For once, I wasn’t digging through three different pockets at the airport. My passport, phone, credit card, glasses, lip balm, earbuds, and a snack were all exactly where I needed them, and I had the Arc’teryx Mantis 1 Waist Pack ($40) to thank. This tiny 1.5L pack is too small for layers, water bottles, or anything bulky, but that’s precisely the point. It’s built for the small items that usually disappear into pants pockets or the bottomless abyss of a larger backpack. I tested the Mantis 1 over 6 months on roughly 30 outings spanning airport travel, daily errands, and…
About a year ago, I wrote about Japan and how they’re having a problem with bears in some of its cities. The answer was, naturally, to allow people to shoot the bears before they could hurt anyone. An insurance company even started offering insurance to cover damage caused by stray bullets. Considering how densely packed Japanese cities can be, it was a good idea. However, it seems that the problem hasn’t gone away.Why? Because some people are more than a little nervous about pulling the trigger in a crowded city street.Japan is known for having some…
Area 51 is back in the public consciousness following a swarm of earthquakes near the classified Nevada military site, stirring more speculation about secret testing, UFOs, and whatever else civilians imagine happens behind the facility’s gates. Reports citing U.S. Geological Survey data identified more than a dozen quakes were recorded near the base in late April, with the strongest measured at magnitude 4.4. There is no public evidence tying the earthquakes to weapons testing, alien technology or any other covert program. But Area 51 does not need much help getting people to look toward the desert. The renewed attention comes…
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThe path to 2026 isn’t a distant road—we’re already on it. The flashpoints discussed in this article aren’t future hypotheticals; they’re present-day realities gaining momentum. As we head into a critical election year, the rhetoric will intensify, and efforts to control the narrative will accelerate, feeding directly into these emerging risks. Understanding how these seven risks are developing from current events allows you to get ahead of them. This is about us preppers taking the initiative. It’s about practical awareness of the challenges we face right now and some steps to consider for your…
When I was growing up in rural Texas, it wasn’t a question of whether you would eventually collide with a deer while driving. It was more like an inevitability. That’s evidently true for many Americans, who experience between 1 and 2 million crashes with large animals every year. But unlike my colleagues in Colorado and Montana, I’ve only had deer to worry about. They have to worry about an animal 10 times heavier: the moose. These 6-foot-tall giants can weigh up to 1,500 pounds and will absolutely destroy a vehicle in a head-on collision. They pose an even greater threat…
The Second Amendment remains the only right that basically ends at the border of the state where you live. Once you cross the state line, it’s up to politicians in the other 49 states (as well as U.S. territories and the District of Columbia) to decide if they’ll recognize your right to carry. President Donald Trump, however, wants to change that, as he made clear on Tuesday at a speech in Pennsylvania. JUST IN: President Trump reveals his administration is working on NATIONAL RIGHT TO CARRYThis would be an absolutely HUGE step towards bringing back the…
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThis weekend’s winter storm is going to be a doozy for many areas. We are looking at a convergence of atmospheric conditions that threatens to disrupt infrastructure across a massive swath of the United States. For those who track weather patterns as part of their ongoing prepping assessment, the data indicate a multi-hazard scenario involving Arctic temperatures, heavy snow accumulation, and, most critically, a significant ice storm. The Preparedness Drill: Anxiety and panic are what happen when preparation hasn’t been made. As a prepper, or at a minimum, a preparedness-minded person, you’re ready for…
This article was originally published by Joseph Solis-Mullen at The Mises Institute. Recently, Ryan McMaken posed a provocative question: if the French are willing to number their republics, why not Americans? The French, after all, openly acknowledge that their political order has undergone multiple transformations. The current French regime is known as the Fifth Republic, reflecting a succession of constitutional and political systems stretching back to the Revolution of 1789. No French historian would claim that the republic governed by Charles de Gaulle was identical to that governed by Adolphe Thiers simply because both called themselves republics. Americans, however, tend to insist…
Prepping doesn’t have to cost a lot of money if you know how to look for bargains. Garage sales and yard sales are great places to scoop up cheap survival items you might need for an emergency. The old saying that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure certainly applies here. Many people holding garage sales don’t know the true value of what they’re selling, or they simply don’t see items for how useful they are and end up selling them for next to nothing. Yard sale season is here, so now is the time to get out there and…
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When the Taurus 22TUC tip-up .22 landed in 2024, our only real gripe was the lack of a threaded barrel. Taurus just fixed that — the suppressor-host mouse gun is now real. Taurus just announced a threaded-barrel version of the 22TUC — the 10-ounce, tip-up .22 LR pocket pistol that brought back the spirit of the old PT-22 when it launched in 2024. For the subset of us who’ve been carrying a can-ready rimfire in a pocket since forever, this is the variant the platform always should have shipped with. It’s also the one TTAG specifically asked for. In our…
If you haven’t prepared for some kind of disaster or emergency scenario, now is the time. With the ongoing war in Iran, markets going crazy, and the tension between the East and West higher than it’s been in decades, there’s no time to waste. Especially if prices keep going up. If you have at least $500, then you have enough money to get prepared for all the most likely disaster scenarios. The question is, how exactly do you spend that money? It’s easy to freeze up from analysis paralysis or blow hundreds of dollars on some tactical gear you’ll never…
HK isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel with the new VP9CC. We got hands on it at NRAAM 2026, and the pitch is exactly what it sounds like: take everything people already like about the VP9 and scale it down into something you can carry with ease. No gimmicks. No weird redesign. Just a smaller VP9. And right away, that familiarity stands out. The HK VP9CC pistol has an MSRP of $1,049 wihout the optic. Should be in stores on May 1st. The controls are what you’d expect from HK: fully ambidextrous, paddle mag release, and a layout that feels…
When the FBI’s official crime stats come out later this year, we’re likely to learn that 2025 saw a record-setting decline in homicides nationwide, and that the overall homicide rate is the lowest it’s been since the FBI started keeping track in 1960. That welcome trend seems to be continuing in 2026, with criminologist Jeff Asher’s Real Time Crime Index showing another 22% decline in homicides through the first two months of the year. Still, there are some outliers, and one of them is Denver, Colorado. Last year Denver saw a 48% decrease in homicides, with…
We got hands on the new Cabot Apocalypse MAX here at NRAAM 2026, and let’s just get this out of the way up front: This thing is ridiculous. In the best (and most Cabot) way possible. If you’ve ever handled one of their pistols before, you already know the deal. Cabot Guns doesn’t really build guns for the average shooter. They build mechanical art pieces that just happen to go bang, and the Apocalypse MAX fits that mold perfectly. Visually, it’s hard to ignore. The Damascus steel slide gives every single pistol a unique look, and in person, it’s one…
Over at the FN booth, there’s one optic getting a lot of second looks and once you actually get behind it, you understand why. The new FN PUREVIEW isn’t just another micro red dot trying to squeeze into an already crowded market. FN is doing something different here. This is being billed as the first holographic pistol optic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKn6gI8_z0w Not “red dot with tweaks.” Not “slightly better glass.” Actually different. Instead of the typical curved lens setup you see on most pistol optics, the PUREVIEW uses a flat pane of glass and projects the reticle using holographic-style technology. The result…
Every show has at least one gun that makes you stop and go… WTF? This year, that might be the Pistollo 77°. We got hands on it at NRAAM 2026, and it’s definitely not your typical pistol-caliber setup. At its core, this is a lever-delayed blowback 9mm platform, which already puts it in a pretty small club. But it’s the overall design that really stands out. MSRP on the Pistollo 77° is in the $4K range. The whole thing has this blocky, one-piece look, almost like everything is wrapped inside a shell. There’s a protective shroud over the optic, another…
University of Chicago’s Dr. Anthony Douglas — architect of Illinois’ firearms tax scheme — told a legislative hearing that “poor people don’t benefit from owning firearms.” In a city where half of 911 emergency calls go unanswered, that’s not public health policy. It’s sanctioned helplessness. Dr. Anthony Douglas, a University of Chicago trauma resident and the brains behind Illinois’ Responsibility in Firearm Legislation (RIFL) Act, showed up at a legislative hearing last week and said the quiet part out loud. “I think poor people don’t benefit from owning firearms,” he told the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. “I think…
Over at the Taurus booth at NRAAM 2026, the new RPC 9mm is drawing some attention and it doesn’t take long to see why. At its core, this is a roller-delayed PCC, clearly inspired by classic designs like the MP5, but with a few modern upgrades baked in. Most noticeable right away is that Taurus didn’t just copy the look. They went with a true roller-delayed system. Even better, it includes last-round bolt hold open, which is something missing from older designs and makes a real difference in usability. The all-new Taurus RPC has an MSRP of $939.99. The controls…
