It’s a New Day in Second Amendment Land
Alaska is now one of those lucky states where shooters can legally purchase short-barreled rifles (SBR) and short-barreled shotguns (SBS) along with suppressors, through the same process as one would buy any other firearm. Now, it’s not quite as simple as all that yet; Alaska still has a state law on the books that requires these short-barreled arms and suppressors to have the old National Firearms Act (NFA) paperwork, including the ATF Form 4. Without that, you might be able to buy one of these, but you can’t own it. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but hopefully we’ll get that worked out in the next legislative session.
After this ruling, though, a whole new set of opportunities has opened up for American shooters. That’s an interesting development and one of the greatest Second Amendment wins of my lifetime. Of course, the next Democrat to sit in the White House may find a way to undo it; so if you are in one of the states where this can be done, and if you want one or more of these items, you might not want to put it off for too long.
The whole thing has me thinking: If I’m going to equip myself with some of the new possibilities, what might I buy? Here’s my list as it stands. Some of them aren’t being made yet, but they could be now, and our dreams should exceed our grasp, should it not?
AR-15 uppers
At present, my wife and I each have an AR-15. We don’t shoot them much. Honestly I’m not a huge fan of the guns. My tastes run more to fine walnut and blued steel; most of the guns I really like messing with are pre-World War II.
Even so, the AR platform has a lot going for it. It’s reasonably light, handy, accurate, with good ergonomics. Ive taught basic rifle marksmanship to ROTC cadets back in the day, and even to complete gun noobs the AR platform is easy to learn to shoot well.
My AR-15 has a 20-inch heavy barrel flat-top upper with a big 4.5x20 power scope, which is fun for seeing just how far you can reach steel targets with the 5.56mm round. My wife’s copy has a 16-inch carbine barrel and the telescoping stock, the better for her small, 4’11” frame. We keep them in the safe along with a bunch of loaded mags, figuring that if the ka-ka really hits the oscillator, these will be good to have handy; and a couple of 14-inch barreled uppers with suppressors may be even handier, not to mention fun, and with a good big old dose of “cool” thrown in.
I’d still wear hearing protection. I’m deaf enough already.Ruger Mk III/10-22, suppressed
I’ve long been a fan of both the Ruger rimfire autos, both the Standard handguns and the 10-22 rifles. I never gave much thought to a suppressed version, at least, until my son-in-law let me mess around with his .22 LR Savage bolt gun with a suppressor affixed. Now, one of my pet peeves of how these things are portrayed in television and movies involves the faint pew pew of even a major-caliber handgun with a suppressor on the barrel. It just doesn’t work that way. A suppressor moderates the sound but not that much; it can turn a loud report into a less loud report.
But on a .22 rifle? The sound very nearly approaches that movie-level pew, especially with subsonic ammo. Since that day I looked into the available Ruger pistols, which can be had with integral suppressors, and they are very nearly as quiet, and handy to boot. Oh, how much I would have loved that when I was a kid, hunting wily gray squirrels in the hills of northeast Iowa, where even the mild report of a .22 rifle carries a good ways.
Winchester 92 Trapper
I’ve long been a fan of John Browning’s Model 1892 Winchester, a light, handy lever gun chambered in the same rounds as the Colt Single-Action Army revolver that was, like the Winchester, a gold standard of the time. Most 1892s came with a 20- or 24-inch barrel; the 20 inch version seems most common.
But the “Trapper” guns were a little different. They came in a range of barrel lengths, including 14-, 15-, 16- and 18-inch barrels, the first two of which would have fallen under the original NFA restrictions. Now, though, they would seem to be much easier to obtain; so, how long before some enterprising replica company, or even the company that calls itself Winchester today, starts making such a gun? I’d love to have one in .25-20 or .32-20, for mooching around in the alders for snowshoe hares. A gun like this would be handy for any number of outdoor uses.
Marble Game-Getter
This was a break-top piece with a .22 rifle barrel over a .44 caliber smoothbore barrel, a folding wire skeleton stock, and came with a choice of 12-, 15- or 18-inch barrels. Marble called it the Game Getter, and few guns carried a more appropriate name. The gun came in two versions, the Model 1908A and the Model 1908B, the first carrying a tang-mounted peep sight to go with the blade front, while the latter had only the standard rear sight on the barrel. The proprietary .44 ammo for the lower barrel was available as the “.44 Game Getter,” although the case was more or less interchangeable with the .44-40 Marlin and the .44 Colt Lightning. Shot and round-ball loads were sold. But nowadays the .22LR barrel could be atop a .410 or 20-gauge shotgun barrel. A .22 WMR wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. The short barrel and folding stock make this piece ideal for backpackers, trappers, or even a “truck gun.” I have a combination gun, a Savage 24D with a .22 WMR over a 20 gauge, but that piece has a full-size wooden stock and 24” barrels. The Game-Getter setup seems a lot handier for the aspiring trapper or small-game hunter.
That’s my main list. For now.But Will it Last?
We don’t know. Different states are handling this in different ways, and some of them have state-level laws in place, as Alaska does. The 5th Circuit ruling that made this possible technically only applies to the states within that court’s jurisdiction. The Trump administration’s ATF ordered enforcement of the SBS/SBR and suppressor regs to halt, but a Democrat president could order them back in place. The administration isn’t appealing the 5th Circuit ruling, but a Democrat administration could start the ball rolling again. We just don’t know, and I don’t care to guess.
My advice? If you want one, get it quick. Purchases made now may well be grandfathered in – but getting one two years from now may not be anywhere near as easy.
