NSSF: Aiming for Accuracy

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.

The New York Times Errs on Guns and Mexico

With its editorial "Death and American Guns in Mexico" on June 25, The Times misinformed its readers about a host of topics: federally licensed firearm retailers, the guns they sell, Mexican gun violence and the tracing of guns used in Mexican drug crimes.

The Times’ editorial starts out . . . "Drug-related murders in Mexico doubled last year, to 6,200, as cartels fight for the American addict’s dollar while relying on American gun dealers for their weapons."

For The Times to make this sweeping accusation casting federally licensed firearms retailers as the cause of the violence is a real reach and maligns small-business owners who follow the law, perform required federal background checks for all retail sales and sell firearms to responsible hunters, target shooters and those who choose to keep a gun for self-protection.

Clearly, it is the drug cartels and drug abusers who are the direct links to the violence, not law-abiding firearms retailers.

The Times implies that all gun shops and pawn brokers near the border—some 6,700 of them, all federally licensed—are corrupt, which is absurd. The truth is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives relies on retailers to provide important information to federal law enforcement to help fight gun trafficking and illegal purchasing by cartel representatives and middlemen.

For nearly a decade, retailers have been receiving training to help them better detect and prevent illegal straw purchases through a joint federal-industry program called Don't Lie for the Other Guy. Such training is valuable because illegal purchases can be difficult to deter. The GAO report acknowledges: "Because the straw purchasers are legitimately qualified to purchase guns, they can be difficult to identify by gun shop owners and clerks, absent obvious clues that would signify a straw purchase is happening." The program’s educational materials help retailers spot behavioral and verbal clues that raise red flags and give the seller pause to question whether the transaction is legitimate and, if in doubt, to deny the sale and contact ATF.

Additionally, this same program warns anyone who might be thinking of making a quick buck as a straw purchaser that it is a felony to do so. Last week in a $500,000 effort, Don't Lie for the Other Guy was rolled out in the Rio Grande Valley for the second year and in Houston to drive home the point that there are serious penalties associated with illegal purchasing, which includes up to 10 years in jail and up to $250,000 in fines. In the coming months, the campaign will be launched in Tucson, El Paso and San Diego. Jail time is a strong deterrent and the warning will cause potential straw purchasers to think twice before entering a gun shop and lying to the clerk and also when filling out the federal Form 4473 that is required before any transaction can take place. NSSF would support legislation to require mandatory minimum sentences for anyone convicted of illegally straw purchasing a firearm.

In its editorial, The Times cites the misleading "90 percent of guns traced" statistic from the recently released Government Accountability Office report on combating gun trafficking, which NSSF has previously taken to task. From The Times: "A new report to Congress traces over 90 percent of guns recovered in Mexican drug crimes in the last three years back across the border . . . "

The Times has it backwards. Some 24 percent of guns seized in Mexican drug crimes were traced, with only 22 percent having originated in the United States. Here’s the math . . .

Mexico selectively chooses guns for tracing that are most likely to have come from the United States; however, only a fraction of all guns seized by Mexican authorities are submitted for tracing. For example, about 30,000 firearms were seized in Mexico last year, of which only 7,200 were submitted to ATF for tracing, according to the GAO report. Of those, 6,700 were found to have originated in the United States. That means 76 percent of the firearms recovered in Mexico were NOT even traced, and it’s unclear where those guns came from. Even the Department of Homeland Security questioned the report’s use of misleading figures involving guns seized and traced, and that’s right in the GAO report, though not mentioned by The New York Times.

Some media have reported that some grenades and rocket launchers were seized. Such military weapons, which are certainly not available commercially in the United States, came from stocks in Central American countries or through foreign military sales, according to ATF.

The average age of guns recovered in Mexico and traced to the United States has remained at 14 years old, according to ATF, which is inconsistent with the idea that waves of new guns are flooding from manufacturers to retailers and across the border into Mexico.

The Times: "What is also clear is that the American gun dealers . . . are supplying increasingly powerful military style weapons as the cartel wars intensify."

The GAO report states that in 2008 only about 25 percent of firearms seized and traced were of that type, which amounts to about six percent of the number of firearms seized that year. It’s unlikely that today gun traffickers are having much success in acquiring common semi-automatic rifles, given that these modern sporting firearms are the hottest selling civilian rifle being sold in America and that backorders for many months exist for them at most gun stores.

One way drug cartels are acquiring guns is that in recent years as many as 150,000 Mexican soldiers, 17,000 last year alone, defected to go work for the cartels, bringing their American-made, service-issued firearms with them.

The Times: "Congress must repeal restrictions that prevent a national gun registry and bar local enforcement agencies from sharing in federal tracing information."

Here The Times takes the occasion to bring up restrictions on gun owners it has long advocated. Of course, it’s unthinkable that Congress would allow a national gun registry, which it currently prohibits, and risk the political backlash of the estimated 85 million gun owners in the country who understand that their Second Amendment rights should not be curtailed because of events happening in another country. Registration is a necessary precursor to confiscation, which is precisely what many politicians ultimately would do with many classes of firearms.

What anti-gun legislators are attempting to do, however, is repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which currently restricts the use of federal gun trace information to law enforcement agencies in order to protect the integrity of their investigations and the lives of officers. Contrary to The Times’ assertion, this tracing information can be shared between departments for investigative purposes. Those who would repeal Tiahrt want municipalities to have access to this sensitive information in order to launch nuisance lawsuits against retailers. Repealing Tiahrt is not going to happen, we are told, though there may be some changes to language in the amendment, which is reauthorized on yearly basis.

And neither The Times nor those who support repealing Tiahrt can show one police chief who was denied by ATF trace data about their community. The Times also ignores that ATF has provided Mexican law enforcement the ability to conduct traces electronically.

One key point The Times left out in its eagerness to promote gun control as the answer to Mexico’s drug-violence problems is corruption at all levels of Mexican law enforcement. Jess Ford, GAO’s director of international affairs and trade, told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, "Despite President [Felipe] Calderon's efforts to combat organized crime, extensive corruption at the federal, state and local levels of Mexican law enforcement impedes U.S. efforts to develop effective and dependable partnerships with Mexican government entities in combating arms trafficking."

Progress is being made, however, as untrustworthy employees are purged and the cartels are pressured more than ever, yet government officials acknowledge in the report that "implementing . . . reforms will take considerable time, and may take years to effect comprehensive change."

So it’s not 90 percent of Mexican guns used in crime that are coming from the United States. That’s just flat-out wrong. And the misleading "90 percent of all guns traced to Mexican drug crimes are coming from the United States" must always be clarified with "only about 22 percent of guns seized by Mexican authorities are proven to come from the United States." That’s a huge difference.

GAO study on Mexican violence promotes misinformation of firearms trafficking

The General Accounting Office (GAO) of the United States has released a study on firearms trafficking and violence in Mexico.

The report, which NSSF is still reviewing, appears to be rife with error.  Consider the following claim: “According to U.S. and Mexican government officials, these firearms have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years. For example, many of these firearms are high-caliber and high-powered, such as AK and AR-15 type semiautomatic rifles.”

These rifles, of course, are no more “powerful” or “lethal” than any other lawful rifle, and they fire ammunition that is considerably less powerful than other hunting rifles.

The report has also led to a revival of false allegations regarding recovered firearms in Mexico.  As the trade association for the firearms industry, we believe it is important to set the record straight (and separate fact from fiction):

Some 29,000 firearms were recovered in Mexico last year, of which approximately 5,000 were traced to U.S. sources.  That means more than 80 percent of the firearms recovered in Mexico were not traced to the United States. Furthermore, according to the ATF, those firearms traced were originally sold at retail not recently, but on average 14 years earlier. This is completely inconsistent with any notion that a flood of newly purchased firearms are being illegally smuggled over the border into Mexico. And let's not forget, no retail firearms sale can be made in the U.S. until after a criminal background check on the purchaser has been completed.

In recent years as many as 150,000 Mexican soldiers, 17,000 last year alone, defected to go work for the drug cartels -- bringing their American-made service-issued firearms with them. It has also been well documented that the drug cartels are illegally smuggling fully automatic firearms, grenades and other weapons into Mexico from South and Central America. Such items are not being purchased at retail firearms stores in the United States.

It should be noted, even the Department of Homeland Security (following a review of the GAO report) found the statistics cited to be misleading. The Department specifically called into question the GAO claim that "87 percent of firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced over the past 5 years originated in the United States." The DHS responded to this claim by saying, "DHS officials believe that the 87 percent statistic is misleading as the reference should include the number of weapons that could not be traced. Numerous problems with the data collection and sample population render this assertion as unreliable (page 69)."

Although it’s understandable that Mexican authorities and sympathetic American agencies are frustrated with cartel-related violence, it is wrong for anyone to blame the Second Amendment and America’s firearms industry for those problems.

Members of the firearms industry take seriously the criminal acquisition and misuse of their products. This is why our industry supports the Southwest Border Violence Reduction Act of 2009, sponsored by Sen. Bingaman (D-NM), and will continue to work cooperatively with law enforcement. For nearly a decade, our industry has partnered with the ATF in a national campaign called Don’t Lie for the Other Guy that makes the public aware that it is a serious crime to illegally straw purchase a firearm. The program also helps ATF to educate firearms retailers to be better able to detect and prevent illegal straw purchases. Senior executives from NSSF will be continuing the acclaimed Don’t Lie campaign next week in both the Rio Grande Valley (Texas) and Houston (Texas).

Going through the full GAO report will take some time, but no one should be under any illusions; from what we’ve read so far, facts take a backseat to unfounded allegations and hyperbole.

Excellent Video About "Assault Weapons"

Read Ted Novin's October 13 post that discusses misinformation about so-called "assault weapons" and then watch this very good video by a San Jose (Calif.) police officer who effectively explains the differences between fully automatic military rifles and semi-automatic military look-alike rifles and why there is confusion about them. View it on You Tube or below.