Free Republic

Washington, D.C. - Criminals, youth and other prohibited persons are gaining access to guns with remarkable ease and continue to wreak havoc on communities around the country. And elected officials are doing little to stop them. That’s the lesson of the 2005 Annual Report Cards of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Overall, 32 states received a grade of "D" or "F" for the 2005 report card. With the leaders of America’s cities crying out for help from either the Federal government or state Capitols; with front page stories providing daily examples of the pain inflicted on communities by...

Just wanted to thank all of you who were down here for a great Superbowl weekend. This city worked really hard for four years to try to be worthy of the Great Game, and while we lack the big city amenities of a New York or Chicago, we're proud of our town and hope it proved a welcoming place for everyone who stopped by for the game. Certainly, you treated us very well -- it was great having you down here, and I'm glad the weather finally cooperated for game day!

This is a serious question. I am posting it because I have come to the conclusion that I quite literally do not have the neural wiring to even conceive of the pro-choice point of view and I need it explained to me. I know many intelligent, otherwise decent people who are passionate about the "right" to abortion. Some of them will even concede that the fetus is a human being and they still favor abortion-on-demand. I simply can't grasp this. Not all of these people are simply selfish. Some of them seem deeply committed to this on a philosophical level...

14 Hours, 42 minutes to go!

A compendium of the Evidence Posted by Dale Franks The blogosphere has been all over the CBS documents, but all the information is parceled out in penny packets all over the place. At the request of a reader, I thought I'd try to consolidate them into a single post. This is not canonical, of course, just the stuff I know about. Typographical Arguments 1. The use of superscripted "th" in unit names, e.g. 187th. This was a highly unusual feature, available only on extremely expensive typewriters at the time. 2. The use of proportional fonts was, similarly, restricted to a...

Director John Sayles' new film Silver City satirizes Bush Updated at 21:02 on August 11, 2004, EST. WASHINGTON (AP) - Although his new movie pokes fun at President George W. Bush, director John Sayles hopes viewers will think about politics beyond the White House. The Sept. 17 release of Silver City was planned to affect voting - whether it's by sending people to the polls, changing their vote or merely making them think about politics, Sayles said Wednesday at a National Press Club news conference. "We felt like it was important to make this movie and get people thinking about...

<p>Few cases better illustrate how our legal system sometimes stands justice on its head like the case of Tony and Matt Geckle — small-business owners now being sued by the estate of a man they killed as he was attempting to rob them.</p>

Brady Campaign Files Senate Ethics Complaint Against NRA Board Member Who is Chief Sponsor of Bill to Give NRA Civil Immunity; Craig's Sponsorship, Efforts on Gun Industry Immunity Bill 'In Clear Violation of the Senate Ethics Rules' Complaint Charges2/27/04 12:36:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Peter Hamm of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March, 202-289-5792 WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence this morning delivered a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee, arguing that Senator Larry Craig has "impermissibly acted in his capacity as a Senator...

This was emailed yesterday by the Sunset News mailing list, and I thought it might be interesting to some here. Possible AWB Renewal Vote Soon in Senate S.659, the bill that limits junk lawsuits against the firearm industry, will be coming to the floor of the Senate in a month or so. It is almost a certainty that Sen. Feinstein & Co. will attempt to amend the bill with a renewal of the so-called "assault weapons" ban. While it is likely that this "poison pill" amendment, if passed, will not make it through the House/Senate conference committee nor survive a...

When Trudy Sherburne returned to her desert home near Victorville after a short trip on Easter weekend in 1998, she thought her house was on fire. Government vehicles with flashing lights surrounded the place. She quickly realized her mistake. The house was being raided. Sheriff's deputies, bomb squad specialists and military investigators were rummaging through each room, under the assumption that Trudy Sherburne and her husband, Christopher, were right-wing extremists with ties to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. They believed they might find a cache of weapons and explosives hidden among the inventory of the Sherburnes' military surplus business. At...

A Coward Goes to Baghdad by Doug Basham OpEdNews.com Forget "The eagle has landed." On Thursday, the turkey landed - on many Americans dinner plates, and on the runway of the airport formerly known as Saddam Hussein International. The stupidity of conservatives never ceases to amaze me, as well as that of the media (and the majority of the American people, come to think of it). And to MY way of thinking, no-one has got this trip right yet. Thus far, the focus has been on the secrecy surrounding the trip, the choice of Fox News to accompany the president,...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- It was supposed to be a victory lap through the nation's capital for Arnold Schwarzenegger, but with wildfires devastating southern California, the governor-elect's meetings with congressional leaders focused on a more pressing problem -- aid for his state.</p>

<p>Ben Swinburn, a resident of San Francisco, answered his phone 18 months ago to hear a recorded ad for a casino outfit that operates in Las Vegas and elsewhere. He hung up, but the casino hasn't taken the hint: It has been leaving messages for Swinburn at least once a month ever since.</p>

<p>Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., the top corporate player in Missouri politics, is no longer backing Gov. Bob Holden - in large part because of their differences over concealed weapons.</p> <p>Republican and Democratic sources say the brewery's decision not to support the governor's re-election next year is highly unusual in light of its long-standing reputation as a donor which gives generously to both parties and their candidates, regardless of their views.</p>

Press ReleaseIowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence4403 1st Avenue, SECedar Rapids, IA 52402Phone: 319-743-7823 Bill Would Meet Original Intent of Congress to Protect Americans and Law Enforcement Personnel Cedar Rapids, IA - Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence (IPGV) today (July 21st) announced its strong support for legislation introduced in the Senate to renew the federal assault weapons ban. The legislation, introduced by Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Jon Corzine (D-NJ), would not only make the federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines permanent, but it would also significantly strengthen current law to meet the original intent...

HOUSTON, 3:39 p.m. CDT July 2, 2003 - A gunshot rang out Tuesday in a west Houston shopping mall's food court, News2Houston reported. Police said Joshua Michael Short, 18, accidentally shot himself in the backside with a derringer around 4 p.m. at Memorial City Mall, on Interstate 10 at Gessner. "He got up from the food court and accidentally shot himself in the buttocks and he was transported to Ben Taub and he's in stable condition," said Officer Catherine Truhan, with the Houston Police Department. Investigators said that Short had the gun tucked inside the waistband of his pants. He...

There was a time, three years ago this past May, when the cause drew a crowd. Hundreds of thousands of activists, joined by the influential likes of Susan Sarandon and Rosie O'Donnell, standing together on the Capitol lawn, wearing T-shirts and pink ribbons and photo buttons of lost sons and lost daughters. The Million Mom March against gun control burst onto the scene with a nervous vengeance. And what a story it was. A young suburban mother, a part-time staffer on David Letterman's show, saw something on the news -- in this case, a photograph of preschoolers being led from...

NEW YORK -- A Manhattan appeals court Tuesday affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit in which the state accused gun makers of knowingly contributing to the "flood of illegal guns" in New York that result in injuries or death. The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court found 3-1 that it was "legally inappropriate, impractical and unrealistic" to require the gun makers to take unspecified steps to lessen the availability and criminal use of handguns.

A burglar who says he cannot enjoy sex after he was shot and injured by Tony Martin has won the right to sue the jailed farmer for damages. Brendon Fearon, 33, successfully asked a judge at Nottingham County Court to overturn an earlier decision that threw out his claim. Fearon will sue Martin for a reported £15,000 following his wounding during a break-in at the farmer's home in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, in August 1999. During the burglary Martin shot dead Fearon's accomplice, 16-year-old Fred Barras, of Newark, Nottinghamshire. Fearon claims that his injuries, which included a leg wound, have affected...

<p>Before I held a revolver, I thought only police officers and psychopaths shot guns. Guns seemed uncontrollable objects that could inflict death at any moment; I preferred to avoid them.</p> <p>Then I learned how to shoot. My friends arranged a trip to a shooting range outside Chicago. Our instructor, a former police officer, taught us how to stand and point, hunching our shoulders for accuracy. We shot at the target silhouettes' heart and lungs before aiming for its head. In real life, our instructor explained, our attackers might wear bulletproof vests.</p>