Litigation

• Despite the July US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Rhode v. Bonta that California’s law requiring background checks for ammunition purchases is unconstitutional, and affirming a district court’s order granting a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law, anti-gun state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he plans to continue enforcing the law until the Ninth Circuit issues the official verification. Apparently a few sales went through, and I wonder just how successful or how spectacularly unsuccessful an attempted prosecution for an alleged violation of the defunct law would be. I suppose one could factually argue that such a thing would be malicious prosecution.

• The Second Amendment Foundation, American Suppressor Association, National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, Prime Protection STL Tactical Boutique, et al. filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA). The case, Brown v. ATF, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The NFA established a $200 tax and tax-enforcement registration regime on certain classes of firearms, including suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and NFA-defined “any other weapons.” The $200 tax has now been eliminated, effective at the end of this year. The thing is, the registration has always been unconstitutional. (And so was the tax. And the 1986 machine gun ban.) EVERYBODY knows that. Why has it taken 90 years for a lawsuit? Enemies.
• Another federal suit challenging the NFA has been filed by the Silencer Shop, Silencer Co., Palmetto State Armory, and GOA/GOF, et al., styled Silencer Shop Foundation v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
• But meanwhile, yet another NFA case is already before the Supreme Court. Jamond M. Rush v. United States.
• The federal under-21 handgun sales ban is headed to SCOTUS, where SAF is seeking cert.
• Treasonous US District Judge William E. Smith has ruled that Rhode Island’s requirement for showing “need” to legally openly carry a firearm does not violate the Second Amendment and says that open carry permits are a “privilege.” He’s wrong. We find no constitutional authority to prohibit the open exercise of any civil right. The case, O’Neil v. Neronha, will be appealed to the US First Circuit Court of Appeals.
• A Minnesota Appeals Court panel this week upheld the state’s ban on possessing unserialized firearms, claiming that the ban does not violate the Second Amendment to the US Constitution as applied to a defendant’s possession of a privately made firearm without a serial number. The law effectively bars residents from making their own guns unless they serialize them in accordance with state law. The decision is not Bruen compliant, as there were no serialized guns at the time of the Second Amendment, and no legal requirement for serial numbers until the federal gun control act of 1968.
• Canadians go after S&W for selling dumb guns there.
• Los Angeles prosecutor declines to charge NFL player for alleged violation of unconstitutional gun ban law.
• Mississippi ammunition company banned from shooting firearms on property after local leaders get complaints from nervous Nellie residents. I’m not sure the state preemption law allows counties to ban shooting.
• Grassroots update. Read the one about the Texas federal antitrust case.

Judiciary & Justice

• Eric Tung of California is President Donald Trump’s judicial nominee for a US Ninth Circuit seat. He has a five-year membership to the International Defensive Pistol Association and, therefore, likely has some extensive experience with firearms. Tung has already appeared in nomination hearings before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
• The US Department of Justice has announced a new focus: The protection of the Second Amendment against any state or local government that hopes to undermine it.
• “…that mockery will have consequences.” Oh yeah? What consequences exactly, and when?

Enemies

• ATF’s illegal secret gun registry to be powered by AI. Someone(s) at ATF should be in prison.
• Related: Firearm Data Breach Shows Dangers of Gun Licensing and Registration.
• Georgia’s former RINO Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan came out as a Democrat, he says because Republicans don’t want to ban guns.

The Only Ones

• Woman shot with Glock stolen from a Chicago police station sues city, says cops pilfered it.
• You saw the news about an active duty Army sergeant who shot five of his coworkers at Ft. Stewart, GA, before he was tackled and detained by other “armed forces” soldiers. My (rhetorical) question is, why didn’t they shoot him?
• New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would give themselves and their top staffers sweeping firearm privileges – privileges they continue to deny the average law-abiding citizen. Assembly Bill A5958 seeks to exempt elected officials and their chiefs of staff from nearly all of the state’s draconian gun laws. Nothing a good tarring and feathering won’t cure. Seriously.

DGUs

• “the suspect had 135 prior encounters with law enforcement…”
• American Rifleman – August 4, 2025
• America’s 1st Freedom – August 1, 2025

Not a DGU

• “Remote” Areas!
• Make no mistake: those who propose to disarm you when you’ve not threatened or done anything wrong are your enemies.

Politics & Rights

• A good basic discussion of the Second Amendment for your basic water cooler chats.
• Fudds.
• Mental Health. Stephen Wenger reports:

Tactics & Stuff

• Weapon retention & safety. Ayoob.
• Paddle holsters.
• How to purify water: 14 methods for homes and outdoors.
• CCI .22 rat shot report.

Dumbass Report. Presented without comment.

• Gun shop owner charged for firing weapon inside store, could serve up to 10 years in prison
• Oops.

Industry News

• The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System announced that it would begin to allow federal firearms licensees to check serial numbers of firearms on the secondary market against the National Crime Information Center Gun File for firearms previously reported as being stolen. Now the question is, why not allow anyone to check a serial number to see if it’s stolen?
• Thompson/Center Arms announced the acquisition of Green Mountain Rifle Barrel Company, which will continue to operate as an independent entity.

Sig.

• Why the Army didn’t finish testing the Sig Sauer P320 during the XM17 competition
• The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), one of the largest sport shooting governing bodies in the nation, last week barred the Sig P320 from any of its shooting competitions.
• The US Air Force has ordered a service-wide safety inspection of every single one of its Sig M18 pistols.
• The Houston (TX) Police Department last week prohibited officers from carrying the Sig Sauer P320 and gave them two months to find another pistol, after one of their officers filed a lawsuit against Sig and a local Houston shop, alleging that his P320 shot him in the leg while he was directing traffic and without him touching the trigger.
• A Washington Judge last week rejected Sig’s plea to reverse the Washington Criminal Justice Training Center’s ban on use of the P320 pistol at its facility, which provides firearms training and certification to police departments throughout the state. Superior Court Judge Carol Murphy denied the company’s motion to force the law enforcement training facility to reinstate use of the weapon, based only on the brief evidence heard in the early stage of the case, and things could still go the other way during the merits phase of the trial.
• Angled Spade Technologies has applied for a patent for a retrofit Sig P320 manual safety that physically blocks the sear’s movement when the manual safety is engaged, something that, to date, has not been a feature of the P320 and its variants. Personally – on a gun that’s normally cocked or partially cocked – I prefer a manual safety that blocks movement of the striker/firing pin, in case the sear tip breaks or wears, or the sear engagement becomes out of spec. Sig declined an offer to buy the design. Note that only the M17/18 variants of the P320 come with manual thumb safeties, which may be why the product is apparently not in production.

More News

• ACLDN sale: It looks like the ACLDN newsletter may be a casualty of the sale to CCW Safe, or at least delayed. More later if I hear it.
• “CCW Safe is bigger, faster, and more capable than we are.” – Gila Hayes of ACLDN (paraphrased)
• SAAMI’s new “Voluntary Industry Performance Standards Criteria for Firearm Sound Suppressors for the Use of Commercial Manufacturers” took eight years to develop and contains thread and socket drawings, recommendations on how to communicate intended cartridge, minimum barrel length, maximum firing cadence and maximum rounds before required cooling, procedures and equipment required for suppressor sound measurement, measuring suppressor-to-bore alignment, testing for abusive mishandling, overpressure testing and stress testing.

Products

• Springfield Armory announced the 1911 Operator AOS Threaded in .45 ACP, available in Cerakote Coyote Brown, OD Green, Tungsten Gray or Black, with a Picatinny rail, tritium front sight, and ambidextrous safety. $1289.
• The Charles Daly Triple Threat is a three-barreled shotgun available in 12-gauge, 20-gauge, 28-gauge, or 410. 3″ chamber, RemChoke system with five included choke tubes, 18.5″ barrel 35.5″ OAL and weighs only 8.2 lbs.
• The Howa Superlite Gen 2 rifles are under 5 lbs. and guaranteed sub-MOA, with a lifetime warranty.
• The Ulticlip Enduo looks like a pretty neat way to pocket carry a spare pistol magazine. But you can’t easily swap to a different magazine without buying an additional Enduo clip product for each. Also available from Amazon.
• In a case of what appears to be an answer searching for a problem, Dark Mountain Arms has a new product called the Barrel Breacher, which is essentially a short 12 gauge bang stick that attaches to the muzzle of your rifle and uses frangible breaching rounds chambered in front of the rifle muzzle. Not much to go wrong there… Why not just use a bang stick instead of plugging up your rifle? Or alternatively move the thing out of the bore line.
• The registered HK trigger pack. In case you’re not holding your breath for the NFA to go away and have tens of thousands of dollars to burn.