GUNS Magazine, January 1957

We have often heard of persons who could do things in "less than no time," but to date we have never been permitted to observe any such performances.

The legendary (and I don't use the term cavalierly) Ed McGivern penned "My Challenge to Hollywood Hot Shots" with authority and wit when he was in his 80's (he actually died in 1957), and proposed a definitive test for some of the more fantastic quick draw claims being issued. I need to see if I can find out if anything ever resulted from his challenge.

Also in this issue:

• Confessions of a Rifle Expert
• Powerhouse of Automatic Pistols
• Kings Who Were Gun Collectors
• And much more, including the classic period ads.

The January 1957 issue of GUNS Magazine is now (finally!) online. (Posting was delayed due to everybody being preoccupied with the SHOT Show).

Pratt Warns Against NICS Expansion

The first major anti-gun bill of the new Pelosi-led Congress has already been introduced, and it could prove to be the most serious threat yet to Second Amendment Rights.

On the first full day of the new Congress, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy introduced H.R. 297, the most massive expansion of the Brady law since it passed in 1993. This is a bill that was quashed last year but under the new Pelosi House leadership, the Bill has a higher likelihood of getting passed this time.

Conducting Talk Show interviews on this topic is Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America, the nation’s second largest gun group.

Naw. We got nothin' to worry about.

Right?

Oh, and Larry? All that talk about the dangers of expanding NICS? I know you know about this.

"End Restrictions on Restrictions"

Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor joined mayors from around the country in Washington to urge an end to federal restrictions on information that could help local police track illegal guns.

Do you think Kathy & Pals might be interested in NICS purchase information? All the new democrat majority would have to do is change the law to allow the feds to retain the data and share it. Any bets our kinder, gentler "collective rights" proponent (or the likely democrat successor in '08) wouldn't sign on to that under the doctrine of "compelling state interest"?

Seems to me I read somewhere once about a way to do background checks (unconstitutional prior restraints though they be) that wouldn't have put gun owners at such risk, but the major gun groups rejected having anything to do with it...

JR's Blog of the Week: Armed and Safe

This week's Blog of The Week is Armed and Safe...What I found was another very good pro-rights blog that is well written and worth your time.

Hear, hear!

Set Phasers on "Stun" or "Kill"?

The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday unveiled what it called a revolutionary heat-beaming weapon that could be used to control mobs or repel foes in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The so-called Active Denial System causes an intense burning sensation causing people to run for cover, but no lasting harm, officials said.

Right.

I wrote in "Things to Come," (GUNS AND AMMO magazine, July 2002) about a weapon under development that, per Wired.com, "releases two ultraviolet laser beams... that paralyz[e] the skeletal muscles of people and animals up to 2 kilometers away":

The non-lethality claim is also interesting, it's just not particularly believable. It's supposedly limited to wavelengths that can't damage eyes and internal organs, but are there any doubts that a "black" R&D project devoted to wave transmissions and frequency modulations won't develop a workaround? Assuming they haven't already?

And as I also asked in that article about another weapon:

Any bets on whether one of these babies will ever make it to the civilian market?

[Via John Schaefer]

This Day in History: January 25

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress authorizes the first national Revolutionary War memorial in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who had been killed during an assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775.