The Gun Owner’s Guide to Critical Court Cases

SUPREME_COURT_DC_GUN_LAWIt’s the absolute truth that most people who favor tighter gun laws are completely clueless when it comes to guns. When you hear statist politicians and people in the media talking about “assault ammunition,” when they describe an AR-15 as a “high-powered rifle” and can’t tell you what a “barrel shroud” is, they demonstrate their profound ignorance about a subject that matters very much to many Americans.

Many people, both those who support the Second Amendment and those who want to subvert it, are also highly uninformed when it comes to gun laws in the United States. Part of the reason is that, when it comes down to it, the Second Amendment is gun law in this country: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This basic statement has been shaped and chipped away by laws passed on the local, state and federal level. The ability of various jurisdictions to put limits on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms has been guided by some very important case law—cases that should be familiar to all Americans who care about the right to self-protection.

If you know these cases, you can easily counter the arguments of those who want to disarm you. “The right to have a gun is not a civil right.” Wrong: Johnson v. Eisentrager, 1950. “The Second Amendment doesn’t mean you can have a military weapon.” Wrong: U.S. v. Miller, 1939, and D.C. v. Heller, 2008. “The police are supposed to protect us.” Wrong: Warren v. District of Columbia, 1981.

Supporters of the  right to keep and bear arms should be armed with the information needed to counter the ignorance of those who would take away their rights and make this a much more dangerous country. Learn the names and dates, study the cases, and be ready with the facts when you need them.

Please note: unlike our president, I am not a formal constitutional scholar. (I’m also not a smoker or a socialist.) But I’m a firm believer in the Constitution and the right to keep and bear arms, and I think I have my facts straight here. Please let me know in the comments if you think I got anything wrong (or missed any crucial points) in my summaries. Continue reading “The Gun Owner’s Guide to Critical Court Cases”

Utah Gun Exchange: A KSL Classifieds Replacement

After the Newtown shooting last week, many people looked for a way to respond. Companies stopped offering firearms for sale online, and KSL joined them by terminating their firearms section in their online classifieds.

Within hours, a few friends and I launched a new Utah gun classifieds website. Called the Utah Gun Exchange, it aims to fill the void left by KSL’s decision, offering Utahns the ability to privately buy and sell their firearms and firearms-related supplies.

If Americans are to learn any lesson from the atrocity which occurred last week, it’s that more precaution needs to be taken. As we regularly advocate on this website, individuals should be prepared for any scenario, and have the appropriate training and tools necessary should an emergency occur.

Our goal with the Utah Gun Exchange is to encourage exactly this, and enable Utahns to network with one another and obtain the supplies they feel are necessary to protect what’s most important to them.

I hope to see you in the exchange!

Sniper Training – Hitting 1200 Yards out in 3 days!

Have you ever wanted to get real Military training for Long Range Shooting?  I did!  So I went to Sniper School with DOA Tactical and within 3 days I was hitting targets 1200 yards away – and that was just Level 1 training!  By far, the best $800.00 I’ve spent!  When the long range practice started, I had a hard time hitting 500 yards out – so you can see the rapid improvement I had.  Here’s how it went.

Continue reading “Sniper Training – Hitting 1200 Yards out in 3 days!”

Getting the Blues – Dealing with Corrosion


My Blued Hawken

Gun ownership is a long-term investment which requires proper maintenance and cleaning in order to keep your guns working at their peak performance. A primary concern with long term storage of any gun — especially those stored in humid climates — is corrosion. Preventing corrosion is a multi-step process, starting with proper care of your firearm in the field, and followed with proper storage.  However, even if you take all the necessary precautions and care possible with your firearm, and even in the best of situations, if you use it corrosion or wearing will probably happen. How you deal with the results of such wear is the purpose of this article. Continue reading “Getting the Blues – Dealing with Corrosion”

The 5-gun challenge

FPS by Zweroboi, on Flickr

A theme that is seeing increased activity on many of our friends blogs is that of the 5-gun challenge. What does that mean? Well it’s a way of answering the common question of “What gun should I buy?”  Chances are you’re one of two types of readers at this point; either you are already familiar with firearms, and you will want to read this simply to debate the opinions. Or, you are to some degree unfamiliar with firearms and will hopefully find this post very informative.

If you’ve ever been in a conversation with a firearms enthusiast, you’ll know that each person has their own strong opinions, so it’s always nice to get everybody’s input and reasoning behind their decisions.  This being a multi-author blog, this post will allow several of our authors to explain their choices for 5 guns, and give their reasoning behind each.  Please check out each page to get the full list of recommendations.

Continue reading “The 5-gun challenge”

Discount on Utah Concealed Carry Permits

If you’ve been waiting/wanting to get your Utah Concealed Carry License, here’s a great opportunity for you!

During my hiatus from blogging regularly (which has come to an end by the way, expect to see a lot more from me) I spent a lot of time in training.  I learned lots of new skills and got certified in several things.  One of those was becoming certified to teach the Utah Concealed Carry License course.  Continue reading “Discount on Utah Concealed Carry Permits”

Preppers meet up/Fun shoot North Springs Shooting Range

I’ve been hearing about a new shooting range out near Price for about two years now. The pictures and descriptions I kept hearing made it seem like a great place to check out, but the distance has kept me from visiting it. Until last weekend that is.

Now, I can’t wait to go back, this time with some firearms! Some of the Utah Preppers authors are heading up again on October 24th to watch some Cowboy Action Shooting and to do some shooting of our own. Read on to learn about this shooting sports venue, see some pictures and find out when some of us will be heading out.
Continue reading “Preppers meet up/Fun shoot North Springs Shooting Range”

Evacuation/Emergency Combat Readiness

Paris rioters in 2008
Paris rioters in 2008

This is the seventh installment of the Evacuation Preparedness Kit Series.  The first post, on Evac Prep Basics is here, and the second post, which introduces the Evac Prep Master List is here.  The third post, and the first post on the list review is here.  This post will cover Combat Readiness.

Contrary to the belief of some, being a Prepper is NOT synonymous with being well armed and ready to protect yourself and your preps in a violent situation.  However, this article is specifically about being prepared to defend yourself, your family and your preps if it comes down to it.

History shows us that when things go bad we can expect riots, looters, roving gangs of marauders and plenty of random acts of armed violence.  We have witnessed this just this week with the riots in Iran that ended in violence.  Or we can look at the looting during Hurricane Katrina, rioting and looting during the L.A. Rodney King riots, the French riots (pictured above) and several others.

Continue reading “Evacuation/Emergency Combat Readiness”

Carrying a Concealed Pistol in Utah

Who has the legal obligation to protect you and your family?

Given the following:

In the 2005 Castle Rock v. Gonzales case, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Jessica Gonzales did not have a constitutional right to police protection, even in the presence of a restraining order.

it would seem that YOU are the only one who can or should be depended on to defend you and yours in a dangerous situation. Law enforcement is often minutes away when a life or death situation is over and done with (for better or worse) within seconds.
Continue reading “Carrying a Concealed Pistol in Utah”

The British called, they want their guns back.

Real world modern and historic data have shown that government efforts to suppress gun ownership negatively affects law abiding citizens while having little to no affect on criminals or the criminal use of firearms.  Citizens of England and Australia have come to that realization, perhaps too late.

Listening to these people talk about the incremental way that their rights were first infringed upon, then completely taken away reminds me of a famous quote by Martin Niemöller:

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.”

As liberty loving Americans we need to stand up for not only our Rights but the Rights of others.