Free Republic

The data for the graphic above was taken from the Guardian, a leftwing publication in England. Firearm ownership rates are from the Small Arms Survey in 2007, so it is a bit dated. The per capita ownership in the United States has gone up considerably since then.It is now about 120 firearms per 100 people. U.S. citizens purchased 94 million firearms during the Obama presidency. They have likely purchased another 6 million in the first 8 months of 2017.The firearms homicide rate fell from 4.19 in 2007 to 3.45 in 2014, but bumped up to 4.13 in 2015. (numbers from...

In September, 2017, the City of Tucson taxpayers agreed to pay the State of Arizona for the legal fees required to stop the City Council from violating State law.  The Council had required that legal, valuable firearms be destroyed rather than sold for the benefit of the public. Even liberal academics understand that is a waste of valuable resources. In 2012, Arizona made the wasteful practice of destroying valuable firearms illegal for local governments.From AZCDL.org: This legislation was a follow-up to a 2010 law that required forfeited firearms to be sold to authorized dealers and not be scrapped. Unfortunately, there...

The Trump era of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System  (NICS) checks has had eight months of high sales.  The record for NICS checks was set in 2017, with over 27 million NICS checks for the year. 2015 was the second highest year for NICS Checks with over 23 million checks done.The National Instant Background Check System (NICS) checks were 1,925,146 in August of 2017.  There were 16,268,794 since January 1, more checks than all of 2010. In 2016 the number was 17,880,475 at the end of August. Through August 2015, they were 13,812,485.  The 2017 August figure...

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune detailed the experiences of a black woman who obtained a concealed carry permit in Chicago. The article is surprisingly positive about her experiences. An important point is that minority women make up a significant percentage of the growth in concealed carry permits nationwide. From chicagotribune.com: Robinzine, 51, is a gun owner with a concealed carry license. Since she received her permit in late spring, she carries her firearm wherever she goes. “It's like a part of me now,” Robinzine said with the smile.Data show Robinzine is part of a burgeoning group in...

25 percent of men and 12 percent of women members of The National Association of Realtors (NAR) carry self defense firearms, according to the 2017 safety report. The number of members who carried a firearm totaled 19 percent.The organization has published safety reports that show how many member carry weapons since 2015. In 2014 real estate agent Beverly Carter was kidnapped and murdered. The crime made national news.  The president elect of the National Association of Realtors vowed to make safety a priority.From cnn.com:Carter was killed in September, “Realtor Safety Month,” for the National Association of Realtors. The group's...

With the recent impact of two hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, on the United States, there is going to be a lot of ammunition that was submerged for some time.To prevent damage, many people keep ammunition in waterproof ammo cans. They tend to work very well, if the can is not submerged more than a few feet. Not everyone stores ammunition in ammo cans, and the cans can be damaged or leak.The two storms flooded tens of thousands of houses. A recent survey showed that about half of the homes in the United States have a gun owner living in...

This week, twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released her new book, “What Happened,” which chiefly serves to assign blame to the myriad politicians, journalists, organizations, countries, prejudices, and technologies she claims caused her defeat. Gun rights supporters will be happy to know that NRA is featured prominently.In addition to apportioning NRA its well-deserved share of the blame, Clinton seeks to rewrite her own history on the gun issue and urges her fellow Democrats to ignore political reality and continue to champion gun control.NRA’s Power Clinton repeatedly acknowledges NRA’s influence on the 2016 election and the broad political landscape.Pointing out the...

On May 6th, 2017, an armed man was sitting on his front porch in the 400 block of Glenburnie Drive in Houston, Texas. He had a concealed carry permit. His brother says that he goes to the range often. He was on his porch and had another firearm with him. An AR-15 type rifle.Three men attacked him in a drive-by shooting at about 2:15 a.m. He fired back, hitting all three. They car they were in crashed, and all three left the vehicle to continue the attack.The homeowner kept up his defense, shooting back and hitting all three men...

The City Council of Tucson has finally been forced to stop their irrational violation of state law. For years the city council has been destroying valuable property that could have been sold for the benefit of the public. Instead, they insisted on expensive destruction for political grandstanding.Since 2013 they have ordered 4,820 guns to be destroyed, conservatively valued at between $500,000 and $1,000,000. Guns sold at auction by police routinely bring $100 – $200. One gun destroyed by the city is claimed to have been a rare collectible valued at $10,000. A Colt Python in mint condition turned in...

Another case of bear spray failure occurred in Montana on September 4th at about 8 a.m.  A grizzly bear charged through bear spray to get at Tom Sommers.Sommers and his partner Dan were bow hunting for elk when they saw the bear about 30 feet away.  Dan put out a cloud of spray, but the bear charged through it.Sommers was unable to get the safety off his spray can and dropped it as the bear closed with him. He then accessed a pistol, but was unable to shoot before the bear swatted his hand down. As the bear attacked...

Australia has one of the strictest firearms regulatory schemes in Western Civilization. It has not appreciably changed their overall murder or suicide or accidental death rates, which were already low and falling when the scheme was implemented.As Australia is a continent considerably separated from the rest of the industrialized world, it is a near ideal test case for the efficacy of gun control schemes. A figure from an Australian government report on sources of illegal guns shows that when guns are tightly regulated, criminals find ways around the regulation.Guns are basically 14th-century technology. A first world country, with access...

This fake news report keeps on circulating. It is time to debunk the ignorant and misleading story. This “article” appears to have been published by CBS in 2014. The implication of the story is that it tells something about how many firearms are in each state.As with much fake news, the most important part is the headline.  In this case, it is a question: “How heavily armed is your state?” CBS gives the methodology. It is laughable to the point of being bizarre. To the ignorant, the methodology may seem plausible. To those with knowledge of the subject, it...

When surveying various articles about firearms and firearms ownership in Australia, I have read that the numbers cannot be known. I have had knowledgeable people tell me the same thing.Only a year ago, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) published an important and informative report about illicit firearms. In the report, substantive information is given about firearms ownership and licenses in Australia.The illustration is from the report. Over 1.16 million legal guns have been added to Australia's private stock since the enormous cost and upheaval of the 1996 gun confiscation scheme.The mandatory firearm confiscation/compensation turn-in resulted in the unnecessary...

It is the first general amnesty since the implementation of the extreme restrictions placed on firearms ownership and sales in 1996. Those were put in place by a hoplophobic Prime Minister and a unified establishment media.The media fed the wave of emotion after the Port Arthur Massacre. John Howard and Rebecca Peters (George Soros gun control lobbyist in Australia) had the plan in place, waiting for a suitable trigger.I have been told that other than his sick fascination with firearms, John Howard was one of the best prime ministers in Australian politics. People place him with the likes of...

By Dean Weingarten A writer for The Trace recently complained about the numbers of guns Americans own. From twitter:Due diligence is indicated. The 270 million number is over a decade old and rather low. We know better now. The best current number is there are over 400 million private firearms in the United States.You can see the 270 million number was published in 2007.From smallarmssurvey.org:The 270 million number is repeated on the anti-Second Amendment site smartgunlaws.com, for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.  The link fails to mention the estimate from the Small Arms Survey was done in 2007....

With the extreme restrictions put in Australian firearms law in 1996, those seeking firearms illegally have many avenues of obtaining them.First, the number of guns that was *not registered* provides a vast pool of factory made arms that can enter the black market. Second, the number of legal firearms offer a pool of firearms to be stolen. But of most interest is the third option: Firearms that are made in small shops, converted from existing guns, or are homemade by individuals.The above pistol was converted from a simple single shot bolt action .22 rifle. It is simple and straightforward...

When I arrived in Australia, one of the first stories was about how the so called “sensible gun laws” were not so “sensible” for people in rural Australia. I related the Donald Eykamp case about how interpretation of minor storage infractions lead to the confiscation of hundreds of thousands of dollars of highly collectible and historic firearms.It appears that sort of abuse has lead to reform in the firearms law. The Eykamp case is in the process of appeal. A decision from the appeals court has been due any day for the last month. The case has been in...

At the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) Shot Show in Brisbane, Australia, the Warwick Firearms booth was just inside the entrance. It attracted heavy interest throughout the show. The Warwick rifles have a very strong resemblance to the AR-15 family of firearms. Inside the upper receiver, the resemblance ends.The Warwick rifles are straight pull bolt action guns, with spring assisted return springs. The action is simple to operate. Pull the left hand bolt handle back, release it, then squeeze the trigger. That fires the rifle. To chamber the next round, pull the left hand bolt handle back, and...

The number of private firearms in the United States continues to soar. According to the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, (ATF) numbers released in September, 2017, the number of firearms added to the private stock in 2015 was 12,945,416. That number lags a bit more than a year behind because the ATF is legislatively bound to hold the numbers for at least a year before releasing them. This protects the various companies proprietary rights and possible competitive advantages that come with the numbers. The 2015 numbers bring the total private firearms in the United States to 388.5 million, rounded...

On 17 September, 2015, Matthew Bowman shot Jimmy Harold Tillery. Tillery was in the driveway of his ex wife, Cheryl Tillery. Bowman used an AK-47 clone. In the initial articles, the firearm was referred to as a ".30-caliber carbine rifle". Cheryl Tillery had finalized the divorce with her ex on 14 August, 2015, about a month before the incident. The Court had issued an emergency protective order on July 20, after an incident where Jimmy Tillery was said to have threatened Matthew Bowman and Cheryl Tillery's lives and the lives of Bowman's two young children. On August 6th, the...