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In Honor Of John Moses Browning’s Birthday

January 23, 2014 by 5 Comments

January 23, 2014 marks the 159th anniversary of the birth of John Moses Browning in Ogden, Utah Territory. The poster below illustrates the breadth of Browning’s design genius as well as its prolific nature. No firearm designer in history has designed as many different firearms that have stood the test of time for so long.

Examining the list of guns he designed, variations of the 1911, the Auto-5 shotgun, the Winchester 1892, and the M-2 .50 BMG heavy machine gun are still in use on a regular basis.

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Even More Proof That Prepping Is Going Mainstream

January 23, 2014 by

Despite the people who make you roll your eyes on Doomsday Preppers, I think it is becoming evident that more people and more companies are taking preparedness and prepping seriously.

A case in point is this release I received in my email this morning from Brownells announcing that they were expanding their product line to include emergency and survival gear.

Brownells, a trusted and widely-recognized name in the firearms industry for 75 years, has expanded its product offerings to include Emergency & Survival Gear. The more than 1,000 lifesaving and sustaining products range from those that can help people deal with the smallest of life’s unexpected events, like treating minor injuries, to surviving larger scale disasters including tornadoes, floods, wildfires and blackouts.

A few of the items in this new category include: freeze-dried food from Mountain House, Water Brick water storage supplies, NDUR water filtration equipment, Coleman sleeping bags and tents, Adventure medical kits, Midland weather radios, Streamlight lanterns and lights, Echo-Sigma survival bags, Gerber knives, Goal Zero solar power kits and much more.

“Customers have turned to Brownells for their personal protection needs for 75 years,” said Matt Buckingham, Brownells President/COO. “This new category builds on the protection theme, but provides customers and their families with all sorts of solutions for dealing with unforeseen situations. We hope these products provide nothing more than peace of mind, but if they’re ever needed, you’ll be glad you have them.”

Through February 4, 2014, select brands will be discounted by 10%, so customers are encouraged to check out the Emergency & Survival Gear tab on Brownells’ website.

As is true with every product sold by Brownells, all Emergency & Survival Gear items come with Brownells’ industry-exclusive 100% FOREVER satisfaction guarantee.

Founded in 1939, Brownells is an Iowa-based, family-owned company that supplies more than 75,000 firearms parts, accessories, reloading components, gunsmithing tools, survival gear and ammunition to armorers, gunsmiths, the military, and shooters worldwide. In addition to their industry-leading 100% lifetime guarantee – forever – on EVERY product sold, their staff of veteran Gun Techs is available to assist customers with technical help to fix any gun-related problem – free of charge. There are no minimum order sizes or return/exchange fees. To place an order, or for more information, call 800-741-0015 or visit www.brownells.com.

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Slide Fire Bump Sled

January 22, 2014 by

Over the next couple of weeks I plan to highlight some of the products shown at the 2014 SHOT Show. Some will be practical and some will be like the Slide Fire Bump Sled which looks like a fun way to burn ammo.


Slide Fire is known for their stocks which allow semi-auto firearms to “bump fire” or simulate full automatic firing. The Bump Sled is a concept product much like concept cars at an auto show – cool looking but not necessarily practical or ready for the market. It mounts an AR with a Slide Fire stock upside down in a cradle which connects to Browning M-2 style spade grips.

As to why Slide Fire developed the Bump Sled, according to an interview with the KitUp blog, it was for fun and to provide an entertaining product to the consumer.

You can see it in action in the video below. I guess one could use it to provide suppressive fire when the Zombies invade. In the meantime, it looks like a fun way to plink if you don’t care about the cost or availability of ammo.

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A Missing Third Fast And Furious Rifle?

January 22, 2014 by

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News reports that the Department of Justice’s Inspector General is looking into the existence of a three firearm found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder.

In a new development in the Fast and Furious gunwalking case, the Justice Department’s Inspector General (IG) is making inquiries into the possible existence of a missing third weapon in the 2010 murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, CBS News has learned. According to sources close to the investigation, the IG is questioning the Border Patrol’s evidence collection team this week in Tucson, Ariz.

The Justice Department, which oversees ATF and the FBI – and which is investigating Terry’s murder – has steadfastly denied the existence of a third gun. Court records have previously only mentioned two weapons: Romanian WASR AK-47 type rifles found at Terry’s southern Arizona murder scene on Dec. 14, 2010. Both weapons were sold to suspects who were under ATF’s watch in the agency’s controversial gunwalking case. Also, a ballistics report only mentions the two WASR rifles and states that it’s inconclusive as to whether either of them fired the bullet that killed Terry.

 The missing third rifle from the Fast and Furious murder scene is thought to be a SKS carbine which also shoots the 7.62×39 cartridge. Secret recordings made of meetings between ATF Agent Hope McAllister and Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company, referenced such a rifle.

In the audiotapes, ATF’s lead agent on Fast and Furious, Hope MacAllister, tells Howard that a third weapon recovered at the Terry murder scene is an SKS rifle. It’s unclear why a weapon would be absent from the evidence disclosed at the crime scene under FBI jurisdiction. If it’s proven to exist, sources familiar with the investigation say it would imply possible evidence-tampering for unknown reasons.

DOJ denied its existence back in 2011 and neither the DOJ or the Inspector General’s Office is willing to answer questions about this possible third murder weapon.

I’m glad to see that Sharyl Attkisson is keeping on the case and not letting it fade away as many in Washington seem willing to do.

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“When Did We Set Usage Requirements On Our Rights?”

January 22, 2014 by 1 Comment

In his latest commentary for NRA News, Billy Johnson takes apart the argument propagated by the New York Times and the gun prohibitionists that a so-called declining gun ownership rate in America is grounds for imposing more gun control. The New York Times is basing its argument that gun ownership has declined from 49% to 34% over the past 30 years on a survey conducted by the University of Chicago.

This decline in self-reported gun ownership comes in the face of all-time high gun sales. The University of Chicago’s 2012 General Social Survey results are contradicted by other surveys. As Billy points out, many gun owners are not going to tell a survey taker that they own guns and will lie about it if asked.

Even if the survey results accurately reflect the level of gun ownership in America it is irrelevant: constitutional rights do not come with usage requirements.

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A Sad Day For North Carolinians – Amazon To Collect NC Sales Tax

January 21, 2014 by 12 Comments

It is a sad day for North Carolina consumers who patronize Amazon.com. On Monday, Amazon.com announced that they will be collecting sales tax for purchases in North Carolina effective February 1st.

Amazon.com will begin collecting sales tax in North Carolina beginning Feb. 1, a company official confirmed Monday.

The move will make North Carolina the 20th state in which the online retailer collects sales tax, according to Amazon’s website. It’s unclear why Amazon decided to make the change now. A spokesman didn’t respond to questions about the timing of the move and whether the Seattle-based company would begin collecting sales tax in other states besides North Carolina on Feb. 1.

The North Carolina Department of Revenue was slapped down in 2010 when they tried to force Amazon.com to give them the names of customers residing in North Carolina. This demand was found to violate the First Amendment.

The General Assembly passed a law in 2009 that said if a company had an affiliate program it has “nexus” in the state. When a company has nexus or a physical connection to a state, it can be forced to collect sales tax for that state according to the Supreme Court in Quill v. North Dakota. In response, Amazon.com closed their Amazon Associates program for North Carolinians and it remains closed to this day.

I did speak with a customer service representative with the Amazon Affiliates Program this morning. She said she didn’t know when the Affiliates Program would be reopened to North Carolinians. I probably will apply when it does reopen.

To summarize, we in North Carolina are now going to have to pay sales tax on our Amazon purchases but we might get the opportunity to be Amazon Affiliates again. Frankly, I’d trade the Affiliates Program for not having to pay sales tax anyday.

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Naming ATF Headquarters After Eliot Ness Might Actually Be Appropriate

January 18, 2014 by 1 Comment

There is a move to name the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives headquarters in Washington, DC after Eliot Ness of Untouchables fame. This move is supported by both Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone, thinks this is a lousy idea. In his article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Eig lays out his reasoning.

Naming ATF headquarters after Ness is a lousy idea. It would be like naming Wrigley Field after the former Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano, a hot dog who never lived up to his hype.

Capone was actually brought down by President Herbert Hoover, U.S. Attorney George E.Q. Johnson and Internal Revenue investigators Frank Wilson and Elmer Irey, among others. Want to name a building after one of them? Go for it. They did heroic work; it isn’t their fault that their stories were never made into TV shows or movies. Most government employees (senators not included) do their best work quietly and without looking for attention—just ask any of the attorneys, scientists and investigators working today at the ATF’s unnamed headquarters building.

Eliot Ness was little more than a nuisance to Capone. The lawman raided some of the gangster’s breweries, helped disrupt his cash flow and built evidence that led to Capone’s indictment for violating prohibition. But in the end, prosecutors decided they couldn’t win with that evidence and dropped the charges. They wisely chose a more conservative approach: going after the gangster for income-tax evasion.

Moreover, Eig writes that Ness played around on his wife, tried to cover up an accident in which he was involved while driving drunk, he drank too much, and ended up selling frozen hamburger patties in the last years of his life because he was strapped for cash.

To summarize, Ness didn’t get his man, he had questionable morals, he probably was an alcoholic, he covered up a crime, he couldn’t manage his money, and he was prone to wild exaggeration about his accomplishments.

When you look at that summary of Ness’ life and career, who better to represent the modern day ATF?

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2014 SHOT Show – Day Two With Gunblast.Com

January 18, 2014 by 1 Comment

In his overview of Day Two at the 2014 SHOT Show, Jeff Quinn starts out by interviewing Rob Leahy of Simply Rugged leather. I have one of his pancake holsters for my Colt Detective Special along with a belt pouch for a speed strip which is truly ingenious.

Among the others also shown is Caracal which has introduced a chassis-based rifle. Unfortunately, they didn’t discuss the problems with the Caracal pistols which resulted in a total recall.