Free Republic

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

A MUST WATCH AND PASS ON. Part 1,2 and 3 at the link.

The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today. "As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.

REP. ENGEL URGES PRESIDENT OBAMA TO ENFORCE BUSH 41/CLINTON RESTRICTIONS ON IMPORTED ASSAULT WEAPONSChairman of the House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Leads Letter with 53 Members of Congress Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, wrote a letter signed by 53 Members of Congress urging President Obama to “return to enforcement of the law banning imports of assault weapons, which was previously enforced during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.” The letter was also led by Congressman Michael Castle (R-DE) and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). “The alarming prevalence of...

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Miami police issued a plea for information Saturday after at least one person with an assault rifle opened fire on a crowd of people on a streetcorner Friday night, killing two teens and wounding seven other people. Evidence markers dot the Miami street where nine people were gunned down with an AK-47 Friday night. Evidence markers dot the Miami street where nine people were gunned down with an AK-47 Friday night. .... ... "These are weapons of war, and they don't belong on the streets of Miami or any other street in America," Mayor Manuel Diaz...

GUNS resembling military weapons and designed to appeal to young men will be banned from being imported into Australia. The Federal Government will change import regulations to tighten controls on firearms that have a "military-style appearance". Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said handguns and paintball markers resembling guns with fully automatic firing capabilities were already subject to higher import controls. "Manufacturers have now begun developing firearms that look more like machine guns in an attempt to appeal to a younger market," he said. "These firearms could cause unnecessary fear and apprehension in the community, which is why the regulation has...

New York Giants star receiver Plaxico Burress is facing a mandatory 3½ years in prison and the end of his football career. His crime? Not having a license, which New York City never would have issued him, for the exercise of his constitutional right to bear arms. Plaxico Burress is led to his arraignment in Manhattan. To be sure, Mr. Burress got caught because of what appears to have been stupid and irresponsible behavior connected with the handgun. But he does not face prison for shooting himself. His impending mandatory sentence highlights the unfairness and unconstitutionality of New York City's...

Could this be things to come?? Maybe people should open their minds and their eyes to what has happened in other countries!

THE REPUBLIC faces gun ownership rates as high as the United States unless decisive action is taken to curb the "alarming" number of legally held handguns in circulation, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has said. The present gun ownership regime posed a public safety risk and would be unjustifiable if Ireland experienced a "Dunblane- type incident" or if stolen weapons were used to kill innocent people. Outlining a programme of "radical" legislative reform on the granting of handgun licences, Mr Ahern said there would be a ban on new licences being issued. Existing licensees would face "radically tightened" controls before...

40 Reasons for Gun Control 1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns. 2. Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control. 3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics." 4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates,...

Define R.I.N.O.: A Republican In Name Only. Examples of the type of Republican covered under this definition are: Rep. Mark Kirk [R-IL] Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R-FL] Rep. Michael Ferguson [R-NJ] Rep. Christopher Shays [R-CT] Rep. Michael Castle [R-DE] These five supposed Republican are nothing more than jackasses in elephant's clothing. Rep. Mark Kirk has introduced a bill, H.R. 6257: Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008, which would "reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act."

Define R.I.N.O.: A Republican In Name Only. Examples of the type of Republican covered under this definition are: Rep. Mark Kirk [R-IL]Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R-FL]Rep. Michael Ferguson [R-NJ]Rep. Christopher Shays [R-CT]Rep. Michael Castle [R-DE] These five supposed Republican are nothing more than jackasses in elephant's clothing. Rep. Mark Kirk has introduced a bill, H.R. 6257: Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008, which would "To reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act." The bill has been co-sponsored by the other four jackasses listed above. All of them claim to be Republicans. All of them need to leave...

(CNSNews.com) – President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is showing its hostility toward lawful firearm owners by “weeding out” job applicants who own firearms themselves, a Second Amendment group says. The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) notes that question 59 – part of a 63-item questionnaire given to Obama administration job applicants – asks for information about firearms owned by the applicant and his or her family. Found in the questionnaire’s “Miscellaneous” section, question 59 reads, “Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed?...

Circuit City is filing bankruptcy, the big three automakers are on the skids and the housing market is heading down the toilet. What's one business that's booming now? Read today's "Geeks On Caffeine" and see for yourself. Hmmm...might it be time for a career change? NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon within this thread. Thanks!

Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign slogan, "the audacity of hope," should have instead been "the audacity of deceit." After months of telling the American people that he supports the Second Amendment, and only hours after being declared the president-elect, the Obama transition team website announced an agenda taken straight from the anti-gun lobby--four initiatives designed to ban guns and drive law-abiding firearm manufacturers and dealers out of business: "Making the expired federal assault weapons ban permanent." Perhaps no other firearm issue has been more dishonestly portrayed by gun prohibitionists. Notwithstanding their predictions that the ban's expiration in 2004 would bring...

ALBANY, N.Y.—New York's 7-year-old database of handgun "fingerprints" has yet to lead to a criminal prosecution, and questions linger about its effectiveness. Still, state police remain committed to the database, saying more time and a long-awaited link to a federal ballistics database could bring success. Since March 2001, identifying information about more than 200,000 new pistols and revolvers sold in New York have been entered into the Combined Ballistic Identification System database maintained by state police. New York and Maryland are the only two states that maintain statewide databases. New guns are test fired, and the minute markings the guns...

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 31, 2008 Mr. Childers (for himself, Mr. Altmire, Mr. Cazayoux, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Ross, Mr. Tanner, Mr. Stupak, Ms. Herseth Sandlin, Mr. Ellsworth, Mr. Melancon, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Lincoln Davis of Tennessee, Mr. Boyd of Florida, Mr. Matheson, Mr. Cardoza, Mr. Carney, Mr. Kagen, Mr. Holden, Mr. Shuler, Mr. Lampson, Mr. Hill, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Space, Mr. Barrow, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Gordon of Tennessee, Mr. Peterson of Minnesota, Mr. Boren, Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Walz of Minnesota, Mrs. Boyda of Kansas, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Souder, Mr....

Please see the previous threads detailing Barack Obama's failed efforts in the 90th and 91st General Assemblies of the Illinois Legislature: Barack Obama's failed "accomplishments" in the 90th GA of the Illinois Legislature (1997-1998) Barack Obama learns to "get help" - and fails in the 91st GA of the Illinois Legislature (1999-2000) Barack Obama decided to spend his last two years in the Illinois Senate going after peoples guns. Its interesting how he was willing to do this, but thought it was okie dokie for his best bud Bill Ayers to have bombs and explosives. Anyways, here is a link...

A homeowner suddenly confronted by a knife-wielding intruder reaches desperately for a handgun with which to defend himself. But the firearm lies disassembled and unloaded in a drawer, useless. Before the homeowner can reassemble and load his pistol, and confront his attacker, the assailant strikes, and strikes again — with fatal results. The real cause of the homeowner’s death in this scenario? That he had the misfortune to reside in the District of Columbia. For besides banning most semiautomatic pistols (the type of firearm that most knowledgeable Americans prefer for personal self-defense), the District requires that all registered handguns possessed...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The man whose lawsuit overturned Washington's handgun ban has successfully registered his revolver, ending a more than 30-year wait to keep the weapon in his home. Dick Heller walked out of D.C. police headquarters Monday, clutching a yellow firearms registration certificate stamped "approved." He gave the thumbs-up sign, grinned and said, "Victory!" Heller was among the first people to seek a gun permit under new rules adopted after the Supreme Court struck down the city's 32-year-old handgun ban in June. Heller was the plaintiff in that case.

Chicago, IL. -- A 13-year-old boy is dead after being shot Saturday night in the South Side’s Little Village neighborhood. The boy was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition after a shooting near West 30th Street and South Avers Avenue, Fire Media Affairs Cmdr. Will Knight said. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office has been notified of a fatality, but the boy's identity and pronouncement information were not immediately available. Police responded a fight about 7:45 p.m. in the 3000 block of South Avers Avenue and found a boy was shot, police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor said,...

Chris Grissom and his wife were sitting up in bed at the Hotel Blake the evening of July 3 watching "The Late Show With David Letterman" as their two children, ages one and four, slept in the next bed. That's when they heard what Grissom said sounded like a firecracker in the next room. » Click to enlarge image Tennessee native Chris Grissom posted a video to YouTube that shows how a bullet hit the Hotel Blake and traveled through his family's hotel room and ended up in the room adjacent to theirs. (YouTube.com) RELATED STORIES Weis meets with aldermen...

A man shot and critically wounded by police early Sunday on the city's Southwest Side has died, according to the Independent Police Review Authority. A spokesman said the victim was an adult male and that a gun was recovered at the crime scene. At about 2:13 a.m., police responded to a call of shots fired in the 6100 block of South Kedzie Avenue, the Chicago Police News Affairs office said in a release. Police and the armed person exchanged gunfire. The suspect was struck and transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition, according to police.

1 shot to death, 1 injured in South Side drive-by Tribune staff report 7:54 AM CDT, July 5, 2008 A second man shot as he sat in a vehicle on Chicago's South Side late Thursday has died. Martin Hoard, 29, of the 6000 block of South Indiana Ave., died at Stroger Hospital following the shooting. He was parked in the 6700 block of South State Street when a car pulled up about 10:50 p.m. and fired shots into their vehicle, said Officer Amina Greer, a police spokeswoman. John Duncan, 22, of the 8000 block of South Paulina Street, was pronounced...

<p>The National Rifle Association today filed a lawsuit challenging San Francisco's ban on handguns in public housing, trying to capitalize on the U.S. Supreme Court's historic ruling finding a constitutional right to own guns for self-defense in the home.</p> <p>In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, lawyers for gun rights advocates are asking a federal judge to invalidate San Francisco's handgun law based on the Supreme Court's decision striking down a broader Washington, D.C. law forbidding residents to own handguns.</p>

Attorney Alan Gura, on behalf of a coalition of the Second Amendment Foundation and several Chicago Residents, filed suit this morning against the City of Chicago, challenging that city’s draconian gun ban laws. You can view a copy of the complaint here. This suit is the necessary and logical second step towards restoring the Second Amendment as a viable force in American law. As you read from our prior coverage, the Heller decision applies only to the Federal government. A necessary second step is “incorporation” of the Second Amendment against the 50 states. As originally written, none of the Bill...

I have not read much beyond that the SC struck this down but my first question is - can I now drive through DC with a hand-gun?

Banning handguns is all the rage. Mayor David Miller's push for a national ban has been joined by other Canadian big-city mayors. Yet, dissatisfied with progress at the national level, Miller successfully asked city council this week to approve measures to further discourage gun ownership in Toronto, such as shutting down city-owned gun ranges. While it may seem obvious to many people that banning handguns will save lives and cut crime, the experience in the United States suggests differently. Two major U. S. cities -- Washington, D.C., and Chicago --have tried banning handguns. (The U. S. Supreme Court is soon...

ISRA URGENT ALERT – YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION REQUIRED 03/15/08 Larry Suffredin and his cohorts on the Cook County Board are up to their old tricks again. In order to justify passage of gun control ordinances designed to close all gun shops and ban and confiscate most guns owned by citizens of the county, the Cook County Board is conducting a telephone poll where callers can vote for or against the gun control ordinances. Like everything else in Cook County, this poll is probably rigged. So, it’s very important that you do the following: 1. Call 1-312 -603-6400 and select Option...

Since 1976, the criminals of the city have carried handguns and killed with impunity, while the law-abiding have cowered in their midst. This is not what the D.C. Council imagined 32 years ago when it enacted what is regarded as the strictest gun-control measure in the nation. The law did not work out as envisioned, because criminals, serial killers and nut jobs who go postal do not follow the law. This elementary observation inevitably escapes the thought process of the well-meaning. Instead, the well-meaning point to the easy availability of handguns in Maryland and Virginia being the bane on the...

CA APPEALS COURT RULES UNANIMOUSLY IN FAVOR OF SAF LAWSUIT For Immediate Release: 1/9/2008 In a unanimous decision today, the California Court of Appeals ruled that the City of San Francisco’s handgun ban is illegal under state law, upholding a lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and several other groups. “This is a great day for gun owners and civil rights in California,” said SAF Founder Alan M. Gottlieb. “This is the second time we successfully fought a gun ban in San Francisco, and what this demonstrates is that the city’s leadership is as horribly out of touch with...

Fairfax, VA – The California State Court of Appeals announced today their decision to overturn one of the most restrictive gun bans in the country, following a legal battle by attorneys for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a previous court order against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. “Today’s decision by the California State Court of Appeals is a big win for the law-abiding citizens and NRA Members of San Francisco,” declared Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist. In 2005, NRA sought an injunction against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to prevent them from enacting one of the...