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It would be very easy to think that the threat to our 2nd Amendment freedom is over now that the “assault weapon” ban has been removed from the proposed national anti-gun legislation. All we have left in the current version are “universal background checks, and everyone supports that, right? Wrong! Nobody wants guns in the hands of criminals and those who would harm others, but statistically those people don’t get their guns through legal channels, any legal channels. All this new “universal background check” scheme will accomplish is the creation of national mandatory gun registration system. Within a generation at most, every gun will be registered to an individual in America, and that is a disaster waiting to happen. Gun confiscation always follows gun registration throughout history, and there is nothing to say that today’s politician would-be dictators are any better than the despots of previous generations. And yes folks, it can happen here. It is crucial that we win this fight, and that means that everyone needs to contact their legislators by the beginning of next week. “Universal background checks” has got to be dead on arrival. The real Sandy Hook conspiracy doesn’t need a theory. We have now faced a sustained and well funded attack on our 2nd Amendment freedom that is unprecedented, and this is most likely only the beginning.

There were not a lot of rock star new guns this year at SHOT Show 2013, but one of them was the ArmaLite AR-30A1. It is an out of the box, sub-MOA sniper rifle that comes in either .338 Lapua Magnum or .300 Winchester Magnum. ArmaLite was kind enough to put us at the front of the list for testing this gun, and this week we shot the .338 Lapua Target version of the AR-30A1. Overall it not only performed flawlessly, but also handily beat every chassis and chassis-style sniper rifle we have ever tested for out of the box accuracy, recoil, ergonomics and just overall feel. The AR-30A1 is a tight, clean, long range sniper machine and will be equally at home in a SWAT truck gun rack as it will be on the line at a long range F-Class match. At a direct from ArmaLite price of $3,599, there is not an out of the box sniper rifle on the planet that compares to the AR-30A1 in this price range. I would even go so far as to challenge rifles twice the price to prove why they are worth more.

In a 1911 market that really should be saturated by now and an economy that’s arguably still struggling, Ruger is adding a Commander-size SR1911CMD for the concealed-carry gun owner who wants a quality, American-made 1911 for only $829. It used to be that if you wanted a reliable and accurate 1911, you bought a Colt and then spent more than the cost of the gun on custom gunsmithing. Depending on what you wanted, the sky was the limit. I credit Kimber with changing that in the mid-1990s when it aggressively entered the 1911 market with factory-made guns flush with all the bells and whistles and set off a race to the top that seems to still be going.

Smith & Wesson’s 2012 arrival to the micro-sized 9 mm-pistol market was fashionably late, about a year after just about every pistol company in the gun industry put out a pocketable 9mm. But while most of the competitors pared down their 9mm pocket gun, Smith & Wesson managed to keep most of the features of the full sized M&P, and this proved to be an instant hit with the army of M&P enthusiasts out there. It made perfect sense to retain as much of the M&P design as a micro-sized pistol would permit, but that took more time, and it was a tough judgement call for Smith & Wesson to debut the Shield at SHOT Show 2012 instead of 2011 when so many pocket 9mm pistols were released. A year later, just coming out of SHOT Show 2013, it seems to have paid off for Smith & Wesson. The Shield has been for the most part sold out since its introduction a year ago, and now with some serious range time on the guns, the Shield has shown to be very accurate and reliable. It is one of the few striker pistols on the market with a manual thumb safety, which almost puts the gun in a category by itself.

The word on the street lately is, “don’t worry they won’t be able to pass anything.” But yet, if you watch this video of VP Joe Biden, which is dated February 19th, only a couple days ago, he is still out there hard charging against AR-15s. This time he is giving us all advice for home defense, that we should arm our wives with a double barrel 12 gauge shotgun, “in case there is a problem,” and that said wife should shoot both barrels out the back door as a precautionary warning measure, just in case. It is a good thing his wife has never been stalked by someone sitting in his back yard with an AR-15, because after she disarmed herself and endangered her neighbors by foolishly taking Joe’s advice, she would have been a sitting duck. What a nut job this guy is, but he is clearly trying to pander to the “mommy” voting, which since the Sandy Hook crisis began have for the most part being walking in lock step behind the anti-gunners. .

Now, I’m quite sure that Joe had a private security detail even before the taxpayer funded Secret Service protection he now bilks us for, so the story is most likely a complete fabrication. The argument over shotgun vs. AR-15 is semantics, but it does show that the anti-gunners are going to attack this issue from every angle that they can, even trying to convince a Prozac infused America that they are in fact on the side of the people, with proper instructions as to how to protect your home. Here on GunsAmerica we are preaching to the choir, including a lot of you mommys out there who are proud American 2nd Amendment defenders, but every single one of you has a misguided friend that you could talk to, and now is the time to talk to them.

Gunsmithing can be a wonderful hobby, but it can also become very profitable if you keep in mind a few of the secrets to successfully operating it as a business. Here are a few of the secrets of prosperous gunsmiths.

The key to success in any business venture is knowing exactly what you want to get out of it. While that sounds really simple, it isn’t. Most people have only a vague idea of what they want to accomplish when they start on their own, and gunsmiths are no different. They know they want to be their own boss, they want to have the fun and thrill of fixing firearms and they want to make money. But, beyond that, they probably haven’t written down actual goals, like the amount of money they want to generate by the business, both gross and net, much less converting that to the number of sales, repairs, services, etc. they need to do each month to cover the expenses and put a nice profit in their pocket.

Mossberg’s Silver Reserve is a line of entry-level, break-open shotguns that cover an array of sporting shotgun activities. Models include basic field over-unders for hunting, sporting guns with competition-specific features for competitive shooting, and nostalgic side-by-sides for those who pine for simpler times.

The newest generation of Silver Reserve shotguns—the Silver Reserve II—is still modestly priced, but also has some of the special touches hunters and shooters expect on higher-quality double guns. Those features include black walnut stocks with fine-line checkering and blued barrels complemented by silver-finished receivers sporting wraparound classic scroll engraving. Functionally, the Silver Reserve II line offers chrome-plated chambers and bores, dual-locking lugs and tang-mounted safety/barrel selectors as standard features. A variety of barrel lengths and stock options are also available.

This is a video of a half hour “fireside chat” type interview with NRA President David Keene. You will most likely have to sit through a short advertisement to watch it, but it is actually very good. There are a couple points at the beginning which everyone should share with their friends and legislators, outlined below. The most disgusting thing about this mess is that it is readily apparent at this point that President Obama and the anti-gunners at Brady saw Sandy Hook as an opportunity. How disgusting is that? Is America’s 2nd Amendment freedom really going to fall victim to Michael Bloomberg’s money?

You may have read the article on Drudge that suggested this fight is over, but it is not. Contact and re-contact your legislators and tell them that we offer NO QUARTER to politicians who vote against our 2nd Amendment rights. American gun owners will not tolerate any new gun legislation as a result of the PR campaign from Sandy Hook. That means no gun bans, no magazine bans, no killing our gun shows, no stopping private interstate transfers of firearms, and NO CLASSIFYING US ALL AS CRAZY SO YOU CAN TAKE OUR GUNS AWAY.

The name Weatherby alone is enough to pique the interest of most gun enthusiasts. The company’s attention to detail and renowned reputation for long-range performance in the hunting fields is unsurpassed.

But the company launched a shotgun lineup a few years ago and heads really turned when it rolled out a synthetic-stocked, pump-action shotgun in 12 gauge for self-defense. This year the company has extended its scattergun lineup with three 20-gauge offerings—one for bird hunting, while the new pair of TRs (Threat Response) are tailored for self-defense.

The PA-08 Synthetic in 20-gauge is available with either 26- or 28-inch chrome-lined barrels, comes with a black synthetic stock and to reduce glare afield the gun is finished in matte black. Lengthened forcing cones help reduce perceived recoil, making it an easy-to-use workhorse on opening day, regardless of the weather. It’s sure to offer the same kind of performance as its 12-gauge bigger brother.