Free Republic

On May 19, 2024, United States District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk issued a temporary restraining order against the Biden administration, forbidding them from enforcing the parts of the ATF “final rule” having to do with a re-definition of “engaged in the business” as part of federal firearms law. From the order: CONCLUSION Defendants are TEMPORARILY RESTRAINED from enforcing the regulations — “Definition of ‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms” — published at 89 Fed. Reg. 28968 (April 19, 2024) (to be codified at 27 C.F.R. pt. 478) against Plaintiffs Texas, Jeffery Tormey, the Gun Owners of America,...

On May 16, 2024, Governor Greg Abbott pardoned Sgt. Daniel Perry. Perry was convicted of murder on April 7, 2023, in what many believe was a politically motivated case in Austin, Texas. During the prosecution, a police detective complained about the prosecution’s bias against Daniel Perry. On July 25, 2020, BLM protestors blocked Perry’s car and beat on it. Then, one of the protestors, Garrett Foster, approached Perry’s car with an AK47-style rifle and motioned for Perry to roll down his window. After rolling down the window, Perry said he saw Foster start to raise his rifle toward Perry from...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Investigators are working to find out if charges will be filed against a man accused of shooting two customers over a waitress' stolen phone on Saturday. The Houston Police Department said the incident unfolded at a sports bar along Lyons Avenue and Boyles in the Denver Harbor area. Just before 2 a.m., a waitress reportedly noticed her phone had been stolen from behind the bar where two men were drinking together. Police said a manager looked at surveillance video showing one of the two customers at the bar had taken the phone. That's when the woman...

The fatal shooting of a male at 1415 West Gulf Bank Road about 12:30 a.m. today (May 9) will be referred to a Harris County grand jury. The identity of the deceased male is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The male shooter, 53, was not injured in the incident. HPD Homicide Division Detectives M. Perez and S. Overstreet reported: HPD patrol officers responded to a shooting at an apartment complex at the above address and were directed to an unresponsive male near a dumpster across the parking lot from one of the apartment buildings. Houston...

The lawsuit by the State of Texas, challenging the federal requirement to pay taxes and register homemade silencers, is moving forward in the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Oral arguments are scheduled for April 29, 2024. The case is now known as Paxton v Dettelbach. On February 24, 2022, Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General, filed suit against the acting head of the ATF, then Marvin Richardson. The lawsuit was required by Texas law. HB 957 became law in Texas on September 1, 2021. On July 15, 2022, Paxton, acting for the State of Texas, amended the lawsuit...

Guatemala’s Attorney General is investigating ongoing criminal claims that a number of American tax payer funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating both inside and outside the United States are complicit in the ongoing trafficking, abuse and disappearance of children from its nation, according to an official Guatemalan letter obtained by this investigative columnist. The Guatemalan government is seeking full cooperation from the State of Texas, where the accusations of abuse have been reported, government officials told SaraACarter.com. A letter from Guatemalan Attorney General María Consuelo Porras was sent to Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday. Porras asked Paxton for immediate assistance...

On March 29, 2024, United States District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas, ordered a preliminary injunction, stopping the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from enforcing the final rule as it applies to pistol braces and NRA members. Once Joe Biden was elected President, the ATF radically changed course, reversed a dozen years of previous administrative measures, and declared once legal pistol braces as re-defined “short-barreled rifles. The “final rule” claimed to be implementing measures approved by Congress in the 1934 National Firearms Act. The court found the ATF had gone to...

On Saturday, February 10, 2024, at the Parkway Central Park in Arlington, Texas, a Coyote attacked a little girl, dragging her toward the woods. The girl’s father chased after the coyote and girl and recovered the girl. From khou.com: “I have a little girl who just got attacked by a coyote,” the 911 caller said. “It’s a big coyote. It’s coming back. Oh Lord Jesus.”The caller described that children were playing on a playground when the coyote “attacked the little girl on the playground and dragged her, like, in the woods and her daddy went chasing after her.” “So kids...

GILLESPIE COUNTY, Texas - Deputies are investigating after a woman called to report that she was kidnapped and drugged and had shot someone in Gillespie County. On March 15, around 12:42 p.m., deputies tracked the woman down near a winery in the 10800 block of East US Highway 290, where they say she described the vehicle and the weapon used. A deputy found the vehicle in the outside lane of westbound traffic and found a man dead in the front-seat area. An investigator interviewed the woman at the local hospital while deputies gathered evidence. Police identified the dead man as...

Updated at 10:46 p.m.: The GOP incumbent, Tony Gonzales, is headed to a runoff. With 100% of the vote counted, Gonzales had 46% of the vote. Coming in second is Brandon Herrera with 23% of the vote. In the Democratic Primary, S. Limon was leading Lee Bausinger by 16% of the vote with 50% of the vote counted.

Austin, Texas residents are expressing outrage over police staffing shortages and longer 911-call response times in the aftermath of the city council's vote to defund the department in 2020. In February, a section of the city was notably left without a single police officer for a few hours on a Saturday due to the ongoing shortages. Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock, who called attention to the vacancy on X, told Fox News Digital that a steady decline in public safety has put the city on the "brink of disaster."

Joe Biden and the United Nations are pulling off one of the worst security threats to the United States in its 248-year history. ... According to the former director of Panama’s National Border Service, the U.N.'s migration agenda is behind the insanity along the southern border, and the world body's NGO (non-governmental organizations) partners are intentionally making the crisis worse. Oriel Ortega, now a security and defense consultant to Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo, told the Epoch Times during an interview on Thursday that he saw a dramatic jump in immigration in 2016, at the same time that NGOs moved into...

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is on track to secure reelection in November against either of his top-polling Democratic rivals, according to a new University of Houston poll. The survey found that, in a straight fight between Cruz and Rep. Colin Allred, the leading Democratic candidate, the Republican incumbent would win by nine points. Alternatively, if Cruz faces Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who is also running to be the Democratic nominee, he would secure victory by 10 points. * * * The University of Houston poll is a substantial improvement for Cruz from an Emerson College survey released earlier this...

One person is dead and another is seriously wounded following a shootout at an apartment complex in Wichita Falls Sunday night. Police were called to the Country Park Apartments in the 5200 block of Professional Drive about 9:30 p.m. to investigate a report of gunshots. They found three people shot. All three were taken to United Regional Health Care where one person was pronounced dead. Police identified him as Quincy Moore, 32. One of the wounded people, a 33-year-old man, told officers he lived in the apartment where the incident happened. According to a WFPD news release, the man said...

LAMPASAS COUNTY, Texas — The Lampasas County Sheriff's Office is investigating a shooting that left 57-year-old William Darrell Crain dead on Thursday, Jan. 18. The sheriff's office says it received a call at about 1:34 p.m. from 28-year-old Alex Shahan Hyatt, explaining the events that led of to the shooting. According to the sheriff's office, Hyatt's stepfather, Crain, showed up to his home located in the 2100 block of Country Road 3790 with a nine-millimeter and a .40-caliber pistol holstered on his hip. Hyatt told the sheriff's office that Crain had allegedly began making threats against him and his mother,...

Texas dominates U.S. oil production, contributing 42.6% of the total output, mainly due to the Permian Basin.New Mexico has seen dramatic 190% increase in oil production over the past five years, becoming the second-leading oil producer in the U.S.California faces a 30.7% reduction in oil production over the past five years, largely due to political and geological challenges.U.S. oil production has increased by 21% over the past five years. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), earlier this month U.S. oil producers set a new annual production record.This increase is being driven by a surge of production in...

Gun turn-in events are labeled with the Orwellian term “buyback.” They are not “buybacks”. You cannot “buy back” items you never owned before.The El Paso gun turn-in event was held on October 28, 2023. It was scheduled to start at 8:00 a.m. It started about 10 minutes early in Ascarate Park. The money for the event came from the American Rescue Plan, where the Biden administration created 1.5 trillion dollars out of totally recyclable electrons. The politicians who receive the money must find a way to spend it. Gun turn-in events are a way to expend money. KVIA.com reported significant...

On Sunday, 19 November, a gun turn-in event, also known by the Orwellian nomenclature of “buyback” was held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.San Antonio police attempted to move private purchasers away from the line of cars forming for the gun turn-in “buyback” event. CJ Grisham, of Open Carry Texas and Texas legislative fame, schooled the police. He kept them from overstepping their bounds. CJ Grisham is now a practicing attorney in Temple, Texas.This was the first known event of this sort for San Antonio. The temperature was about 65 degrees in San Antonio on Sunday morning, with light...

In San Antonio, Texas, at the Alamodome parking lot, a gun buyback is planned from noon to 5 p.m. “Buyback” is an Orwellian term designed to give the impression all guns come from the government. You can not “buy back” what you never owned. A more correct term would be gun turn-in because the guns are turned in to the police to be destroyed.A flurry of gun turn-in/”buyback” events have been scheduled recently for Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio, Texas, and for three cities in New Mexico. Much of the money for these events comes from dollars created by...

On Saturday, 18 November, the city of Houston will host a gun buyback event. The event will be held at Westchase Park and Ride, 11050 Harwin Drive, Houston, from 8 a.m. to Noon. No questions will be asked of people turning in guns for gift cards. The event is funded with American Rescue Plan money, part of the 1.6 trillion dollar Biden Administration spending, which is driving inflation. $50 will be offered for guns that do not work$100 for working rifles or shotguns$150 for working handguns$200 for semi-automatic riflesNo “Ghost Guns” or pellet guns will be accepted.Houston has already had...