News

BEIJING, China (August 15, 2008) — U.S. shooter Jason Turner was awarded a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol event after Kim Jong Su from North Korea was disqualified for a positive drug test.

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation is passing its very successful Scholastic Clay Target Program to a newly formed foundation. With SCTP now of a size and scope beyond the NSSF's mission parameters, responsibility for its continuation and development is being entrusted to the newly formed Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF).

FORT SMITH, AR — Umarex USA has broken ground on a new 100,000+ square foot facility in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Umarex USA is part of Umarex Corporate Group, a diversified German-owned holding company whose holdings include Walther GmBH. Umarex plans to include a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing operation for its newly created U.S. entity, Walther Industries, Inc. in the new building.

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.

BEIJING, China (August 14, 2008) — Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) added to her Olympic medal tally Thursday when she captured the silver medal in the Women’s Skeet event at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Smith & Wesson’s M&P45s continue to win new converts. A test of the gun in the January 2008 issue of Gun Tests rated it as an “A-“ pick. A search of Gunbroker.com found a handful of the guns with current bid prices below the $619 MSRP cited in the GT article.

New England Firearm’s Sportster in 17 Mach 2 is a great little gun, according to the January 2008 issue of Gun Tests, which rated it as an “A“ pick. The problem is the speciality gun may be hard to find. But a search of Gunbroker.com found a single gun, whose price was below the $169 MSRP found in the GT article.

BEIJING, China (August 13, 2008) — The Women’s 25m Sport Pistol competition took place Wednesday at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall with Libby Callahan (Columbia, S.C.) taking 25th place, while Beki Snyder (Colorado Springs, Colo.) finished 28th.

Gun owners in Baltimore whose firearms are stolen would be required to report the theft to police under legislation approved by the City Council yesterday—despite questions about whether the proposal is legal.

The Michael Bloomberg-funded Mayors Against Illegal Guns announced it has sent a six-question survey to both John McCain and Barack Obama that focuses on the foolish and misguided steps the group says should be made to the existing NICS background check system. The coalition sent a similar survey to the major-party candidates during the primaries, but didn't get a response. Now that the field has tightened to two, the “mayors” hope they'll have better luck.

Blackwater Worldwide announced its support of AB2498, proposed legislation that would prevent prohibited persons from unlawful access to and possession of firearms.

The 2008 Democratic Party’s draft platform confirms that the party still “doesn’t get it” about Second Amendment gun rights versus the Utopian fantasy that gun control laws will somehow make neighborhoods safer, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has said.