Free Republic

On the day South Florida mourned a slain police officer, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson stopped in Miami and stuck firmly to his guns over what he says is the unnecessary call for limiting the right to bear arms. ''I do not think that abrogating Second Amendment rights is a good idea,'' the Republican said at the Versailles restaurant in Little Havana. ''The amount of violence created on the street by these kinds of weapons is very, very small,'' Thompson said. ``It's too bad. It's horrendous. Any kind -- whether it's a knife or an IED or a gun --...

(CBS4) DORAL Miami-Dade police have arrested four people in connection with the shootings of four Miami-Dade police officers, one of whom died.According to CBS4’s news partner The Miami Herald, three of those arrested are charged with aiding the suspected cop killer Shawn LaBeet.. Those suspects are Alba Bello, 47; her son, Alain Gonzalez, 24; and Bello’s boyfriend, Lazaro Guardiola, 35. The Herald reports all three have been charged with accessory after the fact for harboring LaBeet and are being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Basically, investigators believe, they helped hide LaBeet as he hid from police in...

The man suspected of killing one Miami-Dade cop and wounding three others Thursday morning in a shootout in south Miami-Dade was cornered and shot dead in a Pembroke Pines apartment complex sometime before midnight, a law enforcement source told The Miami Herald. Miami-Dade police would not confirm the information about suspect Shawn Sherwin LaBeet, but scheduled a news conference for 12:30 a.m. at its headquarters in Doral. After receiving a tip Thursday evening that LaBeet was hiding in an apartment complex in Pembroke Pines, Miami-Dade sent its SWAT team, the source told The Herald.

Two Miami-Dade police officers have been injured in a so-called Tactical Operation gone bad in Cutler Bay. This is currently a developing story that began at SW 281st Street and 143rd Court in Cutler Bay where the two officers were possibly shot, reportedly with an assault rifle. Other officers may have also been hurt but only with minor injuries. At least one officer has been transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital. After the shooting, one suspect barricaded himself inside a building at 280th Street and Southwest 143RD Court. The other suspect took off in a White Honda Accord and began driving...

ANNAPOLIS -- State lawmakers attempting again to ban assault weapons in Maryland are hoping Gov. Martin O'Malley will give his support as hearings on the issue begin today. "That's what we think is very different this year than in the past," said Sen. Michael G. Lenett, Montgomery Democrat and chief sponsor of the bill. "We have a governor who is very committed to public safety." Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, pledged his support for the proposed ban while campaigning last year for governor. The Democrat-controlled General Assembly has failed four straight years to pass such legislation, and members think Mr. O'Malley's...

H.R. 1022 has been introduced in committee. From The High Road, where there's lots of discussion and political fingerpointing. Examples: "Well, all you folks who voted for anyone but a republican now know what the next 2-10 years are going to be like. Maybe longer." Which was countered by: "Plus, even if it does pass, all you good Republicans have nothing to worry about because your President will veto it, right? Remember, you guys all said Bush was just playing politics when he said he would sign a new AWB. You guys don't think you are wrong now, do you?...

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a Democratic candidate for Maryland governor, testified in Annapolis last week in support of a state ban on military-style weapons. "I lived through what one of these weapons can do during the sniper shootings," Mr. Duncan said, referring to the shooting spree in October 2002 that killed 10 persons and terrorized the Washington area for three weeks. "We don't need these guns on the streets." The bill by Delegate Neil Quinter, Howard County Democrat, would replace the federal assault-weapon ban that expired in September 2004. It would outlaw the sale or possession of 19...

Senator Kennedy: "Are you going to make a recommendation to us to ban the manufacturing and production and the distribution of those weapons in the United States?" Mr. Bennett: "No, I'm not Senator. . . . We do not want to -- we've had this discussion before -- interfere with the legitimate rights of gun owners and collectors and hunters." --Discussion between Senator Edward Kennedy and Drug Czar William Bennett during September 7, 1989 session of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Some people think that the whole question of assault weapons is an easy one. "I don't need an AK-47 to...

'Excellent' police response not enough to save woman November 22, 2005 BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST http://www.suntimes.com/output/mitchell/cst-nws-mitch22.html Eight minutes. According to the Chicago Police Department, it took eight minutes for police to arrive at the scene where a man had been beating his wife for 15 to 20 minutes while her children screamed and hollered. In those eight minutes last Wednesday night, Stacey D. Moyer, 29, of 3555 S. Cottage Grove, was shot and killed. After shooting his wife of only two months, Billy Earl Winborn allegedly shot himself in the head. The tragedy happened while both of Moyer's children...

The Supreme Court refused Monday to block a lawsuit against gun manufacturers accused of negligence for firearms violence in the nation's capital. An appeals court had said the District of Columbia government and individual gun victims — including a man who was left a quadriplegic after being shot in 1997 — could sue under a D.C. law that says gun manufacturers can be held accountable for violence from assault weapons. The high court had been asked over the summer to use the case to strike down the statute, which gun makers said interfered with their right to sell lawful products....

June 3, 2005 is the sixteenth anniversary of the brutal 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre of peaceful pro-democracy protestors by the communist Chinese Government. Many Americans remember the infamous photo of the unarmed Chinese student standing in front of a column of armored tanks, blocking their path. What most Americans did not see were the color photos of smashed and bloody bodies of protestors all over the ground, making the ground look somewhat like the top of a giant pizza. The following are links to the encyclopedia entry for "Tiananmen Square", which is also provided below: http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/t/tiananme.asp http://www.encyclopedia.com/printable.asp?url=/ssi/t/tiananme.html The following...

Within hours of the Assault Weapon Ban bill A2466 passing the Assembly, Senator Frank Padavan (R-Queens) introduced the bill in the Senate S5504. This bill repeals the existing Assault Weapon definition and replaces it with new definition language. The bill has been referred to Senator Bruno's Rules committee bypassing usual the usual channel of Senator Volker's Codes committee. Some facts about new Assault Weapon Ban bill A2466/S5504 Bans all semi-auto rifles that have a detachable magazine and one or more of the following. Pistol grip (no further definition) Thumbhole, telescoping or folding stock Compensator (porting) Muzzle brake Bans all semi-auto...

MAINE VOICES: Jim Verdolini Who are the real bullies in gun ban debate? Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend About the Author Jim Verdolini is a resident of Portland. I take considerable exception, and not a small amount of umbrage, at the recent commentary about "Gun Bullies" that appeared in the paper May 11. Columnist Bill Nemitz writes of recent threatening letters sent to legislators who have proposed a variety of gun bills this year. Despite a token denial, the essence of his piece was that nutty gun owners bully harmless legislators who...

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 Bill to ban assault weapons dead until 2007 By PAUL CARRIER, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend AUGUSTA — State lawmakers have refused to outlaw so-called assault weapons, but the measure's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Ethan Strimling of Portland, has vowed to rework the bill and submit it to the next Legislature if he is re-elected in 2006. The assault-weapons ban was the first of three major gun-control bills to work its way through the Legislature this session; two others are still under review. The remaining...

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 COLUMN: Bill Nemitz Gun 'bullies' spread fear in Augusta Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend She knows that simply asking the question is enough to set them off. But Cathie Whittenburg, executive director of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, can't help herself. "What ever happened to civility?" Whittenburg asked Tuesday as her group's legislative agenda - or what's left of it - limped toward the end of the session. "There's a level of anger here that you don't see with other bills. And these people, you know, are armed!"...

Assault weapons ban not sensible as a state-level firearms regulation Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend The federal ban on certain types of assault weapons made sense. Police credit the now-expired legislation for ridding urban streets of guns used by gangs to tip the balance of firepower toward the bad guys. What doesn't make sense, however, is for Maine to try to implement its own ban on assault weapons. State Sen. Ethan Strimling, a Portland Democrat, is the moving force behind a bill to do that. The measure had a hearing on Tuesday...

Tuesday, May 3, 2005 Assault-weapons ban needless, owners say By PAUL CARRIER, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend Also on this page: Today's Question -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ADVERTISEMENT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Question Each day, we ask MaineToday.com readers for their reactions to events in the news: Assault Weapons Ban Legislators are considering an assault weapons ban for Maine similar to the federal ban that expired recently. The Maine Chiefs of Police Association, Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence and Maine Million Mom March against violence are among the groups supporting the legislation. The...

Legislator proposes assault weapons ban AUGUSTA - A leading supporter of a proposed ban on assault weapons warned Monday that it was only a matter of time before someone is killed with one of the targeted guns. But gun rights advocates told lawmakers that Sen. Ethan Strimling's bill would chip away at their constitutional protections and serve no useful purpose. Strimling, D-Portland, told the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee that his bill would fill a gap left by the expiration of a federal assault weapons ban last September after being in effect for a decade. He said seven other...

Despite dire predictions that America's streets would be awash in military-style guns, the expiration of the decade-long assault weapons ban in September has not set off a sustained surge in the weapons' sales, gun makers and sellers say. It also has not caused any noticeable increase in gun crime in the past seven months, according to several city police departments. The uneventful expiration of the assault weapons ban did not surprise gun owners, nor did it surprise some advocates of gun control. Rather, it underscored what many of them had said all along: that the ban was porous - so...

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to speak about a common sense bill that will protect American citizens and law enforcement officers. The Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act is designed to restore and strengthen the ban on assault weapons that expired on September 13, 2004. The Government Accountability Office recently reported that 47 people on the terrorist watch list legally purchased firearms in this country last year. I personally believe that a person on the terrorist watch list, who isn't allowed to board a commercial airliner, should not be able to purchase any weapon. But they especially...