** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
Even something as simple as walking a dog can put a person in harm’s way, but a Michigan woman was able to withstand a recent threat because she was carrying. While the woman was taking her dog for his nightly walk, a stranger came up from behind and grabbed her. The armed citizen responded by pressing her handgun against the alleged assailant’s gut. The pet owner had been in a heightened state of awareness because she had, seconds earlier, noticed a black van with no windows idling on the side of the street ahead of her. Then she noticed a man getting out of the vehicle and strolling parallel to her as she walked her dog. The uneasiness of the situation prompted her to grip her gun while it was still in her jacket pocket. When the man later took hold of her coat, she drew her gun, pushed it into his stomach area and reportedly said, “I don’t want to kill you.” The thug scurried off. (fox32chicago.com, Chicago, Ill., 12/7/17)
On January 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down California’s ban on open carry in most of the state. The panel decision was 2-1.
Back when I was a new gun owner, I drilled in a habit of checking to be sure my firearm was unloaded, which was also a terrific opportunity to work on gun-handling skills like racking the action and activating the controls.
The NRA took a serious hit on December 28th. We lost Phil Schreier, director of NRA Museums. He did everything the doctors asked of him and then some. But it wasn’t enough. Leukemia won, and we all lost.
When President Donald Trump (R)signedtheOne Big Beautiful Bill Act(OBBB) into law on July 4, 2025, he scheduled the end of the burdensome $200 excise tax imposed on suppressors, short-barreled firearms and “any other weapons” as defined by the National Firearms Act (NFA). That end came on January 1.
In his inauguration speech as the new mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani said, behind his characteristically easy smile, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”