ATF Releases US Firearms Trace Data for 2013
Following the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recently released 2013 international firearms trace data, the ATF last week released aggregated firearms trace data for all US states and territories for calendar year 2013. Firearm traces provide critical investigative leads to law enforcement and can link a suspect to a firearm in a criminal investigation, identify potential traffickers, and detect local, interstate and international patterns in the sources and types of crime guns. Traces provide information on the movement of a crime gun from the manufacturer or importer through distributors and ultimately to the retail point of sale and purchaser.
The 2013 report includes a state-by-state breakdown of types and calibers of firearms recovered and traced, source states, criminal offenses associated with the crime guns, time-to-crime, and age ranges of crime gun possessors at the time of recovery. Key findings of this year’s report include pistols as the most common firearm type recovered and traced, 9 mm as the top caliber recovered and traced, and 11.08 years as the average time-to-crime for crime guns recovered and traced in the U.S. and its territories. Continue reading
New Online Series for Real World Gun Owners
Tac Daddy LIFE Launches
Our friends from the Tac Daddy Crew have launched an online series for real world gun owners called Tac Daddy LIFE. The new lifestyle gun show complements the live Thursday night show on the Tac Daddy YouTube channel.
As much fun as it is to watch videos about high end, ultra-expensive firearms that are unattainable for most and tactical gear or training that might not be practical for the average gun owner, viewers are seeking out content that is more relevant to their lives. This is evidenced by the growing popularity of shows like NRA Freestyle’s NOIR, gun and gear reviews from regular people and, now, Tac Daddy LIFE.
The first episode is available now on Tac Daddy’s YouTube channel and below. Join the discussion about the new series. Continue reading
NOIR Episode 5: Respect The Heritage
The fifth episode of NRA Freestyle’s NOIR with Mr. Colion Noir and Amy Robbins is now up.
Say what you want about guns, but you can’t deny the role firearms have played in our country’s history. In NOIR Episode 5 “Respect the Heritage” Colion and Amy honor the evolution of guns and their impact as the “lifeblood of our country.”
Watch the full episode below, check out nrafreestyle.tv to watch new episodes live on Sunday nights and come back right here on the GunLink Blog to watch new episodes any time.
2014 NRA National Matches Scheduled for July 6 Through Mid-August
“World Series of Shooting” Returns to Camp Perry
The National Rifle & Pistol Championships, AKA The National Matches, is a shooting tradition that has been around since 1903 and has been hosted at Camp Perry, Ohio, for 107 of those 111 years. That tradition continues this summer as the 2014 National matches – conducted jointly by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), NRA and Ohio National Guard – return starting July 6.
During the event, the nation’s top civilian and military marksmen will face off in various categories of competition. The National Matches include the CMP National Trophy Rifle and Pistol Matches, the Pistol and Rifle Small Arms Firing Schools, CMP Games rifle events and the NRA National Pistol, Smallbore Rifle and Highpower Rifle Championships.
Things kick off with the Junior Small Bore Rifle Camp, continuing with various banquets, pistol and rifle championship matches and awards ceremonies, all wrapping up in the second week of August. The full calendar is available online and additional information is available on the NRA Competitive Shooting website.
Online registration for the National Matches is available here. If you won’t be shooting but you would still like to get involved with the 2014 National Matches, the application to volunteer is available here.
Texas Open Carry Leaders Issue Statement
Leaders of several open carry advocacy groups have issued a statement on the heels of Chipotle’s decision to ask customers to not bring firearms into their restaurant:
Come and Take It Texas, Texas Carry, Gun Rights Across America, and Open Carry Texas Joint Statement on open carry of Long Arms
Over the past year, our members have done what no other gun rights organization has been able to do – put open carry at the forefront of the fight to restore gun rights for all Texans. As we have grown, we have had to adjust our efforts based on lessons learned through hundreds of open carry events, big and small.
Looking back, it has become clear that there is one area in which we have gotten the most resistance and suffered the largest setbacks. Open carry of long arms into private businesses. This is not a new phenomenon Continue reading
More No-Gun-Zone Backlash: Open Carry Events Going Too Far?
No Guns & Coffee. Or Burritos.
It is a story that we have seen play out before, most notably at Starbucks but also at numerous other businesses. Like Starbucks, Chipotle has largely deferred to the law of the land when it came to carrying firearms in their restaurants – if not prohibited by law, the stores would generally not put a specific policy in place to ban the practice. And, like Starbucks, some patrons took things a bit far. Now, after a push from anti-gun zealots “Moms Demand Action,” Chipotle restaurants are asking customers to leave their guns at home… just like Starbucks.
It starts out ordinarily enough. People who choose to carry a firearm simply have another business which they could patronize without having to change their carry habits or unnecessarily handle their firearms un-holstering and re-holstering just to grab lunch. Once word spreads that the business is “firearms friendly” certain people start making a bigger deal out of it; purposefully drawing attention to their sidearms, taking selfies or pictures of each other with their firearms in the store. Then come the celebrations – the Second Amendment rallies where a crowd of people with long guns slung across their shoulders, signs raised above their heads and then… #hashtags. #LookIHaveAGunInThisRestaurant.
All of this is almost immediately followed by the predictable outcome: the restaurant simply disallows firearms at their business.
And that is exactly what Chipotle did with a statement today: Continue reading
