The Armed Citizen® May 22, 2026

PROOF Research has introduced PROOF eXponential Twist (PXT)—an advancement in rifling that improves durability, accuracy and shootability—to the commercial market.

Back when American Rifleman reviewed Springfield's Model 2020 Waypoint, we noted that we “...couldn’t help but wonder if a tactical-version Model 2020 rifle might be a logical future offshoot of the Waypoint hunting rifle." With the Model 2020 Heatseeker, that version is finally here.

Marlin’s latest Model 1894 lever-action rifle, a collaboration with Mad Pig Customs that is a far cry from traditional, delivers “modern, factory‑installed features previously found only on custom builds.”

In this episode of the NRA’s The Armed Citizen Podcast, we interview Gayle Pearlstein, COO and co-founder of Lox & Loaded, a Jewish-owned and -operated gun club that now—after being launched only a year ago—has 50 chapters around the United States.

People carrying small firearms for personal protection is not a new concept, and in the middle of the 19th century, many pocket pistols were designed with self-defense in mind. One such gun, the Brown Manufacturing Southerner Derringer, was among the earliest cartridge-firing self-defense guns.