I'm not going to comment about this conundrum
other  than to note that in order to obtain a license to drive, applicants in all 50  states must be able to demonstrate their ability to drive. 

If Iowans are concerned about this, their licensing program should include  live fire proficiency. 

Texans must fire 50 rounds at three distances and score 70%. Until this year, shooting was also required to renew a concealed handgun license.

 - Dr. Gatling

People love lists. Best, worst, biggest, smallest, whatever. They can make you think  and maybe have a discussion. 

You  may know that Cabela’s stores include gun libraries so you can buy guns, ammo  and good reading matter. I like the idea. Robert Heinlein said, “An armed  society is a polite society,” but he may also have agreed that an educated
society is more likely to be armed. 

I’ve been collecting and shooting guns for a long time. And I’ve been reading about  them even longer. I thrilled to the story of how Sam Colt invented and marketed  his revolver; a story I didn’t think would be topped until Gaston Glock came
along.

So, for what it’s worth, here is my list of the 10 best gun books. Please bear in  mind that I am not a hunter or a soldier, so my list leans toward the technical  or historical side of the genre. I’m also influenced by a book’s literary content as well as its informational content.

9. (tie) Brownell’s catalog and Numrich Gun Parts Corporation catalogs. New  parts or used parts, these catalogs are rich in parts and pictures to help  with any firearm repair project.

8. Glock: The Rise of America's Gun. By Paul M. Barrett. More about marketing  than mechanics, this well-researched chronicles how Glock turned upside down  common conceptions about how guns should look and work.

7. Blue Book of Gun Values. By S.P. Fjestad. Now in its 34th edition.  Expanding on Chapel’s lead, until the Internet, this was the only way for gun  buyers and sellers made sure each was getting a fair deal.

6. Dixie Gun Works Catalog. Before Val Forgett’s Navy Arms made replica black  powder guns available to shoot, you had to make do with the originals, often  restored to working order with parts from Dixie or firing round balls cast from  Turner Kirkland’s innovative molds machined from hair straighteners. An  essential, entertaining resource. Let’s see what we have here …

5. Small Arms of the World: A basic manual of military small arms. By W.H.B.  Smith. An excellent history followed by a massive guide of how to load, fire and  fieldstrip military small arms anywhere in the world. What’s not to like?

4. A History of the Colt Revolver. By Charles T. Havens and Frank A. Belden.  The history of how a Yankee inventor’s dream – a gun that fired more than one  shot before reloading -- became reality. Photos plus patents  and advertising. 

3. The Gun Collector’s Handbook of Values. Author Charles Edward Chapel said that  every time you buy a gun, you should buy a book about it. I subscribed to that  theory; thus I’m now sharing what I’ve learned. From 1940 through the mid-70s,  this was THE book to consult on gun values.

2. Hatcher's Notebook: A Standard Reference Book for Shooters, Gunsmiths,  Ballisticians, Historians, Hunters, and Collectors. By Julian S. Hatcher,  retired U.S. Army major general, technical editor for The American Rifleman, and  director of the National Rifle Association from 1922-1946.

 1. Sixguns. By Elmer Keith. Ned Buntline and Zane Gray may have written about  the Wild West, but, as Keith puts it in his autobiography, “Hell, I Was There!”  Sixguns is not a textbook or armorer’s manual. It’s a social history of why we  have a gun culture; good, bad or otherwise.

And a special #1 for Best Book Series about guns to Stephen Hunter. Former  Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, introduced in Point of Impact and his daddy,  Arkansas State Trooper Earl Swagger, star in novels in which the plot and action  focus on tough men and their guns. What makes them best is that Hunter knows his  guns and gets the details right.



 

I  haven’t had much time to blog lately, but this case is just too disturbing to  ignore.

By now you’ve probably seen the stories about how police in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, fatally shot Monroe Isadore:
http://pbcommercial.com/sections/news/local/107-year-old-man-killed-officer-involved-shooting.html

Now  while I’m sure investigators will determine whether Mr. Isadore needed to be  shot, several things jump out at me.

First,  he’s 107 years old. According to the Census Bureau, in 2010 there were just over  4,000 Americans older than 104. That's a pretty small and distinguished crowd. Local media probably started writing about his  birthdays when he made the century mark. 

Second,  he was shot to death in his bedroom. He had retreated there and returned fire when police gassed him and broke into the room. He had no hostages, just his handgun. The report does not say how long he lived there, but he apparently felt safe in his room.

Third, look at the timeline. From the time Pine Bluff responded to a disturbance call to  the time Mr. Isadore was killed, is just three hours. In another hour, he may have taken a nap or offered to swap the gun for a bowl of pudding. 
 
Incidents like this get a lot more attention because of the Internet. But I’d also like to  see it get a lot more discussion.

RIP, Monroe. You saw a lot of changes in your time, but probably never expected to be gunned down in your bedroom.

-  Dr. Gatling