Free Republic

On Monday, we asked, in the context of the Southern Poverty Law Center conflating Constitutionalists with haters, if a video warning law enforcement to cue their behavior in citizen encounters off of bumper stickers could either chill free speech or endanger Americans expressing political sentiments. We followed up yesterday asking if video co-narrator/former ATF Special Agent in Charge James Cavanaugh was a credible SPLC spokesperson. Here’s someone—a leading “respected” academic and activist who agrees with “Waco Jim” and the SPLC about the armed political right: "It's racist, it's armed, it's hostile, it's unspeakable," she said. "White people armed, demanding an...

    "I don't think you hear me. I don't think you understand. Glenn Beck is hurting Mr. Soros and his business,"  was the message delivered to Beck via a front man for George Soros.Though certainly a silkier  warning compared to crudeness of Mexican drug cartels with their  fondness for  special delivery of a human head delivered in a suitcase, in George Soros' world, the inference is equally chilling.If Glenn Beck was frightened, troubled or disturbed by the ominous message, it didn't show.  Beck used the warning, told as a personal story,as a mere post script to his first segment...

"Licensed gun-holder loses guns & permits after he and cops lock horns -- twice," Stephanie Farr of the Philadelphia Daily News reports. What in the world is going on here? On two afternoons in a row last week, [John] Solomon, 24, was arrested after hanging out at a North Philadelphia bus stop, and each time, the cops confiscated from him a legally owned gun and a separate license to carry a gun, the licensed security guard said yesterday. Solomon maintains he was waiting for a bus and let some pass him by "because it was about 3 p.m. and he...

Remember six months ago when the anti-gun Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Washington CeaseFire were aghast that Seattle coffee giant Starbucks would not become their political surrogate and ban armed customers from their shops? This column wrote about it here and here. The campaign against Starbucks had kicked off down in California (where else?) and the gun prohibition lobby tried to spread it nationally, but quickly lost traction when Starbucks did the responsible thing and merely announced that it was in compliance with, and would do business under all state and local laws. Almost immediately, the Open Carry...

The Southern Poverty Law Center has produced a video, “’Sovereign Citizens’ and Law Enforcement: Understanding the Threat,” warning police that traffic stops involving “right wing” citizens could end up as deadly encounters. I’ve embedded it in the sidebar video player. Go ahead and watch it before reading on. There’s no question the officers were murdered. The question is, do we blame an ideology or the individuals who committed the act? And if the former is a factor, what responsible actions have the finger-pointers taken to limit the blame to a narrow spectrum of violence initiation advocates—as opposed to conflating their...

Today's Safer Streets Newsletter features guest contributors David Codrea, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and Dennis Prager joining me. Opt-in to my Newsletter here. Guns on campus is in the news again. In my ongoing series on Guns On Campus, I answer issues that somehow seem to be guesswork on the part of non-gun owner students and trustees. I say this because anti-liberty reasoning sounds like good faith dealings at first, but when assumptions are corrected and excuses run out, trustees play the one card which vexes adults: No guns on campus. This disturbing final maneuver gives credence to the claims of...

On Monday, MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan seemed to suggest the time may be right for violent revolution in the United States. While interviewing liberal cartoonist Ted Rall, the host appeared to support the idea. Lachlan Markay of Newsbusters quoted the host: "Are things in our country so bad that it might actually be time for a revolution?" Ratigan asked. "The answer obviously is yes," he added, and "the only question is how to do it." Rall was promoting his book, "The Anti-American Manifesto", where he calls for violent revolution. Ed Morrissey of Hot Air posted an excerpt from the...

In 1987 Florida became a "Shall-Issue" state for concealed carry licenses. At the time, Florida had the country’s second highest murder rate and there was much debate about allowing people to arm themselves. Opponents said that there would be “blood in the streets” and simple fender benders would turn in to roadside gun fights. To ensure that gun owners would not be met with thousands of differing local regulations, the state legislature also passed preemption of all firearms laws. Amongst the ordinances invalidated was Dade County’s ban on openly carrying an unconcealed handgun. Janet Reno, Assistant State Attorney for Dade...

My colleague Kurt Hofmann in St. Louis fired off a column today reminding victorious Republicans, who were thrust into office earlier this week with no small amount of help from gun owners, that this time around they must truly earn the privilege of serving in Congress. To do that, Hofmann offers a “wish list” of things he would like to see enacted. With all due respect to my friend, we should also offer a list of things we would like to see repealed. How about the National Firearms Act of 1934? This is the legislation that really started it all...

Well, Republicans, you're in. A commanding Democrat majority in the U.S. House is now a commanding Republican majority, and the Democrats' near supermajority in the Senate is a bare majority. State governorships and legislatures across the country have moved in a significantly Republicanward (yeah--I know that's not a word--deal with it) direction. Gun owners who took U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) at her word when she said "I'll pick the time and place," to push for more restrictive gun laws, and who think that the Obama administration's reticence--so far--on guns is similarly a function of the administration biding time, waiting...

While Democrats went out of their way to portray the Koch brothers as evil billionaires puppeteering this election, I’d venture they feel pretty good about the outcome. However, after last night I’d venture that that George Soros is one unhappy Hungarian.

"As the Tea Party gears up for big wins on Tuesday, Adam Winkler sounds the alarm on an overlooked part of their radical agenda to overturn gun control laws in America—and their ties to revolutionary militia," The Daily Beast tells us.A "constitutional law professor at UCLA" is evidently hostile to the Founders' Second Amendment. This is my shocked face. If we listen to him, we just can't win. Those agreeing with the "militia" part are "extremists." As for "shall not be infringed: Rand Paul showed his true colors with a campaign promise that, if elected, he “will fight all attempts...

“Mayor Bloomberg's plan to slash fees for pistol permits is facing a blaze of opposition in the City Council,” Sally Goldenberg of The New York Post reports. What’s that? “Furious Mike,” the notorious anti-gunner plotting to impose Big Apple controls on Heartland America wants to “put more guns on the street”? Not exactly. It seems this is a preemptive ploy, anticipating if they don't do something, they’ll be vulnerable to lawsuits in the post-Heller /McDonald era. But a comment from Councilman Erik Dilan (D-Brooklyn) is instructive: Since I've been in the council, we've voted on numerous bills where fees and...

Yesterday, we talked about the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV). More specifically, we talked about the real reason for that group's intense hostility to the right to keep and bear arms--as explained in a book co-written by CSGV executive director Josh Horwitz, "Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea"). Today, we'll look at efforts in that book to debunk what they call one of the "myths" perpetuated by the "Insurrectionists" (which are, remember, people who believe that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect the people's means to resist tyranny). According to Horwitz, and co-author Casey Anderson, when...

“Gunmaker's 'Adaptive Combat Rifle' Too Combat-y: Fires Full Auto!” The Violence Policy Center’s Josh Sugarmann breathlessly warns Huffington Post readers. When is a "combat rifle" for the U.S. civilian gun market too combat-y? When it fires like a full-auto machine gun. Batty invented terminology aside, he’s referring to a product recall notice issued by Bushmaster on Oct. 15 for its ACR rifle: Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC has become aware of a possible firearms performance issue that may develop with a small number of ACR rifles and we are requesting you discontinue the sale of these firearms that remain in your...

Today's column concludes a three-part series (see part 1 and part 2, if you haven't already) critiquing "Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea," of which Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) is co-author. The focus today will be on the main part of the book's suggested strategy for dealing with us "Insurrectionists" (defined in the book as those of us who believe an armed citizenry is the final obstacle in a would-be tyrant's path). To the book: Isolate the Insurrectionists by embracing the self-defenders and the sporting gun owners. The fact remains that most...

An aspect of self defense in one's home that isn't discussed much is revenge. Robert Wallace of Wheat Ridge, Colorado had his 15 minutes of fame when he was charged with 4 counts of attempted murder for firing two shots at two criminals stealing his trailer parked in his yard. Eventually the courts decided not to send an 82 year old man off to the Big House for the rest of his life. They decided that probation would be enough, but took all his guns away from him. Society is safe and justice is served. Now, his RV has been...

The Cedar Rapids Gazette ran an article today, in which I was interviewed. Overall, I have to say that it was a fairly well balanced article without a lot of editorial slant from the reporter. However, as we have often seen since Governor Culver signed SF-2379 into law, there are still some in Iowa that believe the sky is going to start falling on January 1 when Chapter 724 undergoes a wide range of changes. In an attempt to (once again) refute the doomsday predictions of those who believe that Iowa will revert to some sort of O.K. Corral or...

“As Reid Falters, Schumer Subtly Stands in the Wings,” The New York Times headline warns gun owners. A perennial leading political enemy of the right to keep and bear arms, Schumer’s potential ascendancy to a vacated leadership slot would seem to validate NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox’s “four words” parroted by so many Fairfax apologists: Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Before the chorus of “We told you so” begins, let me just say this:So what?Unless all major political pundits are wrong, the House of Representatives, which the Senate needs consensus with in order to pass any bill up to the President...

As Election Day 2010 approaches, there is much to be found in the media about the National Rifle Association and its political grades and endorsements. There's another, albeit smaller organization out there working hard to bring us candidate evaluations that gun activists are well aware of, Gun Owners of America, designated "The only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington" by Rep. Ron Paul. Because GOA takes a somewhat different approach that can yield different performance assessments, tensions sometimes arise between its supporters and NRA's, along with often acrimonious, even bitter debate. And because this election has such potential to impact gun...