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During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Special Forces needed a 9 mm machine gun capable of rapid fire, and thus took a liking to the Carl Gustav M45 Swedish K Submachine Gun. But when Sweden placed an export ban on its submachine gun in 1967 due to U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the Army went to the powers that be at Smith & Wesson for a solution, who produced a copy of the Carl Gustav Submachine Gun which became the Model 76 SMG. For more on the Smith & Wesson Model 76 SMG, watch this "I Have This Old Gun" segment from a recent episode of American Rifleman TV.
On November 3, Idaho voters picked the Winchester Model 1873 rifle (nicknamed the “Gun that Won the West,” in .44-40 cal.) as the leading candidate to be their state firearm.
After more than 10 years, Smith & Wesson discontinued production of its original M&P Bodyguard .380 and began plans for a second-generation model. But the path to the Bodyguard 2.0 wasn't a linear process.