Economy of Guns

The National Shooting Sports Foundation issued today a report on the economic impact of the firearms industry.  As my favorite Meth addict/dealer/manufacturer on TV Jesse Pinkman says, "That's mad cheddar yo!". 

Indeed it is, when you see $27.8 Billion in long form ($27,846,304,300) it really is hard to fathom THAT many guns and that much ammo being sold.  But the thing that gets me is the ~ $8.6 billion increase from 2008.  That's 45%!  Fo-tay-Five!  So Barry O is roughly worth roughly $9 billion to the firearms industry and they're trying to get him voted out of office, or are they?

No, I'm not trying to start a conspiracy rumor, but one has to wonder how the folks selling arms and ammo and accessories REALLY feel about The One going for a second term?  I suppose it's up to his performance over the next couple of years.

Something I'd never thought I'd read

Mac-10 based Tactical Rifle....


I'll let that sink in....




Yeah, that's what I thought too.  WTF?  Yet there it is and this is April 7, so no April fools.  Michael Bane has a tease of what he calls a "cool little gun"  After the initial shock of a MAC-10 based Tactical Rifle subsided, I thought that it may indeed be a fun gun to shoot as there aren't a hell of a lot of .45ACP or .45anything semi-auto rifles out there.  Then again, perhaps there's a good reason for that? 

For what use would one purchase this gun for?  Plinking? Well, at $20+/box, .45ACP isn't exactly a bargain.  Home Defense?  At that length, I'd as soon have a 12guage and if I did choose a rifle, it'd probably be in .223 (which is cheaper to shoot btw) or something a little more rifle-like.

So what then?

Does a gun have to have a purpose?

I suppose not (I'm looking at you Taurus Judge).

Winter Range

Winter Range is going on as those of us in the Northern climes are still dealing with winter. Michael Bane has been all over the match with results of the Wild Bunch Match (Congrats Doc Molar & Two Sons) as well as pictures and blogging from the main match.

Some of the fun of going to a larger match is the vendors and Michael points out someone who I'd not heard of before, Joe Perkins of Outlaw Grips.  Joe was showing off the "Hand of God" grips those of you who've seen the modern remake of 3:10 to Yuma should recognize.  They make some very fine grips for Single-Action revolvers and even to inlays of Silver.  I'm kind of drooling over the bloodwood grips myself.

Get You Some

So the question of the ages has been answered, what question is that?  Why are we here?  Is there a God?  No, no, the question is "is there anything better than a M2 Browning .50cal machine gun".  You might want to get a napkin handy to wipe the drool before watching this video of the GAU-19/A .50cal General Dynamics manufactured, electrically powered Gatling Gun.

Gau 19 firing

I Just Love This Video

The thought that some crazy MFer out there decided to build a freakishly large caliber and mates it to a light rifle.  The results are hilarious.

My personal fave is the guy who gets knocked back and his glasses and muffs stay in place like a Looney Toons scene.

I'm not what you'd call a recoil junkie, I don't swagger about talking about how I like to shoot the big stuff and in fact, I don't like recoil.  But I'd love to shoot this gun, kind of a gunny extreme sport.  Maybe they could add this to the X Games?

Utterly amazing

You know, I often wonder how I'll do if the SHTF.  I can only hope to do as well as the 11 (That's ELEVEN) year old boy man in this report of a home invasion.  Seriously, there is so much we don't know, like how long the perps banged on the bedroom door and how accessible the rifle was.  But the fact that an 11 year old had the poise to remain calm enough to deliver effective shots through a door after he is shot and wounded is utterly amazing!

Kudos to you young man, you saved your mom and your own lives and sent a BG to the hospital.

I'm predicting he doesn't have much trouble in school with bullies from here on out.

H/T to Robb at Sharp As A Marble

Updates

I've just got a couple of updates.

The Indiana Senate & House passed bills that will close the hand license database from public information requests.  Thanks go to those who fought for it.  The Indystar.com's article on it mentions that this was passed over police objection.

Information that The Indianapolis Star used to discover that the state was granting gun permits to violent people -- often over the objections of police -- would be kept secret under a bill that passed the Indiana House on Tuesday.

Exactly what police are you talking about?  The rank and file officer or the political heads of departments?  In fact, I doubt you could even get a majority of police heads to say this is a bad thing.  You do notice that the article doesn't mention specifics, just that it was "often" objected to by police.  Sheesh, what good reporting there INDYSTAR.  They'll probably report that the Colts are often in the Superbowl.

More legislative WIN: The IN Senate bill 25 that prohibits employers from firing or restricting employees from having a gun locked in their vehicle passed 41-9.  Caleb has been on top of both of these bills all along and you should go read his blog to keep better up to date.

Georgia Arms update:  The Georgia Arms order from April 09 came on Friday and they mistakenly hadn't shipped everything.  I e-mailed them on Saturday and they replied back on Tuesday (closed for the weekend) and will ship the remainder or refund my money (my choice).  Overall, I can't say anything bad about them, but make certain they give you an expected delivery time for those backordered items.

April Fool

The order I placed with Georgia Arms on 4/21/2009 has shipped!

LOL

Seriously, I got a UPS shipping notification and thought what the hell?  Then I saw it was from GA and I thought, WTF did I order?  Found the confirmation, I get some .45 hollowpoints in a few days. Uh, Yeah?