Doing Our Part
FMG Publications, our corporate entity that publishes GUNS Magazine, American Handgunner and Shooting Industry, had a problem: a bunch of Mossberg shotguns we used at the “Shooting Industry Masters Competition” over the years. The event was one of the most popular in the industry but it simply grew too expensive and time-consuming to organize for our relatively small company. Now, rather than let the guns — donated for the event by Mossberg! — gather any more dust, we donated them to the 4-H Shooting Sports Program in Carson City, NV. Here’s a letter and pic from Tom Crowley, one of the leaders with the program:
“As promised here are some pictures of some of the 4-H youth enjoying the Mossberg shotguns you sent. The weather was finally good enough to take the kids to the trap range. Many of the youth had never used a shotgun. The kids learned very quickly, and started to enjoy breaking clays. Again thank you for the shotguns. The guns are now a valuable asset to the Douglas County 4-H Shooting Sports program.”
Pardon Our Bragging
Slip-ups like the one below drive Your Humble Editor several steps closer to clinical psychosis but in the end I’m still smiling because, occasional goofs aside, GUNS Magazine is on a real roll! If you hadn’t noticed, the great-looking July issue had an additional eight pages because we sold significantly more advertising. Though some readers don’t like ads, most folks realize they help pay the bills and are a necessary part of any publication (and many readers actually value such things!). The fact GUNS has never cut back on ink or paper quality and was “forced” to add pages at a time when many competitors are facing hard times means we’re all optimistic about the future here at GUNS. Thanks to all of you for staying loyal — or recently joining our “family.”
Darn It!
When putting together 80-plus pages of America’s Greatest Gun Magazine each month, we come close to batting 1.000 in terms of grammar, spelling and fact-checking beyond the usual editing, photo correcting and layout. Unfortunately we recently did make a boo-boo and, as usual, our eagle-eyed readers spotted the slip-up! In the Gun of the Month (GOM) spread in the July issue of GUNS, we had a picture of our great giveaway pistol, the Walther PPQ SC. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line in the production process, the pistol’s interchangeable backstraps were removed from the photo. Rest assured, the PPQ SC does come with both a medium and large backstrap insert. Sorry Walther!
Co-Dependent or Not?
We recently saw a rather unusual report from an equally unusual source. The personal-finance website WalletHub recently released their report which ranks the states as most (and least) dependent on the gun industry. The rankings take into account 17 metrics such as firearms industry jobs per capita and gun sales per 1,000 residents, though based on the results, I’d say sales and ownership weighed the heaviest. Here are the bottom feeders: #50 New Jersey, #49 Rhode Island, #48 New York (can you believe it?). On the positive side of the scale, here are the top five: #5 Arkansas, #4 Wyoming, #3 South Dakota, #2 Alaska and #1 was Idaho. You can read the entire report at www.wallethub.com
Why Should Animals Have It Better?
Many privacy experts and common folks have a real problem with the automated facial recognition software increasingly employed by government and private agencies to track people. Used for everything from counter-terrorism to targeted marketing, “they” can now identify and track us around the clock, for better and worse. In perhaps one of the most inventive applications of the technology, Spypoint and Moultrie are now marketing cellular trail cameras that can identify specific species of animals and then notify you instantly. Currently the cameras can only discriminate deer from hogs or turkey but insiders tell us we are only a year or two away from the cameras actually detecting individuals based on things like antler pattern. Imagine the day when, “Yep, old #27-994A is on the move!” becomes part of our normal hunting banter. Insert your own opinion here.
This is Cool
On the technology front, it was recently announced Hornady had received two patents for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) used in their line of RAPiD gun safes. Tiny, unpowered RFID chips are commonly used in department stores as anti-theft devices and in access cards or dongles used to enter secured areas (such as my local 24-hour gym). Hornady meanwhile had the brilliant idea to use RFID chips to open gun safes, preventing unauthorized access but instant access for proper users. The chips used for the gun safes come in wristbands, key fobs and decals. Hornady says the decals are often attached to the back of mobile phones so a quick swipe of the phone means instant access to your bedside firearm.
