By Phil Bourjaily

Our popular “We (Heart) Guns” target contest is back for the third year. The idea is simple: Shoot the special target insert in the July issue—or download a PDF of the target. First shoot it with a gun. Then shoot it with a camera. Submit the photo, and a panel of judges will pick the most creative shot as the winner.

Once again Smith & Wesson has donated a rifle as the first-place prize. For 2012, S&W have outdone themselves. This is not just any rifle, it is a Performance Center-tuned M&P15 5.56 hunting rifle (pictured here)  so nifty that my first thought on seeing it was: “Where’s mine?” 

Since the contest rules forbid me from entering, the rifle will never be mine but it can be yours. With it, you will be the terror of coyotes, zombies, and zombie-coyotes in your neighborhood. Ammunition isn’t cheap anymore, exactly, but on the other hand, digital "film" is free, so get to shooting and click here to enter your photos.

As always we will post a gallery of the best entries here on the site as we (and by “we” I mean our New York staff, not me and Dave) ponder the winner.
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By David E. Petzal

One of the most frequent bleats I hear from people who don’t like guns and the people who own them is: “How can you object to any kind of reasonable controls? Why do you fight every law tooth and nail even if it makes sense?”

Because when you talk about most controls placed on anything by government at any level, “sense” and “reasonable” die agonizing deaths somewhere between the proposal of a law and its actual enforcement. It seemed reasonable after 9/11 to have a more or less efficient group of people keeping terrorists off airplanes. What we got instead was the TSA yanking adult diapers off granny ladies and copping feels from 6-year-olds.

This brings us to the Oligarchy of Bloomberg, where a resident of said city was recently informed by the License Division, Rifle & Shotgun Section, that a review of his files showed he might be in possession of an assault weapon, which is banned in the O. of B. An assault weapon here is defined as “…any semiautomatic centerfire or rimfire rifle, or shotgun that incorporates a folding or telescoping stock, or no stock, a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action, a bayonet mount, a flash suppressor or barrel threaded to accept same, a grenade launcher, or modifications of such features.”

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By Phil Bourjaily

Franchi’s Affinity is a reboot of the Franchi line of inertia semiautos that bear an eerie resemblance to Benelli inertia semiautos. That is not unexpected, as Benelli is Franchi’s parent company. If you think of the Benelli as the Cadillac of the line, then Franchis are the Buicks or Oldsmobiles, (that would make the very similar Stoeger semiautos the Chevys if I have my car brands straight). I had the chance to shoot an Affinity this spring and found a lot to like.



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By David E. Petzal

Well, there I was sitting at the old Mac, trying to work instead of listening to bluegrass, when I got a press release announcing that Redfield now has a scope out called the “Revenge.” I thought this was a pretty odd name to give an optical sight, but then I remembered that last year, Winchester came out with an all-copper bullet called Power Core, which has no core, so I guess the rules about product names have been relaxed.

But then, just a moment ago, I received word of a new crossbow called the Barnett Vengeance. Vengeance on what? The last time a crossbow was used in an act of vengeance was on March 25, 1199 when Richard the Lionheart, King of England, was killed by crossbow bolt to the neck that was fired by a French boy who claimed that Richard had killed his father and brothers.

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By Phil Bourjaily

As I mentioned previously, raising the comb of a field gun with moleskin or a slip-on comb pad makes it work better for clay target shooting--especially trap. The question arose in the comments to that post: Why should guns have different stock dimensions for clays or birds, seeing as how both are flying targets? Good question.

The gun in the picture is a Remington 1100 trap gun. I bought it (for $250. Score!) from a friend who used it as his duck gun for many years. It’s the gun I give to any kid who is having trouble hitting trap targets, especially kids who are struggling to hit trap targets with a field gun.
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--Chad Love

Are you a Pennsylvania resident who plans on buying a gun sometime this month? You might want to check with your gun shop before making the drive...

From this story on examiner.com:
The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) announced on Friday, that the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), used by the Pennsylvania State Police, will be taken out of service for three days later this month for a full system replacement. Consequently, this will temporarily restrict the purchase of firearms and negate the ability to obtain criminal history checks.
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