Gun Nuts Last Night: Gun shows!

Like everyone else, you've probably had the (mis)fortune to see a lot of the coverage in the media lately about "gun shows", and "illegal guns", or whatever buzzword is getting tossed around. For a multitude of reasons, anti-gun groups have decided to again lay their attacks at the feet of gun shows, to create this entirely fictional bogeyman which can then be propped and used to win talking points against the uneducated.

The problem is that it's all lies. If you want to know the Truth about gun shows, check out last night's Gun Nuts Radio which is embedded in the above link. It's also available in .mp3 format or for download on by clicking the button.

We win by being more informed than our opponents, by being able to spread information to people more efficient. So share The Truth About Gun Shows with a friend. Our most effective marketing method is word of mouth, so tell a friend about Gun Nuts Radio, and if you've got a blog or a website, I'd love for you to link to last night's show under the headed of "The Truth About Gun Shows".

Gun Nuts Tonight: The Gun Show show

Tonight on Gun Nuts Radio, live at 9pm Eastern time Breda and I will be bringing you a show on one of the most popular and controversial topics in the shooting community: Gun shows! We're going to be taking a look at popular myths and misconceptions about gun shows, as well as presenting a list of "do's and don'ts" for gun show etiquette. As usual, the party starts live at 9pm Eastern time at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts - to get the most out of tonight's show, make sure you listen live. Breda will be hosting live tonight on the webcam feed, and that's never something you want to miss out on.

It should be a great show, and lots of fun tonight. The chat will be lively, and we'll be taking lots of callers to share their gun show experiences; so make sure you join the show tonight live at 9pm eastern time! We're live at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts - be there!

Gun Nuts Last Night: Stopping Power

Last night's Gun Nuts Radio, after the ancillary discussions on news items and other sundries was supposed to focus on stopping power and specifically handgun wounding mechanics. If you'd like to download and listen to last night's Gun Nuts Radio, just click here. Of course, you can also always get an .mp3 copy of the show, or for iPod/iPhone users, subscribe to the show on .

Unfortunately, we didn't really have the time to get into the meat and potatoes of stopping power and handgun wounding ballistics, and that's partly my fault - it's is a fairly technical and dry (read: boring) topic that unfortunately doesn't translate well to radio. The source document for much of what I'm about to talk about can be found here, it's the FBI's document that explains the rational behind their standards for defensive pistol ammo. It's only 19 pages, and while it's kind of technical in some places, it's also a very good read for anyone who wants to really understand terminal wounding ballistics. Projectiles wound in one of four ways, or which only a couple apply to handguns:

1. Penetration - the tissue destroyed by the passage of the projectile


2. Permanent cavity - the volume of tissue destroyed by the passage of the projectile


3. Temporary cavity - Expansion of permanent cavity by stretching due to kinetic energy. While this type of wounding is seen with handguns, it's effectiveness at stopping a fight is often grossly overstated.


4. Fragmentation - secondary projectiles, bone fragments, etc which create their own wound channels. Not often seen with handguns unless specialized ammo is used.

The reason why the "temporary cavity" honestly doesn't matter with pistol bullets is due to the elasticity of most human tissue - the temporary cavity caused by pistol rounds doesn't significantly stretch the tissue enough to do damage. As such, the permanent cavity is the only wounding mechanism in pistol bullets that can be reliably measured as an indicator of "stopping power".

Of course, the problem that most people fail to realize in this is stated in the FBI document: "...the concept of reliable and reproducible immediate incapacitation of the human target by gunshot wounds to the torso is a myth." Even if you were to destroy the heart of a hypothetical attacker with your first shot, the brain contains enough oxygen to support 10-15 seconds of voluntary activity after that; this also does not take into account attackers that may be chemically enhanced by various drugs. Ultimately, a gunfight is tremendously dynamic experience, because those of us that carry guns for self defense cannot in any way control for the various mental factors that contribute to a projectile's effectiveness. This is what lead to the FBI's rational that a bullet must be able to penetrate 12 inches of soft tissue regardless of expansion to be an acceptable projectile for law enforcement use - which became the basis for the FBI Protocols for bullet testing.

Again, I encourage everyone to check out last night's Gun Nuts Radio for more information on stopping power and terminal ballistics. For further reading, please refer to the FBI's source document on handgun wounding.

Gun Nuts tonight: self defense ammo and serial killers

What a weird show title.

Tonight's Gun Nuts Radio should be an interesting show, rest assured of that. We were going to do a show on defensive ammo selection, and while that's going to be the bottom half of the show, the top half is going to be talking about Cleveland's serial killer, a convicted felon that after serving 15 years in prison was released...and murdered 5-11 people in the next 4 years. This is exactly the kind of story that hits home with listeners, so we're going to be discussing that. Check it out at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts tonight at 9pm Eastern time.

After that, Breda and I will be talking about defensive ammo selection for your concealed carry gun. For the record, the best round to use against serial killers is the round you have with you in the gun you're carrying - following my "any stool in a barfight" theory of combat. But you won't want to miss tonight's show as we take a look at terminal ballistics, the FBI protocols, and debunk the myth of the one-shot stop! That's all tonight at 9pm Eastern time at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts - be there!

Gun Nuts Last Night: How the Chicago Gun Ban affects you

First off, I want to thank Ashley Varner from NRA-ILA for taking time out of her busy schedule to come on last night's episode of Gun Nuts Radio. We spent the majority of the show talking about the upcoming McDonald case, better known as the Chicago Gun Ban Case. The "big issue" in this case is the incorporation doctrine, which essentially means that like the 1st Amendment, the 2nd Amendment applies to more than just the federal government, but to all states and municipalities as well. If the Supreme Court were to decide to incorporate the 2nd Amendment, it would go a long way towards eliminating some of the patchwork anti-gun laws across the nation. Click here for last night's episode to hear for yourself! Of course, if you're more the "portable media" type, you can click here for an .mp3 of the show to take on the go with you.

This really was a show that I'd like to see shared across a wide base of people. For casual gun owners, it's a great 101 level primer on the case coming up before the Supreme Court, and how and why it's important to them. We also spent a good amount of time discussing the threat that Mayors Against Illegal Guns pose to the 2nd Amendment, and how their lines of attack are rather neatly aligned with the exact things that a win in the McDonald case would prevent. So share the link to last night's Gun Nuts Radio with your friends!

As always, Gun Nuts Radio is available for download and subscription on for iPod and iPhone users. Other portable media devices can also subscribe to the Gun Nuts RSS feed! Don't forget to check out featured Amazon product The Plutonium Blonde, one of my favorite novels; and of course hit up the Gun Nuts Store at Zazzle.

Gun Nuts Tonight: Chicago Gun Ban

Are you curious about the implications of the Chicago Gun Ban case heading to the Supreme Court? Would you like a better understanding of how Chicago's gun laws impact the nation, and my great state of Indiana? Would you like to get some great knowledge from an expert on the political struggle for our right to keep and bear arms? Then tune in to Gun Nuts Radio tonight at 9pm Eastern! We'll be joined by Ashley, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association who will discuss the Chicago case, Indiana's gun laws, and other gun law/gun control topics with us.

As always, the show airs at 9pm Eastern time at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts - if you have questions for myself or Ashley, call in to our listener line at 347-539-5436 when we open the line to callers. Gun control and the political fight against it is the topic for tonight, and with recent events I believe that we'll have plenty of topics for conversation on the show. Don't miss us at 9pm Eastern time at Gun Nuts Radio!

Gun Nuts tonight: Lessons from Armed America

And you thought we weren't going to have a killer episode of Gun Nuts Radio tonight, didn't you? Well, you were wrong. Joining us tonight on Gun Nuts Radio at 9pm Eastern time will be Kathy Jackson, co-author of the new book Lessons from Armed America. Kathy will be speaking about the book, her inspiration in writing the book, as well as sharing some of the stories from it with us.

We'll also be taking questions from you, our listeners to our dedicated call in line at 347-539-5436, so if you have a question for Kathy about the book, or about her work as a firearms instructor, get ready to call in once I open the phone lines. If you join us live at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts, you'll also get the chance to participate in the Gun Nuts Chat, a lively real-time discussion of the issues being presented on the show.

That's tonight, 9pm Eastern time at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts! Don't miss the show!