The death of Anthony Pollio on Glacier’s Mount Brown Trail has reopened the debate over bear spray, firearms, and what actually works when a bear keeps coming.
Glacier Bear Attack Shows Why Hikers Should Carry Handguns in Bear Country
Dean Weingarten
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973.
He taught the Arizona concealed & carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained.
Dean is an outspoken defender of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and an accomplished writer and reporter for AmmoLand Shooting Sports News and his blog gunwatch.blogspot.com
Today is Monday, May 18, 2026 
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April NICS Report: Gun Sales Steady, NFA Demand Explodes 130%
April 2026 NSSF-adjusted NICS checks rose 1.6% year over year, showing steady firearm demand, while NFA-related checks exploded 130.3% after Congress removed key NFA tax barriers.
Handguns vs. Bears: Shot Counts From Black Bear and Polar Bear Defense Cases
Documented handgun-defense cases involving black bears and polar bears show a clear pattern: most incidents were resolved with six shots or fewer, though warning shots produced mixed results.
Tennessee Deadly Force Bill SB1847 Heads to Gov. Lee After Narrowing Property Defense Language
Tennessee’s SB1847/HB1802 is not a blanket license to shoot over property. The final bill creates a narrow deadly-force justification tied to serious crimes and serious danger.
States Move to Protect Suppressor Owners as NFA Tax Falls to $0
Congress reduced the NFA tax on suppressors to $0, but suppressors remain trapped inside the federal registration system. Now several states are moving to clean up their own laws before gun owners get caught in another legal mess created by decades of federal overreach.
Handgun Defense Against Brown Bears: How Many Shots Are Fired in Grizzly Bear Encounters?
Brown, grizzly, and Kodiak bear encounters tend to involve more handgun shots than other bear-defense cases. A review of 109 documented Ursus arctos handgun-only incidents shows how often one shot was enough, when warning shots worked, and why larger bears skew the overall numbers.
Maryland Supreme Court Limits Montgomery County Gun Carry Ban
The Supreme Court of Maryland ruled that Montgomery County went too far with parts of its firearms ordinance, including restrictions affecting state-issued wear-and-carry permit holders traveling on public highways.
Everytown’s EveryShot AI Shows Why Gun Statistics Need Human Scrutiny
Everytown’s AI-powered EveryShot database is marketed as a near-real-time gun violence tracker. But a review of its “legal machine gun” results suggests the tool can misclassify firearms, ownership status, and incident details.
FPC Lawsuit Forces Pennsylvania State Police to Drop 80% Receiver Policy
After six years of litigation, the Pennsylvania State Police agreed to revoke its policy treating partially manufactured frames and receivers as firearms under state law. The Firearms Policy Coalition did not get a final merits ruling, but it secured the practical result it sought.
President Trump’s Second Amendment Accomplishments Second Term
Critics say Trump has not done enough for gun owners because the ATF still exists and the NFA and GCA remain law. But presidents cannot repeal statutes by executive order. The better question is what Trump has done with the authority he actually has.
History Shows Pistols Were Common in Revolutionary America
Were pistols common in Revolutionary America? Historical evidence from Cramer and Olson’s Willamette Law Review article shows pistols were privately owned, commercially available, and familiar to Americans at the Founding.
Bear Attacks and Handgun Defense: What the Data Shows About Shots Fired
More than 200 documented cases involving handguns and bear defense offer a revealing look at how these confrontations unfold. In the known cases where shots fired could be counted, most incidents were resolved with six shots or fewer, while warning shots delivered mixed results.
Boston Siege Records Show Pistols Were Common in Revolutionary America
Records from the Siege of Boston show that residents surrendered 1,778 firearms, 634 pistols, and 38 blunderbusses in 1775, offering powerful evidence that handguns were commonly owned during the founding era.
Police Murders Fell in 2025, Down Again in Early 2026
FBI LEOKA data show 53 officers were feloniously killed in 2025, down from 2024, with early 2026 numbers also trending lower. The long-term pattern is uneven, but officer deaths remain well below earlier peaks.
Wyoming Self-Defense Reimbursement Bill Dies in House Vote
Wyoming lawmakers considered HB14, a bill that would have reimbursed people found not guilty, released, or cleared after lawful self-defense and allowed expungement of related records. The measure failed introduction in the House.
5.7 Million Suppressors Registered: ATF Data Shows Massive Growth in Ownership
New figures attributed to the ATF show nearly 5.8 million registered suppressors in the United States, underscoring just how fast silencer ownership is growing among American gun owners.
Security Video Shows Oklahoma Principal Stop Would-Be School Shooter
Security footage from Pauls Valley High School shows Principal Kirk Moore charging and tackling an armed former student moments after the suspect chambered a round. Moore was shot in the leg during the confrontation but appears to have stopped a potentially much deadlier attack through immediate, decisive action.
Fifth Circuit Home Distillery Opinion Could Strengthen NFA Challenges
The Fifth Circuit’s opinion in Morris v. DOJ did not decide the National Firearms Act question directly, but it may give fresh support to challengers arguing Congress cannot rely on the taxing power when no tax is actually being paid. That argument could have major implications for NFA registration requirements on suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs.
Do Wounded Bears Attack More? Handgun Defense Data Tells a Different Story
Does shooting a bear make the bear more dangerous? In most cases the bears run off or are killed. If the bears persist in the attack, most are killed or driven off.
Judge Roger Benitez Retires, Leaving Behind a Major Second Amendment Legacy
Judge Roger T. Benitez retired from federal service on April 2, 2026, ending a judicial career that made him a central figure in major Second Amendment cases, including Duncan v. Bonta, which remains pending at the Supreme Court.
March NICS Show Steady Gun Demand, While NFA Checks Explode More Than 121%
The March 2026 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure rose 1.9% from a year earlier, even as the raw FBI total declined. The bigger story may be in the NFA market, where monthly checks surged 121.2%.
Hegseth Memo Shifts Military Base Carry Policy Toward Armed Self-Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth’s April 2, 2026 memo directs installation commanders to presume approval when service members request permission to carry privately owned firearms for personal protection on U.S. military property.
Rhode Island Democrats Move to Ban Possession of Commonly Owned Firearms
Rhode Island Democrats are pushing a new bill that would expand the state’s existing so-called assault weapons ban by adding possession to the prohibited conduct, escalating the state’s attack on commonly owned firearms.
USPS Moves to Allow Mailing Handguns After DOJ Says Federal Ban Is Unconstitutional
The U.S. Postal Service is proposing to allow lawful handguns in the mail after a January 2026 DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion found the federal handgun mailing ban unconstitutional as applied to protected arms.
Metcalf’s Shotgun Returned After Ninth Circuit Tossed Billings Gun-Free School Zone Case
Authorities have returned Gabriel Metcalf’s shotgun and ammunition after the Ninth Circuit ordered dismissal of his Billings, Montana Gun-Free School Zones Act case.
From ‘Military Machine Gun’ to .22 Replica: KIRO 7’s UZI Story Changed Fast
KIRO 7’s reporting on a King County bus arrest changed quickly, moving from “military machine gun” language to a description that suggested the firearm was actually a .22-caliber replica.
FDR Attorney General Homer Cummings Pushed National Handgun Registration for Years
Attorney General Homer Cummings, Franklin Roosevelt’s top law enforcement official, spent years pushing national handgun registration and broader federal firearm controls after passage of the National Firearms Act.
Ohio SB 392 Would Expand Carry Beyond Handguns, Lower License Age to 18
Ohio Senate Bill 392, the Freedom to Carry Act, would broaden Ohio’s carry framework beyond handguns and lower the licensing age threshold from 21 to 18.
Arizona Moves Forward With K-12 Firearm Safety Education Bill
The bill requires school districts and charter schools to provide age-appropriate firearm safety awareness training in all grades, kindergarten through 12th grade.
Los Angeles Court Failed to Report 147,000 Felony Convictions to California DOJ
The Los Angeles County Superior Court failed to properly submit about 147,000 felony convictions to the California Department of Justice over more than 20 years