“Down” Can Be Deceptive
State of the Industry
Insider Guns
A line of barrels waiting patiently at the Savage Arms Factory.
The BATF has released the final 2017 figures for firearm production in the U.S and, regardless how you spin the numbers, things are trending down. However, there is more than meets the eye.
In 2017, 7.5 million guns were built in the U.S. However, firearm production was down 15 percent compared to 2015 and down a significant 29 percent from 2016.
A little more unsettling news — 2017 saw the fewest shotguns produced since 2008 and the fewest rifles produced since 2011. Overall, the U.S. hasn’t produced less than 8 million guns since 2011.
However, aside from anecdotal evidence the firearms industry is doing just fine, it’s worth noting 2017 production was still 95 percent higher than 2007! This number isn’t a typo — double the number of guns were built compared to 10 years earlier.
Overall, numbers are down, significantly in some cases, and the anti-gun folks will pounce on these statistics. However, we’re still riding a historical wave of firearms fabrication and most industry observers think we’re just finally settling down to “realistic” numbers based on average long-term demand — at least until the next round of anti-gun politicians take up the reins of power!
insider gun
Insider gun
Help The Kids
We all want to help abused and less-fortunate kids but so many social help organizations today are tacitly or overtly anti-gun. Fortunately, there is one charity group which believes kids and the responsible use of firearms are a good mix: the Happy Trails Children’s Foundation.
Founded by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, the foundation runs a home for abused kids in California. More importantly, the Happy Trails Children’s Foundation is the only known children’s charity in the country actively supporting shooting sports, Second Amendment Rights and responsible gun ownership.
If you’d like to help, you can participate in their 22nd annual “Tribute to Dale Evans, Queen of the West” raffle. Tickets are $10 apiece (11 for $100) and you might win a matched pair of commemorative Single Action Army revolvers donated by Colt, complete with a museum-quality holster rig. The set is spectacular, even if you’re not a big SAA fan!
The raffle ends Dec 14th, 2019. For tickets or more info, call 760-240-3330 or visit www.happytrails.org
MSR
An MSR, in this case a Robar PolymAR-15.
Good Point — Or Not?
Leave it to our frequent correspondent Gary Reeder of Gary Reeder Custom Guns to call things as he sees them.
He recently mentioned an incident wherein a lady entered his shop looking for a “Modern Sporting Rifle.” Gary noted they didn’t have an MSR but did have several AR-15s. She left the store highly confused even though Gary finally explained they were the same thing.
Edited for length, the letter continues:
“That has bothered me ever since. Are we so afraid of the anti gunners that we have to make up a name for the most popular rifle in the United States, if not the world? Are we so afraid the anti gunners will see that we have and use AR-15s? If we start making up names so they won’t see that we have and use AR-15s, then the war is over. We have lost…. And I fault the gun magazines for much of this. I for one refuse to hide my progun feelings behind the words Modern Sporting Rifle. An AR-15 is an AR-15. ’Nuff said.”
As background, the term MSR was conceived as a way to make the “Evil Black Rifle” more palatable to the ignorant masses. In this regard, I think it worked. On the other hand, Gary raises a good point — appeasement is often the first step down a slippery slope.
To use a relevant metaphor, the “other side” typically brings a nuclear weapon to the fistfight when discussing gun control, so maybe we need to do likewise and quite mincing words? On the other hand, “Winning friends and influencing people” is often simply a matter of not bludgeoning people with highly charged language.
I’m sure there is a diversity of opinions on the matter — so let’s hear ’em!
Insider Mag
The aptly named Commufornia magazine
If you live in California and need a legal AK-47 feeding device, you might check with XTech Tactical and their new “Commufornia” magazines. The mags are not only California-compliant but also poke the “Nanny-State” government in the eye and help the fight for 2A rights!
The magazines are polymer or polymer-and-steel and marked as 10-rounders. They have a reduced spring and blocker which prevent the magazine from functioning if removed, so they can be possessed in our Left-Coast Socialist Paradise (sorry, California GUNS readers!).
The company specifically avoided producing Cali-compliant mags previously but decided a legal version might help draw attention to the plight of “Normal Capacity” magazines in the state. They also vow to donate a dollar from each mag sold to Gun Owners of America (GOA) to help defend the Second Amendment.
GUNS Editor Brent T. Wheat and R. Lee Ermy.
A squinting GUNS Editor Brent T. Wheat and R. Lee Ermy.
Oscar Snub
File this under “Gee-whiz, Captain Obvious” — Political Correctness once again reared its rotting, pus-filled head at the recent Academy Awards ceremony. During the annual “Who we lost” segment recounting stars who passed in the previous year, several notable omissions occurred. One of the biggest snubs was our favorite actor and staunch 2A advocate, R. Lee “Gunny” Ermy. In spite of a long film/television history and an enormously recognizable persona, Gunny was left off the list for what we imagine are obvious reasons.
Also “forgotten” were Glen Campbell and Adam West, the original Batman. Coincidentally, both are associated with firearms or weapons in their best-known acting roles. Oh, the horror!
Isn’t it ironic the industry makes billions of dollars using firearms but won’t acknowledge it under penalty of rejection and excommunication?
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