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Brownells is offering a unique DIY project that beats putting shelves in the garage. The HK 416 Project is a parts kit offered by the Iowa-based retailer that allows a shooter to build an HK 416 — the type of rifle used by U.S. Navy SEALs in the 2011 raid against Osama Bin Laden. Disassembled from German military machine guns, the parts kits were available to all Brownells customers in November.

Reuters reported that U.S. gun-control advocates have outspent gunrights groups by more than 40 percent on the congressional elections. "Boosted largely by the personal fortune of billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who is considering a 2020 presidential run, the gun-control war chest almost entirely benefits Democrats."

I want to thank Gun Tests readers for participating in a recent online survey in which we asked for guidance on what subscribers want to see. We're still looking over the data and making coverage plans, but I've been able to make some adjustments on the fly already, which you can see in this issue. You asked for more and larger pictures, so I've expanded the modules. Also, I've cut duplication in the text where we documented some of the test procedures in both the narrative and the sidebars. Overall, we'll trend toward a tighter, better-illustrated package in the coming months.

I would also mention the NRA is suing Gov. Andrew Cuomo and several of his financial appointees for "blacklisting" the NRA from getting insurance coverage in New York State. This is a political attack, of course, but it's not legislative, which gun-rights advocates know how to work against. If Cuomo's tactics hold, then NRA could conceivably be prevented from even operating in the state, and the ban would have been accomplished administratively.

At Gun Tests, our shooters have had no problems with the P320 in terms of reliability and had no malfunctions with it. We gave it a Grade B rating in our first report on it in 2015. Many of our readers have told us they won't buy ‘B'-rated guns, especially when there was another handgun in the test — a Heckler & Koch VP9 9mm Luger — which earned a Grade A rating and was Our Pick. In the November 2016 issue, we tested a different version, the SIG Sauer P320 Carry 320CA-9-BSS, which earned an A grade.

Iowa State University political scientist Robert Urbatsch analyzed data from the General Social Survey (GSS) and found that the number of people refusing to answer a question about gun ownership roughly tripled since the year 2000. The increase appears steady from the year 2000 through 2016, and Urbatsch found the increased non-response rate concentrated among Republicans (though the rates among Democrats and Independents also increased). Coincidentally, Pew recently confirmed that gun ownership is far more common among Republicans — meaning, the people driving the increase in the GSS question refusals are also those most likely to own a gun, NRA-ILA reports.

On March 29, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, issued a stern warning to Citigroup CEO Michael L. Corbat. Sen. Kennedy urged Citigroup to refrain from "penalizing Americans who choose to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights," and instead to focus on the company's many shortcomings. Sen. Kennedy also reminded Corbat that "The very fact that Citi remains operational is due entirely to the generosity of the American taxpayers." That makes this gun owner wonder if all of Citi's bailout funds have been repaid.

If you are a longtime subscriber to Gun Tests, then you'll remember when reliability was our main concern, and we often found function problems in various firearms. Now, thanks to modern manufacturing methods, today's firearms are so consistent we rarely have to say anything about how well a particular gun functions. But with these guns, we felt like we were turning back the clock. Reliability and function were once again our main concern as we collected accuracy data from the 100-yard benches at American Shooting Centers in Houston. Did we have three rifles displaying worthwhile innovation, or would the demands of creating a rifle to satisfy the demands of lawmakers spoil the progress of a proven design?

We wanted to test three threaded-muzzle bolt actions in a reference chambering well known to hunters and shooters, the 308 Winchester, along with a less-common bolt-action choice, the 300 AAC Blackout, which is more often chambered in AR-15 uppers because it has the same overall length, base diameter, and rim diameter as the 5.56 NATO round, so it will feed from an unmodified magwell in an AR-15 lower. The 300 Blackout can be loaded with lighter bullets, where it compares favorably to the 7.6239mm Soviet round, or loaded with heavier bullets that travel below subsonic speeds for suppressor use. At sea level, the speed of sound is roughly 1125 fps, with the "roughly" changing based on air temperature and other conditions.

As knowledgeable gun owners, Gun Tests readers know that paying lip service to restrictions and limitations isn't the answer. Guns aren't going to magically disappear. But gun owners, in particular, do have a responsibility to report erratic and potentially dangerous behavior in their communities. Because we have access to guns, it's up to gun owners to be the front line of responsible gun ownership and report when we see behavior like what Nikolas Cruz exhibited. We can't stand on the sidelines and say, "It's not my business" and move on. The trouble is, will we get law enforcement to follow up effectively? That clearly did not happen in the Parkland event.

In Virginia, the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Subcommittee has considered a number of anti-gun measures. Very worrisome is House Bill 597/House Bill 819, which makes it a crime to knowingly possess a device that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semi-automatic firearm.

Where is the reclassification of suppressors out of Class 3, so those of us already hard of hearing can easily buy them before we go completely deaf? Yes, I remember why it stalled — bad optics. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot on the same day a hearing was scheduled in June to make it easier for Americans to buy suppressors. I'm not sure why those two things became linked, because no suppressors were used in the Congressional baseball park attack or in the Las Vegas shooting. Aaagh! Why are Republicans so scared of the minority whining about "what ifs?"