Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) talks with Cam Edwards from NRA news below and explains what all of this means to us. I think he explains it better than I can, so have a watch, and tell me what you think.

I haven’t had a chance to look over the most recent draft of the UN Arms Trade Treaty, but I did cover an older draft of the treaty pretty extensively in Episode 8 of the Triangle Tactical Podcast. If you are interested, hit the link, and it will take you to a page where you can listen to it.

What you need to know about the UN Arms Trade Treaty:

The UN Arms Trade Treaty (in the form that I last looked at it) is NOT a global gun ban. It’s not a good treaty if you are a lover of liberty, but it isn’t a global “assault weapon” ban, or anything like that. We need to be skeptical of the treaty, and keep our eyes on where it goes after it is signed by the President.

As soon as I can get my hands on a current copy of the draft treaty, I’ll post it here with my analysis of it.

The post The UN Arms Trade Treaty Will Be Signed by the US appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

Daniele Perazzi, of Perazzi shotguns was accused of being a terrorist by his cab driver due to having several shotguns in the trunk. If you know anything about Perazzi shotguns, you know that they are some of the finest sporting shotguns in the world. These are not “tactical” firearms!

After being freed from jail, the Colorado Sheriff told Perazzi (in typical old west fashion) to “leave the state by sundown.”

• Shotgun executive taken into custody at Colo. gun show on cabbie terror tip

NC House Bill 937 moves on to the Senate.

Don’t freak out that this bill hasn’t moved in the week that it’s been sitting in the Senate. Yes, it’s sitting in the same committee, run by the same person who killed the last restaurant carry bill last year, but it’s not time to freak out just yet. We’ll be keeping an eye on the bill, and if anything changes, we’ll let you know!

California’s defacto gun ban with their microstamping law.

The “Governator” Arnold signed microstamping into law back in 2007, but due to some patents it was never implemented, until now. On Friday, the Attorney General in CA decided that the patents were no longer an issue, and that microstamping would go into effect that day.

The trouble with this law, is that it will not be effective. The microstamps can wear off if the pistol is shot extensively, and the parts that are stamped are not regulated parts, so all it takes is a simple online order of a new firing pin or striker assembly and BAM! no more microstamped parts. The other edge of this sword is that it will keep certain handguns from being added to the approved list of handguns for sale in the state of CA. Yes, for those of you in free states, if you are buying a handgun in CA, it must be on the state approved list.

• Interesting .PDF from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence on Microstamping. Even they admit that it’s only 54% effective…
• This didn’t make it on the Podcast, but there’s actually a list of approved gun safety devices for California citizens. Yuck.

Plug Of The Week:

GRNC Annual Dinner and Freedom Awards is coming up on June 22nd. There will be several well known speakers at the event like John Lott, author of “More Guns, Less Crime”, James O’Keefe of Project Veritas, WPTF Radio Host Bill LuMaye, and Rep. Larry Pittman.

For more info, head over to Carolina Shooters Club here.

Feedback!

We love hearing from listeners! If you have a question of comment, shoot us an email at or alternatively, if you would like to hear your voice on the podcast, leave us a voicemail by clicking here!

The post California’s Gun Ban (Microstamping) – TTP – Ep.29 appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
MAGPUL INDUSTRIES ANNOUNCES LAWSUIT TO INVALIDATE COLORADO GUN CONTROL MEASURES

Denver, Colorado – May 17th, 2013 – Magpul Industries, an Erie, Colorado, based manufacturer of firearms accessories, announced today that it has joined 53 Colorado County Sheriffs and other plaintiffs in filing a lawsuit this morning to invalidate gun control measures recently passed by the Colorado legislature and enacted by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court and establishes that Colorado House Bill 1224 (magazine restrictions) and House Bill 1229 (universal background checks) violate the constitutional rights of lawful gun owners located in Colorado.

Duane Liptak, Director of Product Management and Marketing for Magpul Industries, said that these gun control laws do nothing other than restrict the ability of law abiding citizens to defend themselves and Magpul is committed to invalidating these infringements:

“Colorado’s recently passed gun control laws are a direct assault on the constitutional rights of the responsible people who live in and visit this great state. These laws will do nothing to enhance public safety and only place unreasonable limitations on the ability of law abiding citizens to defend themselves. While Magpul is currently in the process of moving its operations out of Colorado, we will not turn our back on our native state. Extreme gun control interests have forced the passage of these unconstitutional laws in Colorado, and as a company, we are resolved to restore those rights to the people.”

Magpul’s outside legal counsel, Jon Anderson, of Holland & Hart LLP, said that the Colorado gun control bills are unconstitutional and so poorly drafted that the new laws would be enforced in an inconsistent manner:

“Colorado’s gun control laws are in direct conflict with the U.S. Constitution. In addition, these bills were so poorly drafted that no one agrees on the scope of the government regulation. If teams of lawyers cannot agree on what these bills prohibit, how can we expect citizens to abide by these laws and how can we rely on law enforcement to implement these laws in a consistent manner?”

Magpul will continue to support productive efforts to FREE COLORADO from government regulations that imperil the rights of law abiding firearm owners.

This is awesome news! I’m a proud owner of many Magpul products, and I must say, with everything they have done, I will continue to support them!

The post Magpul Filing Lawsuit to Invalidate CO Gun Control! appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

You may have noticed that I’m shooting a lot more USPSA recently than I have been in the past. This isn’t because I dislike IDPA, but because I’m trying to improve as a shooter.

In almost 4 years of shooting IDPA, I’m to the point where I’m almost an IDPA Master, which is, in my opinion, a little misleading.

My first USPSA classification just came in a couple days ago, and I classified C class in Production.

It seems like there’s a huge discrepancy between my classifications between the two games. Being that my goal is to become a better shooter, I feel that USPSA is offering me the chance to improve more than IDPA is currently.

I was hoping the new IDPA rulebook would address the classifier system a little more, but all they have done is adjust the times a little, which probably won’t have too much effect on my classification.

I still enjoy shooting both games, but I feel if I want to improve as a shooter, shooting against people who are a lot better than me helps me to make gains faster than just shooting the same matches I have been shooting forever. I also feel that since USPSA’s rules are less subjective, that I can practice more, and see more gains from my practice.

Here’s whats cool: I didn’t start my dry fire training program until after I had shot enough USPSA classifiers to get a baseline classification. Hopefully this will show my progress in the classifier scores, as well as my par times in dry fire improving simultaneously.

We’ll see.

The post Why I’m focusing on USPSA these days. appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

There are apparently too many scandals going on in national politics at the moment for the local media to bring you a story about something good happening in our state…

Press Release from Gov. McCrory’s Office:

May 15th, 2013

Raleigh, NC– Governor Pat McCrory and North Carolina Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker announced today that Cape Fear Arsenal Inc. will locate a new manufacturing facility in Robeson County.  The company plans to create 150 jobs and invest more than $15.2 million over the next three years in Lumberton.

“Our state has a strong manufacturing legacy,” said Governor McCrory. “This new facility advances that legacy with an innovative process that will result in much-needed, well-paying jobs for workers in Robeson County.”

Cape Fear Arsenal is a privately-held corporation focusing on providing high quality ammunition products in the Southeast U.S. Its products will be primarily sold to law enforcement.  The company also anticipates bidding on contracts for the military and state agencies.

“Cape Fear Arsenal’s decision to locate this facility in Robeson County is a big win for the region and state,” said Sharon Decker, North Carolina Secretary of Commerce. “Our commitment to spurring economic growth continues to bring good-paying, high-skilled jobs for North Carolina families.”

Salaries will vary by job function, but the average annual wage for the new jobs will be $41,559, plus benefits. The Robeson County average annual wage is $26,832.

“CFA is very appreciative of this opportunity to partner with the state of North Carolina and Robeson County, as we look to do something positive in this industry,” said CEO David Hargitt. “Without the state and local government’s outstanding support, CFA’s ability to provide these opportunities in Lumberton would not have been possible. CFA will apply innovative manufacturing technology and the highly competent Robeson County workforce to produce various calibers of pistol ammunition for an already stressed and lacking ammunition market.”

The project was made possible in part by a performance-based grant from the One North Carolina Fund of up to $490,000. The One NC Fund provides financial assistance, through local governments, to attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state. Companies receive no money up front and must meet job creation and investment performance standards to qualify for grant funds.  These grants also require and are contingent upon local matches.

“This new manufacturing facility will provide solid employment opportunities for an area that was hit hard by the recession,” said Sen. Michael Walters. “We welcome Cape Fear Arsenal to North Carolina and wish them continued success in Lumberton.”

“North Carolina’s tremendous workforce continues to attract businesses to our state, and we’re excited to have Cape Fear Arsenal coming to Robeson County,” said Rep. Garland Pierce.

Other partners that helped with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges, Robeson County, City of Lumberton, Robeson County Economic Development Commission and the Robeson County Committee of 100.

The post ‘Cape Fear Arsenal’ to Begin Manufacturing Ammo in Robeson County appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) told The Hill on Friday that he’s had “a lot of discussions” with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on guns.

Yep. House Republicans are starting to talk about guns. Boehner has shown time and again that he has no spine, and a yellow stripe up his back, and I believe once again he’s caving under pressure from the Whitehouse, and his Senate counterparts.

Rep. Goodlatte went on to say the following:

“We are trying to improve the system to keep people who are barred under the law from owning firearms, from getting access to them. We don’t think the things that were proposed in the Senate do that. So we have not backed away from trying to figure out how to improve that, but we’ve made no decisions yet about what to do.”

I don’t think bad guys should have guns either, but we have plenty of laws on the book to counter that. More laws that don’t get enforced is not the answer to the problem. Unfortunately many (all) in congress believe it is their job to pass law after law after law, regardless of it’s effectiveness.

There was one last quote that I wanted to point out from the Hill article, this time from Nancy Pelosi. They are talking about Rep. Peter King’s house companion bill to Manchin-Toomey, which has picked up some co-sponsors in the House, mostly Dems. Pelosi says that many are telling her:

‘I will vote for [Manchin-Toomey]. I don’t want to be a co-sponsor.’ But to get 160 on a bill that has all the outside mobilization coming down so strongly from the NRA and Gun Owners of America and the rest, it is pretty remarkable.”

So, if someone in congress feels so strongly about the bill that they will tell Pelosi that they will vote for it, why wouldn’t they want to be a co-sponsor? Well, it’s because the slimy congressmen want to pass the bill without it having their name attached to it too many times to keep from drawing attention from their constituents.

In the past several weeks, I’ve let up a little in my regimen of calling and emailing my reps and instead have been focusing on NC state lawmakers. I think it’s time we start contacting them all once again.

The post Are House Republicans Planning Backdoor Gun Control? appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

The Gear:

The pistol carried, was a Gen3 Glock 19 that has been my main concealed carry pistol for several years. It’s basically stock, except for a set of Ameriglo GL-433 night sights, and a very slight undercut of the trigger guard. Today the pistol was loaded with 15+1rds of Federal HST 124gr +P ammo.

I spent a little time in the garage making a fairly deep riding aiwb holster that would allow the pistol to sit nice and low. It’s a simple taco design with a built in clip. Nothing fancy, but it holds the pistol securely, and in the correct position.

My Belt was the Two Fools Leather Goods Fat Boy Belt, which is phenomenal. It’s been my EDC belt for nearly a year, and I couldn’t be happier with it. I did have to rotate the buckle of the belt over to the 11:00 position in order to make room for the holster clip up front, no big deal.

How it Went:

I woke up at the crack of noon (it was my day off, don’t judge), and strapped on the belt and holster. walking around the house, taking the dog out, and making breakfast, I had no issues. Very comfortable, and easy to wear. One thing I noticed was that keeping the pistol up front creates a small void next to the holster that I believe would be a great place to add a small magazine carrier like the one that attaches to the G-Code Incog holster. With that in mind, I decided to head out and run some errands.

When I plopped down in the car, I found quickly that I needed to make some seat adjustments in order keep the pistol from digging into my belly too much. Not a big deal, but I wish I had thought of it before I sat down…

On the drive into town, I noticed that the holster was a little longer than the pistol required, and the extra kydex was digging into my leg a little bit. Once in town, I found that having the pistol up front helped my belt to sit on my hips more than usual, and kept from from having to adjust my pants as much as I do with my other IWB holsters, this was a pretty big win.

Concealing the pistol was a breeze. With just an undershirt and a button-up the pistol disappeared completely. With these same clothes, I begin to print pretty good when I carry on my hip.

When I got home, I immediately went to the garage, and with a utility knife, trimmed the bottom 1/4″ of extra kydex off of the muzzle end of the holster. A quick bump with some 600 grit sandpaper and all was well. I couldn’t believe what a difference 1/4″ made, but it really helped in the comfort department.

Thoughts Going Forward:

I’m not a 100% convert. At least not yet. While the pistol stayed in place, and was easy to conceal, there are two other things that I need to address before I jump completely on the appendix carry bandwagon:

1. Comfort. I believe that comfort will come with time. I’m losing weight, and 30lbs ago, I wasn’t even able to sit down with the pistol in the same appendix holster that I used today. While sitting was possible, I had to make adjustments to my car seat, or slouch in my chair a little to get relatively comfortable.
2. Holsters. I mentioned above that the holster I made is fairly deep riding. This helps to tuck the pistol closer into my body making it easier to conceal. The trouble is that I’m not able to get a full firing grip on the pistol while it’s in the holster. I do also have a Blade-Tech UCH holster that sits a bit higher, but it has it’s own issues.

Both of these problems will probably remedy themselves if I keep losing weight, which is the plan. I also believe that it will be easier with a smaller pistol, so I’m patiently waiting for the Springfield XDS 9mm to arrive at my FFL so I can put it through it’s paces, and add it to my concealed carry rotation.

The post Appendix Carry: Day 1 appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

Dixie Gun and Knife show:

• Ammo, and reloading components were in stock!
• Guns were in stock!

New IDPA Rulebook:

• Not a lot has changed. It seems like a lot of people didn’t know the old rulebook all that well, and now that they are reading it, they are complaining about rules that haven’t changed. (Specifically, lots of people are complaining about the rule on “tactical reloads” or reloads with retention that states that tactical reloads cannot be required on non-standards stages. This doesn’t mean that tactical reloads may not be conducted by a competitor, they just cannot be required by the match director. (When was the last time you had a required tactical reload?)
• We’ve also noticed some people complaining about the rule that someone must join IDPA after shooting their first match. This has always in the rulebook, but it’s just not enforced at club matches.
• There are a few really good new rules, such as allowing .22LR pistols at club level matches, as well as re-defining the SSP Division rules to allow all striker fired pistols, instead of having the XD line of pistols being required to shoot ESP.

Legal Update:

NC House Bill 937 passed the House! There are many representatives that are getting their panties in a bunch about this bill passing, and the local media is eating it up.

3D Printed Guns:

Many of the gun grabbers are trying to create mass hysteria about the Defense Distributed Liberator pistol.

They are making arguments like these:

• The pistol is unregistered! (Neither are most other pistols in the US)
• The pistol is not traceable! (Well, It’s perfectly legal for me to buy a CNC mill, and make my own pistol out of steel, so what’s the difference?)
• Could be printed by felons or organized crime organizations! (I don’t know too many gang bangers that are motivated enough to buy a 3D printer, learn how to use it, and make a single shot pistol)

The UK Dailymail printed one of these pistols, and took it on a train from London to Paris. Pretty interesting story.

After Defense Distributed posted the Liberator files, the Department of Defense made them take them down. This just helped these files to be distributed even further through torrent sites, and other means.

Dryfiretimer.com

Check it out! This app will save you a ton of time in your dry fire program. You can get it in the Apple App Store, or by clicking the following  affiliate link.

Tip of The Week:

If you DQ at a match, stick around and help your squad the rest of the day. If you need to take a little bit to collect your thoughts, do it, but don’t pack up and leave.

Feedback:

We love hearing from listeners! You can always email us at or if you want to get your voice on the podcast feel free to leave us a voicemail by clicking here!

The post 3D Printed Guns, New IDPA Rulebook – TTP – Ep.28 appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

Right off the bat, I downloaded the app to my 4th Gen iPod Touch. When you open the app, you will see a “sample drill” page setup to run multiple strings of a particular drill, each with their own par time. This is helpful because you can practice running the drill slowly with no par time, then slowly work your way up faster and faster without having to constantly re-set your timer. Once you hit the play button, the app will give you a “stand by” command, and then there is a random start anywhere between 2-5 seconds before the beep. The app will continue through that string until finished. Once the string is finished, it will tell you that the string is finished, and then it will begin the next string, and so on until the entire drill is finished.

If you have been listening to the podcast, you may know that I’ve begun to work through Steve Anderson’s “Refinement and Repetition” dry fire book in an effort to make USPSA A Class, and this timer app is the perfect complement to the book.

From the “sample drill” page of the app, if you swipe the screen to the right, the app will reveal a menu where you can program in additional drills. This is a feature that makes this dry-fire app stand out among the other apps that I have tried.

This allows me to enter in the drills from the dry-fire program I am using, and they will remain saved in the app until I change them. When I’m doing upwards of 30 different drills, this saves me from having to keep writing down my par times, and trying to remember what times I use for a particular drill.

Once you have the strings entered in the drill, changing the par times on all of the strings is just a click away by using the “Par Shift” buttons. Each click changes the par by 1/20th of a second, so as you progress in your training, you don’t have to edit each string individually.

I’ve used this app for my last three dry-fire sessions, and one of the biggest advantages that I’ve found is that it is allowing me to get a lot more practice in the same amount of time, because I don’t have to keep fiddling with the timer to change par times. Once I finish a drill, I just swipe to the next one, and hit play. Even if you have a real shot timer that you use for dry-fire, the advantages offered by the Dryfiretimer.com app are large enough that you should consider trying it out.

You can find the Dryfiretimer.com app is available in the Apple App store for $3.99 at the time of this article being posted. Given the amount of time this app will save you, I can tell you that it is worth the small fee.

Full Disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of this app to review. That being said, I would not hesitate to purchase the app if I was going to add it to another device.

The post Dryfiretimer.com Dry Fire Timer for iOS appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

It appears that Defense Distributed has had all of their files pulled offline at the request of the Dept. of Defense.

As you can see, the website at DefCad has a banner across the top of the site explaining that the files have been removed.

What’s crazy about this, is that the files from DefCad have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, and taking them off of the DefCad website will do nothing but make them more available on any number of torrent sites on the web.

If/when I get any more information on this, I’ll update the site ASAP.

The post BREAKING: DefCad Files Pulled Offline By Dept. of Defense appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

What do you think this “loophole” will be?

• No permit needed for long gun purchases?
• No background check needed for private sales?
• Pistol Purchase Permits being valid for 5 years?
• No NICS check for CHP holders?
• The “Gunshow Loophole” fallacy?

All of those are possible, but I think it will have something to do with people who have been involuntarily committed not getting their information passed along to the NICS center, so their purchases may not get denied when they go to buy a gun. I’m pretty sure that I have a good handle on the gun laws in NC, and I just can’t imagine what else this could be.

If I’m right, and the NICS check system is broken, I don’t really have a problem with fixing it, however I am adamantly opposed to citizens rights being taken away without due process. Until someone has been convicted of a crime, by a judge, he should not lose ANY of his rights. Doctors are not judges, and a doctors opinion is not due process. We’re getting to the point where we are pushing people away from getting help for their mental health issues because they are afraid that they will have their rights taken away of they seek help, and that isn’t good for anyone.

Unfortunately, I’m going to miss this “special” so if any of you see it, please fill me in with a comment below.

The post WRAL Claims to Have Found a Gun Loophole in NC appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

The post NC HB937 Passed in the House! appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

This pistol is almost completely printed, with the exception of a roofing nail. I’d expect to see even the nail be printed in the future, metal printing is getting pretty advanced these days as well.

The coolest thing about this project, and others from Defense Distributed, is that the files can be downloaded by anyone, and printed on their own 3D printer.

SCIENCE!

The post Game Changer – Defense Distributed Liberator appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

This has “bad idea” written all over it. I understand the sentiment of wanting to take a stand for something that you believe in, but this is no bueno. Marching into DC with loaded rifles and pistols displayed openly is bad juju.

This event is being organized by a Facebook user named Adam Kokesh. Here’s what is said on the event’s Facebook page, where it is being organized (1400+ people have said they will attend so far):

On the morning of July 4, 2013, Independence Day, we will muster at the National Cemetery & at noon we will step off to march across the Memorial Bridge, down Independence Avenue, around the Capitol, the Supreme Court, & the White House, then peacefully return to Virginia across the Memorial Bridge. This is an act of civil disobedience, not a permitted event. We will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny. We are marching to mark the high water mark of government & to turn the tide. This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent. Should we meet physical resistance, we will peacefully turn back, having shown that free people are not welcome in Washington, & returning with the resolve that the politicians, bureaucrats, & enforcers of the federal government will not be welcome in the land of the free.

There’s a remote chance that there will be violence as there has been from government before, and I think it should be clear that if anyone involved in this event is approached respectfully by agents of the state, they will submit to arrest without resisting. We are truly saying in the SUBTLEST way possible that we would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.

You are welcome to attend unarmed as a supporter, or armed with a recording device.

We especially invite law enforcement officers to stand with us armed however they feel is appropriate.

If this page gets to 10,000 attendees by June 1st, & we have the critical mass necessary to pull this off, (1,000 actual attendees) we will march. Please spread the word, share this event, & invite all your friends.

UPDATE 130506 Now that it’s undeniable that this is going to happen, allow me to make clear how. There will be coordination with DC law enforcement prior to the event. I will recommend that they do the best they can to honor their oaths and escort us on our route. Failing to provide that commitment to safety, we will either be informed that we will only be allowed up to a certain point where we would be arrested. If this is the case, we will approach that point as a group and if necessary, I will procede to volunteer myself to determine what their actual course of action with someone crossing the line will be at which point fellow marchers will have the choice of joining me one at a time in a peaceful, orderly manner, or turning back to the National Cemetery.

Thanks to everyone for the vibrant conversation, but we have decided to make the wall of this event page specifically just for announcements and important info for the event. Please feel free to comment, and continue the conversation as you like at: http://forums.adamvstheman.com/viewforum.php?f=13

I’m pretty sure being in possession of a handgun in DC without the proper permits is a felony. I also haven’t checked, but I’d be willing to bet marching around the Capitol with loaded rifles would get you some type of charge that would take away your right to own firearms for the rest of your life.

I’m all for making a stand, but if you are marching for a cause in such a way that will make you lose your rights to exercise that cause, it’s counterproductive, and it’s the wrong way to go about it. You certainly won’t find me or mine in DC on Independence Day…

H/T 9outof10mms

The post Open Carry March on Washington DC appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

We shot 7 stages, and about 175rds. All but one of the stages required a bit of movement, and multiple reloads. I owned all of the steel and shot pretty accurately throughout the entire match. No mikes, no no shoots, and I don’t think that I even had any deltas but if I did, there were very few.

Slowing down, and seeing the front sight lift is helping my shooting tremendously. I’m feeling like I’m starting to be able to call my shots, and know when I should make one up based upon where the front sight was when the shot broke.

I’m committing to starting my dry-fire routine this week, so hopefully there will be more good things to come.

The post Sir Walter USPSA Saturday 5-4-2013 appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

The post Colion Noir Interviewed by Glenn Beck appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

• Cabelasgunsports.com

House Bill 937

This bill appears to be stalling before it gets to the House floor for a vote! If you are listening to this before Monday afternoon 5/6/2013, please go ahead and call your reps! Let them know that you are a voter and if they want your vote, they need to get this bill moving!

Click here to find out who your Representatives are!

Johnston County Eagle Scout Brings a Gun to School

Ben and I discuss some aspects of this story that the mainstream media isn’t covering. I’m all for punishing the kid for bringing a gun to school, but why is it that an Assistant Principal in the same school district only gets a 3 day suspension and no criminal charges for bringing a gun on school property, and this kid may get expelled, prosecuted, and not allowed to graduate after trying to do the right thing?

Plug Of The Week:

This week Ben plugged the PopeHat blog. This is a legal blog that covers a lot of NC related legal issues. They are really good at taking a story, and going through all of the in’s and out’s of all sorts of legal things. Check them out at popehat.com.

Tip Of The Week:

Use a holster when pocket carrying! Many of us are switching to smaller pocket guns as summer is arriving, and you should really invest in a cheap pocket holster to cover the trigger guard of the pistol, just as added insurance. Ben and I have both had great luck with the DeSantis Nemesis pocket holsters.

Feedback:

If you have questions or comments email me at

If you would like to leave us a voicemail, please click here to leave one from your computer.

The post Cabela’s, Eagle Scouts, and Pocket Carry – TTP – Ep.27 appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

I’ve transitioned to my Kel-Tec PF-9 in a DeSantis Nemesis pocket holster. I’m not really a huge fan of the Kel-Tec, but it’s proven itself to be reliable and accurate, even with it’s god awful trigger, and pot metal slide. I’m holding out for the Springfield XDS 9mm to start hitting stores, and once I get one it will become my primary summertime pistol after a good shakedown.

Are you moving to a pistol that is easier to carry now that warmer weather is here?

The post Summertime Carry appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

• Who Represents Me?

The post Note: Restaurant Carry appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

May 1st (yesterday) came and went without a vote, and now we are being told that HB937 has been postponed until May 6th, 2013. Some are reporting that they received an explanation from Speaker Tillis’ office stating that they are waiting on some sort of financial statement to arrive before the bill can be voted on. Normally this wouldn’t be all that big of a deal, but this session of the House is drawing to a close in the next 2 weeks, and any bills that are not voted on, and sent to the Senate will die.

If this situation seems like a deja-vu to you, that’s because it is. Last year the NC Senate had a restaurant carry bill that had already been passed by the house waiting for a vote, and despite promising to give it a vote, they let it die.

Just a few weeks ago, HB17 was stripped of it’s restaurant carry provision by the bill’s sponsor before it went to committee. The Senate also has a restaurant carry bill (SB342) which appears to also be stuck in committee.

If we want restaurant carry in NC, we need to make our voices heard! Call your reps and demand a vote! They have been dangling this carrot in front of our faces for too long. We gave them our votes, and now it’s time for them to repay their end of the bargain.

Please use the social media buttons below this post to share it with your like minded friends. We need to get the word out!

The post NC House Restaurant Carry Vote Delayed… Again appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

If you remember, I wrote an article a while back about how Dick’s was refusing to sell ammo to those who are not US Citizens citing the BATFE regulations, yet the BATFE’s own website makes it very clear that legal aliens MAY purchase ammo (and firearms!).

You may also remember back in December, after the Sandy Hook tragedy when Dick’s decided to stop selling black rifles, and they even went as far as refunding the money of those who had purchased back-ordered rifles during their black Friday sale. If the citizenship requirement to purchase ammo wasn’t a big enough middle finger to gun owners, the AR-15 stunt was.

According to the article, Dick’s is blaming their Livestrong brand, stating that after cyclist Lance Armstrong admitted to blood doping that customers had an aversion to the brand, and that is understandable. However, in a time where other retailers that do sell in demand rifles are booming (selling everything that they can get their hands on) it’s interesting that Dick’s is saying that their decision hasn’t played any role in their downturn. That may be true, but there’s at least one gun owner who doesn’t spend any money in their stores anymore.

The post Dick’s Sporting Goods Sales and Stocks Plummet appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

When you go to the range to train, which is as simple as having a goal aside from “shoot 100 rounds”, part of figuring out how to achieve that goal is working on the right skills on the right types of targets. Now, most of us with access to a regular square range like Wake County FETC or PDHSC, are limited to punching paper since they don’t allow shooting steel targets. But some local ranges, like Drake Landing’s pistol pits, do have some steel targets. And one run on those plates is enough to tell you that steel is as much fun in practice as in competition.

Shooting steel is just plain fun.

But generally speaking, practicing on steel is a good thing when you only want to work on pure speed. When you practice on paper or cardboard targets, you can see where each shot went by noting the new holes after each string or pasting holes between strings. This lets you choose the level of accuracy that’s acceptable, which is why paper is useful for practicing anything from pure accuracy (slow fire, maybe resting the gun on the bench or a bag) to a match-style balance of speed and accuracy. You can see that when you double tap your second shot consistently ends up four inches higher than the first one. You can see the results on paper in the shot 6 o’clock low when you feel yourself anticipate the shot.

You get none of this feedback on steel.

If you miss, you probably don’t know where the shot went. If you hit, you probably don’t know where unless the range lets you paint the target between strings to make it more like shooting cardboard. And steel just naturally draws you to go faster.

So while there’s nothing wrong with practicing on steel, before you go to the range for a practice session, ask yourself what your goal for the outing is. Sure maybe you are trying to push yourself to shoot faster overall, but if you have a new gun that you’re still trying to familiarize yourself with, for example, maybe steel isn’t the best target for practice. Once you know you’re putting bullets where you expect when you break the shot, then do some runs on steel to speed up.

The post Training on Steel appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

Yesterday afternoon when I checked the mail, I noticed a Cabela’s catalog along with the usual junkmail. I always like getting the catalogs from Cabelas, as they make for good reading material when I’m… busy.

Anyways, it wasn’t until I got into the house did I take a look at the cover of the catalog which was titled “Cabela’s Gunsports”, and I noticed a well spec’d AR-15, and a Benelli shotgun, both all done up for 3-gun. I was amazed when I flipped it open to find an extremely well written article about the sport of 3-gun, and how to get started. Then on subsequent pages, they went into detail about the AR-15, shotguns, pistols, and other gear and accessories. Now obviously this is Cabela’s way of telling us that they are now starting to carry more 3-gun gear in their online store, (which is awesome, BTW) and it’s also really good information for new shooters, and even an old dog like me found it very interesting.

I’ve got to say, I’ve purchased thousands of dollars of stuff from Cabela’s over the years (I actually received a hat from them today), and they have always been a great company to deal with. It’s great to see a company as big as Cabela’s doing something like this, especially in the current political climate.

If you didn’t get the catalog, you can find everything in it at Cabelasgunsports.com, and here’s a link to the 3-Gun article.

Also, if you read this and you get inspired to try 3-gun or other shooting sports, check out the Triangle Tactical Shooting Sports Calendar. I do my best to keep it up to date, and every match that I’m aware of in the state is listed on it. You can even filter by the type of match you want to shoot.

The post Cabela’s Gunsports appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

NC HB 937

NC House Bill 937 is scheduled for a vote on Tuesday, April 30, 2013!

This is the restaurant carry bill that we have been waiting for, and have been promised for several years. In addition to restaurant carry, this bill will remove the restriction on carrying a concealed handgun in places where admission is charged, as well as allow for handguns to be locked in vehicles on NC college campuses (Still no CCW on campus, but it’s a step in the right direction).

As mentioned above, this bill is scheduled for a vote on the floor of the NC State House on Tuesday, April 30th, 2013. Please take a moment, and use the below link to find out who your representatives are, and give them a call and tell them (or their administrative assistant) to support the bill!

• Who Represents Me?

Morrisville, NC Gun “Buy Back”

Well, it turns out that the proposed Morrisville, NC gun buy back has been cancelled, because Mayor Jackie Holcombe (up for election later this year) believes there are “other options” to reduce gun crime…

Off Body Concealed Carry:

Carrying concealed off of your body may be a viable option in situations where you cannot carry on your person. I wouldn’t recommend just tossing a firearm in a bag, but rather having something like a Crossbreed Ohai, or another holster attached to the inside of a bag in order keep something from getting caught in the trigger guard, as well as keep the pistol oriented in the proper direction.

Another, albeit less desirable option, is one of the kydex trigger guard covers like the Raven Concealment Vanguard, or the MIC holster. These will cover the trigger guard, but they will not hold the pistol in a certain position in the bag. These little “holsters” are really easy to make as well if you have any kydex on hand.

Stick around the blog, and I’ll be doing a DIY tutorial on how to make a holster for off body concealed carry in the future.

Plug Of The Week:

This week we plugged NCLet.net. This is a great resource for keep track of legislation that is working its way through the NC general assembly. The really cool thing that we just noticed tonight, was once you go to the page for a certain bill, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for that bill to get any changes sent to your feed reader (I use Feedly on my Android phone…)

• NC House Bill 937 page
• NC HB 937 RSS link

Housekeeping:

The 3-Gun On The Cheap! series is now all in one place! Thanks for letting me know it was hard to find.

Feedback:

If you have questions or comments, shoot me an email at , or click here to leave one from your computer!

The post Off Body Concealed Carry, and NC HB937 – TTP – Ep. 26 appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

I’ve been doing a lot of things on the back end of the site in order to make sure Triangle Tactical is ready for whatever growth we have in the future. Since the first of the year we have doubled our traffic, and much of that seems to be coming from the podcast. Most recently, I purchased a nice mixer for the podcast that will allow us to do some more interviews and bring better quality content (admittedly, I forgot to order the cables needed to actually use it, they are on the way now).

The next piece of the 3-Gun On The Cheap! series is on the way, where I will teach you how to make magazine pouches for your pistol. If you haven’t checked out the 3-Gun On The Cheap! series, you can find it here.

Social Media

The Triangle Tactical Facebook page is growing, and we’re over 400 likes. On Twitter, there are almost 200 followers, and those numbers are growing every day. If you have not ‘liked’ the Facebook page, I would encourage you to do so, as we have a lot more interaction, and post more things there that don’t make it up on the site.

Here’s where I need your help!

If you like what we are doing, please share it with your friends. At the bottom of every post, there are buttons to share via Facebook/Twitter, etc. Also, feel free to link to the site from forums or discussion boards if you find something worth sharing.

What else do you want to see?

What would you like to see us do more of at Triangle Tactical?

Who would you like to hear from on the podcast?

What other suggestions do you have?

Post up in the comments below, and let us know!

The post What’s Happening at Triangle Tactical appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

The 2013 Tarheel 3-Gun Challenge starts today! This is the second annual Tarheel 3-Gun Challenge being held in New Hill, NC (just outside of Apex). I had the opportunity to attend the match last year and shoot it with a camera, and I was blown away by the stages. The venue is huge, allowing for big stages that were spread out so far that you could drive from stage to stage instead of carrying all of your gear.

Good luck to all of the local competitors, show all the out-of-towners who’s boss!

The post Tarheel 3-Gun Challenge appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

Then the article, written by Mark Binker (the mastermind behind WRAL’s concealed carry permit database), quotes three other people on what a bad idea guns locked in car trunks on campus would be. The closest thing to a coherent argument comes right before probably the worst argument of the whole article:

Jack Moorman, chief of the North Carolina State University Police Department, also said allowing guns on campus was a bad idea. Thefts from cars are one of the most frequent crimes on campus, he said. As well, the campus has experience with concealed handgun permit holders who were either carrying on campus illegally or acting out in other ways.

“We had an individual who communicated threats to the President of the United States on our campus, and he actually had a CCW permit,” Moorman said. “So, some of these individuals who have CCW permits are not people we feel comfortable about carrying a firearm on our campus.”

I can see the point about thefts from cars, but the anecdotal evidence of one guy being taken to represent all CHP holders is ridiculous. I had my CHP while I was an NCSU student, but because I acted like a normal, unremarkable, law-abiding citizen he doesn’t talk about me. Classic sampling bias.

The article then moves on to fairly garden-variety discussion of restaurant carry (“I carry but don’t drink; why should I be disarmed at Applebee’s?”) that evolves in to a deliciously ironic opposition:

Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake, who represents the restaurant-rich downtown Raleigh and Glenwood South neighborhoods, said she had heard from many constituents who did not want patrons carrying guns into their bars and restaurants. This measure would require that they post a “no firearms” sign in order to prohibit guns on the premises.

“I have heard from a number of my constituents who own bars and restaurants who don’t want to have to be the ones putting up a sign,” Ross said. “They’re afraid of being targeted.”

Business owners who post such signs have sometimes become the subject of campaigns by gun rights groups, who urge boycotts.

In other words, “We know that people don’t like this policy, so instead of letting the market favor liberty we need the government to keep the blanket ban so we won’t lose money while we deny people their rights.” As a resident of Wake County who does not reside in Deborah Ross’ little Gerrymander of a district, it’s a shame I can’t vote against her in the next election.

Nonetheless, and glossing over the second, sensational anecdote to discredit CHP holders, we get to the best part of the article (emphasis in original):

Democratic amendments fail

Rep. Darren Jackson, D-Wake, tried to amend the bill four different times, failing each time on a party-line vote or a voice vote.

One of his amendments would have required concealed handgun permit holders to pass the same tests for accuracy and judgment that law enforcement officers do.

Current law requires that that permit holders pass only a test standing still. That’s far from a real-world situation, Jackson said.

Of course, the fact that even law enforcement are generally only required to qualify standing still doesn’t really matter, does it?

Then again, facts don’t seem to be this guy’s strong suit:

“The Second Amendment doesn’t cover my proficiency,” Shaffer responded.

That prompted Jackson to respond that the U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t granted a blanket ability to keep and bear arms.

Rep Jackson, I have a Mr. Heller and a Mr. McDonald on the line for you?

The post The new gun rights bill in the NC house is awesome appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

We’re seeing it now with websites and ammunition. The inefficient market (retailers who haven’t raised prices are cleaned out minutes after ammo comes in stock) is being encapsulated and calcified in websites like GunBot that monitor the stock levels of retailers up to the minute and alerts you.

A new one just launched called AmmoScanner and the creator, in his announcement of it, promises more and better things to come. The risk in any type of economic load-balancing effort like this is that the market inefficiency will be solved by some structural or external change and all your work and capital investment (more the former than the latter in this case) will be a loss. But given that the ammo crisis, when it dies, will do it slowly and painfully, this type of site may prove handy to those of us lucky enough to be able to jump available stocks in the ten minutes before they sell out.

And, the good news is, sometimes efficiency gains made during a market disruption persist after the disruption is over, leading in the long run to a more efficient market. I imagine we’ll see that here if these websites stick around after prices come back down.

To read the original announcement and revel in the irony that the top comment at press time is bemoaning Cheaper Than Dirt actually allowing their prices to fluctuate to a market clearing rate in an effort to keep anything on their shelves for longer than 10 minutes (aka “price gouging”) check out the thread on Reddit.

The post AmmoScanner is a new site to find ammo (and a band-aid on a flesh wound) appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

NC HB 976 “Gun Safety Act”

This bill was introduce last week in the NC House after the US Senate struck down Harry Reid’s Gun Control bill. I mentioned this in a blog post earlier this week that Sean over at NCgunblog.com did a good write-up on the bill. If you haven’t checked it out already, you should.

If enacted, this bill would do several things, such as a 15rd magazine capacity limit, it would repeal all of the castle doctrine laws, require liability insurance for Pistol Purchase Permits, and of course, universal background checks.

Boston Police State

We’re glad that the terrorists are dead or caught, but at what cost? There are several videos going around the ‘net showing citizens being ripped from their homes at gunpoint, and the police and National Guard soldiers storming into homes without consent or warrants.

Is it okay to suspend the Constitution when there is a possible terrorist on the loose? I’m not sure, but the video’s and pictures are rather stunning.

A picture I found on Facebook taken by a resident.

IDPA vs. USPSA, and other shooting sports:

We teased this last week, and it’s basically a continuation of our discussion from last week. We’ve noticed that a lot of people who shoot certain games identify themselves as an IDPA shooter, or a USPSA shooter, when in both cases they both could learn a lot by expanding their horizons a little, and getting out and shooting other games. Furthermore, if you are just a pistol shooter, maybe you should get out and try some 3-gun or other types of shooting matches as well.

Listener Voicemail:

Bob from Pittsboro, NC calls in, and asks a question about different types of malfunctions that can happen on the range. Ben and I discuss some of the common malfunctions that we’ve seen, and some of the malfunctions that don’t happen quite as often.

Plug Of The Week:

This week we plugged a YouTube user “Jrygrim“. He recently posted a really good video on head movement when shooting that uses some really cool motion capture technology to show how you can waste movement during your draw that will inevitably slow you down. Give it a watch, and if you subscribe to his channel, make sure let him know that you heard about his channel on Triangle Tactical!

Where We’ll Be:

Ben will be shooting the IDPA match at PDHSC on April 27th

Luke will be shooting the USPSA match at Sir Walter Gun Club on May 4th

Feedback:

If you have questions or comments, shoot me an email at , or call (919) 295-6128, or click here to leave one from your computer!

The post IDPA vs. USPSA and Pistol Malfunctions – TTP – Ep.25 appeared first on Triangle Tactical.

Rather than rehash the entire bill here, head over to NCgunblog.com, where Sean has already broken it down.

You can find the full text of the bill here.

The post HB 976 “Gun Safety Act” Introduced in NC House appeared first on Triangle Tactical.