Here's a great article on Winsome Sears' appearance on the Bill Mahr show.  She is a strong pro-gun advocate and I love her comments in this article about women and guns.

What makes no sense, of course, is Mahr's comments:  "I mean, I do not like guns. I have guns. I do not like them. I always compare them to antibiotics. I never want to take one, but I’m glad they exist because I’m as small as some women," Maher joked.

Hopefully he's joking.  A gun is not very likely to do him any good if he doesn't like them and doesn't want to use them.  It sounds like he's hoping he can somehow rise to the occasion when his life is on the line.   Mahr isn't the only one though, I know several people who own guns for self-protection but have never been trained how to safely use them and never practice with them.   

If you own guns, please don't be like them.  Get trained on safe gun handling, marksmanship and self-defense and then practice regularly.

Last week I raved about Tippman Arms and how well they are handling the new rule from the ATF on pistol stabilizing braces.

Now Gun Owners of America and Tippmann have announced a partnership to help preserve our 2nd Amendment rights.  Check out the sweet-looking M4-22 Elite Tippmann is selling to raise money for the fight.  This is an excellent opportunity to get a lightweight, accurate and reliable rifle and support a good cause at the same time.   

While you are there, go ahead and join the Gun Owners of America!  It is important that we don't take gun rights for granted.  I'm a member of the GOA, NRA and VCDL.  If all U.S. gun owners would donate the amount of money they spend on one box of ammo per year to each gun rights organization, we would never have to worry about our rights being taken away.

Last month I wrote about the new ruling from the ATF on pistol braces.  This ruling has the potential to turn many law abiding citizens into criminals if it is allowed to stand.   I don't own any pistols with braces but, if I did, I would not register the gun as a short-barreled rifle (which would amount to accepting with the ATF's stance).   I would rather make them legal pistols or legal rifles.

I really love how Tippmann Arms is helping their owners comply.   They clearly explain how to make each type of their guns comply with the rule and are discounting the parts needed.  Notice that installation of parts AND shipping both ways is FREE! 

I've got a Tippmann Arms Elite rifle and it has really impressed me.  It is a high quality rifle, accurate, functions flawlessly and accepts many standard AR parts.  Seeing how the company has handled this situation will definitely ensure I buy more guns from them in the future.

My favorite part of the announcement from Tippmann:
"Here at Tippmann Arms we do not agree with this rule. We do feel it's important you know how not to stay out of trouble with the government.  Let the courts settle this issue."

If you are like the thousands of gun-owners who own a pistol with a stabilizing brace, I would recommend spending some time reading the articles below.  The ATF has issued a final ruling which basically declares pistols with stabilizing braces as Short Barreled Rifles (SBRs).  They aren't illegal but are highly-regulated by the NFA and require registration with the ATF.

I don't own any guns configured like this but I'm against the ATF changing the definition of guns whenever they want.  It is a dangerous precedent for the ATF passes a new ruling and suddenly thousands or millions of people who legally purchased guns are forced to register, turn-in or destroy their guns with no compensation.  

The ATF made a similar ruling with bump stocks during the Trump administration and I believe the Supreme Court recently disallowed  that rule.  It sounds to me like this new ruling will be challenged in court too but that will take years and gun owners may be stuck in-limbo.

ATF Posts Final Rule
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Everything is an SBR

Brace Owners have 120 days to Register

Five Reasons Not to Register your Stabilizing Brace

The Pistol Brace Rule is a TRAP
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Russia's strict gun-control policies didn't prevent an awful tragedy in Izhevsk last week where 15 were killed and 24 wounded in a school shooting.  The shooting took place at a school with first through eleventh grades.  11 of those killed and 22 of those injured were children.  The killer was a 34 year-old past student and he killed himself when his rampage was over.

According to the article, Russia has very strict gun control. "For example, handguns are banned from private ownership, as are automatic rifles and pistols. Certain rifles and shotguns may be owned, but private citizens must acquire a firearm license in order to own them."  

We aren't likely to get more details about what happened but it is clear that this guy was able to create a lot of carnage in a short time and likely not challenged by anyone who was armed.  

It shouldn't come as a surprise to law abiding gun-owners that after the June ruling of the Supreme Court upholding our Constitutional right to carrying a gun for self-defense, anti-gunners are coming-up with new and creative ways to limit our freedoms.  I saw several news items recently that have me shaking my head:

• First, the US Postal Service admitted to spying on pro-gun activists.  Seems like the Postal Inspectors should have lots of other things to work on than tracking social media accounts of those they don't agree with politically.  This is real Big Brother stuff though and, unfortunately, I'm sure what has been discovered is just the tip of the iceberg.  
• Several weeks ago Visa, Mastercard and American Express announced the tracking of gun store purchases.  This is concerning not only because it could result in a database of gun owners to be used for confiscation but because it could ultimately affect the income of gun stores and gun manufacturers.  From the article:  "This decision, which is already being hailed by radical anti-gun activists, is the first step towards backdoor gun control on law-abiding Americans," the senators wrote to the CEOs. "Any change that seeks to impact a United States citizen's ability to legally purchase a firearm belongs with Congress, not payment networks, international standard-setting organizations, or the financial institutions that some of you serve."

There's been a lot of talk about gun control and the 2nd Amendment since Russia's invasion of the Ukraine on February 24th and the Ukrainian government handed-out 18,000 fully automatic rifles in one day to anyone willing to defend their homeland.
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A great quote from the article:
​"Gun controllers," added law Professor Randy Barnett, director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, "have long insisted that Americans don't need guns for personal defense because they can rely on police protection, and they don't need guns to resist tyranny because small arms are no match for modern military. The events of 2020-22 have shown both claims to be unrealistic."

I agree with Professor Barnett.  The 2nd Amendment guarantees Americans the ability to protect ourselves from enemies within the country and from without.  The first shots of the American Revolution were fired on April 19, 1775 in the Battles of Lexington and Concord while the British soldiers were trying to confiscate weapons from the colonists.  Most of the colonists were not trained soldiers, they were farmers, innkeepers, sailors and everyday people and they fought off the biggest army in the world.  I'm hoping the situation in the Ukraine turns-out the same way.

US Ammunition manufacturers have stepped-up to support the Ukraine big time with 2 million rounds of 7.62 x 39 ammo donated to help them stop the Russian invaders.   

Did you hear about the $73 million about the settlement between Remington and some of the families of the Sandy Hook school shooting?

Several things to be clear on here:
1.  This case did not go to trial.  The Supreme Court of Connecticut allowed the lawsuit (which was completely baseless).   I think if the case had gone to trial that Remington would not have been found liable for a mentally ill person misusing their product.
2.  Remington is bankrupt and the settlement was between the insurance companies who currently own their assets and the plaintiffs.

Still, this is an awful precedent and one that, if allowed to continue, could destroy capitalism and our freedoms.  

As a law abiding gun owner, I also noted a couple of things in the article that frustrated me.  First, here's a quote from the plaintiff's lawyer:
"When it came to the military looking for the best weapon, the most lethal weapon, the most destructive weapon, and the weapon that could provide our soldiers, should they be forced to shoot and kill the enemies of our country and our freedom, they chose the AR-15," he said during the press conference. "The greatest military in the world…chose the AR-15."

The US military's primary rifle is an M4 capable of full-automatic fire, not an AR15.  This is an attempt to make a specific rifle evil, which is just ridiculous.  What if the killer's Mom had only owned a lever action cowboy-style rifle or a handgun, would he have still gone on a killing rampage?   Of course he would have! 

The truth is a gun is amoral, not good or evil.  The crazy person using this particular rifle to kill people at Sandy Hook was evil.  He killed his Mom and then went and killed a bunch of first graders at a school.  He could have done that just as easily with any number of weapons.  

Another quote from this attorney: "But they (the plaintiffs)…had the energy and drive and motivation to do one thing, and that was to do whatever they could so that other families…would not have to go through the kind of pain and loss that they had."

Are they seriously celebrating this settlement as making the world safer from mass shootings?  This lawsuit and settlement has done absolutely nothing to make people safer.  All this settlement did is line the pockets of the legal teams for both sides.  

A great way to ring in the New Year is to see the FBI recently announced background check statistics for 2021.  There were 39 million background checks for firearm purchases in 2021, which is the second highest total of ever, surpassed only by 2020.  655,000 of those guns were sold were in Virginia.  Just like 2020, many of these purchases were made by first-time gun buyers.  As always, I recommend that new gun owners get training - especially in safe gun handling and basic marksmanship.  Shooting guns is way more fun when you can hit what you are aiming at!

More good news for Virginia gun owners in the New Year, Glenn Youngkin was sworn-in as governor today.  While Mr. Youngkin has not been an outspoken advocate for the 2nd Amendment, his Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General are.  I was impressed by Mr. Youngkin's message of unity and his desire to honor God.  I'm excited what the next four years will bring for gun rights in Virginia.