Free Republic

In his extraordinary book Democracy: The God that Failed, Hans Hermann Hoppe points out that the process of civilization is stopped when government continually violates property rights. The natural process of civilization comes through delaying consumption, saving, and building capital. Undoing it leads to higher societal time preference. When natural disasters strike or a gunman robs you in an alley, "the effect of these on time preference is temporary and unsystematic," Hoppe explains. Victims are entitled to defend themselves against the individual aggressor and prepare themselves for the calamities of the occasional act of God. Resources will be reallocated to...

Last week, the FBI issued its preliminary 2009 crime report, showing that the number of murders in the first half of 2009 decreased 10 percent compared to the first half of 2008. If the trend holds for the remainder of 2009, it will be the single greatest one-year decrease in the number of murders since at least 1960, the earliest year for which national data are available through the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Also, the per capita murder rate for 2009 will be 51 percent lower than the all-time high recorded in 1991, and it will be the lowest rate...

BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A ten percent drop in murders during the first six months of this year at a time when gun sales were up dramatically is more proof that there is no correlation between gun ownership and violent crime, the Second Amendment Foundation said today. The FBI released data Monday that shows murders dropped by 10 percent from the same period in 2008. Meanwhile, according to data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that during the first six months of this year, gun sales were up. January 2009 background checks...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Winchester Ammunition was recently awarded a contract by the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security to supply a maximum of 200 million, 40 cal. rounds over the next five years. The load selected for this contract is a 135-grain, hollow point designed for the office of Field Operations of Customs and Border Protection. It will fall under the Winchester Ranger line.

On Kevin Wence's 10th Christmas, he opened a gift from his father and discovered what would become A Christmas Story legend: a Red Ryder BB air rifle. His first gun. On Monday, Wence bought his 15th, a stainless-steel Smith & Wesson Model 686 revolver. Unlike the air rifle, this gun won't sit under the Christmas tree, he said. But it would be a family gift that he, his wife and his 24-year-old son, all trained in shooting, could use to protect their St. Petersburg home. "In responsible hands, they're safe. They're fun. It's a hobby," Wence said as he signed...

matthew.chayes@newsday.com Quick Summary Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and her former ardent foe, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), announced they were teaming up to sponsor legislation to combat gun trafficking. Talk about a thaw. In the latest example of politics making for the unlikeliest bedfellows, hugs, mutual praise and chitchat punctuated a news conference between Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a former darling of the National Rifle Association, and her former ardent foe, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), the stridently pro-gun-control congresswoman whose husband was killed in the mass shooting aboard the Long Island Rail Road. Earlier this year, McCarthy had threatened to derail Gillibrand's upcoming...

In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them. Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Before the Senate Judiciary Committee November 18th, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed a stunningly broad and aggressive anti-gun agenda. "The President of the United States asked that politicians not use the Ft. Hood attack to engage in 'political theater.' It appears those committed to attacking gun owners and the Second Amendment simply can't help themselves and are engaged in blaming guns and gun owners on the heels of this terrorist attack. Sadly it looks like 'politics as usual,'" said LEAA's spokesperson, Ted Deeds. After explaining and defending his decision to give enemy combatants constitutional...

He may be an utter failure as a President; a hollow, arrogant, petty, vindictive, malicious, poorly-behaved and ill-spoken, embarassing empty suit of a man, but he's also the world's greatest gun salesman. The UK papers are reporting that sales have nearly tripled for Smith and Wesson, and that the rest of the industry is sharing similar growth. The UK papers say it's because Americans are concerned about growing crime(?), the economy, and terrorism. The real truth is that Americans are buying weapons at a record pace to protect themselves from the government and Mr. Obama.

Smith & Wesson, the famed American gunmaker once owned by Tomkins, the British conglomerate, expects to nearly double its annual sales in the next three to five years as demand for its firearms soars in the recession. It is not alone. All over America demand for firearms and ammunition is rising amid concerns that rising unemployment, which passed 10 per cent this month, will lead inexorably to higher rates of crime. Fears of terrorism have also helped to lift demand, as have concerns among gun owners that the Obama Administration may introduce restrictions on gun ownership and impose additional taxes.

For a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been forbidden by Congress from doing research on gun-control issues. Such piddling hurdles as federal law don't matter to the Obama administration. With a wave of a hand, the CDC has simply redefined gun-control research so the ban no longer applies. They're not researching guns; they're researching alcohol sales and their impact on gun violence, or researching how teens carrying guns affect the rates of non-gun injuries. "These particular grants do not address gun control; rather they deal with the surrounding web of circumstances," wrote National Institutes of Health...

Fifty-five percent of this group, and 41% of all Americans, hold this belief PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Gallup poll may explain recent reports of increased gun and ammunition sales in the U.S. Majorities of those who personally own a gun (55%) and of those with a gun in the household (53%), as well as 41% of all Americans, believe that President Obama "will attempt to ban the sale of guns in the United States while he is president.""Gallup's question documents that for a majority of gun owners, the belief that the president intends to try to ban the sale...

Exciting News for All Folding Knife Owners !!! Senate Amendment 1447 that saves assisted-opening, one-hand-opening and other folding knives with a bias toward closure has passed in both the House and the Senate. Next step - the President's desk!

Sales of guns and ammunition soared when Barack Obama became president because of fears that he and the Democratic-controlled Congress would pass anti-gun legislation, and that concern still shows up in a Gallup poll conducted Oct. 1-4. Forty-one percent of Americans believe Obama will try to ban the sale of guns while in office, according to the poll. While Gallup put the question in the framework of a ban on all guns, it notes that "Obama has never said, either on the campaign trail or after taking office, that he intends to push for a ban on the sale of...

John Lennon’s observation that happiness is a warm gun may be more true now than ever if membership at the Tri-County Gun Club is any indication. The club has picked up an average of 70 new members a month through most of this year, according to George Pitts, Tri-County’s public information officer. The credit for that spike in membership falls on the Barack Obama administration, Pitts says. “We took in 77 new members this month,” Pitts said on a sunny afternoon last April, as sporadic gunfire echoed through the hills of the 230-acre club nestled in the hills between Tualatin...

Its been predicted for a long time that if anti- gun groups can't get your guns, then they will go after your ammunition. Governor Arnold Swartzenegger has done exactly that in signing a new law regulating ammunition sales. The ostensible goal is to track the bullets used in crimes. Criminals will find another way to get their bullets. It will be where they get their guns...on the street. This is another gun law that will only affect the honest individual. The Governor said just the week before that he would veto the new ammunition law, thus preventing organized opposition to...

Finally, an award he deserves.

The USA is suffering the most severe ammunition famine in living memory. Gun fanciers, fearing a Democrat crackdown on every American's right to pack heat, are clearing shelves at ammo shops and hoarding cartridges. AP reports that the Remington Arms Company's factory in North Carolina is now working around the clock trying to supply insatiable demand for rifle, pistol and shotgun cartridges. "We've had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7," Remington spokesman Al Russo told the news wire. "It's a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business."

A new report from a national coalition of mayors urges President Obama to adopt dozens of reforms to help curb gun violence, including steps to crack down on problems at gun shows and the creation of a federal interstate firearms trafficking unit. The "Blueprint for Federal Action on Illegal Guns," a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, presents 40 recommendations that "would dramatically improve law enforcement's ability to keep guns out of the hands of criminals -- and, in doing so, save innocent lives." The strategies outlined by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group of...

FORT WORTH, Texas - Weapons sellers say gun enthusiasts won’t have to bite the bullet much longer, as a nearly yearlong nationwide ammunition shortage may be winding down. “We’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” said DeWayne Irwin, owner of Cheaper Than Dirt, a Fort Worth store and online retailer. Demand for guns and ammo began growing last year before the November presidential election, partly because many gun owners were concerned that President Obama and Democrats in Congress would reinstate an assault weapons ban or drastically raise taxes on ammunition, guns and firearms materials. “It was the...

A new report from a national coalition of mayors urges President Obama to adopt dozens of reforms to help curb gun violence, including steps to crack down on problems at gun shows and the creation of a federal interstate firearms trafficking unit. The "Blueprint for Federal Action on Illegal Guns," a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, presents 40 recommendations that "would dramatically improve law enforcement's ability to keep guns out of the hands of criminals -- and, in doing so, save innocent lives." The strategies outlined by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group of...

While the dismal economic picture in America hasn’t caused “bank runs” wherein customers demand to withdraw their savings from banks across the country — a frequent occurrence during the Great Depression — gun owners are causing a run of their own: a national “gun shop run” for ammunition. Ammunition manufacturers report their factories are producing ammunition at record rates and keeping their facilities operating 24/7. Yet they still cannot keep up with the demand for bullets for everything from handguns to hunting rifles. Gun store owners and manufacturers claim this is the first time they have ever seen such...

America Armed, But Guns Not Necessarily Loaded By MARY FOSTER, Sep 23 NEW ORLEANS – Bullet-makers are working around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition. Shooting ranges, gun dealers and bullet manufacturers say they have never seen such shortages. Bullets, especially for handguns, have been scarce for months because gun enthusiasts are stocking up on ammo, in part because they fear President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation — even though nothing specific has been proposed and the president last month signed a law allowing...

VICTORVILLE, Calif.—Ever since it became clear that Barack Obama would be our next president, there's been an unprecedented run on guns 'n ammo in America. Partly this is fueled by fears, some justified some not, that Obama will outlaw a broad range of assault weapons; partly it's fueled by socioeconomic factors, racism and right-wing hate. Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in Victorville, a desert exurb of Los Angeles that boomed faster with the subprime craze than just about any city in the country and fell harder when it all collapsed. Today, guns and ammo are in short supply...

While a remarkable surge that began late last year is starting to ease, Americans' demand for firearms and ammunition - driven largely by economic concerns and the fear of new regulations - remains brisk as double-digit sales increases continue to fill the financial coffers of gun and ammo makers alike. In August, the number of background checks performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Instant Criminal Background Check System was up 12.3% from the same month in 2008 to about 1.1 million. That is down from the nearly 42% increase of November but is still a growth rate that would...

Many gun-loving Americans are convinved that President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are bent on ripping rifles from their "cold, dead hands," as actor Charlton Heston once declared at a National Rifle Association meeting. But from the perspective of police departments – not to mention gunmakers – the Obama administration may go down as one of the most gun-friendly in history. Across America, police departments are using the taxpayer-funded stimulus bill to boost their arsenals with shotguns, handguns, and assault rifles. Among the general public, a record 1 million guns were sold across the United States in August alone, rebuffing...

That’s right. In one month alone Americans made themselves and this nation safer (from enemies foreign and domestic) by choosing to exercise one our most precious rights–the right to own a firearm. I think Thomas Jefferson would be especially pleased with this news when we consider a letter he sent to one of his nephews: “A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the Body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind . . . Let your gun therefore be the constant...

Washington, DC --(AmmoLand.com)- Data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,074,757 checks in August 2009, a 12.3 percent increase from the 956,872 reported in August 2008. So far that is roughly 9,076,205 gun bought this year! The total is probably more as NICS background checks may cover the purchase of more than one gun at a time.

Chapter titled "Guns, God and More" - pp. 219-222. Sunstein states his view that the 2nd Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms.

WATERBURY, Conn. - Connecticut residents are arming themselves at quite a clip, with women, in particular, packing heat in growing numbers. The state issued 7,741 pistol permits from January through May, a 90 percent increase over the same time period in 2008. Nearly 12,000 new permits have been issued so far this year in a state that recently posted one of the lowest gun ownership rates in the country, according a study of 2006 data by the Violence Policy Center, a national gun control advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Connecticut gun retailers and educators who run the safety classes...

Fear of gun limits fuels a burst of demand for bullets Since President Obama's election, demand for guns and ammunition has skyrocketed. Gun shops have trouble keeping bullets in stock. A sign at the Los Angeles Indoor Pistol Shooting Range notifies customers the sale of ammo sales is limited. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times / August 25) By W.J. Hennigan August 29, 2009 There's a bull market for bullets. Stacks of ammo, once piled high at gun shops across America, have dwindled. Prices paid by consumers for much-sought-after Winchester .380-caliber handgun bullets have doubled. At weekend gun shows,...

In Portsmouth, New Hampshire recently, a man carried a handgun a few blocks away from the site where President Obama was scheduled to hold a town hall a couple of hours later. Was it a danger or not? The man carrying the gun, William Kostric, even had permission to have the gun on private church property while he was protesting Obama's appearance. Everybody from the New York Times to USA Today to CBS News expressed their outrage, interpreting it as a hot head threatening the president and linking it to militias and conservative talk radio. A prominent liberal radio talk...

Norton Calls on Homeland Security Officials to Restrict Gun Carrying Outside Public Events Where President and Federal Officials Appear in D.C. and NationwideAugust 19, 2009    WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, today called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to restrict the carrying of weapons openly or concealed in or around the areas where the President of the United States and cabinet officials are appearing, following reports, photos, and videos of people carrying guns outside of  an Obama town...

On Tuesday, MSNBCs Contessa Brewer fretted over health care reform protesters legally carrying guns: "A man at a pro-health care reform rally...wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip....there are questions about whether this has racial overtones....white people showing up with guns." Brewer failed to mention the man she described was black.

"Here you have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with guns strapped to their waists or to their legs." -- MSNBC Editor's note: The man was black.

As the Obama health care program continues to descend from debate to debacle, increasing attention is being given to a handful of activists who have attended protest rallies openly carrying firearms, leaving some television reporters and commentators having to acknowledge there is nothing illegal about it. When I wrote about MSNBC’s Chris Matthews joining in the vitriolic attacks on gun owners here, and about anti-gun bigotry here, it brought the hoplophobes out of the proverbial woodwork. At least a few of these folks were not shy about displaying their prejudices, to the point of race baiting, which – thanks to...

But Some Fear Health Talks Will Spark ViolenceArmed men seen mixing with protesters outside recent events held by President Obama acted within the law, the White House said Tuesday, attempting to allay fears of a security threat. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said that individuals are entitled to carry weapons outside such events if their states allow it. "There are laws that govern firearms that are done state or locally," he said. "Those laws don't change when the president comes to your state or locality." Anti-gun campaigners disagreed with Gibbs's comments, however, voicing fears that volatile debates over...

One Arizona professor says people carrying guns to protests at President Barack Obama's events could be the beginning of a disturbing trend. About a dozen people packing heat, including one man with a semi-automatic rifle, milled with protesters outside Phoenix's convention center, where Obama was speaking Monday. At Obama's town hall in New Hampshire last week, a man stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg. Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right and police say they are not violating any laws. But Northern Arizona University political scientist Fred Solop says guns at political rallies create "a chilling...

PHOENIX, Arizona (CNN) -- A man toting an assault rifle was among a dozen protesters carrying weapons while demonstrating outside President Obama's speech to veterans on Monday, but no laws were broken. It was the second instance in recent days in which weapons have been seen near presidential events.

PHOENIX (Aug. 17) - About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president. Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen. Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday's event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn't need permits. No...

The Faster Times: Hey there, Mr. Kostric. So what’s going on? Are you at home? Has your phone been ringing off the hook? William Kostric: Well, my only phone is my cell and it gets spotty reception where I live so I’ve actually been staying with friends in order to conduct phone interviews. So far there’s been Alan Colmes, Alex Jones, Ernie Hancock and Richard Hunter. I have a few more scheduled next week. When the on-site interviews were happening, I was asked by a few reporters for a phone number which I declined to give out so the contacts...

PHOENIX (AP) - About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday—the latest incidents in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president. Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

(CNN) – At least two Arizona men brought assault rifles to President Obama’s speech Monday to the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Phoenix.

To the increasingly toxic American mix of racial anger, political frustration and economic despair, a frightening new ingredient was added last week — belligerent gun-owners on a mission to defy President Barack Obama. A series of minor but worrying incidents involving citizens carrying handguns to political meetings has raised new questions about the president’s security and a potentially inflammatory gun control issue that he has so far managed to avoid. When William Kostric, a 36-year-old gun-owner from New Hampshire, turned up near an Obama meeting last Tuesday with a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol strapped to his leg, he instantly...

USA Today has a front-page article on the dramatic increase in demand for concealed handgun permits since Obama was elected: Applications already have hit a record this year in Clay County, Mo., where the sheriff's office received 888 through June, compared with 863 in all of last year, says Sheriff Bob Boydston. The office recently hired two part-time workers to deal with the rush. In the past, applicants tended to be middle-aged men, he says, but recent applicants include "grandmothers, older folks, young women, young men." [...] Statewide, the Missouri State Highway Patrol has processed 18,878 background checks so...

NRA can’t halt Sotomayor’s march to court Gun-rights group still forces senators to consider if ‘yes’ vote will hurt Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is expected to easily win confirmation in a vote this coming week. WASHINGTON - The National Rifle Association's threat to punish senators who vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayorhas been met with a shrug by Democrats from conservative-leaning states and some Republicans who are breaking with their party to support her. The gun-rights group is used to getting its way by spooking lawmakers about the political consequences of defying its wishes. But it never before...

Alan Gura [Partner, Gura & Possessky, PLLC]: "Gun rights opponents at last have cause to rejoice. Only 58 members of a lop-sided Democratic-controlled Senate approved of a provision mandating that states give full faith and credit to each other's gun-carry permits. The laws of forty-eight states, at least in theory, allow their peaceable citizenry to carry guns in public for self-defense. Forty of these states either require no license to do so, or issue such licenses as a matter of routine upon meeting basic qualifications. Even in the small minority of hold-out states, gun carry licenses are often available...

The several states are lining up to reclaim their sovereignty and telling the federal government to butt out. This is being done in myriad ways but all are related in that most claim that the Tenth Amendment protects the states from federal tyranny. States are passing resolutions, memorials and two states have passed laws and they intend to apply those laws for their citizens. The two states are Montana and Tennessee. It was expected that at some point these laws would be challenged and it appears actions to do such has begun. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and...

Of all the generalities and evasions that Judge Sonia Sotomayor offered the Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing, surely the strangest was one she made when describing her role in the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Sotomayor was on the PRLDEF’s board of directors for twelve years during the 1980s and early 1990s, a period when the fund issued no less than six briefs to the Supreme Court in abortion cases. Those briefs argued, among other things, that abortion was a “fundamental right” and that, contrary to scientific evidence, “the belief that life begins at conception is...

The National Rifle Association is warning senators that it will consider their votes on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as part of its influential annual ratings of lawmakers. The NRA says President Barack Obama's first high court nominee has a hostile view of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. It announced last week that it was opposing her nomination, although her confirmation in early August is virtually guaranteed.