Viewpoints

…Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns.

…While Green Bay Packers fans continue to debate whether Brett Favre will ever come back to play, the iconic quarterback has just finished filming two new commercials that will debut nationally in a few months.

Volokh's compilation of state constitutional guarantees of gun rights is interesting reading – particularly Pennsylvania’s very clear language dating from 1776 and 1790.

…Are the two Democrat candidates misrepresenting their positions on gun rights to gain an edge in the Pennsylvania Democrat primary?

Gun manufacturing volume rose slightly from 2005 to 2006, BATFE records show. The ATF’s latest Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Report (AFMER) provides valuable insight into the performance of individual companies and the type of firearms they produce. ATF embargoes the data for one year, so 2006 is the latest data available. Total firearms production in 2006 increased 3.3 percent, following a 4-percent uptick in 2005. Pistol and rifle production increased the most in 2006, while shotguns posted a slight increase, and revolvers a 14-percent decline. In 2006, Remington Arms Co. outpaced other U.S. firearm manufacturers by slightly more than 175,000 firearms to top the Gun Tests list of the Top 5 U.S. Manufacturers. This is the sixth straight year Remington has achieved the number-one ranking, making only long guns. With 603,279 firearms, Remington led Mossberg (425,761), Smith & Wesson (408,095), Sturm, Ruger (403,272), and Savage (122,438) in total manufacturing.

Gun manufacturing volume rose slightly from 2005 to 2006, BATFE records show. The ATF’s latest Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Report (AFMER) provides valuable insight into the performance of individual companies and the type of firearms they produce. ATF embargoes the data for one year, so 2006 is the latest data available. Total firearms production in 2006 increased 3.3 percent, following a 4-percent uptick in 2005. Pistol and rifle production increased the most in 2006, while shotguns posted a slight increase, and revolvers a 14-percent decline. In 2006, Remington Arms Co. outpaced other U.S. firearm manufacturers by slightly more than 175,000 firearms to top the Gun Tests list of the Top 5 U.S. Manufacturers. This is the sixth straight year Remington has achieved the number-one ranking, making only long guns. With 603,279 firearms, Remington led Mossberg (425,761), Smith & Wesson (408,095), Sturm, Ruger (403,272), and Savage (122,438) in total manufacturing.

WASHINGTON -- As Moses, Charlton Heston thunderously rallied his people with the Ten Commandments in hand. The tablet of his political life was carved with something else - the Second Amendment.Heston was not just the public face of the gun-rights movement but a good deal of the fire in its belly during a transformational time in the decades-old debate. He lived to see Democrats running away from a cause they once embraced, scared…

The often fierce debate over the Second Amendment has centered on whether it was intended to protect the rights of all Americans to own guns, or only those who are members of state militia groups. The poll makes it clear which side Americans come down on. Gun owners (roughly one-third of the U.S. adult population) are nearly universal in endorsing the view that the Second Amendment guarantees their right to own guns. Non-owners are less likely to view the amendment this way, but a majority still do.

There is a specific reason why, two years ago, I selected a Beretta U22 over all of the other .22 pistols on the market. I’m left-handed, and the Beretta had an ambidextrous safety. I once had a Ruger MK1 target, and it did shoot beautifully, but it’s right-hand-only lever made it difficult for me to carry as a field gun. Your article was all too similar to other gun magazine articles—not one mention of the Beretta’s south-paw user friendliness and not a single reference to the other guns’ omission of an ambidextrous safety. You do the same thing when you review a bolt-action. You don’t tell the reader if the rifle is offered in a left-hand variant. 17% of us care about that.

There is a specific reason why, two years ago, I selected a Beretta U22 over all of the other .22 pistols on the market. I’m left-handed, and the Beretta had an ambidextrous safety. I once had a Ruger MK1 target, and it did shoot beautifully, but it’s right-hand-only lever made it difficult for me to carry as a field gun. Your article was all too similar to other gun magazine articles—not one mention of the Beretta’s south-paw user friendliness and not a single reference to the other guns’ omission of an ambidextrous safety. You do the same thing when you review a bolt-action. You don’t tell the reader if the rifle is offered in a left-hand variant. 17% of us care about that.

Here are some different views of the Heller arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court:

I got an interesting note from Gun Tests reader Bob Snyder on January 5. The header on the mail said, 'Archives are GREAT!' Then Bob went on to write, 'Your new ‘Archives’ are great. Thank you for this wonderful addition. Would it be possible to index the Archives by make and model; to show the table of contents for each issue; or to provide the annual category, product name, and page-by-page indices? This would make the Archives even better—and they are already great.' What Bob stumbled onto is the largest reorganization and improvement of the Gun-Tests.com website we’ve ever done. The entire job is designed to make your online experience faster, broader, and deeper.