Free Republic

February 18, 2012 (SUPERIOR, Wisc.) -- Superior police have shot and killed a male who they say raised his gun as officers tried to investigate him for an attempted car theft.

In a display of defiance at the U.S. Capitol’s governing gun lobby, Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and eight colleagues have introduced legislation to reinstate a ban on carrying loaded firearms in America’s national parks. The legislation was prompted by January’s murder of Mt. Rainier National Park ranger Margaret Anderson. Anderson was shot as she set up a road block for a car that didn’t stop at a chain-up checkpoint. By Joe Sebille“The dreadful and deeply saddening event that occurred on Mt. Rainier makes me question why on earth people should be allowed to carry loaded weapons in our national parks,”...

In New Hampshire, the state motto "Live Free or Die" is more of a way of life than just a slogan. But despite the push of some in the Granite State to place "warning" signs on roads that lead to a border with Massachusetts, the bill was voted down in the New Hampshire House of Representatives on Wednesday in a 285-18 vote. The signs, which would have said "Warning: Massachusetts Border 500 Feet," were proposed in an effort to warn residents that they were about to enter the Bay State, which has different laws regarding seatbelts, helmets, guns, knives, fireworks,...

Peter van Uhm: Why I chose a gunPeter van Uhm is the Netherlands’ chief of defense, but that does not mean he is pro-war. At TEDxAmsterdam he explains how his career is one shaped by a love of peace, not a desire for bloodshed -- and why we need armies if we want peace. General Peter van Uhm is the Chief of the Netherlands Defence staff. He has had an outstanding career over four decades in the Dutch military. In the Netherlands, he is know from his personal tragedy. On 18 April 2008, one day after Van Uhm was appointed...

For those of you who have the unenviable task of debating liberals in your family or workplace, let me render some aid. Liberals are jumping all over the falsehood that Fast & Furious was conceived and put into play during the Bush Administration as Project Gunrunner or Operation Gunwalker. And while it is undeniably true that such a federal operation was put into play by the Bush Administration, there is a huge difference between the Bush initiative and Operation Fast & Furious: motive. To quote the ATF fact sheet at The U.S. Embassy in Mexico website, here was the goal...

A pastor's daughter who was rushed to Bayfront Medical Center after she was accidentally shot in the head at church has passed away, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_pinellas/pastors-daughter-dies-from-injuries-suffered-in-accidental-church-shooting#ixzz1mlsofSi2

Whitmore Publishing Company has agreed to publish “Color the Green Movement Blue: A Remedy for Environmental Health.” The book tells of how a few anglers and hunters united fellow outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen to throw two animal rights politicians out of office for creating legislation that would have banned freshwater fishing and hunting in New Jersey. It is a David and Goliath like chronicle, a couple of guileless sportsmen relying on a seat-of-the-pants undertaking, and only three months’ time, to come up with the strategy, finances, and wherewithal to unseat two savvy, well-financed, animal rights legislators. The author, and cofounder of...

Ever since taking office, President Barack Obama has tried desperately to convince gun owners and sportsmen that he supports the Second Amendment. But actions speak louder than words, and Obama’s latest budget proposal contains numerous sneak attacks aimed at the heart of our firearm freedoms. For example, NRA members and gun owners fought hard for a law to ban government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control from using our tax dollars to produce blatant anti-gun propaganda. Obama wants to kill it in his budget. We fought hard for a law to ban the Obama administration from spending our tax...

When a residential burglar fired a gun at Jay Leone last month, he was initially too angry to realize he had been shot in the head, he testified Friday. "To tell you the truth, I never felt a thing," said Leone, 90, of Greenbrae. "I said, 'F—- you, you son of a bitch, now it's my turn.'" Whereupon he shot five bullets at the suspect from his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson snubnose revolver, hitting the burglar three times in the abdomen. A scuffle ensued between the wounded men. "Then he took the gun and put it to my head —...

TYRIRK HARRIS and his girlfriend were well-known on their bustling Tacony block as lousy neighbors. They hogged parking spaces. They took their time in silencing their frequently tripped car alarms. They let their two dogs run outside unleashed, biting and barking at passers-by and leaving piles of poo polka-dotting neighbors' yards. The couple's hot temper was even more notorious. Harris, 27, ended an argument over a snowy parking space last winter by placing his hand on his holstered gun, neighbors said. His girlfriend once posted a sign on her car, parked curbside, warning passers-by that she would shoot anyone who...

As of today, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is accepting comments for a proposed rule change that would enable you to hunt this fall with quieter firearms, making your outdoor experience safer and more enjoyable. Scott Vaca, TPWD Assistant Chief of Wildlife, said the proposed suppressor regulation covers hunting, and if approved at the March 29 meeting of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, hunting with suppressors will begin on September 1, 2012. The proposal is now official, because it’s been announced in today’s Texas Register (search for “Chapter 65” or “sound-suppressing”). According to the TPWD news release:...

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Forty students from Westlake High School went from taking pictures Friday afternoon to taking fire from target shooters near Utah Lake. It's a common thing on the western side of Utah Lake: gunfire, on public land, with signs everywhere to let people know to be cautious. But Friday, the group of students, here on a field trip, came under fire when target shooters bullets got far too close for comfort. A mother of one of the students recalls a text message from her terrified daughter: "It's been going on for 10 minutes. We're laying on the ground...

PHOENIX (CBS5) - Authorities in Phoenix are asking for immediate action after they found that hundreds of protective vests worn by Valley cops may not stop bullets. Phoenix Police officer Anthony Daley, 30, was seriously injured when a bullet pierced through the bottom edge of his ballistic vest in November. A similar vest was tested Thursday and the results released today.

A family of four – Rick Reese, his wife Terri, and their two sons, Ryin - 24 and Remington - 19 – was arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico on August 30, 2011. They have been held in four separate county and federal detention facilities without bond ever since. Their alleged crime is that, over the course of several months, they sold between 15 and 30 guns to people they knew, or should have known were gun traffickers for Mexican drug gangs. The Reeses insist that they are innocent of any crime. Shortly after they were arrested in Las Cruces,...

TEMPLE (KCEN) - Police say a man who received treatment at Scott and White Hospital for a gunshot wound could be a man involved in an attempted home burglary. The attempted burglary occurred Thursday just before noon in the 3900 block of Lower Troy Road. The victim told police two Hispanic male suspects forced entry into his home and then ran when they spotted the victim inside. Officers say the homeowner fired one shot from a handgun at the suspects. Around 12:30 p.m. a man matching the description of one of the suspects came into Scott and White ER with...

I had to pick up one of my kids today, and as luck would have it, I was getting my fill of Rush Limbaugh while we were in the car. She doesn't see the value of the information that Rush produces, and was eager to change the station to something more palatable to teenage ears. She almost lost her fingers. But it got me thinking a little bit about what teens think about today's topics. I first talked about a bill filed in the Iowa House to make it legal for dairy farmers to sell unpasteurized milk. It seems that...

Days after a Pierce County Superior Court judge ordered that the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club to shut down until it can obtain land-use permits, the controversy over how this club operated is sizzling. Located along the old Seabeck Highway, when the club was originally founded generations ago, there were not a lot of people living in the area. The noise from shooting didn’t bother anybody, because there wasn't anyone within earshot to be bothered. Nowadays, that has changed dramatically because human encroachment into former forest land has brought with it the almost obligatory conflict between gun ranges and people...

OK, this isn’t for you guys who are operators. If you own your own sub-gun, or your job requires you to handle/use M4s regularly, then just go away. There’s no need for you to stick around and sneer. This essay is for all the schlubs like me who don’t often get a chance to get to play with full-auto toys. Who have thought, “oh, that’s no big deal. It’d be silly to pay the freight for rental sub-machine guns, dropping a couple hundred bucks in almost no time." Well, this is me telling you just do it. Seriously. If you...

Sometimes zero tolerance makes zero sense. Take the case of former Marine Ryan Jerome, an Indiana jeweler arrested last September at the Empire State Building for carrying a .45-caliber handgun — legally purchased and licensed in his home state. It’s not as if Jerome was trying to hide the gun. He volunteered to security personnel that he was carrying it, and actually tried to check it. Nor is he a notorious gangster; he was carrying some $15,000 in jewelry, and needed the gun for protection. Yes, he did misunderstand New York’s gun laws; possessing an illegal pistol in the Empire...

Manasquan, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- An ICE Agent went on a workplace shooting rampage in a Long Beach CA Federal Office Building last night after reportedly getting into a heated exchange with his Supervisor.The gunman was stopped only when another person with a gun, a fellow Agent, drew his own weapon and shot and killed the assailant. The Supervisor is currently hospitalized and is expected to survive.Every time time there is a work place shooting, or any shooting where someone gets angry and goes on a rampage, Gun Control Groups, their followers and their enablers in the media and various Legislative bodies...

The gun totin' boys at the Broxton Bridge Plantation hunting ground were planning on having themselves a good old fashioned pigeon hunt. South Carolina's unfortunately named S.H.A.R.K. animal rights group planned to expose them via aerial drone. Guess what happened. The Times and Democrat reports that once the hopeful hunters knew they were going to be watched from above, they started to leave the private shooting plantation. SHARK decided to send up their drone anyway—above a group of cranky firearm-wielding southerners. Big mistake, SHARK. Their drone was quickly shot out of the sky: "Seconds after it hit the air,...

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The FBI says a fatal shooting in a Southern California Immigration and Customs Enforcement office occurred as an agent was being counseled on his performance by a high-ranking ICE official. Federal officials on Friday identified the gunman as 45-year-old supervisory special agent Ezequiel Garcia and the victim as 51-year-old Kevin Kozak, deputy special agent in charge of the Los Angeles area.

APPLING, Ga. -- Police officers in Thomson are bringing out the big guns to help them fight crime. Officers now have military M-16 rifles, and they didn't have to dig deep in their pockets to pay for them. It's straight to training and target practice as the officers learn how to use the rifles in their fight against crime. "It's very important to me as the chief of police of the Thomson Police Department to return my officers home at the end of every tour of duty safe from harm," said Thomson Police Chief Joe Nelson. A state program gives...

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — President Felipe Calderon on Thursday unveiled a “No More Weapons!” billboard made with crushed firearms and placed near the U.S. border. He urged the United States to stop the flow of weapons into Mexico. The billboard, which is in English and weighs 3 tons, was placed near an international bridge in Ciudad Juarez and can be seen from the United States.

Ignorance of the law helped clear Sheriff Jerry Demings' political lobbyist of wrongdoing for handing out gun owners' restricted driver's license photos last year in Tallahassee to lobby against an open-carry law, Orange County sheriff's records show. Capt. Mike Fewless set off a statewide controversy in a April by distributing eight photos from a secret intelligence file that he claimed were outlaw bikers with valid state Carry Concealed Weapon permits. The lobbying was part of an effort by the Florida Sheriff's Association to persuade legislators that tourists would avoid Florida if gun owners were allowed to openly display their firearms....

(SCOTTSDALE, AZ) - An unarmed Arizona grandfather was blasted in the head this week by a police officer who killed the man because he "thought" he had a weapon. This was the particular officer's sixth fatal shooting in the line of duty, it happened Tuesday night in Scottsdale, "There were at least three officers in position to engage the suspect. At least one of the officers thought he saw something in the suspect's hands," Scottsdale Police Sgt. Mark Clark told Arizona's KPNX.

He's eluded authorities for more than five years, a mountain man who roams the wilderness of southern Utah, breaking into remote cabins in winter, living in luxury off hot food, alcohol and coffee before stealing provisions and vanishing into the woods. Investigators have clawed for clues, scouring cabins for fingerprints that match no one and chasing reports of brief encounters only to come up short, always a step behind the mysterious recluse. They've found abandoned camps, dozens of guns, high-end outdoor gear stolen from the homes and trash strewn around the forest floor. But the man authorities say is armed...

A Florida family endured three days of torture and fear as they were held hostage by a group of criminals demanding thousands of dollars in cash. Today the father testified against one of his abductors, telling how they terrorized the family and played Russian roulette with their five-year-old son. The scarring details came out as Victor Manuel Sanchez, the first of the four assailants, is on trial for numerous felony charges including attempted murder, home-invasion robbery, and kidnapping. Sanchez and his three partners were arrested after they had held the Morais family hostage in their Winter Garden, Florida home for...

Rahm Emanuel does not plan to run for governor of Illinois. Not in 2014. Not ever. His proposal last week to register all Illinois handguns made it obvious. I'm sure that Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, wouldn't consider taking the step down to governor anyway — not any more than his predecessor, Richard M. Daley. You can be sure that Chicago mayors do see it as a demotion. Only one has ever stooped down to the Governor's Mansion and that was almost a century ago: ex-Mayor Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne served as governor from 1913-17. No wonder. Chicago mayors wield enormous...

While my new gun was being transferred to the District from Virginia, I returned to D.C.’s Gun Registry Office to turn in my registration application. As you will see in what follows, this should have been simple step, but it took all day. Like everything else in my effort to get a legal handgun in this city has been far more complicated and time-consuming that it needed to be.

When Rick Melartin of Bellaire, Texas heard his neighbor calling for help Monday morning, he sprang into action. Melartin's neighbor had just been robbed at gunpoint as he was getting into his car. The robber got distracted and the victim grabbed his gun and screamed. Melartin called 911 and came outside with his pistol. The robber took off without his gun and headed for an 89-year-old neighbor's backyard. "She's a very, very dear friend of mine," Melartin said. "She's 89-years-old and I love her to death. I figured when he turned around and proceeded to go through to the gates...

ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a man tried to break into his ex-girlfriend's house last night--but instead of sweet nothings he got some gunshot wounds. 41-year-old Chauncey Williams tried to break into his ex-girlfriend's home around 10 pm Monday night. Instead of welcoming him inside, police say his ex shot at him from behind the front door. Multiple bullets hit him in the arm. Williams was let out of prison in August; he was locked up in 2006 for trying to do the same thing. He was supposed to serve a 10-year sentence, but got out...

Ex-Governor David Paterson has contacted Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance to dismiss the weapons possession charges against retired Marine Ryan Jerome, according to the NY Post. Jerome is currently being prosecuted after attempting to check in his Indiana-registered handgun at the Empire State Building last year. Must Read Suffolk County Police image shows the locations where eight of 10 bodies were found near Gilgo Beach since December 2010Crimes of New York: 2011 Year in Review Lady Gaga, Times Square Make For Special New Year’s Eve in New York CityNew Year's 2012 Shortages Forecast Worldwide, and Not Just Norwegian Butter: A New...

The outcome of Kitsap County vs. Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club has undoubtedly brought relief to a lot of people in the northwest part of the county. Since the club began expanding its facilities in 2005, its neighbors have been bothered by increased noise from bulldozers and from larger and larger weapons, as well as by the threat of bullets flying beyond the club's embankments. Until 1993, the club had rifle and pistol ranges with cleared land between them, but then it began clearing more acres, grading the land, excavating wooded areas and using bulldozers to rearrange the earth for...

FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- Today, the state House Natural Resources Subcommittee tabled Senate Bill 464 for the rest of this current legislative session. SB 464, sponsored by state Senator Ralph Northam (D-6), would have allowed hunting on private land and public waterways on Sundays. Currently, Virginia is one of only six states in the country that strictly bans hunting on Sunday. This prohibition threatens the very future of our hunting heritage by discouraging hunter recruitment and retention. In addition, this antiquated ban harms Virginia’s economy. Due to increasingly demanding work, family and extracurricular schedules, older and younger hunters alike often have...

Georgians would be allowed to carry concealed weapons in bars, public schools, most government buildings, college campuses and other locations under a sweeping gun bill filed in the House. In addition to banishing many current restrictions, House Bill 981 would prevent police or the National Guard from disarming people during states of emergency, and it would allow citizens to sue if that occurred. Rep. Sean Jerguson, R-Woodstock, one of the bill's co-sponsors, said Thursday that it strikes a balance between the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms, and personal property rights. For instance, any church or business,...

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming House of Representatives narrowly voted down legislation Wednesday that would have prevented local government officials in the state from passing any gun control laws, under penalty of heavy fines or even removal from office. House Bill 60, sponsored by state Rep. Kendell Kroeker, R-Evansville, got 38 votes, two short of the two-thirds majority needed for the legislation to be introduced. The bill would have added teeth to a Wyoming law already on the books that gives the state primacy over gun laws and prohibits cities, counties and other local bodies from passing their own laws regulating...

Moot, but noteworthy: Tuesday, Natrona County commissioners met in an unusual morning work session because Chairman Ed Opella and Rob Hendry wanted to hit the road to Cheyenne to meet with the Wyoming County Commissioners Association and legislators. Matt Keating had to leave early, so he missed the discussion about what commissioners wanted to convey to the WCCA. -------------------cut------------------------ In December, the Casper City Council passed a controversial ordinance that banned openly carried weapons at city government meetings. Hendry and Terry Wingerter said the city's controversy hasn't affected the county, yet. Wednesday, Matt called me so say he disagreed with...

The right of decent private citizens to personally possess, transport, and responsibly use arms without government interference is the ultimate freedom and the main pillar supporting all other liberties. Few cultures have allowed their general population access to weapons, the tools of power, to the same degree as the United States. Instead, most societies have restricted the keeping and bearing of arms to a select few power brokers and their agents, often resulting in oppression on a grand scale. Despite a massive amount of historical evidence to the contrary, there is a substantial body of Americans, many occupying positions of...

An Oklahoma state lawmaker is pushing to include churches under the "Stand Your Ground" law. Representative Mike Ritze wants to give people clear legal authority to respond to dangerous individuals who threaten the safety of people at a place of worship. "They don't have to do it, we are not mandating it. It just recognizes the right that they can do it just like they can in their homes, vehicles, and businesses," Rep. Ritze said. The lawmaker points to the murder of a pastor in Anadarko and the recent bomb threat at Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond as the reasons...

Key police chiefs and county prosecutors joined together on Thursday to urge Minnesota lawmakers to not pass legislation that would give people more freedom to use deadly force when protecting themselves. The legislation creates the presumption that a person in their home or other dwelling who uses deadly force does so believing they are in danger of harm or death. The bill also removes the obligation for that person to retreat from such a situation. It's headed for a full Senate vote soon. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said at a Capitol press conference that the bill shifts the standard...

‘Contempt of Congress” is a pretty strong term, and one with tangible legal consequences, but how else to describe Attorney General Eric Holder’s continuing obstructionism in the burgeoning Fast and Furious scandal? It’s been 14 months since news broke that a federal agent had been killed with weapons that Holder’s Justice Department intentionally allowed to cross the border into Mexico, with no plan on how to track them and without alerting Mexican officials. In all, the Obama administration sent thousands of guns south to the drug gangs under the misbegotten operation. But since last May, Eric Holder has been stonewalling...

MARIANNA, FL 2/10/2012 -- "It's a blessing to be here. I thank the Lord that I'm here every day," said store clerk Troy Groth. One look at the Big Star Liquors store surveillance video from January 18th and you can see why Groth is happy to be alive. "I'm grateful to the Lord," said Groth. Groth was working that night when two men tried to rob the store. Marianna Police said Hakhelius Moore, 18 years old, walked inside and immediately pulled out a gun. Groth instantly reacted with his own weapon and the two men exchanged fire. "Whenever I sit...

Manasquan, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- According to the State of New Jersey, one must show a “justifiable need” to be granted a concealed carry permit to carry a handgun. In this author’s opinion, the defense of my life and the lives of my family and other loved ones is my “justifiable need”. Poor, Average and Unconnected Need Not Apply Amazingly enough in the State of New Jersey there is a polar opposite view. The way the judges and politicians see it, my life is not important enough to defend against a criminal in a threatening situation. However, the judges and politicians see...

OTTAWA — The Conservative government says its MPs will celebrate after a historic vote to end the long-gun registry Wednesday evening, despite vehement opposition to the move in Quebec and much of urban Canada. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told reporters Wednesday, hours before the vote, that the government’s actions are long overdue. “It does nothing to help put an end to gun crimes, nor has it saved one Canadian life,” he said. “It criminalizes hard-working and law-abiding citizens such as farmers and sport shooters, and it has been a billion-dollar boondoggle left to us by the previous Liberal government.”

The recent revelation that the head of Media Matters walked the streets of Washington with a Glock-toting bodyguard may make it a little awkward for the group the next time it seeks a donation from a gun control advocacy group. Media Matters reportedly took more than $400,000 from the Joyce Foundation specifically earmarked to promote a $600,000 initiative on "gun and public safety issues." At the same time, Media Matters' gun-guarded boss David Brock reportedly obsessed over his own security. ....Brock reportedly told confidantes that he feared for his safety and needed hired guns to keep him safe.

The United Nations continually claims that their arms control treaty efforts are not directed at curtailing legal private ownership of guns. However, in a practice gun destruction exercise 4,000 firearms were destroyed in Jamaica in early February under the auspices of the UN Center For Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean.(UNLIREC) The United Nations has instituted a 10 day Training Course designed to help implement international “treaties” for gun control in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean. Each session is led by a UN gun control trainer. The courses objectives are to give police technical skills related...

There's really little to discuss before pitchers and catchers reports to Kissimmee next week. I had no idea what I would write about before reader James Crabtree sent an e-mail over a topic that upset him. The topic was a small mention in Alyson Footer's recent MLB blog about the "Flashback Friday" campaign this season to deck current players in the uniforms of yesteryear. Her blog said this: * Flashback Fridays: the Astros will wear retro jerseys from past decades every Friday home game this year, starting with the Colt .45s (minus the pistol, which was deemed inappropriate to include...

Arizona, Alaska, and Utah are the winners in the Brady Campaign anti-gun rights sweepstakes for 2011. The anti gun rights organization annually rates all 50 states with a 100 point scorecard ranking on the basis of anti gun rights laws. These three states win for the least State interference in individual gun rights freedoms with 0 points each in 2011. California continues to blaze the trail by scoring 81 out of 100 possible points in repressive gun rights legislation. The rankings were based on gun laws passed by the end of 2011. Here are all 50 states' rankings and the...

She was dead. The woman lay on her back in the middle of the street. Her eyes were open and staring up at the sky, clouds reflecting on the haze forming over them. Pools of thick, dark syrup formed under her back, her life blood oozing out across the black asphalt around her body. I was there when she died. It's a hell of a thing, death. Anyone who has been around it knows about that moment when someone goes from being a person to a thing. It's a curiosity, almost magical in a way. You can't help but be...