Outdoor commentary and legislative issues.
NSSF tracks and reports monthly U.S. export units for several sporting arms, ammunition, and optics categories from the US International Trade Commission. Below are the results for February 2024 compared to February 2023.
Wildlife officers from the Arizona Game and Fish Department removed two coyotes from the vicinity of Thomas and Hayden roads in Scottsdale Wednesday evening after receiving reports of an attack on a person walking his dog.
A third party reported that the coyote had gotten into an altercation with the dog, and the owner was nipped by the coyote when he attempted to intervene. The reporting party said one or more coyotes have been behaving increasingly aggressively toward humans in the area in recent weeks, but this is the first attack. Read more
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department responded to an aggressive bear in Underhill at approximately 6:30 am on Friday, May 24. The bear’s behavior was judged a risk to public safety, and the bear was euthanized after a period of observation.
In light of this incident, the department is reminding Vermonters of the steps necessary to proactively prevent bear conflicts. It is crucial to secure all food sources that attract bears to yards and neighborhoods including garbage, recycling, and backyard chickens and bees. To be most effective, whole neighborhoods and towns need to be consistent in keeping bear attractants secure. Read more
The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) dispatched a black bear last night after it attacked a 15-year-old male in Alpine, Ariz.
The victim was sitting inside a cabin when the bear entered through an open door and proceeded to swipe at him from behind. It then left the cabin and approached other family members before entering the cabin a second time and swiping at the victim’s arm. After arriving on scene, AZGFD wildlife officers were able to quickly locate and dispatch the bear. The victim sustained injuries to the face and arm and was treated at a local hospital. Read more
HIVIZ® Shooting Systems, the premier manufacturer of high-quality tritium/fiber-optic and fiber-optic sights for handguns, shotguns, and rifles is now offering handgun sight installation for customers through its new HIVIZ Sight Installation Program.
Sight upgrades can be one of the easiest and most important upgrades to any handgun however; not everyone has access to, or ability to be, their own gunsmith. That’s why HIVIZ created this basic sight installation program. Customers may now purchase sights for their semi-automatic handguns through a local dealer or their website and have them professionally installed by the experts at the factory. Read more
Springfield Armory® is proud to announce the release of two new color variants of the Echelon 9mm pistol. Now available in Desert FDE or OD Green, these two pistols continue the Echelon’s reputation as a highly adaptable handgun engineered with superior ergonomics and built to withstand the harshest conditions.
At the heart of the Echelon lies the patent-pending Central Operating Group. Employing cutting-edge manufacturing techniques, this modular chassis is an entirely self-contained and serialized part. The result is a system that can be easily moved between available grip modules in seconds. Read more
The 8.6 Blackout is a cartridge that builds upon the popular .300 Blackout. Think of it as the .300 Blackout’s big brother, but for the AR10 platform. It offers twice the reach, double the energy, and triple the lethality. With a simple barrel swap, an AR-10 firearm can be converted to shoot 8.6 Blackout. The cartridge excels in short, lightweight guns, making it handy in the field and quick on target. It utilizes a radical 1:3-inch twist, achieving fantastic accuracy with heavy, subsonic bullets. It is based on a shortened and necked-up 6.5 Creedmoor case, providing maximum subsonic power from a .308-sized platform.
Bear Creek Arsenal now offers the 8.6 Blackout in uppers and rifles. Read more
The International Society of Aboriculture Michigan marks with sadness the passing of longtime ISA Michigan member and friend Paul Swartz, who died unexpectedly May 2. Paul was a campus arborist at Michigan State University from 1989 to 2018. He was an ISA Certified Arborist, TRAQ Arborist and an instructor for the ISA Michigan Basic Arborist Prep Course.
A memorial is set for Saturday, June 1, in Haslett, Michigan.
Angler Mitch Holland couldn’t believe his luck.
Almost a week to the day since he caught a brown trout measuring roughly 29 inches, he was back in the same spot at the exact same moment — 7:31 a.m. — of the Little Red River with a nearly identical big brown trout suddenly at the end of his line. He secured the fish, took a photo and released it back to the Greers Ferry Lake tailwater, just as he had eight days earlier.
And Holland wondered, considering the fish seemed the same size as his previous catch, and he was in the same vicinity and at the same time of morning: Could this have been the same trout?
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Communications Division forwarded that query on to Christy Graham, the AGFC’s Trout Management Program coordinator, who had an answer. Read more
The Second Amendment Foundation has submitted a reply brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in its effort to obtain a preliminary injunction against the Connecticut ban on so-called “assault weapons” in a case filed in September 2022. The case is known as Grant v. Lamont.
SAF is joined by the Connecticut Citizens Defense League and three private citizens, Michael Stiefel, Jennifer Hamilton and Eddie Grant, Jr.,. for whom the case is named. They are represented by attorneys Doug Dubitsky of North Windham, Craig L. Atkinson of Harwinton and Craig Fishbein of Wallingford, all in Connecticut.
“We’re asking the Court of Appeals to reverse a district court ruling which denied our preliminary injunction request and remand the case back to the district court for action in compliance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines in the 2022 Bruen ruling,” explained SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The state wants this case decided on raw emotion rather than the rule of law as defined by the Supreme Court, which did away with ‘interest balancing’ as a foundation for ruling on Second Amendment-related cases.” Read more