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Federal legislation to protect travelers who are transporting firearms interstate for lawful purposes has been filed. H.R. 358 deals specifically with transporting unloaded firearms, rather than for carry en route. It would strengthen the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA) intended to protect the right of law-abiding gun owners to transport firearms throughout the nation. FOPA's safe transport provisions guarantee the right of a law-abiding person to transport an unloaded firearm between two locations where he or she may legally possess it, regardless of state or local laws along the route of travel that would otherwise prohibit such conduct.

"Under the majority's analysis," the dissenters wrote, "a settler's musket, the only weapon he would likely own and bring to militia service, would be most useful in military service — undoubtedly a weapon of war — and therefore not protected by the Second Amendment." Indeed, the dissent goes on, "the ‘most useful in military service' rubric would remove nearly all firearms from Second Amendment protection as nearly all firearms can be useful in military service." Using this standard, the Fourth Circuit could strip the Constitutional protection from nearly any weapon it chooses to.

It is not a long leap to guess that the pistol's modularity was the reason it got the Army's nod. We said, "From this core, the user can change the grip frame size and color, slide assemblies, and even change to a limited number of chamberings. (The 9mm, 40 S&W, and 357 SIG calibers are interchangeable. The 45 ACP barrel assembly is not.) The grip options are reasonably priced at $47 from the SIG Store. Complete caliber-conversion kits are a pricier at $400.

One of the characteristics we were looking for was portability, so in this case a five-round magazine would have been more in line with our desires. Yet the lure of high capacity definitely has its appeal. No matter how short the magazine, the release was simply too easy to activate. The lever was larger than it needed to be, and it appeared in a vulnerable position. In addition, the detent provided by the operating spring was weak. At the bench (never mind walking through the woods), all we had to do is push the rifle forward on the sandbag and the lever would drop the magazine on contact. No matter what your opinion is on detachable box magazines (such as they get in the way, they can hold more ammo, the riflecan be reloaded faster, or they're just too easy to lose), the Howa's magazine release needed to be more secure.

So now it's on to President-Elect Donald J. Trump. I previously ran his 2nd Amendment platform in these pages, and on that narrow plank, it was easy to vote for him over Mrs. Clinton. Her reckoning ran deep. Trump's win was shocking to watch as Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania went red one after another. To see the vaunted "Blue Wall" of core Democrat states come tumbling down as election night wore into morning was to witness history being made. I personally believe these states went Republican in some part because they have strong gun cultures, and Democrat politicians came out for gun confiscations and accessories regulations and bans, and on a national basis, it bit them again. The Senate stayed in Republican hands. The House stayed in Republican hands. And the presidency went to a Republican candidate who was very pro-2A. Control of more state governments went Republican, too.

Our Factory Certified Pre-Owned SIG P226R 40 S&W, $725, came from South Carolina Gun Company. This was a police service pistol that has been refurbished. The pistol was delivered in a red cardboard box to distinguish it as a factory refurbished item. Still, the pistol appeared as new. The fit, finish, and quality control on the SIG left little more to be desired. Savings were $225 compared to the common $950 counter price of a new P226 with a rail and regular sights. Like two other test pistols, this one featured a rail, thus the "R" designation in the model number (which has been dropped from currently manufactured guns).

Based on correspondence with readers over the years, I've been told repeatedly that when a firearm comes up with a B or lower grade, it really doesn't matter what the grade is. The winning gun sets the pace for the test, so readers usually say, "Why would I buy what Gun Tests says is a second-ranked gun?" That logic is hard to refute. So, when you're at the gun counter and are trying to find a rifle, shotgun, or handgun you might like, it's helpful to know what to buy, of course. But sometimes a well-meaning retailer will offer a second choice if the store doesn't have your A-ranked model. That's when a periodic reminder of which firearms were "Not Our Picks" might come in handy.

After many years of teaching the shotgun and carbine, our rater elected to add this AR stock to his personal long-serving 870 to provide a common feel between rifle and shotgun and also for ease of carry in the truck. So, we are rating both the shotgun's application and the parts. The parts are not plastic, but instead are made of high-impact polymer and have a solid feel. We fitted an inexpensive NC3 light for evaluation. The stock is solid, and without rattles, and is easily adjusted. Being able to shorten it does help when storing the Remington in the home or when using it as a truck gun. We really like that the vented recoil pad is something you do not need with the M4 rifle, but which you do need with the hard-kicking 12 gauge. We liked the parts, and if we were rating the shotgun parts alone, they would get an A. These parts added a half pound to the base Remington 870 Riot gun, making it the heaviest in the test. As might be expected, it also kicked the least, and felt recoil was mitigated by the vented recoil pad.

Patterning performance was a slight disappointment, with a 59-41 pattern using the clay target load and a 62-38 pattern with the steel shot. There was one 3-inch hole in the upper right quadrant of the lead shot pattern and eight hits outside the 20-inch center circle — mainly to the right. Not quite as tight as the Browning, but not considered a deal killer. Just like the Winchester and Browning, the Mossberg features a red fiber optic bar that is quite easy to see and allows for easy barrel alignment on targets. We noted that the checkering on the Mossberg's forearm and stock was a little less sharp than we would have liked and did not have the comfortable feel of the Dura-Touch coating on the Winchester and Browning. It was about the same as the Beretta, although we did not think it severely hindered our handling of the shotgun or our target acquisition.

Our testing procedure was to shoot, swap barrels, shoot, and swap barrels again. We were able to get good accuracy out of these rifles, perhaps as good as rifles that are not takedown models. The DRD and Windham came in Plano hard cases, the Ruger came in a soft case. For regular transport, we acquired a VooDoo Tactical Discreet Level III Assault Pack, which is a discreet looking knapsack-size pack (17 by 8 by 3 inches) you would carry gym clothes in. The Ruger carry case is slightly larger (22.5 by 7 by 7.5 inches) and has Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (MOLLE, pronounced Molly) straps, definitely making it look more tactical and less discreet. Also, a removable patch with the Ruger logo is on the bag. The padding in both knapsacks hides any outlines the rifle might make. The main section of the VooDoo pack holds the complete lower assembly with an optic mounted and the barrel assembly. The second compartment holds the handguard. Two smaller outside pockets could hold a total of six 30-round magazines. The Ruger knapsack has three pockets, one of which holds the lower, while the other two pockets hold the upper/rail in one pocket and the barrel in the other.

The FN, Glock, and S&W all came from the factory with a cover plate attached to the top of the slide just forward of the rear sight. A hex wrench was used to remove the plate and replace it with a mounting plate the corresponded to a specific model and brand of reflex sight. All three manufacturers include the tools to mount the sights, and as we found out, some provided more mounting options than others. All the hardware types mount the sight slightly differently, as we will explain. Mounting the sight allows the user to also keep the iron sights mounted on the slide, and the FN and S&W featured taller iron sights that cowitnessed with the red dot. The Glock's sights were standard size and could not be used when a red dot was attached, so if the shooter wanted to co-witness (shoot to the same point of impact) iron sights with the red dot, he would have to install taller Glock sights like those used with a suppressor, which would appear in the reflex sight window. Mounting the optics was straight forward.

But any time Donald J. Trump's name gets mentioned, folks tend to get agitated for him, or about him, or against him. I'm merely making sure that my readers know what the putative Republican presidential nominee has to say about firearms because it might get overlooked otherwise. Straight from his website, here are the major points of Trump's recently released gun-policy ideas headlined "Defend The Rights of Law-Abiding Gun Owners."