Viewpoints

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Chris Cassidy, assistant director of communications at the American Constitution Society, posted a short item about how women's groups lobbying for abortion may wind up supporting gun-owners' rights in the McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court case. He wrote:

Gun manufacturing volume rose slightly from 2006 to 2007, BATFE records show. The ATF’s latest Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Report (AFMER 2007) provides valuable insight into the performance of individual companies and the type of firearms they produce. ATF embargoes the data for one year, so 2007 is the latest data available.

Gun manufacturing volume rose slightly from 2006 to 2007, BATFE records show. The ATF’s latest Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Report (AFMER 2007) provides valuable insight into the performance of individual companies and the type of firearms they produce. ATF embargoes the data for one year, so 2007 is the latest data available.

Regarding Joe Meyer’s letter about extractor failures in the Springfield XD/XDM, I obtained a 40-cal. XDM in February and used it to shoot Practical pistol all this season. I estimate I’ve put about 3,000 rounds through it with a total of two failures to feed, both apparently ammo-related and both quickly cleared. I cannot speak for any other XD/XDM owners, but I would say that any rumors of extractor failure with these pistols are just that, rumors.

Regarding Joe Meyer’s letter about extractor failures in the Springfield XD/XDM, I obtained a 40-cal. XDM in February and used it to shoot Practical pistol all this season. I estimate I’ve put about 3,000 rounds through it with a total of two failures to feed, both apparently ammo-related and both quickly cleared. I cannot speak for any other XD/XDM owners, but I would say that any rumors of extractor failure with these pistols are just that, rumors.

“Shouldn't an army base be the last place where a terrorist should be able to shoot at people uninterrupted for 10 minutes? After all, an army base is filled with soldiers who carry guns, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Beginning in March 1993, under the Clinton administration, the army forbids military personnel from carrying their own personal firearms and mandates that 'a credible and specific threat against [Department of the Army] personnel [exist] in that region' before military personnel 'may be authorized to carry firearms for personal protection.'

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The United States Senate recently approved the FY2010 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Conference Report, which included an amendment to protect the use of pocketknives.

Glenn Beck, the conservative Fox television commentator, radio host, and best-selling author, is just kicking butt in every media he ventures into. His TV show attracts more than 3 million viewers a night, he’s the only author ever to have a No. 1 New York Times best-seller in the fiction, nonfiction and paperback fiction categories simultaneously, and his syndicated radio show airs on more than 400 stations. Beck almost single-handedly brought down self-avowed communist and Obama green czar Van Jones, seriously damaged the now-besieged ACORN voter-fraud machine, and exposed Cass Sunstein, Obama’s regulatory czar, as a radical animal-rights proponent and gun-grabber. How does he do it? Old-style 'angle' journalism—look for an interesting story hook, and bang on it relentlessly. This is good for gun owners, because Beck is one of the few hardcore gun-rights advocates in the electronic media. His television show today is a perfect example. Beck had attorney Alan Gura on because Gura will argue the appeal of McDonald v. City of Chicago before the Supreme Court next year. If Gura wins, one of the most onerous gun bans in the country—Chicago’s—will be overturned.

Glenn Beck, the conservative Fox television commentator, radio host, and best-selling author, is just kicking butt in every media he ventures into. His TV show attracts more than 3 million viewers a night, he’s the only author ever to have a No. 1 New York Times best-seller in the fiction, nonfiction and paperback fiction categories simultaneously, and his syndicated radio show airs on more than 400 stations. Beck almost single-handedly brought down self-avowed communist and Obama green czar Van Jones, seriously damaged the now-besieged ACORN voter-fraud machine, and exposed Cass Sunstein, Obama’s regulatory czar, as a radical animal-rights proponent and gun-grabber. How does he do it? Old-style 'angle' journalism—look for an interesting story hook, and bang on it relentlessly. This is good for gun owners, because Beck is one of the few hardcore gun-rights advocates in the electronic media. His television show today is a perfect example. Beck had attorney Alan Gura on because Gura will argue the appeal of McDonald v. City of Chicago before the Supreme Court next year. If Gura wins, one of the most onerous gun bans in the country—Chicago’s—will be overturned.

I’ve already read this issue cover to cover. Again this month I found articles that I will refer to again and again (even my wife knows the Gun Tests filing system I use). When I teach CCW classes (mostly to military members) I get a lot of questions about specific guns for self-defense. If I haven’t used the specific firearm and you don’t have a review on-line, I generally suggest another firearm that you recommend or that I have used extensively. I received three such calls this weekend (we had a gun show in town), and two of the three resulted in firearms purchases and happy new owners. The third call was for a firearm I wouldn’t recommend (based on your tests), so the individual didn’t buy one. He was initially disappointed because he’d read good things in other publications about the same model. I read every gun magazine I can get my hands on, and I asked him how many negative reviews he’d read in the source he was quoting. After a short pause he’s decided to stay on the lookout for a model your publication recommended. I say play the odds, they usually pay off.

I’ve already read this issue cover to cover. Again this month I found articles that I will refer to again and again (even my wife knows the Gun Tests filing system I use). When I teach CCW classes (mostly to military members) I get a lot of questions about specific guns for self-defense. If I haven’t used the specific firearm and you don’t have a review on-line, I generally suggest another firearm that you recommend or that I have used extensively. I received three such calls this weekend (we had a gun show in town), and two of the three resulted in firearms purchases and happy new owners. The third call was for a firearm I wouldn’t recommend (based on your tests), so the individual didn’t buy one. He was initially disappointed because he’d read good things in other publications about the same model. I read every gun magazine I can get my hands on, and I asked him how many negative reviews he’d read in the source he was quoting. After a short pause he’s decided to stay on the lookout for a model your publication recommended. I say play the odds, they usually pay off.

I was surprised when my teenage daughter brought home a book called Fist Stick Knife Gun, A Personal History of Violence in America by Geoffrey Canada. It’s a series of tales about the author watching his peers, inner-city black youth, beat, knife, and shoot each other. As Canada describes his tough life growing up in South Bronx, the incidence of guns was comparatively rare, so life was better back in the day, he says, when they just savagely assaulted each other. Later (to his credit), Canada describes trying to make a positive change in those same dangerous areas of the South Bronx he returns to after he gets degrees at Bowdoin and Harvard. But the big difference, he laments, is that the increased number of guns wielded by adolescents make fights become funerals.