Free Republic

(Corrected) Gun Control: In a case headed for the Supreme Court, a three-judge panel rules Chicago's gun ban constitutional since the 2nd Amendment doesn't apply to states and cities. High court nominee Sonia Sotomayor concurs.Those Pennsylvania townsfolk bitterly clinging to their guns may have been premature in celebrating the decision in D.C. v. Heller that the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does indeed guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms.

Wanted to once in awhile post a HERO bill as opposed to all the ZERO bills I have. I immediately thought of Charleton Heston. He was an admirable conservative man. For many, many reasons. With that, he gets the first HERO dollar bill. The ZERO bills, of course, are worth ZERO, they are worthless. In contrast, the HERO bill is, appropriately, priceless. Here's the front first, then the back: For the whole series of Zero dollar bills, go here: "Flickr Archive of Zero Bills"

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A man was shot and killed outside a home near Altamonte Springs early Friday morning. Deputies say he was trying to break into a home on S. Magnolia Avenue when someone inside shot him. Investigators say at approximately 4:00am on Friday, a woman was awakened by a loud, pounding sound coming from the front door of her home. She woke up her husband to let him know what she heard and asked him to go check on what was happening. "Yes someone's just tried to break down my front door," said the caller to the 911...

The boom in gun sales that began last October shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, the statistics show that background checks for those seeking to purchase firearms are way up over last year. What, exactly, is driving this continued push by Americans to buy guns in record numbers?

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency is proposing a new definition that could be used to eliminate 8 of 10 legal pocketknives in the United States right now, according to activists who are gearing up to fight the plan. The federal bureaucracy is accepting comments – written only – that must be received by June 21 before its planned changes could become final, but Doug Ritter of KnifeRights.org, said the implications of the decision would be far-reaching, since many state and federal agencies depend on the agency's definitions to determine what is legal in the United States. For a...

Bloomberg article. Link only. The judges used the same argument Sotomayor used in one of her decisions; the 2nd Amendment does not apply to the states. If this is true, then by the same 'logic' none of the other amendments apply to the states either.

The Liberty Sphere's daily (Monday-Friday) roundup of news and opinion from the best gun bloggers on the Internet. This daily feature is designed to raise awareness of the importance of the Second Amendment to ALL of our liberties, and to cite instances of threats to the right to keep and bear arms.

Jury Nullification and the 2nd Amendment A Program For Rights Restoration Copyright 2007, Guy Smith Introduction “ . . . it is not only [the juror’s] right, but his duty, to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.” John Adams, 1771 You have the ability to overturn any anti-gun law you want. All it takes is a bit of knowledge and a seat on a jury. In our legal system, juries have a power known as “nullification”. This means that any single juror may refuse...

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- The upward trend in firearms sales continued in April, marking the sixth consecutive month of significant increases. Data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,225,980 checks in April 2009. This figure is a 30.3 percent increase from the 940,961 reported in April 2008. FBI background checks are required under federal law for all individuals purchasing either new or used firearms from federally licensed retailers. The checks serve as a gauge of actual sales but do not reflect the actual number of firearms sold, since, following a background check, a customer may...

The prayers started on Thursday, April 30, at St. Ephrem Church in El Cajon. Pro-lifers from around the county gathered for Adoration, Benediction, and a candlelight Rosary procession to the Mariam Mother of Life Shrine. Fr. Nabil Mouaness led a meditative pro-life Rosary for the protection of the unborn before the towering statue of Mary. Fr. Nabil spoke of the importance of prayer, and that we should never give up praying for the unborn, even when we feel unworthy for our prayers to be heard because of distractions, or a lack of attentiveness. The following day, Fr. Carl Gismondi told...

Weapons: Reporting on President Obama's visit to Mexico, the Washington Post parrots both governments' line that 90% of guns confiscated from the drug lords originate in the U.S. They're all shooting blanks.We've all heard the cliche about lies, damned lied and statistics. In political discourse, numbers put forth, such as of the homeless and uninsured, take on a life of their own, unquestioned and devoid of analysis or true meaning. In the liberal circles of the mainstream media and the current administration, not to be redundant, the example du jour was in the Post's coverage Thursday of President Obama's visit...

Tokyo's Akihabara district, a popular shopping area for consumer electronics, was still in shock on Monday following a killing spree by a 25-year-old man who plowed a rented truck into an intersection full of pedestrians, then began stabbing bystanders at random. The rampage, which left seven dead and 10 injured, was another reminder of a violent side of Japan that is not often discussed. Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the developed world, yet the country still sees spasms of stunningly brutal, often random killings. The June 8 Akihabara massacre occurred exactly seven years after a former...

How do you hit the broad side of a barn in a news report when you can't see the core issues? How did we know the report would be misleading and terribly lacking? As you know, I write for non-gun owners. I furnish analysis and facts more on the issue of liberty and citizen authority than guns themselves. Guns, liberty, and our sovereign authority over officials in this country are inextricable, and I have shown why over the years. The armed citizen is not an opinion concept, it is and always has been a safeguard of our way of life....

But the most troubling, irresponsible one of all is a bill to allow concealed weapons on college campuses. Authored by Rep. Joe Driver, R-Garland, it seems to have enough support to pass the House. In the Senate, 13 of the 31 members have promised their support for an identical bill authored by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio.

(CBS) The California senator who authored the nation's now-lapsed 1994 ban on assault weapons says she will hold off trying to renew that ban. Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) tells 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl that the political timing isn't right and she will move to renew the ban at a future time of her own choosing. Feinstein appears in Stahl's report on the increase in gun sales taking place in America to be broadcast this Sunday, April 12, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Asked by Stahl if trying to renew the assault weapons ban would start a culture war and pose a...

Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dropped a verbal bombshell in the middle of an interview on Good Morning America April 7, and surprisingly, neither the press nor a majority of gun rights activists seemed to notice. Responding to a question from ABC’s Robin Roberts, Pelosi said that while Congress apparently does not want to take anyone’s guns away, “We want them registered.” Roberts: Under the Bush administration, you pretty much said the ball was in their court when it came to reinstating the ban. Now, it's a Democratic President, a Democratic House. So, is the ball in your court where...

BELLEVUE, Wash., April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on April 7 acknowledged that gun registration is on her agenda, days after Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters in Mexico that the Second Amendment would not "stand in the way" of administration plans to crack down on alleged gun trafficking to Mexico. "These are alarming remarks from Speaker Pelosi and Attorney General Holder," said Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb. "It appears that the Obama administration and Capitol Hill anti-gunners have dropped all pretences about their plans for gun owners' rights, and it looks like the gloves are...

Watch this, Greta throws softballs at Hillary, while she justifies curbing America's liberties because of Mexico's problems: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hhtpDMIXYA

Mayor Greg Nickels is going forward with a controversial executive order which would ban "dangerous weapons" - including firearms - on Seattle owned parks and properties. An exact date has not been set yet for when the ban will go into effect. However, a spokesman for the Mayor's office said the ban is currently expected to begin sometime in May. Coincidentally, this places the time somewhere around the one-year anniversary of the freak shooting incident at Folklife, last year, that left two people injured and was the casus belli for the order. The move also comes in spite of legal...

You and I Can't Buy the Guns Mexican Cartels OwnThe Administration is Not Dealing Straight With Us on Mexico's Gun Problem Ralph Weller March 1 2009 Let's set things straight right up front.  Yes, some guns are being smuggled into Mexico from the U.S.  Most are handguns.  But, handguns are being illegally trafficked from state to state and from the U.S. to Canada.  It should come as no surprise that guns are smuggled into Mexico.  But, the problem being portrayed by the U.S. media and our government is not as it seems.  You see, Mexico doesn't allow ownership of most...

Capital Bureau MONTGOMERY — A bill to prevent state or local government from seizing lawfully owned guns during emergencies sailed through the Alabama House on Thursday and now heads to the Senate, where it was approved last year. Rep. Mark Keahey, D-Grove Hill, said his measure is aimed at ensuring the chaos that comes with disasters, such as hurricanes, is not made worse by overzealous government officials. "The Second Amendment gives us a constitutional right to bear arms, and this bill is just an effort, on Alabama's part, to help us maintain that right," Keahey said. The bill was inspired...

IT DID not take long for the Democrats in Al bany to go after the gun laws once they got control of the legislature. The New York State Assembly has introduced four new gun-control measures. The bills include mandating bullet serialization, a ban on the sale, possession and use of .50-caliber firearms, an expansion of the ballistic imaging database, and prohibiting gun shows on public property. Legislation that would mandate bullet serialization - the process by which each individual round of ammunition is identified and marked with a laser-engraved serial number comes under Assembly Bill 3200. The National Shooting Sports...

Poll is half way down on the right. http://edition.cnn.com/

A little over a week ago in a gun related thread someone mentioned the idea of Freepers getting together and going to the range. I'm here to make a proposition. I've asked some of the leadership at the Appleseed Project and they are willing to help make this happen. If you're unfamiliar with that organization, it was started by a man who cares very much about our heritage as Americans, our Constitutional rights, and the direction of this country. So, he and some like-minded individuals decided to do something about it. For the last 3 years, the Appleseed Project has...

Flyers:  Available below Range:  Hartford Gun Club Address:  157 South Main St, East Granby, CT 06026 Website:  http://www.hartfordgunclub.com When: April 18-19, 2009 Range Fee:  $10 per shooter per day Camping available: We can pitch tents on the rifle range.  Ten RV/Electric hookups are also available at $10 per night.  There is a clubhouse with restroom and sink. Hotels: Many hotels to choose from near Bradley Intl Airport (Windsor Locks, CT) (~2 miles away)  Holiday Inn, Best Western, Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, LaQuinta Inn, Days Inn, Sheraton, Ramada. (avoid Motel 6!) Directions:    *  Take I-91 to Exit 40...

Baucus And Tester Send Warning Shot To Protect 2nd Amendment Tuesday, March 3, 2009 (Washington D.C.)- Montana’s U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester sent a simple and clear message to Attorney General Eric Holder today: any new gun restrictions are a non-starter. In a letter to Holder, Baucus and Tester emphasized the need to enforce current laws on the books instead of passing additional laws which could infringe on Montanans’ 2nd Amendment rights. “We oppose reinstating the ban on the sale of assault weapons, and we call on the Department of Justice to enforce existing laws before it considers...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Largest Marksmanship Event on the Planet World Record Attempt to be Made Locally Contact: [local name and phone number] On April 18 and 19th, the Revolutionary War Veterans Association's "Project Appleseed" rifle marksmanship clinic will be in town at XYZ [location] for a history-making attempt at establishing a world record for the longest cumulative firing line spread over the largest land area in history - a total of 2.5 miles of firing line spread over the North American continent - from California to Florida, Texas to Minnesota, Arizona to Maine. It will be the biggest marksmanship event...

Was in the courtroom today to hear the ruling from municipal judge Paul Murphy regarding Brad's case. For a quick rundown, WI is an open carry state. Brad was on his property planting a tree, and was wearing a holstered firearm in plain sight. A neighbor calle West Allis police asking about the legality of open carry. The result was two squads being dispatched and BRad being drawn on by two officers, handcuffed for 45 minutes whiel the police tried to figure out what to charge him with (as open carry is the only legal way to carry in WI)....

A man who shot and killed who he thought was an intruder has been cleared by Colorado's "Make My Day Law." Sean Kennedy, 22, was shot and killed December 28. Police say he was trying to forcibly enter a home on Virgina Avenue south of the UCCS campus.

The Center for Consumer Freedom says President-Elect Barack Obama’s pick for “regulatory czar” of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein, is a radical animal rights activist.The piece points to a 2002 paper written by Sunstein entitled “The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer” as Exhibit A. In this paper, Sunstein argues for the “rights” of animals and placing them on a par with the rights of human beings. He laments that current laws which protect animals from cruelty do not include hunting, medical research, and food animals.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms "The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing." -- Adolph Hitler, Hitler's Secret Conversations 403 (Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens trans., 1961) What the Framers said about our Second Amendment Rights to Keep and Bear Arms"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials." — George Mason, in Debates in Virginia Convention on...

CARMEL, N.Y. - A 14-year-old freshman at Carmel High School was suspended after he brought bullets into school Tuesday, police said. According to police, one student found two bullets on the floor of a classroom and another found three bullets in a nearby bathroom toilet. The students reported their findings to faculty members, who made school resource officer Deputy Sheriff Kevin Cargain aware of the situation. The five bullets were .22 caliber bullets, commonly used for rifles and handguns. After an investigation, a male student who was interviewed admitted that he accidentally brought the bullets to school. He told police...

Today is the United States´ Bill of Rights Day, but District of Columbia residents are second-class citizens when it comes to the Second Amendment. President-elect Barack Obama certainly does not support it. When I filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court this June supporting the respondent in District of Columbia v. Heller on behalf of 55 senators, the senate president, and 250 representatives, Obama declined. And his voting record in the Illinois legislature and the U.S. Congress has been as hostile to American gun owners as King George III was in 1775. What´s in store for Second Amendment rights...

Update - 12/13/08 - the trial date we hear has been postponed to a later date. If someone disagreed with you about an article or story you published and then complained to the police who came into your business and arrested you for disorderly conduct, would that incident be newsworthy? What if the police arrested you for disorderly conduct while you were exercising any other constitutionally protected right because someone did not want you to exercise your right? Would you want to tell the people of Wisconsin how fragile it is to exercise their rights? Once arrested, do you think...

A BILL 17-843 IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA To amend the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 to revise the definitions of the terms firearm, machine gun, pistol, and sawed-off shotgun, to add definitions for the terms assault weapon, intrafamily offense, magazine, and place of business, to provide a self-defense exemption for temporary possession of a firearm registered to another person within the registrant's home, to provide for the registration of pistols for use in self-defense within the home, to prohibit the registration of assault weapons and certain designated unsafe firearms, to increase the time period for...

The election of the nation's first democratic president in eight years and the country's economic turmoil is prompting more people to take up arms, according to local gun rights supporters. The promoter of the West's largest gun and ammunition expo said that attendance at some shows across the nation has increased by 50 percent to 100 percent. He expected attendance of about 12,000 for this weekend's show at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, compared to a typical crowd of around 9,000. The show will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. "Sales at shows, particularly in the area...

There are pressures to give up rights, according to Wayne LaPierre Historic victories for gun rights occurred in 2008, but the fight for firearm freedoms must continue to preserve the Second Amendment, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told a crowd on Monday at Ashland University. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down a handgun ban in Washington D.C., that affirmed the right to keep and bear arms, there is a battle for firearms ownership in America, LaPierre said. He urged NRA members and firearms owners to stay vigilant while pressures mount domestically and internationally for...

NEW MILFORD -- Auto sales are down. Consumer confidence is in the gutter. The U.S. economy is facing its biggest challenge since the Great Depression. Guns and ammo? They're holding their own and then some, thank you very much. Nationally, there were some 108,000 more FBI background checks for gun purchases last month compared to October 2007, according to The Associated Press. Connecticut residents purchased 7,088 guns this October, according to the state Department of Public Safety -- the highest volume of sales in six months. The past few weeks have been the busiest ever in the seven-year existence of...

Washington County's sheriff is asking 10,000 people who hold concealed handgun licenses whether they want their names made public if it is requested as an Oregon public record. Sheriff Rob Gordon said he believes that people obtain these licenses as a security measure, which would exempt the release of their names. But a circuit court in Jackson County ruled in April that people have to document that the license is for security reasons in order to be exempt from public records law. On Friday, license holders will be mailed letters asking them to say whether they obtained the license for...

I rarely make posts here, so I hope I'm doing this right. This article is about a friend of mine. The article is from the AP, so i'm not posting it for that reason.

Gun sales are going boom around the country as gun owners and gun advocates brace for a potential Democrat in the White House for the first time in almost 10 years. Democrats, meanwhile, say there's no reason to worry that presidential hopeful Barack Obama would attempt to curtail access to most guns, though that hasn't stopped the buying spree. "You'd be surprised," said Jeff Mercer, manager of George's Pawn and Gun Shop on High Street. "It's people of all races, too. People are scared." Across town at The Gun Doctor and More on Glencrest Lane, owner Bob Godell said he...

"Is gun regulation a public health issue?" http://broadcaster.medpagetoday.com/t?r=2&c=1898&l=15&ctl=CA06:5D21AFF7DD791D1C59086A13CA638538

ANOTHER GROSS FACTUAL ERROR AT THE SUPREME COURT. Following up on similar huge errors from Justice Stevens in Heller. Plus, another Stevens Heller error here. What gives?

On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court held what is plainly obvious to any grade school student who can read and understand English: that when the Constitution says a "right of the people," it really means a "right of the people," even when the Constitution is talking about firearms. That such a question was even the subject of controversy, or that there were dissenting Justices, is a sad testimony to the state of our nation. It is also a testimony to one of the worst hoaxes and frauds ever perpetrated by gun ban extremists: the phony claim that the phrase...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognizing an individual right to bear arms set off an immediate debate on how it will affect New Jersey's gun laws, which are among the toughest in the nation. State Attorney General Anne Milgram saw minimal if any impact, noting the District of Columbia handgun ban that was invalidated by the high court is unlike anything in the Garden State. "We regulate the possession of handguns; we don't ban handguns," Milgram said. "We believe the court affirmed the right of states to regulate gun ownership to protect public safety and endorsed common-sense licensing of firearms...

New Jersey is prepared to "vigorously enforce" its tough firearms laws following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a handgun ban in the nation's capital, state officials said Thursday. Attorney General Anne Milgram said the decision affirmed New Jersey's right to regulate firearms ownership, while gun rights proponents took a different tack, calling the ruling an "opening salvo" to a nationwide overhaul. "We regulate the possession of handguns — we don't ban handguns," Milgram said. "But we have strict licensing requirements and we are prepared to maintain those requirements and vigorously enforce our laws." Wayne LaPierre, executive...

Comment on to previous post points out at p.2 of the Stevens dissent he refers to NFA and US v. Miller: "Upholding a conviction under that Act, this Court held that..." Same mistake the 9th Circus made years ago and had to issue a new opinion, since Miller was never convicted -- commentators noted this was pretty suggestive the court hadn't bothered to read Miller before citing it. First thing you look for in reading a case is what happened below, and what the Court do to that. Very first thing. I'd add that at 41 he refers to: "In...

The Court did not much address the issue of machine guns, but the “common use” test that it prescribes will be problematic. However, I think The Court has set itself up for an intellectual bind. Machine guns are not in common use, but that’s entirely because of the 1986 prohibition on new registrations preceded by 18 years of heavy regulations inder GCA 68, and decades of regulation prior to that under the National Firearms Act. In short, machine guns fail the common use test because government regulations and prohibitions make them uncommon. I think this is an argument that could...

The brief further says that the ban of a whole class of firearms is unconstitutional. Then it goes on to say that MODERN WEAPONS are protected by the 2A just like modern media devices. In further reading, the decision is somewhat bipolar. On one hand it says that an entire class of weapons cannot be banned and then it says that modern weapons are protected by the 2A and then it goes on to say that since machine guns are not “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes” or “in common use” they CAN be banned. They have tried...

Statement Of Brady President Paul Helmke On Supreme Court Second Amendment Ruling Washington, D.C. - Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center and Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement: “Our fight to enact sensible gun laws will be undiminished by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Heller case. While we disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling, which strips the citizens of the District of Columbia of a law they strongly support, the decision clearly suggests that other gun laws are entirely consistent with the Constitution. “For years, the gun lobby has used fear of government gun...