Do you know someone getting started in the shooting sports? Or perhaps you know shotgun or rifle shooters who want to improve their handgun skills because they have obtained CCW pistol permits? Then here is a good resource for those shooters-in-training. Smith & Wesson GUNSMARTS is a new video series that covers the key points of firearm ownership, from purchasing a pistol, to shooting techniques, gun safety, and storage. While this 38-part series does include some rifle-centric videos, it is mostly focused on handgun training, as you might expect from Smith & Wesson.

CLICK HERE to Watch All 38 S&W Gunsmarts Videos »

The GUNSMARTS series has 38 different videos covering gun safety, gun operation, marksmanship, maintenance, and secure storage. There are both general videos about gun handling and very specific videos about topics such as sight alignment, magazine loading, optics and more. Here are six of the best videos in the series. You will find 32 more on the Smith & Wesson Gunsmarts Playlist Page.

10 Tips for Your First Visit to the Range

Shooting Fundamentals — Sight Picture and Sight Alignment

Handgun Skills — Grip Pressure

Concealed Carry Positions and Holster/Belt Options

Considerations When Purchasing Your First Firearm

Do you know someone getting started in the shooting sports? Or perhaps you know shotgun or rifle shooters who want to improve their handgun skills because they have obtained CCW pistol permits? Then here is a good resource for those shooters-in-training. Smith & Wesson GUNSMARTS is a new video series that covers the key points of firearm ownership, from purchasing a pistol, to shooting techniques, gun safety, and storage. While this 38-part series does include some rifle-centric videos, it is mostly focused on handgun training, as you might expect from Smith & Wesson.

CLICK HERE to Watch All 38 S&W Gunsmarts Videos »

The GUNSMARTS series has 38 different videos covering gun safety, gun operation, marksmanship, maintenance, and secure storage. There are both general videos about gun handling and very specific videos about topics such as sight alignment, magazine loading, optics and more. Here are six of the best videos in the series. You will find 32 more on the Smith & Wesson Gunsmarts Playlist Page.

10 Tips for Your First Visit to the Range

Shooting Fundamentals — Sight Picture and Sight Alignment

Handgun Skills — Grip Pressure

Concealed Carry Positions and Holster/Belt Options

Considerations When Purchasing Your First Firearm

BREAKING NEWS 4/4/2019: The decision holding California’s ban on full-capacity magazines to be unconstitutional still stands. However Federal Judge Benitez has issued a stay on sales of full-capacity magazines in California, pending appeal. This STAY ORDER goes into effect April 5, 2019 at 5:00 pm. This will temporarily halt sales of magazines with 10+ round capacity, while his decision is under appeal. Those who ordered these magazines over the past few days will be able to take possession, but the doors are shut again for the time being. TEXT of STAY ORDER.

Full-capacity magazines are legal again in California. This is big news for the Golden State, where sales of magazines holding more than 10 rounds have been banned for nearly two decades. Why the change — why can Californians buy 20- and 30-rounders again? The answer is that the California mag ban was ruled unconstitutional by a Federal Judge on March 29, 2019.

In the Duncan v. Becerra case, Federal District Court Judge Roger Benitez ruled that the California laws banning full-capacity magazines were invalid under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Benitez wrote “Individual liberty and freedom are not outmoded concepts,” and declared unconstitutional California’s restrictions on magazines holding more than 10 rounds. READ Full Opinion HERE.

As background, California has prohibited sales of full-capacity magazines since 2000. But citizens who owned mags with 10+ capacity were allowed to keep them — until recently. A new law required magazine owners to destroy or surrender their magazines. This prompted a new NRA lawsuit which resulted in the ruling by Federal Judge Benitez.

California’s State Attorney General will appeal Judge Benitez’s decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, known for its left-leaning bias. But in the meantime, the doors are open. Full-capacity magazines are now legal to purchase and own in California.

According to ABC News in Fresno, CA: “Ammunition stores are eagerly welcoming back California customers after the state’s nearly twenty-year ban on high-capacity magazines. The ruling has prompted a massive shipment of high-capacity magazines to California.” And yes, Californians can now buy full-capacity mags from online vendors. This notice recently appeared on Brownells.com:

NRA-ILA Report on California Mag Ban Ruling

In one of the strongest judicial statements in favor of the Second Amendment to date, Judge Roger T. Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California determined on Friday that California’s ban on commonly possessed firearm magazines violates the Second Amendment. The case is Duncan v. Becerra.

The NRA-supported case had already been up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on the question of whether the law’s enforcement should be suspended during proceedings on its constitutionality. Last July, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit upheld Judge Benitez’s suspension of enforcement and sent the case back to him for further proceedings on the merits of the law itself.

Judge Benitez rendered his opinion late Friday afternoon and handed Second Amendment supporters a sweeping victory by completely invalidating California’s 10-round limit on magazine capacity. “Individual liberty and freedom are not outmoded concepts,” he declared.

In a scholarly and comprehensive opinion, Judge Benitez subjected the ban both to the constitutional analysis he argued was required by the U.S. Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller and a more complicated and flexible test the Ninth Circuit has applied in prior Second Amendment cases.

Either way, Judge Benitez ruled, the law would fail. Indeed, he characterized the California law as “turning the Constitution upside down.” He also systematically dismantled each of the state’s purported justifications for the law, demonstrating the factual and legal inconsistencies of their claims.

NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox hailed the decision as a “huge win for gun owners” and a “landmark recognition of what courts have too often treated as a disfavored right.”

Read Full Report HERE.

BREAKING NEWS (6:13 pm, 6/29/17) — Federal Court grants Preliminary Injunction. Attorneys for the California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA), supported by the NRA, obtained an injunction in the case of Duncan v. Becerra, a federal lawsuit[.] The injunction prevents California from enforcing new laws prohibiting possession of magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds, while the case is pending. The ban was set to take effect on July 1, 2017. In granting the injunction, Judge Benitez held that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in this lawsuit because “public safety interest may not eviscerate the Second Amendment”. The Order Granting Preliminary Injunction preserves the “status quo” while the constitutionality of the law is decided by the Court.

Here is a very important notice for our readers in California. As of July 1, 2017 it will be illegal to own ANY firearm magazine that holds more than 10 cartridges or rounds. It does not matter if the “full-capacity” magazines were acquired legally. There is NO Grandfather provision. Mere possession will become illegal. Counting today, June 28th, you have just three (3) more days to destroy your 10+ round magazines, render them permanently inoperable, sell them to a licensed dealer, surrender them to a law enforcement agency, or ship them out of California.

The July 1st magazine ban is the result of a patchwork of new laws passed by the California Legislature as well as Proposition 63, a deceptively-promoted initiative approved by voters last November. There are lawsuits currently challenging the magazine ban. It is possible that a temporary injunction halting the effect of the magazine ban might be ordered by a court in the “eleventh hour”. But don’t count on it — in a related case, a federal judge in Sacramento recently denied an injunction. Bottom line: if you reside in California and own/possess ANY mags that hold more than ten rounds, you need to find a solution… and find it fast.

There are probably hundreds of thousands of Californians who currently own magazines that hold more than ten rounds. The effect of the new laws will turn these law-abiding citizens into criminals. The Sacramento Bee newspaper explains:

Sweeping new gun laws passed last year by California voters and legislators require those with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition to get rid of them by July 1.

The question is: How many of California’s 6 million-plus gun owners are actually going to comply, even though violators face potential jail time if they’re caught?

Talk to gun owners, retailers and pro-gun sheriffs across California and you’ll get something akin to an eye roll when they’re asked if gun owners are going to voluntarily part with their property because Democratic politicians and voters who favor gun control outnumber them and changed the law.

In conservative, pro-gun Redding this week, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko joked that gun owners were lining the block to hand their magazines in to the sheriff’s office (In reality, no one has turned one in). He said his deputies won’t be aggressively hunting for large-capacity magazines starting next month.

“We’re not going to be knocking on anybody’s door looking for them,” Bosenko said. “We’re essentially making law-abiding citizens into criminals with this new law.”

Incrementalism — How Freedom Is Lost
It has been illegal to purchase magazines with 10+ capacity for quite some time in California. However, it remained completely legal to possess and use such magazines which were lawfully obtained before the magazine-capacity limits were imposed in the year 2000: “California banned the sale of high-capacity detachable magazines in 2000, but it remained legal to possess them, except in cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Sunnyvale that enacted local bans. That changed this fall when voters and lawmakers passed overlapping gun laws that require Californians, with limited exceptions, to give up any magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds.” Source: Sacramento Bee.

Is the Mag Ban an Unconstitutional “Taking”?
Because the new magazine laws provide no compensation to mag owners for what is effectively the confiscation of their property, it can be argued that California’s magazine ban is an unconstitutional “taking” depriving citizens of their property without due process. This is one of the arguments that is being used in court by the NRA and other gun rights organizations challenging the controversial magazine ban which goes into effect July 1, 2017.

Digital editions of the four issues of SHOT Daily, the magazine printed each day of the SHOT Show, are available free in convenient Web eZine formats. Three web issues are available right now, and the fourth issue will be released later today (Friday, 1/20/17). You’ll find many product features plus articles that can benefit shooting club directors and range managers. Definitely check out the Day One Issue’s extensive coverage of new-for-2017 firearms. SHOT Daily is produced for NSSF by Bonnier Corp., publishers of Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, and many other magazines.

SHOT Daily 2017 Digital Editions (Click to View)

Read Day 1 Digital Edition

Read Day 2 Digital Edition

Read Day3 Digital Edition

Read Day 4 Digital Edition

Don’t drive through the City of Los Angeles (or fly into LAX) if you have a magazine that holds more than ten (10) rounds. In its infinite wisdom, the Los Angeles City Council approved a new law that makes mere possession of a full-capacity magazine illegal EVEN if it was obtained legally, in compliance with all state and federal laws. This, by definition, is an “ex post facto” law — a statute that makes a crime out of what was considered legal before, requiring citizens to take affirmative action or else be subject to criminal penalties. Possession of a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds will now be a misdemeanor in the City of Los Angeles, as soon as Mayor Eric Garcetti signs the measure into law, which he has promised to do.

Once codified into law, the magazine ban gives residents only two months to comply. Residents will have 60 days to surrender their magazines to the police or remove their magazines from the city. The author of the law, City Councilman Paul Krekorian, declared that the new law will be enforced aggressively by the Los Angeles Police Department.

WARNING — Do Not Transport High-Capacity Magazines Through Los Angeles
We caution all readers that they should not bring any firearm magazines that hold more than ten rounds into the Los Angeles city limits. Even if you are just “driving through” on the way to another location, you could be arrested for possession. Likewise, do not ship magazines into Los Angeles, and do not fly into Los Angeles city airports (such as LAX) with high-capacity magazines in your possession on in your luggage. Even if we were just transferring in Los Angeles from one flight to another, we would not carry high-capacity magazines into that airport zone.

Under current California state law it is illegal to buy, sell, manufacture, or import magazines that hold more than ten rounds. However, statewide (except in San Francisco, and Sunnyvale and soon Los Angeles) it is still completely legal to possess such magazines if they were acquired legally BEFORE the high-cap magazine ban went into effect. In other words, possession of “pre-ban” high-cap magazines is “grandfathered” in California — you just can’t buy or sell them anymore within California.

Is the Los Angeles Magazine Ban Constitutional?
The new Los Angeles law can be attacked on various legal grounds. First it can be challenged as an “Ex Post Facto” law. Second, the law should be invalid under the pre-emption doctrine, since regulation of firearm magazines is already controlled by state statute. The pre-emption doctrine recognizes that a state cannot allow municipalities to enact myriad conflicting laws on the same subject matter. Unfortunately, an NRA legal challenge to municipal magazine bans in San Francisco and Sunnyvale failed on Second Amendment grounds. It would have made more sense to have attacked those city-specific regulations on the basis of state pre-emption. Unfortunately, the NRA’s litigation failure will make it more difficult to overturn the Los Angeles magazine ordinance.

LAX Photo By JadeLux (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

You can read the latest May 2015 edition of Shooting Sports USA for free. This issue covers the 2015 NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship and includes an exclusive interview with 2015 NCAA Smallbore Rifle Champion Rachel Martin. If you like classic target rifles, you should definitely read the “Yesterday’s Rifle” article. This recounts America’s program to develop a winning Smallbore Rifle for the 1924 Paris Olympics. The full May 2015 issue of Shooting Sports USA is embedded below.

If you want to read the May issue in a larger, dual-page format, CLICK THIS LINK.

Use Scroll Bar on Right to Move Forward or Back.

In addition to the safety benefits, these color bands also help you organize your magazines during transport and storage. If you have a variety of AR uppers in various calibers, it would be sensible to purchase a set of these color-coded bands. Price is $9.99 per set of ten (10) bands of one color (blue 5.56/.223, yellow 7.62×39, or red 300 BLK). Unfortunately, Faxon does not currently offer a “Mix and Match” option. So, if you want all three types, you’ll have to buy three different sets. That’s a bit annoying.

We’d like to see a marker band product like this for other types of magazines, including rimfire mags. We’ve seen varminters try to stuff a 17 HMR magazine into a 22LR and vice-versa. We’ve also seen shooters pick up the wrong Detachable Box Magazine (DBM) for their centerfire bolt guns. This can easily happen on a varmint hunt when you have multiple rifles in different calibers (such as .223 Rem and .204 Ruger).

Right now the VHA is offering two FREE digital editions of The Varmint Hunter Magazine. Can’t beat that price. Click the links below to view (or download) the latest Fall 2014 Edition (Issue #92) or the previous Summer 2014 Edition (Issue #91). These digital eZines can be read on your computer or by most mobile devices. But since these are complete magazines, it make take a minute or two to download the full PDF files (be patient).

Fall 2014 PDF	Summer 2014 PDF

The eZine version of American Rifleman navigates like a conventional print magazine — so you start with an index at the front and you can flip pages from front-to-back. You can also navigate with thumbnails (on the left) and zoom in and out if you find items of interest. Those who prefer reading articles in a magazine-style format should enjoy the American Rifleman digital eZine archives.

How to Find Back Issues
After loading the eReader, to access back issues, click on the “Archive” icon in the upper left corner of the page, then chose a year (2013, 2013, 2011, or 2010) and then click on a particular issue. Here are samples from the March, April, and May 2013 digital editions of American Rifleman. As you can see, you can view full two-page spreads, just as with a print magazine. You can navigate by flipping pages, or by clicking on the thumbnails in the left column:

From May 2013 Issue (This issue also has articles about WWII rifles.)

From April 2013 Issue (Includes New Products for 2013.)

From March 2013 Issue (This Optical Glossary is extensive and useful.)