Narrative alert! . . . Mass shootings in gun-free nations
The global history of mass shootings demonstrates that the vast majority of these crimes are perpetrated in places where citizen firearms ownership is close to nil. While people can argue about cause and effect, the facts are indisputable.
This might seem surprising to people who read a recent article in the New York Times claiming that the mass shootings in the United States are a direct consequence of the high density of gun ownership in the country. But the article is analytically flawed, as Robert VerBruggen detailed for National Review Online. For example, the Times article is based on a study by a professor who refuses to allow skeptics to see his data or his methodology. But let’s hypothesize that the assertions by the professor are correct. It is still true that mass shooting fatalities are heavily concentrated in areas where citizen firearms possession is prohibited.
It may be a small bunch but it’s fiercely engaged . . . A minority of gun owners have a veto over gun laws
America’s powerful gun lobby, of which the National Rifle Association (NRA) is the most prominent group, is able to cow Republican legislators into inaction. Yet the organisation largely represents the extreme views of a minority of gunowners: the NRA claims 5m members, compared with the 17m Americans who hunt or the third of adults who own guns. NRA members are twice as likely to own five or more guns than non-member gunowners, and are twice as likely to carry a gun outside their house all or most of the time. Their policy preferences are much more hostile to any gun control. In the recent Virginia election, exit polls show that 37% of gunowners backed Ralph Northam, the Democratic candidate, for governor. Should such moderates organise effectively, they may be able to snap the NRA’s stranglehold over gun policy.
High Speed Gear® Revolutionizes the Magazine Carrier Market Again – Introducing the Polymer TACO®
High Speed Gear (HSGI), designers and makers of the 100 percent Made in the USA, Battle-Proven Tactical Gear™, is proud to announce that the next generation of magazine carriers are here. HSGI originally set the magazine carrier market on fire with its innovative TACO® design that allowed the carrier to be expanded or contracted side to side and back to front, all at the same time. Its revolutionary two-piece system provided the necessary retention and the ability to index just about any magazine on the market. Now, HSGI has built upon the success of the original TACO to a new Polymer TACO, incorporating all the same great patented features, but in a durable polymer material that offers light weight and water proof capabilities (does not water proof inserted items). And, like all of HSGI’s products, backed by a lifetime warranty.
Reality check time . . . Gun Control and Magical Thinking
Based on existing federal gun laws, Kelley’s record made him officially ineligible to buy firearms. But the Air Force failed to submit his records into the federal background-check database, allowing him to purchase the guns used in this weekend’s rampage.
Folks, that’s an unacceptable “oops.” It also isn’t an isolated incident of negligence. This week, questions have arisen about the military’s reporting system when it comes to domestic-violence cases. Meanwhile, in an interview after the shooting, Texas senator Ted Cruz noted that in 2010 alone, “48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns. [The government] prosecuted only 44 of them.”
Yikes . . . Vista Outdoor plunges 27% after slashing outlook
FQ2 sales of $587M fell 16% Y/Y on an organic basis. Adjusted EPS of $0.34 fell from $0.74, but topped estimates by $0.07.
CFO Stephen Nolan takes note of the competitive environment, with ongoing promotions and high inventory contributing to a “challenging quarter.”
The company is divesting two brands within its Sports Protection business, and Shooting Sports president Bob Keller is exiting.
Full-year EPS is now seen at $0.50-$0.60 vs. $1.10-$1.30 previously. Revenue is cut to $2.24B-$2.26B from $2.36B-$2.42B.
FN Collaborates With Nine Line Apparel on Four Exclusive Tees
FN America, LLC, maker of the World’s Most Battle-Proven Firearms.®, is pleased to announce a collaboration with Nine Line Apparel, on an exclusive collection of t-shirts based on FN’s most popular products. The collection will include four original designs and will be available for purchase online through the FN E-store starting Friday, Nov. 10, 2017.
“FN and Nine Line’s missions are extremely well-aligned and we share a lot of the same philosophies when it comes to support of America’s armed forces,” said Jarrod McDevitt, channel marketing manager for FN America, LLC. “We couldn’t have chosen a better creative partner than the men and women at Nine Line Apparel to showcase our Battle-Proven message and products.”
Prepare for blood running in the streets . . . “Good Reason” to Cheer – D.C. Carry License Applications Skyrocket in October
One estimate is that D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) had denied licenses to close to 80 percent of applicants because of a failure to satisfy the “good reason” rules. Now that this requirement has been judicially eliminated, carry license applications have jumped sharply. A year ago, October and November each showed only a single National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check done in relation to permits in D.C., as was the case again in September of 2017. This October, however, 145 District residents have had permit-based NICS checks. It is unclear how many of these, if any, concern previous applicants who were denied because of “good reason” and who may now reapply, but the October 2017 NICS figure, by itself, comes very close to the total for permit-based checks in D.C. over the rest of 2017 combined.
The NSSF’s Larry Keane writes . . . Don’t ban America’s most popular rifle
Instead of banning America’s most popular rifle, our focus should be on preventing criminals and the seriously mentally ill from obtaining any type of firearm. Since 2013, the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s FixNICS initiative has improved reporting of all criminal and adjudicated mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and it has led to 16 states adopting reforms.
Through the end of 2016, the number of disqualifying mental health records submitted rose 170% to nearly 4.5 million, from about 1.7 million in December 2012. Gun control groups may take credit, but we were the ones at work in the states. We must turn to the Defense Department to ensure all its appropriate records are submitted to the NICS.
Don’t worry…no firearms were harmed in the making of this photograph.
33 bucks for a mag pouch? Holy crap!
That’s in keeping with those 600 dollar book bags, er I mean tactical back packs that get reviewed around here.
Hey, I’ll splurge on some things. That backpack holds a lot of my crap for going into the woods for 5-7 days. It wears comfortable, and doubles as a meat pack.
But come on, for a mag pouch? My chest rig was only 40 bucks and it holds 8 mags.
When you can buy a brand new surplus ALICE large for around 50 bucks?
But will your vest hold AR-10 or AK mags as well without having to change anything?
That pack wasn’t “tactical”. It was a higher end hunting pack.
I talked to the High Speed Gear boys at SHOT Show and they were some of the most solid vets in the mag textile industry. I know some of you keyboard warriors like to diss me here, but Magpul calls me.
Yea High Speed Gear is top dollar but it’s worth it not only in quality but that cheap low dollar ChiCom kit just feeds the enemy. If you can’t afford American made gear then wait till you can!
$30? I think you can swing it unless you don’t really need the Taco 🌮
That’s the same or less than the original TACO. And it only holds one mag. A lot of guys I know have whole battle belts of them.
I talked to the High Speed Gear boys at SHOT Show and they were some of the most solid vets in the mag textile industry. I know some of you keyboard warriors like to diss me here, but Magpul actually calls me.
Yea High Speed Gear is top dollar but it’s worth it not only in quality but that cheap low dollar ChiCom kit just feeds the enemy. If you can’t afford American made gear then wait till you can!
$30? I think you can swing it unless you don’t really need the Taco 🌮
If I’m blowing $33 on a taco it better smell like tuna, taste like chicken and make me breakfast in the morning.
/facepalm
Personally if I still had an AR-15 I’d just skip the fancy pounce and use my knock off South African assault rig that holds 12 magazines.
That’s a quad pod on the front of that lego rifle in jwt’s hands.
It’s the upscale plush padded and upholstered model.
Schnauzer, poodle popper. The jokes write themselves.
Sheesh.
That’s obviously a harnessed ‘Tactical Schnauzer’ on that lower rail…
Not tactical enough! Should have stuck a flash light in that dog’s mouth – only then will you have tactical written all over it.
And a frickin’ laser up its ass.
The AR-mounted chainsaw? Pfft… child’s play… this accessory will actively chase you down and gnaw your ankles raw. 🤠
It’s a High Speed Gear high capacity magazine pooch!
“the best FN handgun on the planet”
But FN made and still does make the Browning Hi-Power…
And the Five-Seven is a better gun.
They thot black rifles with quad pods were scary, that guy holding it, that’s scary. : )
Would Tiananmen Square count as a mass shooting incident?
It proves Government can do these on a scale us mere civilians could never achieve.
The Kwangju incident in Korea was listed as 30 dead when it was more like 300.
“the NRA’s stranglehold over gun policy.”
Hang on, I need to go gas up my ROFLcopter.
As long as people insist on talking about “mass shooters,” ignoring all of the other mass murder going on, we’ll get nowhere. And the entire discussion of NICS, or any other method of pre-determining who might be killers of any kind, is a distraction at best. There is no real answer to the problem better than the will and ability to defend ourselves and those around us. Isn’t that what we really need to emphasize and push?
Why do people of the gun, who should know better, allow themselves to be drawn into these discussions using the gun grabber terms and phrases?
FN – because there is a severe shortage of $4 Chicom teeshirts available for only $28.
“…our focus should be on preventing criminals and the seriously mentally ill from obtaining any type of firearm. Since 2013, the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s FixNICS initiative has improved reporting…”
You see, this is the problem. Why are supposed pro-gun, pro Second Amendment groups spending time and money trying to fix something that is by its very nature and application a violation of the Second amendment and unconstitutional?
This is the same blind spot the NRA had on NFA and NICS in the first place. Trying to make political points with the gun muggles rather than standing fast for the text of the Second Amendment.
Note, please – if they are not in custody/confinement, be they criminals/felons or mentally ill, they WILL find, carry and use firearms if that’s what floats their boar and serves their needs at the time and chipping away at the protections of the Second Amendment is not the way to change that.
I’m putting that last photo on my Christmas list. I really need a new tactical mag pooch.
“the Air Force failed to submit his records into the federal background-check database”
Failed? My @ss. The Air Farce made a conscious decision not to report Kelley to NICS. It has also made a conscious decision not to report domestic restraining orders to NICS. Just as the Army made a conscious decision not to report Jared Laughner’s failed drug test to NICS.
See a pattern here?
“A minority of gun owners have a veto over gun laws…”
If (and only if, for you pedants out there) no other same size or larger bunch changes their minds. Get some more people on board with whatever you want, n these guys’ veto goes away.
Do you even math, bro?
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