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Bullpup bolt guns have a bad reputation, and most of it is deserved. But the Desert Tech SRS has been floating around law enforcement armories and precision circles long enough that it's worth paying attention to. "Bullpup triggers have a reputation, and it's earned. Most are mushy, unpredictable, and belong on a plow horse, not a precision rifle. DTA's answer was a 3-pound adjustable trigger — adjustable for creep and pull weight via a 2mm Allen wrench — that actually holds up under scrutiny." Every time I've had a bullpup conversation at the LGS counter, the trigger is where it falls apart. A 3-pound pull you can actually tune changes the argument — that's not a compromise trigger, that's a usable one. "Left-handed shooters get a raw deal here. The bolt stays on the right side regardless of your dominant hand, which means lefties are moving their head off the stock every time they cycle a round — and catching brass in the face." If you're outfitting a department or a team with mixed-hand shooters, this isn't a footnote — it's a disqualifying factor for half your people. Worth knowing before a procurement conversation gets too far down the road. "DTA was already there before the requirement existed. That positioning — compact envelope, field-swappable calibers, a trigger that doesn't embarrass itself — is why the rifle is still relevant and still in service more than a decade after launch." Fifteen years is a long time for a niche precision platform to stay in the conversation. That's not marketing momentum — that's the rifle actually working in conditions that matter. Has anyone run one of these at distance, or put one through a caliber swap in the field? Curious how that headspace-sets-automatically system actually holds up when you're not on a clean bench. Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Legislation moves fast. What's your read on where this is heading? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Legislation moves fast. What's your read on where this is heading? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Thomas talking about courage with real consequences is worth a few minutes of your time, even if you usually skip the political stuff. "They put their names down and sealed their fate by signing — they faced the possibility that they could be hung for treason." Most people who invoke the Founders do it from a comfortable distance. Thomas is pointing at something specific — those men weren't posturing, they were betting their necks. That's a different standard than a floor speech. Thomas pushed back on the legal establishment's fondness for jargon. Originalism, textualism — he said those frameworks have "disenfranchised most people" by turning fundamental rights into a vocabulary test. This one landed for me. I've watched perfectly sharp guys at the counter get talked in circles by someone throwing legal terminology at them. Thomas is essentially saying the right to keep and bear arms isn't a law school argument — it's something most Americans already grasp without a decoder ring. The jargon often obscures more than it clarifies. "I like kids from regular backgrounds. Parents who worry about the mortgage and fixing the transmission on the car." Not much to add — that's just a clean statement about where common sense tends to live. When you look at the Second Amendment decisions that actually moved the needle — Heller, McDonald, Bruen — do you think the average shooter understands what was won or lost in those rulings, or has the legal framing buried the practical meaning? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Legislation moves fast. What's your read on where this is heading? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Legislation moves fast. What's your read on where this is heading? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Worth keeping an eye on. How do you think this plays out practically? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Legislation moves fast. What's your read on where this is heading? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Worth keeping an eye on. How do you think this plays out practically? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Worth keeping an eye on. How do you think this plays out practically? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Worth keeping an eye on. How do you think this plays out practically? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Worth keeping an eye on. How do you think this plays out practically? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Thirty-four new ATF rules signed off in one sitting — and nobody outside the agency has read them yet, including the people who lobbied for them. "Just like gun owners at the ballot box are punching above their weight class, [GOA is] punching above your weight class up here." That's Massie, and he's not wrong. GOA's membership numbers don't match NRA's, but they've been showing up in rooms that matter. Whether that translates to rules you actually want depends entirely on what's in that Federal Register package. The dual-track play here is worth noting — GOA is simultaneously working DOJ to shape ATF policy while pushing Congress to kill the agency's funding altogether. That's not hypocrisy, that's how you apply pressure when you don't have the votes to win outright. You negotiate at the table and threaten the table at the same time. The suppressors and pistol brace angle is what I'm watching. If any of those 34 rules touch either of those — or Pratt's registry concerns from the Senate testimony — it lands right in the middle of what a lot of us deal with at the range and on carry setups. The brace situation alone affected a lot of people around here, and it's not fully settled. Nobody can give you a real read until publication. Anyone telling you what's in those rules right now is guessing. Has anything out of the ATF over the last couple years actually changed how you're set up — what you bought, what you didn't, or how you configured something you already own? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

The ATF comment period on records retention is open right now, and it's the kind of thing that quietly closes before most people hear about it. "ATF's own 1985 rulemaking acknowledged that the law-enforcement value of firearms records drops sharply after 10–15 years. ATF also admitted to Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) that the agency has no ability to link crime gun traces to actual prosecutions." So by ATF's own accounting, the data loses investigative value inside 15 years — but the proposal keeps it for 60. That math only makes sense if tracing crimes isn't actually the point. "If you've bought a gun from a dealer that later closed, your 4473 is already at ATF." This isn't theoretical for a lot of us. Gun shops close all the time — I've bought from at least three that don't exist anymore. Every one of those transactions is already sitting in a federal database. This rule decides whether there's ever an end to that. The GOA model comment at gunowners.org/na20260511 takes about three minutes to submit. Worth doing before the window closes. How many of you have bought from dealers that have since shut down — and did you know those records transferred to ATF when they did? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Worth keeping an eye on. How do you think this plays out practically? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

The federal marijuana gun ban has been a quiet landmine for a lot of otherwise responsible owners — and it looks like the Supreme Court is finally being asked to defuse it. "The historical tradition supports restrictions on the use of firearms while intoxicated, but it does not support disarming individuals when they are sober merely because they sometimes use intoxicants." That's the crux of it. The Founders dealt with drunk militiamen the same way we'd handle it at a range today — you're impaired, you don't shoot. You sober up, you're back. Status-based prohibition is a different animal entirely, and apparently one without much historical backing. "Rather than making a case that marijuana specifically correlates with firearms violence, the brief notes the government leans heavily on incidents involving meth, heroin, PCP, and Quaaludes." That's not legal reasoning — that's guilt by association with a completely different drug class. If that kind of argument held up at the LGS counter, we'd never sell anything to anyone. The practical reality right now: if you have a medical card in Idaho or anywhere else, you're a prohibited person under federal law. No gun purchases, no ammo, no NFA items — nothing. That situation affects more people than most realize, especially as more states legalize. Have you had conversations at your local FFL or range about how this affects buyers or members — whether it's coming up more often on 4473s or membership applications? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Legislation moves fast. What's your read on where this is heading? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Short article, so let's keep it tight. The ghost gun rule fight is back in court, and SAF is pushing for a clean ruling — no trial, just a decision on whether ATF had the authority to rewrite the definition of "firearm" in the first place. "Self-manufacturing firearms for personal use is a time-honored tradition that countless citizens still practice, and one that is entirely legal under federal law." That's the crux of the whole argument. Building your own firearm — whether it's a 1911 from an 80% frame on your workbench or a precision rifle you machined yourself — has never required a serial number or a transfer. The ATF didn't like that, so they tried to change the definition of what counts as a firearm to reach further upstream into the parts. What's interesting here isn't just the ghost gun angle — it's the statutory overreach question. If the ATF can redefine "firearm" to include precursor parts, what stops them from redefining other terms in the GCA to expand their reach elsewhere. That's the thread worth watching. Anyone here built a firearm from an 80% or from scratch — and has the 2022 rule changed how you think about that project or what parts you source? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Legislation moves fast. What's your read on where this is heading? Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett

Lucky Peak comes up here because it's a perfect example of the problem. That reservoir is Army Corps land, and if you've ever camped there with a sidearm, you were technically in violation of federal regulations — probably without knowing it. "An individual who is lawfully carrying a firearm should not be forced to disarm simply because they crossed an invisible federal line." That's not a hypothetical edge case. The Corps shares borders with BLM, state land, and private property all over the backcountry. There's no signage telling you which side of a trail you're on, and the legal exposure flips without warning. That's a real problem for anyone doing serious time in the backcountry with a carry gun. The piece points out that NPS and BLM have both deferred to state law since 2009 — fifteen-plus years ago. USACE just never followed, and apparently nobody made them. The Trump administration drafted a rule to fix it in the first term and didn't finish it either. So here we are again, with a letter creating political pressure and rulemaking still somewhere in a queue. The remote Corps land angle matters too. If you've ever been ten miles in on a trail that borders a Corps reservoir, you already know there's zero law enforcement presence out there. The self-defense argument isn't abstract — it's just honest. For those of us in Idaho who carry and spend time on federal land, this is worth following. The fix is apparently simple. The groundwork is done. It just needs to actually get done. Anyone here camp or hunt on Corps land regularly — Lucky Peak, Dworshak, Anderson Ranch? Curious whether you've been paying attention to the land boundary question or just carrying and hoping for the best. Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett