Viewpoints

News of a man dressing up in a Santa suit and murdering nine people in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve dominated cable news headlines for days after the event. News reports suggest Bruce Pardo took as many as four handguns and a homemade flame-thrower to the home of his ex-wife's parents, where at least 25 people were enjoying a Christmas Eve party. Pardo shot at partygoers and burned down the house, murdering at least nine people before committing suicide hours later.

This year has been busy for GunReports.com. From our initial startup in the middle of April through the recent elections, we’ve produced hundreds of gun-related stories about law, regulations, and politics that inform the site’s members.

CHICAGO -- The following is the text of a statement released by Illinois State Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund (ISRA-PVF) Interim Chairman, Richard Pearson:During a weekend press conference, President-Elect Barack Obama responded to reports of a large, nation-wide run-up in gun sales by reiterating his well-traveled campaign rhetoric about how he supports the Second Amendment and how lawful firearm owners have nothing to fear from him.

The Houston Chronicle’s lead editorial on Dec. 8, “Border war / Flow of guns to Mexico endangers Texas safety,” reaches the level of journalistic malfeasance. At the least, the paper’s editorial board is incompetent for not getting the basics of gun terminology right, and for not resolving the internal contradictions in the piece.

…Palm Beach Post (FL) editorial writer Jac Wilder VerSteeg thumped a hornet's nest and got dozens of angry gun-owner responses with his Nov. 15 article, 'Muzzle all that gun paranoia.'

November 21, 2008--Found this while going down the rabbit hole looking for news to post on GunReports.com. I thought the GR community might like to see what the National Shooting Sports Foundation is doing to combat the misnamed 'assault weapons' push. --Admin.

This from 2nd Amendment scholar and lawyer Dave Kopel, writing on UCLA Professor Eugene Volokhs's legal-discussion site, 'The Volokh Conspiracy':

The Second Amendment Foundation believes that the nomination of Eric Holder for the post of attorney general of the United States sends an “alarming signal” to gun owners about how the Barack Obama administration will view individual gun rights.

Last month’s editorial commented on the likelihood that Barack H. Obama would become president of the United States. That likelihood has become certitude. He’ll be sworn in on January 20, 2009—a little over a month from now. That fact has affected the gun market in a way I’ve seen only once before—the day after 9-11. We are seeing what I can only describe as panic buying for civilian self-defense rifles, in particular, semiautomatic AR-15s, AK-47s, SKSes, FALs, and so on. Kevin Winkle, owner of Winkle’s Great Guns and one of Gun Tests’ federal firearms license dealers, wrote me to say, 'I called the nation’s largest gun distributor today, and they were completely sold out of every brand of AR-15 and AK-47 style rifles, magazines and ammunition. They did not know when more would arrive or what the price would be.

Last month’s editorial commented on the likelihood that Barack H. Obama would become president of the United States. That likelihood has become certitude. He’ll be sworn in on January 20, 2009—a little over a month from now. That fact has affected the gun market in a way I’ve seen only once before—the day after 9-11. We are seeing what I can only describe as panic buying for civilian self-defense rifles, in particular, semiautomatic AR-15s, AK-47s, SKSes, FALs, and so on. Kevin Winkle, owner of Winkle’s Great Guns and one of Gun Tests’ federal firearms license dealers, wrote me to say, 'I called the nation’s largest gun distributor today, and they were completely sold out of every brand of AR-15 and AK-47 style rifles, magazines and ammunition. They did not know when more would arrive or what the price would be.

The Prismatic is a little different from other 1X scopes, especially those with holographic or red dot reticles. It has a lot of potential as a tactical sight, but possibly more so as a hunting scope. Here are some characteristics. First, it is not for long relief. You have to get 'inside the scope' so that the reticle can be used to 'graph' the field of view. The reticle has two shapes for coarse target acquisition and one for fine point of aim/impact. The circle and the crosshairs cover a large area. There is, however, a tiny dot at the center of the crosshairs that I was able to use with success across a rimfire silhouette course. The illumination option is ideal for hunting at dawn or dusk. I prefer using the lowest setting necessary. The reticle can be set to click on and off at a desired degree of illumination, and if you have it blazing away, the reticle can be too distracting for a fine point of aim. In bright daylight I preferred not to use the illumination. Perhaps if the central dot was larger and its illumination could be isolated from the remainder of the reticle the Prismatic could be used like a traditional red dot scope. I also found that there was more adjustment in terms of windage and elevation available than on most 1X scopes. Mounting options were simple and effective.

The Prismatic is a little different from other 1X scopes, especially those with holographic or red dot reticles. It has a lot of potential as a tactical sight, but possibly more so as a hunting scope. Here are some characteristics. First, it is not for long relief. You have to get 'inside the scope' so that the reticle can be used to 'graph' the field of view. The reticle has two shapes for coarse target acquisition and one for fine point of aim/impact. The circle and the crosshairs cover a large area. There is, however, a tiny dot at the center of the crosshairs that I was able to use with success across a rimfire silhouette course. The illumination option is ideal for hunting at dawn or dusk. I prefer using the lowest setting necessary. The reticle can be set to click on and off at a desired degree of illumination, and if you have it blazing away, the reticle can be too distracting for a fine point of aim. In bright daylight I preferred not to use the illumination. Perhaps if the central dot was larger and its illumination could be isolated from the remainder of the reticle the Prismatic could be used like a traditional red dot scope. I also found that there was more adjustment in terms of windage and elevation available than on most 1X scopes. Mounting options were simple and effective.