What's New

It was expected that the Sixth Edition of the Blue Book of Airguns would remain on sale for two years. However, increased dependence on this book in the U.S. and much expanded demand all over the world has forced us to print the Seventh Edition now! This is one of the most handsome editions yet. It has grown to the size of a hefty phone directory of 504 pages (8.5 x 11 inches). You should not be without the hundreds of revisions, corrections, and updates PLUS 32 additional pages and over 200 hundred additional airgun photos- and a newly revised and tuned Photo Grading System section in high resolution color. Because of increased sales, we have been able to do this without a price increase and the hardcover edition, due May 8, 2008, with an embossed real silk cover, is a bargain at only $44.95.

The soft cover seventh edition is still only $29.95 plus s/h and the red silk hardcover edition of which we only get six to twenty copies (the rest of the tiny run of 50 books goes to airgun makers and VIPS all over the globe) is only $44.95 plus s/h.

Note that some of the previous copies of the Blue Book of Airguns are selling for $100 and more. Many airgunners are attempting to get a complete set of all seven editions. The hard cover versions of the first and third editions are especially sought after. The sixth edition (sold out) will also be especially desired because of its historically important, illustrated coverage of the Lewis and Clark "assault rifle" rapid fire airgun. Each edition has a different set of vintage airguns illustrated in high gloss, high resolution, large image color.

For one Blue Book, add $3.95 packing and shipping. For each additional book in the same shipment to the same address, add only $1.95. (or only $26.95 for airmail shipping to most of the world. For shipments to foreign countries, please contact us for packing/shipping costs. Please specify your country and the local zip or postal code of your address. For one BBA figure 3 lbs or 2 kilos; for two BBA, figure 6 lbs or 3 kilos.)

Make checks or money orders payable to Robert Beeman and make PayPal payments payable to DrAirgun@Beemans.net. Shipments to California addresses must add 8% California Sales Tax.

Left to Right: Dr. Jeffrey Clarke, Chief Historian of the Army, representing General George Casey, Chief of Staff of the Army, receiving the Beeman Girandoni Repeating Air Rifle, on behalf of the U.S. Army, from Dr. Robert D. Beeman and Mrs. Toshiko K. Beeman. The Beemans have been leading students of both the Lewis Air Rifle and the Girandoni-system airguns for over three decades - but were unaware until evidence uncovered by Ernest Cowan and Rick Keller in 2004 revealed that they apparently had had the Lewis Airgun in the Beeman collection for all those years! Foreground: the hero of the story: the Beeman Girandoni, acclaimed as the "Wonder Gun" which Captain Meriwether Lewis carried across the wilderness of NW America in 1803-06. The air flasks in the foreground are museum grade copies, made by Ernest Cowan, of the original Girandoni buttstock air flask. {Photo courtesy of Mike Perry, Executive Director of Army Heritage Center Foundation.)

FINAL STEP IN DONATION OF BEEMAN GIRANDONI AIR RIFLE,
AS THE LEWIS AND CLARK AIRGUN, TO U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE.
Transfer to General George Casey, Chief of Staff of the Army

Mrs. Beeman and I have returned from a wonderful ceremony marking the final transfer of our Beeman Girandoni Military Repeating Air Rifle to the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. For protocol and legal reasons, the first step was to donate our gun to the Army Heritage Center Foundation (AHCF) on September 26, 2006. They in turn loaned it to the National Firearms Museum of the National Rifle Association for public display until May 17, 2007. On May 18, 2007, at a grand U.S. Army ceremony at the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) at the U.S. Army War College, the Beeman Girandoni, accepted by the Army arms curators and historians as the original Lewis and Clark air rifle, was formally transmitted to General George Casey, Chief of Staff of the Army. Representing General Casey, accepting it for the U.S. Army War College, was Dr. Jeffrey Clarke, the Chief Historian of the U.S. Army. Presiding over the meeting was Mike Perry, Executive Director of the AHCF.

General Robert Scales, past director of the Army Heritage and Education Center, spoke about the plans of the AHEC to develop an Army Museum as a major expansion of the present research and display facilities. Their plan is to present the Beeman Girandoni as a pivotal item in the Army's role in the Western Expansion of the United States. Robert Beeman spoke of the change in perspective, after the recent identification of the Lewis airgun; of its shift from historical curiosity to being described as a "National Treasure" and "The Most Important Gun in American History" - how bold bluffs with this gun by Captains Lewis and Clark apparently affected the successful Western expansion of the U.S.A. The guest list, of over 500 military VIPs, historians, arms curators, gun experts, collectors, AHEC members, media representatives, etc., included VIPs from all over the world. Special guests of honor were Ernest Cowan and Richard Keller, master gun maker and gun historian, who not only provided the basis for the latest part of the Lewis airgun story by uncovering the internal clues in this gun which led to their conclusion, and finally a general consensus, that it is indeed the Lewis Air Rifle, but who also built four extremely authentic museum copies of the Beeman Girandoni, Warren Lee from California, the artist who did the commissioned painting "Air Power Diplomacy" featuring the Beeman Girandoni, and - all the way from England - Colin Currie - a co-author of the definitive book on the structure and function of Girandoni air rifles. American airgun collectors were represented by several key persons including Fred Liady and Marvel Freund. Marv presented a delightful trophy, commemorating this event, to the Beemans . The ceremony was followed by a reception, hosted by the U.S. Army, and a VIP tour of the facilities, . We went away with a sense of deep satisfaction - a feeling that "our baby", the former "Crown Jewel" of the Beeman Airgun Collection, was VERY well appreciated and would be well preserved and well presented to future generations! Please click on this link to see this new addition to our on-going series of Lewis Airgun reports.

Finally, after two years of hard work, another major revision of the leading international guide to airguns has made it around the world! There is nothing else like it! Now its 472 big pages include hundreds of additional airguns, scores of additional photographs, some corrections, and hundreds of revised prices. Although I see this big book mainly as a guide to airgun makers and identification and info on airguns - the pricing is very important to many. We got more input on pricing for this edition than ever before - the outside info indicated increases in listed values for over 85% of the items that show a value change.

What's new in the 6th edition?? There are 41 additional PAGES of gun listings! Forty one makers have been added or given major overhauls! Hundreds and hundreds of corrections, additions, and significant changes have been made. A number of basic confusions in the airgun collecting field have been cleared up- see the new Plymouth Air Rifle (including Bijou, Magic, and Challenge), Hawley Kalamazoo, Feltman, etc. sections. One of the biggest areas to see wonderful new clarity now is the complex of related air pistols under the H. M. Quackenbush, Walker, Pope, Bedford, Bedford and Walker, Johnson and Bye, and Cross names. Air Machine Guns are now covered in detail. And significant changes have been made to dozens of brands, including Diana, Daisy, Crosman, Sheridan, and Benjamin.

This huge book is not JUST a price guide! ANYONE interested in airguns really should have this huge guide to virtually all the world's airguns. SOLD OUT.

Shipment to international customers takes only a few days with an air shipment which adds only US $26.95 to the cost of the low cost of the book - probably less premium than would be added by most overseas booksellers. (U.S. shipments only $3.95). Use www.PayPal.com (takes only minutes to sign up) to make a quick, easy payment by credit card or bank account transfer without currency exchange concerns! (We are no longer a regular business and thus cannot take credit card orders directly -PayPal can handle that for you.) Scroll down to see details:

NOTICE: We are always looking to buy old and antique airguns: one, a few, or collections of any size!!

Lewis and Clark Airgun Returns Home!
Robert and Toshiko Beeman donate the Beeman Girandoni to the U.S. Army War College.

Tosh and I returned from a very tiring, but wonderful, trip to Pennsylvania– to pick up our museum copy of the Beeman Girandoni Austrian military repeating air rifle (made ca. 1790), painstakingly made over the last two years, using original methods and materials to produce a masterpiece which is almost as if it had just come out of the 18th century Girandoni shop, by the brilliant arms craftsman, Ernie Cowan (himself a "National Treasure"), and to donate our original specimen to the U.S. Army War College. We, and Ernie Cowan and Colin Currie (the British co-author of the new Girandoni construction manual), had a barrel of fun shooting our NEW Girandoni – it could rapid-fire 65+ of those big, heavy caliber .464” (11.75 mm), 154 grain lead balls on one charge of air and still be deadly! We will be testing it on clear ballistic jelly and new Swiss forensic “skull bone” simulation plates at Sweetwater Valley Ranch.

The donation matter was a very big decision for us. We are now feeling how it feels to give up the star item of a collection developed over four decades; a wonderful and beloved artifact which had become like a family member. Sure, we have an elegant substitute, but think how it would feel to receive a substitute- born and raised elsewhere – for your own son or daughter. The emotional impact surprised even us! Our accountant was appalled at our decision – he felt that we could have sold it for a huge amount on auction – perhaps millions – since even a terribly beat up, much less important, gun from Custer’s Last Stand has sold for close to a million – just due to its historical connection! We finally simply decided that the most important thing is that this gun goes back to where its fame and importance began: the US Army. Soooo- we donated the Beeman Girandoni repeating air rifle, now recognized by the top officers and curators of the U.S. Army War College, and so many other gun experts and historians, as THE Lewis and Clark Air Rifle, to the Army War College Heritage and Education Center, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on September 25, 2006. This donation, and the donors, of what the leading Army arms curators announced is the “Most Important Individual Gun in American History” (any gun, not just airgun!) and a “National Treasure”, were honored by three major events, with over 150 key people attending, including several generals, the leading arms curators, the leaders of the Maryland and Pennsylvania Arms Collectors Associations, many leading media reporters, arms experts, etc.. On the second day, Mrs. Beeman and I each addressed the staff of the Heritage and Education center and their invited special guests – the Army communication folks even projected my website so that I had wall size illustrations to accompany the talk. Especially important were the extremely strong professional opinions in favor of this gun’s role in the L&C expedition expressed by John Giblin, Curator, and Christopher Semancik, Arms Curator, both at the U.S. Army War College’s Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. This is the very center of the U.S. Army War College and their huge developing Army Heritage and Education Museum complex. Their strong professional opinions and their HUGE desire to have this gun led to our surprise donation. The War College’s Heritage and Education Center has big plans to make it the centerpiece of their wonderful new museum complex- the Beeman Girandoni is the only connection that the Army can display to the Lewis and Clark expedition – which in turn, as noted in detail since 2005 in the Lewis and Clark airgun sections of our website and in the October 2006 American Rifleman, may well be the reason that the USA now extends from “sea to shining sea” as every school child sings! It is now felt that this gun is the reason that the Lewis and Clark expedition was able to return – and if they had not returned the United States would have missed a tiny window of opportunity to develop an interest in the Western American areas while the Native Americans were still terribly decimated and various European powers had not yet been able to nail down their claims to these areas. While facilities which will properly display this key piece of American history are developed at the War College it is planned to produce a special display of this amazing airgun at the Pentagon.

Perspectives of the Lewis air rifle have very recently changed completely due to the evidence revealed since 2005! While it formerly had been considered just as an interesting curiosity, like a compass or a kaleidoscope, - at best just a dramatic example of the white man's technical achievements, now it has been described as the most important item on the expedition and perhaps the very reason for the expedition's success and survival!

Articles on the Beeman Girandoni airgun as the Lewis airgun have now appeared in the May 2006 We Proceeded On (the official Lewis and Clark publication, by Robert Beeman, edited by Jim Merritt), October 2006 Airgun World (by Tim Saunders), October 2006 American Rifleman (by NFM Senior Arms Curator Phil Schreier), an Australian gun guide (by Ron Owens), and are in the Jan. 2007 issue of VISIER (by Ulrich Eichstädt) – the leading German arms magazine (far more elegant and excellent than any American gun magazine!) – and a range of newspapers, websites, and TV programs – more are in preparation. The latest article is a feature article in the Sixth Edition of the Blue Book of Airguns, which appeared in March 2007. (The American Rifleman copy appeared complete with support for the Girandoni/Napoleon myth – which I had edited out in a draft sent to me! Ulrich Eichstädt, the VISIER editor, is distressed by that, as they have been trying to kill that myth for decades!). More details about the role of the Beeman Girandoni on the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803-06 are given in the Lewis Airgun-New Evidence section of this website and in the Antique Austrian Airguns section (which even illustrates our .46 caliber specimen of a modern version of a Girandoni repeating airgun made for use by European partisans against the Nazi occupation in WW2) (see Index of this website.)

March 19, 2007 - the Lewis Airgun-New Evidence section of this website has wonderful new information about what gun publications around the world are saying about this airgun!

The cover of the May 2006 issue of We Proceeded On (the official Lewis and Clark publication) features the "Air Power Diplomacy" painting that we commissioned showing Lewis demonstrating his airgun to the Yankton Sioux on August 30, 1804. Inside this special issue on the Lewis and Clark guns is our article on the Lewis airgun.

To be sure, the article is only a brief summary of this website's on-going information on the same subject, but it does make a good introduction for Lewis and Clark fans. Jim Merritt, the WPO editor, was so enthused about our article, and our enthusiastic comments that Ernest Cowan and Rick Keller had provided the basic clues that finally identified this gun, that he went to visit them. He added a rather unprecedented section to the magazine about Ernie's incredible work in making museum level copies (only four!) of the Girandoni military repeating air rifle - just like Lewis was carrying over two centuries ago - when everyone "knew" that a rifle could only fire once before being reloaded. Lewis' air rifle truly was an assault rifle of the period and probably changed American history!!

See our newly commissioned painting "Airpower Diplomacy" showing Captain Meriwether Lewis demonstrating his "assault air rifle" to the Indians! Click here for the "Lewis Air Rifle" - New Hard Evidence section. Contact us at website@Beemans.net for info on obtaining copies of this delightful painting- using the Gicleé method of making copies on art canvas which are hard to distinguish from the original oil painting.

- Hopefully, most everyone knows by now that we sold Beeman Precision Airguns in 1993 - and the new owners have gone their independent way, not always the way Mrs. Beeman and I would have run the operation - but sincere in their own way. We have no connection with the new Beeman company - but it seems important to clear up some confusion about their new catalog. If you have a Beeman catalog which can be flipped over to read as a Marksman catalog - then you do NOT have a regular Beeman catalog - that is just a special economy line catalog for use in mass market stores. Remember that Marksman and the new Beeman company are owned by the same Delaware firm. The real catalog still features such classics as the Beeman R1 rifle and Beeman P1 pistol, a full range of pellets, etc. etc. If you don't have one then ask Beeman at www.Beeman.com for one. Sorry, we don't have any for distribution.

Airgunner still in prison, after almost two years and thousands of dollars of legal costs, for having an airgun silencer with fabric insides - designed to be destroyed by a firearm blast. Built-in silencers, of whatever name*, are not exempt!
*(It really doesn't matter if the sound reducing device is built in or attached, nor does it matter whether it is called a silencer, moderator, sound damper, or whatever - or even if it was built so that a single discharge on a firearm will destroy it.. An airgun with a silencer almost surely is another arrest or lawsuit waiting to happen! At best, the owner of an airgun silencer may come out of court with only a few thousand dollars in legal costs and a felony record for a suspended sentence! The fact that many have been sold on the open market will not excuse the violation nor reduce the fact that the silencer user has given airgunning a bad name and a further push toward onerous restrictions!))

WHEN IS THE NEW BLUE BOOK OF AIRGUNS COMING OUT??
What about additions and corrections??

Remember that every issue has material of lasting interest and the color sections of guns feature different airguns every year - so you get a cumulative set of high resolution color images and those key airgun articles by a having complete series of the editions.

It is both sad, and a bit amusing, to hear anyone complain that some detail or model has been left out of this huge volume or that something in the BBA needs correction. Obviously in a huge book of this scope and bold coverage, there will always be errors and omissions. If we waited until we were sure that everything was right - then the editions would never get published! If there is an error or omission in one edition, we will take the blame for it - if you see it and don't tell us - then it is your fault if it appears again!! Only by continual input can we improve this series of books! You can contact Blue Book Publications directly with your input, but they get hundreds of emails and letters each day. There is a good chance that your info could get lost that way. The best way is to tell the senior author, Robert Beeman, directly and ASAP - at website@Beemans.net. You don't have to be a fancy writer or even have complete information. And we try to incorporate ALL inputs of use in each upcoming edition. We do not have a listing of "more important" groups that we put ahead of outside input. We don't promise to use all your material, but ALL constructive inputs are very seriously considered!

There is no editorial and research staff for this international series - Robert Beeman is responsible for many of the articles and, by my own efforts, and with the help of several fine contributors (most of whom we only hear from every few years), all material on discontinued models and vintage airguns. I am not on the Blue Book staff and I live thousands of miles from the Blue Book offices. This is a work of love for me - my tiny Blue Book stipend covers only a tiny fraction of my expenses in doing this. As the main director and contributor to these books, I average over a thousand hours per year just on these Blue Books. This is the non-profit phase of my life and I am delighted if my contribution is helpful to others. John Allen is a full-time staff member of Blue Book publications. In addition to a lot of work on other Blue Book publications, he is responsible for current models of airguns - you may contact him directly at Blue Book Publications or thru me.

Don't count on "someone else" making the additions and corrections. It is completely impractical to pick out details of value to the BBA series from any publications, forums, websites, etc. We DO NOT follow the airgun forums (take a quick look at any of the airgun forums and it will be clear that we would have to wade through an enormous amount of chatter to find a few grains of good, new information about older airgun models)- but some forum items do get copied and forwarded to us. We count on YOU contacting us! Remember, we consider pricing to be only the third priority of these books- model and maker information is the most important. (Frankly, I would just as soon that values were not even considered in these books!).

Don't just think of this book as a price guide. You simply cannot understand the current and historical airgun market and field without this book! It is the key to the world's airguns. First and foremost: The Blue Book of Airguns is a REFERENCE BOOK about the airguns of the world! (It is interesting to note that many, if not most, of the questions asked on the various airgun forums are answered right in these books!)

This is a quantum leap up in size and quality! Over 150 additional brands, over 50 more pages in the A-Z section, hundreds more photographs, etc. - a heavy book now almost an inch thick - SOLD OUT. Click on the Sale and Wanted section for MUCH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE BOOKS and how to order and pay. (As senior author, I will be glad to autograph copies upon request.)

You just can't know the airgun field without having this book! Information on values is its third priority - behind tremendous amounts of information about the makers and information on, and unequalled illustrations of, thousands of modern and vintage airguns. The general response: " It's the best damn airgun book ever!" More info in the Sale and Wanted section of this website.

The fine firm of Webley and Scott closed its doors on 22 December 2005, after over 200 year of making gun parts, including 80 years of airgun manufacture. The company's closing statement included this explanation: "This government's paranoia about guns, the impending changes in legislation, the adverse publicity in the national press coupled with the economic recession we are experiencing, has brought us to a position which the shareholders cannot support any longer."
And this note about the group that was split off from them some time ago: "Webley International is unaffected by the administration of Webley & Scott Ltd and will continue to trade as normal, supplying air gun accessories, imported air guns, blank firers, knives, pellets, scopes etc. as before." However, our key contact in Germany informs us that he lost some parts which had sent to Venom, a custom shop within Webley, and cannot seem to obtain his parts back or any Webley replacement parts. So hang on to your Webley parts and gather what Webley guns and items that you can! And keep a keen eye out for those Webley "Gnats" - a special Webley edition of the classical Gat air pistols. These were put on the market just before the closure. So few were produced and sold that even most Webley salesmen did not know about them. Now they probably will be super rare! (See the Webley section in the Blue Book of Airguns, 5th edition, for an image and more info.) Latest flash - the Webley name, and some company material, has been purchased by a British airgun seller - so the Webley name will live on!

Sorry about delays in response, Tosh and I were in Alaska from August 25 to Sept. 7 and then I got quite ill:

After being laid up with a huge respiratory infection, imported from Alaska (perhaps contracted from down under fellow travelers, to whose bugs I was not immune), finally I feel enough better to comment a bit about our fantastic Cruise West trip to the Inland Passages of Alaska and the Denali Range. Only 55 persons on the cruise; 8 on the Denali ("Mt. MacKinley") exploration. We saw the wonderful expected things along the inland passages but were stunned by the reversal of most of our thinking about inland Alaska. Never realized that tundra can be fairly steep and that most of inland Alaska basically is a desert with less than 15” total precipitation (snow and rain) annually on top of permafrost water barrier – with such angled sunlight that the precipitation does not evaporate – nor melt the impenetrable permafrost just below the surface. It is marvelous the way that both the wildlife and the natives have come back to their old ways and numbers – streams almost solid with salmon – both fish and game harvested on a sustained basis. Mt. Sheep and other wildlife have had over a 1000% comeback in the Denali National Wilderness Area – thru the efforts of Teddy Roosevelt, Charles Sheldon, and the Boone and Crocket Club of New York, all three of whom were/are trophy hunters! (The ecofreak guide could only mention that the Mt. Sheep had been almost wiped out by market hunters for the gold seekers of the late 1800s, but she just could not bring herself to mention the key, leading role of hunters, who taxed themselves to rebuild the wildlife later! Nor Ducks Unlimited’s fantastic success – without any tax money or help from Sierra Club, and others who talk so much, but follow the money!). The six main tribes of natives, and dozens of sub-groups of natives, are relearning their identities, differences, history, and languages – and we had expected only Eskimos! (Never did find out if they made pies!).

The glaciers were not only a knockout visually but intellectually – many are receding, like the famous Mendenhall Glacier – shrunk back by 64 miles since it started rapidly receding in the 1700s – yes, Seventeen Hundred! Nearby is a glacier that is advancing! Glacier Bay has glaciers that have had the fastest retreat in history. When Captain George Vancouver sailed into the bay in 1794 he reported a glacier front a mile thick. When John Muir visited in 1879 (85 years later) that glacier front had retreated 48 miles from the 1794 front. But in 2004, 125 years after Muir's visit, the glacier had only retreated 17 additional miles! (Which period had the greatest number of SUV's and aerosol cans??).

The National Forest Service experts turned out for seminars, explaining that we are in a most unusual warm period of the Ice Age; there clearly seems to be global warming, BUT the involvement of mankind in that warming is not at all so clear. Too many workers and media folk are jumping from the clear understanding that recent global warming is happening, at this point in time, to an unsupported, but wildly popular, conclusion that man, with significant activity involving only a very tiny percentage of this planet’s entire surface, via actions after the main amount of glacier retreat, is the cause. These local experts stressed that the obvious changes are due, to a lesser or greater degree, to changes in earth axis tilt, and perhaps the retreat of the moon away from the earth or sunspot energy output to the earth, and that, if the past is any clue to the cycles of the future, the present warming ,may be only temporary and that given “normal cycles”, Canada and Northern USA can expect to be under 1000’ of ice in perhaps 3000 years. This would be more like the norm of the last hundreds of thousands of years – maybe we will want to see if we can produce more “greenhouse warming” to save the Great White Waste!

(Side note: mankind may not be the main source of the greenhouse emissions. But, even if we were presently the main source, and Americans and Europeans were to achieve the absolutely impossible status of producing NO greenhouse gases at all - India and China would be producing more of such gases, within 20 years, than all of the rest of the world's humans combined! We, and those countries of so much greater industrial growth, might hugely benefit from the ability to run on hydrogen as a fuel - but at present producing such fuel is very inefficient and expensive. It might be necessary to "bite the bullet" and make some hard, necessary decisions instead of dreaming. We can have almost unlimited energy from atomic means - and we really have the means of doing this quite safely NOW. Such energy sources could allow huge production of hydrogen as well as electrical power and even make feasible huge programs of desalination of seawater and long distance distribution of desalinated water.)

I cannot state, and have little authority to state, that global warming is not basically caused by human factors, BUT I do strongly feel that the present "slam dunk" approach, of not only the media but even highly liberal institutions, of treating the cause and effect as if it was a social issue to be decided by consensus is irresponsible. Polls and surveys are NOT going to bring us to the truth of the matter. It also seems irresponsible for eco-critics to say on one hand that we must cut back on fossil fuel use while at the same time lobbying against generation of power by nuclear means.

I found this note in the Common Sense Technology blog archive for July 23, 2005 to really hit the nail on the head:

"I also found this Gallup poll survey of climate scientists where they found that only 17% of those surveyed agreed that humans were causing global warming. A more recent survey continued to find that a majority of climate scientists disagreed that climate change was primarily due to human activity, although others say that the survey methodology was next to useless."

The National Forest Service speakers also highlighted Alaska's great success in maintaining sustained populations and yields of salmon and other wildlife. For the sustained harvest of fish, the key is a fixed number of commercial fishing license- which, like liquor licenses, can be bought and sold. Each year, based on field research, the government tells each operator how big a harvest he can take that year - and the license holders are eager to abide by the restrictions - a violation would mean the loss of their golden egg goose - the license! The experts also discussed the success of reforestation (actually most of the USA has had great success in reforestation- again not much mentioned by the news media) and the interesting matter of glacial rebound(!).

Climate of Fear
Global-warming alarmists intimidate dissenting scientists into silence.

BY RICHARD LINDZEN
Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT
Wednesday, April 12, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

There have been repeated claims that this past year's hurricane activity was another sign of human-induced climate change. Everything from the heat wave in Paris to heavy snows in Buffalo has been blamed on people burning gasoline to fuel their cars, and coal and natural gas to heat, cool and electrify their homes. Yet how can a barely discernible, one-degree increase in the recorded global mean temperature since the late 19th century possibly gain public acceptance as the source of recent weather catastrophes? And how can it translate into unlikely claims about future catastrophes?

The answer has much to do with misunderstanding the science of climate, plus a willingness to debase climate science into a triangle of alarmism. Ambiguous scientific statements about climate are hyped by those with a vested interest in alarm, thus raising the political stakes for policy makers who provide funds for more science research to feed more alarm to increase the political stakes. After all, who puts money into science--whether for AIDS, or space, or climate--where there is nothing really alarming? Indeed, the success of climate alarmism can be counted in the increased federal spending on climate research from a few hundred million dollars pre-1990 to $1.7 billion today. It can also be seen in heightened spending on solar, wind, hydrogen, ethanol and clean coal technologies, as well as on other energy-investment decisions.

But there is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis.

To understand the misconceptions perpetuated about climate science and the climate of intimidation, one needs to grasp some of the complex underlying scientific issues. First, let's start where there is agreement. The public, press and policy makers have been repeatedly told that three claims have widespread scientific support: Global temperature has risen about a degree since the late 19th century; levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased by about 30% over the same period; and CO2 should contribute to future warming. These claims are true. However, what the public fails to grasp is that the claims neither constitute support for alarm nor establish man's responsibility for the small amount of warming that has occurred. In fact, those who make the most outlandish claims of alarm are actually demonstrating skepticism of the very science they say supports them. It isn't just that the alarmists are trumpeting model results that we know must be wrong. It is that they are trumpeting catastrophes that couldn't happen even if the models were right as justifying costly policies to try to prevent global warming.

If the models are correct, global warming reduces the temperature differences between the poles and the equator. When you have less difference in temperature, you have less excitation of extratropical storms, not more. And, in fact, model runs support this conclusion. Alarmists have drawn some support for increased claims of tropical storminess from a casual claim by Sir John Houghton of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that a warmer world would have more evaporation, with latent heat providing more energy for disturbances. The problem with this is that the ability of evaporation to drive tropical storms relies not only on temperature but humidity as well, and calls for drier, less humid air. Claims for starkly higher temperatures are based upon there being more humidity, not less--hardly a case for more storminess with global warming.

So how is it that we don't have more scientists speaking up about this junk science? It's my belief that many scientists have been cowed not merely by money but by fear. An example: Earlier this year, Texas Rep. Joe Barton issued letters to paleoclimatologist Michael Mann and some of his co-authors seeking the details behind a taxpayer-funded analysis that claimed the 1990s were likely the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year in the last millennium. Mr. Barton's concern was based on the fact that the IPCC had singled out Mr. Mann's work as a means to encourage policy makers to take action. And they did so before his work could be replicated and tested--a task made difficult because Mr. Mann, a key IPCC author, had refused to release the details for analysis. The scientific community's defense of Mr. Mann was, nonetheless, immediate and harsh. The president of the National Academy of Sciences--as well as the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union--formally protested, saying that Rep. Barton's singling out of a scientist's work smacked of intimidation.

All of which starkly contrasts to the silence of the scientific community when anti-alarmists were in the crosshairs of then-Sen. Al Gore. In 1992, he ran two congressional hearings during which he tried to bully dissenting scientists, including myself, into changing our views and supporting his climate alarmism. Nor did the scientific community complain when Mr. Gore, as vice president, tried to enlist Ted Koppel in a witch hunt to discredit anti-alarmist scientists--a request that Mr. Koppel deemed publicly inappropriate. And they were mum when subsequent articles and books by Ross Gelbspan libelously labeled scientists who differed with Mr. Gore as stooges of the fossil-fuel industry.

Sadly, this is only the tip of a non-melting iceberg. In Europe, Henk Tennekes was dismissed as research director of the Royal Dutch Meteorological Society after questioning the scientific underpinnings of global warming. Aksel Winn-Nielsen, former director of the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization, was tarred by Bert Bolin, first head of the IPCC, as a tool of the coal industry for questioning climate alarmism. Respected Italian professors Alfonso Sutera and Antonio Speranza disappeared from the debate in 1991, apparently losing climate-research funding for raising questions.

And then there are the peculiar standards in place in scientific journals for articles submitted by those who raise questions about accepted climate wisdom. At Science and Nature, such papers are commonly refused without review as being without interest. However, even when such papers are published, standards shift. When I, with some colleagues at NASA, attempted to determine how clouds behave under varying temperatures, we discovered what we called an "Iris Effect," wherein upper-level cirrus clouds contracted with increased temperature, providing a very strong negative climate feedback sufficient to greatly reduce the response to increasing CO2. Normally, criticism of papers appears in the form of letters to the journal to which the original authors can respond immediately. However, in this case (and others) a flurry of hastily prepared papers appeared, claiming errors in our study, with our responses delayed months and longer. The delay permitted our paper to be commonly referred to as "discredited." Indeed, there is a strange reluctance to actually find out how climate really behaves. In 2003, when the draft of the U.S. National Climate Plan urged a high priority for improving our knowledge of climate sensitivity, the National Research Council instead urged support to look at the impacts of the warming--not whether it would actually happen.

Alarm rather than genuine scientific curiosity, it appears, is essential to maintaining funding. And only the most senior scientists today can stand up against this alarmist gale, and defy the iron triangle of climate scientists, advocates and policymakers.

Clear thinking Tom Holzel added this note:

IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO SAY GLOBAL WARMING IS IMPORTANT To take some amount of action (with some cost, including the cost of turning away from other issues), we have to ask how important, and conclude that it's very important. Fortunately, most people when presented with the facts don't find that it competes very well against other priorities. From a Wall Street Journal piece today on skeptic Bjorn Lomborg:

In 2004, he [Lomborg] invited eight of the world's top economists--including four Nobel Laureates--to Copenhagen, where they were asked to evaluate the world's problems, think of the costs and efficiencies attached to solving each, and then produce a prioritized list of those most deserving of money... While the economists were from varying political stripes, they largely agreed. The numbers were just so compelling: $1 spent preventing HIV/AIDS would result in about $40 of social benefits, so the economists put it at the top of the list (followed by malnutrition, free trade and malaria). In contrast, $1 spent to abate global warming would result in only about two cents to 25 cents worth of good; so that project dropped to the bottom.
"Most people, average people, when faced with these clear choices, would pick the $40-of-good project over others--that's rational," says Mr. Lomborg. "The problem is that most people are simply presented with a menu of projects, with no prices and no quantities. What the Copenhagen Consensus was trying to do was put the slices and prices on a menu. And then require people to make choices."

...the Copenhagen Consensus Center, held a new version of the exercise in Georgetown. In attendance were eight U.N. ambassadors, including John Bolton. (China and India signed on, though no Europeans.) They were presented with global projects, the merits of each of which were passionately argued by experts in those fields. Then they were asked: If you had an extra $50 billion, how would you prioritize your spending?

Mr. Lomborg grins and says that before the event he briefed the ambassadors: "Several of them looked down the list and said 'Wait, I want to put a No. 1 by each of these projects, they are all so important.' And I had to say, 'Yeah, uh, that's exactly the point of this exercise--to make you not do that.'" So rank they did. And perhaps no surprise, their final list looked very similar to that of the wise economists. At the top were better health care, cleaner water, more schools and improved nutrition. At the bottom was . . . global warming.

The wildlife was great and numerous; most quite close – usually within easy rifle range for me – but somehow I didn’t think that I would increase my already politically incorrect position by hauling out a scoped magnum centerfire and resting it on the ship’s railing – and asking for a game pickup via Zodiac inflatable boat! Sure would have perked up some of the meals! (Alaska is very pro-wildlife, but not all that Politically Correct – a restaurant featuring game dishes has a road sign announcing: “There’s room on Earth for all of God’s creatures – right next to the mashed potatoes!”).

Nevertheless, it was good to get back to our own paradise. Don’t think that we could handle 20 hours of night, interrupted only by 4 hours of twilight, and -40 and -60 temps. A local told us that when the winter weather “warms up” from -60 to +20, an eighty degree rise, that kids start wearing T-shirts! Hmmm? And Juneau property values like Sonoma county, California (small 3BR= $800,000)?? We purchased Alaska from the Russians for about 7 million dollars; I think that we will keep it – good bargain – at that price, one would think that it had been made in China!!

It is said that winning both of the Best Gun and Best Exhibit awards at both the Baltimore and Kansas City Gun Collector Shows is the GRAND SLAM of gun collecting awards. So we were incredibly delighted to win both of those awards at the NRA National Gun Collector Show in Kansas City on July 29-31, 2005! The judges told us that out of the possible 300 scoring points, the highest rating ever had been about 285. Think how amazed we were to receive a score of 305 - the judges had added a bonus of 5 points! The top collectors, curators, and arms historians involved were unanimous in accepting this Girandoni repeating air rifle as the actual Lewis air rifle!

Again, this was the first time that an airgun had ever won these prestigious prizes - airgunning got another super boost!

(Thanks to the U.S. Army War College for providing high security transport of the Lewis airgun to and from the Kansas City show.)

Mrs. Beeman and I were stunned and overwhelmed to have the critical judges of the Maryland Arms Collectors’ Association award us the “Best Individual Weapon” silver bowl for the Lewis and Clark Air Rifle– this is considered the “Best of Show” award; their top award- (The other awards are handsome glass plates). The exhibit itself, with the Lewis and Clark flintlock, was awarded Third Place for Educational Exhibits.

Dick Berglund who presented the silver trophy commented on one of the “world's greatest adventures, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the ONE GUN that made it possible!” Many commented that not only was this a major historical matter, but that it was a huge boost for American airgunning. This was the first such award ever made for an airgun and it was awarded by one of the world’s largest arms collecting organizations, a group that, in the past, largely has ignored airguns as having any particular significance!

NEW!! Click here on "AUSTRIAN LARGE BORE AIRGUNS" to see our great new section on the Girandoni Air Rifles and Airguns - and related Girandoni system and Girandoni style airguns - including information and illustrations about reproducing this gun!

The Beemans and THE gun are being hosted by the US Army War College for an invitation only show of historical US Army weapons (the US Army considers this airgun to qualify as a military arm of the Corps of Discovery, 1803-06, - an official US Army operation!) and have also been invited to display at the NRA arms exhibits. The Army War College show is in Carlisle, PA on May 14 and/or 15, 2005 and the NRA exhibit will be in Kansas City July 29-31, 2005. Visitors will be able to see the original gun close up and the incredible museum copy of the gun, pump, field kit, and accessories. (The newly described US "Model 1800" flintlock rifle - the official firearm of the expedition, as just reproduced and identified by Ernie Cowan and Rick Fuller, will also be featured).

It is slated to be the key item in a high security exhibit being planned for the Pentagon in early 2009.

Alarm about Airgun Injuries Among Youth!

By Robert Beeman Ph.D.
18 July 2005

Recently there has been a good deal of notice in America's newspapers and other media about the "terrible threat" of powerful new airguns. An abstract of the new pediatric paper which has stirred much of this interest is at this website: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/114/5/1357 . It stated that:

"Between 1990 and 2000, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 39 nonpowder gun/related deaths, of which 32 were children younger than 15 years. The introduction of high-powered air rifles in the 1970s has been associated with approximately 4 deaths per year."

There has been quite a bit of excited talk by the talking heads about this summary of old information in the U.S. media – esp. by the anti-gun crowd. Four deaths per year actually does not seem very high for devices, owned by tens of millions of people, which must be dangerous to carry out the function for which they were designed: – shooting outdoors where one is exposed to side winds and where the flattest possible trajectory is desirable because it is almost impossible to guess the exact distance of the target and to compensate for the highly arched path of low velocity projectiles. During the stated period, US shooters were using tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of such airguns and firing billions of airgun projectiles per year (almost 8 billion annually just from Daisy)– so actually the injury record is astonishingly LOW! During the same time, firearms, skateboards, and bicycles, to mention only a few items that also must be dangerous to carry out their intended functions, have accounted for many, many fold this number of injuries! A previous study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission itself is interesting. They established a Hazard Index based on the number of injuries per 100,000 persons. These ratings are much higher for products which are used by youth, such as airguns, because they multiply the basic index by 2.5 for such products. Nevertheless, gas, air and spring guns had an index of only 1.9 as compared with 2.8 for paper money and coins, 3.0 for fishing equipment, 4.9 for skates and skateboards, 5.8 for floors, 8.7 for beds, 25.4 for stairs, and 35.7 for bicycles. These figures suggest that bicycles are 1,736% more hazardous than airguns, and that beds and fishing equipment are respectively 357% and 58% more hazardous! Firearms are not under the jurisdiction of the CPSC, but the number of unintentional firearm related deaths per YEAR declined from 526 deaths in 1993 to 213 deaths in 1999. (Quite a contrast to the 3.9 per year average for airgun deaths!).

Those who are speaking with alarm about the airgun injuries mainly are pushing the idea that the pump pneumatics (the main models involved are Daisy and Crosman pump pneumatics of only moderate 160 to 700 fps velocity) are something new, different, and alarmingly dangerous. However, airguns of lethal power have been around for centuries. Benjamin has been selling huge number of multi-stroke pump pneumatics for over a century; Crosman started to produce such models 81 years ago and even Daisy has had such models for over 32 years!! Certainly long enough for many generations of the public to get used to the idea that all youth-oriented, multiple-stroke, pump pneumatic airguns are not just like the very different single stroke Daisy “Red Ryder” BB gun! The misdirected anti-gun folks want to see airguns outlawed or all reduced to muzzle velocities under 350 fps! (The approximate impact velocity necessary for a BB to perforate average human skin.) (It is interesting to note that injuries by really high power airguns, 800 to 1200+ fps, are so low as to be almost off the radar screen! But the agitators could cause "the baby to be thrown out with the bathwater" when attacking the mass of youth oriented airguns. The legislators certainly do not know, or care about, the difference!)

What also is NOT noted is that almost all of these 39 injuries were the result of intentional shootings or reckless handling of guns, especially when the young people were allowed to use these guns with little or no adult supervision! Many of the injuries were related to youth violence with airguns and firearms. Actually, this whole matter speaks of misdirected concern. After a very recent long and very intense investigation (see other notes about this elsewhere on this website, www.Beemans.net ) by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the CPSC chairman Hal Stratton reported in 2004 that:

1. “The Commission (CPSC) has never found that air rifles, or any model of air rifle, constitute a substantial product hazard.”

2. “All of the injuries that can be attributed to the guns at issue in this case (CPSC vs. Daisy) were preventable. They all involved either someone pointing the gun at someone and pulling the trigger or playing with the gun in an inappropriate manner – all in violation of widely known and accepted safety rules for the use of guns”.

The anti-gun hysterics would lead us to believe that something new has arrived and there is a growing, spreading problem! Wrong on both counts. What these anti-gun articles and even the CPSC are NOT mentioning is the trend in airgun injuries. DESPITE the FACT that the American airgun makers have not adopted the doom-sayers unreasonable demands to reduce velocity below that capable of perforating human skin, adding the very undesirable automatic safeties (see www.Beemans.net ), etc. etc., the trend of injuries is sharply down. This has been thoroughly documented in another very recent paper: “Trends in BB/pellet gun injuries in children and teenagers in the United States, 1985-99” by M.H. Nguyen et. al. in Injury Prevention, August 2002: pages 185-191. There it is shown that “BB/pellet gun related and firearm related injury rates show similar declines since the early 1990s. These declines coincide with a growing number of prevention efforts aimed at reducing injuries to children from unsupervised access to guns and from youth violence.”

It is now estimated that between 30 and 100 MILLION airguns are in service in the USA alone. We should really ask if four deaths a year, although tragic for those involved, is cause for alarm concerning a product that must be dangerous to be useful (including intended use in formal and informal field target shooting and pest control out to 50 or 60 yards), and which requires careful use. A further bit of perspective is interesting: Lightening strikes reportedly kill an average of 50 persons per year in the United States. So, an American is about twelve times more likely to be hit and killed by lightening than by an airgun! The cost and effort of further controls, of doubtful value, on airguns could much better be spent on educating persons how to avoid getting hit by lightening.

What is also not noted is that Daisy, and other airgun makers, have spent tens of millions of dollars on programs to teach safe airgun handling to millions and millions of young people. Just the huge programs of Daisy alone probably have prevented hundreds, if not thousands, of airgun injuries. NRA also has big airgun safety programs which address the REALITY of promoting safe handling, storage, and parental supervision of the millions of airguns already out there, instead of worrying about making inappropriate changes on the much fewer new ones being sold! The problem is the shooter, not the gun.

Another dumb rumor bites the dust: NO, the Beeman company has not been sold again after our sale of the company in 1993! (Click on blue type for details). The Beeman company continues to form a basic part of the long term plans of S/R Industries - they have always intended to use Beeman Precision Airguns to help balance the sales of much lower cost products produced by Marksman Products, another company that own. See also the Scoop on the Sale of Beeman in this website.

Airguns don't usually get a lot of attention from the mainstream media of the world. A big exception was the appearance of a wonderful article on airguns for adults in the Summer 2004 issue of FORBES FYI magazine, that slick page publication of the famous Forbes family. Very professional written by Jerome Cramer, it covers adult airguns from regular production models to exotic custom built guns costing thousands of dollars and even the air rifle carried by Captain Lewis and Clark. If you can't find it at your local newsstand you can get one from me; I picked up almost a dozen. $4.95 each plus $1.95 media mail (2-3 weeks) or $4.95 each plus $3.95 by express air. Click on a PayPal logo in the Sale and Wanted section of this website or send a check or money order (click on Contact Us.)

No sooner had the dust settled from Airgun Illustrated magazine's downfall - but another airgun magazine was born. However, this time the magazine is on-line and shows a much better chance of survival due to the economies of such publication - and the illustrations can be much better and all in color for no extra cost! Wayne Trapp and his wife Dena have established Addictive Airgunning. Its first two issues, January and February 2004 put out over 110 pages each! Click on www.airgunshow.net to find out more. As America's only airgun magazine, this is well worth supporting - NOW

Of course, he never really went away, but when he was so foolishly released from running Airgun Illustrated, much to their eventual dismay and destruction, he has been busy moving, getting established in a new job, etc.. Tom is simply the world's best airgun writer; the kind of article that would have made Airgun Illustrated great appeared in the February 2, 2004 issue of Shotgun News.
Tom's article: "Pneumatics Are Back" is a classic - covering the field from vintage airguns, through an airgun that can fire a cement-filled pop can almost a mile, to the latest, powerful field airguns - wonderful text and nice color pics! He even covers the question as to how to consider the American and other pump and gas guns. Be sure to get it!! Unfortunately for all of us, Tom no longer has the time to produce such articles often enough! No, Tom did not recently die in a car crash - there wasn't even a car crash. The entire story was a stupid stunt. Like the story of my death (See "A Very Personal Note"), his death was greatly exaggerated!

- was held at the Rock Island Auction Company in Moline, Illinois on Dec. 13-15, 2003. About 1200 vintage and antique airguns were sold in one incredible day. New price levels were established for many premium items. It is clear that the actual higher values of some models not previously in the former mainstream of airgun collecting are now being realized. The star of the show was the First Model Haviland and Gunn Air Pistol - certainly the most important airgun in the history of manufactured airguns - this little gem was the gun which started the commercial production of airguns all over the world. Including the auction house premium and expenses, the sale price was just about $7000 !! A virtually unknown version of the Super Sheridan, the intermediate Model A/B, sold for over $4000 (sales premium included) and a wonderful pistol form of the Eisenwerke Gaggenau Model 2 Columbia air rifle, one of the most important pioneers of manufactured airguns (as opposed to the ones that had been custom made by individual gunsmiths for centuries), cost the buyer $4900. The single British air cane went for about $2100, premium and expenses included. The famous Parker Air Pistol (incorrectly known as the Parker Hale) with its ungainly crank is very rarely seen, esp. in fine condition. The fine specimen here took $3750.

Of course, we must remember that not just one high bidder creates these final prices - it takes the combined bidding of others to finally push the price to the winning level. Clearly, many bids were being received over the phones - probably several from overseas. I purchased a number of items, mainly with the objective of adding them to the Fourth Edition of the Blue Book of Airguns. Some of the items which I missed are being offered to us and I will be seeking out others for the Beeman Airgun Collection - which serves as the base for the Blue Book of Airguns. Some of my purchases were upgrades and the surplus guns will be offered, especially for trade, as I get the time away from airgun writing and research.

Webley Mark II Target Pistols proved to be twice as valuable as Mark I air pistols. Surprisingly, there were four Crosman 1923 air rifles - Crosman's first model - but bidders who carefully examined these guns ahead of the auction found that most, if not all, were made up on non-original receivers. Airgun expert and rebuilder John Groenewold reported that he had rebuilt a couple of the Crosman Model 38 pistols; the buyers may be surprised to find that they are now .20 caliber. A .25 caliber BSA rifle had been relined to that caliber in England- so one is never just sure what they are getting in an auction.

^{The
Rock Island Auction Company printed an auction list of the 1200 airguns - with
almost every gun illustrated in excellent color. Much of the information was not
correct, but this is a very valuable item for collectors. It was published at
$45. It was their first list to ever sell out completely and now will be very
hard to locate. The estimated values are interesting, but only the separate,
list of actual realized prices including the 15% sales premium is really
meaningful! - New stories on the Rock Island auction appear in
the Fourth Edition of the Blue Book of Airguns and in Airgun Ads.}

Yo, Airgunology readers! I received the following email from Marianne McBeth, legal counsel at Daisy. After years of wrangling, the courts have ruled that two key Daisy products are not unduly dangerous. Unfortunately, a lot of "adult airgun" owners will say: "So what! That has nothing to do with me - I'm only concerned with my great imported airguns!" Such an outlook is much worse than the lack of interest in handgun firearms and "assault weapons" by owners of hunting firearms: shotguns and rifles. At least the shotguns and hunting rifles are a a big enough part of the firearms picture that they must be considered when new firearm laws are made. The situation in airgunning is very different; imported high power airguns make up less than perhaps five percent of the American airgun market! I know from my extensive work in the legal areas of the airgun market that it is an open secret that there is a powerful and continual drive to eliminate all airguns - at least those over 350 fps MV - and we don't have any second amendment protection! If the present decision had been the other way, this would have led quite directly to ALL airguns over 350 fps MV being subject to severe regulation and even being forbidden! And most of the lawmakers and public would not even have been aware that such new laws would hurt the harmless owners of the so-called "adult airgunners" - or cared!

For the real scoop on this matter, scroll way down in this website page to the RED ALERT UPDATE below and see the warnings and information that www.Beemans.net had been issuing about this extremely serious matter. The tremendous response that airgunners exerted had a major effect in this matter. My sources in the CPSC said that they hardly ever had seen such a great response from the using public - as had been expressed by the airgunners of America. Thanks to all who responded!!

BUT WE MUST NOT EVER LET OUR GUARD DOWN - we are facing more problems to airgun ownership and use in the USA!

URGENT CALL TO ACTION TO ALL AIRGUNNERS: (DEADLINE DEC. 26, 2003)! If you do not respond to this call for help you do not deserve to continue to own or use airguns - and you will end up impotent (or with huge facial warts for females) and blind: Thanks to all who responded - hope that Clearasil and Viagra is helping the rest of you!

The CPSC action has been resolved by settlement, but before it is officially final, there is a public comment period. Daisy submitted another proposal to enhance our safety education to prevent misuse of airguns, and the proposal was finally accepted. When an agency accepts a settlement, the terms and opinions must be published in the Federal Register to allow public comment, especially comments opposing the acceptance of the settlement. Daisy would urge you to comment on supporting the settlement. It is uncertain what effect the opposing comments would have, but certainly both sides should be represented. We know there is at least one strong consumer activist, anti-gun group that is making a concerted effort to oppose the settlement.

If you read the Commissioners’ opinions, you will see that Commissioner Gall and Stratton understood the waste of money and abuse of process by this action. Even Commissioner Moore, who voted against the settlement, listed the procedural issues and his detail showed the massive waste and misuse of resources. This settlement rightfully shifts more responsibility onto the user, and focuses on education as the key to preventing injuries. It has been very difficult to fight the federal government, but this action was a back door to the entire shooting industry, and was an effort to reduce individual responsibility of the public by government precedent. The issues brought forth by the CPSC were ridiculous, and contravened basic principles of safety. If you want more detailed information about the case, read the link below for the CPSC press release, consent agreement, and opinions, or you can call me, and we’ll discuss the issues. If you are short on time, just skim Gall’s opinion – it is a nuts and bolts explanation.

The deadline for comments is DECEMBER 26, 2003. Anyone may write, individuals or groups, but without a doubt, organizations who teach shooting will have very valuable first-hand opinions. The preferred method to write is by email, since all regular mail still has to be checked first, which causes a delay. You may write by email to: tstevenson@cpsc.gov. Regular mail should be addressed to Todd Stevenson, Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C. 20207. Refer to CPSC Docket No. 02-2. Even in your email, be sure to include your name, address, and phone number (as you would in a letter to the editor of a newspaper.) Lengthy comments are not necessary, but a show of support is.

You probably do not need any refresher on the issues; however, I will list a few points to jog your memories of the issues and points that need to be reinforced:

· Shooting education works. Explain that education is the key to preventing injuries, using first-hand information from your organization or personal experience from training shooters. This point will directly address the settlement conditions of increasing warnings and safety education to prevent injuries.

· Emphasize the safety rules – there would be no accidents if every gun is treated as if it is loaded and never pointed in an unsafe direction. Airguns are not toys. Adult supervision is required. Adults who allow a youth to use an airgun unsupervised are being neglectful. We encountered a strong predisposition against guns in general. Most of the staff did not appreciate the use or enjoyment of any guns, airguns or firearms.

· There were no defects in the guns. Each injury or death resulted from someone intentionally opening the bolt, pumping the gun, closing the bolt (at which point the BB or pellet can be seen – even by all the CPSC attorneys), aiming the gun, taking the gun off “safe”, and firing the gun. The shooter’s intentional actions, whether careless or criminal, was what caused the injuries. All injuries were preventable by the shooter. Features of the airguns, such as gravity feed, manual safety buttons, and color of BBs do not make the gun “defective”. Bottom line – misuse of any gun can cause injuries.

· Simply because it is foreseeable that a small minority of persons will abuse and misuse any product ever made, does not create a defect. Foreseeable misuse by a few people does not mean that shooting at a person as a threat or in horseplay becomes “reasonable behavior”. It is never “reasonable” to point a gun at someone, whether the gun is loaded or unloaded.

· Daisy markets and sells the PowerLine guns to adults. All boxes, manuals, advertisements, website, etc., say repeatedly that these guns are for ages 16 and up, with adult supervision. Retailers will not sell minors these guns. We are very careful and mindful of our marketing efforts, and always use our efforts to reinforce safety.

Thank you for being concerned enough to write and support the settlement. The action should not have occurred in the first place; however, increasing safety efforts and public awareness is a positive measure that Daisy is pleased to take.