Industry Notes

(GunReports.com) -- Smith & Wesson Corp. has announced that the California Division of Parole has begun issuing its officers a new duty side arm, the Smith & Wesson M&P40 pistol. The agency took possession of the 2,300 pistols chambered in .40 S&W from Smith & Wesson in November and officers in the field are currently using the M&P40.

(GunReports.com) -- The FBI has released its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figures for December 2010. NSSF-adjusted figures (1,133,371) show a 9.9 percent increase over NSSF-adjusted figures from December 2009 (1,031,344). For calendar year 2010, the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 9,436,182 is a decrease of 1 percent over the NSSF-adjusted figure of 9,534,131 in calendar year 2009.

(GunReports.com) -- A release from the CCRKBA: The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is condemning Saturday's attempted assassination of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the murders of six people including a federal judge and a 9-year-old child, for which a 22-year-old Tucson man is now facing charges.

(GunReports.com) -- Gun Owners of America issued an email alert in response to New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy's call for magazine and gun show bans in the wake of shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords over the weekend.

(GunReports.com) -- Crimson Trace has announced the LG-412 Laserguard for the new Ruger LC9. The laserguard fits on the the trigger guard of Ruger's latest polymer-frame carry gun. Pre-zeroed from the factory, the Laserguard can be fine tuned by the individual user and will run for continuously for four hours on one 1/3N battery.

(GunReports.com) -- Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: SWHC) has named Jeffrey D. Buchanan as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Buchanan, 55, has been a member of the Company's Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Committee since 2004.

(GunReports.com) —The National Shooting Sports Foundation has awarded a record-setting 38 grants totaling $190,000 to help both new and existing collegiate target shooting programs flourish.

(GunReports.com) -- Gun Tests Magazine has named the CZ USA CZ 83 380 ACP as the publication’s “Best in Class” Pistol for 2010.

(GunReports.com) -- Richard M. Hammett, Olin Corporation Vice President and President, Winchester, has announced his intention to retire effective February 28, 2011. Hammett has spent 42 years with Olin Corporation in a variety of finance, marketing and senior management roles. He was named President of the Winchester Division of Olin Corporation on September 27, 2002.

(GunReports.com) -- ATF is moving to require 8,500 federally licensed firearms retailers along the Southwest border to report multiple sales of modern sporting rifles beginning Jan. 5. Specifically, the ATF requirement calls for these retailers to report multiple sales, or other dispositions, of two or more .22 caliber or larger semi-automatic rifles that are capable of accepting a detachable magazine and are purchased by the same individual within five consecutive business days.

(GunReports.com) -- Say hello to the Navy's little friend. Navy scientists set a world record last week during a test of an electromagnetic railgun, a tractor-trailer sized weapon that sends a 20-pound projectile rocketing through the air at seven times the speed of sound.

(GunReports.com) – Bushmaster Firearms new Bore Squeeg-ETM Cleaning System is a pull-through system that includes what the company calls the Bore Squeeg-E, made from a proprietary polymer that is not affected by cleaning chemicals. It is designed to scrape the lands and grooves of the bore to a mirror-clean condition and keep abrasive carbon fouling from harming the bore. The Bore Squeeg-E is attached to a free rotating cleaning cable, preventing the tools from loosening while being pulled through the helical rifling.