Top Shot Chris Cheng

No on Prop 63 / No To Newsom

10/18/2016

I've been busy the past few months helping fight "Gunmageddon" -- the crazy anti-gun laws coming through California this year. We are still on our back foot but starting to lean into an offensive position with our "No on 63" campaign, an anti-gun initiative supported by Lt Gov Gavin Newsom.

Please join me and 6-time Olympic champion Kim Rhode, in saying No to Prop 63, and No to Newsom. See our videos below.

More details on Prop 63 at stoptheammograb.com.

#BLM + Firearms = Black Panthers?

10/16/2016

The Black Panthers on the steps of the California State Capitol, 1967.

The Black Panthers are a controversial group. Were they freedom fighters or domestic terrorists?

Yesterday marked their 50th anniversary which prompted me to revisit their history in relation to where we stand today.

The Black Panthers' historic action of going to the California State Capitol in 1967 with guns in hand, aiming to fight abuse by the Oakland Police, started what some consider a racist, anti-gun reaction by California Republicans.

At the time, California was an open carry state, and the vision of lawful African Americans having firearms in public was untenable for many politicians. The Black Panthers were all for gun rights. Ronald Reagan and his fellow Republicans enacted the Mulford Act which repealed open carry of loaded firearms (Note: open carry of unloaded firearms was legal until 2012).

The Atlantic has an informative article on the Black Panthers and gun rights, and this particular quote stood out to me:

"...the only tangible outcome of the civil-rights movement had been more violence and oppression, much of it committed by the very entity meant to protect and serve the public: the police."

So here we are almost 50 years later and we're still facing a huge problem with law enforcement and African Americans. The new incarnate of the Black Panthers is the Black Lives Matter #BLM movement. The stark difference is that while the Panthers fought with firearms, #BLM fights with cellphone videos and social media.

Is the video is mightier than the gun? Perhaps. We have clearly seen how viral videos continue to bring the #BLM movement to the forefront of our national conversation. Ultimately a movement is judged on the impact is has on society.

This story is far from over.

San Francisco's Last Gun Shop Closes

11/13/2015

Chris Cheng poses in front of Highbridge Arms which closed its doors October 31, 2015.

San Francisco's last gun shop, Highbridge Arms, has closed after years of anti-gun pressure from local and state politicians. The final straw that broke the camel's back was proposed legislation by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors which would have required firearms and ammunition transactions and personal data be handed over to the San Francisco Police Department. The invasion of privacy and additional overhead costs became too much for the store to handle.

Highbridge Arms expected to lose customers to neighboring gun shops outside city limits where customers would retain their privacy. There was no explanation how this invasion of privacy would have helped decrease crime in our city. This is the real travesty. Anti-gun politicians pursuing an agenda that won't have any effect.

Last week I picked up my last batch of firearms from Highbridge Arms, a fantastic collection of Mossberg shotguns.

Chris Cheng poses for one final picture with Highbridge Arms employee "Russ" with a number of Mossberg shotguns for Cheng's final order. Full order of shotguns in the picture below.

I've got one of the best jobs in the world. @mossbergcorp sent me some of my favorite shotguns and I feel so fortunate to have their support. Pictured from top to bottom: 500, 590A1 Mariner, 590 Magpul, 930 JM Pro, 930 Turkey with @leupoldoptics scope. Which one's your favorite??

A photo posted by Top Shot Chris Cheng (@topshotchris) on Nov 2, 2015 at 3:51pm PST

I am thankful for all the years of support Highbridge Arms provided me and my career. While I'm generally an optimistic person, I'm pessimistic that any new gun shop will open in San Francisco any time soon. Now that Highbridge Arms has been removed as an obstacle for the Board of Supervisors, I won't be surprised when new anti-gun legislation is introduced to target individual law abiding gun owners within city limits.

San Francisco is supposed to be a city for people from all walks of life. Especially those who are considered on the fringe of society. Law abiding gun owners abhor the gun violence in our cities and communities, and it takes the gun community acting as a collective whole to make our goals clear. We want safe communities for our children, our families, and friends. This is actually a goal that both pro-gun and anti-gun people share. Let's focus on the criminals and the mentally ill as a way to prevent the next gun crime from occurring.

Chris Cheng on Al Jazeera America- San Fran's Last Gun Shop Closing (VIDEO)

10/16/2015

I was recently featured on Al Jazeera America TV talking about how San Francisco is losing its last gun shop, which is my home store.

I'm very sad to lose Highbridge Arms to an anti-gun agenda, hear more about this situation in the video below.

AllOutdoor.com Editorial "After Every Massacre, Gun Owners Must Stand Up and Fight"

10/15/2015

My friends over at AllOutdoor.com have written an editorial piece on mass shootings which I think is a good read. Here's a blurb, and if it tickles your fancy then you can click through to read the full article.

Every time we have a mass shooting, both sides of the gun debate follow the same script. The anti-gunners come out in full force, waving the latest bloody shirt and blaming the tragedy on the NRA, the second amendment, guns, and gun owners everywhere. They’re not grasping at straws or flailing about looking for targets of opportunity; they know exactly what they want. They have a list of specific enemies that they use the tragedy to smear, and they have a specific list of legislative proposals on file that they immediately begin introducing in state legislatures.

What do gun owners, and especially the NRA’s current leadership, do? First we lay low, waiting for the (self-)righteous outrage to die down a bit. Then a few brave souls poke their heads up from the foxhole and try to go on the defensive, asserting our constitutional rights, talking about how nothing could’ve been done to prevent this tragedy, and lamely pointing to various statistics that bolster our cause.

So in response to the anti-gunners’ emotionally charged rhetoric and powerful images of grieving parents, dead children, and candlelight vigils, we offer the public a few charts showing the decades-long decline in gun violence, some tired bromides, various hypotheticals about a possible future need for armed revolution, and some talk about our rights.

And how’s that working out for us? Not so well, at least from where we’re sitting here at AllOutdoor.com.

- See more at: http://www.alloutdoor.com/2015/10/07/editorial-after-every-massacre-gun-owners-must-stand-up-and-fight/#sthash.QZM7ANXi.dpuf

Do civilians with guns ever stop mass shootings?

10/5/2015

Eugene Volokh writes an interesting article for The Washington Post asking a great question. Find out the answer in his informative write-up:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/03/do-civilians-with-guns-ever-stop-mass-shootings/

Chris Cheng on Fox News: San Fran law "superficial, Anti-American"

9/25/2015

Fox News contacted me regarding my home gun shop in San Francisco closing. Here's a snippet of what I had to say:

“This is yet another piece of thoughtless, superficial, anti-American, anti-gun legislation that is a dangerous threat to our freedom and Constitution,” Chris Cheng, winner of The History Channel’s Season Four TOP SHOT, and a San Francisco resident, told FoxNews.com. “High Bridge Arms, like many gun shops around America, was a place for well-to-do folks to gather and talk shop about firearms and freedom.”

Read the full article at http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/09/24/surrender-san-fran-iconic-last-gun-shop-to-close-over-new-regulations/

A Chilling Effect: San Francisco's Last Gun Shop Closing - NRA News (VIDEO)

9/24/2015

Hear Chris Cheng on NRA News from Wednesday, September 23rd where he talked about San Francisco's last gun shop closing as a result of onerous anti-gun legislation proposed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

It could have a chilling effect and deter other gun stores from trying to open up not only in San Francisco, but in cities across the country. The train of thought here is that many cities take cues from what other cities are doing, and so we could see LA, NYC, Chicago, and other cities consider similar legislation and create a more hostile, anti-gun environment.

Cam and Chris also talk about how San Francisco is creating a "Minority Report" type of pre-crime environment where the police and politicians try to predict who is going to commit a crime based on how much ammunition they purchase.

See the full 10 minute interview below.

San Francisco's Last Gun Shop to Close

9/18/2015

Inside of Highbridge Arms. Photo: Highbridge Arms Facebook page.

Earlier this week, San Francisco's last gun shop, Highbridge Arms, announced that it is closing its doors in October 2015. Here's an excerpt from their Facebook page:

Dear friends and family, it's with tremendous sadness and regret that I have to announce we are closing our shop. For many reasons I cannot get into at this moment, it appears our final days will be through to the end of October of 2015. We will clearance out what ever inventory we have in the shop and offer sale prices for anything you would like us to order.

For all our true friends and followers, I would like to sincerely thank you for all your support, likes, positive feedback and best of all, your friendship. Hopefully, we'll see you soon. It has been a long and difficult ride, but a great pleasure to be you're last San Francisco Gun shop.

Our warm regards,
High Bridge Arms

It's no secret that San Francisco has many anti-gun politicians in the Mayor's office, the Board of Supervisors, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi represents the city as well. While there has been no official comment from Highbridge Arms as to why they are closing, we can speculate that years of political pressure, an anti-gun climate in San Francisco, and anti-gun legislation and laws created a super storm making it challenging to run a gun shop in city limits.

Adding insult to injury is the incredible and dramatic increase in rent for businesses and residents over the past 6-7 years. Making ends meet for the gun shop and its employees may not have been a sustainable proposition.

As Highbridge Arms was my home gun shop, I will be very sad to see it go. There is no official word if they are relocating or simply going for good. I hope they will relocate to somewhere in the Bay Area so we can ensure that San Franciscans can exercise their Second Amendment right.

With Highbridge moving out, it will be interesting to see what will happen to legislation the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering which would require video taping gun and ammunition sales, and sharing ammo sales data with SFPD. My guess is that even with Highbridge closing by the time they vote on this, they will pass it in the hopes to keep any future gun shops from trying to open in the future.

It will be interesting to see if any viable lawsuits come up in the future which argue that San Francisco has a de facto gun ban since it will (soon) have zero gun shops, or something along those lines. I'm not a lawyer, but I sense potential for legal action by some organization down the line.

Anyway, thanks again to my friends at Highbridge for supporting my career and being great friends. You will truly be missed here in San Francisco, and I hope folks go visit them before the end of October when they shutter their doors.

NRA: Give guns to military recruiters (CNN)

7/21/2015

I literally have one word for this: Absolutely.

Full story via CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/politics/nra-guns-military-recruiters/index.html

NRA: Give guns to military recruiters
By Theodore Schleifer, CNN

Updated 9:17 AM ET, Tue July 21, 2015

Washington (CNN) The National Rifle Association said after a deadly shooting at a military facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that the rule that prohibits U.S. military men from carrying firearms on military installations was "outrageous."

The powerful gun lobby on Monday called on the White House to repeal its Pentagon directive that regulates who can carry firearms and then for Congress to "pursue a legislative fix to ensure that our service men and women are allowed to defend themselves on U.S. soil."

Troops on recruiting bases aren't armed.

"It's outrageous that members of our armed services have lost their lives because the government has forced them to be disarmed in the workplace," said Chris Cox, the leader of the NRA's legislative and political shop.

Since the shooting last Thursday that killed five service members, several governors have aimed to strengthen protection at National Guard facilities in their states, including some states choosing to arm their National Guard unit.

The Pentagon has reacted more slowly: Defense Secretary Ash Carter has asked military branches to recommend ways to beef up security on bases and installations, but at first only announced relatively modest steps in the aftermath of the shooting.

"Obviously force protection everywhere around the world, abroad and now at home, is a big priority for us at the department, and will continue to be," Carter said Friday.