Ferfrans CQB Modular Muzzle Brake System courtesy kuulapaa.com

The photo above is a high speed photo of a new muzzle device called the Ferfrans CQB Modular Muzzle Brake System. (Click to embiggen.) The idea behind it is to allow the recoil reduction of an aggressive muzzle brake while modulating the backblast that would normally assault anyone nearby. The photo was taken by Herra Kuulapaa, whose photos have been featured in this space in the past. There’s more (much more) at his site, http://kuulapaa.com/home/highspeed.html. Read on . . .

An 11-year-old girl, Shelby White, killed her first cougar on her grandfather’s ranch in Twisp, Washington, last week. The Daily Mail reports that the female cougar had been seen lurking around the family home twice in the days prior to the shooting. The cat was four years old, and approximately 50 lbs, which is about half what she should have weighed at that age. Residents of the area have been reporting quite a few cat encounters recently as deer herds have been thinner than the norm this winter. Shelby’s brother Cody, 9, shot a 125-pound cougar earlier this month, and her older brother Tanner, 13, shot another one on the ranch around the same time. Of note are two comments under the Daily Mail’s article, one from an American who asked why they couldn’t just “GO INSIDE” (because running away fixes everything) and one from a Brit who advocated a “warning shot” instead of killing the cat. That mindset… it’s a disease.

It’s just that easy, with the stroke of a pen… Reader CV writes: “The Canadian NFA (National Firearms Association, equivalent to the NRA) announced on their Facebook page today that the RCMP have chosen to reclassify the Swiss Arms Classic Green (A SIG 540 variant) to prohibited status, and will be confiscating them without compensation.” [Update: Added to the NFA’s website here.]Canada has three classes of firearms: unrestricted, restricted, and prohibited. Most of the rifles in question were previously “unrestricted,” with a few being “restricted” due to barrel length. Overnight, all of them have moved all the way to “prohibited” status. Here’s the relevant page of the updated Firearms Reference Table. CV continues, “I would like to call it unprecedented, but unfortunately it is not, though it is the first on this scale as it is estimated that there are as many as 1800 of the $4k rifles in Canada.” Sun News network has a news story confirming the change, turning people into “paper criminals” overnight.

From Richard Ryan’s new YouTube channel “Guns,” two short videos from the HK rep at SHOT Show giving a brief history of the MP5. He doesn’t seem like he hates us at all.

Part 2:

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RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

83 COMMENTS

  1. What prompted Canada to go full retard again? I am almost sure that not one was used in a single crime. It is probably idiocy at it’s finest.

    • This is what happens when you give the police the power to decide what is a prohibited weapon. Not htat legislatures are any better, mind you, but at least there is a process involving the public, courts, you know, due process and all that.

    • The really sad bit is that this was actually all started over a tiff between two retailers. Due to high demand one retailer was importing refurbished Swiss Arms rifles. A customer bought one of these rifles, then later decided to trade it in to the other retailer. This retailer saw that the rifle was different from those he had in stock, and suspected it of being a converted auto (which are prohibited). The original importer and the manufacturer both deny this, saying that the rifles were all built off of semi-auto receivers. The retailer who raised the complaint sent the rifle to the RCMP firearms lab for status verification. The firearms lab confirmed that they were not converted auto, but is claiming that the rifles are in fact SG550 variants rather than SG540 variants. This is important, because the SG550 and all variants are named as prohibited firearms in the law. And so 1800 Canadians are facing loss of their property and potential jail time over something that has not so much as harmed a single Canadian citizen.

      • So instead of just seizing the ones that were SG550 variants, they want to seize all of them. Wow.

        I have also heard rumors that the RCMP has been illegally holding on to their copies of the long gun registry even though they were supposed to be destroyed when the registry was disbanded.

      • hopefully canadians are properly treating the complaining retailer with the reward they deserve, of zero sales permanently going forward.

  2. > confiscating them without compensation

    They shouldn’t be confiscating them at all. In the US, The Takings Clause of the United States Constitution states the state cannot deprive citizens of property without just compensation. An attorney is suing New York under this for the SAFE Act. He estimates that if NY were forced to compensate every gun-owner for all the guns and magazines they made illegal, it would cost four billion dollars and bankrupt the state, and that’s what he trying to do. That’s why NY is trying to make people give them up (sell them, etc.) voluntarily, so they don’t have to confiscate them and pay for them.

    • The problem with his argument is that banned items can be either taken out of or sold out of state, which avoids confiscation.

      • Sorry, IMO taking is taking. If the state passes a law making my Suzuki illegal that forces me to scrap it, give it away or sell it at a loss when I had no intention of getting rid of it at all, the state has “taken” that amount of value which I have lost. They will also have “taken” from me the amount of money I will have to spend to purchase a new vehicle that is in excess of any revenue I received for selling the prohibited Suzuki.

        Which is a red herring legal argument quite aside from the fact that the entire SAFE act is prima facie unconstitutional. Invoking the 5th Amendment in this case makes no more sense than applying the 4th Amendment – the issue is and must always be the Second Amendment.

    • That may be the case in the US, but neither the Canadian constitution nor the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protect the right to property. So legally, they can take whatever they want, and are not obliged to provide compensation. I very much wish we had a constitution as robust as yours.

  4. That is a serious amount of cougars in a small area.
    “Good shootin’ kids, now can dad get a shot at one”?

      • Man eater is a misnomer. Most of the victims of man eaters are women and children. Predators single out the weak and the helpless.

        Fortunately in America, unlike India and Africa, our small and weak can pack guns. All three of these kids and their responsible adults deserve a pat on the back.

    • I hunt around Twisp and many of the locals will tell you that it’s not cougars that are causing the deer population to drop, it’s wolves that have migrated from Idaho and Montana, since the reintroduced wolf packs have far exceeded all breeding predictions.

      Washington state DFW won’t release wolf numbers in any substantial way, despite increasing encounters in the last few years, including several shot by hunters in self defense – oh yeah, and the state immediately prosecutes them too.

      Cougars hate people. They only come down into the valleys (Twisp is very hilly/mountainous with numerous river valleys) if they can’t find deer. Since the deer are all living lowland right now, that’s a bad sign.

      The last couple years have definitely been poor seasons, and the wolf rumors are heavy now among hunters.

      I personally have been stalked by a cougar and it’s not a good feeling. You never know they’re there until you backtrack on your trail and see their fresh prints next to yours.

      • Man I’m so jealous! Some of my best hunting memories are from Washington. Back in the 80’s every year I’d fly all across the nation to hunt that area with friends and family, We based out of Wenatchee and took a trailer up somewhere North of Blewett Pass to use as our base camp. The first time I went up one of them logging roads in knee deep snow was the day I decided I needed a lighter rifle :). Us lowlanders never get used to your terrain! Once all the way up, sitting up on the bluffs glassing for mulies in the clear cuts and watching the sunrise – that was priceless.

        • It can definitely be a workout, that’s for sure. A lot of flatland hunters don’t appreciate the amount of work that hunting can be in the mountain west. With a few exceptions in the high plains, there’s not a lot of “drive till you see a deer, get out and shoot” type of hunts.

          Glad you appreciated it and didn’t say F** this instead!

  5. I would be interested in an MP-5 solely as a collector’s item.

    If I could grab an SMG, it’d be a KRISS. In 10MM. (Although I have to guess that their previously announced plans to eventually release their TDI in alternate calibers effectively fizzled out, apparently.)

    • I hear Mike from Canmore has been expanding his collection quite a bit as of late.

      (If you don’t get the joke you’re probably not a Canadian firearms owner)

    • I live in a free state. Terrifying to think that my favorite toys, guns I’ve shared with state lawmakers at the range, are being confiscated 2 hours north. Like living west of the iron curtain. Come Canadians! Escape and be free! But keep the metric system…

  9. Shelby White shot the cougar because she had he last remaining cougar tag in the house. Dad gave her the rifle and told her to take the shot because he and Shelby’s sibs had already filled their tags.

    The cat was way underweight and was not healthy. She did the cat and her brother a solid by putting the cougar down.

  10. Regarding the idea of running from a cougar: cats are fairly expressive in nonverbal communication. Running away is Cat for, “Eat me, I’m tasty.”

    • Yes, it does. All cats have the chase it instinct.

      Is that food? Oh, it’s running away from me, it must be food.

      Thanks, Nat Geo.

  12. So, Canada sucks now? That’s too bad, since I pretty much live beneath it’s skirt. If I go north, I’m screwed. If I go south I’m screwed unless I stop in New Hampshire or veer over to Vermont.

      • You’re not nailed, you’re screwed, nailed, stapled, welded, bolted, riveted, and super-glued.

      • I love Boston. We used to go down a half dozen times a year. Great walking city. It’s also a place where I’d really, really like to have a little something tucked into my IWB holster. Not going to happen any time soon, is it?

        • If you have a Maine carry license, you can get a MA nonresident LTC. It’s a PIA, costly and needs to be renewed annually, but you will get one. And then you can carry everywhere in MA,

          I’m always delighted that I’m strapped when I visit Boston, but the people who live there are defenseless. Too funny.

        • Wow, I did not know that. I hadn’t even thought about trying because I figured it was out of reach. I’ll look into that, thanks. I’d visit a lot more often knowing I could carry. Heck, I might even wander into the dangerous streets of Marblehead again. All those joggers and dog walkers. Terrifying!

  13. We should just confiscate Canada and make the territories new states. This way the Canadian citizens can have a few more rights.

  14. 1812. If Arnold had been able to take Quebec it would be US property now. Probably for the best that it’s not. Somehow.

    • Yeah, if Arnold had won we would be stuck with the Quebecers. And I doubt the Cajuns in Louisiana would want any of them. Maybe ship them to France?

    • You know, I’ve been “blaming Canada” for several years now, but had actually forgotten where it came from.

      Although, if forced to guess, I’d have probably come up with South Park.

  17. Canada has some of the dumbest restrictions. Case in point: AKs are banned specifically, for reasons unknown, but you can own the Vz.58, an almost identical firearm in many respects. right down to the 7.62×39 cartridge.

    The “Classic Green” PE-90 is essentially an AK in its internal operation, like most Swiss 55x series rifles. Yet it gets allowed in, until now.

    • To be fair the US is not exactly a bastion of good sense either, anyone remember the AWB and the “shoulder thing that goes up”?

      In truth though, the legislation is very logical, just not for the reasons it’s sold on. When the Liberals originally passed bill C68 their intent was that it would be updated with new rifles or ones they’d missed. Had they been aware of the Vz.58 it likely would have been banned too, along with the PE90. The only reason they didn’t is because they slipped under the radar.

      The intent of the legislation was partly to prevent Canadians from forming non-governmental armed groups. The AK was banned because a number of militia groups had been arming themselves with them. An exception was later added for the Valmet rifles, as they discovered that they had recently purchased a number of them for native groups in the northern territories, and did not want the bad press of going in and taking them back. Similarly, pistols with barrels under 105mm were banned, since the majority of service pistols have ~100mm barrels. Doing this prevented these service pistols from becoming available on the civilian market.

      The end goal of the legislation was complete disarmament by 2009, and in the light of that agenda the law makes a great deal of sense. Our system of firearms laws was never intended to be durable, it is a stepping stone to a considerably more restrictive system, itself in turn a step towards complete prohibition. Thankfully the Liberal party was ousted and their plans were stalled. Unfortunately, aside from abolishing the long gun registry the Conservatives have done very little in terms of pushing back against this agenda. Whether it be due to Red Tories (Canadian RINOs) or general apathy towards firearm owners there has been little movement towards fixing what is quite obviously a very broken system.

      On the other hand, the RCMP are very much on board with the Liberal firearms agenda and have been using the authority they received under the law to push it as far as they can, waiting for the return of a liberal government to get the disarmament train started up again. The RCMP, at the very least in their leadership, is highly politicized. They are not content with the role as enforcers of the law, and again, the CPC has done very little to curb their agenda.

        • They actively lobby for policy changes, and in several occasions have been shown to be in contempt of parliament. It’s clear (to me at least) that there are certainly many officers who view themselves as a law unto themselves, especially in the higher ranks. They have an agenda beyond that of enforcing the law in a fair and unbiased manner.

          When the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was making it’s way through parliament the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police actively lobbied against it as it limited their powers.

          During the High River incident RCMP officers broke into homes and took people’s firearms, something they did not have legal authority to do. They targeted specific houses using data from the long gun registry, which they had been ordered by parliament to destroy.

          There is a long list of instances showing that the RCMP is more interested in power and bureaucratic authority than they are in upholding the rule of law. They are a political force in and of themselves in a way that would not be tolerated in most of the US.

    • Ha, yea. I guess we will know for sure if people start getting knocks on their doors by police who are there to take their Swiss Arms.

  21. For the record, HK does hate us. Why don’t we have a US-based manufacturing facility that produces semi-auto MP5s, G36s, and UMPs? Because they hate us and they also apparently hate to make money.

    • HK does have a US based manufacturing facility, where they make the MR556 etc. My understanding is that they cannot make the G36 and such there due to German law which prevents the export, not only of firearms, but designs as well.

    • you can get the UMP (USC) and G36 (SL8).

      Though having fired a real full auto G36, i can’t say i’m really interested in one. i’d go for an FN SCAR instead.

      having fired a real full auto MP5, i can say definitely — VERY MUCH WANT!

      no idea why they never offered the iconic MP5 for sale.

      probably their hate for us.

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