It would be nice if gunsmiths would weigh in on this one.

Expected news.

“As I’m sure you know, the president is a strong supporter of gun control and has been an advocate all of his life, professional life, on this question. The role of the Justice Department is to advance the policy program of the administration as long as it is consistent with the law,” Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“And as I said, so far we have a little indication from the Supreme Court as to what this means. But we don’t have a complete indication. And where there is room under the law for the president’s policies to be pursued, then I think the president is entitled to pursue them.”

[ … ]

Garland is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate with many Republican votes.

And remember that the next time you are tempted to believe that the republicans are your 2A friends.

This is all as expected.  He is capitalizing on the facts that (1) he’s a communist, the one who holds the presidency is a communists, most of the congress is communists and none of them speak the truth concerning God-given rights, and (2) the SCOTUS is full of communists too and have vacillated and equivocated until there is nothing left of the covenant under which we all agreed to live (the constitution).

So … here we are.  As soon as he is confirmed he will direct the DoJ to direct the ATF to enact new intolerable acts to infringe on God-given rights.

FN 509 LS Edge, purpose built race gun.  It looks nice to me, and I would consider a purchase if it was a hammer fired gun.

Aero Precision announces their EPC-9 (Enhanced Pistol Caliber PCC).  It looks interesting, but marketing may be difficult if they don’t mark themselves out.  What does this PCC do that the CMMG PCC doesn’t?

“It’s a right that’s given by God and granted in the constitution.”  That sounds like a contradiction to me.  What a messy sentence.

I haven’t seen any updates on South Carolina open carry legislation except the twits who write editorials against it.

Wheel gun series #6.

Wheel gun series #7.

Man I’m so sorry. I don’t deal well with the loss of dogs. I still grieve my Heidi-girl, and think about her each and every day.

“A pointed question must be put.  If the prophets who spoke, if the authors who wrote, and if our Lord Himself, are mistaken about verbal inspiration, if they are mistaken these hundreds of times, what assurance may anyone have with respect to the other things they said and wrote?  Is there any reason to suppose that men who were so uniformly deceived as to the source of their message could have had any superior insight and accurate knowledge of man’s relation to God?  Still more pointedly: Can anyone profess a personal attachment to Jesus Christ and consistently contradict his assertion that the Scriptures cannot be broken?

Gordon H. Clark, Religion, Reason and Revelation

The answer to the last question is of course no, and the entirety of revelation is undermined when one undercuts the doctrine of the infallibility of Scripture.  This is why modernism has gone to war with infallibility, reason, inspiration and the sufficiency of Scripture.  If your epistemology doesn’t come from the Holy Writ, that means an end to truth.

The Westminster Confession of Faith.

Although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable;(a) yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation.(b) Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His Church;(c) and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing:(d) which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary;(e) those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.(f)

[The 66 books of the Bible are listed]

All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.(g)

[ … ]

The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God.(i)

Note that the confession doesn’t say that the Bible “contains” the word of God.  That’s a clever lie.  It leaves the door open for some of it being something else.  Nor does the confession leave the door open for additional revelations of any sort.  The Bible is the word of God.

Daniel Defense.

If you’ve done any online research on which type of rail to get for your AR, you’ve probably come across more than one article, forum, or video proclaiming that KeyMod rails are dying or, in the opinion of some, already dead. But is it true?

First off, let’s be clear about one thing—there are plenty of firearms out there equipped with KeyMod rails, including the Daniel Defense DDM4ISR, so the rail system is not being called dying or dead by some because you can no longer find or buy it. There are also still plenty of accessories from many different manufacturers available for KeyMod rails. So, those using terms like “dying” or “dead” are referring to KeyMod’s status compared to that of its main competitor, the M-LOK rail. But KeyMod, M-LOK, and Picatinny rails are all viable options for an AR rail. Which is why all three types are manufactured and sold by Daniel Defense.

The Origin of KeyMod’s So-Called Death

KeyMod was developed by VLTOR and released in 2012, so it had roughly three years to gain some traction before MAGPUL released its M-LOK system in 2015.

I’ve said before that KeyMod was designed by Noveske and M-LOK by Magpul.  As noted above, this isn’t quite the case.  KeyMod was designed by VLTOR and released through Noveske, soon becoming open source.

Unlike a Picatinny rail, which is a “positive” or “male” system and can be bulky, sharp, and tough on the hands, both KeyMod and M-LOK rails are lower-profile “negative” or “female” systems. For those of you not familiar with either system, here’s a brief description of how they work:

• KeyMod works by inserting an accessory’s mounting nuts through the large holes of key-shaped slots (which resemble slots in industrial shelving) in the handguard. You then slide the accessory forward, into the smaller front portion of the slot, and tighten the mounting bolts.
• M-LOK works by inserting the “T-nuts” of an accessory through slots in the handguard and then tightening the bolts on the accessory. This rotates the T-nuts 90 degrees and locks the accessory in place.

As you might imagine, as with any new gun accessory, as the systems were introduced, there were fans of both, and many weren’t shy about pronouncing their choice superior to all others. For a couple of years, these two systems went mano e mano as a lighter-weight, lower-profile option to a Picatinny rail as the debate raged on.

But then, in 2016, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, conducted testing that compared KeyMod and M-LOK head-to-head. You can view the details of the test and the results here, but suffice it to say that M-LOK fared better than KeyMod in testing categories that included repeatability, endurance, rough handling, a drop test, and failure load.

After Crane’s test results were presented in May of 2017, many considered the debate over and pronounced M-LOK the superior choice. But does one study really spell the death of an entire rail system? Daniel Defense obviously thinks not, for the following reasons:

1. Most AR Owners Are Not Members of the Special Ops Community

The study conducted by Crane was at the behest of USSOCOM, to determine which rail system might best meet their needs. But, if you’re a recreational shooter, chances are you’re not going to put the rail on your rifle through the same level of use and abuse as elite military professionals. While it’s true that many consumers want to use the same gear as military and law enforcement pros, for the vast majority of shooters, a KeyMod rail is going to perform flawlessly.

2. KeyMod Accessories Don’t Protrude as far into the Rail as M-LOK Accessories

The bolts that tighten the mounting nuts of a KeyMod accessory do not protrude through the rail as physically far as the bolts that tighten the T-nuts of an M-LOK accessory, so a KeyMod rail can fit snugger and be closer to the barrel of a firearm.

This may not sound like much of an issue, but on firearms with very little clearance between the barrel and the rail, it can be—especially if the bolt of an M-LOK T-nut were to protrude far enough to actually touch the barrel and affect its harmonics. Which is precisely why a KeyMod MFR XL 15” rail is used on the DDM4ISR, which features a suppressor as an integral part of the barrel.

“The way M-LOK fasteners on accessories attach to the handguard, they would interfere with the suppressor tube underneath the handguards,” explains Daniel Defense Law Enforcement Sales Manager Joe Marler. “You cannot mount an M-LOK accessory where that suppressor tube is present. KeyMod accessories have very low-profile fasteners, and that’s the reason we use a KeyMod rail.”

Mr. GunsnGear explains the same thing in his YouTube review of the DDM4ISR at about the 11:30 mark of this 24-minute review. He also backs up our #1 point with his review when he states, “For 99.9% of the people out there, KeyMod is going to be just fine. KeyMod has been used by special operations units around the world, and nobody died because of KeyMod.”

I didn’t even look up the purported 2016 report and don’t care what’s in it.  Nor do I think this has anything to do with whether you intend on trying out for JSOC.  You can find a report to tell you anything you want to hear.

The whole debate is childish in my opinion, or a different way of saying it is that while I think the DD article is informative and good, to say that one approach is “dead” reeks of marketing lies to me.

I think it comes down to what you want to use.  For me, I’ve seen the T-nuts on M-LOK wiggle loose and parts fall off, and that’s after aggressive tightening.  I think they’re harder to install, and finally, KeyMod is lighter by design.

KeyMod works with less forend metal (with its cutouts) without creating a stress concentration point from sharp edges.

I prefer KeyMod.  Others prefer M-LOK.  Buy what you want, but don’t get swept into hours of reading to determine what “experts” prefer.  Figure out what’s best for you.

I have my disagreements with Larry Keane, but this piece at NSSF conveys buried but recently released views by the administration on so-called “smart guns.”

He’s right on one count. As vice president, he did deal with tech leaders to attempt combining authorized-user, or so-called “smart gun” technology into firearms. It didn’t work. It didn’t get to the point where it could even be properly tested.

[ … ]

Early on in the presidential campaign, President Biden claimed, “… we have the capacity now in a James Bond-style to make sure no one can pull a trigger unless their DNA and fingerprint is on it.” That’s some serious science-fiction fantasy technology. It makes for a good movie. In real life, it’s clumsy and failure prone at best and impossible at worst.

The president’s campaign trail claim of DNA-enabled smart guns is completely false. No one has introduced technology that would match a DNA sample to activate a firearm. However, attempts have been made at fingerprint-style authorized user-technology. Think of the way a fingerprint is used to open a smartphone. Now, think of all the times a smartphone won’t open when a fingerprint is applied. A little wet, not the right angle, dirty, God-forbid bloody… all these can cause a failure of the fingerprint lock to not activate the technology.

In a life-or-death situation when an individual is under duress and trying to activate the tool that would save their lives, swiping a fingerprint screen is the last concern. If your iPhone doesn’t open, you’re inconvenienced. If your firearm doesn’t work at the moment you need it you could be dead. That’s why study and survey work on this topic show that reliability is of paramount concern. Because the technology is not yet sufficiently reliable, there is very limited consumer interest in purchasing authorized-user equipped firearms.

[ … ]

Let me be explicitly clear, contrary to the false claims of gun control groups the firearm industry does not oppose the research and potential development of this technology being applied to firearms. Consumers are best left to decide what they want and the free market does a good job of weeding out bad ideas so good ones flourish. What NSSF strongly opposes, however, is the mandate of such technology, like what has recently been proposed by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). She introduced H.R. 1008, legislation that would mandate that every gun sold within five years be equipped with the unworkable technology. It goes further. It also would require all legacy firearms be retrofitted within 10 years. That’s sure to go over well with collectors.

Here Larry simply isn’t precise enough.  I would love nothing more than for investors to throw their money away on this only to find out that no one wanted it.

What we must oppose, however, is government (think here taxpayer) sponsored research.  But one of the real reasons for such stuff wasn’t discussed.

A trio of computer scientists from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York recently published research detailing a potential AI intervention for murder: an ethical lockout.

The big idea here is to stop mass shootings and other ethically incorrect uses for firearms through the development of an AI that can recognize intent, judge whether it’s ethical use, and ultimately render a firearm inert if a user tries to ready it for improper fire.

That sounds like a lofty goal, in fact the researchers themselves refer to it as a “blue sky” idea, but the technology to make it possible is already here.

According to the team’s research:

Predictably, some will object as follows: “The concept you introduce is attractive. But unfortunately it’s nothing more than a dream; actually, nothing more than a pipe dream. Is this AI really feasible, science- and engineering-wise?” We answer in the affirmative, confidently.

The research goes on to explain how recent breakthroughs involving long-term studies have lead to th

e development of various AI-powered reasoning systems that could serve to trivialize and implement a fairly simple ethical judgment system for firearms.

This paper doesn’t describe the creation of a smart gun itself, but the potential efficacy of an AI system that can make the same kinds of decisions for firearms users as, for example, cars that can lock out drivers if they can’t pass a breathalyzer.

This just gets better and better.  As I’ve said before, “Perform a fault tree analysis of smart guns.  Use highly respected guidance like the NRC fault tree handbook.

Assess the reliability of one of my semi-automatic handguns as the first state point, and then add smart gun technology to it, and assess it again.  Compare the state points.  Then do that again with a revolver.  Be honest.  Assign a failure probability of greater than zero (0) to the smart technology, because you know that each additional electronic and mechanical component has a failure probability of greater than zero.

Get a PE to seal the work to demonstrate thorough and independent review.  If you can prove that so-called “smart guns” are as reliable as my guns, I’ll pour ketchup on my hard hat, eat it, and post video for everyone to see.  If you lose, you buy me the gun of my choice.  No one will take the challenge because you will lose that challenge.  I’ll win.  Case closed.  End of discussion.”

Now, consider the superimposition of an AI ethical lockout on top of all of the other failure modes introduced by this “technology” (I use the word loosely, because improved technology is something that should make the machine simpler and less prone to failure modes, not more complex and more prone to failure).

Also as I’ve observed, the desire to control others is the signal pathology of the wicked.  In the instance of smart guns, the control is just remote rather than just at the point of purchase.

News from New Jersey.

New Jersey is asking a judge to force Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. to hand over internal documents, the latest twist in an ongoing legal fight over how the gun manufacturer advertises to residents.

The state first demanded marketing information in October. The Massachusetts-based company sued soon after, arguing that it wasn’t obligated to provide anything.

The gun manufacturer “claims that it is above the law — that it can deceive consumers and potential consumers of its products without consequence,” the state attorney general’s office wrote in court documents filed Friday.

The state’s subpoena was lawful and a court should enforce it, a deputy attorney general wrote.

A spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal declined comment. Smith & Wesson representatives did not respond to a request for comment, nor did they comment on their lawsuit earlier.

The subpoena came after Grewal’s office asked outside lawyers to help investigate how gun companies promote their products.

Smith & Wesson said in its lawsuit that this all amounted to an “unconstitutional fishing expedition” designed to weaken the Second Amendment.

Grewal’s office pushed back, saying last week that state law allowed them to dig into anyone advertising within New Jersey.

The review was not about “the product Smith & Wesson sells, but the representations and omissions in its marketing and advertising,” state officials argued in court documents, and the investigation has shown that some ads “may misrepresent the impact owning a firearm has on personal safety.”

Some Smith & Wesson ads also promoted carrying concealed firearms without mentioning that New Jerseyans needed a permit to conceal carry, state officials wrote.

So get this.  The state of New Jersey wants S&W to inform potential buyers that N.J. required a permit to carry a concealed handgun.  Yes, you read that right.

Two things.  First, to S&W, ignore them.

Second, to S&W, get out of the North.  Leave there forever.  Come South.  You won’t be treated like that here.  You should have learned that by now.  There is no reason for you to stay where you are in a unionized state.

And if that court presses the issue, then inform all law enforcement agencies in N.J. that you will no longer be selling any of your products to them.