Industry Notes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is pushing back the date by which the revised and updated Form 4473 must be used. The extended deadline is January 15, 2009, (rather than November 15, 2008), because of objections from dealers about implementing a new form during hunting season.

FAIRFAX, Virginia - The Boy Scouts of America are looking for volunteers to help with the shooting sports events at their 100th anniversary in 2010.

MANSFIELD, Texas — Sightmark’s AAT5G Green Laser Designator, a green laser with the same design concepts as the recently released AACT5R Red Laser Designator, was recently tested by a member of the National Tactical Officers Association's (NTOA) Member Tested and Recommended Program.

ASHBURN, Va. -- The Silver Eagle Group Training Facility & Private Club - a first-of-its-kind venue offering comprehensive self-defense education and elite training will celebrate its opening with free training, demonstrations and public tours December 6-7 at its Ashburn, Va., location.

NEWTOWN, Conn., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- If you want a job in the Obama administration and you own a gun, you may be out of luck. Here is Question #59 on the application:

HOUSTON — The widow of a Houston police officer who was shot to death by an illegal immigrant has filed a lawsuit against the gun store that sold the murder weapon to the killer's wife.

PIERRE, S.D. — Have gun, will travel -- even if the economy's shot.

Sales by firearm and ammunition manufacturers were up 5.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008, led by a 14.2 percent increase in ammunition sales and a 9 percent rise in handgun sales, according to the firearm industry's best economic indicator.

For the third quarter of 2008, the Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. reported net sales of $41.8 million and earnings per share of $0.02, compared with sales of $31.9 million and a loss per share of $(0.03) in the third quarter of 2007.

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Section will be extending its hours of operation on the day after Thanksgiving. The NICS Section will be available on Nov. 28 at 6 a.m. EST. The NICS Section will return to its regular hours on Nov. 29.

DENVER — John Faulkner and his wife, Brenda, thought Wednesday was a good day to buy a handgun. 'I'm 37 years old, and this is the first time in my life that I am really scared for our future,' said Faulkner, an oil field worker, as he perused the collection of weaponry in A Pawn Shop.

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Salt Lake Tribune reports, 'As polls and pundits in recent weeks increasingly pointed to the election of Barack Obama as the next president, scores of Utahns flocked to gun stores.'