A Houston, Texas gun range (not pictured) has filed suit against the city to avoid being shut down over what it calls an “antiquated ordinance” requiring gun ranges to have steel bullet traps. Top Gun of Texas has a state-of-the-art rubber bullet trap, installed during construction in 2009 by Action Target of Utah. Since then, the range has passed annual inspection every year until now, when they were advised they were operating out of compliance with the 40-year-old city law. The range points out that “the state of the art in the 1960s is antiquated today. The old-style bullet trap detailed in the ordinance worked by firing a bullet into a steel plate pointed downward at a 45-degree angle. The lead bullet would hit the steel plate, disintegrate, and fall into pieces on the sand pile below. We have since come to realize that inhaling lead particles is not a good thing. That is why the rubberized system is now the industry-standard.” Top Gun seeks an injunction to stop Houston from closing its range . . .
Your Lockdown of the Day™ comes from Tremont High School in Tremont, Illinois where the school was placed on lockdown for a few hours last Friday morning. Shortly after classes began, students discovered an undisclosed quantity of .22 caliber ammunition in a school hallway. Multiple agencies responded and swept the campus, searching students, lockers, and vehicles, before finally lifting the lockdown around noon. Authorities believe there is no threat to students or staff, with Illinois State Trooper Dustin Pierce saying, “Very well could be an accidental incident. It’s still early to know that. However with things happening around the country, we take every one of these situation very seriously and we treat them as if it is a true emergency.”
A Republican legislator in Oklahoma has introduced legislation that would prohibit the punishment of students for possessing small toy weapons or using writing utensils, fingers or their hands to simulate a weapon. Students also couldn’t be punished for drawing pictures of weapons or wearing clothes that “support or advance Second Amendment rights or organizations.” The Oklahoma Education Association immediately came out in opposition to the measure, saying it would remove local control from teachers and administrators. My question is, if those teachers and administrators are abrogating their responsibilities by throwing up their hands and pointing at zero tolerance policies, what control would they be losing that they haven’t already given up voluntarily? [H/T: Pascal]
Florida Carry, Inc. has filed suit against the University of Florida, alleging it illegally bans guns in dorms and other residence halls. Sean Caranna, executive director of Florida Carry, said that the actions taken by UF in the wake of the recent Appeals Court decision don’t adequately comply with the courts decision. He says by restricting weapons anywhere on campus, UF is violating the constitutional rights of people to possess weapons in their homes. Caranna also criticized the university’s workplace violence policy, which list “carries a weapon” under a list of warning signs and “unacceptable behavior to address.”
The MFT Battlelink Minimalist AR-15 stock was mentioned in this space back in September, and to be honest, I didn’t really get it. Recently Colion Noir did a brief video review, and now that I’ve seen it in action, I’m a little more interested now for a future lightweight build. I’m not really a fan of the fixed stock option that many people go with as a lightweight option; I just think this looks better. Thoughts?
A couple days ago, Nick brought you photos of a cutaway IWI Tavor SAR, and while the photos were cool, they were static. Here’s Primary Weapons Systems demonstration of their Long-Stroke Piston System in an actual firing cutaway AR-15, filmed in slow-mo. Very cool.
Finally, your educational video for the week. Hickok45 takes us for a walk around the Schofield revolver by Uberti.
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Harassment of a lawful enterprise, and nothing but…
True that. Here is a great example of why a performance specification type of regulation would be better than the specific hardware type regulation in force there. Just write it so that whatever system is used, it will contain the flying objects and will comply with various environmental & safety laws. Future technological advances are not dealt a death blow.
I bet somebody’s palm did not get greased or their free range membership did not get renewed. One good ol’ boy has a beef with another good ol’ boy. Petty revenge.
I get the minimalist stock idea, but it looks like if you dropped it in a parking lot – not that anyone would ever plan to do that – the protruding part would snap off. God forbid you ever had to actually hit someone with it. I guess those are the compromises people accept to get the lightest possible rifle, but it’s too far for me. Yeah, I know… my age is showing.
I’ve seen some pretty abusive testing done on this stock. There’s video on Youtube of a guy bashing in a door with the toe of one of these stocks, I seriously doubt a 10lb rifle falling 4″ onto pavement would break it. People often underestimate how strong modern polymers are. In many applications they have the potential to outperform steel.
I’ll check out the video. thanks for the pointer. This is likely one of those “looks can be deceiving things.”
You make a valid point, which I woul dlike to add to… With a sentence ended with a preposition…
Why do we want rifles to be light? Pocket guns in .380 can hurt to shoot! And it’s just .308…
I’d rather shoot AND CARRY my 11+lb .308 rifles than a .223 that stings me. My RFB is over 20lbs with a mag and the giant glass w/ 45 degree backup sights. Has less felt recoil than a base AR-15 with almost no muzzle rise. Heavy? Well, I better get the sand out of my vagina and DEAL WITH IT. I can think of plenty of other gear I’d rather make lighter than make a wimpy rifle even more wimpy for a few ounces I won’t even notice IRL. Being a Bullpup already makes it a dream to put on target and not have all the weight hanging out there.
Meh, end soapbox…
Well, if a gun is too heavy I can’t really aim with it offhand. I am “hitting the gym” but that takes time, also I use silencers. Which reduce recoil and make even lightweight rifles easy on the shoulder.
Rubber. It’s great on the soulder. Not to mention, I’ve yet to find the bullpup that I can’t put on target faster than any action-forward rifle. Even at 20+ pounds, My RFB is the fastest on-point weapon I have. It’s so quick I’m ready before my eyes have a chance to catch up.
Because 5.56 doesn’t recoil very much in a 7 pound package and compensators and breaks can tame even more of that recoil. So we can get a 6 pound rifle that swings faster and can be carried longer with still very little recoil
Weight that doesn’t matter doesn’t need to be saved…
You speak of all the things about it that make it great at 6lbs. No muzzle brake and I’ve got that in .308… And even at 20lbs, it’s still faster on target…
It’s not just the number, but where you put it. When all the weight stays in your armpit, slung or aimed, it’s isn’t much distance, so it isn’t slowed down by the inertia that isn’t there…
I think we’re just making different points. If I can be on-point faster and bring .308 to the party on top of that, it’s worth the extra weight. Recoil is light (for my taste anyway), and there’s no muzzle rise. Add a muzle brake and it’s a dream. The 1.125-18 threads are a cool place to mount a silencer, if you wanted to do that, and it adds minimal length without needing to SBR. Thought, .308, 18inch barrel, silencer, probably isn’t a super-efficient combo… 😉
Saving 1lb on a stock that’s in your armpit and isn’t contributing to inertia anyway doesn’t help the shooter. It looks like a hook waiting to get caught on crap…
I’ve seen the point made that it depends on whether you’re doing more carrying, or shooting. Shooting a lot in a stationary position means you want a heavy rifle, to absorb recoil. Moving around a lot and only taking one or two shots in the course of day, you want a light rifle.
I thought Texas was a gun friendly state.
Does that not include Houston?
Or is this the beginning of antigun infestation metastasizing to Texas?
So much for we in CA and other “slave states” being able to retreat to a reliably “free state”.
And Wendy Davis poses no threat to gun rights…right?
The 2A anti gun rights effort is a cancer that is spreading everywhere; some just can’t see it yet because the cancer is insidious and only becomes apparent after it becomes well established and starts eating its host territory.
many a Texan city would be right at home in the people’s republic.
Which is why I laugh when people tell me how gun-friendly Texas is.
It is where I am at in NE Texas. Go to Austin and it’s different, it should be called Austin California.
As guns go, I am more free, for the moment, in Virginia than i would be in Texas.
Texas makes a big “show” of being pro-gun, but, to steal a Texas Phrase, thy are all hat and no cattle.
TX does not even allow lawful open carry of a handgun…
It seems that hickok vid is a bit old, but I watched a lot of youtube this week trying to keep up with Shot. Still seems like TTAG has done a veru good job covering the better but more expensive items.
I just love when politicoans look to ancoet laws on the books to screw people over.
Lol, it’s only two weeks. It’s not like it contained breaking news. Besides, I usually save the longer-form videos for the weekend (or at least Friday night) when people have time to spend on them.
Sorry about the spelling errors, I was correcting them when my keyboard closed and I hit the publish button, then my phone.
Ok, the cutaway rifle? That tickles me in all the right places. Mechanical things in motion? Fascinating. Guess thats why im an engineer.
Glad to be of service.
Yes. It was also like a good movie. It ended too fast. I wanted more close ups of the bolt interacting with live and dead shells.
That was cool.
The City of Houston’s beef with Top Gun is total BS. It’s by far the best indoor range I’ve been to anywhere, and everything is state of the art. There’s absolutely no safety issue (you shoot into several *feet* of rubber mulch, with tilt-wall concrete walls behind that, plus an air handling system that must have cost the world), so there’s something else going on here . . . .
I won’t poach on TTAG’s turf here, but here’s a suggestion: the particular officers involved are named in the press reports. Name. Shame. And if/when a City Attorney shows up on the case, give him the same treatment.
That’s PWS video was the best piece of firearms advertising I’ve ever seen.
That college case could get quite interesting for me, as I will be attending college and living in a dorm this next fall.
I wonder what kind of bullet stops the Houston PD use?
Newspaper delivery trucks, homeowners, innocent bystanders, and pets.
from some ttag articles i have read, it seems like tx police use the seats of their own squad car as backstops.
:rimshot:
That photo is just plainly one of the oddest one I’ve seen. Is that a barbershop quartet consisting of police officers singing around a piano placed at the target area on their indoor range?
OK, makes sense.
I believe it was the subject of a photo caption contest a few months back, and that’s all I know. I just looked in our library to see what we had under the subject of ranges.
Not to mention the bullet holes in the ceiling.
“Authorities searched students, lockers and vehicles before lifting the lockdown around noon.”
Am I the only one who’s going to question this? Students were searched. Were any of them asked to consent? I’m not talking about lockers here, I’m talking about their persons. What would happen if a student said “I don’t consent to searches.” to one of the cops?
Cars were searched. Was consent asked for, were there any warrants issued?
Children in schools basically have no rights.
You are correct. Children have no rights or responsibilities. Their parents/guardians are tasked in defending those rights until they are deemed adults. Read those registration forms and school policies when you send your child to a school. Often the consent is buried in there.
If a child declares that they do not consent to a search, they will be terrorized into submission. When I was employed by the local school district as IT Infrastructure support, I watched it in action many times. I have yet to see a student successfully stand up to the administration or the SROs on campus. Usually when they make headway, the adults pour on the pressure, and the kid loses their temper or gets belligerent. At that point, they are treated like a criminal. Parents are rarely called into the school unless formal charges are filed. Even then, the parents 9/10 take the school’s word at face value.
“Shortly after classes began, students discovered an undisclosed quantity of .22 caliber ammunition in a school hallway. Multiple agencies responded and swept the campus, searching students, lockers, and vehicles for .22 LR ammunition which they had hoped to add to their personal stashes, before finally lifting the lockdown around noon.”
There, fixed that for them.
yes, but this was the last 22 LR to be found anywhere
About the children drawing, having toys, and using fingers as weapons. My daughter attends headstart and they give out a few Christmas presents every year to each child. Well guess what the boys got the boys got this year, AR-15’s! Toys of course, but still the same. Our government at work!
MFT makes a great product from what Ive gotten to use, and MAN, that cutaway showing all the fiddly bits is excellent. Its awesome seeing the gas key on the BCG slide home, one of those crazy things when you get to see something working on the inside. Kind of like that bodyworlds exhibit.
I’ve shot at Top Gun, it’s a pretty nice range with good ROs. It’s Houston, I’m amazed that they’re enforcing any ordinance especially one that’s pretty obscure. They must have pissed off someone.
When I was in high school, I found a spent .38 brass on the track. I brought it to the school cop or whatever we had. He just said alright, we’ll look into it. Turned out to just be a blank used in the starting gun. But no lockdown, freakout, etc. And this was in NE Illinois, and I had zero experience with guns. Some people are just overreacting morons.
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