The Supreme Court handed down some of the final decisions in their current term this past week and the Second Amendment was on their docket. In United States v. Hemani, the court unanimously ruled that federal laws permanently banning regular drug users from possessing firearms violates the Second Amendment. The case narrowly focused on marijuana use. Plaintiffs attorneys and amicus supporters convincingly argued that with 40 states having some form of legal marijuana regulations a lifetime ban on firearms ownership was unconstitutional. The proper understanding of the 2A, according to the Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan M. Gottlieb “only provides for disarming those who are actually dangerous..simply being an unlawful user of any drug fails to meet that standard.”

It wasn’t all wins....the high court also declined to hear the NSSF’s appeal in its challenge of New York’s public nuisance law targeting lawful firearm industry members. The law allows victims of firearms crimes to sue gun companies for “downstream harms resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of lawful products, even if a criminal is responsible. Look out Chevy, MADD may be coming for you next. 

With the announcement of a tentative agreement in the Iran/U.S. conflict dropped gas prices back below $4/gallon for the first time in months. On Friday, Israel announced a tentative cease-fire with Hezbollah -a condition of the Iranian negotiators. Should a permanent deal not happen in the 60-day window, President Trump   says the U.S. will “bomb the hell out of them (Iran) if they violate the deal.”

We’re looking in the rear view mirror and down the road- simultaneously- for the announcement and arrival of the Slate electric pickup truck. The Slate may be  the answer to all the jacked-up, chromed-up, coal-rolling, gas-guzzling, butt ugly trucks out there today. The base model is called the “blank Slate” -a vehicle you can wrap, modify or otherwise customize to be what you want in a sensible, useful vehicle. Granted, it looks more like a shoebox than a space ship, but it's priced accordingly. No leather, no bespoke features and a Frank Lloyd Wright “form follows function” ethos that will retail for…(wait on it)…under $28,000. That’s like the current lines of trucks and SUVs - with $75,000 in spare change.

The highway ahead is looking foggy this coming week, primarily because there’s really no way to predict the future. While the Gulf of Hormuz is ostensibly free of suicide boaters, mines and other general navigational hazards, but the talks between the United States and Iran still look more like a contentious divorce than a peace negotiation. The coming economic calendar has the May New Homes Sales report and a follow-on Fed assessment of inflation and interest rates. Don't expect either to be better.

With Ukraine’s successful attack last week on a major Russian oil refinery (and Moscow), the idea of no escalation between Russia/Ukraine looks slim. 

Next week’s SCOTUS sessions should have major decisions on Birthright Citizenship and Temporary Protected Status and will deciding the administration’s authority to end deportation protections for over a dozen countries, a ruling regarding transgendered sports participation and the president’s oversight power over independent federal agencies.

And there’s lots of last-minute planning for the nation’s 250th anniversary. 

Whew.

– Jim Shepherd

America turns 250 years old in 2026.

For most Americans, it’s a chance to reflect on our nation’s history.

For hunters and shooters, it’s also a chance to reflect on the traditions that have accompanied America every step of the way.

Long before hunting was a pastime, it was a necessity, and for some, it still is.

Long before shooting sports filled ranges and scorecards, marksmanship was a life skill, and for some, it still is.  The tools and technology has changed. The values, never.

That’s why I found myself thinking about something bigger than ammunition when I read about the America 250 commemorative products from Federal and the We The People lineup from Remington. Both companies are marking the nation’s 250th anniversary with limited-edition ammunition that celebrates American heritage.

The products are interesting, but they’re not really the story.

The story is what they represent.

For generations, Federal and Remington ammunition have found their way into deer camps, duck blinds, turkey woods, and shooting ranges across the country. They’ve been there for first hunts, first harvests, and countless memories shared between family and friends.

When I think about 250 years of America, I don’t think about packaging.
I think about traditions.

So does Remington Marketing Director Christian Hogg.

“We The People” is Remington’s way of honoring the grit, tradition, and freedom that have defined this country for generations. By pairing proven, trusted ammunition with limited edition packaging, we’re giving shooters and collectors a meaningful way to celebrate this moment in American history.”

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, Federal and Remington are recognizing the milestone through products that honor both their own heritage and the generations of shooters who helped build it.

That’s fitting because while commemorative ammunition may eventually be shot, collected, or tucked away on a shelf, the traditions behind it continue. And, if America has taught us anything over the last 250 years, it’s that traditions worth preserving are worth passing on.

As we honor America’s 250th birthday, it’s also fitting that this reflection comes right before Father’s Day weekend. Both celebrations remind us that the most important parts of our heritage are not things we keep; they’re things we pass along.

Many of my own hunting traditions came from people who invested their time in me. Fathers. Mentors. Friends. People who understood that the greatest legacy isn’t a rifle, a box of ammunition, or a trophy on the wall.

It’s the values that accompany them: responsibility, respect, gratitude, faith, and service.

The values that transcend us all.

This story began with a conversation and a thoughtful nudge from Federal’s JJ Reich to think more deeply about what America’s 250th anniversary really represents. Thanks for that J.J.

Sometimes it takes a friend to remind us that while ammunition may carry a bullet, tradition carries something far more important:
the people, values, and memories we leave behind.

And those are worth preserving for another 250 years.

– Jay Pinsky
jay@theoutdoorwire.com 

My handgunning history started with a Colt. My real time with handguns started with a Colt Frontier Scout. 

This was the the first handgun I had extensive experience with and it was a loaner. The owner of the air freight outfit at the local municipal airport was a bit of a gun guy. He had a nickel Colt Frontier Scout 22. It had the shorter (4 5/8”?) barrel. The frame, grip frame and loading gate was made of something called ‘Zamak alloy’ or something. I’ve since read that it’s heavier than aluminum alloys used at the time in firearms manufacture. According to information on the internet, the material has zinc as a base metal in an alloy with aluminum, magnesium, and copper.

He had it in a nicely fitted holster that fit low-slung under a cartridge belt in the fashion of the rigs worn by TV Western actors of the 1960s. 

It was a part of the Colt handgun line made from 1960 to 1970. 

He loaned me that gun, made me promise not to do anything stupid with it (I was a teenager at that time), and sent me on my way. The bullet loops were loaded full — and I didn’t use a single round of his ammo.

The bright nickel shined in the sun, particularly the sights. It was not a bullseye gun, but I learned to make some really good hits with it. I was particularly fond of the uncheckered walnut stocks on the classy little handgun.

The first centerfire handgun I ever owned is a Colt Python. This example was blue, with a six-inch barrel. I’d gotten it from a fellow GI who served at Ft. Benning GA, as I was. 

Back in those days, a short four-years after passage of the 1968 federal Gun Control Act, I couldn’t purchase “handgun ammunition.” If it was 12 gauge, 30-06 or 300 Win. Mag, I was okay. I’d just had to fire the XM16E1 in basic, along with the M60, the Light Anti-Tank Weapon and other firearms meant for war. 

The motor sergeant in the outfit to which I was assigned accompanied me to a Gibson’s store in Columbus GA and “straw-purchased” a box of Federal 158gr JSP ammo for me. Now, some 54 years later, that gun is still hanging around. 

I shot the state’s peace officer Spring Conference bullseye match, the NRA Short Course, in 1978 and took High Novice. It could be that’s why the stock old gun, made in 1968, remains. 

Later, I’d gone to work for the hometown police department. The sergeant on overnights carried a Colt Gold Cup. A southpaw on the shift carried a Commander hammer-down in a Jordan holster with a thumb break strap. I can’t recall anyone on days or evenings who carried the service pistol. I was on a search for a 45 auto of my own and a former officer of the agency had a Colt National Match (pre-Gold Cup) for sale. 

It was in pretty bad shape, finish wise. It came with one magazine, marked “C-R” on the floorplate. The gun ran properly with that magazine – the one it arrived with – and a “gun show special” that had been “tuned” by a pro at the range. The third gun show magazine was trash and the pro who’d helped me threw it over the berm.

So, the original factory magazine was lost to the ages before I got there in 1977; I still have that magazine. The others I used were purchased at a gun show, with the now-expected miserable results. The “C-R” is a gun made under contract to Colt for WWII and, according to research, it stands for “Colt-Risdon,” Risdon being the company making the magazine. 

I found out about magazine problems on a qualification run, my first at the outfit. After that bit of magazine tuning, the Colt ran fine and my first qual was a 96%. 

Now refinished to prevent further rust decay, that gun is likewise still around. 

I’ll skip over my next Colts to one that has special meaning. It was purchased for me by my wife on my fiftieth birthday. 

Used, it was found at Cabela’s in the Gun Library. She told me I should have it, I made a deal on it and I wanted it to be special based on that means of acquisition. 

The sights were the standard Colt Accro and ramp front. My friend, Mike Rafferty, just happened to have a front sight that had originally been destined for an Officers Model Match in his toy box. He passed it on to me. Bill Laughridge recommended I search for a Champion Gun Sights Part Number 860-301, a “Drop-In Replacement Sight for Colt Elliason and Accro Sights” to duplicate the Colt Elliason sight from years past. 

As I’d discussed the gun with Bill, the checkup on the gun was done by his shop, Cylinder and Slide, Fremont, NE. The timing was slow and the cylinder had end shake. The headspace was oversize at .013 (should have been .007” - .008”). The hammer was striking the rebound lever. 

The Cylinder & Slide wizards removed the endshake and retimed it. They also increased the firing pin protrusion to make up for the open headspace. A “Super Action Job” was done and they corrected the hammer strike on the rebound lever. 

The Champion Gunsights and the original Colt partridge front sight were installed. Bill noted that the crown on the barrel was slightly crooked, but didn’t correct due to original nickel finish.

My new-old Python came back with a 3 ½ pound single action pull, down from nearly six pounds. The double action trigger exhibited no stacking, and pulled straight through smoothly at 7 ¼ pounds, an even three pounds less than original. 

The gun was then re-wrapped and shipped to Pat Hogue to be fitted for new stocks – which it now wears. 

Colt still makes the Gold Cup and makes new versions of the Python. I’ve had good luck with them, as well as the King Cobra Target in 22LR. It’s not the old Frontier Scout, but it’s a great shooting 22 Colt. 

– Rich Grassi, Editor of The Tactical Wire

Our friends at the Associated Press polled about 2500 Americans in an effort to take their collective temperature on the level of security they feel in some of their most fundamental civil rights, They include freedom of speech, religion, voting rights and -- you guessed it -- the right to keep and bear arms.

The non-news here is that the Democrats who were polled are largely dismissive of any perceived threats to their gun rights in the current climate while Republicans surveyed in the AP-NORC America 250 poll were less sanguine. Of course, you'd expect those who find less value in the right to keep and bear arms to be less worried about efforts to limit that right.

And for those of you who haven't been paying attention, those efforts are alive and well and progressing in almost all of the usual suspect states. According the Grok's AI gnome miners, here's a selection of anti-gun measures enacted in the last year or so.

California:

• Banned the sale of GLOCK pistols
• Required sale/transfer records to include purchaser acknowledgment of confirming possession of all owned firearms in the last 30 days
• Expanded definition of “firearm” for lost or stolen reporting to include frames, receivers, and parts
• Required annual training (with exam) for licensed gun dealers and employees handling firearms
• Required dealers to provide a state-designed pamphlet on the risks of gun ownership

Colorado:

• "Assault weapons" ban

Illinois:

• Safe gun storage mandate and
• Penalties for failing to report lost or stolen guns within 48 hours

Rhode Island:

• Signed an "assault weapons" ban into law

New York:

• Mandated "censorware" for 3D printers to prevent printing guns
• Criminalized possession of 3D-printed gun files


Washington:

• Mandated new permit to purchase a firearm requirement with mandated safety training and fingerprinting
• Enacted a series of requirements on gun retailers including annual reporting, liability insurance minimums and security system mandates including 24/7 monitoring

Oregon:

• Bump stock ban
• Expanded "sensitive places" carry ban locations

Virginia:

• "Assault weapons" ban
• "High capacity" magazine ban
• Safe storage mandate
• Gun industry "nuisance" law liability
• Universal background checks
• Expanded "sensitive places" carry ban

Maine:

• Enacted red flag confiscation law

Massachusetts:

• New firearm registration mandate 

That's only a partial list of what's become law in the last year or so and doesn't include bills in process such as...more 3D printer censorware mandates, weakening the PLCAA, GLOCK bans, "assault weapons" confiscation and suppressor bans. Oh, and there's also a (likely doomed) move by Democrats at the federal level to ban the sale of suppressors, too.

So despite an administration that has made some important strides in rolling back regulations and advancing gun rights in the last two-plus years and a Supreme Court that takes an expansive view of individuals' Second Amendment rights, it shouldn't really be a mystery why that AP-NORC poll found Republicans more worried about threats to their gun rights than Democrats. Same as it ever was. 

– Dan Zimmerman, Shooting News Weekly

"It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” — Johann Friedrich von Schiller

At 10:15am on June 10, 2023, I started my journey into fatherhood.

This was new territory for me, to say the least. Up until that point, I had very limited experience with babies and zero experience with a newborn. But oddly enough, I wasn’t nervous.

I’ve always liked little kids. They are human power banks of pure joy that never fail to brighten your day.

While I had changed a diaper or two, it was nothing compared to what a full-time dad signs up for. Yet, I signed up on that day.

Sitting in the recovery room of the hospital’s maternity wing, I was one of the first four people to meet the new baby boy. I was there with his sister, aunt, and cousin before we were joined by his grandmother.

He weighed eight pounds, one ounce, and seemed so tiny to me. Holding him made me nervous.

He has a formal name, the one his mother’s late father carried. It’s a great name, but sometime during the pregnancy, he acquired a few nicknames. When he grew to the size of a cabbage and kept kicking, he was referred to as the Kung Fu Cabbage. He even has a onesie with that printed on the front.

The other name he got—either from his mother, his 6-year-old sister, or perhaps both of them—was Chubba Bubba, another nod to his size during the pregnancy.

Chubba Bubba is what I call him about 85 percent of the time. The rest of the time it’s either Little Man or his given name.

"The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature.” — Antoine François Prévost

With no experience whatsoever, I somehow managed to understand rather quickly the main requirements of being a dad. I made breakfast in bed for Mom. I picked up diapers and formula so we were never out of either. And most importantly I learned to get over my fear of carrying such a tiny human.

And carry him I did.

Because I had the luxury of working from home, whenever the baby would wake up in the middle of the night hungry, or crying because he was going through a growth spurt, I got up to take care of him. That let Mom sleep through the night so she wouldn’t be exhausted when she drove to work in the morning.

Those late nights ended up being the very best moments. I would walk back and forth through the house gently bouncing the baby in my arms while singing one of the three songs/nursery rhymes I could remember. I also sang to him the alphabet, because my repertoire was lacking.

Getting him to fall back asleep was a major accomplishment, one I wasn’t too shy to brag to his mother about. I told her I was the Baby Whisperer, and since she got to sleep through the night, she really couldn’t argue with me.

At some point early on when I took on the role of late-night/early-morning babysitter, I started talking to him, even when he fell asleep. I told him he’s beautiful—and he sure is and I’ll fight anybody that says otherwise—and that he’s amazing.

But most of all, I told him, “I love you.” Even though he couldn’t possibly understand the words I was saying, especially when sleeping, I had faith that those words got through to him. That they showered him with warmth, and protected him like a verbal force field of fatherly love.

I tell him I love him every day, and nothing will ever compare to when he started saying it back to me. When he’s a good bit older, I’ll tell him about the late night moments so he knows that there was never, ever a time when he wasn’t profoundly loved and adored.

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” — Billy Graham

Tomorrow is Father’s Day. It’s the official holiday of "you don’t know what to get me, and I don’t need anything." I never knew what to get my dad, and whatever my mom bought for me to give to him wasn’t anything memorable.

I used to think that was a problem, not getting dad something he really wanted. But since Chubba Bubba came into my life I’ve learned the truth about Father’s Day.

No present will ever compare to hearing my 3-year-old call out "Daddy" early in the morning when he wakes up.

The name—that title of Daddy—is the real gift. Along with that big smile across his face and in his eyes when he says it makes it an immeasurable gift. A gift I get every single day.

I don’t need a present, some handmade piece of pottery, or his finest crayon artwork. I get why Mom says it’s important for the kids to give presents on Father’s Day. And no matter what I get, I will let them know I love it and them for giving it to me.

It won’t be until he’s much older, and has kids of his own, that he will understand that Father’s Day is actually an everyday event of smiles, giggles, hugs, and kisses.

And hopefully, that will be something he learns from his father.

– Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network, and Daddy

Walter Cline Range, Friendship, Indiana

Reelfoot Lake, Samburg, Tennessee. Weigh-in Kirby's Pocket, 5097 W. Hwy 22, Hornbeak, TN Anglers mandatory meeting Friday, 5:00 PM The Gilded Lily Venue Barn, 4689 Old Samburg Rd, Hornbeak, TN

The 250th birthday of the United States of America 

The Cardinal Center, Marengo, Indiana

NRA Whittington Center, Raton, New Mexico

NRA Whittington Center, Raton, NM