Trumped

• Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has been confirmed as US Attorney General by a 54-46 Senate vote, in spite of complaints from some gun-rights advocates.
• The US Senate also confirmed N.D. Gov. Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior by a vote of 79-18. Burgum enjoys wide support from sportsmen.
• Less than two weeks into the new Trump administration, Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) sales of surplus US Army M1911/M1911A1 .45 caliber pistols have resumed, after having been suspended during the Biden-Harris administration. In other welcomed developments, the sales process has been streamlined, and shipping and handling (a $25 value) will be free.

Litigation

• A unanimous 3-judge panel of the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (MS, LA, TX) ruled last week that 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) – which together forbid Federal Firearms Licensees from selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds – violate the Second Amendment, and sent the case back to the district court for correct disposition. Because the Fifth Circuit reversed a lower court’s ruling and remanded the decision back to the lower court, the decision is not yet final. Likewise, the government may appeal the ruling and seek a stay. The case is Reese v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
• Meanwhile, a panel of judges for the US Fourth Circuit (MD, NC, SC, WV, VA) is considering whether to strike down in that circuit the same law that prohibits federal firearm dealers from selling handguns to adults under 21 years old. Attorneys representing six young men from two separate lawsuits argued last week that the ban on the sale of handguns to adults aged 18 to 20 infringes on their clients’ constitutional right to bear arms. District judges in Virginia and West Virginia have sided with the young men, finding there was no constitutional or historical basis for prohibiting law-abiding adults under the age of 21 from purchasing handguns. Of course if the Fourth Circuit upholds the law – conflicting with the Fifth Circuit’s ruling – the cases could go to the Supreme Court.
• The US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Judge Carlton Reeves has struck down the federal machine gun ban as unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The case is US v. Justin Bryce Brown.
• Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), and the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners (CNJFO) are suing Attorney General Matthew Platkin of New Jersey and a slew of other state officials over the state’s widespread ban on hollow point ammunition. It is a felony offense to use hollowpoint ammunition for self defense outside the home in New Jersey, unless you are an Only One. The case is Bergmann-Schoch v. Platkin.
• Product liability lawsuit discussion.
• NRA cases update.
• Grassroots report.

Enemies & Bureaucrats

• ATF’s DEI garbage follow-up.
• Pure evil: ATF, Homeland Security, and the lawyer.
• More ATF.
• Hogg wild. Junior gun ban activist David Hogg, 24 – who apparently has never actually done anything – has been elected as one of three vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee, which says more about the DNC than about Hogg.

• All Six FBI Executive Assistant Directors and 25 Special Agents in Charge Out at FBI According to FBI Whistleblower.
• In other news, we heard a rumor that Elon Musk made an offer to buy the FBI from the Clintons.

Newsletters

• The ACLDN and Rangemaster February newsletters are out.

The Only Ones

• An unidentified on-duty San Luis Obispo [CA] police officer was stopped at the city’s airport security check after the routine X-ray screening found a handgun loaded with 16 rounds of ammunition in her carry-on bag last week. Federal law authorizes police officers to carry firearms on airplanes in checked luggage, or carried ON THEIR PERSON, if necessary, with the completion of administrative forms in advance. The officer was not arrested, because…?

DGUs

• The importance of armed security:
  • Fired Employee Retrieves AR-15, Stopped by Armed Security Before Entering Mississippi Chicken-Processing Plant
  • Subject in Fort Lauderdale home invasion shot by homeowner, police say
  • Shocking moment elderly driver turns tables on gun-toting teen carjacker
  • Armed Teen Stopped by Armed Pilot After Attempted Aircraft Hijacking in Texarkana
• Cop training is that if someone goes for their gun, deadly force is justified to prevent it.
• The Armed Citizen:
  • American Rifleman – January 31, 2025
  • American Rifleman – February 3, 2025

Tactics & Stuff

• John Farnam notes that going armed some of the time is like wearing a seat belt some of the time. True, that.
• Buzzers & buckshot.

Products

• Palmetto State Armory has a Flash-only sale price of $99.99 for the GForce GF2P 18.5″ 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun! Truck gun, house gun, loaner, shop gun, tractor gun…
• 9mm bear load? 38″ of penetration.
• Big revolver related roundup of new products. Read all the way through because I can’t regurgitate it all. Highlights:
  • Federal’s new Hydra-Shok Deep load in .32 H&R Magnum is tailored to provide an excellent balance between expansion and penetration depth. The 85 grain bullet in this load clocks 1,000+ fps from a sub-2″ barrel, penetrates 14″ and expands to 0.48″ in FBI type tests.
  • The .45 Colt Hydra-Shok Deep will penetrate 16-18″ and expand to 0.65″+ in the revolver tests.
  • In addition to the previously reported mid-size Lipsey’s Ruger Bisley Flattop chambered in .41 Magnum (more here), they are also producing the John Taffin Perfect Packin’ Pistol (PPP), a mid-size, Bisley flattop chambered in .45 Colt, with an additional .45 ACP cylinder included. I wonder if I can get a matched pair in .41 and .45?
  • A S&W Model 19 Combat Magnum with a new frame-mounted yoke lock that provides a stronger lockup than the old extractor rod tip system, and allows the barrel extension to remain intact, without the 6 o’clock yoke clearance cut that doomed the originals to crack when fed a steady diet of Magnums.
  • Imported surplus Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolvers from France. Cheap.
• The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute, Inc., (SAAMI) has announced the acceptance of three new rifle cartridges for SAAMI standardization: 7mm Backcountry with a 170-grain bullet at 3,000 fps and a MAP of 80,000 psi., 25 Creedmoor with a 134-grain bullet at 2,810 fps and a MAP of 62,000 psi., and 338 Advanced Rifle Cartridge with a 175-grain bullet at 2,050 fps and a MAP of 52,000 psi.
• The new Nextorch P91 rechargeable flashlight measures 6.3″ L x 1.4″ head dia. x 1.1″ body dia., weighs 5.8 oz empty, offers 5000 lumens with a 328 yard beam distance and sells for $120.
• CCI Blazer Brass is offering several new expanding JHP handgun loads:
  • 5239 / 9MM LUGER 115-GRAIN BLAZER BRASS JHP / $37.99
  • 5241 / 40 S&W 180-GRAIN BLAZER BRASS JHP / $44.99
  • 5251 / 10MM AUTO 180-GRAIN GR BLAZER BRASS JHP / $52.99
  • 5245 / 45 AUTO 230-GRAIN BLAZER BRASS JHP / $47.99