U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton of Santa Ana was the first federal judge to rule on the state’s controversial law. She argued that “assault weapons” are “incredibly effective killing machines” and are not commonly used or necessary for self-defense.

The post Federal Judge Dismisses Challenge to California’s AWB, Says Second Amendment Does Not Protect ‘Assault Weapons’ appeared first on GunsAmerica Digest.

Or would it? When you read about the trials and tribulations following a self-defense shooting, it makes your blood run cold. It’s not fair.

The post Korwin: Self-Defense Doesn’t Match The Fantasy appeared first on GunsAmerica Digest.

It is rare to see a study published that echoes our message: enforce existing gun laws. Prosecute criminals.

The post NSSF: Another Study Confirms Criminals Break Laws appeared first on GunsAmerica Digest.

A Leon County Circuit Court judge has just given rogue, anti-gun public officials a "get-out-of-jail-free card."  This court has effectively given tacit approval for local government officials to knowingly and willfully violate the state preemption law by striking down the penalty provisions.  The message is:  go ahead and violate the law, the state can't punish you.

The new law clears the way for schools in Illinois to hold hunter education courses on school days or after hours. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

A bill designed to promote hunting safety by allowing school districts to offer students a course on the subject was signed into law last week.

The proposal, HB 3462, was inked by Gov. J.B. Pritzker without comment on Friday along with a host of other bills. The new law gives school districts the option to include hunting safety classes in their curriculum.

“Students who are exposed to lessons in hunting safety have a greater chance of respecting firearms and using them properly for the rest of their lives,” said state Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, a sponsor of the bill. “As the law is shifting to emphasize the importance of safe handing—adopting legislation like this could make for an accessible path for students to learn these methods in-depth, early on in their lives.”

Current state law requires hunters in the Land of Lincoln born after 1979 to have a valid hunter education certificate before they can be issued a hunting license. The most common course is a 10-hour event that can be partially completed online. Under the new law, which became effective immediately, schools can elect to make such courses part of the curriculum during regular school days or as part of an after-school program.

The bill was introduced in February by state Rep. Monica Bristow, a downstate Democrat who worked for the Olin Corporation for over two decades before taking office. “With hunting and other outdoor activities at the cornerstone of our local traditions, teaching students how to safely hunt and use a firearm is commonsense,” said Bristow.

The measure had the support of the Illinois Farm Bureau and passed the legislature unanimously. The State Board of Education can make resources regarding hunting safety available to local school boards under the act.

The post New Illinois Law Could See More Hunter Ed in Schools appeared first on Guns.com.

The new APX models include the gray-framed APX Target, (center), as well as APX Centurion-length RDO and Combat models (top right), Compact/Centurion FDE models (bottom) and the APX Carry slimline (top left.) (All Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Beretta showed off several new APX series of chassis-based modular handguns this month, all of which are headed to the consumer market. The growing line of striker-fired polymer-framed handguns, available in 9x19mm and .40 S&W, were unveiled at Beretta’s Pistol Summit in Virginia last week and Guns.com was there to get the details.

The all-new APX Target, a long-slide competition-oriented handgun, sports a 4.7-inch pre-tensioned barrel, compared to the standard model’s 4.25-inch barrel. Erik Stern, Product Manager at Beretta’s Pro Shop, told Guns.com that in their in-house testing such a barrel yielded a 20 to 30 percent accuracy improvement. The APX Target also features an improved fire control module with a lighter trigger as well as factory extended magazine release and extended slide stop. The frame is what Beretta calls a “Wolf Gray” and is sans finger grooves with a black backstrap.

“It’s a lot easier to shoot faster and shoot well,” said Stern of the new APX Target.

Red dot ready, the Target ships with factory fiber optic sights. The accurized APX interfaces with just about every red dot and includes adapters for RMR, Cmore, Deltapoint Pro, and the Burris Fast Fire while Aimpoint Acro plates are coming. With a late-August availability. the Target ships with four 17-round mags while 21-rounders are offered. MSRP is $875.

“It’s the most accurate APX we’ve ever built,” said Stern.

Another APX line extension is the Centurion-length RDO with a 3.7-inch barrel and the same optic-capability as the Target and existing RDO models. When the red dot is not mounted, the sleek APX profile can be maintained with an included blank plate to provide a smooth surface on the slide top. MSRP is $725 and it ships with two 15-round magazines.

The APX Centurion Combat is essentially the Centurion APX RDO with a factory standard 1/2×28 TPI threaded barrel. It is also a new catalog item.

The suppressor-ready APX Centurion Combat at play. Of note, Beretta owns Burris and Steiner.

Also announced are the APX Centurion (5.19-inches high) and APX Compact (4.5-inches high) in an FDE finish with 15- and 13-round mags, respectively. Beretta introduced a factory FDE option to their Full-Sized APX models earlier this year, which proved to be a hit.

Apparently, everyone loves that flat dark earth. Note the grip-length difference in the APX Centurion, top right, with the APX Compact, top left.

Beretta introduced their single-stack APX Carry in April. It ships with two magazines– one extended eight-round and one six-round with a pinky extension — plus one flush baseplate. Due to its size, it lacks an accessory rail, but its overall length is just 5.63-inches. Weight is 20-ounces, unloaded. As far as 9x19mm handguns go, it is one of the smallest on the market.

The Beretta APX Carry is a single-stack with options

Except for the APX Target, which is still a month or so away from a ship date, the rest of the new APX models are in stock at Beretta and on their way to dealers and distributors.

To check out our great line of Beretta handguns, you are just one click away.

The post Beretta Grows APX Pistol Line with Target, RDO, FDE Models appeared first on Guns.com.

Four Colt wheelguns are now on the approved handgun roster for California residents. (Photos: Colt)

Connecticut-based Colt on Friday announced that four of their Cobra-series revolvers have been greenlighted for sale on the California consumer market.

The models, the 2-inch stainless .38 Special Cobra, the 3-inch .357-Magnum King Cobra, and two models of the Night Cobra, recently passed the California Department of Justice’s certification testing and were added to the state’s roster of approved handguns. Due to the state’s controversial microstamping requirement for semi-auto pistols, the quartet of Colt wheel guns are the company’s only handguns on the list.

“We have a loyal customer base in California, and we are following state-mandated protocol to ensure as many of our models as possible are available to them,” said Justin Baldini, Colt’s director of marketing. “We are happy to know that California residents will have the chance to become Colt owners and we encourage them to stop by any of our stocking dealers. We plan to see additional models approved soon.”

The models include the standard Cobra, which was introduced in 2017, its larger brushed stainless steel King Cobra brother, which was unveiled earlier this year, and the matte black DLC coated bobbed-hammer Night Cobra in two models– one with G10 grips and night sights and the other with a brass bead front and hyena brown grips.

Check out our videos on each, below.

Be sure to browse our extensive collection of new and used Colt handguns in the Guns.com Vault. 

The post Colt: 4 New Cobra Revolver Models Approved for California Sales appeared first on Guns.com.

Sig Sauer and FN have both gotten the thumbs up this month from Pentagon purchasing agents as winners of contracts worth over $9 million each. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Big names in the gun industry, Sig Sauer and FN, have gotten the nod from the Department of Defense on multi-million dollar contracts this month.

On July 17, Newington, New Hampshire-based Sig pulled down a $9.3 million modification under a previously awarded contract for the U.S. Special Operations Command. The mod covers an in-scope change to the internal reticle of the Squad-Variable Powered Scope to add a glass etched reticle. The initial SFP S-VPS program award last October, as detailed by Soldier Systems Daily, used the Sig TANGO 6 as the second focal plane portion of the platform. The TANGO 6 has also been tapped to be the glass for the Army’s new Squad Designated Marksman Rifle.

Meanwhile, Columbia, South Carolina-based FN on July 26 picked up a $10.5 million firm-fixed-price U.S. Army contract for receiver cartridges. The five-year contract with no option periods, set to run through 2024, details that work will take place at the company’s Palmetto State factory. FN currently provides a range of weapon platforms to the military including the M4 Carbine as well as the M249, M240 and M2 machine guns.

Speaking of machine guns, the Army announced last Friday that BCF Solutions of Arlington, Virginia, and Trijicon of Wixom, Michigan will compete for a $48.8 million contract for mounted optic mounts on the M2 and M2A1 heavy machine guns, the M240 family of general-purpose machine guns, and the MK19 grenade launcher.

The post Sig Sauer, FN, Score High-Dollar Pentagon Contracts appeared first on Guns.com.

For this cartridge analysis, we are going to look at the .338 Lapua and the .50 BMG. These two long range rifle calibers are heavy duty rounds that fulfill a very specific purpose in the shooting world. When a shooter needs heavy stopping power over extreme long-distance ranges, he looks for cartridges such as these. […]

The post .338 Lapua vs .50 BMG – When To Use Each Caliber appeared first on Gun News Daily.

The EVO3 carbine has an overall length of thirty-four inches and features a metal receiver with a fiber-reinforced polymer exterior. It features ambidextrous controls. The barrel is 16.2 inches, cold hammer forged and is factory installed with a compensating muzzle break or faux suppressor. The ½-28 threads allow user installation of a third-party muzzle brake, […]

The post These Are The Best Pistol Caliber Guns Out There appeared first on Gun News Daily.

Given that so much gun policy research is explicitly funded by individuals hostile to our right to keep and bear arms, gun owners are right to be skeptical of academics who delve into the topic. However, there are times when well-respected academics have proven confident enough to challenge the prevailing left-wing orthodoxies on gun control. Such is the case with recent pieces from Northeastern University Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy James Alan Fox and Harvard Kennedy School of Government Research Fellow Thomas Abt.

Whenever a tragedy strikes that involves a firearm, no matter how statistically rare the event may actually be, you can count on anti-gun extremists to try to exploit it. The responses from those opposed to the Second Amendment upon hearing that a fatality resulted when a firearm was used by a criminal, or accessed by someone who should not have access, tend to sound fairly similar. If a ban isn’t the response selected from the handful of ideas gun control advocates have been promoting for decades, then added restrictions on law-abiding gun owners is the policy du jour. Restricting access to guns is a very popular notion among those who feel there should be far less freedom when it comes to responsible gun ownership.

On July 22, New Zealand’s Labour-led government announced a wide array of new gun control proposals. The move came amidst the island nation’s ongoing program to confiscate commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms from law-abiding gun owners that will last through December 20. The government’s most recent attack on gun owners is likely to engender further civil disobedience to the firearm confiscation scheme

Comparing ammunition is always an interesting and difficult task. Many shooters can easily tell you their favorite firearms and nearly all of them can provide reasons for their choices, but the choice of ammunition is just as critical yet rarely ever gets the same attention. Comparing the .300 Blackout to the .300 Win Mag is […]

The post .300 Win Mag vs .300 Blackout: Quick ‘n Dirty Comparison appeared first on Gun News Daily.

A 7-Eleven customer shot two people who were allegedly trying to rob the Virginia Beach convenience store early Thursday morning, killing one of them and injuring the other, according to witnesses and police. The store is located in the 100 block of South Newtown Road.

Three days after a New Hampshire homeowner opened fire on a stranger who had broken into his home, a similar situation unfolded just a few miles away in the same city. In broad daylight Wednesday afternoon, a man held an attempted burglar at gunpoint while his two kids witnessed the entire ordeal.

A conservative think-tank took aim at denim maker Levi Strauss & Co. over their stance on gun control during a recent shareholders meeting. The National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project (FEP) says they have taken to attending shareholder meetings with the intent to get companies to advance "free market ideals" such as gun rights.

Robert Green is a former LEO who now teaches the Texas License to Carry class. Being in law enforcement gave Green the opportunity to carry several different models of handgun throughout his career. He has carried everything from a SA Kimber to DAO Glocks. The firearm he chooses to carry as a private citizen is the Sig Sauer P229 and the caliber he chooses is .357 SIG.

The reason he likes the P229 pistol is because of the long double-action trigger pull. During his career he has seen many people engage a trigger before they are on target due to the light trigger pull of their gun, this is why he thinks the long double-action trigger of the P229 is ideal. He chooses to carry the gun in a Bianchi pancake style holster in the 3 o’clock position. The holster includes a thumb break for added retention of the firearm.

Green has a few different holsters he likes to use depending on the situation and dress attire he finds himself in. “You should absolutely pick a holster that is specifically made for your firearm and for that model,” Green said. To accommodate his IWB holster he buys his pants one inch larger in the waist so he can accommodate the extra room the gun will need.

His P229 came with both a .40 S&W barrel and a .357 SIG barrel and that is when he decided to research the ballistic properties of both calibers. Green chooses the .357 SIG because it’s a smaller caliber bullet necked down to fit a .40 caliber casing. The result is a greater muzzle velocity from the .357 SIG.

What do you think of Green’s choice of carry and holster options? Do you agree with his philosophies on the .357 SIG vs .40 S&W? Sound off and let us know in the comments below.

The post Sig P229 is What This Former LEO Chooses to Conceal Carry appeared first on Guns.com.

On July 28th, the following anti-gun bills will go into effect in Washington:

Guns commonly available on the consumer market in 43 states are banned for ownership in California, a prohibition upheld this week by a federal judge (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

A federal judge this week upheld California’s ban on many popular semi-auto firearms, saying they were “essentially indistinguishable from M-16s.”

The order, in a case brought by several gun owners in 2017 seeking to declare California’s “assault weapon” ban unconstitutional, saw U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton side with the state’s point of view. Staton, extensively citing briefs in the case from anti-gun groups such as the Brady Center, Everytown and Giffords, found that semi-autos banned either by name or cosmetic features such as collapsible stocks or muzzle brakes were basically military-grade hardware.

“Because the Court concludes that semiautomatic assault rifles are essentially indistinguishable from M-16s, which Heller noted could be banned pursuant to longstanding prohibitions on dangerous and usual weapons, the Court need not reach the question of whether semiautomatic rifles are excluded from the Second Amendment because they are not in common use for lawful purposes like self-defense,” said Staton, an appointment by President Obama. Prior to stepping up to the federal bench, Staton was a lawyer in private practice in San Francisco and a California Superior Court judge appointed by Gov. Gray Davis just before he was recalled.

Staton also quoted that the rate of fire of such guns, listed in the order as “300 to 500 round per minute rate” makes semiautomatic rifles “virtually indistinguishable in practical effect from machineguns.”

Not cited in Staton’s order was research filed in the case from the National Shooting Sports Foundation that no less than 15 million modern sporting rifles were built or imported between 1990 and 2015 and some 93 percent of gun retailers surveyed sold such firearms. The trade group has long held the guns are among the most popular in the country and have been sold on the commercial market since at least the 1960s.

The case is likely to be appealed further to the U.S. 9th Circuit, which is currently undergoing a shift in polarity in the wake of at least six new judges appointed by President Trump in recent months, over the howls of California’s delegation to the U.S. Senate, Democrats Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein notably organized the now-expired federal assault weapon ban while Harris, during her stint as California’s Attorney General, enforced the state’s AWB.

California is one of only seven states to have such bans.

The post Federal Court: Semi-autos ‘Indistinguishable’ from M-16s appeared first on Guns.com.