Free Republic

Gun owners in St. Louis and elsewhere doubtless recall the rabid opposition among the District of Columbia's political class, to private gun ownership by American citizens. From the outright handgun ban implemented in 1976, to the stubborn defense of that ban, ending with the Heller case, to the ultra-restrictive everything-short-of-an-outright-ban laws which replaced that ban, to the District's willingness to sacrifice its bid for "voting rights," because they would only come packaged with a repeal of those ultra-restrictive gun laws; D.C. has for decades restricted gun ownership to the absolute maximum degree it could get away with. Meanwhile, D.C. is...

The Washington State Parks Commission scheduled a special public meeting this morning in Olympia and the agenda was all about budget troubles and Gov. Christine Gregoire’s proposal to merge that agency with the Department of Fish & Wildlife, creating a super-agency dubbed the Department of Conservation and Recreation. What good is a public meeting held at 10 o’clock on a Wednesday – that’s a work day for hunters and anglers who still have jobs, no thanks to the Obama “stimulus” package – when the genuine public really cannot attend? As posts on two popular outdoor forums, Piscatorial Pursuits and Hunting...

Last night a Georgia Tech student was robbed in his dormitory room by four men wearing masks. At least one of the robbers was armed with a handgun. The university sent a message to campus students advising them on safety, with such helpful tidbits as: Additional Safety Information for Georgia Tech -Walk in well lit areas. To report inoperative exterior campus lighting, visit: www.facilities.gatech.edu/om/lighting-form.php . -Walk with a friend or in a group. -Be alert of your surroundings. -Immediately report suspicious activity to the Georgia Tech Police by calling 404-894-2500. Program the Georgia Tech Police Department's phone number into your...

This morning, if accounts in Kalispell and Missoula newspapers are accurate, 16-year-old Demari DeReu should be back in class at Columbia Falls High School after the School Board last night showed the good sense that this column accurately suggested – “for the sake of argument” – would be the case. There are several lessons to be learned by educators throughout the Northwest, including right here in Washington, where the story has gotten considerable reaction from members of the Hunting-Washington forum. Chief among lessons to be learned from these Montana school officials is that common sense and compassion should always trump...

Yesterday’s revelation by the Greeley, CO Gazette that Chicago holds the distinction of being the city with the highest number of police officer fatalities by gunfire serves as a rebuke to arguments by the gun prohibition lobby that expanding gun ownership will endanger the lives of our lawmen; no surprise at all to Washington state gun rights advocates who beat Chicago in court. Chicago enjoyed a ban on handguns until June 28 of this year, when the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation won its landmark Supreme Court Second Amendment ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago. The ruling did not specifically...

A Second Amendment advocacy leader has released video of his encounter with Sandy Springs, GA police during a traffic stop. Daniel Almond, founder of Restore the Constitution (which includes what the Brady Campaign’s Paul Helmke described as a polite armed Second Amendment rally among its achievements) was pulled over for speeding and a broken light over his rear license plate. That’s when he was ordered out of his car to submit to being frisked. In Almond’s words: This is me getting stopped by Sandy Springs PD for speeding. The second thing the officer asked me, after asking for my license,...

Detroit police harassed legal gun owners at yesterday’s so-called “gun buyback” while ignoring other obvious felonies at the “No questions asked” event. The event, held at the Second Ebenezer Church, offered $25 for non-working firearms, $50 for functional firearms, and $100 for “assault weapons.” Continental management donated the money and the Detroit Police Department ran the event. The Detroit Police Department advertised that guns could be turned in with “No questions asked." As I wrote in yesterday’s article, Sell your stolen gun to the Detroit Police Department, this created an opportunity for criminals to dispose of guns used in crime...

Gun rights advocates in St. Louis and across the country must make their voices heard, to stop a flagitious new infringement on that which shall not be infringed. This is a further development of something discussed here a couple days ago: the possibility that in addition to the 42-year-old requirement to report multiple handgun sales (as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968), multiple sales of long guns (rifles and shotguns, in other words) would now have to be reported. At the risk of being accused of hyperbolic, "'Sky is falling' rhetoric," it is time to point out that...

Some months ago it was reported here that - despite all the hallabalu arising from Congress’ recent mandate that AMTRAK allow passengers to transport unloaded guns in checked luggage - it’s generally NOT a crime under federal and most states’ laws to carry loaded handguns on AMTRAK trains. Now . . . WMATA has publicly acknowledged that gun carry on the DC Metro system is not banned, but merely governed by the laws of each of the 3 member jurisdictions: Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

A new study released by the University of Maryland shows American voters to be vastly misinformed. Even worse, the same study points to the media as the cause of much of this misinformation. The study involved a poll of 616 self-reported voters in the week after the 2010 midterm election. Voters were asked where they get their news from, and then asked about a number of verifiable facts. For instance, voters were asked whether the TARP program, otherwise known as the bailout, was started under President Bush or President Obama. Over 40% of respondents said President Obama started TARP even...

Hot on the heels of House Bill 45, the recently filed bill that would give real teeth to Florida's long beleaguered preemption statute, comes Senate Bill 234. SB 234, filed on December 10 by Florida Senator Greg Evers, is a virtual cornucopia of new ground for gun owners and carriers. This is a Christmas present of which even Santa would be proud. Arguably one of the biggest issues in recent Florida gun rights discussion, open carry of firearms would be restored to the citizens of Florida under SB 234, albeit as a licensed privilege. Under current law, a gun owner...

Florida Senator Greg Evers is sponsoring legislation to reform many of Florida’s highly restrictive handgun carry and purchasing laws. If passed in its current form, SB-234 will legalize many activities already lawful in other states. Since 1987 the State of Florida has issued nearly 2 million Concealed Weapon or Firearms Licenses (CWFL) that allows people to carry a concealed firearm if they pay a fee, have had appropriate training, a criminal background check with FBI fingerprint search, and are over the age of 21. In the licensing program’s 23 year history only 168 licenses have been revoked for improper use...

UPPER FREEHOLD — A 32-year-old illegal immigrant from Guatemala who worked at a local farm is in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township, charged with allegedly raping a girl under 10 years of age. According to Detective Stephen Urbanski of the New Jersey State Police, Elias Santos, who admitted to police that he was in the country illegally, was arrested Dec. 3 and charged with aggravated sexual assault in the first degree and endangering the welfare of a child in the third degree. He remains in jail under $250,000 bail with no 10 percent option, Urbanski said.

“A painted plywood cut-out of Santa with a cowboy hat and a gun on his belt is causing quite a stir in Turlock,” 3KCRA.com reports. “I tried to get the image out of my head all day long and I could not, because Santa is made for love, bringing families together, not carrying weapons,” Monica Sliva said. Sliva thinks it sends the wrong message to kids. She complained to staff at the Christmas tree lot where the Santa was on display, and they first took the cut-own down, but then put it back up with the gun covered. It’s ridiculous,...

Despite the practice being “lawful” in many states (not to mention being a fundamental right), gun owners who openly carry firearms often place themselves in legal and physical jeopardy from police reactions. Because official ignorance endangers open carriers, as one in Willowick, Ohio, found out when, per Ohioans for Concealed Carry, he "was ordered to his knees at gunpoint by several police officers." And the chilling account they relate includes no small amount of disrespect by the enforcers, including blasphemies directed at the detainee. And then there was this bit of telling attitude for a right articulated in the Constitution...

Two high-profile attacks on joggers in Seattle parks over the past couple of months, the most recent being Wednesday afternoon, underscore why gun rights organizations and five individual citizens challenged the City of Seattle’s attempt to ban firearms in park facilities, an illegal act under this state’s preemption statute. Yesterday's attack occurred in Colman Park. The earlier incident happened in October in Seward Park, and in that attack, the unidentified perpetrator was armed with a knife, according to the on-line Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The man, armed with a knife, then grabbed the woman from behind and threw her to the ground....

“Mayor Richard Daley expressed frustration today that the Chicago Police Department has not set up a database to let police officers and firefighters know how many firearms are registered in each home in the city,” the Chicago Tribune reports. “A key piece” in the mayor’s response to a loss in the McDonald case, where the Supreme Court ruled the Second Amendment is applicable against state and local infringements, “[t]he mayor said it would help protect first responders by letting them know what kind of situation they might encounter when they went to calls in Chicago residences.” That, of course, is...

Are the “gun guys” against Arkansans having their Second Amendment rights restored to them? KARK 4 News ran this news story yesterday, featuring Don Hill of Don’s Weaponry in North Little Rock. The conceal carry is working beautiful He goes on to say: Somebody could easily come up behind me and snap my holster and jerk my gun out While this doesn’t sound like someone who is against open carry, or against the right to bear arms, Don Hill’s reasoning does resemble an advertisement, one for concealed carry. Don’s Weaponry teaches concealed carry classes in North Little Rock. The demand...

“Paul Henick arrested for BRANDISHING FIREARM in Chesterfield,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. Aside from a photo and a link to past news accounts, where it is learned Mr. Henick is a gun rights/open carry advocate, no further details of the arrest are presented. For those, an account is presented on the OpenCarry.org forum that, if substantiated, presents serious concerns about security, police and prosecutorial misconduct. The incident reportedly began as Henick attempted to take the Surrey (Jamestown-Scotland) Ferry when “a private contractor working for VDOT to ‘ensure security’ ordered [him] to get out of his car.” When the contractor refused...

In 1987, the Florida legislature took action to eliminate the patchwork of conflicting firearms local ordinances that plagued firearms owners at that time. At last, they would enjoy a single blanket set of rules that would apply statewide. Although it was a noble concept, it failed miserably in practice. Twenty-three years later, a full two-thirds of Florida counties and countless municipalities, cities, and towns still have ordinances relating to the regulation of firearms. How could this have happened? The links provide insight into the problem. http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-ft-myers/florida-preemption-statute-refused-and-abused http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-orlando/florida-community-leaders-willfully-ignoring-state-firearms-laws Simply put, a local jurisdiction could publish an ordinance or regulation in conflict...