Free Republic

Across the river in Illinois, it's that time of year again--time for the push for extremist 'gun control' laws. Right on schedule, three were introduced yesterday. First, we have HB 1294. This bill would ban so-called "assault weapons," .50 caliber rifles and ammunition, and magazines capable of holding 11 or more rounds of ammunition. The ban extends to possessing, buying/selling, and manufacturing--so long to the tax revenue and good jobs provided by companies like Rock River Arms, Armalite, D.S Arms, and probably others. What's more, the law would be confiscatory: Provides that these provisions do not apply to a person...

Its called the open carry law, and its now the law in California - when it comes to handguns. Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law that bans 'unloaded handguns in public.' It went on the books on earlier this month. (January 1st.) With the new law, California residents can no longer carry an unloaded handgun in public. Now, Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino wants to expand that ban to rifles. Portantino says he wants another law because some California residents are now showing up in public with unloaded shotguns and rifles. So, he wants another law...

The Casper City Council has pulled the trigger on a proposed ordinance prohibiting carrying firearms in local government meetings, setting up a showdown with gun rights advocates. “The proposal we have, is that weapons, open carry weapons, be banned from government meetings,” said Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh to the council at its work session last week, adding later, “This just mirrors what was already set in place in state statute for concealed weapons.” The issue arose after last year’s legislature removed the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed weapon, though still prohibiting concealed guns at governmental meetings...

Virginia gun-rights group plans protests at two local universities Do you think guns should be banned from college campuses? Yes No It depends where the campus is located

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Georgia: Macon City Council Wants to Ban Your Guns   Monday, September 12, 2011   A blatant act of disregard for Georgia’s Constitution and its statewide firearms preemption law is underway, driven by Macon City Councilman Virgil Watkins.The Macon City Council Public Safety Committee is scheduled to meet this Thursday, September 15, at 4:00 p.m. to discuss a city-wide gun ban, based on language from a Cook County, Illinois proposed gun ban.  The proposed ordinance would ban the future sale and ownership of all semi-automatic firearms outlined in the ordinance and...

Officers accused of inaction as looting mobs go wild Cameron leads calls for more robust policing Top Yard commander: 'We need to do more for London' All able-bodied officers and special constables called in Plastic bullets would be used for first time 'if deemed necessary' Shopkeepers joined an increasing chorus of voices today demanding to know what the police were doing as swathes of London descended into chaos last night. Business owners accused police of adopting a softly-softly approach which left their shops and businesses vulnerable to attack by baying mobs. While police were criticised in some quarters for being...

Arizona gun-rights activists can rest easy. The possibility that Jared Lee Loughner’s insane rampage might lead to a successful assault on the Grand Canyon State’s libertarian gun laws is no where near the realm of possibility. As a matter of fact, the knee-jerk attempts to take advantage of the tragedy, to chip away at the solidly entrenched Arizona gun laws, came and went so quickly that most people hardly noticed. The smoke from Loughner’s Glock pistol had barely dissipated when the anti-Second Amendment crowd began seizing the moment to attack Arizona’s gun laws, at the same time lamenting the fact...

Cultists now in charge Gene Lyons Some years ago, I reported on a self-defense/gun-safety class mainly for women at Rice University. There had been several forcible rapes on the Houston, Texas, campus. Students had armed themselves. The instructor was an Army ROTC officer. A Vietnam combat veteran, he found the prospect of undergraduates packing heat unsettling, but reasoned that if they were arming themselves anyway, some training was better than none. Unlike many entrepreneurs teaching concealed-carry classes from sea to shining sea, he urged students to leave their guns at home. He stressed that he couldn’t turn them into infantry...

Reported by: Kelly Dudzik The Bryant police chief wants to ban people from firing BB and pellet guns, and using bows and arrows, in city limits. The chief tells FOX16 he got this idea when someone complained about a man shooting a Canadian goose with an arrow. Hurting a Canadian goose is already against federal law, but Chief Tony Coffman says he needs city council to pass a law in Bryant so no people get hurt. "It could go through a window, strike a kid or an adult, or put an eye out," says Coffman. Coffman says his proposed ban...

Medical journals are not always the objective, purely scientific publications we might think that they are. Their editors have increasingly strayed into politics at the expense of scientific accuracy. For example, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has over the last few months published a number of extremely biased and poorly done studies on gun control. One of the articles, written by Garen Wintemute, Anthony Braga, and David Kennedy, makes the case for extending background checks to the private transfers of guns, arguing that “perhaps the principal reason for the well-documented failure of the Brady Act to lower rates...

Yesterday's wild shooting spree at the University of Texas fortunately ended without anyone being hurt before the gunman shot himself. Naturally, the incident has yet again raised the question over gun bans, such as the ban currently in effect at the University of Texas. Do they actually do more harm than good? Gun bans as the solution to gun violence has popped up again, covering different areas. It would have been nice if such bans had stopped criminals from using guns. But, alas, the results are invariably the same, whether the ban is put in place for college campuses, cities,...

The following is the opening paragraph in favor of rules that would outlaw lead in bullets & sinkers. This is directly from the EPA web site. "As provided in the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”), Petitioners American Bird Conservancy, Association of Avian Veterinarians, Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and Project Gutpile request that the EPA adopt regulations prohibiting the manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of lead shot, lead bullets, lead fishing sinkers, and other lead-containing fishing gear, pursuant to TSCA (15 U.S.C. § 2605(a)(2)(A)(i)). Such regulations are needed to protect vulnerable wildlife species from the...

According to The Korea Times, the Obama administration has blocked efforts by the South Korean government to sell over a hundred thousand surplus M1 Garand and Carbine rifles into the United States market. These self-loading were rifles introduced in 1926 and 1941. As rifles, they are especially well-suited to community defense in an emergency, as in the cases of community defense following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Along with AR-15 type rifles, the M1 rifles are the quintessential firearms of responsible citizenship, precisely the type of firearms which civic responsibility organizations such as the Appleseed Project...

If Obama Imposes the U.N. Gun Ban On America, Which Would Dissolve Our Bill Of Rights And Orders Gun Confiscation What Will You Do?The new United Nations Treaty is being designed to disarm citizens of each nation that signs. The treaty will give all governments a free hand to do as they please. It is making headway in Washington D.C. and it is feared that President Obama may very well try to use the treaty to consolidate his power in America. The treaty specifics are now being negotiated and Obama has given the OK For the U.S. to be a...

While perusing a website whose name shall not be mentioned, I came across this article. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. Chicago, IL --(Ammoland.com)- The City of Chicago released its roster of “unsafe handguns” that cannot be legally possessed in the City because they cannot be registered with the police as one part of obtaining a license to possess a gun, as required under the City’s new gun laws. But the list is not limited to hand guns as the law is so vague it can be interpreted as to apply to all guns made by a...

As always, gun control proponents say they merely want "reasonable" gun control laws. Yet, when listing the actual laws they favor, they go well beyond what most people would possibly consider "reasonable." Just look at the gun bans in Chicago and Washington, D.C. that local politicians and gun control organizations such as the Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center have fought to protect. Last Friday, just days after the Supreme Court struck down Chicago's handgun ban, Chicago enacted strict new gun control laws. These new restrictions surely do not seem "reasonable" but rather intended to make life as difficult...

Second Amendment: In the "living Constitution" era, the Supreme Court rediscovers original intent and rightly rules that the right to bear arms applies to all Americans just as the rest of the Bill of Rights does. It's hard to conceive how the justices could have decided otherwise. But by the narrowest of margins — 5-4 — they have reaffirmed that keeping and bearing arms is an inalienable and individual right like speech and religion, and that it applies to all individuals as the Founding Fathers intended. Why anyone thinks the Second Amendment does not apply to all Americans is a...

CHICAGO (CHICAGOPRESSRELEASE.COM) — Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL) released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the City of Chicago’s handgun ban. Earlier this year, Quigley spearheaded the effort of 55 Members of Congress in filing a “friend of the court” amicus brief, urging the Court to allow Chicago’s handgun ban to stand. Quigley also supports the right of state and local governments to maintain sensible restrictions on gun possession and use. “I am disappointed and disheartened by the Supreme Court’s decision today. When illegal guns flood our streets, precious lives are lost and communities are...

Second Amendment: Chicago is deciding whether to prosecute a great-grandfather and Korean War veteran under its handgun ban. He refused to be a victim, and now there's one less armed thug roaming the streets. What's the problem? If the 80-year-old vet living on the city's West Side didn't have the gun the city said he shouldn't have, he and his 83-year-old wife and 12-year-old great-grandson might have joined those victims of gun violence about whom gun-control advocates constantly chirp. The vet obtained the gun in violation of the city's handgun ban after a prior incident in which the couple was...

The Chicago gun debate finally shows signs of changing. With the Supreme Court’s decision on the city’s gun ban imminent, people might be beginning to understand that gun bans don’t stop criminals from getting guns. At a press conference two weeks ago, Mick Dumke, a reporter from the liberal Chicago Reader, asked Mayor Richard Daley what should have been an obvious question: “Since guns are readily available in Chicago even with a ban in place, do you really think it’s been effective?” Daley’s response wasn’t very helpful. Picking up a very old rifle with a bayonet that had been turned...

Gun Rights: Not happy with interfering in our internal affairs by savaging Arizona's new immigration law, the president of Mexico wants to shred our Second Amendment too. And the mayor of Chicago wants to help. There stood Mexican President Felipe Calderon before Congress, blaming America for the violence on his side of the border and, among other things, the guns that fuel the Mexican drug war that has claimed more than 23,000 Mexican lives since he took office in 2006. Rather than taking responsibility himself, he shoved the blame on America. It would all stop, he implied, if America would...

On Thursday, Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico, where prohibitive gun laws prevent good people from having firearms for protection against criminals and governments of dubious legitimacy (historically the norm in Mexico), encouraged Congress to reinstate the federal "assault weapon" ban. With a warning seemingly designed to appeal to those who believe that speaking out against the Obama Administration's policies are one step short of sedition or worse, Calderon said, "[I]f you do not regulate the sale of these weapons in the right way, nothing guarantees that criminals here in the United States with access to the same power of...

In a speech to a joint session of Congress, Calderon described efforts to fight organized crime in Mexico, where 23,000 people have been killed in drug violence since he came to power in late 2006 and launched an army offensive. Washington is also aiding Mexico's battle against drug gangs with a 2007 pledge of $1.4 billion for equipment and police training to help fight the cartels that ship some $40 billion worth of illegal drugs north each year. "There is one issue where Mexico needs your cooperation. And that is stopping the flow of assault weapons and other deadly arms...

Within the next five weeks the United States Supreme Court will rule on a challenge to Chicago's 28-year-old ban on handguns. It's believed the court will rule that the law is unconstitutional. ABC 7's Paul Meincke talked with Mayor Richard Daley about what the city might do next. Conventional wisdom is that the handgun ban will not pass constitutional muster. Mindful of that, the city has been -- for some time now -- formulating plans on what it does next. The mayor says there are plans in place still being refined. But a strong hint of what Chicago will do...

Starbucks Coffee shops recently told liberalnazis and socialist moon bats throughout America to blow it out their noses when confronted over not banning firearms in its stores. Gun control activists have quietly been going door to door in major city businesses demanding that they make their stores gun free. Those that do not comply face threats of boycotts and harassment buy the gun grabbing haters. This is an easy task in liberal cities or concerning companies run by leftists such as those in California. California Pizza Kitchen and Peet's Coffee and Tea are two companies that have changed their rules...

The Supremes are considering another 2nd amendment case which might have far reaching consequences (in a good way) on this particular battle front. George Will has a good column this week which takes a look at the history of the fight and what the implications of McDonald v Chicago might be. It probably will result in a routine ruling that extends a 2008 decision and renders dubious many state and local gun-control laws. What could — but, judging from the justices’ remarks during oral argument, probably will not — make the ruling momentous would be the court deciding that the...

I am dismayed that the City of Chicago's ban on handguns may be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The second amendment to the Bill of Rights reads as follows: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. The amendment talks about a well-regulated militia and thus, it would seem that the right to bear arms is directly related to a militia. In other words, those serving in a militia - or in the present - a branch of the Armed...

Otis McDonald, 76, stands before the Supreme Court, which Tuesday heard arguments in his suit to overturn Chicago's handgun ban Gun Rights: Otis McDonald, 76, an Army vet who lives in a high-crime area of Chicago, thinks the Constitution gives him the right to bear arms to protect himself and his wife as he protected his country. We think so too. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments on behalf of four Chicago residents led by homeowner McDonald, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association to overturn Chicago's three-decade-old ban on owning handguns. In a 5-4...

In the 2008 “Heller” decision, the Supreme Court struck down Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban and gunlock requirements. Unsurprisingly, gun control advocates predicted disaster. They were wrong. What actually happened in our nation’s capital after the Heller decision ought to be remembered tomorrow as the Supreme Court hears a similar constitutional challenge to the Chicago handgun ban. When the Heller case was decided, Washington’s Mayor Adrian Fenty warned: "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence." Knowing that Chicago's gun laws would soon face a similar legal challenge, Mayor Richard Daley was particularly vocal. The...

The Colorado State University Board of Governors voted unanimously Tuesday to place students at both of its campuses in harm’s way with a sweeping weapons ban law-abiding citizens will obey and criminals will ignore. Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden, outraged by the ban, told The Gazette’s opinion department he will undermine it in the interest of student safety. CSU-Fort Collins Police Chief Wendy Rich-Goldsmith, a relative newcomer to the campus, supports the ban. “I have told the CSU police chief I will not support this in any way,” Sheriff Alderden told The Gazette. “If anyone with one of my permits...

Senator wants to ban semi-automatic weapons      By HEATHER BOSCH KIRO Radio  Expect to hear a lot about gun control when the legislature reconvenes in January. Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles is among those who want to ban the sale of military-style, semi-automatic weapons. "These are guns that I don't see have any function in our society." Kohl-Welles said she was prompted to act after the murder of Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton. "He was believed to be killed by a semi-automatic assault weapon. Of course, we also had the killing of several other police officers not by assault weapons....

If I were the parent or spouse of one of those killed in the terrorist attack at Fort Hood last week, I would begin raising utter hell in the public arena the minute my loved one was buried and my tears dried up. Not only did outrageous political correctness convince otherwise rational people in authority to put our soldiers in unnecessary danger, but since 1993, there has been a gun-ban in place on our army bases.

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. --...

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.

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...

(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.

When the Supreme Court struck down Washington, D.C.’s city-wide gun ban as unconstitutional in the D.C. v. Heller decision of June 2008, it seemed axiomatic that similar gun bans around the country would crumble under the weight of unconstitutionality as well. However, more than a year after the Heller decision, the D.C. city council is making it as difficult as possible to get a gun permit in the nation’s capital, Chicago’s Mayor Daley is fighting to keep his city’s total handgun ban in place, and other mayors, like Seattle’s Greg Nickels, threaten to institute gun bans every time a newsworthy...

My Calguns friend and shooting buddy 7X57 wrote a great piece I though it is worth sharing with the readers of my blog. Enjoy! Sarah Palin Saturday Double-Header As some have probably noticed, watching the media wear themselves out barking and snapping at the end of their chain at Sarah Palin has become a rather good spectator sport. Sometimes I play sportscaster here, for the amusement of those who enjoy the sport. Palin has become something of a morality play about the downfall of the Left, and that's good clean fun. So it is today. We had a double-header last...

On June 11, 23 state attorney generals signed and sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder advising him that they are opposed to renewal of the 1994 Clinton administration’s ban on semiautomatic firearms, erroneously dubbed “assault weapons” by proponents of the ban The 23 state Attorneys General who signed the letter are: Arkansas – Dustin McDaniel Alabama - Troy King Colorado - John W. Suthers Florida - Bill McCollum Georgia - Thurbert E. Baker Idaho - Lawrence G. Wasden Kansas - Steve Six Kentucky - Jack Conway Louisiana - James D. Caldwell Michigan - Mike Cox Missouri - Chris...

I am posting this week-old message from GOA because I called Alexander's office yesterday. I called to review the interminable list of frightening bills being considered by the Senate, and added that I was VERY disappointed with Alexander's votes on the "porkulus" bill AND the confirmation of Harold Koh. The staffer immediately offered EXACTLY the PREVARICATION described below. Unfortunately, I fell for it then - UNTIL I recalled this message, and was able to find it. Now I will call back Monday to let them know that trust is hard won, and easily lost. ************************************** Eight Republicans Help Confirm a...

Remember CANDIDATE Barack Obama? The guy who “wasn’t going to take away our guns”? Well, guess what? Less than 100 days into his administration, he’s never met a gun he didn’t hate. A week ago, Obama went to Mexico, whined about the United States, and bemoaned (before the whole world) the fact that he didn’t have the political power to take away our semi-automatics. Nevertheless, that didn’t keep him from pushing additional restrictions on American gun owners. It’s called the Inter-American Convention Against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials. To be sure, this...

"The handgun used to shoot a Milwaukee police officer was purchased in a gas station parking lot by the suspect's live-in girlfriend, according to a criminal complaint." [snip] "Crespo-Marchena is the girlfriend of Louis M. Domenech, 45, a nine-time felon on federal probation. He is charged with trying to kill Officer Vidal Colón in a close-range shootout April 11. Crespo-Marchena told detectives she bought the Hi-Point 9mm handgun out of a man's trunk a month ago and she let Domenech take it, even though she knew he is a felon, according to the complaint."

Barack Hussein's new Homeland Security Director says that Americans should be afraid that our returning combat veterans will be recruited by right-wing groups and use the 2nd Amendment rights they fought to protect to attack against the country. I never thought I would hear such a profound level of mistrust and hostility directed at our greatest and noblest citizens. But that's how this administration rolls. Of course, Obama already has always thought dimly about those Americans (in the below case Pennsylvanians) who refused to support him: "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, announced last week that she wants to register guns. Her next move will be to try to confiscate them. The speaker picked a television show with a viewership of 4.6 million to float the Democrats' coming gun-control push. Questioned on ABC's "Good Morning America" about the prospect of new gun-control laws now that "it's a Democratic president, a Democratic House," she responded, "We don't want to take their guns away. We want them registered." Politicians and bureaucrats routinely claim that registration helps solve crimes. If a registered gun is used in a crime and...

If John Travolta, an avid user of his private jet and a reported Republican, were to be stopped by law from purchasing an armed fighter plane, would the film actor suddenly be surrounded by the same people who sanctimoniously claim that the Constitution protects the private citizen's right to buy and own an assault rifle? That seems an absurd question, but we often find ourselves in absurd circumstances when we get to the gun issue. A hard fact leers before us: on the subject of guns, constitutional meaning and misinterpretation have been mixed together for so long that far too...

Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dropped a verbal bombshell in the middle of an interview on Good Morning America April 7, and surprisingly, neither the press nor a majority of gun rights activists seemed to notice. Responding to a question from ABC’s Robin Roberts, Pelosi said that while Congress apparently does not want to take anyone’s guns away, “We want them registered.” Roberts: Under the Bush administration, you pretty much said the ball was in their court when it came to reinstating the ban. Now, it's a Democratic President, a Democratic House. So, is the ball in your court where...

So true...but the gun hating liberals will just ignore logical arguments like this until they're blue in the face. Read on

Times Union: "Gillibrand backs gun control bill" -------- Another Pro-Gun Democrat Politician Standing on Principles But...but...but...there are Democrats who are pro-Second Amendment and they will stand against their Party and will not allow Obama to pass a new Assault Weapon Ban. So don't you worry T.P., anti-gun Democrats will not have enough votes from their own Party to even try to pull another AWB. Yeah right. And my name is Mother Theresa. Read on