Gun Rights

The Llama's firing mechanism differs considerably in detail from the 1911. The slide is the main area of interest. For illustration purposes, I chose a rather common Commander-length Llama in 9mm Luger. This pistol is a true compact, however, rather than a short slide on a full-length frame. The extractor is of the external type. There is no extractor tunnel in the slide and no firing-pin stop. While the elimination of the firing-pin stop and internal extractor may seem a good thing, if the treatment is not of high quality, then we have a problem. I've personally never seen a broken firing pin in a Llama pistol, but my friends in the gun-parts business have sold quite a few. On the other hand, I have repaired numerous extractors. The steel seems quite soft and new replacements are not easy to come by (though Gun Parts Corporation and Bob's Gun Shop are places to start looking). I have recut and reshaped these extractors, sometimes convincing the part to last for a time.

A short while back Gun Tests magazine tested some pretty small 9mm pistols, by Kahr and by Rohrbaugh. They particularly liked the Kahr PM9's handling qualities, and the fact that it worked well as a back-up pistol. They noted Kahr produces a similar pistol in .40 S&W caliber, called the PM40. They decided it was appropriate to try one, because anyone who liked the PM9 would probably welcome more power in a package nearly as small.

John Hayward, writing on the HumanEvents.com blog, said this week, “It never takes long for gun-control fanatics to exploit tragedy for their political ends. NBC’s Bob Costas put on a particularly disgusting and unacceptable display on Sunday night, as he hijacked a football broadcast to sucker-punch fans with a gun-control sermon following the horrible Jovan Belcher murder-suicide.

Jim Axelrod filed a one-sided report on Tuesday's CBS This Morning linking the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide to a lack of gun control inside the NFL. Axelrod sourced the piece with only gun-control advocates – Brady Center flack Marcellus Wiley, NBC's Bob Costas, and New York Times sportswriter William Rhoden.

Governor Patrick Quinn’s procedural maneuver this week to enact a gun ban (previously reported here) was defeated by the Illinois House of Representatives as they convened for a veto session, NRA-ILA reports.

The city attorney of San Bernardino recently told residents to “lock their doors and load their guns” during a city council meeting. The official explained that because the city is bankrupt and slashing public safety budgets, people will need to start protecting themselves, CBSLA.com reports.

Representative George Peterson and Senator Richard Moore will be filing emergency legislation to address the Massachusetts firearm licensing crisis in the next few days, says the Gun Owners' Action League (GOAL) in Massachusetts.

Writing at the American Prospect, Paul Waldman asserts that the NRA had a bad 2012 election season. In fact, he wrote, “they lost almost everywhere they tried to make a difference.”

In an evaluation of 45 ACP subcompacts, Gun Tests magazine asked how best to package the big bullet in a small concealable machine. The $687 Glock G30SF feeds from a high-capacity magazine with rounds compressed in a staggered column. Its ignition is via a striker system, and the frame is polymer, not steel.

Last week, an appeals court upheld a federal law that prohibits people under the age of 21 from purchasing handguns from dealers, rejecting the first challenge to the age rule since the Supreme Court recognized an individual’s right to keep and bear arms.

Wednesday's partial retreat by Cook County, Ill., board President Toni Preckwinkle on her proposed 'violence tax' is a good start, but the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said the entire idea should be scrapped.

The Cook County Board's plan to punish citizens who purchase firearms has gone from bad to worse with the announcement of a so called 'compromise' plan, according to a release today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA).