One Old Misdemeanor, a Lifetime Gun Ban, and the Iowa Ruling That Just Ended It

DES MOINES, IA — The Iowa Supreme Court has thrown out a felony conviction built on a lifetime firearm ban, ruling that the indefinite prohibition could not survive the strict scrutiny that Iowa voters wrote into the state constitution in 2022. In a 5-2 decision filed June 26, the court reverse...

By Luke McCoy

Lockheed D-21: Cold War Spy Drone

In October 1962, the C.I.A. and the U.S.A.F. requested that Lockheed study a high-speed, high-altitude drone concept for reconnaissance flights over particularly hostile territories to avoid endangering aircrews. Created during the height of the Cold War and following the shootdown of a U-2 spy p...

By Friedrich Seiltgen

POTD: Eject, Survive, Stay Silent - The S&W Model 41

Specialized equipment often reflects very specific mission requirements, and few examples are as niche as the modified Smith & Wesson Model 41 pistols issued for the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird pilot survival kits.

By Eric B

Mikoyan MiG-29: The Reactive Fulcrum?

Military aircraft design of the Cold War era could be described as akin to physics, or, more specifically, to Newton’s Third Law of motion, which states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” From lessons learned in the Vietnam War, the United States Air Force determi...

By Peter Suciu

Garmin inReach Mini 2 Satellite Communicator

There is a certain clarity that comes with getting deep into the backcountry. Cell service fades, outside noise disappears, and your focus narrows to terrain, weather, time, and decision-making. That is a big part of why many of us seek it out in the first place. That clarity also comes with resp...

By Scott Conditt

Bank Fishing Blueprint #001: Finding Hidden Ponds

Welcome to our recurring series of Bank Fishing Blueprint. Here, we will share experiences and lessons learned from years of fishing ponds, canals, and small lakes from the bank. My name is Keith Lusher, and like many anglers, I grew up fishing wherever I could find water. Whether it was a small ...

By Keith Lusher

Off-Grid Comms: Going Stealth with the Starlink Mini

Reliable communication used to be the first thing you lost the moment you stepped away from the grid. Once your cell signal faded, you were effectively on your own. Starlink, and now the Starlink Mini, have changed that reality in a way that is nothing short of game-changing. In a compact, packab...

By Scott Conditt
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