Current Events in the Gun Industry

The old saying that “it’ll take an act of congress to get this done” sometimes actually works out. The 2008 110th US Congress approved a special silver dollar to be minted commemorating the US Infantry, and this weekend it finally came out. Now through March 19 they are $5 off the list price of $54.95 for proof coins, and $49.95 for uncirculated coins. They will only be minted in 2012, and the US Mint is authorized to make up to 350,000 of them, at the mint in West Point, NY. According to the downloadable PUBLIC LAW 110–357—OCT. 8, 2008, they are 90% silver and 10% copper.

This page is going to be the central location for all the SHOT Show giveaways we can come up with . If you want instant notifications when new giveaways are posted, you should log into your Facebook account, and “Like”: GunsAmerica on Facebook There will be surprise giveaways from some of these GunsAmerica Partner Companies, [...]

As the New Hampshire primary approaches nobody should question who the real 2nd Amendment candidate is. It is Ron Paul. The mainstream media is ignoring Ron Paul as a viable candidate, and many of them have come right out and admitted that they will skip over covering Ron Paul no matter how many votes he gets, but you can’t silence the people forever. I don’t expect that Ron Paul will win my former home state of New Hampshire. But if you plan to vote in a primary this election and you vote for anyone other than Ron Paul, be very clear that you are not voting for a Constitutional America, and you are not voting for 2nd Amendment freedom.

We don’t do a lot of opinion pieces in the GunsAmerica Blog. This is the first one in fact. New York City’s mayor Bloomberg announced the results of a new sting conducted by his office today, focusing on internet gun sales. He is using the same tactics he has employed to go after legal gun sales at gun shows, implying that American gun owners are by nature dishonest and willing to break the law to sell their firearms. Would you break a federal law for $450, or even ten times that? Probably not. American gun owners are law abiding citizens and proud of our long history of supporting law enforcement and the laws as they are written, even if we disagree with them.

As usual, the facts are skewed all over the place, vague where Bloomberg chooses to be vague, and specific and factual where he has an anecdotal soundbyte or video clip he can play. Thankfully they do not appear to involve GunsAmerica sellers, but this is only the tip of the iceberg and if we don’t say something nobody will. Unfortunately Diane Sawyer and the talking heads at ABC News don’t question the sketchy report as usual, and we have received no questions from them, from law enforcement or from Mayor Bloomberg’s office to request for comments. CNN seems to have lost the picture of me from 1999, but you may remember that Chuck Schumer tried to regulate internet gun sales back then. The article is here, and they even brought me into a little secret CNN studio in Boston to do an interview. As I explained to Mr. Schumer back then, the gun grabbers just don’t have their facts straight. American gun owners by and large are overwhelmingly honest and law abiding. At least Schumer in 1999 wasn’t deliberately manipulating the facts for political gains.

I wonder why GunsAmerica is not mentioned? Could it be that Bloomberg targeted unknown, old, dead and dying websites that have no supervision over who comes and goes, then targeted specific ads that appear to have been placed by people who own but know little about guns? He does mention Craigslist, which of course has a NO GUNS POLICY, similar to Ebay, Amazon and other national online for-sale and auction websites. And the article does mention our only major competitor, Gunbroker, as if they are the Kleenex of internet gun sales, but according to Compete.com, it is GunsAmerica that has the most unique visitors looking for guns these days, even without a NASCAR sponsorship. Go figure.

Bloomberg says that the BATFE is not doing their job, be we know they are, and they do it well. We are generally in weekly contact with the US Department of Justice. They know we have a “no subpoena” policy and they ask us to investigate suspect accounts all the time. We have also been involved with several cases over the years involving state and local police agencies, mostly to catch scammers who never possessed any guns, and BATF (now E) has always know that we have an open policy with anything they need from us. Since the Patriot Act, several federal agencies, including BATFE, monitor GunsAmerica every day. Over 3 million people come and go from here every month (about twice what is shown on Compete, as measured by Google Analytics). Even though we don’t agree with all of the laws, we support law enforcement efforts to catch the actual bad guys. Bad guys make law abiding American gun owners look bad, and we want them in jail as quickly as possible.

Yet despite our almost 15 year record of complete cooperation with law enforcement, no calls or emails from Bloomberg. I wonder why?

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As promised, leading up to SHOT Show 2012 we have several Facebook giveaways from several major companies in our industry. SureFire, maker of weapon lights, tactical accessories and some exciting new extreme capacity magazines has put this newest giveaway together with us and Springfield Armory to give away two (2) of the new XD(M) 3.8 Compact .45ACP pistols and two (2) SureFire X-300 weapon lights. All you need to do is add SureFire as a friend on Facebook and watch your news feed for special codes that SureFire will post to their wall. When you see the code, email it to [email protected] and you will be entered. Two random winners per day will be selected and notified. Please see the full terms and conditions for more.

If you are not a Facebook member and you have no interest in Facebook, you can still enter this giveaway by monitoring the public SureFire Facebook page and emailing the code just like anyone else. Being a Facebook member merely gives you an easy way to get the code, right in your news feed, and by adding SureFire you will learn about other things coming up from them, including surprise giveaways during SHOT Show week. Please note that neither GunsAmerica nor SureFire have any stake in Facebook and we do not encourage or discourage its use. Facebook has been very 2nd Amendment-friendly and has even removed restrictions on firearms for contests like these that had been put in by their lawyers. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world, larger than the US. We see Facebook as a fantastic outreach vehicle for the next generation of voters and salute their 2nd Amendment-friendly policies.

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GunsAmerica is instituting a new policy effective immediately that all payments to GunsAmerica sellers must be made either with a credit card, to a gun dealer, or you must use a United States Postal Service Money Order, or Orders, mailed via USPS, to the seller. It does not matter if this is an old seller or a new seller, someone whose account you have seen here for years or not. Always use USPS Money Orders mailed via USPS.

Find a USPS Inspector Office Near You! (new window)
File a Mail Fraud Complaint Online

Internet scammers fear the United States Postal Service Inspectors. They will specifically ask you to Fedex or UPS the bank issued cashier’s check to them. This method of payment is unsafe and can cost you the hard earned money you thought you were sending to a legitimate seller. Likewise any sort of bank transfer or Western Union. It is all trouble. The only law enforcement body who will stand up for you across the entire United States are the United States Postal Service Inspectors. If you use USPS money orders and mail them USPS, you generate what they call a “nexus” and if, G-d forbid, you are scammed online, they will respond to your complaint.

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For a limited time Rock River Arms will be offering a 9/11 Commemorative AR-15 exclusively through the GunsAmerica On Demand Dealer Network. It marks the 10th Anniversary of the war on America by the terrorists, and our continued commitment to the war on terror.

This beautifully engraved .223 caliber AR15-style rifle is equipped with a 16-inch lightweight chrome moly barrel with a 1:9 twist and an RRA tactical muzzle brake. It is outfitted with a Hogue rifle length free float tube and mid-length gas system with a low profile gas block, adding to the sleek look. The forged A4 upper receiver is engraved with 9/11 Tenth Year Commemoration. It has the RRA two-stage chrome trigger group and chrome bolt carrier group, RRA winter trigger guard and star safety.

The overmolded pistol grip and RRA 6-position stock add to the look and comfort of the 9/11 Commemorative Rifle. The MSRP is $1,011 and includes one mag, RRA case, manual and warranty.

The 9/11 Commemoration Rifle is available in AWB with Non-Collapsible 6-Position stock, pinned/welded tactical muzzle brake and 10 round mag for an additional $25 cost.

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I recently visited the Islands of Hawaii, putting some of my hard earned vacation dollars to work. While there, I noticed something unusual in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center in downtown Waikiki. It was a billboard ad for a shooting range, of all things, where tourists could rent guns and shoot!
Now I’m from California, and a shooting range is the next thing to an adult book store there, so I was pretty surprised to see the ad, much less in an urban shopping center. Since my interest was piqued, I had to wander up to the top floor to see what’s what.
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If you use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, it is also a great way to connect with the companies that make the stuff you love for shooting and hunting. Swarovski Optik USA is celebrating their 20th Anniversary in USA with a new Facebook promotion, exclusively through GunsAmerica. To “Like” Swarovski Optik USA North America Hunting on Facebook use: https://www.facebook.com/swarovskioptiknorthamericahunting When you invest in a Swarovski product, you not only get the best optics that money can buy, you get an American base of operations and service with over 60 employees and 20 years of experience. You get what you pay for with optics, and part of what you get with Swarovski optics is a dedicated team located in Cranston, Rhode Island, that stands behind their products and that can offer service with a very personal and meticulous approach. Check out this video on YouTube about Swarovski Optik USA. You can win a choice of an ATM or STM HD 65 spotting scope with 25-50 eyepiece OR Z5 1-inch riflescope with choice of reticle, as well as a chance at daily giveaways of Swarovski accessories and apparel. To be eligible to win the contest, you just have to “Like” the Swarovski North America Hunting page on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/swarovskioptiknorthamericahunting The promotion is for five days. Every day Swarovski will post a new “code” to their Facebook page. To enter, you email this code to [email protected] Every day 4 winners will be randomly picked from the entries and will receive Swarovski Optik swag, optics cleaning kits, hats, and other things. On the fifth day, July 30th, a final winner will be picked at 5pm from all the entries. That winner will have the option of winning the Z5 rifle scope or the 65 HD spotting scope. Be sure to enter everyday this week with each new code to win. Look for reviews of the two prize choices in our next installment of the GunsAmerica Blog Digest.