Editorial

One of the issues gun owners face is whom to believe when politicians stake out policy positions on gun controls they would implement if they are elected to higher office.

But I believe real-life owners of guns — purchasers — usually tell more truth about product performance in the comments sections of various retailers. I assiduously read such comments, looking for online complaints that are worth checking out when I buy our guns and shoot them head to head. If we can't duplicate an issue that has come up, we don't report it — it's just gossip if we can't document it ourselves. But, occasionally, a nugget will drop out of the online compost, making the experience worthwhile

It seems gun companies are suffering from a lack of "fear-based buying" because consumers aren't worried about stricter gun control while Donald Trump is in office. Also, ammo sales have been hit by consumers buying fewer bullets because they stockpiled during past scares, according to Markets Insider, a stock-tracking firm (Markets@BusinessInsider.com).

CNN has reported that federal authorities are searching for thousands of conversion devices that render semi-automatic Glock pistols into fully automatic weapons that are considered to be machine guns.

OMG, the things that are going on in and around the gun world these days. Some of it is quite hilarious, and some of it is deadly serious. In both cases, the items below are so weird, I could not make this stuff up if I had to.

On April 2, NRA and California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) attorneys filed an opposition to California's request seeking an immediate stay of enforcement in the case of Duncan v. Becerra, which found California's restrictions against so called "large-capacity" magazines unconstitutional and unenforceable.

Gun legislation is swinging wildly from state to state. Some states are seeking to restrict or ban certain classes of firearms; others are expanding gun-ownership rights in ways we wouldn't have thought possible just a few years ago. And the Supremes have taken up a 2nd Amendment case that has the possibility of striking down a gun ban - whodathunkit? Here's a roundup of some of the legal efforts that qualify as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (hat tip to director Sergio Leone).

A long time ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I worked at Field & Stream magazine in Manhattan, at 1515 Broadway, or 7th Avenue and 44th. At the time, New York City's gun rules were just as crazy and un-Constitutional as today, maybe worse, and were difficult to accept when the articles I edited nearly every day concerned firearms that couldn't be possessed in the city. But I shot in NRA smallbore matches on Long Island and upstate in a Friday-night quarter-course league at West Point (which was awesome), so the strongest anti-gun sentiment didn't extend very far into the ‘burbs. But that seems to be changing for the worse again.

One of the more important claims in the gun-control debate is that the United States has more mass public shootings than any other countries. I'm sure you've heard that reported on gun-ignorant major media outlets. But as John R. Lott, Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center points out in a new video, conventional TV wisdom on this topic is likely misinformed — but we can't find out for sure.

New product announcements are coming fast and furious, including Ruger's announcement of the SR1911 Competition Pistol. Over the past year, the Ruger Custom Shop has worked closely with professional shooting team captain and world champion competitive shooter Doug Koenig to develop the first Custom Shop SR1911, a full-sized 9mm pistol suitable for competitive shooting in IDPA, IPSC, USPSA, Bianchi Cup, Pro Am Shooting, and Steel Challenge disciplines.

By the time you read this, the midterm elections will have already happened, and we'll know if more federal regulations and laws restricting our civil rights are on their way. I would like to say that the congressional outcomes don't mean anything for two years, as long as President Trump is in office. But that's simply not true. PDT has shown an irresolute streak on publicly considering more gun regulations, though, to be fair, we haven't seen any new laws at the federal level.