Free Republic

On February 28, President Trump signed the repeal of Barack Obama’s Social Security gun ban. On March 2, SELF magazine reported that Trump had ended firearm background checks for persons who were severely mentally ill. This is Fake News 101 and it is a mantra that many other mainstream outlets have also pushed. For example, also on March 2, NBC News reported that Trump ended firearm “gun checks for people with mental illness” and during the process of repealing of the ban NYT, NYDN, and HuffPost accused Republicans of helping the mentally ill get guns.

Federal immigration officials are halting all scheduled naturalization ceremonies because their digital information system failed to run background checks on an untold number of applicants, according to an email obtained by House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte. The scope of the problem — including how many naturalization applications in the Electronic Immigration System (ELIS) that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials already approved without proper background checks — is unclear. “Effective immediately, offices are instructed not to approve or oath any naturalization cases in ELIS (Electronic Immigration System),” a Nov. 29 email marked “urgent” from USCIS...

In 2016, Nevada was one of four states facing Michael Bloomberg funded attacks on Second Amendment rights.  As with most such attacks, deceit and misdirection were the focus.  Outright lies were repeated endlessly.  Much was made of bogus “studies” that  were carried out by activists behind the flimsiest of academic cover.  Second Amendment defenders in Nevada were outspent 3 to 1 in cash outlays, 19.7 million dollars to 6.6 million from Second Amendment supporters, primarily the NRA.The key to the proposition was what it was being marketed as doing, compared to what it would really do. On that question,...

One of the many bright spots in the 2016 elections for supporters of the Second Amendment was the defeat of Question 3 in Maine.  The question was portrayed as relatively straightforward.  From ballotpedia: Do you want to require background checks prior to the sale or transfer of firearms between individuals not licensed as firearms dealers, with failure to do so punishable by law, and with some exceptions for family members, hunting, self-defense, lawful competitions, and shooting range activity?[8] Question 3 was more complicated in reality.  It was three full pages long. You may read the entire proposition in a...

The number of gun-related background checks performed in July far exceeded those of any previous July, newly released numbers from the FBI show. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, processed nearly 2.2 million checks last month. That represents an increase of almost 600,000 checks over the previous record set last year. It is also an increase of more than a million checks over July 2011. The July record is the latest in a string of 15 record-setting months for firearm background checks. July also saw an increase over June’s numbers as the gun industry’s seasonal lull comes...

Police in Washington, D.C. arrested a 17-year-old who plotted to kill his ex-girlfriend, her family and shoot up her school because she broke up with him and refused to get back together. The Metropolitan Police Department executed a search warrant at the teen’s house last week after threatening messages were sent to the girl. The teen told the girl he would go to her home in Greenbelt, Maryland and kill her whole family, even saying he would bring friends to watch. Police found an AK-47, 180 rounds of ammunition, marijuana and a fake ID at his home. The teen also...

A gun store owner reported Orlando shooter Omar Mateen to authorities weeks before he committed the worst mass shooting in US history. Robbie Abell, co-owner of Lotus Gunworks, told the Wall Street Journal Mateen came into the store in South Florida in May and asked for heavy-duty body armor like the kind used by law enforcement. Staff at the store, which does not sell body armor, felt it was a strange demand. After his request was denied, Mateen asked to buy bulk ammunition. Though Lotus does sell ammunition, staff shut down his request and refused to sell him anything else....

The Office of Personnel Management is preparing for a pilot program to automatically track public social media postings of people applying for security clearances. OPM is conducting market research to find companies that can perform automated social media tracking and other types of Web crawling as part of the background investigation process, according to an April 8 request for information posted online. Responses from interested companies are due by April 15.

Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey is returning to Pennsylvania's airwaves for the first time since last summer, advancing a pro-law enforcement and pro-gun control message as Democrats step up attacks on him. The ads, starting Tuesday, tout Toomey's support for undoing Obama administration restrictions on police access to U.S. military gear and Toomey's push to expand background checks on firearms purchases. Toomey's re-election bid is expected to be expensive and hotly contested, and the seat in closely divided Pennsylvania is viewed as crucial to control of the Senate.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is firing back at the media after a series of press investigations into his background. He has the evidence, he said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," to prove that reports amount to nothing more than a "hit job." The Republican presidential candidate targeted two investigations in particular: CNN's inability to corroborate his claim of having a violent childhood, and The Wall Street Journal's questioning of the existence of a psychology class he said he took at Yale University. In a Facebook post early Monday morning, Carson posted what he said was a 1997 Parade Magazine in...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former President Bill Clinton, in a keynote address to West Virginia Democrats on Friday night, touched on background checks for gun owners in the wake of the Oregon community college mass shooting. “Those of us who grew up in hunting country—and who believe the 2nd Amendment guarantees everybody the right to keep a gun to go hunting, to sports shoot and to protect themselves and their families—most of us think it’s crazy that we don’t do background checks,” Clinton said. Ticket sales for the party’s Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner spiked upon news of Clinton’s appearance. About 2,000 people...

PLAINS TOWNSHIP -- Police were called to a gun shop in Luzerne County Wednesday after a potential buyer was flagged in the system. A clerk at United Gun Supply along Route 315 in Plains Township said a man came in to buy a gun around 11 a.m. The red flags went up when he ran a background check on him. Police arrived and arrested Joseph Bagnato of Pittston.

Brian Thompson had a criminal record spanning more than two decades, but that didn’t stop him from getting an office job at the Department of Housing and Urban Development earning nearly $90,000 per year. His extensive criminal history only came to light in recent days after federal prosecutors outlined convictions and charges of armed robbery, theft and larceny against Thompson, who now faces federal prison time for embezzling more than $800,000 from HUD during his short stint as a federal worker. Now HUD officials are scrambling to figure out how he landed his job, which he was allowed to resign...

Initiative Measure No. 594 filed June 17, 2013 AN ACT Relating to requiring criminal and public safety background checks for gun sales and transfers; amending RCW 9.41.010, 9.41.090, 9.41.122, 9.41.124, and 82.12.040; adding new sections to chapter 9.41 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 82.08 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

Alan Gottlieb, at the Gun Rights Policy Conference, asked a very scary question.  It is a question loaded with bad premises, freighted with unintended consequences.   It was terrifying when you consider where it leads us, as a society. It was: Would you sell a gun to someone you do not know? The premise that underlies the question is that selling a gun to someone that you do not know is irresponsible, and that it should be regulated by the government.  Alan followed up his question with another terrifying premise: If you sell your gun to someone who later uses...

CHICAGO – Employers in Illinois can no longer access criminal background checks on potential hires until after an interview is conducted. Gov. Quinn signed into law this week a bill that prohibits private employers from asking applicants about their criminal history prior to determining if they are qualified for the job. “Everyone deserves a second chance when it comes to getting a job,” Governor Quinn said in a press release. “This law will help ensure that people across Illinois get a fair shot to reach their full potential through their skills and qualifications, rather than past history. It will also...

Two articles in two local papers provide two takes on the two to one vote that defeated the "universal background check" or "ban on private sales" a week ago on the 12th of February. Depending on whether you read the seacoastonline or the New Hampshire Union Leader, the bill went down to defeat because of confusing parliamentary wrangling (the house is controlled by Democrats 215-177) or the Democrats want the bill to go down, but did not want their names attached to its defeat. From seacoastonline: HB 1589 would have required most private sellers to conduct background checks through...

Decrying estimates that “scores of thousands of Connecticut residents failed to register their military-style assault weapons with state police by Dec. 31,” The Hartford Courant published an editorial Friday declaring “State Can't Let Gun Scofflaws Off Hook. Aware that “willful noncompliance ... is doubtless a major issue,” The Courant floated the wishful thinking “that many gun owners are unaware of their obligation to register military-style assault weapons and would do so if given another chance.“But the bottom line is that the state must try to enforce the law,” The Courant concluded, calling on the state to use the “background check...

While maybe a half-million people will line Seattle’s streets today celebrating the Seahawks Super Bowl win, a “webinar” offered by the Progressive Majority Action Fund will provide tips to gun control proponents, including those in the Pacific Northwest, on how to push their anti-gun agenda. The 90-minute webinar – an online seminar – begins at noon Pacific/3 p.m. Eastern. It is being described as “a lively and interactive discussion about how to argue for gun legislation” led by Bernie Horn, “one of the lead lobbyists for the passage of the Brady Law and the federal ban on assault weapons.”The Progressive...