Editorial

In a startling move, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced on December 22 that Virginia will sever concealed handgun permit (CHP) reciprocity ties with 25 of 30 states. This will affect hundreds, maybe thousands, of Gun Tests readers who reside in Tennessee and other states bordering the Commonwealth, and perhaps millions of people nationwide.

Effective Feb. 1, 2016, — about the time this issue arrives in your mailbox —Virginia will no longer honor carry permits from the following states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The following permits will continue to be recognized: West Virginia, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah. The move also means several states will no longer recognize Virginia's concealed-carry permits because they require mutual recognition of permits. Those include Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wyoming.

Speaking about this audit and update, Attorney General Herring said, "Virginia, and nearly every other state in the country, have recognized that carrying a concealed handgun is a significant responsibility that should be extended only to those who have gone through a process to prove a level of competency and responsibility."

"The standards for proving competency and responsibility are up to each state," Herring said, "and the General Assembly has established Virginia's standards for whom it considers capable of safely carrying a concealed handgun. Those standards should be applied evenly, consistently, and fairly to anyone who wants to lawfully conceal a handgun in Virginia."

When President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act, he didn't make the world perfect for gun owners, but he did take steps in the right direction. Pro-gun provisions in the act include allowing the sale of vintage military firearms, giving military base personnel authorization to carry firearms, and continuing the use of lead ammunition.

Toward the end of 2015, President Barack Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which had some notable pro-gun provisions. Here are the high points that concern firearms.

The NDAA now allows the U.S. Army to transfer its surplus vintage firearms to the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) for public sale. Transferring these vintage pistols to the CMP will allow them to inspect, grade, and ultimately sell these pistols to the public through federally licensed firearms dealers.

Also, the NDAA included a provision requiring the Secretary of Defense to establish a process for commanders at military bases, reserve centers, and recruiting centers to allow service members assigned to that base or facility to carry a firearm. This NDAA provision is a good step toward restoring the Second Amendment rights of military personnel.

In the midst of our nation's unrest over gun rights, NRA approval is thriving and so is shooter's enthusiasm.

There's been a lot of positive-trending news on how the gun-rights debate, despite setbacks, may be shifting our way. First, we took note of a recent Gallup poll that showed 58% in the U.S. have a favorable opinion of the NRA.

This comes despite gun prohibitionists blaming NRA for illegal uses of firearms, constant media criticism, and attacks by politicians. I credit the NRA for helping stop many ill-advised and possibly unconstitutional laws across the country. Apparently, many citizens agree. In a Gallup poll from Oct. 7-11, a solid majority of Americans (58%) say they have an overall favorable impression of the NRA. According to the Gallup article on the poll, "This includes the highest recording of ‘very favorable' opinions (26%) since Gallup began asking this question in 1989."

That's because normal people don't blame the gun-civil-rights group for crimes committed with firearms — most people blame the criminals instead. What a novel idea.

There's a whole lot of new products coming out at the end of 2015, well in advance of the massive outpouring that's introduced every new calendar year at the S.H.O.T. Show. Here's a look at just a few of the new products I've seen that may be interesting to gunnies:

ARES Defense Now Shipping MCR Sub-Carbine. ARES Defense Systems is now shipping its MCR Sub-Carbine. The ARES MCR Sub-Carbine is a lightweight, semi-auto 5.56 NATO-caliber firearm featuring gas-piston operation, a 3-second quick-change barrel system, and a left-side folding stock assembly that telescopes for adjusting the length of pull. The charging handle is ambidextrous and interchangeable with standard AR15/M4 charging handles, to suit user preference. Suppressor capable and able to be fired with the stock in any position, the MCR has an edge on many of the folding-stock and telescoping PDWs. The internals are billet machined from aircraft-grade alloys and heat-treated. Aluminum components are Type III, Class 2 hard-coat anodized to MIL-A-8625F for maximum corrosion and wear protection. Also available to complement the MCR Sub-Carbine is an optional SKB briefcase with custom-cut foam insert that holds the firearm, six 30-round magazines, a cleaning kit, operator's manual and storage space for a suppressor or other accessories.

Walmart said recently that it will stop selling semiautomatic rifles, including AR-15s, in what the retail giant says is a decision related to slumping demand.
In a June 23 interview with CNNMoney, Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon said as much: "Our focus in terms of firearms should be hunters and people who shoot sporting clays, and things like that. So the types of rifles we sell, the types of ammunition we sell, should be curated for those things."

Kudos to Contributing Editor Robert A. Sadowski for his new book, Shooter's Bible Guide to Tactical Firearms, which will help new and experienced shooters make smart equipment purchases that range from rifles and optics to ammunition and gear. He's also the author of the Shooter's Bible Guide to Combat Handguns and the Shooter's Bible Guide to Firearms Assembly, Disassembly, and Cleaning, some of which are available through Gun-Tests.com.

Gun maker Forjas Taurus SA has agreed to settle a $30 million class-action suit with plaintiffs who claim that some Taurus handgun safeties, even when engaged, may allow the gun to fire if it is dropped, according to a review of court documents.

I realize most of you aren't affected, but there was big news in my home state in June. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed landmark open-carry legislation, making the Lone Star State the 45th to recognize the right of modern handgun open-carry. This common-sense law expands law-abiding citizens' right to exercise their constitutional freedoms. More than 800,000 Texans currently hold concealed-carry licenses, and they will be the ones who can take advantage of the new law beginning in 2016.

Though most Gun Tests readers prefer getting their gun reviews straight up in the mail every month, I wanted to take a moment to let you know there are other options to get our unique take on gun evaluations, including some new products: videos, e-books, and electronic archive materials.

It was one of the odder gun-company announcements to have come across my desk in years: Las Vegas-based Arsenal, Inc. released a statement saying that international military-delivery commitments have caused a halt in production of commercial versions of the company's SLR-107FR and SLR-104UR rifles:

Gun owners dodged a bullet — metaphorically, of course — when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced that it intended to ban commonplace M855 ball ammunition as "armor-piercing ammunition" and then later withdrew the proposal.

When BATFE released its "Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles are ‘Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes' Within the Meaning of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)(c)" edict, that meant the M855 round's exemption to the armor-piercing ammunition prohibition null and void, and even worse, make future exemptions nearly impossible.

I admit I was miffed when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) opened a computer case I checked as baggage to Las Vegas for the SHOT Show back in January. The case and contents were a load — a 38-pound Pelican 1730 transport case with a 27-inch iMac in it. I prefer to use a desktop machine to update the Gun Tests Facebook page, YouTube page, website, and new-product files when I'm at SHOT for a week. I've done the jobs with a laptop before, and I admit, it's much easier to carry-on a smaller machine. But once it's set up, the full-size iMac is heaven while we're processing words, photos, and movies for our various media in a hurry. In previous years, I had shipped my back-up iMac 27 in its original box a few days prior, so I hadn't had to wrestle what I lovingly refer to as the Pig Box through airport check in. I call it that because the Pelican is big enough (37.5 x 27.1 x 14.4 inches) to hold a whole pig. Oh yes, extra weight and size charges apply.