shooting

White House Celebrates National Shooting Sports Month

NSSF, the trade association for the firearm industry, is proud to share the Presidential Message on National Shooting Sports Month 2020, in which President Donald Trump commemorates “…our Constitutional right to bear arms by celebrating America’s cherished past time of recreational and competitive shooting sports.” National Shooting Sports Month was developed by NSSF to celebrate, share and invite newcomers and grow participation in the shooting sports.

The Presidential Message recognizes America’s “rich history of fostering responsible gun ownership.” President Trump notes in his message the shooting sports’ history of community events early in the nation’s growth, bringing communities and families together. Those competitions grew and gave rise to 19th century sharpshooters, including Pawnee Bill and Annie Oakley celebrating shooting skills and a national pioneering character.

The White House message, issued during a time of record-setting firearm sales, encourages Americans to participate in the shooting sports, practice safe firearm storage and handling and seek proper instruction. President Trump reiterated his commitment to preserving and safeguarding America’s Second Amendment rights and individual liberties.

“Since my first day in office, I have made clear that my Administration will always protect and defend the Second Amendment,” President Trump wrote in his message. “We will continue to oppose those individuals and policies that attempt to tread on this essential and cherished liberty.”   Continue reading

NSSF: 2021 SHOT Show Moving Forward

The Show Must Go On

In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has been shutting down businesses and grinding trade shows to a halt (I have missed exhibiting at two and attending another two already), firearms industry trade organization National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has announced that the 2021 SHOT Show will go on as planned.

The Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trades Show, scheduled for January 19-22, is the largest show of its kind. With the expansion into the brand new Caesars Forum, this 43rd iteration of the SHOT Show will be the biggest one yet – featuring nearly three-quarters of a million square feet (nearly 17 acres) of exhibit space.

Despite rumors that several big names are already pulling back from the show over Coronavirus concerns, NSSF said that the SHOT Show team has spent the past month working with industry manufacturers and suppliers to confirm exhibitors and plans to have nearly 3,000 booths on display.

The health and safety of our attendees, exhibitors, media, and our employees is a foremost priority,” noted NSSF Senior VP, Chris Dolnack.  “We are in constant contact with our partners monitoring the latest developments in the COVID-19 pandemic as well as clarifying important safety protocols and guidelines for large events.

Dolnack said that, although the 2021 SHOT Show may feel a bit different thanks to health and safety precautions (likely meaning mask requirements, lower attendance, social distancing guidelines, and so on), the critical buying and networking opportunities should be very much the same.

From the opening shots of the invite-only SHOT Show Range Day to the 17 acres of exhibit floor, the GunLink team will be at the show to bring you the latest news, product releases, and reviews as we celebrate our 10th year of SHOT Show coverage.

Stay tuned to the GunLink Blog and GunLink Forums for full coverage and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for live updates before, during, and after the show.

Mantis Upgrades Training Tool with New X10 Elite Device

When we first heard of the Mantis training aid several years ago, it was easy to see its value for shooters wanting to improve their skills without spending a lot of time or money at the range. And we weren’t let down when we got our hands on it. In our review of the original Mantis X model, we were quite tickled with the immediate feedback with both live fire and dry fire. It was no wonder that the device was awarded Best Accessory of 2018 by NASGW and POMA. We were impressed with the user support and continued growth of the MantisX – from quick responses from the company to frequent updates with new features and any bug fixes.

This is why we were so excited to hear about the new models being released at SHOT Show 2020 earlier this year. The company has continued to pour tons of development effort into the product, which has grown from just the original model into a handful of new models including the $99 X2 dry-fire-only model, the X3 for live-fire of both pistols and rifles, the X7 shotgun trainer, X8 archery model, and the top of the line X10 Elite model, which covers all of the bases for live fire and dry fire for pistols, rifles, and shotguns as well as archery. Yeah, they’ve been keeping busy.

Austin was kind enough to arrange for a Mantis X10 Elite unit to be sent to us to review and we had the chance to put it through its paces. Once again, we were not disappointed in the slightest!   Continue reading

SHOT Show 2020 Range Day Highlights

Each year before industry insiders flock to the halls of the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show – better known as SHOT Show – a contingent of firearm folks head out into the desert of southwest Nevada for a pre-show lineup of exhibitors. Live ammunition is forbidden on the SHOT Show floor and any firearms in the exhibit hall must be disabled and are inspected to ensure that they are non-functional.

This policy, however, is not in effect at the annual SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range in Boulder City. Not by a long shot.

At this pre-show demo day, invited members of the media and buyers have the opportunity to meet with manufacturers and vendors among smaller crowds than those at SHOT Show proper. Attendees also have the opportunity to get hands-on live fire trigger time with the latest guns and gear to hit the market and many that are yet to be released. The GunLink team has again been invited to this event and did just that.

We got to see some pretty great firearms and gear at Range Day that seem to indicate that the industry has actually been listening to consumers and developing some new products that fit their needs. And the show has not even begun yet! If this demo day is an indication of what else we will be seeing at SHOT Show 2020, we think this will be a great year for a firearms industry that has shown some signs of slowing down somewhat in the past couple of years.

Read on to see our Range Day highlights and be sure to watch the GunLink Blog and GunLink Forums for more.   Continue reading

SAF: Shootings Again Prove Failed Logic of CA Gun Control

The school shooting near Los Angeles and Sunday’s multiple homicide in Fresno are more examples of the failure of extremist California gun control, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

Two students were murdered at Saugus High School last Thursday by a teenager who could not legally carry a handgun, and four people died at a residential gathering Sunday evening when unidentified gunmen opened fire. But anti-gun-rights California lawmakers have spent years adopting increasingly restrictive gun control laws that were sold to the public as schemes to prevent such horrendous crimes.

“With each new gun control law,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “California citizens were assured that the new restrictions were necessary to stop deadly crimes. But the only people to suffer the consequences are law-abiding gun owners and innocent victims.

“The Saugus school shooting should convince any rational person that lawmakers in Sacramento have perpetuated a fraud,” he observed. “They’ve known all along that their gun control agenda was only going to prevent honest citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights. Criminals, regardless of their age, have never been prevented from committing deadly crimes by California’s extremist gun laws.

Within hours of the school shooting, anti-gun Democrats were renewing their push for so-called “universal background checks” and a ban on so-called “assault weapons,” despite the fact that the alleged teen gunman couldn’t legally have the gun he used, which was a .45-caliber pistol, not a rifle.   Continue reading

Shooting for Shaw

The 20th Security Forces Squadron Combat Arms hosted the inaugural M9 pistol Excellence in Competition shooting event at the Combat Arms training range complex at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, Nov. 4-8.

The event is a U.S. Air Force Sports Branch sanctioned event open to all Department of Defense components over the course of five days that encourages warrior ethos and contributes to Airman readiness to support wartime operations downrange.

“We wanted to increase morale and cohesion while giving an opportunity to practice with their service pistols outside of the parameters of a standard Air Force qualification course,” said Staff Sgt. Troy Maycock, 20th SFS combat arms instructor.

Members from the U.S. Army and Air Force active duty, South Carolina Air National Guard and reservists from five installations throughout Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina attended the event.

The course was broken down into five elements: classroom instruction, a practice round and three phases of firing.

In class, each participant received a 20-minute safety brief, followed by 20 minutes of mechanical review and competition requirements. The event consisted of 40 rounds of live fire from the 9mm pistol.   Continue reading

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