threat’ target. The problem with audio is that it still lacks the visual confirmation of ‘that is a valid target’, we’re being told the target is valid now but the target didn’t do anything to become valid. That is the wrong decision making chain if you are trying to build a response to action. The target needs to act.
Grizzly Targets aims to close that stimulus gap and bring forward a better training solution with their groundbreaking patented target system, Shoot No Shoot.
The Shoot No Shoot (SNS) is a remotely operated system that allows the users to activate their target, or targets, at distances up to nearly a mile. Almost instantaneous target response from the instructor or RO controlled remote to target system allows for on demand activation and on demand responses from the shooter(s). The remote will work through walls and on up to 4 targets. Law enforcement, military, or civilian, when your response time matters and those fractions of a second count towards a life saving response the Shoot No Shoot is built to hone that reactionary gap to its finest point.
The targets and base are highly durable SR500 steel and hardened against the elements for inclement weather use The target plates are safe for industry standard use of .308/7.62x51mm rifle use at 100 yards and beyond, and 25 yards and beyond for pistol and shotgun ammunition. Always wear appropriate PPE when shooting with steel targets.
The SNS uses common industry tool system batteries, Milwaukee 12v, and the targets will run for up to 9 hours on a charge. That batteries are quick changing and quick charging so a spare cell to swap keeps the targets up and running while the first one goes onto a charger.
The SNS is designed to do one thing better than any other easily training system out there, bring motion stimulus and eyes on target decision making back into the shooting process. Grizzly Target’s Shoot No Shoot is cutting edge of reactive moving target firearms training.
“The shoot no shoot is integral to what we do. As is deliberate, court-defensible actions on the objective. With qualified immunity coming under attack, that framework is necessary for LE as it always has been for civilians.” -GT SNS user, in use since Jan 2022
The war in Ukraine is still raging. We are soon to exit winter and enter spring. As the temperatures rise, we are likely to see a rise in violence. The war has been going on for a year at the time of this writing. In that year, Ukraine received billions in military aid. While the military aid offered by governments is massive, there has also been a push by American firearms companies to donate firearms to Ukraine to help resist Russian aggression. Today we are taking a peak at the donations made by the American firearms industry.
KelTec and the SUB 2000
One of the more interesting donations came from KelTec. They originally had an order pending for a member of the Ukraine firearms industry for 400 SUB-2000s. This seems to be a popular rifle in Ukraine, with several already being seen in the hand of civilians. When their contact disappeared, KelTec decided to donate the order to Ukraine.
These are pistol-caliber carbines that use a simple blowback operation. Additionally, they have the ability to fold in half to be quite compact. I could see them being handy for non frontline troops or citizen militias.
Adams Arms And Friends
Adams Arms is a small American firearms company out of Central Florida. They are mostly known for their piston-driven AR-15s. They have been a friend to Ukraine and donated 1,000 AR-15 rifles with a goal to hit 2,500 eventually.
Adams Arms also donated ten of their state-of-the-art, semi-automatic precision weapons. These .308 caliber rifles will offer Ukrainian snipers a long-range edge in fighting back against Russian aggression.
Adams Arms teamed up with several companies to ensure these rifles are as high-end as they can get. These are not the typical rifles you pick out of a catalog. The estimated value of each is about eight thousand dollars. Part of that is the donations by various companies to ensure these rifles are the best they can be.
Leupold donated both optics and mounts to the guns.
PROOF Research provided the barrels.
Rise Armament is providing the trigger.
Radian Weapons dished out the charging handles and safety selectors.
Luth AR is providing the stocks.
Hornady is providing the ammunition.
Kimber and Friends
Kimber is an American Firearms company that is mostly known for their M1911 handguns but for their donation. They focused on the new Mako Micro Compact 9mm. They donated 200 of the little guns to the war effort. Mission First Tactical also donated 200 Mako holsters and 4,000 AR-15 and AR-10 magazines to the fight.
Kimber also shipped 20 of their high-quality bolt action rifles chambering the .308 caliber round. Leupold stepped up again and donated 20 Mark LR/T 3.5-10X40mm optics. These will make the rifles a valuable sniping tool. Seemingly every week, you can find footage of Ukraine snipers dealing some serious damage to the Russian command apparatus.
All the Ammo
Ammo Inc. has donated 1 million rounds to the cause. Vista Outdoors, who owns Speer, Remington ammo, Federal, and CCI, has also donated 1 million rounds of ammunition. When Zelensky asked for ammunition, he certainly got it.
The American Firearms Industry Steps Up
The effort to arm Ukraine reminds me of the American Committee for the Defense of British Homes. This committee raised funds and guns to donate to the Brits in case of a Nazi invasion. Times have changed, and ITARs is a pain, so donating a gun from a private citizen seems like a real hassle, but firearms companies with international experience seem to be making it happen! It’s a great example of what American firearms companies are capable of!
This week on Gunday Brunch the boys are joined by Chris Baker from @LuckyGunner as they discuss whether or not sub-caliber rounds like 22 LR or 32 Long are actually suitable for self defense.
I mentioned during SHOT Week that I had found a new-to-me wool activewear company called Minus 33 . Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to try out a few of their products for myself and I must say that I am very impressed. This family-owned company produces many quality and extremely useful products for outdoor and activewear – whether that is skiing, hunting, hiking, or military and law enforcement use.
For those of you who have not yet been converted to wool as the ultimate performance fabric, here are a few important facts.
Merino wool is NOT itchy.
Modern wool fabrics like these are machine washable and often tumble dry-able.
The Woolverino Racerback Tank is an ultralight knit of 84% merino wool, 12% nylon, and 4% spandex. This weight makes the tank light and silky smooth enough to wear underneath office wear as an extra layer in the winter or as a super light layer over a sports bra for active wear in the summer heat.
Woolverino is their lightest weight line.
I’m frequently cold at my office and usually wear a sweatshirt fabric “white jacket” to stay warm while seeing patients. This soft merino tank provided a nice additional underlayer to tuck-in under a blouse for extra warmth from drafts. I’ve also started exercise walking in loops around the office building when there is a lull in the patient load, and this tank helped absorb and wick away moisture while doing that. As a special added bonus – wool doesn’t retain odors. Enough said about that.
So smooth and lightweight!
The seams on this tank are all flat locked and don’t chafe. The racerback straps stay up and don’t require constant adjustments. The merino washed up like a dream in the machine – cold water cycle and tumble dry low. I admit I’m not much for careful fabric care, so tumble dry was a plus for me. I cannot find a single thing I dislike about this tank, except that I only have one. I’ll be needing to buy more to satisfy my addiction!
Multiclava
The Woolverino Multiclava is a lightweight knit made from from 84% merino wool, 12% nylon and 4% spandex. I mentioned this particular clever item when I first saw it at SHOT. Now that I’ve acquired a Minus33 Multiclava of my own and had some time to play with configurations, I think I need to buy more than one of this as well. This green one is going to be my go-to hunting hat and face mask, so I’ll need another one to keep in my car get-home bag for weather emergencies.
As I mentioned in the previous article, this is a “multi”-clava because it can be worn in multiple configurations – as a beanie, a headband, a neck gaiter, and a balaclava.
I didn’t realize I looked so scary. But the balaclava configuration is beautiful!
As an added bonus – I discovered that the multiclava can accommodate a ponytail or braid through the top twist when wearing it as a beanie.
The ponytail fits right through the twist!
When wearing it as a balaclava my hair can either be gathered up in a “bag” at the nape of the neck or hang down underneath everything – it’s always good to have options. Then there’s the possibilities for the neck gaiter – like pulling it up into a facemask under a camo cap for deer and turkey hunting. I can also just use it for a headband when things get warm, or when only my ears are cold. The fabric is thin and breathable enough as a single layer that this Multiclava could also be worn for sun or bug protection if needed. With this many configurations the Multiclava would never need to go back in my daypack – I could just change how I wear it as the day warms up or cools down and never actually take it off!
Hoodie Action
The cherry on the top of these Minus33 products was the Woolverino Trailbreaker Full Zip Hoodie. This midweight layer hoodie is knit of 85% merino wool, 13% nylon, and 2% spandex. It has raglan sleeves, so it adjusts a bit to various to shoulder widths (I have fairly wide shoulders), and it has a trim, but stretchy cut so it’s not bulky and fits well under other layers. The trim fit makes this hoodie great to use as a mid-layer under an outer jacket in colder weather, and as a standalone light outer layer in later spring. The hood has a trim fit as well to allow for wear under a bike or ski helmet. It has thumbholes to keep my wrists and hands warm and to keep the sleeve from riding up when donning outer layers. It has three pockets – five if you count the mesh inside that forms the outer pockets. This is more than enough storage to carry earbuds, tissues, trail map, car keys, or any other necessary item when out and active.
Perfect as a midlayer.
So far, I’ve worn this Minus 33 hoodie for winter woods hikes, exercise walks, and even under a sweatshirt layer for spring yard clean-up. It has performed beautifully – kept me warm, but also wicked sweat when needed.
I also wore this hoodie over a wool t-shirt as an extra layer for just knocking around inside the cool house on days when I didn’t want to turn the thermostat up. It was a perfect layer for that as well.
Trim, but comfy cut.
Care-wise, this too required only machine wash cold and tumble dry low. Minus 33 is singing my song with this! I have much better things to do than special-wash my clothing.
I have worn this hoodie virtually every day-off I’ve had for the past month. It has already become my go-to hoodie, so you can’t have it.
You’ll just have to go to Minus33 and buy one of your own!
One of my favorite random means to exercise is to assign an exercise to a suite from a deck of playing cards and then do the exercise with whatever number I draw. I’m not alone. There are entire fitness decks out there that capitalize on this phenomenon. What if you treated dry fire the same way? That’s what the Dry Fire Training Cards do. They implement dry drills into playing cards.
Dry fire is pretty boring if you are just clicking along at a light switch time and time again. Finding ways to spice it up will not only keep your dry firing but increase your efficiency with dry fire. If you only have 15 minutes a day to dry fire, you likely want to make the best use of that 15 minutes. These cards can seemingly do that. It’s a cheap investment to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and enjoyment of dry fire.
The Dry Fire Training Cards – Get It On
The Dry Fire Training cards are a mix-up of several different types of drills, each with a corresponding color. These cards feature a huge mix of skills. They cover some stuff I never thought of, like low-light dry fire and using your weapon light for dry fire.
There is some complicated movement that requires just a hair of physical fitness. This includes squatting and push-ups while dry firing. There is also plenty of movement to test your ability to stay on target. There are plenty of complex drills that will keep you moving and dry firing.
The Dry Fire Training Cards number over 50, and you can slowly work your way through the deck over time. Some do work a lot better with a partner. While you could modify them for solo training, they are clearly partner based to get the most out of your training.
I’ve really enjoyed mixing these with the Mantis Laser Academy to give myself a more complicated set of challenges with real-time feedback. These two are a great mix.
Gripes and Complaints
I don’t have much to complain about. My main complaint is that some of the complicated drills required a few read-throughs to understand. Some had me scratching my head with a clear ‘wut’ face. I think having only a card’s worth of room to describe something can be challenging, and it shows here and there. Luckily, those drills are few and far between.
Click – Clack – Pow
The Dry Fire Training Cards is a very cheap tool to invest in. They cost less than 20 bucks online and give you an awesome degree of training for that much money. They are portable and interact well with other dry-fire devices. Why I never considered low light dry fire is beyond me, but I’m doing it now, and it will become a normal part of my training.
If you need to spice up your dry fire, this deck is a great way to do so. You’d be surprised at how challenging mixing in some simple movements can be. You’ll also be surprised by how much more enjoyable dry fire is when doing so.
Now to start, I have not been the greatest of fans of Vortex when it comes to their open emitter pistol and small RDS line. I think they’re closed emitter stuff, like the SparcSolAR, have been solid offerings but their dots for pistols lacked the care and attention to durability that something like the Razor line enjoyed.
I see none of those old concerns evidenced in the Defender-CCW they’re launching today.
BARNEVELD, Wis. – From increasing your effective range to shooting faster without sacrificing precision, the benefits of running a red dot on handguns are numerous and proven. The new Vortex® Defender-CCW™ lets anyone packing a full-size, subcompact, or even a micro-compact for self-defense experience the speed and accuracy advantage that’s so critical when facing a threat with nowhere to run.
Meant for people who prioritize personal protection, the Defender-CCW™ is focus-built for the demands of modern concealed-carry users. Ultra-compact and tough, it delivers the biggest sight window in its class for “both eyes open” shooting and enhanced peripheral vision. The smooth, slim profile means no extra bulk or width for a no-snag draw from under clothes and less chance of printing, so the only one on the street who knows you’re packing is you. Other design benefits include:
LARGE ASPHERICAL LENS for distortion-free sight picture and truer colors
SHOCKSHIELD™ polymerinsert to protect against hard, daily abuse
FAST-RACK™ textured front face that adds grip for racking slide
ADJUSTABLE BRIGHTNESS for customizable illumination settings
AUTO-SHUTOFF to preserve battery life
MOTION ACTIVATED for instant readiness when you need it
SHIELD RMS FOOTPRINT eliminates costly retro-fitting, extra plates, drill and tapping
3 or 6 MOA red dot reticles available
Rugged. Reliable. Ready to defend. Trust the Defender-CCW™ to help you carry discreetly and with more confidence, keeping you prepared for personal self-defense when the stakes are high.
Watch this detailed product overview video to learn more about the Defender-CCW™ Micro Red Dot.
For a list of specifications, frequently asked questions and high-resolution images, check out the Vortex New Product Portal.
About Vortex®: Your desire to be your best fuels our promise to provide nothing short of exceptional performance, unmatched service, and memorable experiences. The way we see it, your success is our success. Welcome to Vortex Nation™.
Expect to see these in the $250 to $350 range, making them a nicely accessible dot for slim pistols.
In our media’s continued quest to scapegoat guns for the violent tendencies of mankind, CNN brings us this piece of emotive manipulation disguised as journalism.
“The US has surpassed 100 mass shootings in 2023, a disturbing milestone that underscores the grave cost of inaction in Washington and state legislatures across the country.” CNN opens.
We already have serious problems just a single sentence in. If you’ve been paying attention there has been anythingbut inaction across the country. State legislatures are trying to ban guns and blame owners for things they did not do, several bills have been moving with startling momentum in many state legislatures. Just this morning I see headlines from Washington, Michigan, Colorado, Florida, and a Federal DoJ funding post, all aimed at ‘gun violence’ prevention.
In parallel time, the courts (both state and federal) have been examining several lawsuits under the Bruen standards. It already appears Illinois’ recently enacted Assault Weapon Ban is going to be shut down in its inception, as counties across the state declared they would not enforce it and their own courts have declared it will probably not stand scrutiny and review. Seven other Assault Weapon Bans and corresponding magazine bans are on borrowed time, even as Biden declares boldly that a Federal ban will come back and that it is somehow his moral imperative. That’s easy and safe for him to say, with the House in Republican hands he has a scapegoat.
Nobody ask too loudly why, when he controlled both chambers, all he could get done was the BSCA yet somehow controlling one chamber will allow an assault weapon ban to pass.
This alleged inaction falls in the face of evidence. It also ignores vast swaths of information we see out of the criminal activity reports from ATF and FBI. We continue to not want to say the real problem out loud, because there is no easy solution to it. Because it isn’t an ‘it’, it isn’t one problem.
The solution from gun controllers remains some variation of ‘we blame the AR-15 for existing’.
America reached the grim number by the first week of March – record time, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.
Isn’t it interesting that CNN and GVA have their own definition. The FBI uses four or more people murdered to describe as mass killing, notice it is independent of method, but I’m certain the more inclusive definition isn’t in the hope that intellectual dishonesty and praying upon people’s preconceived notions of what a mass shooting is will paint a less than honest mental picture. This broad definition couldn’t be looking to make each of those 105 shootings (as of March 7th) associate in reader’s minds as an Uvalde or Pulse type event instead of a downtown Chicago gunfight.
Three of these were Chicago by the way.
That couldn’t possibly be CNN’s intent with using a far more inclusive definition of mass shooting, one that excludes contextual circumstances, right? What could happen if context were to be added and we suddenly had to sort that number?
Or even Mass-Shootings.info’s listing of 638 mass shootings for that violent year and they are using the same, more permissive, definition as GVA.
Context though, both sources offer more context than CNN’s scree.
The active shooter incident research in this report is valid as of March 25, 2022. If additional incidents meeting FBI criteria are identified after the publication of this document, every effort will be made to factor those incidents into future reporting. When evaluating shooting incidents to determine if they met the FBI’s active shooter definition, researchers considered for inclusion: • Shootings in public places • Shootings occurring at more than one location • Shootings where the shooter’s actions were not the result of another criminal act • Shootings resulting in a mass killing (4) • Shootings indicating apparent spontaneity by the shooter • Shootings where the shooter appeared to methodically search for potential victims • Shootings that appeared focused on injury to people, not buildings or objects
This report does not encompass all gun-related shootings. A gun-related incident was excluded if research established it was the result of: • Self-defense • Gang violence • Drug violence • Contained residential or domestic disputes • Controlled barricade/hostage situations • Crossfire as a byproduct of another ongoing criminal act • An action that appeared not to have put other people in peril
Also before we get too concerned about 100 ‘mass shootings‘ so far this year, how does that compare to any other year?
Well, according to mass-shootings.info, by March 1st last year, 2022, we had 80 mass shootings. By the end of the month we had 133. In 2021 we had 74 by the 1st of March and 121 by the end of the month. 2020, pre-riot and pre-pandemic fatigue stresses as it kicked off mid-march, we only had 57 at the start and 83 by the end of the month. The summer of 2020 was then brutal. The comparatively idyllic year of 2019 had 50 at the beginning and had only reach 71 by the end of March. Reaching 100 in March has happened the last two years too. I won’t be so crass as to point out those are both Biden years, as is the current year, while 19 and 20 were Trump, as I don’t think who’s in the chair matters as much as the local, national, and global events and the government responses. What will truly be telling is where we see the totals by the end of April as an indication of how violent the summer will become?
Let’s add two items to this less than informative CNN quagmire, First, how many of each year’s mass shootings have no known suspect?
2019: 58%
2020: 75%
2021: 64%
2022 (through part of July): 55%
How could that be? These are massshootings, crazy people shooting at innocent bystanders because of their access to ‘assault weapons’ and ‘high capacity’ magazines, right? How could we not know who these mass killer monsters are?
NOTE: Per ATF 77.7% of crime guns are traditional handguns or traditional revolvers. That figure excludes all rifle caliber handguns, no AR pistols in 5.56 or Dracos in 7.62
Second, how many people die in mass shootings on average?
Well if we use this inclusive definition of mass shooting, the average number of people killed is… 1. 1.02 to be exact, for 2021. The average varies between a high of 1.19 in 2019, which had far fewer shootings, to 0.85 in 2020 and was 1.11 for the info listed for 2022. If I take the three years I have complete data for, 2019-2021, I have 1674 ‘mass shootings’ and 1678 people killed for a fairly accurate average death toll of… one… 1.002 to be precise. That takes into account our two most violent recent years.
Back to the FBI’s active shooter report. Only 61 incidents in 2021, the worst year under discussion, qualified as Active Shooter Incidents compared to the 638 ‘mass shootings’ reported elsewhere under the more inclusive definition for that year. This is a dramatic disparity in two titles that evoke, by design, the same mental picture in a reader.
‘Mass Shooting’ is becoming an increasingly meaningless term, encompassing nearly any event with any motivation that injures a few people. Gang violence, drug violence, domestic violence, associated criminality from a robbery, burglary, or carjacking that results in a shootout or shooting, all fall under this large amorphous umbrella term of ‘mass shooting’ and that is a problem for legislatures trying to claim the problem, as in singular, is out of control and then solve it, again singular.
They can’t. It isn’t a singular problem. It isn’t even a closely associated series of problems. It’s just a common method of injury. A robbery and a domestic dispute are very different problems.
When we are removing motivation as a grounding context for these events we are dangerously overgeneralizing. Organizations in politics and the media do this in order to make sure the number is engaging enough, it needs to be high enough to garner attention. But if we then try to solve for the overgeneralized and non-contextualized number, with multiple disparate motives, we end up with terrible solutions that don’t do anything and get stuck in the cycle of we have to ‘do more’ to stop ‘gun violence’.
Hence the President’s recent executive order and buck passage to congress, knowing full well the House of Representatives won’t and can’t give the president the gun bans he wants.
We need to stop with the ‘gun violence’ moniker and start looking at gang violence, domestic violence, extremist violence, and suicide as separate and distinct issues with separate and distinct motives. We cannot allow the commonality of method of injury to ascribe a commonality of motive. We also need to give up the quixotic quest of somehow simultaneously “respecting the 2nd Amendment” while meaningfully impacting the available methods of injury in any of these events.
But this is CNN, so nah.
“Americans are tired of fearing if they or their families will be the next victims of a mass shooting. Our children are tired of being told to ‘run, hide, and fight,’” said Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence, an organization seeking to mitigate gun violence in the US.
Americans are tired of a lot of things, Kris. I’m sure Florida and the Gulf Coast are tired of hurricanes. Being tired of a threat that their fellow man has always presented to them or their families, to be the next victims in one of the rare mass shootings that they might be at risk of being near, is just another risk of life. They’re also worried about car accidents, home accidents, Russia, fentanyl, their bills in a weird economic time where a lot of sector resets are occurring, banks collapsing, and a dozen of a dozen other things. Listing one more thing that they are tired of, in a tone suggesting it is the most pressing thing on their mind, is just using the obvious decontextualized threat to bolster the credibility of your particular comments.
The truth is that this issue is fairly low on anyone’s daily priority list when scale and context are added. There isn’t much they can do about it and they are rare events.
“bUt TheY HApPen EvERRYDayY, KEITH!“
Any number of other horrible and preventable deaths happen daily, and we have to place them all into this limited time and space to worry about them. So they end up getting ranked.
Death in any shooting, to say nothing of the more limited number of mass shootings, is a Low Probability/High Impact event. Those tend to be scariest to think about but not of that great a risk because risk accounts for probability.
“These regular, uniquely American tragedies] 6 killed in shooting at Hamburg, Germany[must be a call to action for our political leaders. We need decisive change to US gun laws and regulations. The cost of political inaction on preventing gun violence is increasingly, tragically clear,” Brown said.
Can we stop with the “uniquely American” idiocy… There is a war in Europe with 100,000-250,000 dead in a year, it has wiped towns from existence and is forming the basis for near peer conflict going forward. Don’t try and pretend that the massive overindulgence in the umbrella term ‘gun violence’ shouldn’t include war when it does include suicide. People shooting at each other on purpose isn’t ‘gun violence’ because there are a lot of them and they formed teams? That doesn’t feel fair from sources that will count a stray bullet accidently passing through a school zone as a school shooting.
There have been horrific European mass shootings. Looking at Central or South America for 5 seconds and perspective changes yet again, there was just a high profile abduction of 4 Americans, with 2 murdered, just across the border, the cartel even sent an apology note. Let’s cut the shit. Stop allowing this nebulous utopia filter to point to how it ‘should be’ without all the context of how it got that way.
It’s only “uniquely American” if compared against smaller, homogenous, high income countries… Which strangely enough resemble the small, homogenous, high income regions of the United States.
Weird.
The lower income non-homogeneous regions tend to be the more violent and turbulent ones in these ‘developed’ nations. Much like the United States.
Weird.
But following passage of last year’s bipartisan gun safety law, there’s been little political momentum in the divided Congress for more gun safety legislation, even as the rate of mass shootings has picked up.
We, once again, have to reiterate the fact that ‘mass shooting’, as CNN and GVA are referencing it, is a near meaningless term. It encompasses too many disparate motives to be useful. There is also the growing perception of bias in the media coverage of mass shooting events and perpetrators, so much so that it has become a viral meme series.
Aside: Are we saying Biden’s ‘ground breaking historic bipartisan law’ didn’t do anything? It sounds like that’s what we’re saying. The fact the executive order yesterday included an audit on it seems to suggest the evidence is lacking. Remember when it was the biggest thing since the 1993 AWB and ‘God willing, it will save a lot of lives’? Doesn’t appear to be doing that, does it? Maybe it was a dumb piece of legislation, made up to sound like it was doing something, while actually effectively doing nothing, so that the political and fundraising situations would continue. Can’t be the ruling party and not show the demanding moms and mayors something is getting done, but we can’t ever claim we’ve done all there is to do otherwise we’ll lose their money and votes.
2021 Mass Shootings, Known Perpetrators2022 Mass Shootings, Known Perpetrators into July
That might generate a negative stereotypical bias if we were to keep blaming a generalized overly broad demographic for everything though.
What if we begin to factor in motive?
Mass Shooter Motives, 2021
The smaller slivers are,
Light Blue: Shooting at Police, 1%
Dark Blue: Disgruntled Employee, 1%
Green: Robbery, 1%
Black: Random Shooting, 1%
Tiny White/Grey Sliver: Other, .47%
Motives make this complex, a series of very different problemsinstead of a single simpler one that can be used for political lev… I mean… a single problem source that needs solving for the good of the people of this nation by just banning the so ascribed extra most dangerous guns. It’s common sense, they said so.
We wouldn’t want to make this confusing, lets just not talk about demographic or motivational information… mostly. Right, CNN? We can talk about it if it is scary enough or if they’re whi… I mean if the story warrants the coverage based on the details.
“Although fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries are growing, no real legislative response has followed acts of gun violence in support of individuals or the communities in which they live. And there is scant proof that prevention measures, such as active shooter drills, have reduced actual harm,” Mark S. Kaplan, a professor of social welfare at UCLA, told CNN.
Growing? Or are they simply up over a very specific period of recent time, like a crisis of global scale where the government said both, “Good luck, we don’t want to catch it.” and “You can have a little mostly peaceful city burning, as a treat.” at roughly the same time? The monumental stress of a worldwide plague and the government shutting down people’s lives and livelihoods wouldn’t factor into your calculus as a mitigating circumstance, now would it?
Of course not, no context for ‘mass shootings’ so no context for deaths and injuries being up either. No attempt at ascertaining why they might be up, just an assurance that we know guns are involved. These are gun deaths and gun injuries.
We need a law against gun bad things.
The more ardent followers of lawmakers are consumed with idea that everything can just have a law passed to make it better. Then it will just be better, because the law said so. We have ample proof that isn’t the case, and numerous instances with mountains of evidence were a law meant to ‘make things better’ had the opposite effect and made things worse while eroding public trust. Then we needed other laws, or judicial or prosecutorial discretion, to even it out and make things fair, or rather ‘equitable’ as is the parlance of today. Because fair isn’t fair enough, equality under the law isn’t equal enough.
But sure, despite that mountain range of problems, lets force Congress to make up some extra law about making the highly illegal thing more illegal. That should work. We won’t then have to equity check that law too and compound the problems from second and third order effects.
How well are laws working at stopping violence again?
Now as to the ‘scant proof’ that drills work and ‘Run, Hide, Fight’ is just something people are tired of hearing and depressed about. There is ‘scant proof’ because these events are thankfully rare. There is scant proof that nuclear bombing drills during the cold war would reduce harm too, especially considering we were never bombed. Probably plenty of proof that they caused some mental trauma though.
Please, show me the recent event where a drill was run properly, with a low rate of errors, and that didn’t help. Show me anywhere this has been implemented in a serious manner. I don’t mean that the administrative types are going to tell me they take it seriously, I mean that in an objective sense the drills and plan have been scrutinized by experts and deemed strong. Show me the place where a drill was done, done properly, and failed to prevent or reduce injury and loss of life.
Can’t?
Can’t produce any data on that to compare? We can’t compare solidly drilled venues with haphazardly unprepared ones? We can’t control for circumstances beyond venue control? Then we really can’t take ‘scant proof’ to mean anything then, can we?
We do know this though, drills properly done in other nearly innumerable similar emergency contexts do save lives and reduce injury. AEDs, fire, counter ambush, heart attack, stroke, heat injury, shock, evacuations, all go better and smoother when drilled competently. We know that in all these scenarios having some serious prior preparation dramatically shortens the necessary response curve to reduce and/or prevent injury and loss of life. SWAT teams drill. Fireteams drill. Medical teams drill. Hospitals drill. The military drills. Why would we then make the counter assumption when it comes to an active shooter, especially when active shooter incidents account for less than 10% of mass shootings (2021) and we therefore have very little data to say?
Absence of data is not evidence of the opposing conclusion and when we start highlighting the contextual inconsistencies all the suppositions being pushed by CNN here start looking really half-assed. Remember too, ‘Run, Hide, Fight’ isn’t a drill. Its an emergency response philosophy, a basic premise, that can be used to form drills.
Its just noise and all it says is they don’t like guns. That is it. That is the punchline.
“There are real solutions and tools – including bans on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines – available now that can make a difference, but only if our elected officials act to implement them,” he added.
Because of course he did, all evidence to the contrary discarded. Here are the real solutions and tools to ‘make a difference’ but just… don’t ask too many complex questions like ‘…how?’ and just trust.
Remember when 77.7% of crime guns were regular handguns? I remember. But by all means let us keep demonizing the AR.
Yet America’s relationship to gun ownership is unique, and its gun culture is a global outlier, complicating legislative efforts.
Our relationship to gun ownership is unique but our culture isn’t an outlier. Our culture is decidedly westernized as a whole, but with a number of subcultures and their tendencies toward status and ego intermixed. Westernized gun culture overwhelming sees arms as defensive tools to be treated with respect. This attitude is pervasive among gun owners in Europe too. But we have several subcultures that see weapons as status symbols and tools of projection. No, not the liberal memes obsessed creepily with genitals, I’m talking actual cultural status.
We saw a lot of it in the Middle East. We see it in Latin America. We see it in various forms from various cliques in the US too. That you are armed and what you are armed with is an active factor in the authority you wield. The ATF referenced that in their report that Glock possession has status.
‘Polite’ gun owners have this too, but to a much more hobbyist degree. The man with the fanciest rifle isn’t in charge in a literal sense but does “flex” hardest.
Gun culture isn’t “complicating” legislative efforts, unless you mean to call literally being against the Constitution and Bill of Rights to do what they are trying to do “complicating”. We keep wasting a ton of taxpayer funded time arguing about the semantics of personal arms because that is ultimately more politically lucrative than the more obvious answer of “We can’t ‘law’ this away, sorry. And the true practical solutions all violate the ever-living-hell out of civil rights.”
Anti-gunners admitting that particular 800lb gorilla into the room and they lose an obvious and easy way to politic. They can’t do that. They won’t. Both for selfish and practical reasons.
There are about 120 guns for every 100 Americans, according to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey. No other nation has more civilian guns than people. And about 44% of US adults live in a household with a gun, and about one-third own one personally, according to a November 2020 Gallup survey.
We need to get working on making that majority of adults own one or more personally and kick up the training industry a notch so that the majority of adults have also taken a good class. But that’s just my opinion.
Almost a third of US adults believe there would be less crime if more people owned guns, according to an April 2021 Pew survey. However, multiple studies show that where people have easy access to firearms, gun-related deaths tend to be more frequent, including by suicide, homicide and unintentional injuries.
Again, we are under contextualizing. Deliberate obfuscation of information, allegedly for the ease of audience consumption, that actually dismantles the narrative being pushed if we dig into it further. More guns = less crime is just as oversimplified as the more guns = more crime.
On suicide for instance, we don’t filter by cultural attitudes toward suicide, or age of the population under scrutiny, we just say suicides = gun violence deaths. Both of those matter dramatically by the way.
Here’s a HEAT map of US Suicides. Note the areas in red. Note the volumes.
Suicides
Now here is the same timeframe and demographic breakdown for homicides.
Homicides
Weird. Its almost like they are a vastly different problem series and maybe lumping them into a category as generic as ‘gun violence’ is asinine.
I’m sure the government telling everyone they were on their own during the riots and pandemic closures had nothing to with it. Its the mass shootings. Totally.
Now don’t get me wrong, the mass shooting is a factor from a certain point of view. But it is the comically predictable political response, from one side at least, to mass shootings that triggers the demand. The immediate call for banning popular guns that make up a minority of criminal firearm misuses with zero regard for how impossible that is, that is what triggers people to buy them when its immediately after a shooting. It is a contrarian response to an absurd declaration. If the government didn’t have a history of immediately calling for the banning of guns in rushed partisan bursts of stupidity like clockwork, do you believe there would be such notable purchase spikes?
It is, then, perhaps unsurprising that the US has more deaths from gun violence than any other developed country per capita. The rate in the US is eight times greater than in Canada, which has the seventh highest rate of gun ownership in the world; 22 times higher than in the European Union and 23 times greater than in Australia, according to Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation data from 2019.
There it is. Deaths from ‘gun violence’ which include suicides and shouldn’t. The third largest country in the world with by far the most gun ownership has firearms rank high as a leading method of injury, shocking. Nice praise Canada for their more peaceful peacefulness since they have guns too, but they aren’t crazy like the US. Let’s not reference the ongoing legal fights about that though, including the natives demanding special treatment on weapons from the rest of the Canadians, and their own crop of failures to prevent mass shootings.
Also,
The US ranks 86th in the world for murder rate. Georgia, a European nation but apparently not a ‘developed’ one, has a small fraction of our firearm ownership and a higher murder rate.
Nations ranked by deliberate homicide rate. Rate, Number of homicides, Region, Gun ownership rate.
Here are the 25 countries with the lowest gun ownership rates. They all have less than 1/100th, and as low as 1/1000th, of the US firearm ownership rate. Only 10 of these 25 have lower murder rates. Many of them have murder rates not just higher, but orders of magnitude higher than the US.
For Singapore and Japan, who have the matching and lowest murder rates of the list here, these two nations might just have a few other factors contributing to their very low rates of both murder and firearm ownership. Like being islands. Like being of primarily one national and cultural background. Like having impressive economies. Like having to navigate the geopolitics of post-WWII Asia.
Strangely, it might not be the guns.
Countries ranked by actual number of murders.
Even with all our guns, and this being a “uniquely American” problem, and being the 3rd largest nationin the world by population we still only rank 14th for total murders. You’d think we’d at least be, I don’t know 3rd, and with that whole “uniquely American” thing we should be first, right?
“Well its the suicides and access to guns!“
Okay. The US ranked 31st in suicides (2019) and 1st in gun ownership with over 400,000,000 guns. A gun is used in a US suicide a little over 50% of the time. South Korea, a large and economically prosperous nation, is ranked 12th in suicides, approximately 46% higher rate than the United States, and with only 79,000 guns for a nation of 50,000,000, an ownership rate about 600 times lower than the US.
Weird.
Maybe. It. Isn’t. The. Guns.
“For gun violence survivors, this is an incredibly painful milestone to mark, and it arrives earlier and earlier each year,” said Liz Dunning, a spokesperson for Brady whose mother was shot and killed while answering the door of her home in 2003. “But survivors are increasingly taking action, and demanding our lawmakers stand up to the corporate gun industry and take comprehensive steps to reduce the recent influx of mass shootings.”
Again. Context. You should try it CNN.
We are once more dealing with a series of complicated factors. One, we are only looking at the very recent past in this CNN piece. Two, we broadened the definition of what a ‘mass shooting’ constitutes and it is in conflict with itself because of its broad nature. Three, we have an overly broad definition of ‘gun violence’, which includes suicides and even accidents in their totals, and media sources who are purposely vague by the inclusion of these. Why say 11,000 people were murdered in the United States when you can say 30,000 people died at the end of a gun and roll two very different problems together to make your stat number scarier.
Gun violence activism has become a central plank of Democratic politics, with President Joe Biden repeatedly lamenting Congress’ inability to pass “common sense” measures after multiple mass shootings this year.
You should be questioning why that is. You really should. Especially with that ‘standing up to the corporate gun industry’ schtick.
Lobbying spends by industry, 2021
This industry doesn’t even rank top 20 of who spends money in D.C. Imagine thinking there is some manner of financial strangle hold on Congress with the money spread looking like that.
Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, the first member of Generation Z elected to Congress, centered his 2022 campaign on ending gun violence in the US, finding support among young voters who grew up as part of the “mass shooting generation,” as he calls it.
Young kid espouses unrealistic utopian goals without grounding in realism. Water also still comprised of primarily of hydrogen and oxygen.
Listen, mass shootings have gotten worse. That is true.
Why?
Theory: They have become a recognized outlet for the disenfranchised loners or isolated extremist groups to vent their rage to a national and international audience. We did that. We give them this platform. We did that with our wall-to-wall 24/7 media circus, with our blind reactionary panic, with our perverse idolatry of these murderers. We promise these unhinged individuals and screw loose groups fame and immortality beyond celebrity athlete, A-list actor, or uber-rich socialite status, and all they have to do is kill enough people they already hate or care nothing for?
Weird that it keeps happening, right?
“We’ve seen these things and been wondering our whole lives as young people, in high school, middle school and elementary school, why? Why is this happening?
The world is way more whacked than we led you to believe, kid. Your parents lied to you to protect you from the garbage things humanity does to itself throughout its history. You weren’t ready to know.
Why have we not fixed this?
Oh naïve child, you cannot fix it. Especially with something so mundane as a law against it. This violence is already against the law, it has been for millennia.
And now we’re at a place where we can vote and we can run, and we’re going to do it,” Frost said when he won the Democratic nomination.
Cool, but you won’t fix it either. Instead you’ll probably learn to keep running on the promise of fixing it because that pays your bills. Welcome to politics.
Last year’s bipartisan gun safety bill – which garnered the support of 14 Republicans in the House and 15 in the Senate – represented the most significant new federal legislation to address gun violence since the expired 10-year assault weapons ban of 1994.
That’s because it didn’t do anything. It was safe, harmless enough, mostly meaningless, and only really messed with the rights of the youngest adults who don’t have money yet. I didn’t buy my first rifle until after my 21st birthday. Not because I didn’t want to, I tried on my 18th but I was broke and terrible with money. I never managed to pay off that used M&P15T with EOTech 512.
In practical terms, the BSCA was a super safe way to do practically nothing while claiming to do something meaningful. Remember that made up ‘boyfriend loophole’ we closed? Has that applied to anyone since this got signed? If so, did any of those it did apply to get a gun another way, or act out violently without a gun, thus rendering the closure of the loophole utterly pointless? How many 18-20 year old young adults, with nothing of note on their records, have had their rights delayed or denied by the new system because of their age?
But it failed to ban any weapons and fell far short of what Biden and his party had advocated for – and what polls show Americans want to see.
No, it didn’t ban any weapons. Why? Prohibition was a colossal failure both for alcohol and for firearms. Democrats know that if they actually get it passed, they lose. Again. Big. And that when they do the Republicans will likely overturn the law and permanently stamp out their ability to saber rattle about this as a campaign issue. They don’t want that. The Supreme Court is probably going to shut that door on them anyway, but they want to cash in while they can in the meantime. With the house in Republican hands they can rattle a whole lot from the safety of never having to actually do anything. Those pesky Republicans. Senate can pass bans until they’re blue in the face as well as the political allegiance, the House can sit on them.
Polls of the uninformed and underinformed should not be used as justification for stupid policies. I bet if we took a poll about having US Astronauts go draw a dick on the moon it would get millions of upvotes. Should we do that? Should we leave that to the humors of the public?
Most of the public (66%) favored stricter gun laws, a July 2022 CNN poll found, with more than 4 in 10 saying that recently enacted gun legislation didn’t go far enough to change things.
Wow. Two vague and meaningless sentiments, ‘stricter’ and ‘not far enough’ with no context that those being polled know what they are talking about. Well, I’m convinced we need to do more. I will not elaborate on either ‘stricter’ or ‘ far enough to change things’ or what any bar of success might be. Progress!
Wow, I wonder if something big and scary happened in 2020 that could have done this? Graphic via CNN.
Weird that this chart seems to show the pandemic, lockdowns, and riots are almost certainly at fault here. It also has 52 mass shootings for 2021 that my other source, mass-shootings.info, didn’t have but under counted 2020 by 2. Fair, they are using a vague definition.
Now, remember that influx of government money. Remember it in just the right amount for a handgun or a rifle for everyone. Think that might’ve helped fuel millions of new gun owners and that, like in everything, when you give easy access to something suddenly to a massive group who didn’t have it prior, and at no cost to them, some of them will abuse that access? Do we watch the utter failure of Biden’s DoJ to do what Trump and Obama’s were clearly capable of with roughly just as much freedom to purchase firearms, minus the stimulus checks. But that shouldn’t be mentioned, right?
Weird. Maybe it isn’t the guns.
But many Republicans, who now control the US House, have cited a mental health crisis in the US as the reason for America’s gun violence problem, showing little interest in the government trying to regulate access to guns.
Maybe they have a point on the mental health side of things.
Maybe that 2nd Amendment thing in the Bill of Rights and the obvious overdue corrections being done by the Supreme and Federal courts are signaling that they shouldn’t waste their time on this. This political capital acid trip the Democrats want to go on would anger the republican base and moderate gun owners greatly, it didn’t end well in the mid-90’s for ban supporters.
Mental health challenges grew throughout the pandemic and violence increased, but an analysis from researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that guns made those incidences significantly more deadly. Between 2019 and 2021, all of the increase in suicides and most of the increase in homicides was from gun-related incidences. The gun suicide rate increased 10% while the non-gun suicide rate decreased.
Interesting. You hand everyone enough money for a gun, three times, put them under extreme socioeconomic fears by shutting down the economy and telling everyone they need to get a vaccine or they’re literally murdering their family and everyone around them, shut down access to family and friends, increase division by playing up pandemic fears to try and increase compliance, increase division and fears by limiting civil responses to crime and emergencies, increase division and fear with a soft and sometimes encouraging hand to riots and rioters, do little to unite and calm the public during the election giving just enough credence to conspiracy theories that we have an epic tantrum almost-riot in D.C., use that as further divisive material, then slowly watch as all the overactions and lies of the past several years start to come home to roost, and we’re acting surprised that murder and suicide rates went up?
Okay then.
That CNN poll, which was conducted a few weeks after the mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, found that 58% of Americans believed stricter gun control laws would reduce the number of gun-related deaths in the country. That was up from 49% in 2019 and similar to the 56% following the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
Wow. It’s almost like you can get the emotively supported answer you want if you ask a dumb vague question right after a horrific incident. I bet the nation would also support “stronger railway regulations” after the Ohio train crash too. Brilliant work CNN. Again, no context on what “stronger regulations” means, just use the positive buzzword and turn of phrase to vaguely promise whatever it is you end up doing will fix the problem.
But until lawmakers on Capitol Hill reflect this majority, further gun safety legislation appears out of the question as the deadly cycle of violence continues.
Look at this chart of Congress and remember one of the most defining pieces of gun legislation, the assault weapon ban, passing. Then look at how the Democrats lost a nearly 40 year uninterrupted control of both houses after that, in fact it was closer 60 years. From 1935 to 1995 there were only two separated two year periods Democrats didn’t control at least one chamber of congress, it would have been both chambers but for a 6 year period in the Senate. Those majorities were strong too, often between 60 and 70%.
They’ve, briefly, controlled both houses since but haven’t pushed such a sweepingly egregious piece of ‘gun safety legislation’ since then.
I am enthusiastic concerning any firearm I may test, shoot and generally learn about. I like the smell of gunpowder smoke and the thump of a handgun in my hand. I do not need Byzantine appointments but the more reliable guns are the most interesting. I am no fool and carry proven reliable handguns for personal defense. But sometimes the SIG and the Series 70 simply ride in the holster during range trips while I fire a number of odd firearms. Well I am a gunwriter and if you didn’t know what I for a living you would think me a little odd anyway. The revolver illustrated is the only one I have seen of the type. Of course I have seen many Miroku firearms, just no handguns. Miroku has manufactured quality firearms for Browning for years. These lever action, rolling block and smoothbore firearms are excellent examples of the gunmakers art. The Miroku revolver is little known. And do not go rushing to get Dad’s out of the gun safe- there is little to no collector interest and it isn’t worth much. But it is interesting. During the 1960’s most Asian police that had been indoctrinated into the American or British way of doing things carried revolvers. Hong Kong used the Smith and Wesson Model Ten. Singapore issued the Webley .38 with an odd cross bolt safety. The Japanese police were forbidden from using self loaders by treaty terms so the revolver was the obvious choice. A long association with Smith and Wesson didn’t hurt anything. The Japanese elected to develop their own revolver. While the light Nambu revolver, similar to the Chief’s Special, was the more successful the Miroku is worth a look.
Compared to the Colt Official Police, left, and the Smith and Wesson Military and Police, right, the Miroku Special Police Model doesn’t come off badly. It would have served Japan well.
The Japanese have two deficits in their history. The first is a lack of any heritage of freedom. They have taken well to the concept after 1945. The other minor deficit is a dearth of handgun heritage. Some such as the 8mm revolver were so poor as to be pathetic. A 450 fps projectile simply isn’t impressive. The Nambu self loader is often criticized but when you fire it you realize that it is of high quality, with an excellent trigger action. The cartridge is probably no more effective than the .32 ACP and rather over engineered. It is interesting to examine what occurred when the Japanese designed their own revolver. They did not simply copy an American or European design. The Miroku revolver, at first glance, looks like a love child between Smith and Wesson and Colt. The general outline isn’t close enough either Colt or Smith and Wesson to be instantly recognizable as a clone. I have seen plenty of Spanish ironmongery over the years, some of which mocked the Smith and Wesson and some of which was more original. I have seen the Dan Wesson type cylinder latch and Ruger type action access from the Basque. But the execution was poor. On the other hand the Japanese get an A for effort and execution. The revolver is blockier than our own products to the eye but fits a K frame holster. The barrel is a pencil barrel just as the Model Ten of the day was, and the grip is more similar to the Smith and Wesson than the Colt. The grip tilts at an odd angle but in practice it works. Trigger reach is just slightly shorter than the Smith and Wesson, but it doesn’t cramp my average size hands.
The Miroku uses a Colt type cylinder release. The release is pulled to the rear to release the cylinder. The cylinder rotates clockwise in Colt fashion. (The Smith and Wesson rotates counter clockwise.) The lockwork is powered by a leaf spring and more closely resembles the Smith and Wesson than the Colt. The handle is much like a Smith and Wesson. The revolver is finished in a handsome blue finish with no flaws. The revolver illustrated is over thirty years old and appears as new and must not have been fired very much. The story as far as I am able to research is that the Miroku was developed for the Japanese and Asian police market. When a lighter .38 caliber revolver was adopted, Miroku chose to attempt to sell the revolver in America. From 1967 to 1984 production chugged along at about 20,000 units a year. The pistol was discontinued in 1984. There was also a five shot Liberty Chief revolver produced, but that is a different tale.
The Miroku doesn’t appeal European and doesn’t have the British look either. It is a well made revolver.
The Miroku is usually marked with some type of Police Special marking and I have seen a MK VII illustrated. They are essentially identical. My .38 Special is marked Special Police Model. I have also seen an image of an adjustable sight version similar to the Combat Masterpiece. My revolver features a four inch barrel with a steep serrated front sight. The rear sight is a slim groove in the top strap. The action, as I mentioned, is a mix of Colt and Smith and Wesson. Cylinder rotation is clockwise but the mechanism more closely resembles the Smith and Wesson. When cycling the action the Miroku feels more like the Smith and Wesson and may be staged in the same manner, holding the trigger just before it falls and confirming the sight picture.
The Miroku was purchased on whim at a local pawn shop for two hundred and twenty dollars, about all it is worth. After all it doesn’t have a lot going for it and spare parts are non existent. No, you cannot take a little bit of this and that and use Colt or Smith and Wesson parts. They do not fit. A feature that many found detracts from the revolver’s looks is the large hammer. While ‘gawky’ came to mind the hammer certainly imparts a heavy blow on the primer. Most Miroku handguns seemed to have been fired little. There are more than a few for sale at various used gun sites and alls seem in like new condition. I elected to fire the piece against some Yankee steel and see how it fared. In this regards, the revolver did well. I took my well used Colt Official Police and Smith & Wesson Model Ten to the range along with a few rounds of ammunition. I ended up matching the Miroku primarily against the Colt. I can fire the Colt just a little better than the Model Ten, so I matched the Miroku against my best gun. In the initial firing for GAT I used the Winchester 130 grain FMJ. The load clocked 794 fps in the Miroku, 765 fps in the Colt, a normal deviation. However, the chamber of the Miroku was tighter than the Colt or the Smith and Wesson. The cartridge crimp caught on the edge of the Miroku chamber and the rounds had to be carefully inserted in the Japanese cylinder. Hmmm—I thought perhaps I had a match grade chamber and the piece would be pretty accurate. No such luck, but the Miroku did OK. Firing double action the Miroku was a pleasure to handle and the sights were well regulated at 15 yards. I could stage the trigger and keep steel plates hopping. The action is difficult to qualify. The Miroku is about as smooth as the Colt but will stage like the Smith and Wesson. The odd shaped grip actually felt comfortable in the hand and presented no problem in control. Trigger reach was noticeably different than the Yankee revolvers. Most feel the Smith and Wesson fits their hands better than the Colt, and the Miroku seemed more similar to the Model Ten grip. When firing off hand the major drawback was the sights. The sight groove in the top strap is not as wide as the Colt or Smith and Wesson revolvers. The Colt in particular was superior. This limited double action, rapid fire accuracy. At personal defense range the Miroku could be fired as accurately, quickly, as any revolver but in precision work the sights were a limiting factor.
Overall the Miroku compares well to American revolvers.
After firing the spent cases ejected smartly. The cylinder isn’t that tight, rather the edges of the cylinder need to be chamfered, I believe. When firing light loads the Miroku was very pleasant to fire. I broke out a box of the Black Hills Ammunition 125 grain JHP + P. I like this load as it is not only accurate but offers good penetration and expansion. I had a surprise when clocking this load over the Competition Electronics chronograph. From the Miroku, this load clocked 866 fps. A little slow for a +P, I thought. From the Colt the load averaged 925 fps, right on the money for my expectations. Curious, I brought the Smith and Wesson out of the range bag and recorded a velocity of 907 fps. The Miroku ran slow, which doesn’t really mean anything. The push from the +P load was greater than the standard loads but not unpleasant. I moved to firing the revolver for groups off of a bench rest. I attempted to achieve the most favorable conditions for accuracy. I fired at 15 yards rather than 25.
Firing the piece from the benchrest with the Black Hills Ammunition 148 grain wadcutter the Miroku exhibited a 2.25 inch group on average. My most accurate .357 Magnum Model 27 will group these loads into 1.25 inches at 25 yards, lest you think this target grade load isn’t a tack driver. The Smith and Wesson and the Colt in particular were more accurate. In practical terms, tactically, there isn’t anything one revolver will do the other will not. Only an accomplished shooter will be able to demand the superior accuracy the Colt is capable of.
For what it was designed to do, compete and win the market, the Miroku didn’t make it. But it isn’t a bad gun. As a credible double action .38 caliber revolver the Miroku is far superior to the Brothers Hermanos and other ironmongery and seems smoother than early model Taurus or Rossi production. Fit, finish and heat treating seem up to par although there were tool marks on the frame under the crane. Its appeal is as an oddity, but odd as it is the confluence of design doesn’t come off that badly. The designers could simply have produced another clone of the Smith and Wesson but they did not. They probably thought they were combining the best features of the two greatest police revolvers in the world. Unfortunately at the time Smith and Wesson was simply burying Colt in police sales and the Colt like appearance probably did not help the Miroku. Conversely the Mireba ‘New Nambu’ Model 60 .38 is a straight up copy of the Smith and Wesson Model 36 with three inch barrel, heavy grips and a lanyard ring. It beat the Miroku in the race for Japanese police sales, although Miroku’s delayed arrival on the market may have been a hindrance as well. In the end the Miroku Police .38 is simply an ink dot on the page of history, not a footnote. It is interesting and if purchased cheaply could serve as a truck gun or recreational shooter.
I had a “Hey, old friend” moment the other day. In the deep, dark recesses of my gun safe sits an ancient PCC. It was the first AR I had ever assembled. It was in the time before Glock mags ruled the AR9 market, and while Glock lowers existed, they were expensive. I built the gun on an Anderson lower with a ProMag Colt SMG magazine block. My budget was tight at the time, and it was a cheap build. I remember seeing the Bushnell TRS-25 on sale for roughly 40 bucks at the time and grabbing it instantly. That was cheaper than iron sights!
This was probably six or seven years ago now, and the Bushnell TRS 25 has never left that PCC. I’ve purchased other TRS 25 red dots for friends and for test and review guns. It’s an optic that defied expectation. These days budget red dots are pretty damn good. Why anyone still purchases anything made by Pinty or Dagger Defense is beyond me. However, just a few years ago, budget red dots were often garbage tier.
The TRS 25 came along and said, nah, man, I’m pretty good. It turns out, yeah, it was pretty good. It’s still popular, but inflation has brought the price to about 60 bucks these days. That’s still pretty cheap, and it’s still a solid little optic. I’ve had one for years now and figured maybe it was a good time to give a long-term review.
The Bushnell TRS 25 – Who Is It For?
Is this a good optic for any form of duty use? No, not at all. It’s just not near as tough as you’d want for something facing a life of duty use. For home defense? Sure, maybe. If you train a lot, the optic might not hold up to a tough and rough training schedule.
There is also the fact the sight doesn’t have any easy way to turn it off. There is no motion-sensing auto shut-off or even a quick-press button design. It’s an old-school, stiff-as-hell-spinning dial. You might reach for it and either has to fiddle with the dial as a bad guy kicks the door in or risk it having dead batteries.
The TRS 25 is perfect for plinkers and even competition weapons where a breakage isn’t likely to result in someone dying. It’s solid in that regard and works well. The TRS 25 great when you are building a budget-ready rifle. It’s still cheaper than the lowest-priced set of respectable iron sights.
Shoot Out
I’ve spent some time with some great red dots, and I’m not necessarily a snob, but after pulling out my old friend, I can see why it’s so cheap. The tint is heavy, like really heavy. It’s yellowed, giving the world a sepia tone. The dot is starburst enough to make you think you have astigmatism. The emitter takes up a portion of your view, and it’s not a big problem but a minor annoyance. Yet, it’s still perfectly useable.
It’s been on this cheap UTG riser on this cheap rifle for years now, and it still held zero. I lost an adjustment cap, lord knows how long ago, and it’s still not a problem. The optic fired right up with a replacement battery. I had left it on however long ago I put it away. The Bushnell TRS 25 does its basic job. It’s an aiming device, and it allows me to put 9mm projectiles on the target.
The Budget Blaster
This thing has been kicked around, dropped, traveled with, and kept in an ever-changing safe, and it still comes right on and maintains zero. The Bushnell TRS 25 was the first time a budget red dot really showed us that you didn’t have to buy an Aimpoint. There is a spot in between the duty grade crap tier. These days this genre is full of optics that are affordable, and part of the reason they’ve succeeded is that we trusted the TRS 25.
