Pennsylvania Sunday Hunting Is Finally Here—Government Only Took 153 Years

Pennsylvania’s 2026–27 hunting seasons begin today, September 1, and this season finally brings something hunters should have had generations ago: Sunday hunting throughout nearly every regular season.

Not three carefully rationed Sundays.

Not a handful of dates selected as though Harrisburg were distributing emergency food.

If a Pennsylvania hunting season includes a Sunday, hunters generally may hunt that Sunday. The major exception for 2026–27 is migratory game birds, including mourning doves, waterfowl and woodcock.

It took Pennsylvania 153 years to mostly eliminate a pointless restriction that treated hunters like irresponsible children six days after allowing them to enter the same woods with the same firearms.

That is government progress measured with a sundial, but it is still progress.

Is Sunday Hunting Legal in Pennsylvania in 2026?

Yes.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted Act 36 of 2025⁠, repealing the state’s general prohibition on Sunday hunting.

The relevant section of the current Game and Wildlife Code now says exactly what it should: “Hunting on Sunday prohibited⁠”—repealed.

For the 2025–26 season, the Pennsylvania Game Commission initially approved 13 Sunday hunting dates while implementing the new law. Beginning with the 2026–27 seasons, the Commission has included Sundays falling within almost every listed season.

That means Sunday is no longer a special exception for deer, bear, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, pheasant and most other Pennsylvania game.

The important rule is simple: the species must actually be in season on that date, and every other licensing, location, firearm, tagging and hunting regulation still applies.

Sunday is now a hunting day, not a suspension of the entire Game Code.

The Migratory Bird Exception Remains

Pennsylvania has not opened Sunday hunting for migratory game birds during the 2026–27 license year.

That includes:

  • Mourning doves
  • Ducks
  • Geese
  • Woodcock
  • Brant
  • Coots
  • Rails
  • Snipe
  • Gallinules

The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s 2026–27 season announcement⁠ says commissioners excluded Sundays after surveying migratory-bird hunters and finding a slight preference for retaining the current structure so seasons could extend farther across the calendar.

The agency also cited federal frameworks under which Pennsylvania could not casually add and remove Sundays from migratory seasons each year.

That distinction matters because some headlines will inevitably reduce the change to “Pennsylvania legalizes Sunday hunting.” That is broadly true, but it does not mean a dove hunter can walk into a managed field this Sunday simply because the dove season opened today.

The current mourning dove season runs from September 1 through November 27, with another segment from December 18 through January 2. The daily limit is 15 and the possession limit is 45, but Sundays remain closed.

The early Canada goose season also opens September 1. Its dates and limits depend upon the applicable goose zone, and Sundays are again excluded.

Check the official Pennsylvania seasons and bag limits⁠ before heading out. A vague memory of somebody’s Facebook post is not a hunting regulation.

Pennsylvania’s Sunday Hunting Ban Was an Outdated Blue Law

Pennsylvania generally prohibited Sunday hunting beginning in 1873.

The old rule did not survive because wildlife becomes especially vulnerable after Saturday night. It survived because government is remarkably good at maintaining restrictions long after their original social justification has collapsed.

Pennsylvania hunters could drive, shop, attend professional sporting events, consume alcohol, fire guns at many ranges and perform countless other lawful activities on Sunday.

They simply could not hunt on most Sundays.

That made no conservation sense. Wildlife populations are managed through season lengths, bag limits, license allocations and restrictions on methods of take. If additional hunting days create an excessive harvest, the Game Commission can adjust those tools.

A blanket Sunday prohibition was not careful wildlife management. It was a leftover government rule supported by institutional inertia and the usual collection of people who believe their preferred use of the outdoors should control everybody else’s.

Sunday Hunting Matters to Working Families

The strongest argument for Sunday hunting was never complicated.

Most adults work during the week.

Most children attend school during the week.

Saturday may be consumed by youth sports, home repairs, family obligations or any of the other things that happen when people have lives outside the woods.

Under the old system, a person working Monday through Friday effectively received one practical hunting day each week. Someone required to work Saturday might receive none.

Sunday hunting does not force anyone to hunt. It gives working hunters another opportunity to use the licenses they purchased, access public land their taxes support and pass hunting traditions to their children.

That last part matters.

Politicians and state agencies regularly complain about declining hunter participation. Then government preserves arbitrary restrictions making hunting more difficult for ordinary working families.

You cannot maintain a hunting culture by making participation unnecessarily inconvenient and hoping another government-sponsored YouTube video will solve it.

People become hunters by going hunting.

More Hunting Days Do Not Mean Private Land Becomes Public

Repealing the Sunday prohibition does not create a right to enter somebody else’s land.

Private property remains private property every day of the week.

Act 36 also changed provisions concerning trespass while hunting. Whatever anyone thinks about Sunday hunting, there is no legitimate pro-gun or pro-hunting argument for ignoring a landowner’s boundaries.

Get permission before entering private land. Know where the property lines are. Respect posted signs and purple paint. Do not assume the permission you received ten years ago applies forever, and do not turn somebody else’s farm into your personal public range.

Hunters who trespass give every anti-hunting busybody exactly the story he wants.

Private gun ownership and private property rights belong on the same side.

The 2026 Pennsylvania Deer Seasons Include Sundays

The expanded Sunday structure will be especially important during Pennsylvania deer season.

For 2026–27, statewide archery deer season runs October 3 through November 20, then returns December 26 through January 24, 2027. WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D receive different archery dates beginning September 19.

The statewide regular firearms deer season runs November 28 through December 12.

Because Sundays falling inside those date ranges are now included, firearms deer hunters gain November 29 and December 6 as legal hunting days.

That is a substantial improvement over forcing hunters to sit home during the middle of a short firearms season because the calendar displayed the governmentally disfavored day of the week.

Pennsylvania also increased its statewide antlerless allocation to 1,469,000 licenses for 2026–27. Hunters still need the appropriate antlerless license or permit for each antlerless deer.

Sunday hunting did not abolish tagging requirements, antler restrictions or wildlife-management units. It only removed one stupid obstacle.

Use a Hunting Rifle You Can Actually Shoot

The additional day is valuable only if hunters arrive prepared.

Confirm the rifle’s zero before the season. Inspect the sling, optic mounts and ammunition. Practice from field positions instead of firing three rounds from a concrete bench and declaring yourself ready for the mountains.

A rifle does not become unsuitable for hunting merely because it began life as a military design or appeared in a Garand Thumb video. Plenty of practical hunting rifles have military ancestry.

I recently explained why the M1 Carbine can make a handy little hunting rifle⁠ where the cartridge is lawful and appropriate for the intended game. Firearm selection should be based on reliability, legal requirements, cartridge performance and the shooter’s ability—not somebody else’s aesthetic rules.

The same principle applies to handguns. My older Glock 40 10mm review⁠ discussed a long-slide pistol designed partly for hunting and woods use.

Use enough gun. Use lawful ammunition. Know the distance at which you can reliably place the shot.

More opportunity should produce more competent hunters, not more excuses.

Hunting Is Not a Privilege Government Invented

The Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms. That right does not depend upon hunting, and gun owners should reject every dishonest attempt to reduce firearm ownership to a government-approved sporting activity.

Americans do not need to demonstrate a hunting purpose before owning an AR-15, carrying a handgun or keeping a firearm for home defense.

At the same time, hunting remains one of the oldest and most legitimate uses of privately owned firearms. It provides food, supports wildlife management, maintains practical marksmanship and connects another generation to firearms outside sterile political arguments.

Government does not deserve praise for finally returning an activity it had unnecessarily restricted since the nineteenth century.

Pennsylvania hunters and organizations spent years pushing this repeal through a political system that treats eliminating one outdated rule as though it were splitting the atom.

The credit belongs to them.

Pennsylvania Should Finish the Job

The 2026–27 expansion is a major victory.

Most Pennsylvania hunters will finally be able to hunt Sundays whenever their chosen game is in season. Working families gain more opportunities. Young hunters gain more chances to accompany parents and mentors. License buyers receive greater access to the seasons they help fund.

The migratory-bird exception should be reviewed honestly after the season, using harvest data and input from the hunters who actually participate.

If excluding Sundays genuinely provides better season timing preferred by waterfowl and dove hunters, the Commission should explain that tradeoff clearly. If it is merely another restriction being preserved because changing it requires effort, it should go.

For now, Pennsylvania hunters should take the win and use it.

Buy the license. Confirm the regulations. Ask permission. Check the zero. Take somebody new.

Then hunt Sunday without apologizing to anyone.

It was never the government’s day to withhold.

Posted in XTC

No, CZ Is Not Discontinuing the CZ 75: Here’s What Is Actually Ending

The CZ 75 is not being discontinued.

Three specific CZ 75 models are ending production during 2026:

  • CZ 75 B
  • CZ 75 BD
  • CZ 75 Compact

That is significant news. These are classic metal-framed, hammer-fired pistols that helped build CZ’s reputation in the United States.

It is not the death of the entire CZ 75 family.

The CZ 75 SP-01, CZ 75 SP-01 Tactical, CZ 75 P-01 and CZ 75 D PCR are continuing. CZ has explicitly described this as a transition within the CZ 75 line, not the end of the platform. (americanrifleman.org, thetacticalwire.com)

Unfortunately, “CZ discontinues three models” does not generate as much panic as “CZ 75 DISCONTINUED FOREVER,” so gun YouTube thumbnails and social-media posts are already making the announcement sound much larger than it is.

Before paying a ridiculous panic-buying premium, understand what CZ actually announced.

Which CZ 75 Pistols Are Being Discontinued?

CZ is concluding production of the traditional CZ 75 B, CZ 75 BD and steel-framed CZ 75 Compact.

These are not obscure catalog fillers. They represent the relatively plain, traditional side of the CZ 75 family.

CZ 75 B

The CZ 75 B is the classic full-size, all-steel, double-action/single-action pistol with a manual safety.

Its basic configuration is old-fashioned in the best possible way. It does not have an accessory rail hanging from the dust cover. It does not arrive covered in interchangeable plastic panels. It does not need an optics plate, battery or software update.

It is a metal service pistol with excellent ergonomics, useful capacity and a design that has been proving itself for decades.

CZ’s 2025 catalog listed the CZ 75 B with a 4.6-inch barrel, 16-round standard magazine, steel frame and unloaded weight of approximately 35.2 ounces. (cz-usa.com)

CZ 75 BD

The CZ 75 BD is mechanically similar to the 75 B but replaces the manual safety with a decocking lever.

That distinction matters.

The traditional CZ 75 B can be carried with the hammer cocked and the safety engaged. The BD allows the shooter to safely lower the hammer using the decocker and fire the first shot double-action.

Neither system is universally better. They accommodate different preferences.

Some shooters prefer the positive manual safety and cocked-and-locked option. Others want a decocker and a longer double-action first trigger pull without needing to manually lower the hammer.

CZ is ending both traditional full-size versions.

CZ 75 Compact

The CZ 75 Compact is essentially the classic steel-frame concept reduced to a more concealable package.

It should not be confused with every other compact pistol bearing a CZ 75-related name. The P-01 and PCR are separate variants with different frames and features.

That confusion is already contributing to the false claim that CZ is abandoning compact CZ 75 pistols altogether.

It is not.

The steel-framed CZ 75 Compact is ending. The alloy-framed P-01 and PCR remain in the family.

Which CZ 75 Models Are Staying in Production?

According to CZ’s announcement, the continuing CZ 75 models include:

  • CZ 75 SP-01
  • CZ 75 SP-01 Tactical
  • CZ 75 P-01
  • CZ 75 D PCR

That leaves buyers with full-size and compact options, manual-safety and decocker options, railed and non-railed configurations, and pistols suited to competition, home defense and concealed carry.

The SP-01 is a full-size steel-framed pistol with a longer dust cover and accessory rail. The SP-01 Tactical replaces its manual safety with a decocker.

The P-01 provides a compact alloy frame and accessory rail. The PCR is also a compact alloy-frame pistol but maintains the cleaner, non-railed profile many traditional CZ shooters prefer.

In other words, the CZ 75 family is changing.

It is not disappearing.

Why Are People Panicking?

Because the CZ 75 B is the version many shooters picture when someone says “CZ 75.”

The original CZ 75 appeared during the 1970s. Its combination of a double-stack magazine, double-action/single-action trigger, comfortable grip and slide riding inside the frame established a design that would be copied and adapted across the firearm industry.

The B model became the familiar modern-production version.

Removing the 75 B from regular production therefore feels different from discontinuing some recently introduced variation that nobody bought.

It is like Ford announcing the end of a traditional Mustang configuration while assuring everyone the Mustang name will continue. Technically, the product family survives. Emotionally, buyers still recognize that something important is being lost.

That reaction is reasonable.

Claiming all CZ 75 production is ending is not.

Is the CZ 75 Obsolete?

No.

It is less aligned with current handgun fashion, but fashion and usefulness are not the same thing.

The modern pistol market heavily favors polymer frames, striker-fired actions, accessory rails and optics-ready slides. Those features reduce manufacturing expense, simplify training for large organizations and give manufacturers endless opportunities to release another nearly identical black rectangle.

The traditional CZ 75 B comes from a different philosophy.

Its steel frame provides weight that helps absorb recoil. Its grip shape fits many hands extremely well. Its low slide profile and internal slide rails contribute to the pistol’s distinctive handling. Its double-action/single-action system gives the shooter two trigger modes and the option of a manual safety or decocker, depending on the model.

None of those qualities stopped working because red-dot optics became popular.

The classic CZ does require more familiarity than the average striker-fired pistol. A shooter should understand the transition between the first double-action shot and subsequent single-action shots. Safety and decocker models should not be treated as interchangeable.

That is called learning to operate your firearm. It is not an unreasonable burden.

Should You Buy a CZ 75 B Before Production Ends?

If you already wanted one, this is probably the correct time to start looking.

If you did not want one until somebody posted “RIP CZ 75” over a black-and-white photograph, calm down.

CZ announced that production is concluding, but that does not mean every remaining pistol vanished from distributors overnight. It also does not establish that ordinary production guns will immediately become priceless collectibles.

There may be increased demand as buyers realize a familiar model is leaving the catalog. Dealers may sell existing inventory more quickly. Used prices may eventually reflect reduced supply.

None of that justifies handing a gun-store counter goblin an absurd premium because he printed the word “RARE” on a price tag.

Buy the gun because you want a traditional CZ 75.

Do not buy it because somebody with a shocked face in a YouTube thumbnail told you civilization has six hours remaining.

Which Discontinued CZ 75 Should You Choose?

The CZ 75 B is the obvious choice for someone who wants the most recognizable traditional configuration.

Choose the CZ 75 BD if you prefer a decocker and expect to keep the pistol hammer-down for a double-action first shot.

Choose the CZ 75 Compact if you specifically want the smaller steel-frame version and accept the additional weight compared with alloy-framed compact pistols.

For actual concealed carry, the continuing P-01 and PCR may make more practical sense because their alloy frames reduce weight. The P-01 also provides a rail for a weapon light.

That is similar to the choice discussed in my older Glock 19 or Glock 26 comparison. A smaller handgun is not automatically the better carry gun. Grip length, weight, capacity, shootability, holster selection and the owner’s willingness to practice all matter.

For home defense, the SP-01 and SP-01 Tactical remain strong full-size choices. Their accessory rails also make mounting a proper light easier than on the traditional 75 B or BD.

Buy the configuration that fits the intended job.

The Traditional CZ 75 Deserved Better Than a Quiet Exit

The CZ 75 B, BD and Compact deserved more than becoming victims of the industry’s endless march toward polymer frames, optic cuts and minor feature changes marketed as revolutions.

These pistols represent a period when a service handgun was expected to be substantial, durable and shaped around the human hand instead of a manufacturing spreadsheet.

CZ is entitled to streamline production and concentrate on models customers are currently buying. The continuing SP-01, P-01 and PCR models prove the company has not abandoned the CZ 75 system.

Still, ending regular production of the 75 B closes an important chapter.

It is fair to dislike that decision. It is fair to buy one while they remain available. It is even fair to use the announcement as an excuse to acquire another gun, although your spouse may reject the historical-preservation argument.

Just get the facts right.

The CZ 75 B, CZ 75 BD and CZ 75 Compact are ending production.

The CZ 75 is not dead.

A pistol design that influential does not disappear because three catalog numbers were retired. It continues in the models still being manufactured, the millions of pistols already owned, and the countless designs that borrowed its best ideas.

The classic CZ 75 is leaving regular production.

Its legacy is not going anywhere.

Posted in XTC

National Shooting Sports Month Ends Today: Your Training Shouldn’t

August 31 marks the end of National Shooting Sports Month.

The guns will remain in the safe. The ammunition will remain stacked in the basement. The expensive optic will remain mounted on the rifle.

The question is whether any of us will be better shooters next month.

Gun owners spend an extraordinary amount of time discussing equipment. We compare triggers, barrels, pistols, optics, holsters, ammunition, slings and whatever accessory gun YouTube decided was indispensable this week.

Buying equipment is entertaining. Training exposes our mistakes.

That is why the first one is more popular.

If you genuinely want to improve your marksmanship, stop waiting for another gun, another accessory or a perfect Saturday at the range. Build a simple shooting practice routine you can repeat every week.

National Shooting Sports Month Is About Participation

The firearm industry created National Shooting Sports Month to encourage Americans to visit ranges, enter matches, introduce new shooters and participate in the shooting sports.

The 2026 theme was “Let Freedom Plink⁠,” timed to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary. A Senate resolution introduced July 30⁠ recognized August 2026 as National Shooting Sports Month and specifically acknowledged target shooting, hunting and competitive marksmanship as American traditions.

That is all good.

Firearm ownership is an individual right, not a government-created sporting privilege. Nobody needs to shoot a match, hunt a deer or obtain a politician’s approval before the Second Amendment protects his firearms.

But exercising a right and developing a skill are different things.

Owning a rifle makes you a rifle owner. Shooting it deliberately makes you a rifleman.

Stop Trying to Purchase Marksmanship

The gun industry survives by selling equipment, so every problem eventually receives a shopping-list solution.

Shots going low left? Buy a trigger.

Slow from the holster? Buy a different pistol.

Poor standing scores? Buy a jacket, glove, sling, weights and some carbon-fiber object whose function nobody can clearly explain.

Sometimes equipment genuinely is the problem. A rifle that will not group, an unreliable pistol, defective ammunition or a holster that interferes with a safe draw should be corrected.

Usually, however, the problem is attached to the gun.

I made this argument years ago in What Gear Do I Need to Be a Competitive Shooter? Nothing⁠. A Pelican case, fashionable range bag and rifle covered in expensive accessories are worth exactly zero points.

Skill comes from practice.

The shooter with an ordinary, reliable firearm he understands will generally outperform the collector who arrives with a different configuration every month and spends the entire range session adjusting it.

Pick useful equipment. Confirm that it works. Then leave it alone long enough to learn something.

Dry Fire Is Real Training

Dry fire is not a poor substitute for shooting. It is one of the most efficient ways to practice important elements of shooting without recoil, noise, ammunition expense or travel.

The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit describes dry firing as an integral part of its training drills⁠, particularly for reinforcing positions and sight pictures.

That should end the argument over whether dry fire “counts.”

It counts when it is performed correctly.

A useful dry-fire session can work on:

  • Building a stable position.
  • Establishing natural point of aim.
  • Mounting the rifle consistently.
  • Acquiring the sights.
  • Controlling the trigger without disturbing the sight picture.
  • Calling the shot.
  • Repeating the same process.

The value is repetition without all the wasted time surrounding a live-fire range trip.

My SCATT trainer review⁠ described the biggest advantage plainly: more trigger time, more often. Instead of spending an hour driving, setting up and packing everything away, I could shoot a quick ten-shot string between work and dinner.

You do not need an electronic trainer to begin. A properly prepared firearm and an appropriate target can reveal plenty.

Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your firearm. Remove all live ammunition from the training area, verify the firearm’s condition and use a safe backstop. If a particular firearm should not be repeatedly dry-fired without a snap cap, use the correct equipment.

Dry fire is valuable. Careless gun handling is not training.

Build a Shot Process You Can Repeat

Randomly pulling the trigger is not practice merely because bullets hit paper.

Effective practice begins with a defined process.

The CMP’s guidance on preparing for pistol EIC competition⁠ recommends developing a shot process and performing it the same way during dry fire and live fire.

That idea applies well beyond bullseye pistol.

A rifle shot process might include:

  1. Establish the position.
  2. Confirm natural point of aim.
  3. Place the stock and cheek consistently.
  4. Settle into the sights.
  5. Apply pressure to the trigger.
  6. Break the shot without disturbing the sight picture.
  7. Follow through.
  8. Call the shot.

Write it down if necessary.

The exact wording does not matter. Consistency does.

A shooter who changes his approach every shot cannot determine what caused the result. A repeatable process turns every shot into useful information.

Ten Focused Minutes Beat Two Aimless Hours

A practice routine does not need to dominate your life.

Start with ten focused minutes, three times per week.

For a Service Rifle shooter, that could mean ten carefully executed standing shots. Do not chase speed. Build the position, settle the sights, press the trigger and call every shot.

For a handgun owner, it could mean safe presentations from the holster, sight acquisition and trigger presses conducted under whatever rules govern the training location.

For a hunter, it could mean mounting the unloaded rifle from realistic field positions instead of practicing exclusively from a concrete bench.

The purpose is not to perform the maximum number of repetitions. The purpose is to perform correct repetitions and identify where the process breaks down.

Twenty sloppy trigger pulls teach you to perform twenty sloppy trigger pulls.

Ten deliberate ones may actually improve something.

Live Fire Should Confirm the Work

Dry fire cannot reproduce recoil, muzzle blast, ammunition performance or every pressure of a live range.

That is why live fire remains necessary.

But live fire should test specific skills instead of becoming recreational ammunition disposal.

Before arriving at the range, decide what you are practicing. Bring a notebook or record results on the target. Shoot groups. Call shots before looking at the score. Change one variable at a time.

If the shot appeared low at the moment the trigger broke and the hole is low, that is useful information.

If the shot looked perfect but landed somewhere else, investigate the position, ammunition, sights or rifle.

If every shot is fired as fast as possible at a giant silhouette from seven yards, the target may look satisfyingly abused while telling you almost nothing.

Fun shooting is allowed. Not every cartridge must produce a spreadsheet.

Just do not confuse making noise with building skill.

Competition Reveals What Casual Practice Hides

You do not need to be an elite shooter before entering a match.

That is backwards. Competition is part of how shooters improve.

A match forces you to follow commands, manage time, operate your equipment around other people and produce a score that cannot be explained away by showing everyone the one good target from last month.

The timer, scorecard and other competitors expose weaknesses that casual practice politely conceals.

CMP’s purpose under federal law⁠ includes instructing citizens in marksmanship and promoting firearms safety, training and competition. Its matches exist for ordinary citizens, not just military teams and national champions.

Show up with safe equipment and a willingness to learn.

Nobody begins as an expert. Plenty of people never begin because they are waiting to become one first.

Train With the Gun You Actually Depend On

A person who owns a handgun for self-defense should train with that handgun.

A hunter should practice from the positions he may use in the field.

A Service Rifle competitor should practice the actual course of fire.

This sounds obvious, yet shooters constantly avoid the difficult or inconvenient parts.

They practice from the bench because standing is frustrating. They shoot the full-size pistol because the carry gun is unpleasant. They fire slow groups because drawing, movement or time pressure exposes mistakes.

Practice should not consist exclusively of whatever already feels comfortable.

Work on the weakest safe, lawful and relevant part of your shooting. That is usually where the easiest improvement lives.

Introduce Someone New Without Being an Idiot

Growing the shooting sports matters.

A new shooter’s first range trip should not involve handing him the hardest-recoiling firearm available and recording his reaction for a YouTube clip.

That routine is not funny. It is lazy.

Start with safety, simple instructions, comfortable equipment and an achievable target. Let the new shooter succeed. Do not bury him under tactical jargon or attempt to demonstrate your magnificent authority over every gun-related subject.

The objective is to create another capable gun owner, hunter or competitive shooter—not another person who associates firearms with being embarrassed by an idiot.

Rights survive when people exercise them. Shooting traditions survive when experienced people pass them along.

September Is When the Real Work Starts

National Shooting Sports Month is useful because it directs attention toward ranges, clubs, training and competition.

But marksmanship does not operate on a promotional calendar.

When August ends, set a small training goal for September:

  • Complete three short dry-fire sessions each week.
  • Enter one local match.
  • Introduce one responsible person to shooting.
  • Learn one unfamiliar position.
  • Record and analyze every live-fire group.
  • Stop changing equipment for thirty days.

Do something measurable.

America does not need more gun owners who merely accumulate products and repeat opinions. It needs armed citizens who know their equipment, understand safety, practice marksmanship and can pass those skills to the next person.

Buy guns. Buy ammunition. Support ranges, clubs and American firearm manufacturers without apology.

Then train.

National Shooting Sports Month ends.

Your responsibility for being competent does not.

CDC Restores Defensive Gun Use Data After Anti-Gun Activists Tried to Bury It

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has restored its estimate that Americans use firearms defensively between 60,000 and 2.5 million times each year.

That enormous range is not new. It comes from research the CDC previously referenced on its own website.

What is new is that the information has returned after disappearing for several years—and we now know anti-gun activists privately pressured the CDC to remove it because defensive gun use was making gun-control laws harder to pass.

They did not merely dispute the highest estimate.

They wanted the entire subject pushed out of sight because armed citizens protecting themselves are politically inconvenient.

This is what institutional gun-control propaganda looks like. The government displays information about firearms being used defensively. Activists complain that the information interferes with their legislative agenda. Government officials meet with them privately. The information disappears.

The CDC has now quietly put it back.

What Does the CDC Say About Defensive Gun Use?

The CDC’s restored language cites a range of 60,000 to 2.5 million defensive gun uses per year.

The estimate comes from the 2013 report Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence, produced by the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council at the CDC’s request.

That report found that estimates vary substantially depending on the research method. The National Crime Victimization Survey produced estimates closer to 60,000 to 120,000 defensive uses annually. Other survey research produced estimates reaching 2.5 million.

The report also noted that some research found victims experienced less injury and loss when they used a firearm defensively. (nationalacademies.org)

Nobody should pretend that 60,000 and 2.5 million are remotely close to the same number. Defensive gun use is difficult to measure precisely because many incidents do not involve shots being fired, police reports or news coverage.

A criminal sees a gun and runs.

A homeowner holds a burglar at gunpoint.

A woman displays a firearm and stops an assault.

A store owner drives off an armed robber.

Many of those incidents never become national news. Some never become local news. Others are reported to police without being categorized in a searchable database as defensive gun uses.

The exact number is disputed.

The existence of defensive gun use is not.

Even the lowest estimate means armed Americans defend themselves tens of thousands of times every year.

That fact destroys the anti-gun fantasy that firearms only create victims.

Why Did the Defensive Gun Use Numbers Disappear?

The CDC did not remove the estimates because a new definitive study proved that defensive gun use never happens.

Emails obtained through a public-records request showed that gun-control advocates spent months lobbying the agency over the numbers. The White House and Senator Dick Durbin’s office reportedly helped connect those advocates with senior CDC officials.

The campaign eventually produced a private meeting in September 2021.

One participant was Mark Bryant of the Gun Violence Archive. After the meeting, Bryant wrote that the 2.5 million estimate needed to be “killed, buried, dug up, killed again and buried again.”

He also complained that the estimate was being used against gun-control proposals during state and federal hearings.

That reveals the real objection.

The number was politically damaging.

The activists were not simply requesting better footnotes or a clearer explanation of survey methodology. They wanted an inconvenient estimate removed because lawmakers encountered it while attempting to restrict gun rights.

The CDC initially defended its language. Internal emails show agency researchers explaining that the fact sheet did not endorse one estimate. It accurately stated that different research methods produced different results.

One CDC researcher reportedly asked how anyone could argue against language merely acknowledging that estimates vary.

After the private meeting, the agency removed the numerical range anyway. (thereload.com)

That is not science correcting itself.

That is a federal agency folding when political activists complain that the available research is obstructing their agenda.

Gun-Control Activists Did Not Want Context

Anti-gun activists constantly demand that Americans “follow the data.”

That demand lasts only until the data reveal that firearms save lives.

Then the study is supposedly flawed, the question was asked incorrectly, the estimate is too broad or the information requires so much “context” that nobody should be allowed to see it.

The CDC’s old language already included context. It explicitly explained that estimates varied because researchers asked different questions, studied different populations and used different timeframes.

The activists still wanted it removed.

Their problem was not missing context.

Their problem was that the information allowed citizens and lawmakers to understand both sides of firearm ownership.

Guns can be used criminally.

Guns can also stop crimes.

Any serious analysis of firearms in America must acknowledge both.

Gun-control activists prefer counting every criminal misuse while pretending defensive uses are imaginary, insignificant or too complicated to discuss. That produces a dishonest equation in which firearms create costs but never provide benefits.

Once defensive gun use enters the calculation, their entire argument becomes harder.

That is why the estimate had to be buried.

The Lowest Estimate Still Destroys the Anti-Gun Narrative

Suppose the highest estimate is substantially overstated.

That does not rescue the gun-control argument.

Use the bottom of the CDC’s restored range: 60,000 defensive gun uses per year.

That would still mean an average of more than 160 defensive uses every day.

Those are Americans protecting themselves, their families, other people or their property.

Many defensive firearm incidents end without the citizen firing a shot. The presence of the gun changes the criminal’s decision. That is an important outcome because preventing violence is better than winning a gunfight.

Anti-gun databases frequently rely heavily on police and media reports. That approach will inevitably miss incidents that victims never report or that journalists never find interesting enough to publish.

A criminal running away after seeing a homeowner’s pistol is a successful defensive gun use. It may also produce no arrest, no gunshot wound, no dramatic body-camera footage and no YouTube news clip.

The absence of a headline does not mean the incident did not occur.

The “Good Guy With a Gun” Is Real

The good-guy-with-a-gun argument is not a promise that every armed citizen will prevail in every situation.

It is the recognition that an armed victim has the ability to resist.

An unarmed victim has fewer options.

Police cannot remain beside every restaurant table, front door, gas pump, church pew, cash register or family vehicle. They respond after somebody reports a crime. Even competent police officers cannot eliminate distance and response time.

An armed citizen is already present.

The criminal does not need to be shot for the gun to be used defensively. Displaying a firearm may stop an attack. Giving a victim the ability to withdraw safely may stop an attack. Holding a criminal until police arrive may stop an attack.

The good guy with a gun does not need a perfect Hollywood ending to save a life.

This is precisely why anti-gun activists hate defensive gun use data. It reminds people that government cannot guarantee immediate protection and that ordinary citizens are not helpless scenery waiting for official rescuers.

Owning the Gun Is Only the Beginning

The correct response to defensive gun use is not merely buying a pistol and forgetting about it.

A defensive firearm should be reliable, safely carried and familiar to its owner. The person carrying it needs competent handling, useful marksmanship and the judgment to recognize when firing would create more danger.

My older Glock 19 or Glock 26 comparison discusses the practical differences between two common carry sizes. The specific model matters less than selecting something dependable that you will actually carry and practice with.

Training matters because equipment does not install competence.

I made the same argument in What Gear Do I Need to Be a Competitive Shooter? Nothing. Buying whatever gun, optic or holster is currently popular on YouTube does not download another shooter’s ability into your brain.

Regular practice creates capability.

A gun gives a person the physical means to resist. Training makes that resistance more effective and reduces the risk of making a catastrophic decision under pressure.

That does not weaken the case for armed citizens.

It strengthens it.

The answer is not fewer armed citizens. It is more responsible citizens who are armed, trained and unwilling to outsource their survival to government promises.

Government Agencies Are Not Neutral Authorities on Guns

The CDC episode should permanently damage the assumption that a government agency presents firearm information without political influence.

The agency possessed a reasonable statement acknowledging the broad range of defensive gun use estimates.

Anti-gun activists complained.

Government political offices helped those activists reach senior officials.

The CDC met with them privately.

The information disappeared.

Years later, it returned without a public explanation.

That sequence is not neutral.

It demonstrates why gun owners should never treat a government website as sacred truth merely because it ends in “.gov.” Agencies are operated by people. Those people respond to political pressure, institutional incentives and whichever administration currently controls them.

The CDC did not suddenly discover defensive gun use in 2026.

The agency restored information that should never have been hidden.

Anti-Gun Lawmakers Need Defensive Gun Use to Disappear

Gun-control lawmakers sell restrictions by pretending the public receives safety in exchange for surrendering rights.

Defensive gun use exposes the missing side of that transaction.

A waiting period can delay a victim who faces an immediate threat.

A prohibited-location law can disarm the person who follows signs while doing nothing to the criminal who ignores them.

A magazine restriction can limit the citizen confronted by multiple attackers.

A carry restriction can remove the victim’s ability to resist before police arrive.

The cost of gun control is not limited to inconveniencing hobbyists or reducing the number of firearms in somebody’s safe. It can remove a life-saving option from a person who needs it.

Lawmakers who ignore defensive gun use are not conducting honest policy analysis. They are deleting the benefits of firearm ownership from the equation so restrictions appear cost-free.

That is intellectually fraudulent.

Defensive Gun Use Data Belongs in the Debate

The CDC’s restored range is broad and should be described honestly.

It is not proof that exactly 2.5 million Americans use guns defensively every year. It is evidence that different accepted research methods have produced estimates ranging from tens of thousands to millions.

That uncertainty is a reason to conduct better research.

It is not a reason to censor existing research.

The public deserves to know that defensive gun use may occur far more frequently than highly restrictive databases suggest. Lawmakers deserve to confront that possibility before voting to disarm the people those laws supposedly protect.

Most importantly, victims deserve the ability to defend themselves whether their experience eventually becomes a statistic or not.

The CDC Put the Numbers Back—Remember Why They Vanished

The real scandal is not that defensive gun use estimates vary.

The scandal is that political activists wanted the estimates removed because they interfered with gun-control legislation—and a federal agency complied.

That should tell gun owners everything necessary about the people claiming only they care about “the data.”

They care about useful data.

They care about numbers that frighten voters, justify restrictions and increase government authority.

When research shows that armed citizens protect themselves, suddenly the numbers must be killed, buried and forgotten.

The CDC has finally restored the defensive gun use range.

Do not forget why it disappeared.

Armed citizens are real.

Defensive gun use is real.

The government’s ability to protect you immediately is not.

Glock Gen 6 Reliability: The Internet Panic Was Mostly Nonsense

Glock officially launched the Glock 17 Gen6, Glock 19 Gen6 and Glock 45 Gen6 in January 2026. Seven months later, the answer to the question everyone keeps asking is becoming painfully boring:

The Glock Gen 6 appears to work like a Glock.

It is not perfect. No YouTube torture test can prove every production pistol is reliable, and a few owners have reported legitimate problems. But the predicted Gen 6 disaster has not materialized. Most of the panic was people racing to produce content before shooters had enough rounds through the guns to know anything.

If you landed here after searching for a Garand Thumb Glock 17, Garand Thumb Glock 19 or Glock Gen 6 YouTube review, here is the independent answer without a thumbnail face: the Gen 6 looks good, but your older Glock did not suddenly become obsolete.

GarandThumb.com is the independent Garand Thumb Blog and is not affiliated with the unrelated Garand Thumb YouTube channel or its host.

What Glock Actually Changed With Gen 6

The Glock Gen 6 is not merely a Gen 5 with new slide serrations.

Glock redesigned the frame around an enlarged beavertail, palm swell, undercut trigger guard and extended textured thumb rest. It added the new RTF6 grip texture, deeper angled slide serrations, a flat-faced trigger and an updated optic-ready mounting system.

Standard-frame Gen 6 pistols include three optic plates, allowing several popular pistol optics to mount through Glock’s revised system. (us.glock.com, gen6.glock.us)

These are real improvements, particularly for shooters who previously paid someone to undercut, stipple or reshape a Glock frame. The higher grip and better texture may matter more in actual shooting than another round of internet arguments about trigger feel.

However, this is still an evolutionary Glock. It has not transformed into a tuned 2011 because Glock changed the trigger shoe and discovered the human hand has curves.

What the Garand Thumb Glock Gen 6 YouTube Test Proved

A widely watched Garand Thumb YouTube video placed the Glock 19 Gen6 against a Glock 19 Gen3 and Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 Compact. The pistols were subjected to drops, freezing, dirt, mud and other deliberately abusive conditions. (youtube.com)

That kind of Glock Gen 6 reliability test is entertaining and useful as a demonstration. It is not a statistical study, a replacement for long-term ownership or permission to trust a brand-new pistol without testing it yourself.

A torture test answers one question: what happened to those particular pistols under those particular conditions?

It does not tell you whether your Glock 17 Gen6 will function with your magazines, your ammunition and your grip. It certainly does not mean every gun that survives a YouTube mud bath is automatically ready for concealed carry or home defense.

What Glock 17 Gen 6 and Glock 19 Gen 6 Owners Are Reporting

The useful information is finally coming from people accumulating meaningful round counts.

One experienced competition shooter reported firing 760 rounds of mixed 115- and 124-grain ammunition through a Glock 17 Gen6 across six shooters and several magazine types without a malfunction. The same shooter later updated the report at 2,000 rounds and said the pistol still performed like previous Glock generations.

More recent Glock 19 Gen6 owners have reported totals ranging from approximately 1,000 to 5,000 rounds. One of the higher-round-count reports mentioned a single malfunction associated with a non-OEM magazine. These are self-reported numbers rather than controlled testing, but they are more useful than another 50-round “first look” review filmed beside a suspiciously clean shooting bench. (reddit.com, reddit.com)

The developing pattern is encouraging: the Gen 6 is behaving like a modestly improved Glock, not an experimental pistol assembled by marketing interns during lunch.

The Glock Gen 6 Problems Should Not Be Ignored

There have been contrary reports.

One owner of two Glock 17 Gen6 pistols reported repeated failures to feed while shooting one-handed with certain 115-grain Blazer and PMC ammunition. The same pistols reportedly worked with other ammunition and during normal two-handed shooting. (reddit.com)

That report does not condemn every Glock 17 Gen6. It does mean we should stop using “flawless” as though it were a factory-applied finish.

A single failure report is not proof of a defective generation. A pile of enthusiastic owner comments is not proof of perfection either. The honest conclusion sits between those two internet religions: Gen 6 reliability looks broadly solid, but every individual pistol still needs to earn trust.

Glock Gen 6 vs. Gen 5: Should You Upgrade?

If you are buying your first Glock and the prices are reasonably close, the Gen 6 makes sense. You receive the improved frame, better texture, flat-faced trigger and updated optic system without paying someone to modify a brand-new pistol immediately.

If you already own a reliable Gen 5, the argument becomes much weaker.

Your Gen 5 did not lose accuracy, reliability or parts support on the day Glock released another generation. Unless the Gen 6 grip fits your hand substantially better or you specifically want its optic system, replacing a proven pistol is mostly consumerism wearing tactical pants.

I still carry a Gen 2 Glock 19. As I wrote in my earlier post about Glock abandoning the simplicity that built its reputation, the original appeal was never novelty. It was a brutally simple pistol that worked.

The Gen 6 does not change that argument. It simply packages several sensible ergonomic improvements around the same basic idea.

If you are deciding between pistol sizes rather than generations, my old Glock 19 or Glock 26 comparison still covers the practical difference: the Glock 19 is easier to shoot comfortably, while the Glock 26 is easier to conceal.

The New Optic System May Be the Best Gen 6 Upgrade

Glock’s revised optic system deserves more attention than the cosmetic changes.

The included plates officially support optics including the Trijicon RMR, RCR and SRO; Holosun 407C, 507C and 508T; Vortex Defender ST and XL; EOTech EFLX; Leupold DeltaPoint Pro and several others. Owners should still verify the correct plate and screws for the exact optic being installed. (us.glock.com)

Do not assume every Gen 5 accessory automatically fits the Gen 6. Owner reports indicate that some trigger components interchange while complete aftermarket trigger systems, grip plugs and magwells may not. The altered frame and rear trigger-housing geometry give accessory companies another excuse to sell everyone the same parts again.

Would I Trust a Glock Gen 6 for Carry or Home Defense?

I would treat it exactly like any other defensive pistol.

Test the actual gun with the magazines and ammunition you intend to use. Shoot it two-handed, one-handed and with the support hand. Confirm the optic plate and screws remain secure. Make sure the controls work with your grip instead of assuming Glock’s redesigned thumb rest was personally measured for you.

Most importantly, do not let a Garand Thumb YouTube video—or any other firearms video—perform that validation in your place. Watching someone else freeze a Glock is not the same as confirming your pistol works.

The Real Glock Gen 6 Verdict

The Glock Gen 6 reliability panic was mostly nonsense.

Available owner reports are broadly positive. The redesigned frame is a legitimate improvement. The optic system is more useful, and the flat trigger will appeal to shooters who immediately replaced the curved factory shoe anyway.

But the Gen 6 is still a Glock. That is both its strongest selling point and the reason existing Glock owners do not urgently need one.

If you are buying new, the Gen 6 is probably the generation to buy. If your Gen 2, Gen 3, Gen 4 or Gen 5 already works, spend the money on ammunition, magazines and practice unless the new ergonomics solve a real problem for you.

Your old Glock did not expire because YouTube uploaded a new thumbnail.

The internet wanted a revolution or a catastrophe. Glock delivered a slightly better Glock.

For a defensive handgun, boring is exactly what we should want.

Posted in XTC