Free Republic

Alongside the amendment, many Republican lawmakers have opposed adding an open carry amendment to the legislation, with Senate President Kathleen Passidomo saying she does not support open carry because the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) is against it. “Republicans are showing their true colors on restoring our Second Amendment rights here in Florida. Whether it’s repealing gun free zones that only put innocent people in danger, or having the guts to pass Open Carry, they are failing miserably.” GOA Florida State Director Luis Valdes told the DCNF.

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS-TV) - Two concealed weapons holders who were victims of an armed robbery at a Columbia barbershop shot and killed one of the suspects on Friday night. The Colombia Police Department responded to an armed robbery call at "Next Up Barber and Beauty" in the 4400 block of Fort Jackson Blvd shortly before 7 p.m. Several people, including children, were inside the business when two armed men wearing masks demanded and stole money from them. Two of the victims with valid concealed weapons permits shot at both suspects, hitting one of them. The wounded suspect ran from the...

Doug Marcaida is one of the world’s elite knife fighters – he is also a military contractor helping elite units navigate through complex CQB tactics relating to weapons of opportunity. In this take, he takes us through part of his collection of unique concealed weapons that he's come across. View these concealed Ring Edged Weapons here.

North Carolina restaurant The Pit was robbed at gunpoint on Sunday. Normally, local crime stories like this wouldn't merit a Townhall post, but this one is different: The Pit has a "no weapons" sign displayed prominently on its door declaring the restaurant a gun-free zone, and bans patrons from carrying concealed weapons. Authorities said just before 9 p.m. Sunday, three men wearing hoodies entered the restaurant through the back doors with pistols, and forced several staff members to lie on the floor. The bandits assaulted two employees during the crime, but they were not seriously injured. What groups like Everytown...

A national newspaper chain with nearly 100 publications and 1.6 million readers is considering building “state-by-state databases” on concealed weapons permit holders, according to an internal e-mail. The plan, laid out in an email from a top editor at North Carolina-based Civitas Media, could be similar to a controversial project a New York state newspaper carried out in 2012 which included an online map that identified gun owners in two counties by name and address. Civitas' database project was detailed the plan in a Jan. 19 e-mail to newsrooms in 11 states, including Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

A national newspaper chain with nearly 100 publications and 1.6 million readers is considering building “state-by-state databases” on concealed weapons permit holders, according to an internal e-mail. The plan, laid out in an email from a top editor at North Carolina-based Civitas Media, could be similar to a controversial project a New York state newspaper carried out in 2012 which included an online map that identified gun owners in two counties by name and address. Civitas' database project was detailed the plan in a Jan. 19 e-mail to newsrooms in 11 states, including Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The newest project...

The Associated Press (AP) is refusing to comment on why it requested that the Montana Department of Justice (MDOJ) give it a list of the names and personal information of every concealed weapons permit (CWP) holder in the state... Montana’s Republican Attorney General Tim Fox had denied requests by the AP and a Boston media outfit called MuckRock News for all information pertaining to the state’s CWP holders. Fox cited concerns that the width and breadth of the requests violated CWP holders’ “reasonable expectation of privacy” guaranteed by the Montana Constitution... AP reporter Matt Gouras formally requested the information on...

TAMPA, Fla. -- A Florida man shot at an alligator to free his dog from its jaws. Tom Martino says he and his Jack Russell terrier Lizabeth were walking along the Hillsborough River in Tampa on Thursday when the alligator wrestled the 15-pound dog into the water. Martino started shooting into the water around the alligator to scare it into releasing the 9-year-old dog. He performed CPR on the dog until it coughed up water and started breathing again. Lizabeth is now being treated for alligator bits and lung injuries from being underwater. A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission...

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - It has now been just about two weeks since a new Virginia law went into effect allowing concealed weapons in bars and restaurants. Now, both sides of the issue are already weighing in on its impact. Today we get the opinions of people directly connected to the new law. Phillip Van Cleave is the President of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a group that fought to get the law passed.

PHOENIX (AP) -- Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill making Arizona the third state allowing people without a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The bill she signed Friday afternoon takes effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends. That likely will put the effective date in July or August...

Concealed weapons should be allowed on college campuses and other public gatherings, a lawmaker told a House committee on Friday, while opponents to a bill that would loosen gun restrictions say it could have violent, unintended consequences. North Dakota bars bringing permitted concealed weapons to public gatherings and places such as universities, but a measure introduced by Rep. Duane DeKrey, R-Pettibone, would change that. The bill would still prohibit concealed weapons on K-12 campuses. "We always have people that seem to be mentally ill or have other problems," said DeKrey, adding he introduced the measure in light of the 2007...

One minute, Suzanne was eating lunch with her mother and father. The next, the happy hubbub of the restaurant was silenced when a pickup truck crashed through the brick, mortar, and glass. How could that happen? The driver emerged, but Suzanne noticed he wasn’t dazed or drunk; he was angry and purposeful. Then, she saw the guns. He stepped over the debris and began to shoot patrons. She must be dreaming. Her father leaped to his feet, charged the gunman, was shot, and fell to the floor. When the gunman turned his back to shoot others, she remembered: she had...

Freshly unemployed, former business executive Bruce J. Colburn flew to the far northwest corner of Montana in search of a place to die. In early October, he paid a hotel clerk to drive him into Glacier National Park. He spent the night in a campground and then made his way on foot to a valley between two deep glacial lakes. On a forested slope not far from the trail, he shot himself in the chest with a handgun, according to park officials.

“A Sheriff revoked the concealed handgun permit of a woman who insisted on open carrying her gun to her daughter’s soccer games”. Is the Open Carry movement making matters worse for legal gun owners?

Wayne Rausch says Moscow - not to mention UI campus - would be safer places if more qualified people were packing MOSCOW - With 540 persons carrying concealed weapons permits in Latah County, Sheriff Wayne Rausch said Tuesday he wouldn't mind if more applied and qualified to carry guns. That includes on the campus of the University of Idaho. "In my opinion, if there were more students with CPWs, the world would be safer," Rausch said. He pointed out virtually anyone can carry a weapon in plain sight. People who seek concealed weapons permits, the sheriff said, are rarely a...

Here's a hypothetical for FReepers to bat around. With the ubiquity of backpacks these days, what is the feasability and advisability of carrying one of the many high capacity, short barreled rifles as a concealed weapon. For our purposes, assume NFA compliance and fees are no object.

7/17/07Interest In Concealed Handguns Is On The Rise Recent violence in Lubbock appears to have sparked a larger interest in concealed handgun licenses, so NewsChannel 11 taking a closer look into what it takes to receive one of those permits."The object of carrying a weapon is to prevent things from happening," Beverly Ellis, owner of Gun Shak in southwest Lubbock County said.  Ellis is also a concealed handgun license instructor.  Before you can get a conceal-carry license from the Department of Public Safety, you'll have to spend hours of class time with her, or at least another instructor like Ellis, and...

DENVER -- When lawmakers allowed Coloradans to obtain permits for concealed weapons four years ago, part of the package included a statewide database that tracks who gets them. That database is supposed to expire this year, and at least four bills are floating in the Colorado General Assembly regarding its future. State Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, is carrying a bill that would eliminate the database altogether. Other lawmakers have offered bills to the opposite effect. Another Republican testified this week about a bill that would extend its life. State Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, told the House Judiciary Committee he...

Thousands of hapless travelers were trapped Wednesday on the Long Beach Freeway, and a possibly related accident resulted in the death of one man, as police waited out a kidnapping suspect whose getaway car had stalled on the highway. SNIP One hour turned to another, and the stretch of freeway that carries 215,000 vehicles a day remained gridlocked as morning turned to afternoon. More than four hours later, a man in a white T-shirt wanted in the reported kidnapping of a young woman late last year emerged from a maroon Ford minivan in South Gate and gave himself up. SNIP...

VIEWPOINT: THE CONCEALED HANDGUN LAW: TEN YEARS LATER By Hon. Jerry Patterson When the Texas Concealed Handgun Law took effect in 1996, pundits and naysayers predicted anarchy. Any minute, there would surely be mass violence as armed Texas citizens began roving the streets settling arguments with gunfire. Certainly, several proclaimed, within a year there would be blood in the streets as Texas returned to the days of the Wild West. Ten years later the facts paint a different picture. Texas under the Concealed Handgun Law isn’t the Wild West, but the Mild West. No recurrent shootouts at four-way stops, no...