The 2010 Louisiana Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday takes place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

All consumer purchases of firearms, ammunition and hunting supplies. Firearms eligible for the sales tax exemption include shotguns, rifles, pistols, revolvers, or other handguns, which may be legally sold or purchased in Louisiana. Ammunition intended to be fired from a gun or firearm is eligible for the sales tax exemption. Hunting supplies are eligible for the sales tax exemption only if used for and designed for hunting.

At lot more firearms, hunting, and camping accessories and gear is covered.

Brownells Catalog #63 arrived a couple of days ago:

Brownells Big Book #63

656 pages of everything you can imagine. And then some. Get yours today.

The SHOT Show has adopted a new logo.

New SHOT Show Logo

The request for a new logo arose from input provided by NSSF members through SHOT Show surveys that are conducted each year.

“Times change and trade shows change, reflecting current buying and selling trends,” said Chris Dolnack, senior vice president of NSSF, which owns the SHOT Show. “When the SHOT Show began in 1979, hunting was the dominant activity in our industry and our logo reflected that. Today’s SHOT show requires a strong, clean logo that reminds all attendees, whether their business is shooting, hunting or law enforcement, that they are valued. The new SHOT Show logo does this.”

As a guy more in tune with the tactical side of the market, I was never really all that thrilled about the logo. Though it might take a while to grow on me, I do like the new logo’s simplicity and the fact that it doesn’t look hunting-centric.

Scholastic Steel Challenge And Brownells Hit The Road With Youth Shooting Demo

Through a grant provided by Brownells, the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, equipment and accessories, the Scholastic Steel Challenge (SSC) program has purchased a portable indoor range allowing the program to perform demonstrations of the team-based youth shooting sports program anywhere in the country. The program’s first demonstration took place in Reno, Nev. during a meeting of the adult leadership staff for the Young Marines, a youth education and service program for boys and girls with over 14,000 participants.

This is great. Giving kids the opportunity to check out some great shooting sports is not only a good experience for them in a “expand your horizons” sort of way, it’s important to make sure interested young shooters have a chance to keep shooting.

The Scholastic Steel Challenge is a national team-oriented youth shooting program developed by the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) and funded in part by a grant from the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The program is open to young men and women ages 12 to 20 and offers them the opportunity to compete as a four person team for a national title in the action pistol discipline of speed shooting.

Already the program has received support from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Smith & Wesson, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network, Glock, Action Target, EOTAC, EHP and Precision Delta which have committed over $150,000 in funding and product.

An email update from the SHOT Show:

As the song says, “It never rains in Southern California,” but participants at the show discovered that it sure can shower in Las Vegas, as it did for much of the run of the show. In a few instances, that rain found its way inside the convention center.

“Our latest report from the Sands management is that roof-replacement construction is underway and should be completed in mid-May,” reported Diedra Cauley, NSSF director, exhibitions and conferences.

As those who attended the show in January know, the weather was less than perfect. And there were a lot of buckets on the show floor catching water. The Magpul booth, in particular, suffered.

The Sands Expo & Convention Center is a less-than-ideal spot for the show.

Jim Shepherd has a good editorial in today’s Outdoor Wire on the move of Marlin’s production to Remington’s facilities. It includes:

For the industry, the news is yet another sign that business as usual is coming to an end. As corporations acquire smaller brands, corporate efficiencies, and economies of scale trump history and community standing. After all, if the brands didn’t fit inside a corporate portfolio and meet criteria that include efficiencies, the buy wouldn’t make much sense to begin with.

When larger companies acquire smaller ones, consolidation is inevitable.

Though it’s sad to see companies absorbed into larger companies, sometimes losing a lot of their own identity in the process, we can’t forget that it beats seeing them disappear altogether. Marlin has some good guns (I’m partial to the 1895 SBL myself) and would far rather see these guns built at a different factory than to disappear forever.

Even though last month was down 1.3% from February 2009, this February saw 21.7% more background checks for gun purchases than February 2008 and is the eighth-highest month on record. Murdoc’s suspicion, given the current state of employment and the economy in general, is that private sales are also strong.

So while the Great Obama Gun Rush has run its course, gun buying is still a very strong market.

THE BARRETT MODEL 98B® HAS BEEN SELECTED AS THE 2010 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN® RIFLE OF THE YEAR

Barrett, a company world known for providing high-end firearms, optics, ammunition and training is awarded with the NRA Publications 2010 Golden Bullseye® Award as the American Rifleman Rifle of the Year for their Model 98B bolt action .338 Lapua Magnum Rifle.

Now in their eighth year, the NRA Publications’ Golden Bullseye Awards acknowledge the finest products available in the shooting sports.

Barrett 98B

In today’s Shooting Wire:

K.B.I, Inc. President Michael Kassnar:

“To all our friends, fans, supporters and consumers of Charles Daly and by extension, KBI products, I regret to inform you that the rumors of our demise are true.

KBI is going out of business and closing its doors, effective today, January 29, 2010.”

I guess I hadn’t heard a lot about the situation, so I was surprised to see this. Too bad.

See The Shooting Wire for more info.

Go check out the story on some high-tech guns at Wired’s Danger Room by Aaron Rowe: Digital Revolvers, Koosh Bullets and Triple-Tasers. Photos by Bryan William Jones.

The lead product in the story is the Amratix Smart System .22 pistol which won’t fire unless it’s within a few inches of a special wristwatch. The idea is that you have to wear the watch on your shooting hand, and anyone not wearing it cannot fire the gun.

The cost: €7000, which converts to over $9700.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

(Sorry.)

At one-tenth that price, the gun would be the biggest rip-off I’ve ever heard of.

This site starts off

This seems like a really good idea.

and ends with

…definitely a niche item at first but perhaps the technology will become more widespread in the future, causing prices to decrease.

They decrease to one-thirty-fifth or one-fortieth, and you’d have a cool conversation piece.

Personally, if I was the cops in Germany, I’d be working on a jammer to use on people with these guns. And if I was a citizen of Germany and owned one, I’d just strap the watch to the grip.