Extended NICS Hours for Black Friday
Worried about long waits at the gun counter when snapping up those smoking Black Friday deals? This recent announcement may help to ease your mind.
The FBI NICS Section has announced extended hours of service on Friday, Nov. 29, 2013 (“Black Friday”), for E-check Users and state Point-of-Contact (POC) Programs. Typically, the NICS is available daily from 8 a.m. until 1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). However, in response to requests to bring NICS into service earlier on “Black Friday” to better accommodate typical business-hour extensions throughout the retail industry and due to a long history of record-breaking volume on this day, the FBI will bring the NICS in-service starting at 4:30 a.m. EST for NICS E-check Users and for state POC Programs. The NICS Contracted Call Centers will open, as normal, at 8 a.m. EST.
For those Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) that do not currently utilize the NICS E-check service and would like to do so prior to NICS Peak Season 2013 or in advance of the earlier-than-normal NICS service hours being provided on “Black Friday,” contact the following for that expeditious, automated firearms background check service: 1-877-324-6427. Select Option 2 for FFL Customer Service and then option 5 for E-Check enrollment. Continue reading
ATF Publishes Updated Firearms and Commerce Report
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today released the Firearms Commerce in the United States 2013 report, which contains information about domestic firearms manufacturing, as well as the importation and exportation of firearms. The report contains the most up-to-date information available about the firearms industry and ATF’s regulatory activities including firearms entering commerce and statistical data.
“The information in this report provides insight for the general public on the number of firearms reported as manufactured and imported in the United States annually,” said ATF Assistant Director, Office of Enforcement Programs and Services, Arthur Herbert. “The report also provides statistical information about ATF’s regulatory and enforcement initiatives.”
The 2013 update reports more than 6.5 million firearms were manufactured in 2011(the latest year available) and more than 4.8 million firearms were imported into the United States in 2012. In addition, more than 1 million National Firearms Act (NFA) transfers were processed by ATF in 2012, and there are currently more than 3.5 million NFA firearms registered. The number of federal firearms licensees (FFLs) increased from 123,587 in 2011 to 130,956 in 2012. This reflects a 6 percent increase in one year.
ATF continuously develops and strengthens its collaborative efforts with members of the firearms industry and consumers through education and outreach to prevent the diversion of firearms through illegal markets. This report provides one-stop shopping for those having an interest in firearms industry data.
To view the Firearms Commerce in the United States 2013 report visit https://www.atf.gov/sites/default/files/assets/pdf-files/052013-firearms-commerce-in-the-us-annual-update.pdf
Bullpup .22LR Pistol from ZiPFactory Keeps Plinkers Within Budget
ZiPFactory, an offshoot of US Fire Arms (USFA), was at SHOT 2013 and they brought with them their ZiP .22. This bullpup pistol doesn’t have a slide, an ejector or an extractor. This allows the number of parts in the entire firearm (in the basic configuration) to limited to only 25. It also allows the MSRP to be kept just shy of $200.
The company is marketing the ambidexterous ZiP .22 as being highly modular with the ability to use it as a pistol, an SBR or as an accessory mounted under another firearm. The pistol also makes use of ubiquitous (and supremely reliable) Ruger 10/22 magazines, even offering the 10-round Ruger BX-1 rotary magazine as a factory accessory for an additional $20. The blowback operated ZiP .22 also relies on the feed lips of the magazine to act as an ejector. As such, it may be advisable to Continue reading
The Pocket Pistol Showdown – Developments from Heizer Defense and DoubleTap Firearms
You may remember an interesting pocket pistol, then known as the Heizer Defense DoubleTap, which we covered at the 2012 SHOT Show. Since then, there have been some shake-ups, including DoubleTap inventor Ray Kohout ejecting from the deal with Heizer Defense to form DoubleTap Defense. DoubleTap has also filed a $6 million lawsuit against Heizer et al. for monetary damages and an injunction against “any further action on the part of Heizer Defense, LLC and others to manufacture or market a product based on the intellectual property of DoubleTap inventor Ray Kohout“. Both companies were at the 2013 SHOT Show and were both still in the hunt for market share for this type of pistol.
The newly announced Heizer HD1 pocket shotgun, chambered for .45 Colt and 2.5/3″ .410 shotshells and offered in a variety of materials and finishes, has a similar small form factor with a familiar grip and trigger design. The HD2 model appears quite similar to the double barreled pistol we saw on display last year, along with its two-barrel-single-hammer firing mechanism and a price tag ranging from $489 to $719 with spare barrel assemblies priced at $189 . Heizer has recently made an announcement reiterating their commitment to the project and the company said that they hope to have both units available later this year. Heizer personnel didn’t have much to say about the split other than nodding toward a sign at the rear of the booth noting that they were not associated with DoubleTap.
DoubleTap’s booth had on display what they describe as an improved version of the model unveiled last year. Manufactured by Azimuth Technologies of Naples, Florida, the new DoubleTap is projected to hit the market in the first quarter of 2013. The biggest change is probably a simplification of the firing mechanism to use two hammers which operate sequentially rather than one hammer that reciprocates between the two firing pins.
The DoubleTap is also available in a variety of materials and finishes with retail prices ranging from $499 for aluminum non-ported models to $799 for ported titanium models. Spare barrel sets for converting the pistol between 9mm and .45ACP range in price from around $200 to $269.
One fellow SHOT Show attendee, while viewing the double-barreled pistol in the New Product Showcase, asked “What’s the point?” Whether it’s to meet a low-capacity firearms restriction, to have a last-ditch backup gun or to have a tough, dependable firearm for your glove compartment, tackle box, etc, it looks like this design would meet those needs (albeit, at what seems to us to be a relatively high price-point for something in that role).
Stay tuned to GunLink for future updates on the Heizer/Doubletap split, lawsuit and products as well as more from SHOT Show 2013.
Wiki Weapon Project Dreams of Creating a Functional Print-it-Yourself Firearm
The group known as Defense Distributed has a three-fold mission plan: 1) Create the world’s first 100% 3D printable gun, 2) Adapt the design down to cheaper 3D printers and 3) Become The Web’s Printable Gun Wiki Redoubt. What does that mean? It means they want their project to result in a scenario where you can download formatted CAD blueprint files, feed them into a 3-D printer (see “additive manufacturing”) and end up with a firearm.
Sound like science fiction? Having visions of a Star Trek-esque replicator device? The idea isn’t quite so far-fetched. The use of 3-D printing for rapid prototyping has exploded over the past decade and, as the technology continues to mature, costs continue to fall. This could make the prospect of a D.I.Y print-at-home firearm a reality before you think.
One example of how this idea could come to fruition is the printable AR15 lower receiver by Michael Guslick. Although the majority of the complete firearm’s parts are existing off-the-shelf parts, the lower receiver Continue reading
Gun “Buy Back” Programs Continue, Despite Being Ineffective
Plenty of politicians and anti-gunners love gun turn-ins, often incorrectly called “buy backs.” (As one GunLink Forum user says, “How can you buy something you never owned ‘back’, using other people’s money?”) Misnomer or otherwise, the facts point to these programs being largely ineffective wastes of money, often at the expense of taxpayers.
For example, a recent Chicago Tribune OpEd states that six such events conducted over the past six years have yielded over 23,000 weapons turned in. One highly touted event alone claimed to remove over 4,000 weapons from the streets, (despite nearly all of them not being “on the streets” in the first place and nearly 700 being fakes or replicas anyway). For some, this makes little difference. As New Haven, Connecticuit, Assistant Police Chief Tobin Hensgen says in regard to gun turn-in events: “Even an unusable gun can be used to scare or intimidate.” Perhaps when the knife “buy back” events start up, we can make a little money with some rulers and silver spray paint.
Despite some of the strictest gun laws in the nation and the popular turn-in events, murders and Continue reading
