Handguns

…Southwick Associates has announced the brands and products that hunters and shooters preferred most in 2007. This list has been compiled from the 19,288 surveys that hunters and target shooters returned from HunterSurvey.com and TargetshootingSurvey.com last year.

The Houston Chronicle editorial board stepped in a pile of poo last Sunday when its members decided to publish an opinion piece by Marsha McCartney, of Dallas, state president of the Texas Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Some of the 500,000 people holding concealed-weapons permits in Florida qualified by using air guns. Some CHL trainers had passed students for merely pulling the trigger once or twice without ever loading or unloading a handgun. Quickie permit classes have become so common that the National Rifle Association threatened this month to fire any NRA-certified instructor who didn't use real guns to teach students in Florida. Though carrying a concealed weapon requires a state permit, gun owners need…

Last week Gun Reports reported that a Manhattan-based federal appeals court ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against firearms manufacturers by the City of New York that sought to hold the manufacturers responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms. The ruling is a major setback for gun-control groups, principally the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which pursued and funded many of the municipal lawsuits, including this New York City case, against the firearms industry. …

The firearms from the men and women of the Wild West are now on display at the National Rifle Association's National Firearms Museum. One of the main attractions is a firearm that may have belonged to Jesse James. The old, large-frame Smith & Wesson revolver arrived at the National Firearms Museum accompanied by a small, yellowed receipt that read, 'Received $39.00 from Mr. C.B. Parsons of Lexington, Kentucky for my son Jesse's [Jesse James] pistol, Smith…

The National Association of Shooting Ranges (NASR) announced today that Milford Hills Hunt Club of Johnson Creek, Wis., has earned the association's Five Star Rating. The Five Star Rating is the association's highest honor and places the southeastern Wisconsin facility among the top shooting and recreational facilities in the country. Rick Patterson, executive director of NASR, said, 'To meet the criteria of a five star facility, a range must demonstrate excellence in all aspects of management and…

The Department of the Interior has proposed a rule change that would allow people to carry a concealed firearm in a national park or wildlife refuge. The new rule says park visitors would need a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and the state where the park is located must allow guns in its own parks. …

The M&P45s feature a 4.6-inch barrel with an overall length of 8.0 inches. The M&P45 comes standard with three interchangeable grips, a steel dovetail mount front sight and a steel Novak Lo-Mount carry rear sight. Tritium sights are also available. A universal Picatinny-style equipment rail has been incorporated for tactical lights and lasers. Our polymer pistol had an empty weight of 25.1 ounces.

The new frame-mounted ambidextrous thumb safety acts as a passive safety device, allowing the slide to be pulled toward the rear, clearing the firearm without disengaging the safety. Another feature is the lanyard attachment. All M&P45 pistols feature a Zytel polymer frame reinforced with a stainless-steel chassis and a hardened black Melonite-finished stainless-steel barrel and slide and a Dark Earth Brown grip. This is a silly name for a color—Sand would have been fine—but we overlooked it.

The New York Times has reported that a federal appeals court dismissed New York City's blanket lawsuit against the gun industry on Wednesday, ruling that a relatively new federal law protects gunmakers against third-party litigation. That law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, banned all third-party suits against the gun industry except for those in which a plaintiff could prove that gunmakers had violated other state…

U.S. Reps. Zack Space (D-Ohio) and Steve King (R-Iowa) have introduced the 'Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act of 2007' (HR 4900), legislation which represents a major advance in protecting the rights of firearms dealers. HR 4900 is a bipartisan bill that will overhaul many of the administrative penalties for licensed firearms dealers, manufacturers and importers of firearms that currently treat simple paperwork mistakes as purposeful and willful violations of…

Gov. Sonny Perdue is considering signing a bill that would allow Georgians to carry concealed handguns onto trains and buses and into restaurants that serve alcohol. The bill passed Georgia's General Assembly on the last day of the 2007-08 session. Under the bill, Georgians would not be allowed to carry concealed guns to athletic events, churches, political rallies or bars, but they could carry them onto trains and buses and into state parks, historic sites…

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) has asked sportsmen to contact Meijer, a Michigan-based regional chain of retail superstores, and demand that it dissolve its partnership with the anti-hunting group, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in an online pet photo contest. Meijer refused a U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) request to abandon the partnership, said USSA senior vice president Rick Story. …