Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. This week: Some good news and bad news, on gun legislation.
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Some great news: House Appropriations 2027 Funding Bill Ends Suppressor, Short Barrel Rifle Registration [1]. JWR’s Comment: Be sure to contact both your U.S. congressman and your state’s two U.S. Senators, to insist on their support for this important legislation! Please phone them and e-mail them!
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Freshly Minted ATF Director Robert Cekada and the “New Era of Reform” [2].
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Virginia’s New Gun Laws: What Gun Owners Need to Know in 2026 [3].
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Reader Tom H. in Montana sent this: We can’t let RI’s ‘assault weapons’ ban become the US gun seizure blueprint [4].
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Concealed Carry Crime Stats 2026: The Impact of Open Carry on Crime in the U.S. [5].
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ZEV Flees Washington State’s Anti-Gun Political Climate For Gun-Friendly Utah [7].
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Alberta separatists say they have enough signatures for referendum on leaving Canada [8].
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Reader E.P. wrote:
“I always greatly enjoy SaraSue’s articles, and the recent one on garden struggles is no exception.
Over the years I have converted my garden into raised beds. I enjoy being able to sit on the edge of the raised beds and pull weeds, instead of having to lean over for extended periods of time.
My dad was an agronomist, and always told me what fertilizers I needed to put on my garden. When he died I realized that I didn’t know anything about agronomy, so I had to learn some things. I found out about a book called “When Weeds Talk” by Jay L McCaman. It shows how you can tell what soil imbalances are present by the kind of weeds that grow in your garden. I also had a local ag company do a soil test of my garden. It was low in calcium and sulfur, so I was advised to put calcium sulfate on my garden at a suggested rate. Hoss Tools has a garden soil test kit that they sell. I haven’t used it, but I have found them to be very reputable.
In the past I have had problems with Colorado potato beetles on potatoes, Japanese beetles on green beans and okra, squash vine borers and squash bugs on squash, and cabbage worms on brassicas. If they get bad I use spinosad on potato beetles, and pyrethrin on the others. Making the soil balanced and high in calcium seems to deter pests – mix a mixture of 1 part high calcium lime (low magnesium) and 1 part cal-phos (bone meal or even better, soft rock phosphate) into the soil before planting time).
Successful gardening is not easy, it is a lifetime learning experience.”
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In The New York Times: The U.S. Army’s ‘Big Experiment’ in the Arctic Cold [9].
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A reminder: Our advertiser JASE Medica [10]l provides telemedicine and substantial supplies of prescription drugs. Their custom-packaged JASE Case prescription drug supply kit is ideal for preppers and anyone who lives or spends time in the backcountry. Just a short phone consultation is needed for them to approve your antibiotic and anti-viral prescriptions. If you use the discount code SURVIVALBLOG, then you’ll get $10 off your order.
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At Reddit: Global fuel shortage state of play — (May 3, 2026) [11].
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Mike in Alaska wrote:
“Here’s a nice basic beginners tool kit [12] from JAMECO, an electronic supply company I’ve done business with for many years. If some one wanted to get started in electronics and didn’t have the “right” tools or didn’t know what tools they could use this kit would be a good one for them. The DMM (Digital Multimeter) isn’t very fancy and I doubt it would be suitable for a shop or lab that needed NIST certification of calibration but then it won’t be a $800+ DMM either like my Fluke DMM is.
The cost listed is $134.95 plus shipping which is a good price given the quality of the product and JAMECO policy of backing up everything they sell.”
Reported by The Atlantic, late last month: Brace for the Plastic-Price Hikes [13].
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The 2026 Sawtooth Survival Skills Gathering [14] is scheduled for June 28th to July 2nd, 2026.
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Reader Art in Idaho sent this, from the leftist Washington Post: A GOP lawmaker supported an immigration crackdown. Her husband paid a price [15]. JWR’s Comments: What they fail to report is that as Idaho is continuing to become more conservative, the “split” in the GOP ranks has added nothing to Democrat voter rolls.
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Best Backpacking Water Filters and Purifiers of 2026 [16].
Please Send Us Your Snippets!
Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR [17]. or AVL [17]. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact [18] form.