Free Republic

MPs voted by a clear margin Wednesday to repeal the federal long-gun registry, signalling for the first time since the program was adopted 14 years ago that it is headed for the scrap heap, despite police assertions that it saves lives. A private member's bill, sponsored by Conservative backbencher Candice Hoeppner, had the backing of all the Tories, from Prime Minister Stephen Harper down, and enough Liberal and New Democrat MPs to clear its first major hurdle of winning support in principle. The bill passed by a surprising 164-137, winning more supporters than expected as 18 opposition MPs rose to...

"Managing unauthorized access to firearms, particularly KIDS. Just some basic tips about securing firearms so that only YOU have access to them. Not a comprehensive safety video" A few easy to apply common sense tips to secure your firearms from little ones and ideas on dealing with their curiosity about guns.

Americans, thoroughly disgusted with the socialistic programs that have been thrust upon them over the last few years, vote out seventeen of the nineteen Democrats in the Senate and 178 in Congress that were up for reelection.

Gun Rights: A decade after Congress forbade the CDC from studying the health consequences of gun ownership, the National Institutes of Health has started funding such research. Will reform pry the guns from our cold, sick hands? More than a decade ago Congress, seeing it as a backdoor assault on the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, voted to cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control. Such research was viewed as one-sided and based on flawed assumptions that all gun use was bad, even that which saved lives and deterred crime. --...

Cerberus plans to float the gun maker Freedom Group soon. It better hurry. President Obama’s election victory sent weapon sales — and the valuations of firearms producers — higher. Falling backlogs hint that sales could plunge. This gun bubble may backfire.

Gun Rights: A decade after Congress forbade the CDC from studying the health consequences of gun ownership, the National Institutes of Health has started funding such research. Will reform pry the guns from our cold, sick hands? More than a decade ago Congress, seeing it as a backdoor assault on the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, voted to cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control. Such research was viewed as one-sided and based on flawed assumptions that all gun use was bad, even that which saved lives and deterred crime. The...

SEATTLE -- Seattle Parks and Recreation on Wednesday put into effect a new rule banning the possession or display of firearms at playgrounds, community centers and other places where children are likely to be.   Firearms will be prohibited at designated facilities once signs are posted notifying people of the new rule. The first signs are to be posted Friday, with the rest up by Dec. 1.   In all, the rule will be applied at more than 500 parks, recreation centers, pools, beaches and golf courses.

As we reported in last week's Grassroots Alert, the U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear the landmark Second Amendment case of McDonald v. Chicago. The case will address the application of the Second Amendment to the states through either the Due Process clause or the Privileges or Immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case has major implications for the legality of restrictive gun laws not only in Chicago, but also in other cities and the states across the nation. The decision to hear the case gives hope to Second Amendment advocates across America, that this fundamental freedom will be...

Finally, an award he deserves.

Focusing on guns, politics, and news of interest, here is today's Second Amendment News Roundup...

Last week we asked which of ten guns you would pick from if "It all went bad." We did not suggest that a person should own every gun on the list. It was our proposition that the essentials were a large caliber rifle, a handgun, a shotgun, and a .22 as a minimum. Nearly 150 people responded with comments and their own good ideas. But, lets take this a step further, and make selection a little bit more difficult. Assuming you have plenty of ammunition, or have everything needed to reload for the one gun, what would be the one...

SUMMERSIDE – He wanted to turn off his TV but instead of grabbing the remote, Todd Francis Jollimore reached for his .45-calibre handgun. In Summerside Provincial Court this week, the 43-year-old French River man pleaded guilty to careless use of a firearm and to growing marijuana. The charges stem from an incident July 29. A neighbour, concerned about Jollimore after the death of his uncle earlier in the day, went to check on him. When he saw the TV screen broken he called police. Jollimore told police he was watching TV and decided to shut it off with a shot...

Gun Control: The Supreme Court agrees to decide if the Second Amendment applies to all of us, or just Washington, D.C. Why would the Founders put in the Bill of Rights something applying only to a federal enclave? In a 5-4 decision last year written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court overturned a draconian District of Columbia gun ban enacted 32 years ago that barred private ownership of handguns at all. Scalia wrote that an individual's right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. The court ruled that...

In the early days of America's history, before independence, wily frontiersmen formed community militias to provide protection from the native Indians and French-Canadian settlers. By the 1760s, peace resulted in militia training reaching a low point. For example, during militia training, a common salute to an officer consisted of a militiaman's firing a blank shot at an officer’s feet. A general sense of humor and neglect existed among the colonists toward formal military discipline. However, marksmanship and weapon handling remained important as a part of daily life and thus was regularly practiced. Many of the other practices of the...

A diverse crowd of more than 150 people gathered in Forum Hall Wednesday evening to hear the opinions of two law professors as they debated the ever-present topic of gun control in relation to the language of the U.S. Constitution. The audience sat intently as the debate-style information session titled “Guns on Campus? The New Understanding of the Right to Bear Arms” brought two perspectives on the future of the courts’ interpretation of the Second Amendment through the research and experience of Raymond T. Diamond, law professor at Louisiana State University, and William Merkel, law professor at Washburn University.

That’s right. In one month alone Americans made themselves and this nation safer (from enemies foreign and domestic) by choosing to exercise one our most precious rights–the right to own a firearm. I think Thomas Jefferson would be especially pleased with this news when we consider a letter he sent to one of his nephews: “A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the Body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind . . . Let your gun therefore be the constant...

Both Men Arrested During 'Operation Rolling Thunder' SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Spartanburg County Sheriff called a week-long special traffic enforcement effort named Operation Rolling Thunder a success. Spartanburg County was just one of several agencies from across the state that took part in the week-long enhanced traffic effort along I-85 and I-26. Some of the people pulled over during the effort were wanted on serious charges.

Two men arrested Friday night during a bizarre shooting spree along Interstate 5 in North Seattle may have been planning to fire at vehicles driving up and down the freeway, police said Sunday. “One theory is that maybe they were going to snipe at people as they were driving by on I-5,” Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Renee Witt told KOMO News

East Alton, IL – -(AmmoLand.com)- Winchester® Ammunition was recently awarded a contract by the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security to supply a maximum of 200 million, 40 cal. rounds over the next five years.

ONTARIO — Three men were charged Saturday with second-degree reckless endangerment after shots were fired — apparently with an AK-47 — on Lake Road and Ontario Center Road. State police found shell casings from ammunition used for an AK-47 about two-tenths of a mile from Robert E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant property. But State Police Investigator Jeff Miller said no connection had been found between the gunfire and the plant.

Ontario, Wayne County)- State Police in Wayne County arrested three men Saturday after reports of gun shots heard near the Ginna nuclear power plant in the town of Ontario. Police say the shots were fired on Ontario Center road around 4:50 a.m. Troopers say they stopped a car in the area and found an AK-47 rifle in the trunk.

The US banking system will lose some 1,000 institutions over the next two years, said John Kanas, whose private equity firm bought BankUnited of Florida in May. “We’ve already lost 81 this year,” he told CNBC. “The numbers are climbing every day. Many of these institutions nobody’s ever heard of. They're smaller companies.” Failed banks tend to be smaller and private, which exacerbates the problem for small business borrowers, said Kanas, who became CEO of BankUnited when his firm bought the bank and is the former chairman and CEO of North Fork bank. “Government money has propped up the very...

The City Council is considering a program to let the Police Department sell confiscated guns to licensed dealers. Sales could net $10,000 a year. Reporting from Colorado Springs, Colo. - This conservative city is taking an unusual, some might say extreme, step to try to stem its fiscal woes: It's entering the gun business.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends. The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration. Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is...

INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST THE ILLICIT MANUFACTURING OF AND TRAFFICKING IN FIREARMS, AMMUNITION, EXPLOSIVES, AND OTHER RELATED MATERIALS THE STATES PARTIES, AWARE of the urgent need to prevent, combat, and eradicate the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials, due to the harmful effects of these activities on the security of each state and the region as a whole, endangering the well-being of peoples, their social and economic development, and their right to live in peace; CONCERNED by the increase, at the international level, in the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives,...

A SCOTTISH soldier has been praised for making the longest recorded kill in Afghanistan after shooting a top Taliban fighter from almost a mile away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds took out the Afghan drug lord during some of the hardest fighting of the war so far. The 25-year-old, of 3 Scots, The Black Watch, kept watch on a shop rooftop for three days to eliminate the target. But he admitted the top-level Taliban fighter – known as Musa – was so far away it took him a couple of attempts to get the aim right. Initially Musa, who was with four...

USA Today has a front-page article on the dramatic increase in demand for concealed handgun permits since Obama was elected: Applications already have hit a record this year in Clay County, Mo., where the sheriff's office received 888 through June, compared with 863 in all of last year, says Sheriff Bob Boydston. The office recently hired two part-time workers to deal with the rush. In the past, applicants tended to be middle-aged men, he says, but recent applicants include "grandmothers, older folks, young women, young men." [...] Statewide, the Missouri State Highway Patrol has processed 18,878 background checks so...

Southport firearm maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. said new gun models helped nearly double sales in the fiscal second-quarter, contributing to a 700 percent gain in net profits.

A Northwest Miami-Dade firearms company is gunning for $369,000 in incentives to keep a planned expansion in the county, even as other locales take aim at the importer and manufacturer's promised 258 jobs. A nearly three-decade veteran of the county, Taurus USA employs 135 workers and says it will add 123 jobs in an expansion that has drawn incentive offers from beyond Florida's borders, according to CEO and President Bob Morrison, who cited Georgia's courtship in particular. ``The [Georgia] governor sent his plane down for us and then took us on a helicopter tour for three days,'' Morrison said. ``From...

MONTICELLO – In a real life situation, a police officer is not shooting at a non-moving black silhouette. In reality, an officer may have a split second to decide whether to use deadly force, or not. The Sullivan County Sheriff Office firing range now has three remote-controlled rotating targets. Detective Ed Simon, the chief firearms instructor, says this fine-tunes an officer’s ability to make that quick and critical decision. “This is going to make the officer become more proficient and more professional in his duties, so he’s aware or she’s aware of what is going to happen on the street...

Looking at this gun may make you recall a song on Metallica's seminal "Master of Puppets" album. Though James Hetfield sang about a mythic beast from Lovecraft novels, "The Thing That Should Not Be" could be misconstrued by the ignorant to refer to the Kel-Tec PLR-16 Pistol. It doesn't look like anything we've seen before. It's a handgun, but it has a 9.2-inch barrel. It uses a gas piston system, but the same breech-locking mechanism found on ARs. It's not an AR, but it can take AR magazines. What is this...this thing? It's one heck of a fun handgun. Despite...

(Corrected) Gun Control: In a case headed for the Supreme Court, a three-judge panel rules Chicago's gun ban constitutional since the 2nd Amendment doesn't apply to states and cities. High court nominee Sonia Sotomayor concurs.Those Pennsylvania townsfolk bitterly clinging to their guns may have been premature in celebrating the decision in D.C. v. Heller that the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does indeed guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms.

New reality series about a Colorado gun store coming up on SHOWTIME. Looks like the show will take a pro-Second Amendment stance. Video trailer at the link.

Excuse the vanity post but I just picked up a new Ruger P95 9mm. I figured it was the right time. I'm not a stranger to handguns, carrying the .45 back in the Corps and then transitioning from a wheel gun to the Sig 9 (226 I think...or 228 - one was bigger) when I was a cop...but I left that over a decade ago and I haven't had a handgun since. I am almost ashamed to say, I didn't leave with much memory either...they gave me rounds - I shot rounds - qualified well 4 times a year and...

Bill to limit N.J. gun purchases gets legislative approval by Susan K. Livio/Statehouse Bureau Friday June 26, 2009, 1:15 AM Firearms sales in New Jersey would be limited to no more than one per month under controversial legislation that had stalled earlier this year but won final approval early this morning in the rush before the Legislature's summer recess.

...Being unarmed is a unique and cherished feature of the policing style adopted by New Zealand Police – a style for which we are held in high regard internationally... ...We police by consent; there will be no hasty decisions in this area.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this week entitled, "Firearms Trafficking: U.S. Efforts to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Face Planning and Coordination Challenges." Among other things, the report asserts that Mexican officials consider illicit firearms the number one crime problem affecting their country's security; that about 87 percent of firearms seized in Mexico and traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) in the last five years originated in the United States; and that these firearms are increasingly more powerful and lethal, including "high-caliber and high-powered" AK-47 and AR-15 type semi-automatic rifles. The...

ROCK HILL Two Rock Hill teens were charged Monday in an early-morning robbery after one of them accidentally shot himself, deputies say. Around 4:45 a.m., a man approached a bread delivery driver behind Harris Teeter on Celanese Road and asked for directions to Taylor Oaks, according to a York County Sheriff's Office report. Then, another man came from behind a dumpster, holding a knife and asking for money. The man who asked for directions put a bandanna over his face and pulled out what looked like a sawed-off shotgun, said Lt. Tim Hager of the York County Sheriff's Office. The...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Oregon Senate has decided concealed handgun permits will not be concealed, over the objection of county sheriffs across the state. Concealed handgun licenses are public records and senators affirmed their support of that policy by declining a vote on House Bill 2727, which would have allowed sheriffs to keep the permits confidential.

Today, the Tennessee State Senate approved Senate Bill 1610 (SB1610), the Tennesse Firearms Freedom Act, by a vote of 22-7. The House companion bill, HB1796 previously passed the House by a vote of 87-1.On its way to the Governor’s desk, the bill states that “federal laws and regulations do not apply to personal firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition that is manufactured in Tennessee and remains in Tennessee. The limitation on federal law and regulation stated in this bill applies to a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured using basic materials and that can be manufactured without the...

We will be traveling to Texas and hope to be returning with a firearm or two. Does anyone know the law about crossing several state lines with a gun in your trunk? This would be from TX to NY. Just exercising our 2nd Amendment rights to own... will not seek concealed carry in NY as it is too restictive - just want one at home. (Course NY is wanting to restrict purchase of ammo now - via registering purchases so they will know what kind of gun you have that you are buying ammo for.)

One of the most controversial measures to come before the County Legislature in some time is expected to draw an overflow crowd at a public hearing Tuesday night. At issue is a proposed law that would require gun shops to register sales of ammunition, a measure that has been condemned by gun proponents as a back-door means to register guns and learn what weapons people have. Supporters say it is merely an attempt to close a loophole in state law governing how ammunition is purchased.

A student at a middle school in Louisiana's Lafourche Parish has been hospitalized after trying to shoot a teacher and then shooting himself in the head, the sheriff said. Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre told New Orleans TV station WDSU that the 15-year-old student brought a gun to the school and fired one shot into a classroom. No one was hurt, Webre said. Sgt. Lesley Peters said the student had tried to shoot a teacher. The student then ran into the boys' bathroom shot himself in the head, Webre said. The school has been locked down, and all other students...

One person was shot in the torso and another was shot multiple times during the event at Regional Park. More than 1,200 people gathered for the event, geared toward encouraging teens to turn away from violence. "All of a sudden, guys started tripping, a guy started shooting and kids got ran over," said Angel Easley. "I thought it was a balloon pop, and I seen a dude with a red bandana and a gray hoodie, and I just ran," said Toriano Easley Jr. Alfred Frazier, 17, and Sam ZayZay, 22, were arrested initially, police said. ZayZay has since been released...

Florida, USA - -(AmmoLand.com)- When government takes money from citizens for general use by government, IT’S A TAX. When government confiscates user fees from trust funds intended to be used to administer specific programs and converts it to government use for other purposes, IT’S A TAX. When government leaders claim to oppose tax increases and promise not to create new taxes but then raid trust funds, they have deceived you because THEY HAVE CREATED A NEW TAX. In a last minute sneak attack on gun owners, the Florida Legislature raided the concealed weapons and firearms licensing trust fund and CREATED...

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) is pleased to introduce the new Ruger® SR-556 autoloading rifle – an innovative two-stage piston driven rifle. The SR-556 offers Ruger’s legendary rugged reliability, redefining the AR platform with piston driven performance. The piston driven SR-556 runs cleaner, cooler, and is easier to maintain than gas driven rifles, offering significantly improved reliability. The patent pending two-stage piston driven operating system in the Ruger SR-556 provides a smooth power delivery stroke to the action and vents combustion residue out of the bottom of the gas block. The four-position adjustable gas regulator allows the operator...

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- The upward trend in firearms sales continued in April, marking the sixth consecutive month of significant increases. Data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,225,980 checks in April 2009. This figure is a 30.3 percent increase from the 940,961 reported in April 2008. FBI background checks are required under federal law for all individuals purchasing either new or used firearms from federally licensed retailers. The checks serve as a gauge of actual sales but do not reflect the actual number of firearms sold, since, following a background check, a customer may...

Introduced in the South Carolina State Senate on May 6, 2009, the “Firearms Freedom Act” (s-794) seeks “to provide that a firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured and retained in South Carolina is exempt from federal regulation under the commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States.” The bill is sponsored by South Carolina State Senators Bright, Bryant, Mulvaney, Davis, Shoopman, S. Martin and McConnell. They join Montana, Utah, and Texas in an effort to limit federal regulation of guns, and specifically invoke the 9th and 10th Amendments as restrictions on federal power: “the regulation of intrastate commerce is...

.... What shuts the matrix off? What is the matrix afraid of? Where is the power source of the matrix? Unplug it. Can we just infect the software? That's one option. Or can we unplug the machine so the whole thing goes... I've told you we've got to start challenging the Constitution. We have to start challenging the government. We have to start saying, "You know what, we're going to adopt a sovereignty clauses in our states." But that was to throw the matrix up against the wall and scare them. It was like I was talking last hour, the...

BELLEVUE, WA and REDWOOD CITY, CA – The Second Amendment Foundation, The Calguns Foundation and three California residents today filed a lawsuit seeking to vindicate the right to bear arms against arbitrary state infringement. Nearly all states allow qualified law-abiding citizens to carry guns for self-defense, but a few states allow local officials to arbitrarily decide who may exercise this core Second Amendment right. In the action filed today, Plaintiffs challenge the policies of two California Sheriffs, in Sacramento and Yolo counties, who reject the basic human right of self defense by refusing to issue ordinary people gun carry permits....