2004

⇐ 2003 2005 ⇒ January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | More | Pictures

2004 saw the US Navy acquire several thousand Mossberg 590A1 shotguns, while 10 firing models of the AA-12 were produced and demonstrated to United States Marine Corps.

The US Justice Department under Attorney General John Ashcroft issued "Whether the Second Amendment Secures an Individual Right", a lengthy memorandum opinion tracing the historical development of the Second Amendment supporting its earlier conclusion: the Second Amendment secures a personal right of individuals, not a collective right that may be invoked only by a State.

$895,897: cha-CHING!

While Ashcroft was writing memos, the NRA raised $205,402,491 and had $206,886,970 in expenses (Wayne LaPierre's salary accounted for $895,897). Their total assets at the end of 2004 were $222,841,128.

Over in Germany, Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH was incorporated into Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH, along with several other companies, and Feinwerkbau began manufacturing their History No. 2 Revolver. Meanwhile in Belgium, FN introduced the Enhanced Grenade Launcher Module (EGLM), based on the 'GL1' designed for the F2000.

January

• January 23 — US SOCOM issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for solicitation USZA22-04-R-0001.

February

• February 13 — The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported obtaining federal documents that showed the cost of the Canadian long gun registry (which was originally supposed to cost less than $2 million) had soared to CDN$2 billion.

March

• March 2 — With sunset of the assault weapons ban looming, gun grabber Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) attached a ten-year extension to the ban to the Senate's Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. With the Feinstein amendment, the bill was voted down 8-90.

May

• May 4 — Canadian gun grabber Mike McCormack (a cop at the time) and several others are charged criminally with corruption, including influence peddling and breach of trust.

June

• June 24 — Ontario Justice D. J. Taliano rules in the case of Bardoscia v. Niagara.
• June 26 — Two days before a federal election, in a bid to placate the millions of gun owners they had alienated, the Canadian government under Liberal PM Paul Martin dropped all fees for transferring firearms. Canadian gun owners weren't fooled and, sure enough, 18 months later, the Liberals would start promising a handgun ban.

September

• September 11 — Canadian gun rights advocate Bruce Montague is taken into custody by the OPP at a gun show in Dryden, Ontario. While Montague had been trying to get himself arrested for years, the OPP's treatment of his 12-year-old daughter Katey was nothing short of disgraceful.
• September 13 — The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban in the US expired.

November

• November 14 — The Discovery Channel aired the special, "Unsolved History: JFK — Beyond the Magic Bullet," in which they tried to duplicate the path of the fatal bullet. The results were surprising.

December

• December 9 — A federal grand jury indicted former CFO Denis Shusterman for embezzling $10 million from Kimber Manufacturing and Nationwide Sports Distributors.

The year in pictures

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  March 24-25: MG'ing at Camp Hansen

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  USS Philippine Sea in the Arabian Gulf

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  Nov. 2: tank integration training at Camp Baharia, Iraq

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  March 3: on the way to Asadabad, Afghanistan.

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  June 10: Combined Joint Task Force Exercise (CJTFEX) 04-2.

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  Nov. 2: small arms familiarization aboard USS Blue Ridge

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  Apr. 20: Joint Task Force Tradewinds 04 Multinational Training Exercise.

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  Apr. 10: firing an M240B down range during weapons qualifications.

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  On fight deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry.