Free Republic

TRENTON – One of the bills Gov. Chris Christie signed into law today deals with keeping guns out of the hands of those on the Terrorist Watch List. In signing A3687, Christie talked in an accompanying statement about the need to balance national security needs with a desire to ensure law-abiding citizens are not improperly implicated with wrongdoing. He said that “To the extent that this bill will keep guns out of the hands of known terrorists, or those who have taken active steps to support terrorist activities, my signature on this bill represents my commitment to keeping the citizens...

This sow and four cubs are part of an exploding bear population Quoted below are comments from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area chat group (BWCA).  It shows an interesting cultural divide in this country.   The first poster is willing to be oblivious to some dangers, the second offers to increase the first poster's skill level, but that would never happen without a change in attitude. The old saw about a conservative as a liberal who has been mugged comes to mind. This is of some interest  to me because I have inside knowledge that I do not have permission...

Sheriff Lee Baca announced the destruction Tuesday of 5,495 weapons confiscated from criminals in Los Angeles County and collected through the “Gifts for Guns” exchange program. Annually, Gerdau Steel Mill, located in Rancho Cucamonga, generously donates its furnace, equipment and personnel to convert these weapons into steel rebar. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works also donates the trucks every year that transport the weapons to the Mill. These weapons will be melted into steel reinforcing bar (rebar) and ultimately transformed into elements of construction for upgrades in freeways and bridges in Arizona, California and Nevada. “Our partnership with...

MSNBC's Chris Matthews made a bold prediction on Wednesday's Hardball. "The hard-right is going to take over the Republican Party in 2016 and the nomination is going to Rand Paul" (video follows with transcript and commentary):CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with this. I’ve been offering a prediction of late. Let me nail it down now. I believe the Republican Party is going to go hard-right in 2016. It’s going to run someone from the growing hard-right wing of the Party, something it hasn't done since 1980. And here's the thinking which works equally...

New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed 10 pieces of gun legislation into law Thursday. Christie, widely seen as a probable GOP candidate for president in 2016, signed off on the slate of bills, most of which were non-controversial, while leaving five more contentious bills still awaiting his signature or veto. One of the new laws will disqualify any person on the federal terrorist watch list from obtaining firearms identification cards or permits to purchase handguns. “To the extent that this bill will keep guns out of the hands of known terrorists, or those who have taken active steps to...

Renters at an apartment community just south of Denver are between a rock and a hard place, ordered by their landlord to either get rid of their weapons or move out. The manager at Oakwood Apartments in Castle Rock, Colo., sent a notice to renters last week advising them of the new rule banning all “firearms and weapons” from the premises, a local news station reported. Residents have until Oct. 1 to comply. The rule has one worried — and outraged. Art Dorsch, 77, a Marine Corps veteran and avid hunter with a concealed carry permit, said he lives on...

Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner has uncovered a fascinating document: an 80-page "talking points" monograph titled "Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective Messaging," written by a trio of Democratic political operatives. The document, as Bedard writes, instructs politicians and advocates "to hype high-profile gun incidents like the Florida slaying of Trayvon Martin to win support for new gun control laws." Essentially it's a how-to book on inciting a moral panic. "The most powerful time to communicate is when concern and emotions are running at their peak," it advises. Antigun advocates are urged to seize opportunistically on horrific crimes: "The debate...

New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed 10 pieces of gun legislation into law Thursday. Christie, widely seen as a probable GOP candidate for president in 2016, signed off on the slate of bills, most of which were non-controversial, while leaving five more contentious bills still awaiting his signature or veto. One of the new laws will disqualify any person on the federal terrorist watch list from obtaining firearms identification cards or permits to purchase handguns. “To the extent that this bill will keep guns out of the hands of known terrorists, or those who have taken active steps to...

Money line: “This is what I do for a living.” Didn’t he predict a Bush/Clinton race in 2016 just nine months ago? If he believes what he says here about the parties swinging like “pendulums” from moderate nominees to ideologues and then back again, why would he have named Jeb as a strong contender last November? In fact, the roots of the counterargument are in Matthews’s own shpiel here: Most of the time, they head to the center. This is what Republicans did most successfully in 1952 – when, after twenty years of Roosevelt and Harry Truman – they wanted...

What is the best way to push gun control? According to a newly leaked document that gives Democrats advice on that very subject, national tragedies are the answer. The document, “Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective Messaging,� is more than 70 pages long and was created by a group of Washington, D.C., consultants who did research for a Washington state gun-control advocates. It was written in 2012 before the Sandy Hook shooting tragedy. The document states that "The most powerful time to communicate is when concern and emotions are running at their peak ... The debate over gun violence in...

Across the country, laws that pertain to the use of deadly force have come under scrutiny in the wake of the George Zimmerman trial, but not all the laws are the same. That is why Indiana’s law likely won’t be changing any time soon. Indiana does have legislation in the Indiana Code that would be considered “Stand Your Ground.” It means that a person in Indiana does not have a “duty to retreat” and is allowed to use deadly force in certain scenarios. Indiana’s legislation is different than Florida’s in a few key areas, but it also shares a lot...

After nearly two decades of continual victories in state legislatures, gun-rights proponents have suddenly hit some turbulence. Despite paralysis on the issue in Washington, mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado, Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and elsewhere have led five states to tighten their gun laws. Four of those states are liberal bastions, but the fifth is the formerly red state of Colorado, home of not only Aurora but also the Columbine massacre. Unsurprisingly, the Centennial State is also where the gun lobby is looking to make a statement in return – with recalls set to take place September 10 against two state...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Police can keep nearly 50 guns they seized from a man after he was found watching a Bloomington bar where an Indiana University student partied the night she went missing more than a year earlier, a state court ruled Tuesday. The 2-1 ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a local judge's ruling allowing Bloomington police to keep 48 weapons they confiscated from Robert Redington's Indianapolis home in August 2012, including more than a dozen tucked under the sheets and pillows of his bed.

NYPD states that after reviewing its reports on Officers death involving shootouts. NYPD clearly understands sight shooting isn't required in close quarter shooting. In other words, all you have to do is instinctively point and shoot and you'll hit your target at 10 feet or less. So why did it take NYPD so long to figure this out? Were they just waiting to tally up the scores between cop vs bad guy before they make a decision to make the change. Money was being spent x amount of dollars per year on useless gun program that are suppose to be...

Artist Sabine Pearlman headed to Switzerland in 2012 on a unique mission. She was there to photograph 900 cross-sections of ammunition in order to expose the "otherwise invisible architecture" of some of the most destructive weaponry ever created. But in doing so, Pearlman made a conscious choice to not provide her audience with details about specifics: things like the names or purposes of the bullets themselves. "I wanted to keep them out of context, in order to make it possible for people who look at the images to appreciate them for many different reasons," she said....

Kahr Firearms Group announced Wednesday that it will relocate its corporate offices from New York to Pennsylvania, and blames New York’s Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act as reason why. “We’re looking for a more friendly environment for our business,” Frank Harris, Kahr’s vice president for sales and marketing, told the Associated Press. “Maybe we could have stayed here and built a plant, but the way the bill was passed left us feeling there were a lot of uncertainties going forward.” Kahr is the first gun company to announce that it will move out of New York. It’s relocating its...

Anti-gun politicians continue to promote falsified statistics that suggest we’re progressing towards a gun free country. You’ve probably seen the NRA’s map that shows every state’s concealed carry policy, but check out below how much we’ve gained over the last couple of decades. Isn’t that green a pretty sight to see? Here we are in 2013 during the “height” of firearm banning and yet only a handful of Northeast states (plus California and D.C.) have restrictions on concealed carry. It just reinforces the lesson that you can’t trust everything these legislators/reporters tell you about public opinion. Obviously our country still...

The editor of the New York newspaper that created a furor by publishing the names and addresses of gun-permit owners suddenly is out of a job. According to the Rockland Times, a competitor to the Gannett-owned Rockland County Journal News, editor Caryn McBride is among the casualties of a recent purge at the Journal News. The report said 17 journalists were among a total of 26 staff members at the Journal News who were let go. It was the Journal News that in 2012 published the names and addresses of all gun owners in Westchester and Rockland counties under the...

A controversial gun policy at an apartment complex for seniors has been thrown out after a 9Wants to Know report. The Douglas County Housing Partnership, a multi-jurisdictional housing authority, held an emergency board of directors meeting late Wednesday afternoon. Board members decided that the policy, which would have prohibited residents from having firearms in their homes, will not go into effect. Read the article: KUSA-TV

A dear friend (a flag-waving gun-toting conservative) who is unfortunately going through a bitter divorce informed me yesterday that their court proceedings took a very amusing turn. The soon-to-be-ex-wife's lawyer was attempting to paint my friend as unstable and unfit to care for their four kids (two their own, two from her previous marriage). To accomplish this, the liar-for-hire cited this very blog as evidence!Why?Because the profile pic at VM's Facebook page is this:Yes, it's true: This pic features ... gasp ... guns! (Not that it makes any difference that my friend and his truly unstable wife are themselves gun owners.) This...

But the stunt instead earned him a visit from armed police — who arrived during a wedding demanding to inspect his collection of 150 firearms. Three officers turned up at the home of Sir Benjamin Slade after a member of the public reported that they felt threatened by the image, which appeared in The Telegraph, of him dressed in camouflage and holding a semi-automatic rifle. The 67-year-old baronet said he had to intercept the officers at the gates of Maunsel House, near Bridgwater, Somerset, as he had hired the venue out for a wedding and feared that the guests would...

Hypothetical situation; you have just been sent to some brutal, Stalinist, dictatorial place where you can’t bring your gun. Think Uganda, Somalia or Illinois. Upon arrival your host properly adheres to good gun owner-guest protocol and offers you your choice of one of his two guns for your bedside piece. Those guns are a Ruger 10/22 in .22 rimfire or a Walther PP in .32 ACP. Which do you choose? Now you know what a bedside piece is designed to do and that’s keep you and your patch safe against bad guys. It could be inside the home or outside...

Hot or Not? Rihanna Instagrams her gold AK-47 grill In a recent Instagram post, controversial pop-star, Rihanna, shows off her new, golden AK-47 grill. Her fan reviews are mixed. Some seem to love the new dental bling while others cast it off as just another attempt to maintain her “bad girl” image. What do you think?

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- A firearms manufacturer in New York, partially blaming the state's new gun control law, said Wednesday it's moving its corporate offices — and its plans for expansion — to Pennsylvania. Kahr Firearms Group of Pearl River is the first gunmaker to announce it's leaving because of the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, which was put into law after closed-door negotiations in January. It was the first law in the nation prompted by the killing of 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., in December. "We're looking for a more friendly environment for our...

A man apparently speeding in Norfolk, Va., accidentally shot himself in the groin after he waved a firearm at bystanders who told him to slow down, police told FoxNews.com Rhonney Jacobs was speeding through the neighborhood when he was flagged down by two men, Norfolk police said. He made a U-turn and confronted one of the men, police said. There was a struggle and Jacobs pulled out his .45-caliber gun and it accidentally discharged into his groin, police said. One witness told WTKR.com that he pulled his gun out “trying to shoot one of them but he shot himself." She...

Virgnia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe did not want to tell reporters if he supports the passage of an "assault weapons" ban (AWB) in the commonwealth of Virginia. When asked by Breitbart News, he replied, "What I said in Virginia, what we ought to do--and I'm a strong supporter of the second amendment--I'm a gun owner. I take two of my sons hunting and skeet shooting. I think there are reasonable things we can do."

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A federal appeals court has refused an urgent request by gun rights advocates to let Illinois residents immediately tote firearms in public under the state’s fledgling concealed-carry law, though the panel has decided to give the matter a speedy review. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request last Thursday and said it expects both sides to submit written briefs by Aug. 14 regarding whether the months-long wait to implementing the law is unreasonable and illegal, as critics insist. No oral arguments on the matter had been scheduled as of Monday. Mary Shepard...

Just revealed Democratic anti-NRA talking points urge anti-gun advocates and politicians to hype high-profile gun incidents like the Florida slaying of Trayvon Martin to win support for new gun control laws. In talking points likely followed by top Democratic leaders including President Obama after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in December, the anti-gun "guide" urged gun foes to speak out when a shooting "creates a unique climate" to shout down the National Rifle Association."The most powerful time to communicate is when concern and emotions are running at their peak," said the 80-page document titled "Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective...

An apartment complex in Colorado has news for tenants: get rid of your guns, or get out. Colorado Apartment Building Tells Tenants They Have to Get Rid of Their Guns or Leave Art Dorsch said he’ll either have to give up his guns or move out of his apartment. (Image source: KUSA-TV) The Oakwood Apartments in Castle Rock, Colo. sent notice to residents last week of a new provision banning all “firearms and weapons” from the premises, KUSA-TV reported. Tenants have until Oct. 1 to comply. Art Dorsch, a 77-year-old retired Marine Corps veteran, told KUSA he’s afraid he’ll lose...

As a Conservative, I hold these truths to be self evident: (in no particular order) * Life begins at the moment of conception. Abortion, for any reason, real or imagined, is murder. * The Right to Bear Arms is an unalienable right that the government cannot infringe on in any way. Background checks, "assault weapon" bans, magazine capacity rules, and the like are completely unconstitutional. *Global warming is as much of a fraud as the "Next Ice Age" scare was in the 1970's. *Illegal aliens are criminals and should be treated as such. There should be no amnesty for illegal...

Well, the Washington Post is back to their usual tricks in distorting the facts about guns and background checks. On page A2 of today's print edition, staff writer Philip Rucker gave readers a story, which read pretty much like a press release for a left-wing pro-gun control group, calling itself Third Way. Rucker harped on the misleading “gun show loophole” and how, according to Third Way, criminals are taking to the Internet to arm themselves for murder and mayhem. That's far from the truth, as Rucker's colleague Brad Plumer noted in an August 5 Wonkblog post which cut against Rucker's...

Being able to fight and survive when SHTF means lot of things. Of course it means to be trained, well equip and ready to fight. But there is some misunderstanding (just like with many other things when it comes to SHTF and survival in general) when it comes to what you suppose to have with you while you are moving through dangerous area in which you might have to fight in a survival situation. There are countless discussions on forums about what to have, AR or AK, and what is better, with what weapon you have more chance to win,...

The National Association of Town Watch will hold its 30th annual National Night Out celebration, otherwise known as "America's Night Out Against Crime," on Tuesday. The event, which celebrates crime prevention throughout the country, encourages communication between communities, police and neighborhood watch groups. While National Night Out is intended to be a fun event, filled with celebratory block parties and cookouts, one might wonder whether the George Zimmerman case has cast a shadow on neighborhood watch groups and influenced how they are perceived. "Everyone uses the neighborhood watch umbrella for what [Zimmerman's] group is, when really there is a severe...

In preparation for a previously announced hearing on controversial “stand your ground” laws announced after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., sent letters to more than 300 possible corporate backers of the American Legislative Exchange Council, requesting their position of such policies in states across the country.

Inside the courtroom of the Hasan trial:

Later denied knowing about Operation Fast and Furious Attorney General Eric Holder has denied under oath that he had any involvement in Operation Fast & Furious and claims he only became aware of the scandal in 2011 – but newly obtained Department of Justice documents reveal Holder traveled to an April 2009 “US/Mexico Arms Trafficking Strategy Meeting” concerning gun-running between the U.S. and Mexico. In June 2012, the Obama administration invoked executive privilege to stop disclosure of documentation to Congress following Operation Fast and Furious, a gun-walking scheme that resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people, including U.S....

We were invited to Israel to visit the IWI factory just outside of Tel Aviv. Obviously this was a one of a kind opportunity for both MAC and for the YouTube firearms community. We not only toured the home of the Tavor but also the Negev 5.56 and 7.62x51, the Jericho 941, Uzi, Galil ACE and the X95. After the factory tour we headed to the range and fired all of the weapons mentioned, which really was the highlight of the whole trip. It's one thing to see these amazing firearms, but getting to fire them? Out of this world!...

Members of the New Haven community are up in arms as rocker Ted Nugent gets ready to play at the legendary Toad’s Place Tuesday night evening. More than 2,700 community members have signed a Change.org petition asking Toad’s Place to cancel Nugent's 7:30 p.m. show in the wake of several controversial remarks he has allegedly made about Trayvon Martin. The petition reads: “We, the undersigned, ask that out of respect of the New Haven community, which is experiencing a great deal of grief as a result of the Trayvon Martin verdict, you cancel the Ted Nugent show scheduled for...

The world the people behind Mayors Against Illegal Guns inhabit seems to be mighty black and white. With maybe a slight green tinge to the sky. Mark Glaze, executive director of MAIG, believes that someone should only be allowed to use a gun to defend themselves if their attacker also has a one. In his opinion, the lack of a gun indicates that the attacker “just wants to have a fistfight.” Yeah, well, tell that to the two people per day in this country who are beaten to death with their attackers’ bare hands.

 A homemade submachine gun Obtaining a gun without a background check in the United States (and much of the world) is a fairly easy process, and is becoming easier all the time.  Here are some of the common methods of obtaining a gun without a background check. 1. Have someone who can pass the background check buy it for you.  This is illegal to do for someone who is forbidden from possessing guns.  It is known as a straw purchase.  The BATFE says that it is the most common method for criminals to obtain guns.   In most states it...

During a May appearance on Rachel Maddow Lean Forward Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said gun rights are not "God-given" and any claim that the Founding Fathers wanted U.S. citizens armed so they could repel a tyranny "is insane." Murphy said, "The Second Amendment is not an absolute right, not a God-given right. It has always had conditions upon it like the First Amendment has." This is disturbing language from a sitting Senator, especially when you consider that the First Amendment opens with the phrase "Congress shall make no law" and the Second Amendment states that the right to keep and...

When a friend asked Matt LeBow to repair a video camera, LeBow worked on it and then set it on the top of his refrigerator to let it run for a while to make sure it was filming properly. The unexpected footage it captured was shocking and led to the arrest of a man from Melvin, a small community west of Brady. The Brady police officer who investigated the crime was unavailable for comment. The video allegedly shows James Ray Pierce Jr., 35, coming into LeBow’s home, shooting his dog with a pellet gun, ripping boards off a wall and...

During an August 4 appearance on C-SPAN's Newsmakers, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said gun control failed in April and "has no chance of passage now" because of "some on the left like the mayor of New York City." As reported by Andrew Johnson at National Review, Leahy said, "[NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg] actually turned some people off that we actually might have gotten for supporters." He said that Bloomberg's ads were especially detrimental to the gun control push and he took issue with the rabid nature in which Bloomberg approached the issue. Earlier in the summer, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY)...

Lee's note: Nowadays there are a few too many gun groups that are willing to take your membership dollars and do nothing. One of the best ways to judge the mettle of a nonprofit is by their willingness to engage in litigation. By that standard, Florida Carry Inc., is off the charts. They sent out this 'action update' this week. Their efforts are impressive. Here's their release:No firearms signs short-lived at health departmentThe (anti-gun) signs were up for one day until Florida Carry Inc., a gun rights group, contacted the Health Department and said it had received bad legal advice,...

Philip Rucker leads the Post today with a story about a study that claims there is a “vast” gun market thriving online that allows gun buyers to evade the background check system. Rucker’s story is full of misleading statements. The marketplace for firearms on the Internet, where buyers are not required to undergo background checks, is so vast that advocates for stricter regulations now consider online sales a greater threat than the gun show loophole. Misleading statement #1: Buyers are only not required to undergo background checks if they’re not buying from a licensed firearms dealer. If you buy...

Cleveland police officials said Friday they're disciplining 75 of officers for their involvement in a police chase that ended in the shooting deaths of an unarmed man and woman, The Plain Dealer reports. The pair were shot at 137 times while in their car, parked in a middle school parking lot. No officers were injured in what police called a "full blown-out" firefight. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told reporters in February that "there is nothing normal about this case. ... This is a tragedy." In November, about 60 police vehicles pursued the two suspects in a 25-minute chase spanning...

Gun-related violent crime continues to drop in Virginia as the sales of firearms continue to soar, a pattern that one local criminologist finds interesting “given the current rhetoric about strengthening gun laws.” Major gun crime collectively dropped for a fourth consecutive year statewide, while firearms sales climbed to a new record in 2012 with 490,119 guns purchased in 444,844 transactions — a 16 percent rise over 2011, according to federally licensed gun dealer sales estimates obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The proliferation of guns occurred as the total number of major reported crimes committed with all types of firearms in...

With non-fatal shootings in the city up 19% in June and July compared with last year, Police Chief Edward Flynn and Mayor Tom Barrett on Monday called on state legislators to pass laws boosting penalties for criminals who possess firearms. Three people were killed and eight others were wounded over the weekend, a toll more violent than the same weekend last year. Milwaukee police statistics also show that June and July this year have had the most non-fatal shootings since the same months in 2006. Flynn and Barrett said the linkage between firearms-related deadly violence and criminals was clear-cut. "The...

Some weird, decidedly left-wing politics were espoused by Ross Township, PA shooter Rockne Newell. Newell killed three before being shot by his own gun. His facebook profile paints the picture of a left-wing ideologue. He ranted about environmental issues and voted for Barack Obama.

Ammo is getting scarce! But this morning I lucked out and was able to buy two boxes of ammo. I placed the boxes on the front seat and headed back home, but stopped at a gas station where a drop-dead gorgeous blonde in a short skirt was filling up her car at the next pump. She glanced at the two boxes of ammo, bent over and leaned in my passenger window, and said in a sexy voice, “I’m a big believer in barter, old fella. Would you be interested in trading sex for ammo?” I thought for a few seconds...