It looks like gun owners will be on their own when it comes to the legality of firearm accessories.

The Firearms Technology Industry Services Branch (FTISB) is the division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that provides classifications on how firearm accessories may change the legal status of a firearm once attached. Until now.

The Prince Law Offices Blog reports that it received “an email that ATF’s Firearms Technology Industry Services Branch would no longer offer classifications on accessories, effective immediately.”

Up until now, manufacturers and members of the general public could submit an accessory and have the FTISB provide a classification on the part, stating whether the item would alter the legal status of a firearm it was attached to, subjecting the resultant firearm to the Gun Control Act or National Firearms Act.

Typically, the ATF would return a letter that the manufacturer would make available to buyers of the product, stating its legality. Examples of this include the braces that are popular on pistols now, which currently do not legally change the handgun into a short-barreled rifle. The SB-Tactical website hosts several letters indicating the ATF’s determination.

The notice, posted on the ATF website states, “Effective immediately, any requests for a determination on how an accessory affects the classification of a firearm under the GCA or NFA must include a firearm with the accessory already installed. Except in cases of conditional import determinations, FTISB will not issue a determination on an accessory unless it is attached to the submitted firearm.” The notice also states that those that have recently submitted products will be receiving them back without classification.

Time will tell what the implications of this policy change are, but the looming national bump stock ban does come to mind.

Don’t move the gun when you pull the trigger! Regardless of the speed you are moving your trigger finger, you need to avoid dipping/moving the muzzle. Otherwise known as Trigger Control

How can you tell if you’re falling victim to this bad habit? Set the trigger on your unloaded pistol by racking the slide. Next, place an empty casing on its base on the top of the slide, just behind the front sight. Now, press the trigger without causing the case to fall off.

The speed in which you can do this will be a limiting factor in how quickly you can shoot accurately. If the case doesn’t fall off, congrats! You’ve pulled the trigger correctly.

Why should I carry a firearm? As we have learned, a dynamic critical incident can be a very scary situation, especially considering that, after the fact, prosecutors will pick apart every action and dig through whatever they can to put blame on the defendant, even if the situation involved a perfectly “legal shoot.”

Of course, even though the legal aftermath of using a firearm for self-defense is not likely to involve a criminal case, it can – and does – happen. A civil case can cause great concern as well. The criminal and/or his or her family members may claim that they are in the right or believe, somehow, that they are owed something. With that, it’s the idea of the “reasonable person test.” Unfortunately, today’s definition of what a reasonable person would have done in the same circumstances doesn’t always match up to what a responsibly armed individual would do.

The possibilities of going to jail and being tried in court can certainly make someone think – or even reconsider carrying a gun for protection. I’ve had some students take our USCCA Concealed Carry and Home Defense class and tell me that they aren’t ready to carry a gun. I applaud that decision because it means that they are really thinking about the circumstances, the possibilities and the outcomes. But I also make a point to find out where they are in their concealed carry journey and how to get them where they need to be.

Nevertheless, with all the talk of the aftermath and with all of the unsettling information regarding the seriousness of using a gun to protect life, an intriguing question was recently brought up in class: Knowing what we know about the body’s responses to a threatening situation, and recognizing what problems may occur legally, financially and even emotionally after the fact, why should anyone carry a firearm?

Because You can.
Because Bad People Exist
Because You Can’t Depend on Others.
Because Guns Save Lives
Because Everyone Deserves a Chance
– By: Beth Alcazar

Marksmanship vs. Defensive Shooting, are they the same or are they really different? OR maybe a little of both! Which do I practice and which helps me the most?………. Actually BOTH, if you use the right mindset & training.

Accuracy, Power, Speed and Knowledge. These four elements are interdependent on each other as all are necessary to a degree and one effects the other in your everyday conceal carry life. Continually shooting at static bullseye targets and silhouettes, does not help you in the real world when a life-threatening situation happens to you, a friend or a loved one.

ASK YOURSELF SOME SERIOUS QUESTIONS! You need to introduce situational awareness shooting to every session you have, AND yes, even at an indoor shooting range! Do you continually practice administrative, tactical and emergency reloads? Do you practice controlled situational shooting or just fire away round after round after round at Zombie and bullseye targets? Do you know the difference between the “Occular Cavity”, “Thoracic Cavity” and the “Pelvic Girdle” projectile wound areas on a potential adversary, and practice shooting at these areas?

Carrying a firearm is a serious matter and needs constant training and knowledge, as well as a SMART MINDSET in real everyday scenario based defensive marksmanship!

I am always doing my best to keep up with new developments, new techniques and new guns.

In recent years, there has been a lot of chatter about feeling the trigger reset when shooting a pistol. The technique is often described as follows: The idea is that you will move your finger a shorter distance than if you come off the trigger and let the gun reset itself after the shot.

There is no argument: the key to shooting any handgun well is control when the trigger is going in the other direction. Pulling the trigger back and breaking the shot without causing movement to the sight picture is the key to releasing a well-aimed round. Maintaining control over the trigger’s forward movement, which has no bearing at all in actually firing the handgun, just doesn’t make sense to me.

I break it down as follows: Most competitive shooters don’t pay any attention to the reset, even many who are also instructors. Most instructors do focus on the reset, but with caveats; usually just at the entry level to help learn about trigger control and to make the shooter focus on the trigger. – Bryce Towsley

1. Firearms trainer who lists their sources. I’ve taken classes from major training centers that never mention anyone other than the people associated with their school. They taught the Color Code without mentioning it was Col. Jeff Cooper who came up with that idea. They also taught the Weaver Stance without saying who invented it, giving their student the impression that everything we know about firearms training was their idea. The fact of the matter is everyone who trains people in the safe use of firearms owes a huge debt to those who have gone before us, and acknowledging that debt is a sign of a trainer who is interested in imparting knowledge, not creating followers.

2. Firearms trainer who has multiple sources. The broader the trainer’s knowledge base, the more options they have to diagnose and correct a student’s issue with learning to shoot well. Also, trainers who have a wide variety of sources tend to come up with more innovative and effective training techniques because they are not hidebound to one way of thinking. Also, look for instructors who have taken courses that require a measured, standardized test of some sort to become an instructor, such as Rangemaster or Massad Ayood Group, because that introduces an element of intellectual rigor and accountability into their teaching process.

3. Firearms trainer with relevant training. I have nothing but the greatest respect for our military and law enforcement, but the jobs they perform are different than the job I have. The firearms training they receive, therefore, is to accomplish a different task than the task I need to accomplish. If the firearms instructor you’re considering has combat experience or is a seasoned police officer, that’s fine. Just make sure they also have training that augments what they’ve learned in the service and helps translate that service in a way that is useful to we armed citizens.

4. Firearms trainer who competes on a regular basis. Nothing will show what is working and what needs improvement than shooting a practical pistol match. Even some of the most elite troops in the Army have learned that performing a simple task like hitting a target 10 yards away becomes a Herculean feat under the simulated stress of a timer and the gaze of your peers. Competing in a practical pistol match helps you apply what you learn in shooting class to a situation that more closely resembles the street because, as noted trainer Massad Ayoob once said, a shooting match is not a gunfight, but a gunfight is most definitely a shooting match.

5. Firearms trainer who encourages wider training. Simply put, any instructor who doesn’t encourage you to train with other trainers has his own best interests at heart, not yours. No one firearms instructor has this all figured out, and if your trainer is not comfortable with you learning from other instructors, he’s more worried about repeat business than the growth of his students.

6. Firearms trainer who is also committed to learning. If the last class your instructor took was during the Bush administration (the George H.W. Bush administration), their techniques are probably not the ones you want to learn. An instructor who has recently taken classes from another instructor will have more current, effective teaching methods that use more modern theories of instructional learning and firearms technique.

Lastly, your instructor should focus on the teaching the students who are in his or her class, versus standing up in front of them and going through the motions. A firearms instructor who’s committed to excellence will also be committed to instilling that drive for excellence in his or her students, making them safer, more prepared gun owners. – By: Kevin Creighton