Handguns

The M&P45s feature a 4.6-inch barrel with an overall length of 8.0 inches. The M&P45 comes standard with three interchangeable grips, a steel dovetail mount front sight and a steel Novak Lo-Mount carry rear sight. Tritium sights are also available. A universal Picatinny-style equipment rail has been incorporated for tactical lights and lasers. Our polymer pistol had an empty weight of 25.1 ounces.

The new frame-mounted ambidextrous thumb safety acts as a passive safety device, allowing the slide to be pulled toward the rear, clearing the firearm without disengaging the safety. Another feature is the lanyard attachment. All M&P45 pistols feature a Zytel polymer frame reinforced with a stainless-steel chassis and a hardened black Melonite-finished stainless-steel barrel and slide and a Dark Earth Brown grip. This is a silly name for a color—Sand would have been fine—but we overlooked it.

The New York Times has reported that a federal appeals court dismissed New York City's blanket lawsuit against the gun industry on Wednesday, ruling that a relatively new federal law protects gunmakers against third-party litigation. That law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, banned all third-party suits against the gun industry except for those in which a plaintiff could prove that gunmakers had violated other state…

U.S. Reps. Zack Space (D-Ohio) and Steve King (R-Iowa) have introduced the 'Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act of 2007' (HR 4900), legislation which represents a major advance in protecting the rights of firearms dealers. HR 4900 is a bipartisan bill that will overhaul many of the administrative penalties for licensed firearms dealers, manufacturers and importers of firearms that currently treat simple paperwork mistakes as purposeful and willful violations of…

Gov. Sonny Perdue is considering signing a bill that would allow Georgians to carry concealed handguns onto trains and buses and into restaurants that serve alcohol. The bill passed Georgia's General Assembly on the last day of the 2007-08 session. Under the bill, Georgians would not be allowed to carry concealed guns to athletic events, churches, political rallies or bars, but they could carry them onto trains and buses and into state parks, historic sites…

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) has asked sportsmen to contact Meijer, a Michigan-based regional chain of retail superstores, and demand that it dissolve its partnership with the anti-hunting group, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in an online pet photo contest. Meijer refused a U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) request to abandon the partnership, said USSA senior vice president Rick Story. …

ANOKA, Minn. – Federal Premium has partnered with Ruger to introduce a new personal defense revolver cartridge designed to deliver 357 Magnum ballistics out of a 32-caliber diameter platform—and with 20-percent less recoil.

…During the week of April 21-25, 2008, thousands of college students will attend classes wearing empty holsters, in protest of state laws and school policies that disarm law-abiding citizens licensed to carry concealed handguns virtually everywhere else.

…Both candidates said they support and respect an individual's right to own guns, but the positions they endorsed -- an ‘assault weapons’ ban, expanded police access to federal gun-trace data, and keeping guns out of the ‘wrong hands’ -- are straight out of the gun-control play book.

Volokh's compilation of state constitutional guarantees of gun rights is interesting reading – particularly Pennsylvania’s very clear language dating from 1776 and 1790.

…Are the two Democrat candidates misrepresenting their positions on gun rights to gain an edge in the Pennsylvania Democrat primary?

When a reader asks, "Which is the best gun for deep concealment?", or "Is there a good self-defense gun out there with limited recoil?", our minds immediately turn to guns chambered for 32 Auto (32 ACP).We understand that many, or most, GT readers would wonder about the 32s power, or lack of same, and that concern was addressed in one part of our test. Beside bench-shooting for accuracy, we also created an action test that focused on what these guns would most likely be used for-that is, rapid fire at little more than contact distance.In formulating our procedure, we took several factors into account. In close quarters there may be little or no opportunity to apply a support hand. Indeed, the hand opposite of the one holding the gun may be busy fending off a blow, the slash of a knife or, pushing back on the body of the assailant. Therefore, we decided to shoot this drill strong hand only.The target was placed 9 feet away, and we relied primarily upon point shooting. Three strings would be attempted, making note of accuracy and the elapsed time between shots (split times). Our target was an IDPA-style cardboard silhouette featuring an 8-inch-diameter circle in the upper "chest" area. We aimed for the middle of the circle.Start position was with the gun held in the right hand of our test shooter just below the point of aim with finger off the trigger. We decided that each string of fire should require that we empty a full magazine into the target. This speaks to the lower available power of 32 ACP, which in most cases produced less than 100 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.Our test guns in this and other assessments were the $361 Kel-Tec P32PK, an extremely lightweight Parkerized unit; the $573 Walther USA PPK, and the Taurus PT132SSP, $436 with stainless-steel slide. The Kel-Tec was the smallest and could be carried in a pocket holster. The Walther pistol was bigger and heavier but still easy to conceal. The Taurus offered the most capacity.Each gun was tested for accuracy from a sandbag rest. Test ammunition was American Eagle 71-grain TMJs, 60-grain Winchester Silvertip HP, and Speer Gold Dot 60-grain GDHP rounds. We had intended to limit testing of the Kel-Tec to a distance of 7 yards. But when we saw it print sub-1-inch groups, we decided to shoot the P32PK from 15 yards side by side with the Walter and the Taurus.Heres what we found:

When a reader asks, "Which is the best gun for deep concealment?", or "Is there a good self-defense gun out there with limited recoil?", our minds immediately turn to guns chambered for 32 Auto (32 ACP).We understand that many, or most, GT readers would wonder about the 32s power, or lack of same, and that concern was addressed in one part of our test. Beside bench-shooting for accuracy, we also created an action test that focused on what these guns would most likely be used for-that is, rapid fire at little more than contact distance.In formulating our procedure, we took several factors into account. In close quarters there may be little or no opportunity to apply a support hand. Indeed, the hand opposite of the one holding the gun may be busy fending off a blow, the slash of a knife or, pushing back on the body of the assailant. Therefore, we decided to shoot this drill strong hand only.The target was placed 9 feet away, and we relied primarily upon point shooting. Three strings would be attempted, making note of accuracy and the elapsed time between shots (split times). Our target was an IDPA-style cardboard silhouette featuring an 8-inch-diameter circle in the upper "chest" area. We aimed for the middle of the circle.Start position was with the gun held in the right hand of our test shooter just below the point of aim with finger off the trigger. We decided that each string of fire should require that we empty a full magazine into the target. This speaks to the lower available power of 32 ACP, which in most cases produced less than 100 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.Our test guns in this and other assessments were the $361 Kel-Tec P32PK, an extremely lightweight Parkerized unit; the $573 Walther USA PPK, and the Taurus PT132SSP, $436 with stainless-steel slide. The Kel-Tec was the smallest and could be carried in a pocket holster. The Walther pistol was bigger and heavier but still easy to conceal. The Taurus offered the most capacity.Each gun was tested for accuracy from a sandbag rest. Test ammunition was American Eagle 71-grain TMJs, 60-grain Winchester Silvertip HP, and Speer Gold Dot 60-grain GDHP rounds. We had intended to limit testing of the Kel-Tec to a distance of 7 yards. But when we saw it print sub-1-inch groups, we decided to shoot the P32PK from 15 yards side by side with the Walter and the Taurus.Heres what we found: