Free Republic

The state Senate on Thursday approved sweeping new restrictions on using guns in California in response to the December mass shooting by two terrorists that left 14 dead in San Bernardino. Lawmakers approved 11 bills including measures mandating background checks for Californians buying ammunition and outlawing the manufacture and sale of semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines. The bills, which next go to the Assembly for consideration, represent the most ambitious effort at gun control in decades in California, which already has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.

Democrats, skittish over pushing gun control since Al Gore’s bid for the White House fell short in 2000, are once again flirting with the issue, preparing to pick perhaps the most anti-gun presidential nominee in a generation. Hillary Clinton’s provocations will be on the minds of thousands of Second Amendment activists gathering in Louisville beginning Thursday as the National Rifle Association hosts its annual meetings, insisting Mrs. Clinton’s fierce gun control stance will once again hamstring Democrats in a national election. Likely GOP nominee Donald Trump will speak Friday, delivering his fervent pro-gun stance to the one part of the...

If more people were armed, Donald J. Trump says at rallies, mass shootings like those in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., would be less deadly. If you have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, he wants to make it valid in all 50 states, as simple as a driver’s license. And Mr. Trump himself has a permit to carry a concealed handgun, which he is not shy about mentioning. “Somebody attacks me, oh, they’re gonna be shocked,” he warned last year. Mr. Trump, who promises to “totally protect” the Second Amendment, is scheduled to speak on Friday at the...

LOUISVILLE — Gun rights backers lament what they describe as a leftward drift on Second Amendment rights by Democrats in recent years, and predicted the push for stricter laws in blue state bastions such as California and Illinois will cost them even more independent-minded voters. Within the last decade, Democrats, including then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, were making overtures to gun groups including the National Rifle Association. But the 2012 Newtown school shooting spurred a realignment, with Democrats at the national level increasingly adopting a gun control posture, pushing gun rights Democrats to suppress their own views, said attendees at...

Obama has consistently spoken out against Second Amendment rights. A poster showing Barack Obama is seen in the background as customers line up to look at firearms at a gun shop in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008. The Cheaper Than Dirt gun store recorded a record day of gun sales the day after the election of President-elect Barack Obama and is having trouble keeping up with the demand for assault riffles. (Flickr) It sounds like Hillary Clinton would not be any better.

Proponents of more gun control for American citizens are frequently people who live their lives surrounded by good guys with guns. Moreover, gun control proponents are also people who use tragedies as an opportunity to push more gun laws even when said laws would have done nothing to prevent the tragedy that occurred. Occasionally, all these hypocritical qualities are found in one person or, in this case, seven people.

In a radio interview with a Philadelphia radio station today, former Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pa.) called GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) a “dumbbell” for her opposition to gun control. Listen to the full interview below.

A federal judge has ruled that a key provision of the District’s new gun law is likely unconstitutional, ordering D.C. police to stop requiring individuals to show “good reason” to obtain a permit to carry a firearm on the streets of the nation’s capital. In imposing a preliminary injunction pending further litigation, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon reignited a running battle over the Second Amendment in the District and its courts where three different judges have now weighed in with varying conclusions. “The enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table,” Leon wrote in a...

The plaintiffs in the case included three individuals who wanted to open a new gun store in Alameda County. They were joined by pro-Second Amendment groups: The Calguns Foundation, California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, and the Second Amendment Foundation. “Today, the Court appropriately reminded the County that civil rights can’t be outlawed through piles of regulation. We look forward to securing Second Amendment rights through this case and many others to come,” concluded Brandon Combs, executive director of The Calguns Foundation. “We’re very happy to see the Court take a very principled and reasoned approach to protecting the fundamental,...

Donald Trump... told the NRA that Hillary Clinton would take away the right to bear arms ... Trump, ... dove right into attacking Clinton, saying she "wants to abolish the Second Amendment." "We're not going to let that happen," Trump said. "We're going to preserve it, we're going to cherish it." Trump ... suggested that Clinton would take away gun rights via the Supreme Court. "If she gets to appoint her judges, she will abolish the Second Amendment," Trump told an enthusiastic crowd...... She quickly responded ... on Twitter. "You're wrong, We can uphold Second Amendment rights while preventing senseless...

Today Donald J. Trump released the much-anticipated list of people he would consider as potential replacements for Justice Scalia at the United States Supreme Court. This list was compiled, first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership. Mr. Trump stated, “Justice Scalia was a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice. His career was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans’ most cherished freedoms. He was a Justice who did not believe in legislating from the bench and he is a person whom I...

Don Willett is a Texas Supreme Court justice:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Willett David Stras is an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Stras Allison Eid is a justice on the Colorado Supreme Court:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_H._Eid Joan Larsen is a justice on the Michigan Supreme Court.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Larsen Steven Colloton is a federal judge who has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Colloton Raymond Gruender is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Gruender Thomas Hardiman is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardiman Raymond M. Kethledge is a federal judge...

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump's picks include Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri. Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas. Trump said in March he planned to release the list to ease concerns about his conservative credentials...

Trump's picks include Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri. Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas. Trump had previously named Pryor and Sykes as examples of kind of justices he would choose.

The names are at the link.

George Mason University School of Law has just been renamed the Antonin Scalia School of Law in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Accompanying the name change was a receipt of a $30 million gift: $10 million from the Charles Koch Foundation and $20 million from an anonymous donor. The combination of the names of Scalia and Koch has led to a number of George Mason University faculty getting their panties in a bunch -- and understandably so. Let's look at it. Justice Antonin Scalia had a reputation on the court and in his written opinions as...

The fight over Second Amendment rights in the nation’s capital has entered a new phase. A federal judge has ruled that the city’s concealed carry law is likely unconstitutional, citing the “good reason provision” in the injunction order on Tuesday (via WaPo ): For the second time in as many years, a federal judge in Washington ordered the city to halt enforcement of its new, concealed-carry law, requiring applicants to state “good reason” to carry a weapon in order to obtain a permit from police. The preliminary injunction was contained in a 46-page ruling Tuesday by U.S. District Judge...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that yes, there is a right to sell guns under the Second Amendment.The case involved the three owners of a proposed gun store in Alameda, CA, who were denied a zoning permit for their establishment. (The anti-gun fools are trying to use the building permit process in Arlington, VA, as well.)“If ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms’ is to have any force, the people must have a right to acquire the very firearms they are entitled to keep and to bear,” wrote Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain for the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the government cannot fine the Little Sisters of the Poor.  The Supreme Court vacated the lower court rulings against the Little Sisters, accepting the government’s admission that it could meet its goals of providing the free services to women without involving the Little Sisters or using their plan.  The Court also ordered the lower Courts to help the government choose an alternative method of providing the services that does not require the participation of the Little Sisters. (see Sister Constance’s reaction here)

George Mason University School of Law has just been renamed the Antonin Scalia School of Law in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Accompanying the name change was a receipt of a $30 million gift: $10 million from the Charles Koch Foundation and $20 million from an anonymous donor. The combination of the names of Scalia and Koch has led to a number of George Mason University faculty getting their panties in a bunch — and understandably so. Let's look at it. Justice Antonin Scalia had a reputation on the court and in his written opinions as...