A Daily News Digest With Content From Both Sides Of The Gun Debate Plus Some Brief Editorial Remarks From Our News Editor.
January 18, 2025
NRA-ILA: New government study shows that internet sales are legal.
The Trace: A ‘smart gun’ with a 3-inch radius from chip to RFID bracelet will be ‘harder to interfere with,’ according to the gun’s developer. Harder ain’t never.
January 17, 2018.
NRA-ILA: Bump-stock law moving forward in Washington State. The law could “potentially criminalize firearm modifications such as competition triggers, muzzle brakes, and ergonomic changes.” Total nonsense. Rate of fire means the mechanical design of the gun, not how fast the shooter pulls the trigger.
The Trace: Gun thefts from dealers on the rise. “Burglars nabbed 7,841 guns from licensed firearms dealers last year, about 5 percent more than in 2016.” Duhhh, the number of gun shops has also increased by nearly 20 percent over the last 5 years.
January 16, 2025.
NRA-ILA: National background checks , roughly 25 million for 2017 at an all-time high, thanks not to Obama but to Trump. Duhhh, half the checks have nothing to do with gun sales.
The Trace: “More than 100,000 people are hit by a bullet every year. Most live.” Actually, the number is around 85,000 of whom 15,000 did something stupid and shot themselves or someone else by accident.
January 11, 2018.
NRA-ILA: New Jersey wants to criminalize anyone who ‘disposes’ of a bump-stock. What the law actually says is that you can’r dispose of it by selling or giving it to someone else.
The Trace: The national gun death rate climbed to 12.0 in 2016. Excuse me but the age-adjusted rate was 11.2, which happens to be what it was in 2016.
January 9, 2025.
NRA-ILA: It was a good year for gun sales: “Interest in defense and the shooting sports clearly remains strong.” Actually, NICS gun checks declined by 15%. Real strong.
The Trace: “Thousands of gun-rights advocates have submitted public comments to the Federal Register slamming the ATF’s application to classify bump stocks as machine guns.” A whole big 2,500 comments. When ATF tried to reclassify certain .223 ammo as no longer importable, they received 80,000 comments.
January 8, 2025.
NRA-ILA: GAO report contradicts Bloomberg claim that: ” most private sellers advertising online are willing to break the law.” Bloomberg’s gun-control groups have made many comments that don’t necessarily align with all the facts, but that comment isn’t one of them.
The Trace: “As we have previously reported, there is a strong link between domestic violence and fatal shootings.” Actually the link between all homicide and guns is stronger.
January 5, 2025.
NRA-ILA: California approves law regulating sale of ammunition by dealers who ‘don’t sell guns.’ Comment: The same FFL is required for the sale of ammunition or guns.
The Trace: The Bureau ‘performed nearly 2.6 million checks last month, down from almost 2.8 million in December 2016.’ Comment: The FBI actually performed slightly less than 1.7 million background checks on guns.
January 4, 2018.
NRA-ILA: Claim is made that law-abiding gun owners have ‘much’ to fear from universal background checks because it will lead to confiscation. Comment: Not a single state which has universal background checks has ever instituted a plan to confiscate legally-owned guns.
The Trace: A new poll finds that 62% of conservative Indiana voters ‘strongly support’ existing state gun laws. Comment: How could they not support existing laws when Indiana has some of the weakest state-level gun regulations in the entire country?
January 3, 2018.
NRA-ILA: The New York State certification law going into effect requires every gun owner to register the handguns they own with the State Police. Comment: This information is already on file if you have a CCW issued by the Empire State.
The Trace: The article says, “Illinois criminals increasingly favor semi-automatic pistols that accept higher-capacity magazines.” Comment: The ATF states, “The firearms selected do not constitute a random sample and should not be considered representative of the larger universe of all firearms used by criminals, or any subset of that universe.” Oh well.
January 2, 2025.
NRA-ILA: Former NRA trainer ends Texas church shooting. Comment: Stephen Willeford began shooting at Devin Kelley after the latter left the church and was sitting in his truck, getting ready to drive away.
The Trace: “New gun laws took effect in California yesterday, including a requirement that bullet purchases be conducted through a licensed vendor.” Comment: How about the fact that the law says nothing about handloaded ammunition, of which more than 20,000 rounds are used (and taken home) from the area’s indoor gun ranges every day? Some requirement.
December 31, 2024.