Viewpoints

On Black Friday 2011, gun dealers deluged the FBI with background-check requests for prospective handgun and long-gun buyers, breaking the previous record by more than 30%. Background checks, required by federal law, surged to nearly 130,000 during the day, surpassing the previous high of 97,848 on Black Friday of 2008. The second busiest day on record was two days before this past Christmas, with 102,222 checks. Dennis Henigan, acting president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said he was "skeptical" of the Black Friday gun surge. He said, "I think there may be no real significance at all."

Gun Tests Magazine has named the SSK Industries 300 Whisper AR-15 as the publication’s “Best in Class Rifle” for 2011.

Semi-automatic carbines have become enormously popular. Applications range from law enforcement and home defense to competitive target shooting and hunting. The most popular platform is the AR15-based weapon chambered for 223 Remington. But if you visit your local shooting range, you will find AR-style carbines, circa the 1960s, shooting alongside historical battle-rifle actions made popular in the 1940s. Gun Tests magazine recently tested an M1A variant in the form of Springfield Armory's $2090 Socom II AA9627 with black fiberglass stock.

Surreal experience today. Took an hour for lunch, and while munching on red beans and rice, I remembered I had the season-ending episode of FX's Sons of Anarchy on the TiVo. So I engage the box and start watching the cliffhanger. If you haven't seen that episode yet, stop reading now.

Just a comment on your review of the 1903A3 Springfield rifle. I fully understand you test the rifles as you buy them, and that's the way it should be. And I agree about the jolt the 1903A3 gives you. Anyone who wants either a 1903 or 1903A3 as a shooter would be well served to either find one with the full pistol grip "C" stock as opposed to the straight stock you tested, or the semi-pistol grip ("Warthog stock") that many are found with.

From the “Downrange” editorial in the January 2011 issue of Gun Tests magazine: Surreal experience today. Took an hour for lunch, and while munching on red beans and rice, I remembered I had the season-ending episode of FX’s Sons of Anarchy on the TiVo. So I engage the box and start watching the cliffhanger. If you haven’t seen that episode yet, stop reading now. Spoiler alert:

Gun Tests Magazine has named the Kel-Tec PMR-30 22 WMR as the publication’s “Best in Class Pistol” for 2011.

What happens when a robber picks the wrong diner? Here’s R. Lee Ermey’s take.

The History Channel compares the M14 and M16 rifles.

Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL) has drafted a bill that would block U.S. funding to the United Nations if it seeks to implement gun control measures affecting U.S. citizens. Despite victories by gun owners in elections and legislative battles throughout the country in recent years, on the international front gun control is moving quickly. Most significantly, in 2012 the UN plans to release a final draft of the Arms Trade Treaty—a treaty that will have severe consequences for American gun owners.

If I must say, one of my most endearing traits is the ability to buy perfect presents for anniversaries, birthdays, and Christmas — just ask the CFO, who's snorting coffee out her nose as she reads that. Seeing as this is the traditional time of year for commemorations of Christ's Mass, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, and Yuletide, I wanted to pass along three thoughtful gift recommendations that are sure to wow your family, friends, and range buddies, though perhaps not in that order.

In his book Greatest Handguns of the World, Massad Ayoob says about the Colt Woodsman 22 LR series of pistols, "The big weakness I discovered over the years in the Woodsman was that it was capable of unintentionally firing when subjected to violent forward or backward inertia with a live round in the chamber, even if the thumb safety was engaged."