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Smith & Wesson sales surge 61.5 percent in wake of San Bernardino
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com
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Smith & Wesson sales surged during the same quarter as the San Bernardino mass shooting. Sales of handguns used in self defense were a particular standout.
The gunmaker reported an increase of 61.5% in the three months that ended January 31, compared to the same period the year before. Profits also increased dramatically.
How Guns Could Censor College Classrooms
�Be careful discussing sensitive topics.� �Drop certain topics from your curriculum.� �[Don�t] �go there� if you sense anger.�
A faculty working group at the University of Houston recently offered these recommendations to professors preparing for Texas�s new campus-carry law, set to take effect August 1. The situation to which these recommendations are alluding�gun violence in response to controversial or otherwise difficult classroom discussions�is at this point only a hypothetical worst-case scenario. But critics of the legislation are still appalled: To abide by the law, and keep everyone safe in classrooms with armed students, faculty may ultimately have to resort to self-censorship.
Why guns make Americans safer
In her �Open letter to gun advocates," Ms. Barbara Sanders asks the Second Amendment community to �Please, help (her) understand� why we insist upon our right to bear arms. In this reply, I�d like to do precisely that � not just for Ms. Sanders, but for anyone who questions the wisdom of gun ownership.
FL: Clearwater company developing device to track stolen guns
A Clearwater business is developing a way to alert gun owners the moment their weapons are on the move and help them track them back down.
TracFind is developing a small GPS device that can be attached to guns. The device, which combines GPS tracking technology with smartphone signals, can track in real time a stolen or lost weapon to within three feet. An added feature notifies the gun owner immediately if the secured gun moves as much as an inch.
Some gun owners dislike the gun locks and other devices that they believe may impede the use of the gun should the owner need it in a self-defense situation. This doesn�t do that, TracFind officials say, and that�s a big selling point.
CO: Colorado House: 'Make My Day' law doesn't include cells
Colorado is closer to removing a loophole that allowed two prison inmates to be exonerated of killing a fellow prisoner by invoking a "Make My Day" law.
The state House passed a bill Friday clarifying that the law, which allows people to use deadly force to defend their homes and themselves, doesn't apply to prison cells.
Expert writes gun silencers are useful, not scary
In the movies and on television, silencers reduce the sound of gunfire from a loud and distinct bark to a faint cough that can�t even be heard from the next room. In the real world, the three sounds created when a gun fires � the supersonic crack of the bullet, the muzzle blast of gasses created by burning gunpowder, and the cycling of the weapon � simply cannot be completely eliminated. The end result is that a �silenced� gun shot still sounds like a gun shot, but roughly 30 decibels lower. That�s about as much of a noise reduction as you would expect from wearing earmuffs or sticking your fingers in your ears. Even �silenced,� the most common rifles and pistols are quite loud.
10 Low-Recoil Defensive Handguns
Experts in the field of personal protection advise their students to arm themselves with the most powerful defensive handguns they can manage. But how much felt recoil any one individual can deal with is governed by a variety of factors. Age, injury, illness or a lack of experience may result in the need for a low-recoil option. Here are a few of the handguns we've tested over the last few years that offer a balance of useful defensive features and modest to mild levels of felt recoil when loaded properly.
NY: NYC Mayor de Blasio Credits Fewer Guns for More Stabbings
New York City mayor, Bill De Blasio, has taken a peculiar stance in his defense of the increase of stabbings in NYC; he asserts that these stabbings are the (positive?) result of fewer guns on the streets.
CA: Mental health, the court system and firearms
A court room on the third floor of Sacramento Superior Court is where people come seeking their guns back. It�s called the firearm calendar, but many people simply refer to it as gun court.
People who find themselves on the firearm calendar however, aren't criminals.
Actor Keanu Reeves Shreds Targets Shooting 3-Gun
A video of actor Keanu Reeves (Matrix, John Wick) has emerged that shows Reeves shifting between three guns � an AR-15, a shotgun, and a handgun � to literally shred targets downrange.
The shooting configuration � commonly called 3-gun � requires a considerable degree of shooting skill and practice in order to be done with efficiency and accuracy. Moreover, it involves the pressure of being timed while transitioning between the three weapons, shooting targets throughout.
OK: Lawmakers want changes to Stand Your Ground Law
State Senator Kevin Matthews says he would like to make changes to the Stand Your Ground Law. Matthews co-authored Senate Bill 1009 with State Representative Regina Goodwin, after at least two cases where they feel the law gave individuals too much power when they reported feeling threatened.
"I have actually received threats. There are a lot of people who think I am trying to take away Second Amendment rights, which is not true," said Matthews.
He says people have the right to protect themselves, but he believes the Stand Your Ground Law gave too much power to a security guard that shot and eventually killed Monroe Bird, who was accused of using his car as a weapon.
WV: Governor Shoots Down Gun Bill in West Virginia
In a ceremony featuring dozens of law enforcement officers from around the state, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed the no-permit concealed-carry bill Thursday (HB 4145), an act he said was "for the safety of law enforcement officers and for all West Virginians."
In a message directed at legislators who are anticipated to override the veto, Tomblin said, "I urge you to look around this room for a moment and see that law enforcement are concerned about this bill."
NRA�s Wayne LaPierre 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference Speech
�This is the year we make a true and honest and real difference in our country,� NRA�s Wayne LaPierre told a packed house yesterday at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.
�The thought of President Obama of replacing Justice Scalia is harrowing,� LaPierre warned the crowd. �But I�ll tell you this, the thought of the next president putting perhaps two or more justices on the bench should scare the hell out of all of us.�
Ted Cruz Is Stuck in the 1980s
I�ve been trying for months to put my finger on what exactly it is about Ted Cruz that I find so frustrating. I think I�ve finally figured it out. Cruz�s rhetoric is stuck in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was riding high. You almost get the impression that the exceptionally bright Texas senator hasn�t had a new thought in decades. The only things Cruz says on the stump that would be out of place in that era, when he was in middle school, are his references to repealing Obamacare and defeating ISIS, for which we could easily find early �80s equivalents.
You need a gun for the same reason peace officers need guns
President Obama recently achieved another headline with the soothing declaration, �I�m not going to take your guns.� That he is no fan of an armed citizenry; offered the same hollow assurance on retaining private health coverage; and approaches almost every promise with Pinocchio-like aplomb was ignored. In today�s formula for media integrity, charm trumps truth.
Concealed Carry Questions & Answers
As Concealed Carry has come to the forefront in Politics and State legislation fights, as the threat of terrorists on our home turf becomes a reality, as gang warfare expands, cutting a wider swath away from their urban haunts, I find more and more people who were anti-gun or sitting on the fence, asking more and more questions about the lifestyle.
I find them to be truly interested in the whats and hows, and the dangers and the mindset of Concealed Carry.
WV: West Virginia Legislature Poised for Veto Override Vote on Permitless Carry
Today, when session convenes at 11:00 a.m., the West Virginia Legislature will have its first opportunity to override Governor Earl Ray Tomblin�s (D) veto of NRA-backed permitless carry legislation, House Bill 4145.
Unfortunately, some of your elected officials in West Virginia have already displayed a willingness to side with New York City billionaire, Michael Bloomberg, and let the �six-figures� he has spent in West Virginia affect their vote on this important issue.
MN: Richfield gun seizure raises the question of mental illness and Second Amendment rights
Ralph Gilbertsen says the CIA has been stalking him for two decades. He believes in Bigfoot. He�s seen a UFO.
And he wants his guns back.
Richfield police came to his door one day last year and took them away. Now Gilbertsen, a 74-year-old former security guard and Marine Corps reservist, is in court to force police to return the three handguns they seized.
His case raises the question of how to balance mental illness with the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Ed.: So subscribing to a conspiracy theory is grounds for stealing guns?
Do Guns Mix With Democracy? The Fight Over Firearms in Government Buildings
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Technically, the policy that allows New Hampshire residents to carry guns into the statehouse specifies that weapons must be concealed, but the rule is not always enforced. �People are used to it,� Representative John Burt, a Republican, tells The Trace. �Even people that are against it just look the other way.� For observers of the gun debate, the frequency of fights over such laws makes them hard to ignore. The issue of firearms in government buildings � statehouses, city council offices, townhalls, among others � has become a flashpoint in state and local governments across the country.
GA: State, national events fuel push for campus carry legislation
If an armed stranger tries to rob a student in Georgia State University�s library next fall, he could confront a person packing his own gun.
People at public colleges in Georgia could carry handguns in most areas on campus, including classrooms, cafeterias and libraries, if a proposed law passes this month.
Higher education institutions have been one of the last places off limits for guns, due to staunch opposition by the state�s Board of Regents, which oversees Georgia�s 29 public colleges and universities. Momentum toward changing that has increased this year because of national high profile campus shootings and violent crimes, other states passing concealed carry laws and armed robberies at Georgia colleges.
CT: Change to Connecticut Gun Permit Laws Draws Support From Police
There was controversy at the Capitol Thursday over a bill which would allow police officers to require gun owners to produce their permit to carry a firearm. At the moment, they can�t demand to see a permit unless they can see the firearm and suspect criminal activity.
Chris Kopacki, from the National Rifle Association, gave testimony before the legislature�s Public Safety Committee. "This bill violates the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by the U.S. constitution," he said. "The fourth amendment allows police to stop and briefly detain a person for investigation, only if the officer has a reasonable suspicion�that criminal activity is occurring."
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. Thomas Jefferson, Proposed Virginia Constitution (1776).