Staccato, formerly STI, have given a state-of-the-union update about what we can expect from them in 2021. The announcement covers people, products and distribution updates. Staccato say that their 2011 pistols have been approved for duty with over 200 law enforcement agencies, new upgrades to the pistols themselves are in the pipeline and they are launching a new online store at Staccato2011.com.

I think most of us can identify with this young shooter that I have just read about via a press release from Warne. Young Paxton Spencer, of Columbia, MO was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. This condition basically means that young Paxton was born with a severely underdeveloped heart and only one functioning lung and the survivability of this condition is extremely low. Paxton, however, is fortunate enough to live on the property where he can shoot as much as he wants, and his desire to continue this hobby has only grown. Warne Scope Mounts got together with some of the finest companies within the gun industry to help Paxton’s dad give him a gift rifle that he could truly appreciate from the comfort of his own home.

Beretta Holding has announced the acquisition of Holland & Holland Ltd., which is one of the most iconic gunmakers in the world. According to the Beretta Holding Group, this acquisition solidifies their commitment to the key UK market in the post-Brexit era. To our knowledge, all the shares of Holland & Holland were previously owned by the French luxury group Chanel.

Canadian media outlets have reported that a member of Canada’s elite Joint Task Force 2 was wounded in the leg when his pistol allegedly misfired. The accident occurred last November when the operator was training with a newly purchased SIG Sauer P320. The variant of the Canadian P320 procured is unknown.

The new owners of Remington, the Roundhill Group, have just obtained their Federal Firearms License (FFL) for the iconic Ilion manufacturing plant where the Remington 870 shotguns are produced. The new owners plan on opening the plant for maintenance next week and will begin production on March 1st. Additional details can be found at the sources below.

SIG Sauer have announced the completion of the final delivery of their Next Generation Squad Weapon System prototypes and ammunition to the U.S. Army. The delivery includes finalised weapon prototypes which have been optimised following Army feedback from the ‘soldier touch point’ phase and a shipment of SIG Sauer’s 6.8×51mm hybrid cased ammunition. Uniquely for the program, SIG Sauer’s entire system submission has been developed in-house with no other external partners. So SIG Sauer’s homogenous system also includes their own suppressors.

Aero Precision has made plans to move to a brand new facility located in Lakewood, Washington. According to their recent announcement the new facility and move are to accommodate the increased amount of business the company has received over recent years. The company was originally founded in 1994, near Gig Harbor, Washington as a manufacturer of mostly aerospace industry parts but has since transitioned to the firearms which most of us are familiar with today.

SOFWERX, in concert with USSOCOM PEO-SOF Warrior (PEO-SW) has announced they will be hosting a Lightweight Machine Gun – Medium (LMG-M) Virtual Industry Day to foster the development of the new machine gun sought by US Special Operations Command.

The beleaguered gun rights organization, The National Rifle Association, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to restructure in the state of Texas. Over the past few years, the NRA has come under fire for alleged financial mismanagement and the target of lawsuits and other civil actions. In August, the New York Attorney General announced intentions to dissolve the NRA under a fraud and abuse investigation. The NRA bankruptcy petition is part of a plan to reorganize outside the state of New York.

On Monday, January 11, the social media giant Facebook unpublished the page owned by The Truth About Guns.  As a media platform, TTAG is known for news, reviews, editorials and political discussions surrounding the ownership of firearms in the United States. At the moment, it is unclear why the TTAG Facebook page was removed or if it will be allowed to return in the future.

Colt, one of the oldest and most venerable names in US firearms manufacturing may be on the verge of being acquired by one of Europe’s leading brands.  Česká Zbrojovka better known as CZ are well regarded for for their classic CZ 75 pistols, their bolt actions and most recently their new assault rifle BREN series as well as the popular CZ Scorpion EVO pistol calibre carbine. The details of any possible CZ Colt acquisition are still unofficial.

A United States court has recently ruled that online retail giant Amazon.com must submit itself to an inventory inspection over claims by Maglula that Amazon has been a direct seller of Maglula counterfeits.

Just in time for TFB’s Gun Fest 2021 KelTec has dropped an interesting new pistol into the firearms market with the KelTec P50. The P50 is a unique looking pistol chambered in the 5.7×28mm cartridge and uses genuine FN P90 magazines, although in the P50 the magazines feed upside down! The KelTec P50 pistol will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2021 and will be sold for $995 MSRP.

In the brick ‘n mortar retail landscape for firearms and sporting goods, there are only so many options for hunters and shooters to choose from in buying their gear. If you want that in-person touch when purchasing your gear – aside from Mom ‘n Pop shops – you are likely looking at Cabela’s, Bass Pro, or Sportsman’s Warehouse. Now those 3 giant retailers are a part of the same family. Sportsman’s Warehouse has been bought by the Great American Outdoors Group – parent company to Cabela’s and Bass Pro – to create a sporting goods retailing superpower. The press release further detailing that transaction can be read below:

Wilson Combat – based out of Berryville, Arkansas – has officially broke ground on expanding their facility an additional 16,000 square feet citing a surge in demand for their products. This will create a 20% increase in their workforce once the expansion is complete and operational. Right now, Wilson Combat employs 200 people so this means they will be looking to hire an additional 40 employees. Tentatively, the expansion is set to be complete in January.

After the crushing news that the NSSF ( National Shooting Sports Foundation) had cancelled SHOT Show 2021 ( Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show), Smith & Wesson decided to step up in a big way by donating $500,000 to their organization. While SHOT Show is obviously a huge event for the NSSF, they are still working year-round to support firearm efforts on behalf of gun owners. Smith & Wesson understands this as well and that is what motivated their end-of-the-year generosity. They elaborate on the donation in the press release statement below:

Without Warning is an Australian company run by BJ who is a Precision Rifle competitor and enthusiast as well as an avid hunter. His invention – the TMB-S (Tuner Muzzle Brake – Standard) is designed to integrate both a self-timing muzzle brake and a locking harmonic barrel tuner into one device eliminating the need for multiple devices as well as simplifying the load development process.

Knowing the speed of your bullet is an important factor in hitting distant targets. If you know the ballistic coefficient (BC), the speed of your bullet and combine it with the environment you’re shooting in (i.e. wind, pressure and temperature) you’ve got a lot of knowledge to enter into your ballistic app. And accurate knowledge is power in long range shooting. Now the access to that knowledge is about to gather under one roof, as Kestrel‘s parent company just bought MagnetoSpeed.

Vortakt Barrel Works is a Wisconsin based barrel manufacturing company that is entirely focused on the barrel making process. The company provides both complete barrels in virtually any caliber from .17 all the way up to .50 and lengths of up to 30 inches. The company uses an interesting automated barrel blank production method to achieve consistency and quality results for their barrel making process.

Smith & Wesson have announced that they have provided their hometown police department, Springfield PD, with over 600 new duty pistols. Springfield PD will be receiving new M&P M2.0s to replace their current M&P40 pistols, it’s unclear if the department will be moving to 9x19mm or whether the M2.0s will be in .40S&W.

When it comes to 2020 and firearms regulations 2020 has been quite the roller coaster ride. Actually, that is not accurate; a roller coaster is fun and ATF regulations are not. A few weeks ago, we discussed the ATF  contradicting previous determinations of SB Tactical braces, and most recently the Buy Build Shoot kits from  Polymer 80. Well, in recent news, the ATF seems to be formalizing plans for a pistol brace ruling. A few days ago they released a draft detailing a proposed “re-imagination” of pistol braces on firearms.

The NASGW Expo and Annual Meeting did not take place like normal this year. With restrictions looming over every single trade show and media event, many presenters went with the online route. NASGW was no different and chose to proceed with their Annual Appreciation and Caliber Awards online and have recently released a video announcing those who have taken home awards. Of particular note, Hornady has been named the 2020 Innovator of the Year by NASGW.

Preliminary ATF documents published by the Prince Law Blog may show a move to classify firearms outfitted with pistol braces as items controlled under the National Firearms Act (NFA). If the move is formalized, it could potentially affect hundreds of thousands or even millions of gun owners in the United States, forcing them to make a choice: remove their pistol braces and destroy them, register their guns as NFA items or change the barrel length to anything over 16 inches. The revised look at the way pistol stabilizing braces are categorized is not necessarily a surprise. For years the ATF has scrutinized the configurations of certain braces, announced that a brace cannot be legal shouldered and most recently issued a cease and desist letter to Q, LLC regarding the brace on the honey badger pistol.

Blaser Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers in the hunting and outdoor industry. The group owns brands like Mauser, J.P. Sauer & Sohn, Rigby, Minox as well as the company Blaser Group Wetzlar GmbH. With the recently published press release, they announced the acquisition of  Liemke Thermal Optics.

The online gun auction website Gunbroker.com will soon be implementing their new Marketplace Facilitator Sales tax regulations beginning on January 1st, 2021. In addition to this change, there will be several other changes that will be implemented on the site as well as a few proposed changes that might take place later in the year.

We have been following the development of the Bundeswehr’s ongoing efforts to procure a rifle for some time, now it has emerged that C.G. Haenel’s headquarters in Suhl have been visited by investigators on the orders of the Dusseldorf Regional Court. Investigators have reportedly moved to secure evidence for the patent infringement case between Haenel and Heckler & Koch.

According to documents sent to TFB from an anonymous source, the ATF investigation into the Polymer80 and the Buy Build Shoot kits appears to focus on three main elements. First, the ATF states that the Buy Build Shoot kits are firearms, not just parts. Second, because these kits are considered firearms, Polymer80 did not follow the regulations guiding the transfer of handguns from an FFL to individuals. And third, a number of the Polymer80 Buy Build Shoot kits were shipped from Polymer80 to prohibited persons. The affidavit in support of the Polymer80 warrant application to search for and seize evidence related to the investigation is detailed, in part, below.

Earlier in September of this year, Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. went into an agreement to pay $30 million for the Marlin assets that were being sold off from the Remington brand. The acquisition officially took place on November 24th with Ruger reportedly paying nearly $2 million less for the acquisition than initially planned. Finally, on December 7th, 2020 Ruger announced that it would be expanding its Mayodan, North Carolina Firearms Manufacturing plant by an additional 60 members.

Earlier today TFB reported on a story in the Wall Street Journal stating that the ATF had apparently conducted a search warrant at Polymer80 Inc, a company known for producing 80% firearm kits and related parts. These 80% builds, often referred to as “Ghost Guns” by media outlets, presumably because they can be built into firearms without needing to visit an FFL, have long been a topic of debate. This morning, an anonymous TFB reader provided additional information pointing to the ATF visiting end users and requesting the forfeiture of certain Polymer80 kits.

Cold Steel is one of the most famous modern American knife brands. In its 40 years of history, it has brought to market a great deal of iconic designs. Founded in 1980 in California by Lynn C. Thompson, the company has always been owned by the founder, who over the years proved himself both as a talented designer as well as as an innovative and outspoken marketer. Now, for the first time, Cold Steel is changing hands.