U.S.A. – New York Attorney General Letitia James has taken legal action against Mean Arms, a Georgia-based gun accessory manufacturer, for their alleged involvement in the illegal possession of assault weapons in New York. The lawsuit follows the tragic incident in Buffalo, where a shooter used Mean Arms’ magazine lock, known as the MA Lock, to replace magazines in his AR-15 and carried out a mass shooting that claimed the lives of 10 individuals.
According to the lawsuit, Mean Arms deceptively promotes the MA Lock as a device that makes weapons compliant with New York’s gun laws. However, it is alleged that the lock can be effortlessly removed, allowing the shooter to add 30-round detachable magazines to the firearm used in the massacre. The Attorney General argues that Mean Arms’ marketing practices and instructions on how to remove the lock contribute to the illegal possession of assault weapons in the state.
Attorney General James danced in the blood of the Buffalo shooting, calling it “one of the darkest days in the history of New York and the nation.” While dramatically claiming that the harm caused cannot be undone, and she aims to seek “justice” for the lives lost by the acts of a madman by now pursuing legal action against Mean Arms.
The NY lawsuit seeks several “remedies”, including a halt to Mean Arms’ operations in New York, restitution, damages, and civil penalties for the company’s alleged violations of state laws. Moreover, the Attorney General intends to force Mean Arms to issue corrective statements regarding the misleading claims made about the MA Lock.
Mean Arms’ MA Lock is designed to lock a detachable magazine in place on a semiautomatic rifle using a shear bolt mechanism. However, the New York Attorney General’s office found that the company provides instructions on how to easily remove the lock on the packaging itself. Online videos also demonstrate the removal process, which involves using a #2 speed out drill bit and a power drill.
The lawsuit reveals that the Buffalo shooter had purchased a semiautomatic rifle with the MA Lock installed and a 10-round magazine in January 2022. Using the common tools and a power drill, he removed the lock, enabling him to attach multiple illegal, under New York law, 30-round detachable magazines. This modification allowed the shooter to continue firing 30 rounds without reloading, as would be the case with the NY arbitrary number of 10 rounds, and according to the AG, that somehow contributed to the increased “lethality” of the attack.
Attorney General James’ legal bullying of Mean Arms is part of her ongoing efforts to claim she is doing something to curb “gun violence” and to force “responsible gun safety laws” on New York. In recent months, her office has wasted taxpayer monies on a statewide gun buyback program and cracked down on online ammunition sellers for “illegal” shipping.
While the lawsuit claims to hold Mean Arms accountable, it is worth noting that laws like New York’s, banning so-called high-capacity magazines have faced legal challenges. Various federal courts, including the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, have ruled such bans to be unconstitutional, citing the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The lawsuit against Mean Arms, however, underscores the Attorney General’s commitment to doing the dirty work of gun banners. The legal action has garnered support from advocacy groups like Everytown for Gun Safety, as well as local leaders, including U.S. Representative Brian Higgins and Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown.
By Fred Riehl and AI technology. Note: This article was generated using AI technology and may contain some automated content and analysis.
In a world of hyper-velocity cartridges, where shooting into the next zip code has almost become the norm, it can be refreshing to spend some time with one of the classic rimmed cartridges which our grandfathers used for varmints, predators and small-game species. In fact, the relatively mild report and virtual lack of recoil can be a wonderful diversion. The speedy .220 Swift was released in 1935 and the .222 Remington was released in 1950, the year my father was born, but among those earliest designs were the .22 Hornet and the .218 Bee.
I like rimmed cartridges, especially in lever guns and single shots, and the mild cartridges can be a pleasure to shoot. Just as it’s good fun to grab a good old .30-30 carbine instead of the .30-06 sometimes, time spent with a good rifle chambered for the Hornet or the Bee can be a great change of pace. In my grandfather’s era, the .22 Hornet was the go-to varmint cartridge, and the couple of seasons I spent behind the trigger of a .218 Bee were a whole lot of fun. Let’s compare and contrast the pair of old veterans, and see which comes out on top.
The .22 Hornet is the older of the pair, being released commercially in 1930. Those esteemed gentlemen at the Springfield Armory—including Col. Townsend Whelen and Capt. G.L. Wotkyns—were experimenting with the now obsolete .22 WCF cartridge, and arrived at what we know as the .22 Hornet. Though there had been another cartridge in the 1890s known as the Hornet, it was dimensionally different from the 1930 variant. It is a simple and diminutive cartridge, immediately evoking a bygone era. It has a rim diameter of 0.350 inches, a case length of 1.403 inches, and a slight 5-degree, 38-minute shoulder which culminates in neck measuring 0.386 inches, giving all the neck tension you’d want. The Hornet’s overall cartridge length is 1.723 inches.
Initial loads pushed a 45-grain jacketed bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2400 fps, and Winchester believed in the cartridge to the point where they offered it in the Model 54 bolt-action rifle and it was one of the original chamberings for the Model 70 in 1936. Modern powders have increased the muzzle velocity of the .22 Hornet, and many manufacturers have seen fit to use the lighter 30- and 35-grain bullets to boost velocities further. For furbearers and varmints inside of 200 to 250 yards, the .22 Hornet is a sound choice, as even the 45-grain “traditional” load—look to Hornady’s Custom line for the 45-grain Spire Point at 2665 fps—can be zeroed at 200 yards, striking 2.8 inches high at 100 yards. Lighter loads like Federal’s Varmint & Predator 35-grain Tipped Varmint load, at 3000 fps, can be zeroed at 200 yards, striking 3.1 inches high at 100, but will drop off quickly after 200 yards. Yet it remains a deadly little cartridge at woods distances.
The .218 Bee came along in 1937, at the height of the Great Depression, released in Winchester Model 65 lever gun. Designed to compete with the .22 Hornet, Winchester necked down the .25-20 Winchester to hold .224-inch-diameter bullets (the .25-20 itself was a .32-20 necked down), and the Model 65 was offered in .218 Bee, .25-20 and .32-20. The Bee is slightly shorter, but definitely fatter, than the Hornet. Its base measures 0.408 inches, has a body with minimal taper and a steeper 15-degree shoulder. The overall case length measures 1.345 inches and the Bee has a neck length of 0.258 inches, more than one caliber, for sufficient neck tension. The Bee also comes in slightly shorter than the Hornet, at 1.680 inches.
Because of the lever-action tubular magazine, the Bee was loaded from its inception with round nosed bullets. With a 45-grain bullet, the Bee will give another 100 fps over the Hornet, with factory loads driving a 45-grain to 2750 fps. There were some accuracy complaints early on with the .218 Bee, but it’s pretty much accepted that the issue was with the lever-action rifle more than the cartridge.
There are a good number of rifles chambered in each, with Ruger having adopted both. The Ruger 77/22 is a great bolt-action repeater with their proprietary rotary magazine, and the Ruger No. 1 has been chambered in both cartridges at one time or another.
Which of the two makes the better choice? Well, the performance of the two is pretty similar, with the Bee having the slight velocity advantage, but the Hornet has the advantage of more factory loads and more availability. At the time of this writing, there are two advertised factory loads for the Bee (Hornady and Winchester), while the Hornet has a dozen or more. The Bee’s factory ammo uses 45- and 46-grain bullets, while the Hornet offers a range of bullet choices from 35 to 50 grains.
I personally feel that the Bee is a better cartridge, firstly because of the velocity increase over the Hornet, secondly because I’ve found that brass for the Bee tends to be more consistent than that of the Hornet, and thirdly for the roomier case which gives a bit more flexibility for the handloader. But unless you intend to handload, the Hornet makes more sense, simply for the availability and range of factory loads. I am an unabashed handloader, and when I spent time with that Ruger No. 1 in .218 Bee, components were readily available, so feeding the single-shot was no issue.
Both cartridges are easy on the ears and have very little recoil, yet are effective for any of the smaller species for which these are suited. It seems that the industry has chosen the .22 Hornet, and with the modern factory loads you can probably do anything that you could do with the .218 Bee. I’d hate to see either fade away completely, but in this competition I’ll have to give the nod to the older .22 Hornet.
A federal judge blocked much of New Jersey’s recently enacted gun carry law on Tuesday, the latest setback in the Murphy administration’s efforts to tighten laws amid legal challenges from gun-rights groups.
The order issued by U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb applies for the duration of the litigation and expands upon prior court orders that temporarily blocked parts of the new law, formed in response to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in New York easing states’ carrying restrictions.
The judge’s order in New Jersey suspends, for now, impending requirements that gun carriers purchase liability insurance — a requirement that would have been the first statewide mandate of its kind.
It also reaffirms and expands prior court orders that blocked parts of the law which prohibits where New Jerseyans can carry guns. The order issued Tuesday blocks gun carry bans in zoos, public locations used for movie sets and public gatherings where government permits are needed. Prior temporary orders blocked gun bans in places where alcohol is served, entertainment facilities and on private property where the owner does not give explicit permission.
The judge also blocked another provision that required references for gun carry applicants to be interviewed in-person, which the judge wrote was “unduly burdensome.”
Attorney General Matt Platkin said in a statement that he plans to appeal the decision.
Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative Democrats moved to curtail the impacts of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer that expanded the scope of who can carry guns outside the home. Murphy signed a bill into law last year that overhauled the state’s gun carry laws and prohibited guns from being carried in large swaths of the state; the law was immediately the subject of legal challenges.
Bumb, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said in her opinion that the state “failed” to demonstrate historical analogues in the new law to firearm regulations of the past — a key litmus test the U.S. Supreme Court recently established in deciding whether gun laws are constitutional.
I guess Memphis, Tennessee city council members haven’t gotten any smarter since I left town. Not even smart enough to ask someone with a little knowledge firearms and law for some help.
The council is preparing a couple of gun control referendum questions. Since Tennessee is a firearms preemption state, that seems to be asking for trouble right off. But they acknowledge that, and said, What the hell; why not?
Memphis City Council to consider gun restrictions, but state law could preempt change
Memphis City Council members are poised to consider Tuesday approving two ballot referendums that would allow Memphians to vote on whether handguns should be banned in city limits without permits and whether the sale of assault rifles should be banned in the city.
If approved by city council members and then the voters, those ordinances would directly contradict state law.
The proposed language of the referendum questions is interesting… in a morbidly amusing way.
“Shall the Charter of the City of Memphis be amended to read:
1. No person shall be allowed to carry a handgun in the City of Memphis without possessing a valid handgun carry permit.
2. No person shall be allowed to carry, store, or travel with a handgun in a vehicle in the City of Memphis without possessing a valid handgun permit.”
Aside from state preemption law, that runs afoul of federal law: 18 USC 926A. I suspect active enforcement of that one — what; checkpoints on I-40 and I-55? — would cost Memphis taxpayers quite a few million dollars in lawsuit settlements.
Next up, we have this gem.
“Shall the Charter of the City of Memphis be amended to read:
1. Hereafter, the Commercial Sale of Assault Rifles within the City of Memphis is unlawful and is hereby prohibited.
2. The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply to the Commercial Sale of Assault Rifles to:
-insert the usual law enforcement and military exceptions-
Huh. “Assault rifles;” not some vague, undefined “assault weapon.” I am pleased to see that question 2 leaves AR-pattern firearms (like the actual AR-15) alone. But given the restrictions of the National Firearms Act of 1934, I really don’t see much point in it. Lawful transfers of machine guns already require background checks, taxes, and long delays; whether a commercial sale or private. Oh, and a lot of money for the gun itself.
No, not too bright at all. But then, they do still have a Ford on the council. I think Edmund, Sr. is the one who called for blacks to rise up, riot, and destroy the city that one time.
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The archetypal Old West gunfight was largely the product of pulp fiction writers’ vivid imaginations. However, there were a few frontier shootings and a few frontier shootists that were legitimately larger than life.
The US/Mexican border in 1881 was a raucous place. Civilization was but a thin veneer across this otherwise lawless landscape. Theft, graft, and murder were commonplace, and frontier justice came from the barrel of a gun. On April 14th, a truly epic gunfight played out in El Paso, Texas.
The Art of the Gunslinger
Many of the most famous Old West characters were deeply flawed and tormented souls. Life in that place at that time was frequently both brutish and short.
The term gunslinger is a fairly modern contrivance. I’m told that men who lived by their guns were most commonly called shootists if anything. While most of the big names were either drunks, petty thieves, psychopaths, or some toxic combination, a precious few were actually truly good at it.
Modern Tier 1 operators like these Army CAG shooters are phenomenal gunfighters. However, these skills stem from literally countless iterations behind their weapons.
I’m no great shakes myself, but I have had the privilege of working alongside some of the finest shooters in the world. SEALs and CAG guys are legendarily competent. Speed shooter Jerry Miculek is a freak of nature. However, professional gunmen in the modern era typically do what they do because of countless hours of concentrated trigger time.
Jerry Miculek is a legendary speed shooter.
Some folks, however, like Jerry and an 1881-era Marshal named Dallas Stoudenmire, just have the gift.
The Setting
This whole sordid tale began when a group of American cattle rustlers stole thirty head of cows from Mexican vaqueros just South of the border.
In 1881 an American rancher named Johnny Hale arrived in El Paso with thirty stolen cows from northern Mexico. A pair of Mexican vaqueros named Juaregui and Sanchez gave chase into the Southern United States but never returned. In response, a mob of heavily-armed Mexican cowboys rode into town on April 14, with vengeance on their minds.
In South Texas in 1881 the men were hard and everybody was armed. Trouble was easy to find.
Constable Gus Krempkau spoke fluent Spanish and accompanied the men out to the Hale ranch. Enroute they discovered the cooling corpses of Sanchez and Juaregui. A pair of local cowboys purportedly named Peveler and Stevenson were overheard bragging about the murders and were arrested. The ranch owner Johnny Hale was presumed to have been complicit throughout.
Once the two killers were remanded into custody by all accounts the Mexican cowboys took the bodies of their two comrades and returned home peacefully.
There was an inquest wherein Constable Krempkau served as an interpreter for the aggrieved Mexicans. The two American cattle rustlers were subsequently remanded into custody for formal trial at a later date. Their thirst for justice slated, the Mexican posse returned home with the bodies of their deceased friends.
The Shootist
Dallas Stoudenmire is shown here in the center along with Deputy Marshals Neal Nuland and Walt Jones.
Dallas Stoudenmire had been sworn in as town Marshal a mere three days prior. He was the sixth El Paso town Marshal in eight months. A native of Alabama and one of nine children, Stoudenmire lied about his age and enlisted in the Confederate Army at age fifteen. Despite being more than six feet tall his commanders discovered his true age and discharged him.
Dallas Stoudenmire saw heavy combat with the 45th Alabama Infantry during the American Civil War.
Stoudenmire reenlisted twice more and ended the war an adult standing six foot four. He was a notoriously hard man who carried a pair of Union bullets in his body until the day he died.
By all accounts, Dallas Stoudenmire rendered superlative service during his time with the Texas Rangers.
Stoudenmire spent three years as a Texas Ranger. By 1881 he was an experienced lawman with a deadly reputation. Though he was known to be a gentleman around the ladies, he was an inveterate brute when drunk. He carried a pair of revolvers and was rumored to be comparably facile with either hand.
The Shootout
The toxic combination of alcohol and testosterone claimed many a life on the American Western frontier.
The day after the inquest, Constable Krempkau entered a local El Paso saloon to retrieve his rifle and pistol. Inside the rustler, Johnny Hale was unarmed, intoxicated, and despondent. An armed friend of Hale’s named George Campbell made a disparaging comment about Krempkau’s performance as an interpreter at the hearing the previous day.
Stoudenmire left the Globe restaurant at a trot, guns ablazing. His first casualty was an innocent Mexican.
Johnny Hale then snatched up one of Campbell’s two handguns and shot Krempkau. Marshal Stoudenmire was eating at the Globe restaurant across the street and rose to investigate. He came out shooting and killed an innocent Mexican bystander named Ochoa in short order.
We have a stylized mental image of the nature of Old West gunfights. The reality was a frenetic, bloody, pitiless, chaotic thing.
Johnny Hale took cover behind a thick adobe pillar. Stoudenmire spotted him peering around the edge and shot him in the face. Campbell, for his part, wanted nothing to do with these proceedings and shouted his innocence to Stoudenmire. Krempkau, now rapidly bleeding out, mistakenly thought Campbell had been the one to initially attack him and shot Campbell twice before losing consciousness. One round struck Campbell’s handgun and broke the man’s wrist. The other round passed through Campbell’s foot.
Dallas Stoudenmire was moving and shooting as he engaged targets of opportunity with his brace of .44 revolvers.
Campbell shrieked in pain and reached for his dropped gun with his uninjured left hand. Stoudenmire whirled reflexively, saw the man go for his gun, and shot Campbell through the belly. Now hit three times, Campbell shouted, “You big SOB! You’ve murdered me!” Both Campbell and Krempkau bled out within minutes. Witnesses attested that the entire exchange took some five seconds.
This is what El Paso looked like at the time of the shooting. Note the power lines.
Stoudenmire purportedly stood over the cooling corpses with his guns smoking. There were three Texas Rangers nearby. When queried later as to why they had not intervened they answered that they felt that Marshal Stoudenmire had things well in hand.
Stoudenmire’s Weapons
We presume that all Old West gunslingers carried Colt Peacemakers. In reality, there was a wide variety of guns used on the American frontier.
If Hollywood is to be believed then every cowboy packed an 1873 Colt Peacemaker on his belt and a lever-action Winchester on his saddle. In reality, there were scads of other popular firearms in circulation during these turbulent times. The shootist, Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire carried at least one Smith and Wesson Model 3.
The top-break Smith and Wesson Model 3 was a heavy but effective defensive handgun. The tip open design could be activated one-handed if needed.
The S&W Model 3 was a top-break, single-action, cartridge-firing revolver produced between 1870 and 1915. The Model 3 saw widespread military use around the globe. The Russian Tsarist Empire ordered thousands of the guns but reverse engineered the design for production in their domestic arsenals. These copies were generally of high quality yet sold markedly cheaper than the S&W originals. The resulting market saturation nearly put Smith and Wesson out of business.
Major, later LTC, George Schofield upgraded the design. Those are some truly epic whiskers.
These guns were eventually produced in a wide variety of calibers, but most of the early sort were chambered in either .44 S&W American or .44 Russian. An upgraded version of the Model 3 became known as the “Schofield” after Major George Schofield who revamped the gun for cavalry use.
The top-break design made the S&W Model 3 fast in action.
Though not so elegant as the Colt Peacemaker, the Model 3 benefitted from its top-break design. The single action trigger was smooth and accurate, but the rapidity of reloading was its strongest suit. With practice, the Model 3 could produce an impressive volume of sustained fire.
Teddy Roosevelt was a proponent of the S&W Model 3.
Jesse James and his killer Bob Ford, Teddy Roosevelt, Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, John Wesley Hardin, Annie Oakley, and Virgil Earp used Model 3 revolvers.
The Wells Fargo Company repurposed large numbers of military surplus S&W Model 3 revolvers to defend their agents operating in the wilderness.
The Wells Fargo Company bought up hundreds of government-surplus Schofields, shortened their seven-inch barrels to five, and issued them widely to their road agents. LTC Schofield suffered badly from depression and shot himself to death with a Schofield revolver in 1882.
The Rest of the Story
Dallas Stoudenmire was an intimidating personality even without his guns.
Dallas Stoudenmire was terrifying up close, particularly when drunk. In his first week as El Paso town Marshal he killed six men, one of them accidentally. By the following February, he had killed another six in the performance of his official duties. His larger-than-life reputation made him an exceptionally effective frontier lawman. However, it also made him a great many enemies.
Bill Johnson wielded a side-by-side short-barreled 12 gauge during his ill-fated effort to kill the gunfighter, Dallas Stoudenmire.
Three days after his introductory El Paso bloodbath a friend of Johnny Hale’s convinced a local Deputy Marshal named Bill Johnson to assassinate Stoudenmire. Johnson got himself liquored up in anticipation and took up a double-barreled twelve bore. When the time came to do the deed, Johnson lost his balance in his drunken stupor and fell backward, discharging his shotgun into the air above Stoudenmire’s head. Stoudenmire responded reflexively, drew both his heavy pistols, and shot Johnson eight times, blowing off his testicles in the process. Johnson bled to death on the spot.
Word of Dallas Stoudenmire having castrated Bill Johnson with his Smith and Wesson .44 revolver cemented his reputation as a man with whom one should not trifle.
Shooting Bill Johnson’s balls off further enhanced the Stoudenmire legend, and he eventually found himself wearing a federal Marshal’s star. Throughout it all, a pair of brothers named James and Felix “Doc” Manning looked for an opportunity to exact revenge for friends who had fallen to Stoudenmire’s guns. This feud smoldered on until one fateful day in September of 1882.
Guys like these did not suffer insults lightly.
Stoudenmire and Doc met in a local saloon ostensibly to iron out their protracted differences. Doc’s brother James, believing peace had been achieved, had already departed. However, tensions heated up between Doc and Dallas until somebody drew a weapon.
Despite their heft and bulk, handguns of the Old West were not nearly so powerful as they are today.
Doc’s first round hit Stoudenmire in the arm. The second struck him in the chest. However, handgun cartridges were not as powerful then as now and this bullet was neutralized by a heavy stack of papers folded in his breast pocket. Regardless, the force of this shot did knock Stoudenmire backward through the door of the saloon.
This is the gun and badge used by Dallas Stoudenmire. The document is the original warrant for the arrest of Felix “Doc” Manning. These three items last sold at auction for $142,000, $44,000, and $3,025 respectively.
Stoudenmire then shot Doc Manning in the arm. Amidst all this chaos Doc’s brother James returned with his own weapon and fired twice. One round lodged in a nearby barber pole. His second caught Stoudenmire behind the left ear, killing him instantly.
Dallas Stoudenmire was buried as a Confederate soldier in Texas. He was 36 years old when he died.
Dallas Stoudenmire is buried in the Alleyton Cemetery in Colorado County, Texas. Both Manning brothers were tried for his murder, but they were popular figures thereabouts. A jury of their peers acquitted them both.
There was conflicting information concerning Dallas Stoudenmire’s guns. All the references I found said they were .44’s. One article claimed this stubby cut-down Colt was his second pistol, others asserted that he packed a pair of matching Smiths.It took a hard man to thrive in the American Old West.
The following year their third brother Frank Manning was appointed town Marshal himself after the sitting lawman was killed investigating a disagreement at a local brothel. Frank was fired in short order for failing to arrest his criminal friends.
The top-break Smith and Wesson Model 3 could be broken open for reloading one-handed.
Its a good thing that I never got into the world of scatterguns. Otherwise I would be one REALLY poor! Grumpy
