The Truth About Guns

Gun ownership in America keeps growing, and the people buying is broadening out. A new survey of nearly 17,000 gun owners puts AR-15 ownership at 40 million and finds women and people of color making up a larger share of the community than ever before, according to The Reload. The 2026 National Firearms Survey, published Saturday and covering all 50 states plus D.C., found that 25 percent of gun owners currently have an AR-15, according to The Reload.

The registration-free suppressor you carry out of the shop today could become a federal headache the day the political winds in Washington shift. Here’s the actual exposure — and the three things that might blunt a “revenge tour.” Nobody selling you a suppressor right now wants to dwell on the downside. The tax stamp is gone, a Texas court has the ATF on its heels, and in a growing list of states you can walk out with a can after nothing more than a Form 4473 and a NICS check.

I’ll admit it: as I’ve matured as a shooter, I’ve slowly become a sucker for the 2011 platform, so news of a new HD variant always gets my attention. Fittingly dropped right before the Fourth of July, Staccato has announced the HD P4X, and it’s a bit of a plot twist for a lineup that’s made its name in competition firearms. The P4X keeps the same 4-inch compensated barrel as the HD C4X, but ditches the aluminum frame for steel and swaps in a full-size grip.

We reported how the gun-ban organization that calls itself Everytown for Gun Safety went ballistic after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced its 34-rule reform package — the largest rollback of regulatory overreach in a generation.

After the latest attempt on President Donald Trump’s life during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, gun-ban groups did their best to pin the blame on the gun store chain the attacker purchased his guns from, not on the attacker himself. Turner’s Outdoorsman is pushing back against accusations from Brady and The Trace that linked the California firearm retailer to a failed assassination attempt against President Donald Trump.

If there’s one thing certain about anti-gun tactics, it’s that gun-ban advocates are always trying to blame gun manufacturers for the criminal use of their lawfully made, legally sold products and hold them liable for that criminal use. Outgoing U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has now introduced legislation to curb such anti-gun antics. On June 12, Cornyn filed S. 4775, the Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts (SHOT) Act, which would strengthen the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).

Major League Baseball franchises have generally tried to stay out of the gun-control fight. The Chicago White Sox apparently didn’t get the memo.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would permanently end the long-standing federal practice of stripping veterans of their right to keep and bear arms simply because they need help managing their Department of Veterans Affairs benefits.

Two major gun-rights organizations are asking the Supreme Court to take up a challenge to the Maryland law banning concealed carry in so-called “sensitive places” — a law that effectively replaced the state’s pre-Bruen discretionary permit system with a new framework that bans carry in most locations where permit holders would actually want to carry.

At face value, the title is an affront to the handgunner. Of course, iron sights have usefulness and will remain viable for the foreseeable future. They simply aren’t going to be the prevalent system for personal defense by well-trained individuals. The advantage of the modern carry-optic-equipped pistol is that, for the first time in my memory, a well-trained shooter has a genuine advantage over the criminal element. The bad guys don’t seem to be using carry optics.