NSSF: Aiming for Accuracy

Waterfowl Guns Tested in the N.Y. Times. That's Right, The Times!

In the newspaper's Styles section today, above the fold and above a story about yoga and with a headline of "For the Holiday Hunter-Gatherer" (echoing the eco-friendly nature of the paper) is a gear test on waterfowl guns. The Times’ treatment is not much different than you'd see in any hunting magazine.

The Times' story starts . . .

There are 2.3 million people in the United States who hunt migratory birds, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. And in many parts of the country it is duck hunting season. Waterfowl guns are now more versatile than ever, with features that let hunters use shells of various sizes and keep a tighter pattern to their shots at longer ranges.

Beretta, Browning, Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing, Weatherby and Tristar Sporting Arms waterfowlers are reviewed by Paul Hunt, a hunter and police sergeant from Massachusetts. Bill Lyons, chairman of the state's Ducks Unlimited chapter, explains why the shotguns are camo dipped. Bass Pro Shops in Foxborough handled the transfers.

View the story as a slide show online.

Do we think this is the start of trend at The Times? No, we don't.

But if it were, we say, watch out, Outdoor Life!

Attorney General Backpedals on 'Assault Weapons'

From NSSF's weekly e-newsletter Bullet Points:

ATTORNEY GENERAL RETREATS ON COMMENTS ABOUT 'ASSAULT WEAPONS' BAN . . . Attorney General Eric Holder is retreating on the comments he made in February to reinstate the so-called ban on assault weapons, The Hill reports. Back in February, Holder said, "As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons."

Subscribe to Bullet Points.

"AR-style Rifles Spurring Some Debate"

In a story of that title, outdoor editor Bob Frye of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review looks at the growing popularlity of hunting with AR-style rifles and whether states like Pennsylania, which currently does not allowing hunting with semi-automatic rifles, will eventually change their regulations. Read the story.

Also, NSSF President Steve Sanetti talks about NSSF's recently launched education campaign about "modern sporting rifles" in a Shooting Industry Magazine article.

More Women Learning About Concealed Carry

With his story "Women Aim for Protection in Female-only Concealed Pistol Classes," Howard Meyerson of the Grand Rapids Press illustrates the growing interest among women in taking classes designed to teach safe and responsible handgun ownership. It's a trend that also can be seen in NSSF's First Shots program, where a recent study of program participants revealed that 74 percent of women who enrolled in First Shots classes were motivated by an interest in personal protection.

Watch the video, too, that accompanies Mr. Meyerson's story. The seminar he writes about was sponsored by the Great Lakes Outdoors Foundation.

Working to Prevent The Illegal Purchase of Guns

The video below gives a good overview of the Don't Lie for the Other Guy straw-purchase deterrent program.

Today in San Diego, the firearms industry, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will join forces to launch Don't Lie for the Other Guy. The goal of the program is twofold: to warn residents and visitors about the severe penalties associated with illegally purchasing a firearm, and to educate federally licensed firearms retailers on how to better detect and deter potential straw purchasers.

Straw purchasers are individuals able to pass the criminal background check required by federal law before the retail purchase of any firearm. However, these people are not the actual buyers of the firearm; instead, they use their good name to commit the crime of providing a gun to a person prohibited by law from possessing a one. The program's key  message is: Buy a gun for someone who can't and buy yourself 10 years in jail.

Over the past year, the Don't Lie program has been rolled out in Texas cities along Rio Grande, plus Houston, San Antonio and Tucson. The program was jointly developed by ATF and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Hunting with ARs--The New Paradigm

Ed Rasimus on his Thunder Tales blog draws attention to the rising popularly of hunting with AR-15-platform rifles. He calls it "The New Paradigm."

We agree. See NSSF's recently launched educational campaign on Modern Sporting Rifles, and pass on the fact card and the video on the campaign's Web site. A four-page insert runs in major sporting magazines such as Field and Stream, Outdoor Life and Petersen's Hunting this month and next.

Thanks to Say Uncle for the reference to Ed's blog post.

New NSSF Long-form AR-15 Educational Video

The National Shooting Sports Foundation's educational campaign on modern sporting rifles has added a new long-form video (long for the Web anyway, five minutes) to accompany its 30- and 60-second messages. The campaign is designed to reach a wide audience in the hunting and target shooting community, with emphasis placed on educating sportsmen whose preference for traditional-looking firearms can lead them to misunderstand AR-15-platform rifles and to even describe them as "assault weapons," which inadvertently lends support to elected officials and organizations who want to ban these rifles.

Some hunters or target shooters may not care to use AR-15-platform rifles. That's OK; we all have our preferences for certain firearms and the right to own the guns we choose. What's damaging to all gun owners, however, is when sportsmen label ARs as "evil" or "bad" guns because they look different from traditional rifles. In doing so they assist gun-ban initiatives that could affect the rights of others to own the type of firearm they prefer--AR-platform rifles--which are favored by younger hunters and shooters, precisely the group on which the future of those activities rests. Traditionalists should be aware that legislation that could ban AR-15-type rifles could sweep up traditional-looking semi-automatic rifles and shotguns (and even handguns) in its net.  

The campaign's four-page educational insert on the modern sporting rifle, which tracks how military rifles of a certain era became popular civilian sporting rifles, will hit in sporting magazines ranging from Field & Stream and Outdoor Life to Petersen's Hunting and Gun Dog, among others. The point is that today's modern sporting rifle is just another step in the long history of the military-to-civilian sporting rifle evolution.

For this campaign to have a widespread effect on changing attitudes toward AR-15-platform rifles and to clear up misunderstanding about them (for example, their operation is semi-automatic, not full automatic, with only one round fired with each pull of the trigger), the campaign needs advocates who are willing to correct individuals—your friends, reporters, elected officials—who are misinformed about these rifles. A helpful pocket fact card available at www.nssf.org/msr can assist that effort. Consider sending the fact card to your local, state and Congressional representatives. 

As NSSF President Steve Sanetti has said, "We ask everyone who values their gun ownership rights to correct misunderstandings about the use and operation of these modern sporting rifles. If we let misinformation go unchecked, we only assist those who would ban ownership of these and other types of semi-automatic firearms, like your duck-hunting shotgun. We can't let that happen."

Two Major Newspapers, Which One Got It Right?

When it comes to knowing the difference between fully automatic and semi-automatic firearms, the mainstream media can't seem to get it right. As one reporter, who in a recent story wrote "machine gun" to describe a semi-automatic rifle, said, "I was using the term loosely." Maybe we are using the term "reporter" loosely to describe that individual.

Read these differing accounts of patients slain at a drug rehab center in Mexico that appeared in today's issues of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal:

The Times: "Several masked men armed with automatic weapons stormed into a drug rehabilitation center . . . ."

WSJ: "Gunmen armed with semi-automatic rifles burst into a drug rehabilitation center . . . ."

Well, which one is it, automatic or semi-automatic?

Reporters who want to know the difference (and there is a big difference) can refer to NSSF's "Writer's Guide to Firearms and Ammunition," available online or as a printed booklet, both free of charge.

Reporters confuse these two terms most often when attempting to describe a modern sporting rifle based on the AR-15 platform, which has a semi-automatic action capable of firing only one round with each pull of the trigger. These civilian rifles look like military rifles capable of fully automatic fire--a machine gun--but their similarities are cosmetic only. The modern sporting rifle one of today's most popular rifles and used for hunting and target shooting.

We believe that professional reporters want to get their facts correct and that mistakes of this sort happen because America’s urban-based media has little contact with firearms and, consequently, does not fully understand their uses or operation. NSSF offers itself as a resource to all media who want to report accurately about firearms and firearms-related issues and makes a number of resources available in the Media Resources Section of its Web site.

Here are the definitions:

ACTION, AUTOMATIC
A firearm that loads, fires and ejects cartridges continually as long as the trigger is depressed and there are cartridges available in the feeding system (i.e., magazine or other such mechanism). Automatic action firearms are machine guns. Note: Since 1934 it has been unlawful to sell or possess an automatic firearm without special permission and licensing from the federal government, in addition to other requirements.

ACTION, SEMI-AUTOMATIC
A firearm in which each pull of the trigger results in a complete firing cycle, from discharge through reloading of the chamber. It is necessary that the trigger be released and pulled for each cycle. These firearms are also called “auto-loaders” or “self-loaders.” The discharge and chambering of a round is either blowback operated, recoil operated or gas operated. Note: An automatic-action firearm loads, discharges and reloads as long as ammunition is available and the trigger is depressed. A semi-automatic firearm only discharges one cartridge with each squeeze of the trigger.

Educating Reporters Two at a Time about AR-15 Rifles

Dear Amanda Lee Myers and Terry Tang,

As Associated Press reporters, I know you want to "get it right."

However, it's utterly incorrect to say an AR-15 rifle is an "assault weapon," as is done several times in your story yesterday headlined, "Man carrying assault weapon attends Obama protest."

An AR-15-style rifle is not an assault weapon.

An assault weapon is a fully automatic firearm--a machine gun that, as long as the trigger is depressed, will continuously fire until the magazine is empty. Fully automatic firearms have been severely limited from civilian ownership since 1934.

An AR-15-style rifle, on the other hand, functions as a semi-automatic. It fires only one round with each pull of the trigger--just like countless other semi-automatic firearms that millions of Americans own legally for hunting, target shooting and self-defense. AR-15s are among the most popular firearms selling today and can rightfully be called today's modern sporting rifle.

Granted, AR-15-style rifles look like military rifles, such as the M-16, but as good reporters it's important that you not confuse the way AR-15s and military weapons function. Unless you deliberately want your readers to be confused about this issue, which is exactly what groups wanting to ban these types of firearms are after--confusion--you should not promote misinformation by using in accurate terms.

Versions of modern sporting rifles are legal to own in all 50 states, provided the purchaser passes the mandatory FBI background check required for all retail firearm purchasers.

If you would like an introduction to learning more about AR-15-style rifles at a target shooting range with a certified instructor, the National Shooting Sports Foundation would be pleased to arrange such a seminar, as we've done for hundreds of other journalists who now understand that AR-15s are not assault weapons.

Thanks for listening.

Abraham Lincoln and So-called "Assualt Weapons"

As part of NSSF’s continuing efforts to correct misperceptions about civilian sporting rifles that look like military rifles, Doug Painter, NSSF senior advisor, puts the evolution of modern sporting rifles into perspective in a piece posted at OutdoorLife.com . . .

On an August afternoon in 1863, Christopher Spencer made his way to the White House with a rifle in hand.

The gun he was carrying, and which he had invented, was significantly different from traditional rifles of the time that could only be fired once before having to be reloaded. The new Spencer Repeating rifle could be loaded with seven cartridges in a tubular magazine and featured a lever under the trigger. When the lever was pushed down and then brought back up, the spent casing of the round that was fired was ejected and a new round was automatically fed into the chamber . . .

If the anti-gun movement had been active in the late 19th century, they may well have labeled such rapid-fire, high-capacity magazine rifles as the “assault weapons” of their day.

And it would have been as inaccurate then as it is today to label a civilian sporting rifle an “assault weapon.”

Read Doug's column.