Free Republic

She was dead. The woman lay on her back in the middle of the street. Her eyes were open and staring up at the sky, clouds reflecting on the haze forming over them. Pools of thick, dark syrup formed under her back, her life blood oozing out across the black asphalt around her body. I was there when she died. It's a hell of a thing, death. Anyone who has been around it knows about that moment when someone goes from being a person to a thing. It's a curiosity, almost magical in a way. You can't help but be...

Feb 15,2012 - Boozman Seeks Second Amendment Protection on Corps Land Files Amendment to Senate Transportation Bill WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senator John Boozman filed an amendment Monday that would prohibit the Secretary of the Army from enforcing any regulation that keeps an individual from possessing firearms on Army Corps of Engineer Water Resource Development projects or facilities. "This amendment would make gun regulations consistent across all federal recreational lands,” Boozman said. “Law abiding gun owners deserve to defend themselves on federal lands while enjoying the outdoors.” “This move will bring clarity and uniformity to firearms policy on federal recreational...

The gunfight is over, and the cities lost. The question is: Do they realize it yet? For decades now, large majorities of urbanites - the people, the politicians, the interest groups - have favored stricter controls on guns, for reasons city residents find self-evident. In the last five years in Philadelphia, 1,656 people have been slain, and of those, more than 1,300 died of gunshot wounds. For many city residents, myself included, guns represent a plague, not protection. From the perspective of bloody Philadelphia, gun-rights advocates - and their allies in Harrisburg and Washington - appear all too willing to...

I had a very pleasant 70-year-old patient in today. He is disabled from multiple sclerosis and bound to a motorized wheelchair. I was evaluating him for hand weakness. He mentioned that his weakness was leading to malfunctions when shooting his Glock 19. I mentioned limp wristing, and he picked up that I was also a shooter. That led to a very pleasant discussion . . . He mentioned that he does not carry a pistol anymore due to his weakness and is considering a Taser. He wears a fanny pack with various essentials front and center and I think it...

Wyoming --(Ammoland.com)- As early as today HB-60 will be introduced in the house by Representative Kendell Kroeker (R-Casper) — It will require a 2/3rds vote to advance to committee. Please email your House Representative ASAP and ask them to support this legislation that will put a end to local governments placing restrictions on your right to carry. Wyoming has enjoyed a preemption since 1995, but unfortunately the “local” municipal politicians seem to believe that they hold more than the keys to the city. Simply put, many city politicians believe they are above the law and ignore the state the preemption....

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Union County residents who contend that a doctor has no legal right to fire machine guns on a homemade firing range near their properties. Superior Court Judge Mark Klass has dismissed the case against Dr. Michael Land, according to Union County trial court coordinator Nevele Love. The judge made his decision Friday, the clerk's office said. Kathy Patterson, one of the neighbors who filed the suit, said that while she's disappointed by the judge's decision, "without question, we'll appeal it." Reached by phone Tuesday, Land said he expects the court order to be...

HJR 2005 and HF 2114 were debated in the House Public Safety Committee (PSC) today. Unfortunately for gun owners in Iowa, the true intent of both of these pieces of legislation was evidently lost on the Chairman of the committee. Representative Clel Baudler sided with the Democrat members of the committee, and both bills were watered down to the point of being useless. HJR 2005 was intended to add the right to keep and bear arms to the Iowa Constitution. Taking into account all of the challenges that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has faced over the years,...

Illinois state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston) has endorsed Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to create a statewide gun registry in order to decrease gun violence, according to a news release issued Friday. Emanuel proposed requiring gun owners to register each handgun in their possession at a fee of $65 per gun. Currently, Chicago's gun control laws ban weapon sales in the city and prohibit people from taking guns out of their homes. For 28 years Chicago banned gun ownership entirely, until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that policy in June 2010. Prospective Illinois gun owners must obtain a firearm owner's...

We are learning more about the double homicide in Great Bend Township Saturday afternoon. A gun shop owner, Lloyd Thomas is now charged with two counts of First Degree Homicide. We have also learned the name of the second victim. 28-year-old Gilberto Alvarez recently moved from Florida to the area to work for a gas drilling company. The other victim, 30-year-old Joshua Rogers of Hallstead, was Alvarez's friend and temporary roommate. A State Police investigator tells Fox 40 that both men have criminal records,and at the time of the killings one of them was carrying a shotgun. Investigators say the...

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - Carrying guns has always been a hot topic in Arizona, and it appears more women are exercising their right to own one. A new survey shows 23 percent of women in the U.S. have a gun. That's up from 13 percent in 2005. Darcie Edelkraut has been a gun owner and member of the Scottsdale Gun Club since 2009. "I had never seen a gun, held a gun and didn't know much about shooting," she said. The Arcadia mom and marketing specialist said she was tired of playing tennis and her other activities, so she sought out...

Upper Marlboro, MD --(Ammoland.com)- The next historical figure that I highlight is no stranger to the subject of Black History. Maybe you’ve seen the movie where Cicely Tyson portrayed Harriet Tubman in “A Woman Called Moses.” Or perhaps you are somewhat familiar with the African American woman known has Harriet Tubman, that risked her life to rescue three hundred people from slavery. If not I want to share with you some things about her and the period in which she accomplished these great feats of daring for America. Harriet was born c.1820 at the Edward Brodas plantation near a place...

The Virginia Senate on Monday passed the House bill that repeals the state’s longstanding law limiting handgun purchases to one per month, sending the legislation to the desk of Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has said he would sign it. Opponents of the law, put in place in 1993 to prevent gun-runners from shuttling firearms from Virginia to other states along the East Coast, say that the technology related to background checks and the numerous exemptions in the law has rendered it obsolete.

We are all susceptible to the occasional knee-jerk reaction. We hear something and immediately jump to a position of opposition or support with little or no evidence to support the position. Sometimes such gut responses are correct and are subsequently validated by additional information, but often they are completely off base. As a Second Amendment advocate I run into a lot of jerking knees and gut feelings that can be very difficult to overcome. They usually hit me as questions – like “why should anyone be allowed to have a gun like that,” or “why should anyone be allowed to...

THE Granville Police in St James seized a firearm along with one round of ammunition yesterday morning. Reports from the Granville Police are that about 7:30 am, a team of police was on patrol along Tucker Main Road, when they searched a man and a homemade handgun and one 9 mm round was found on his person. The man was arrested and charged. Meanwhile, quick and coordinated efforts on the part of police personnel from the Flying Squad, the Motorised Patrol Division, the Denham Town Police and the Newport West Police led to the recovery of a motor vehicle within...

This article appeared in Washington Times on February 9, 2012. Every so often, a local news story about a victim of crime goes national. Most recently, it was Sarah McKinley, 18, home alone with her 3-month-old son, a few days after Sarah’s husband had died of lung cancer. Two men apparently looking to steal pain medicine prescribed for the husband broke in. Sarah grabbed a shotgun and a pistol and killed Justin Martin as he forced entry into her home. How often do such incidents happen? While the results from studies vary, the numbers are large. The National Crime Victimization...

DES MOINES — Matt Windschitl turned a half-swivel in his chair and stuck his right hand out, palm up, stopping National Rifle Association lobbyist Chris Rager from walking out the door. Windschitl, 28, a member of the House Republican leadership team from Missouri Valley, had just watched his “stand your ground” bill sail through a legislative committee. “This,” Windschitl said as Rager shook his hand, “is just the start.” The bill would allow Iowans to respond with deadly force if they feel threatened and would protect them from liability in some cases. This session Windschitl also has proposed legislation that...

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Monday to allow guns onto college campuses. That 5-3 vote came after Sen. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, sided with Democrats in opposition. Yarbrough said he was not convinced that limiting the right to those with a state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon provides sufficient safeguards. But the other Republicans on the GOP-dominated panel said all they were doing is affirming the constitutional right of individuals to protect themselves. SB 1474 would still allow colleges and universities to keep buildings as gun-free zones. But that would require that they post signs banning weapons at each door....

Yesterday, MSNBC's Today Show started its new feature, the "Rossen Reports," by Jeff Rossen. Rossen's first story: "Anyone can buy guns, no questions asked." The implication, of course, is that for Americans to exercise their Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right to keep and bear arms--the right, not to put too fine a point on it, that shall not be infringed--we should be subjected to a battery of questions. Rossen breathlessly reports: Hundreds of thousands of guns are for sale, on hundreds of websites. We responded and set up meetings at popular shopping malls. We bought everything from a police-grade pistol...

WCMH, Columbus' NBC affiliate, is reporting that police are investigating a break-in in which approximately 80 firearms were stolen from a Central Ohio shooting range as well as boxes of ammunition. Thieves knocked a hole through a cinder block wall to gain access to The Powder Room, which is located in Powell. According to the report, this wasn't the first time thieves have targeted The Powder Room. In the past, a gun stolen from the shop was later used in a crime where violence against a police officer was involved. Linda Walker is the Ohio chair of the Buckeye Firearms...

Manasquan, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- The New Jersey Appellate Division decided two cases this week in support of fair treatment for those who received mental health care, but who no longer suffer from such disabilities in such a manner that would handicap them in the safe handling of firearms. The law firm of Evan F. Nappen, Attorney at Law PC of Eatontown, New Jersey, (www.evannappen.com) represented both of these appellants. Both cases were partially funded by the NRA’s Civil Rights Defense Fund. IN RE M.L., PETITIONER FOR EXPUNGEMENT Two years ago, M.L., a retired law enforcement officer with over 25 years of...

Yesterday, Senate Bill 350 passed unanimously in the state Senate Judiciary Committee, along with an amendment submitted by bill sponsor and state Senator Don Balfour (R-9) that would require law enforcement agencies to begin the process of returning seized firearms within thirty days of a court’s final judgment. SB 350, along with the supported amendment, would mandate municipal, county and state police authorities return all seized firearms, not currently being held as evidence in a criminal investigation, to the lawful owner if able. If the lawful owner is not found or unable to take possession of the firearm, SB 350...

Republican legislators are pressing forward with efforts to bring constitutional amendments to the November ballot. The most recent proposal, filed Wednesday and authored by Rep. Tony Cornish of Lake Crystal, reaffirms the right of individuals to "acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, transfer, and use arms." The legislation adds that any restriction must be subjected to "strict scrutiny." "It's a more strict interpretation" of the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution, said Cornish. Cornish is a veteran in this area, having authored previous gun-rights legislation, including a bill this session that allows county attorneys to carry firearms. He's confident of the...

Fresh off primary victories in three states, presidential candidate Rick Santorum demonstrated his strong support for the individual right to keep and bear arms by visiting H&H Shooting Sports Complex in Oklahoma City en route to a rally today. H&H is a NSSF Five Star member range owned by Miles and Jayne Hall. The Santorum rally originally was scheduled to be held at H&H, but a surge of requests to attend the event forced a change to the Magnuson Hotel and Convention Center, where a crowd estimated at close to 2,000 gathered. The candidate delivered a speech that focused largely...

Today is so yesterday. While the show remains a cash cow, Today’s production team can’t show up at J-school lecture halls without the cloying smell of 80′s happy talk overpowering their intellectual pretensions. And so Today is dipping its collective toe into . . . wait for it . . . investigative journalism. What better way to kick off their new venture than a cookie-cutter piece of EAT-G (Easy Access to Guns)? Did you know you can buy guns over the Internet without an FFL and FBI background check? Only one problem . . . YOU CAN’T. But that kind...

HOUSTON - A couple of burglars chose the wrong woman to pick on. They came sneaking into her house, and she sent them running out. Perhaps they didn't count on the woman fighting back, but that's just what she did. The mother of two was getting her 10-year-old son ready for school when the two bad guys broke in. She grabbed a gun and came face-to-face with not one but two intruders inside her Huffman home. "It was scary," she said. She's still shaken up, so she doesn't want her identity revealed. It was broad daylight, 7:30 a.m., and the...

The Dayton Daily News is reporting that according to a DDN analysis of permit data, opinion polls and interviews with firearm and criminal justice experts, more women in the Miami Valley are choosing to purchase and carry handguns for protection, reflecting a national trend. From the article: More than one in five who have applied to carry concealed handguns in Butler, Greene, Miami, Montgomery and Warren counties are women, and owners of local gun stores and shooting ranges say women are increasingly participating in training and target practice. Although violent crime continues to decline in the region, experts said more...

IOWA – -(Ammoland.com)- Contact Public Safety Committee members today and urge them to vote YES tomorrow on HF 2114, the Iowa Firearm Preemption Act. Ask these members to vote YES and support current state law in Iowa code 724.7 and 724.28 that explicitly state that permit holders should be allowed to carry anywhere except where state and federal law allow. Punishing law-abiding citizens that are fully screened and have had extensive background checks by disallowing them access to public buildings is dishonoring to Iowans. It also puts honest, law-abiding citizens at risk of inadvertently violating these unnecessary, illegal laws that...

State Rep. Jason Spencer introduced legislation that will allow residents to carry a concealed firearm without first having to get a permit from the government. Rep. Spencer told Georgia Gun Owners that, “Law-abiding citizens should not have to be fingerprinted and cataloged like common criminals just to be able to defend themselves, their family and their property.” Indeed, violent thugs will not show up at the police station or sheriff’s office to apply for a permit. Yet, law-abiding gun owners are forced to apply for a permit, pay fees that can total more than $100, submit fingerprints, and then wait...

Iowa lawmakers are considering several bills aimed at enhancing gun rights, but critics say some of the measures are “pro-criminal” and will lead to more violence. According to the Des Moines Register, multiple bills have been introduced this year, ranging from one that would amend the state constitution to effectively eliminate all gun regulations to another that would “permit a shoot-to-kill response by anyone who believes he’s being threatened with death or serious injury by another person.” The Register reported Wednesday that advocates for changes to the state’s current gun laws believe most of the bills are necessary to protect...

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- House Bill 4054 is scheduled to be heard in the state House Health Care Committee on Monday, February 13. This hearing will be held at 1:00 p.m. in Hearing Room E of the Oregon Capitol. Sponsored by state Representative Jim Thompson (R-23), HB 4054 would prohibit the Public Employees’ Benefit Board from authorizing or requiring the collection of information or maintenance of records about firearms from eligible employees or family members applying for health benefits. HB 4054 was introduced after state Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-30) secured commitments from both Kaiser Permanente and the Public Employee’s...

Pennsylvania: Firearms Preemption Enhancement Bill Scheduled to be Considered on the state House floor TODAY Please Contact your state Representative NOW! FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- Today, House Bill 1523 will be before the full House for its second consideration. As predicted, at least thirteen anti-gun amendments have been filed to the bill for second consideration. These amendments range from “ballistic imaging” mandate to gutting the current “state preemption” statute. It is imperative that you call AND e-mail your state Representative THIS MORNING and urge him or her to support HB 1523 and OPPOSE any and all House floor amendments. This much-needed...

The host of Fox Business “Follow the Money,” program and one of the five co-hosts of the Fox News Channel's program “The Five” spoke to Guns & Patriots Feb. 3 about his new love of shooting. “For me there always was a stigma attached to hand guns,” said Eric Bolling, the former commodities trader, who was once signed to a minor league baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. “Everyone had it. My wife had it. My son had it,” he said. But, when he and his family actually started firing handguns, they learned why so many Americans enjoy guns. “We...

I finally got my gun in Washington, D.C. I brought it home today from the District’s firearms’ registry office. After months of aggravation, hundreds of dollars in fees, countless hours jumping over hurdles, I am now a gun owner and finally exercising my second amendment right to keep arms (bearing arms is still illegal in the nation’s capital). When I first started the “Emily Gets Her Gun” series, I thought I would be waiting in long lines and filling out lots of paperwork. I never could have imagined that the D.C. gun laws made it so unearthly difficult to get...

Earlier this month, the city of Chicago wrote a check for $399,950 to the Second Amendment Foundation, a gun rights group located in Bellevue, Wash. The check was a reimbursement for legal fees the foundation incurred in the McDonald v. Chicago case, which resulted in the United States Supreme Court overturning the city’s ban on handguns. “The city lost that action,” said Julianne Versnel, the foundation’s director of operations. “Because it was a constitutional civil rights case, the city was required to pay the cost.” Like all city checks, it’s signed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Comptroller Amer Ahmad. The...

Dan Gross, the newly hired president of the Brady Campaign, counts the shooting of his brother Matt in 1997 at the Empire State Building as a seminal event in in his life. He may not call it that but he left a high paying partnership at JWT (formerly known as J. Walter Thompson Advertising) to start what eventually became the Center to Prevent Youth Violence. From his bio at the Brady Campaign: Dan founded CPYV after his brother was severely wounded in a shooting at the Empire State Building in February 1997. Prior to co-founding and directing the Center to...

Whatsamatter, buddy? Winter blahs got you down? Having a hard time focusing on work? Can’t quite clear your head after those interminable PowerPoint presentations? Sick & tired of being sick & tired? What you need, my friend, is a little Recoil Therapy because nothing chases away the blues like a .44 magnum. Wouldn’t You Like to Get Away? When I was a full-time care provider for a family member with Alzheimer’s, it used to surprise people when I would make use of my relatively rare respite care breaks (when someone else would come care of my charge) to go out...

The dominoes keep falling. Virginia has dropped its “one gun a month” law, as seen here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/virginia-politics/post/handgun-ban-lifted-in-virginia/2012/02/03/gIQAfHYNuQ_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz Back when they passed it, one of my graduates in Virginia called me to share his misery. He asked, “Mas, how would YOU feel if they passed a ‘one-gun-a-month’ law in the free state where YOU live?!?” I replied, “Hell, I’d find the money somehow…” He was not amused. I don’t blame him. He was right and I was wrong. Arbitrary restrictions on productive members of society are nothing to joke about. I don’t care how many firearms responsible, law abiding citizens own....

The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation on Monday was a pretty happy camp, despite last Friday’s “first-round” loss in an Illinois court case that – if it advances all the way to the Supreme Court – could put an end to judicial semantics games over the right to keep and bear arms. That ruling is being appealed, and one might almost be compelled to thank the City of Chicago for paying its court-mandated legal reimbursement to SAF for the landmark Supreme Court case of McDonald v. City of Chicago. And the amount of that bill? How does $399,950 sound? “That is...

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino teamed up for a pro-gun control ad that aired during yesterday’s Super Bowl. At The Daily Beast, liberal UCLA law professor Adam Winkler argues that not only is the ad likely to backfire, it might just hurt President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign as well. He writes: Gun-control proponents can only pray that Obama doesn’t take Menino and Bloomberg’s bait. Making gun control a more important issue in the election would be a terrible mistake for the president—and for the cause of gun control.... For many pro-gun independents, Obama is not...

Legislation (HB940, SB323) that would overturn Virginia’s One Gun A Month law has already passed the Virginia House of Delegates and is slated to be voted on in the State Senate as early as today. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has said he will sign it into law should it pass. Despite the fact that Virginia is largely considered to be a pro-gun state, legislators have for years rationed the Second Amendment rights of its citizens with a law that limits handgun purchases to one a month — in effect, treating a constitutionally protected right as nothing more than a privilege....

Upper Marlboro, MD --(Ammoland.com)- The month of February 2012, I plan to provide a little black history knowledge here on the Urban shooter podcast. Actually it’s a series on American history sub-categorized as black history. Knowledge alone is not power. It is what we do with knowledge that gives us power. Gun control is based on Racism. American patriots know and fight against it, usually with those that should be our allies. The black person in America has always been a part of the gun rights argument. like it or not, it is, what it is. I have discovered that...

A depressed Army reservist who made a phone call for help says dozens of police responded by surrounding his home and arresting him, vandalizing and searching his place without a warrant, seizing his dog and killing his tropical fish. Matthew Corrigan, who lives alone with his dog, sued the District of Columbia in D.C. Federal Court. Confronted with a massive police presence after his plea for help, Corrigan says, he denied officers permission to enter his house, but they entered and trashed it anyway, saying, "I don't have time to play this constitutional bulls**t!" Corrigan says the debacle started on...

The Kentucky State Police are investigating a shooting incident that left a man dead at a residence near Green River Lake Saturday night. According to a press release from KSP Post 15 in Columbia, the post was contacted around 9 p.m. Saturday night by Adair County 911 Dispatch requesting assistance with the shooting death of 42-year-old Edward Stickel. The incident took place at the residence of 60-year-old Ralph Mercer at 160 Poplar Court, which is located off Corbin’s Bend Road near Green River Lake. According to the release, Stickel was at the Mercer residence discussing the purchase of a firearm...

This Monday, February 6, the Virginia Senate is expected to cast its final vote on Senate Bill 323, legislation which would repeal the archaic prohibition of purchasing more than one handgun per month. This vote is expected to be very close so it is important that you continue to contact your state Senator and urge him or her to vote for this legislation on Monday. Originally expected to be voted on Friday, this legislation was passed by for the day and will take place on Monday. To locate your state Senator and their contact information, please click here. Drafted by...

The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." That sentence above all else seems to cause more debate than any other in the Constitution. In 2008 The Supreme Court found, and I think correctly so, that the founding fathers meant this to mean that individuals had the right to possess firearms to protect themselves from an overzealous and dictatorial government. Gun control advocates seem to think it means only the Army or...

The only people authorized to carry weapons during the 90-day trial that began Wednesday are active and retired police and soldiers, bodyguards of diplomats, politicians, judges and prosecutors, armored car guards, gun club members and hunters. Anyone else caught with a gun will have it seized indefinitely, said the 51-year-old Petro, who took office last month. Such bans are rare in Latin America, though Brazilian civilians have not been permitted to carry arms since 2003, and Venezuela instituted a ban in November on carrying guns on buses and in passenger terminals. Bogota’s ban aims to reduce the murder rate, although...

The Senate Judiciary Committee is hearing a bill Monday that would require the police to return stolen firearms to their rightful owner once they are no longer needed for "evidentiary purposes." SB 350 would also require the police to auction off contraband firearms every six months rather than destroy them, and would prohibit agency employees from bidding on the firearms or profiting from their sale. Before auctioning any firearms, however, the police in custody of the weapon would be required to use their "best efforts" to locate the rightful owner. This bill appears to be a genuine effort to make...

Think again, please. I am heartened by a report written by Jason Clayworth for the De Moines Register.com [ ] Proposal that could kill gun control advances. Way to go Jason!! The article reports the movement of proposed legislation to repeal gun control in the state of Iowa. Naturally, the opposition surfaces, and it is this which I want you to examine. My point is to ask whether there is a right answer in the so-called debate of gun control. There are no two sides to it, and there is a right answer. Anti-gun people simply do not want to...

Today, Cato is releasing a new study, Tough Targets: When Criminals Face Armed Resistance from Citizens, by Clayton Cramer and David Burnett. The paper makes use of a news report-gathering project to explore in more detail how Americans use guns in self-defense. The paper makes many excellent points, but I’ll mention just three here. First, the average person tends to imagine that these self-defense situations involve criminals getting shot. Such cases do occur, but the overwhelming number of self-defense cases involve situations where the gun is never fired. The second point relates to the first. The average person usually does...

Once again, for those Second Amendment snivelers who responded to Inga Barks' Jan. 28 column, "Long-gun ban only threatens our free speech rights," in the Feb. 1 Letters section: "Infringe (verb): Act so as to limit or undermine (something); encroach on. 'Infringe on his privacy.'" So those bombasts who start sentences with "I don't want to infringe on anyone's rights, but ..." are doing exactly that. Some other indisputable facts that freedom haters love to dispute: * Cops can't protect you from crime, but packing iron might. It ain't a guarantee, but having a gun offers more opportunity to successfully...