*TOP STORY

On the twenty-fourth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we find ourselves once again looking at a senseless act and wondering if civil discourse is gone forever. Yesterday, a conservative leader and willing lightning-rod for liberals, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking with students at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Kirk, 31, was co-founder of Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization now active in over 3,500 college campuses. Best known for his “Prove Me Wrong” debates on college campuses, Kirk was “going back and forth” with a student about mass shootings involving transgendered people when he was shot. An Illinois native, Kirk was married and the father of two young children.

The internet has been abuzz regarding a 2023 patent application offering a safety enhancement to the Sig Sauer P320 pistol. The patent pending AST P320 Fire Control Upgrade Kit was, in fact, announced on The Outdoor Wire on September 15, 2023. Most of the current buzz has focused on two things: the patent’s statement regarding the P320’s safety system which, their 2023 announcement stated “exposed an element of risk for its users due to documented unintended discharge” and the fact the inventor, Brian McDonald, was at one point an employee of Sig Sauer. The Outdoor Wire reached out to patent holder Angled Spade Technologies regarding their patent and P320 reliability questions raised by the patent.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously upheld an earlier preliminary injunction against a section of the California Business & Professional Code which had been used by the state to stifle gun-related advertising in Junior Sports magazine, in a case brought by the Second Amendment Foundation and others.

The Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association of America has elected Bill Bachenberg of Pennsylvania as President of the NRA and Doug Hamlin as NRA Executive Vice President & CEO. The meeting of the Board of Directors followed the 154th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Atlanta, Georgia.

Legendary mail order tackle retailer Orvis has announced it will “shed” 8% of its workforce, close a number of retail stores and discontinue it’s catalog. According to sources, Orvis President Simon Perkins said “Orvis is in a period of business evolution that requires us to think differently. Over the course of our 170-year history, the company has experienced similar cycles, but today’s challenges are new and they require us to be bold in order to continue sharing stories, experiences and products that inspire our customers well into the future.”

Yesterday, Arkansas Governor Sara Huckabee Sanders and SIG CEO & President Ron Cohen were joined by U.S. Senator John Boozman and senior officials from the U.S. Army JSOC and others for the ceremonial ribbon cutting that officially opened SIG SAUER’s New Jacksonville Arkansas Ammunition Center (JAAC). At capacity, the 210,000 square foot facility will be responsible for supplying the military more than 500 million rounds of ammunition annually.

A federal judge has ruled that New Jersey’s ban on the AR-15 rifle is unconstitutional, but the state’s cap of ten rounds passes constitutional muster. U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan issued a 69-page opinion saying he was compelled to rule that way due to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision. The judge has delayed his order for 30 days to allow both Second Amendment advocates and the state attorney general to file planned appeals. Both the Firearms Policy Coalition’s Brandon Combs and New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin say they’re planning appeals.

Defendants in the City of Gary public nuisance lawsuits are moving to end nearly quarter of a century of legal maneuverings after Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed HB 1235 into law last week. Today the defendants filed a joint motion for judgement on the pleadings with the court. Indiana’s law that reserves the right to seek legal action against the firearm industry to state authorities, instead of municipalities, went into immediate effect when it was signed March 15.

Vista Outdoor Inc. (NYSE: VSTO) has rejected the unsolicited proposal received on November 22, 2023 from Colt CZ Group SE to combine Colt CZ and Vista Outdoor. In a letter to Colt CZ, acting Vista CEO Gary McArthur cited a number of factors in the decision, including a lack of “adequate details

A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order in a Second Amendment Foundation challenge of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Sept. 8 edict suspending the constitutionally-protected right to bear arms, in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County.

Knife Rights has accepted Philadelphia's offer of judgment in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Outlaw, a federal lawsuit that sought to declare unconstitutional and enjoin Philadelphia's laws that ban the possession and carry of any bladed arms (knives) in public. The City also agreed to pay $10,000 to cover Knife Rights' legal expenses.

Franklin Armory, Inc.  in conjunction with the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit challenging wrongful classification of firearms and regulatory delays by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The case, Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc., et al.  v. Merrick B. Garland, et al., seeks the immediate promulgation of procedures and forms necessary to facilitate sales and transfers of Franklin Armory’s Reformation® firearm line as required by law. 

Fiocchi announced the selection of a 281-acre site in the Port of Little Rock, Arkansas for a new ammunition primer manufacturing facility. Representing a $41.5 million investment and a 120-person workforce expansion, the new production operation will pave the way for future growth in Arkansas and provide much-needed primer supply relief for the broader ammunition manufacturing segment.

Knife Rights' Ohio Knife Law Preemption bill signed earlier this year by Gov. Mike DeWine goes into effect today (September 13), repealing the state’s ban on sale or manufacture of switchblade knives and clearing up vague law regarding carry of any knife by defining a knife, razor or cutting instrument as a "deadly weapon" or “weapon”only if it is used as a weapon

The Second Amendment Foundation is seeking a federal court injunction against enforcement of a California law restricting people from manufacturing their own firearms, which is an American tradition dating back to Colonial times, and another statute written to discourage court challenges. Joining SAF is Defense Distributed, a Texas-based company that sells a product called the “Ghost Gunner,” a general-purpose Computerized Numerical Code (CNC) milling machine that allows a home gunsmith to complete unfinished frames and receivers for various types of firearms, including the AR-15, AR-308, M1911 and AK-47

Firearms Policy Coalition announced that, because of Maryland Governor Hogan’s concession and order to cease the state’s utilization of its ‘good and substantial reason’ carry permit standard, the parties have filed a joint motion to dismiss the Call v. Jones litigation as moot.

"By confirming an anti-rights zealot to helm one of the nation’s most infamous agencies, the Senate has all but promised that the ATF will continue, or even worsen, its violations of the trust of the People."

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has retained Paul Clement and Erin Murphy of Clement & Murphy, PLLC, to represent NSSF in its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in its lawsuit, NSSF et al v. James challenging New York State’s unlawful public nuisance statute, which is designed to impose New York-style gun control on the lawful sale of firearms and ammunition products by permitting lawsuits against members of the industry for the criminal misuse of firearms that find their way into New York even when the sale occurred wholly outside the State of New York and in compliance with all applicable federal and the state laws where it took place.

Effective yesterday, North American Arms is an employee-owned company. After 30 years as owner/president, Sandy Chisholm has sold the company to an Employee Stock Ownership Trust which will annually distribute equity ownership pieces of the company to the employees of NAA, at no cost to the employees.