Viewpoints

Glenn Beck, the conservative Fox television commentator, radio host, and best-selling author, is just kicking butt in every media he ventures into. His TV show attracts more than 3 million viewers a night, he’s the only author ever to have a No. 1 New York Times best-seller in the fiction, nonfiction and paperback fiction categories simultaneously, and his syndicated radio show airs on more than 400 stations. Beck almost single-handedly brought down self-avowed communist and Obama green czar Van Jones, seriously damaged the now-besieged ACORN voter-fraud machine, and exposed Cass Sunstein, Obama’s regulatory czar, as a radical animal-rights proponent and gun-grabber. How does he do it? Old-style 'angle' journalism—look for an interesting story hook, and bang on it relentlessly. This is good for gun owners, because Beck is one of the few hardcore gun-rights advocates in the electronic media. His television show today is a perfect example. Beck had attorney Alan Gura on because Gura will argue the appeal of McDonald v. City of Chicago before the Supreme Court next year. If Gura wins, one of the most onerous gun bans in the country—Chicago’s—will be overturned.

Glenn Beck, the conservative Fox television commentator, radio host, and best-selling author, is just kicking butt in every media he ventures into. His TV show attracts more than 3 million viewers a night, he’s the only author ever to have a No. 1 New York Times best-seller in the fiction, nonfiction and paperback fiction categories simultaneously, and his syndicated radio show airs on more than 400 stations. Beck almost single-handedly brought down self-avowed communist and Obama green czar Van Jones, seriously damaged the now-besieged ACORN voter-fraud machine, and exposed Cass Sunstein, Obama’s regulatory czar, as a radical animal-rights proponent and gun-grabber. How does he do it? Old-style 'angle' journalism—look for an interesting story hook, and bang on it relentlessly. This is good for gun owners, because Beck is one of the few hardcore gun-rights advocates in the electronic media. His television show today is a perfect example. Beck had attorney Alan Gura on because Gura will argue the appeal of McDonald v. City of Chicago before the Supreme Court next year. If Gura wins, one of the most onerous gun bans in the country—Chicago’s—will be overturned.

I’ve already read this issue cover to cover. Again this month I found articles that I will refer to again and again (even my wife knows the Gun Tests filing system I use). When I teach CCW classes (mostly to military members) I get a lot of questions about specific guns for self-defense. If I haven’t used the specific firearm and you don’t have a review on-line, I generally suggest another firearm that you recommend or that I have used extensively. I received three such calls this weekend (we had a gun show in town), and two of the three resulted in firearms purchases and happy new owners. The third call was for a firearm I wouldn’t recommend (based on your tests), so the individual didn’t buy one. He was initially disappointed because he’d read good things in other publications about the same model. I read every gun magazine I can get my hands on, and I asked him how many negative reviews he’d read in the source he was quoting. After a short pause he’s decided to stay on the lookout for a model your publication recommended. I say play the odds, they usually pay off.

I’ve already read this issue cover to cover. Again this month I found articles that I will refer to again and again (even my wife knows the Gun Tests filing system I use). When I teach CCW classes (mostly to military members) I get a lot of questions about specific guns for self-defense. If I haven’t used the specific firearm and you don’t have a review on-line, I generally suggest another firearm that you recommend or that I have used extensively. I received three such calls this weekend (we had a gun show in town), and two of the three resulted in firearms purchases and happy new owners. The third call was for a firearm I wouldn’t recommend (based on your tests), so the individual didn’t buy one. He was initially disappointed because he’d read good things in other publications about the same model. I read every gun magazine I can get my hands on, and I asked him how many negative reviews he’d read in the source he was quoting. After a short pause he’s decided to stay on the lookout for a model your publication recommended. I say play the odds, they usually pay off.

I was surprised when my teenage daughter brought home a book called Fist Stick Knife Gun, A Personal History of Violence in America by Geoffrey Canada. It’s a series of tales about the author watching his peers, inner-city black youth, beat, knife, and shoot each other. As Canada describes his tough life growing up in South Bronx, the incidence of guns was comparatively rare, so life was better back in the day, he says, when they just savagely assaulted each other. Later (to his credit), Canada describes trying to make a positive change in those same dangerous areas of the South Bronx he returns to after he gets degrees at Bowdoin and Harvard. But the big difference, he laments, is that the increased number of guns wielded by adolescents make fights become funerals.

I was surprised when my teenage daughter brought home a book called Fist Stick Knife Gun, A Personal History of Violence in America by Geoffrey Canada. It’s a series of tales about the author watching his peers, inner-city black youth, beat, knife, and shoot each other. As Canada describes his tough life growing up in South Bronx, the incidence of guns was comparatively rare, so life was better back in the day, he says, when they just savagely assaulted each other. Later (to his credit), Canada describes trying to make a positive change in those same dangerous areas of the South Bronx he returns to after he gets degrees at Bowdoin and Harvard. But the big difference, he laments, is that the increased number of guns wielded by adolescents make fights become funerals.

Thanks for your tests of the Judge. We bought the stainless 3-inch-barrel model about two years ago and are very pleased with its performance. My wife carries the Judge on our ranch for self-defense against snakes (very effective with the 410 shotshells). We, too, had difficulty finding a holster until we noticed Grassburr Leather Works (www.grassburr.com) at a Dallas/Fort Worth area gunshow. We purchased a high-quality leather fully-lined holster for the Judge from them at a very reasonable price. Thanks for a great magazine. I get to read it twice—once to myself and again to my wife, who enjoys me reading to her, especially about firearms.

Thanks for your tests of the Judge. We bought the stainless 3-inch-barrel model about two years ago and are very pleased with its performance. My wife carries the Judge on our ranch for self-defense against snakes (very effective with the 410 shotshells). We, too, had difficulty finding a holster until we noticed Grassburr Leather Works (www.grassburr.com) at a Dallas/Fort Worth area gunshow. We purchased a high-quality leather fully-lined holster for the Judge from them at a very reasonable price. Thanks for a great magazine. I get to read it twice—once to myself and again to my wife, who enjoys me reading to her, especially about firearms.

As GunReports.com readers probably know, Senator Edward Moore 'Teddy' Kennedy died last week, and the government-licensed media's lionization of him filled airwaves all weekend. We here at GunReports.com send our heartfelt condolences to his wife and family.However, Teddy Kennedy was no friend to gun owners, and we will not overlook the damage he did to our civil liberties.

UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh recently wrote on his blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, that the North Carolina Supreme Court has just held in Britt v. State that some felons -- whose crimes are long in the past -- do have a constitutional right to bear arms, at least under the North Carolina Constitution.

Lynch Hummer, a $7.5 million Hummer facility in an upscale St. Louis suburb, has announced the opening of the world's first combined Hummer and firearms dealership.

Every summer at Camp Perry, Ohio, prior to the National Rifle and Pistol Trophy Matches, soldiers from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit pass their shooting knowledge on to the next generation of American shooters at the Small Arms Firing School.

The school was instituted in 1918 by the Department of Defense and is conducted by the USAMU, along with assistance by members of the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Army Reserve and National Guard.