National Shooting Sports Foundation: More Children Killed by Pillows Than by Firearms
National Shooting Sports Foundation: Firearms Less Than 1.5% of Accidental Fatalities Among Children
For children and youth 14 years of age and under,unintentional injuries are the leading cause of fatality, but firearms account for the lowest cause of injury among youth.
“Tragically, 18% more children are killed by suffocation from bedding, plastic bags or small objects than guns.” said Ammoland Editor, Fredy Riehl
About NSSF
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 6,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.
Modern Sporting Rifle, Not Weapons, Among Top Tips For Gun Retailers
From our good friend Jim Shults:
Prior to my running firearm and military magazines and now a firearms industry public relation company I was literally raised in retail sporting goods operations.
Early on in my dads store I learned that customer relations is certainly key.
Later in life (after some significant PR and personnel positions in corporate management) I managed a large (at that time) sporting goods store for a major retail chain. Read more
Crimson Offers Naïve Commentary on Background Checks
Last week the University of Alabama student newspaper, The Crimson, offered a commentary on Mayors Against Illegal Guns and its “Fix Gun Checks Act.” The author of this op-ed piece titled “Gun checks necessary,” makes a bold statement:
“The Fix Gun Checks Act would make states accountable for updating their background check databases to help ensure nobody ineligible for a firearm ends up with a weapon. It would also require a background check for every American who wishes to purchase a gun, thus closing the gun show loophole.”
Let’s revisit this statement: “To help ensure nobody ineligible for a firearm ends up with a weapon.” That is probably one of the most naïve and bold statements ever written about gun control. There is absolutely no way to ensure that criminals can’t get guns. There are millions of unaccounted guns in the world, and as we have seen in places where guns are banned – China for example – there is a thriving black market.
The author also fails to address what the background check for every American means. What about a father who gives a gun to a son? Background check would be required. What about two buddies who hunt together and swap rifles? Background check would be required.
Where is the money to pay for this? There isn’t even a system in place to accomplish such background checks, and in the end it won’t work. People will ignore it and thus create a black market in the process.
Los Angeles Times Reports on “Fast and Furious” Throws in Media Misinformation
The Los Angeles Times has picked up on the “Fast and Furious” story, noting that ATF may have allowed buyers to funnel guns to Mexico. But let’s look at the Times reporting a bit closer:
“Facing new accusations that investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed buyers to funnel high-powered assault weapons into Mexico.”
The problem is that once again the mainstream media tries to make something that is not. In this case the assault weapons are not high-powered. As we’ve noted time and time again, high-powered should never be used to describe assault weapons. It isn’t akin to saying a “speedy sports car,” because in this case the adjective “high-powered” is not correct, as the firearms are “intermediate powered.”
Second, the guns are not technically “assault weapons” at all, but rather “assault weapon style” firearms. The military would not classify these as assault weapons as these are commercial versions and lack the selective fire option of true military firearms.
Saginaw Michigan Sells Forfeited Guns
A new law in Michigan gets it right. Instead of destroying forfeited guns, local authorities can auction off the firearms to raise money for the police department. The Saginaw Police Department recently sold 69 seized guns and raised $16, 323 from their sale. The money will go towards the purchase of a new patrol car.
The law requires that police departments in Michigan must sell forfeited firearms to federally licensed dealers. The guns are cleared of all evidentiary retention requirements before going up for auction. Legal owners are given a chance to recover their firearms before sale. Local authorities must post each weapon, giving a description and serial number, for 30 days before any sale.
Destroying firearms seized by police is a terrible waste. Other legal assets that are forfeited usually end up on the auction block. Why not raise money from gun sales too? With many local municipalities facing tight budgets, new ways for raising money need to be explored and implemented.
ATF Issues Manufacturing Ruling
This week the ATF issued the following press release on the issue of manufacturing. We are posting the release in its entirety and have made no edits:
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today announced a ruling that will affect any person licensed as a dealer-gunsmith performing certain processing or finishing on firearms owned and marked by a federally licensed firearms manufacturer. The ruling will also affect licensed manufacturers and licensed importers who have contracts with specialized gunsmiths to perform a variety of processes involved in producing firearms.
The ruling holds that licensed firearms dealer-gunsmiths are not engaged in a manufacturing business, and are not required to hold a manufacturers license, under certain specified conditions. The ruling was issued to address modern firearms manufacturing processes, which often involve a number of contractors other than the manufacturer whose name is marked on the firearm.
Under the ruling, licensed dealers may perform manufacturing services if (1) the firearms are not owned by the licensed dealer-gunsmith; (2) the licensed dealer-gunsmith returns the firearms to the licensed manufacturer or licensed importer upon completion of the manufacturing process and does not sell or distribute the firearms to any other person; and (3) the firearms were properly identified and marked by the importer or manufacturer in accordance with the law and regulations.
ATF Rul. 2010-10 clarifies concerns and addresses questions about activities such as bluing, anodizing, powder-coating, plating, polishing, heat and chemical treating that have caused confusion over activities requiring a federal firearms manufacturers license, firearms marking requirements, and firearms record keeping requirements.
Georgia Gun Owners: Obama, Bloomberg & Sarah Brady Propose New Gun Regulations
Statists never sleep. They never stop finding ways to curb our liberties.
Sarah Brady. Barack Obama. Michael Bloomberg will use any crisis to grab power.
They hope you are too consumed with your Christmas shopping to pay them any attention. Read more
AP Via Arizona Daily Sun Notes that Kingman County Could Change Gun Destruction Rules
According to a story from The Arizona Daily Sun (from AP), the Kingman City Council may soon vote to decide whether the city will continue the standing policy to destroy confiscated firearms or sell them. The law calls for the destruction of any firearm or deadly weapon that was used in crime.
The good news is that the ordinance could save firearms, as the Kingman Police Department would be allowed to make exceptions for weapons that could be used for training purposes or that have historic value or significance.
Firearm Sales Jump for October
Two years ago when then Senator Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, the mainstream media suggested that the rise in gun sales was because of fear he, or the Democratic held House and Senate would ban guns. Of course this never happened, yet the media cited this over and over.
But now two years later, the media is quiet on the fact that according to FBI figures, sales of firearms for the month of October increased 1.5 percent from a year ago.
According to Buckeye Firearms, via Ammoland:
The FBI has released its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figures for October 2010.
NSSF-adjusted figures (854,563) show a 1.5 percent increase over October of last year (841,631).
The adjusted NICS data were derived by NSSF by subtracting out NICS purpose-code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky and Utah for CCW permit application checks as well as checks on active CCW permit databases.
Though not a direct correlation to firearms sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data provide a more accurate picture of current market conditions.
…In addition to other purposes, NICS is used to check transactions of firearms sales and transfers on new and used handguns and long guns.
PrisonPlanet.com Reads Way Too Much Into CNBC Story
This week ConvergEx Group Chief Market Strategist Nicholas Colas noted on CNBC that America’s were buying more guns, and worried about security. But over a PrisonPlanet.com they took this story and added:
“Americans are acquiring guns, silver, and food stamps at record levels in reaction to the crumbling economy, trends indicative of a fearful public who are struggling financially and preparing for potential mass civil unrest in the aftermath of a total economic collapse.”
But that isn’t what Colas said. He noted that in addition to firearms, silver coins sales are up. People don’t buy silver coins if they think there is going to be a total economic collapse! He was also quoted on CNBC as stating:
“The consumer is still on pretty shaky ground. Confidence [is] still not all that strong, the intention to spend, still [is] not all that strong.”
That is a very far cry from fearing that next month we’ll be living like the Road Warrior! This panic mode from PrisonPlanet simply borders on the dangerous .
