Free Republic

Whether Illinois' gun and magazine bans are constitutional is now up to a federal appeals court. The consolidated cases challenging state and local gun and magazine bans in Illinois were heard Thursday by a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Defendants asked the court to affirm the Northern District Court upholding the bans while reversing a Southern District Court injunction against the law. Using U.S. Supreme Court precedent from an opinion released last year, plaintiffs argue the gun ban violates the Second Amendment plain text and there’s no history or tradition of governments banning commonly owned...

Let’s face it: Many armed Americans are deathly — and irrationally — afraid of others. And so they have become a menace to the rest of us. According to a 2021 Gallup Poll, as many as 88 percent of gun owners are apparently terrified of being harmed, since they say the guns are for self-defense. Yet very, very few gun owners end up defending themselves and their families from the sort of random crime they fear. According to The Trace, fewer than 3 percent of gun owners ever use a weapon in self-defense, and apparently some of those involve misrepresentation...

Parkland gun control activist David Hogg believes the gun control lobby can succeed in restricting the Second Amendment if everyone will come together and target guns the way anti-tobacco activists targeted cigarettes. Hogg was interviewed by CBS News on February 12, where he talked of how gun rights groups such as the NRA have often appeared unbeatable. But he believes the gun control lobby can succeed by taking cues from the anti-tobacco movement. He said, “The tobacco industry is exactly the model that I think of in terms of the decades of work that it will take to address this...

Illinois’ new assault weapons ban is only days old, but it’s already on uncertain legal footing. Republican lawmakers and gun shop owners say so. But so do constitutional law scholars. Illinois Democrats who crafted the legislation — which took effect Tuesday and was enacted in response to the Highland Park Fourth of July parade mass shooting in which seven people were killed — say they’ve balanced safety concerns with Second Amendment arguments over individuals’ right to bear arms. But a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year could upend the new law and other gun restrictions elsewhere, legal scholars say. In...

The link is to a list of Illinois County Sheriffs who are refusing to enforce the new gun ban law signed by Pritzer recently. To date there are over 70 counties refusing to enforce this illegal act by Illinois.

Taliban executions remind Americans to never give up arms they need for the primary reason the Constitution guarantees their right to have them.In Afghanistan the world is again seeing that radical Islam is an ideology premised on murdering non-believers and using that example to intimidate everyone else. Historically, the same has been true of leftism, when its adherents have achieved totalitarian control in a country.Leftists don’t have totalitarian control in America yet, so over the last few years they have mostly given us a heads-up about their desires by rolling out mock guillotines during their protests and riots, posing for...

During his Wednesday night CNN town hall, President Joe Biden talked about a “push to eliminate” 9mm pistols that have an ammunition capacity beyond that of which the left approves. Biden said, “The idea you need a weapon that can have the ability to fire 20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots from that weapon, whether it’s a 9mm pistol or whether it’s a rifle, is ridiculous. I’m continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things.”

Judge Roger Benitez’s opinion provides a perfect primer for Americans seeking to understand the law and the gun fallacies leftists push.On Friday, a federal judge struck down California’s assault weapon ban in Miller v. Bonta. In the nearly 100-page opinion, District Court Judge Roger Benitez dissected post-Heller Second Amendment jurisdiction, while scrutinizing the state’s claimed justification for banning ownership of so-called “assault weapons,” before enjoining enforcement of several sections of California’s Assault Weapons Control Act (AWCA). Yet for 30 days Judge Benitez also stayed the execution of the declaratory judgment and permanent injunction to allow the named defendant, California Attorney...

“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.” It is no secret that the democrats want to strip Americans of their Second Amendment right. And though it hasn’t happened thus far, Joe Biden apparently isn’t ruling out using executive orders to crackdown on the right to bear arms. The topic was discussed during a White House press briefing on Tuesday, in response to a statement that Biden put out last week calling to ban semi-automatic firearms, along with other gun control...

Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-RI) and numerous Democrat colleagues in the House are pushing an “assault weapons” ban that would prohibit “high capacity” magazines and 205 different firearms. The Providence Journal reports that Cicilline’s bill, HR 5087, “would prohibit the sale, transfer, production, and importation of semi-automatic rifles and pistols that have a magazine or can accept a magazine that can hold more than 10 bullets, and any ammunition-feeding device that can hold more than 10 bullets.”

There is no real moral philosophy informing it. The philosophy underlying liberalism is at once totalitarian and relativistic. It proposes more government and less morality. It laughs at the mustiness of the Ten Commandments, then demands respect for a flurry of new laws. It scoffs at old codes of self-control, then presses for “gun control” and greater state controls on this or that freedom. From this ethos, regnant for decades in elite circles, has come an out-of-control society in which pols reflexively respond to unspeakable tragedy by advocating more and more laws for a people whose gradual loss of virtue...

High school shooting teams are increasing. They were common in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. Increasing government and media hostility to private gun ownership caused a huge decrease in the teams from 1968 through 2000. Now the numbers are growing. A Wisconsin representative is suggesting that Wisconsin develop a high school class on gun handling and gun safety.  A Wisconsin writer commented on the bill. From mediatrackers.org: State Representative Ken Skowronski (R-Franklin) introduced a bill Thursday that would have the Department of Public Instruction develop a firearm course for Wisconsin High school students. In an era of gun-free school...

Gun control advocates keep claiming that they don't want to ban guns — they only want reasonable regulations. But their actions keep saying otherwise. Gun control advocates expressed "concern" after Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz bought each of his offensive linemen a very expensive personalized Beretta shotgun for Christmas this year. If they believe in gun ownership, why should it bother them that law-abiding adults have shotguns? Right before Christmas, President Obama finalized new rules requiring 4.2 million Social Security recipients who have trouble managing their finances to undergo background checks before buying guns. But just because someone can't...

While speaking at a UN meeting in Switzerland, Mexico’s Foreign Minister said it was as easy to buy a gun in the U.S. as it is to purchase a “liter of milk or a box cereal.” Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu made the remarks to the Second Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty of the United Nations in Geneva on Monday. She advocated for greater controls by each government on the transfer of arms as well as increased accountability. In her speech, she held that Mexico is a peaceful nation committed to an effective, realistic and sensible...

House GOP to Promote Muslim Brotherhood, Gun Control Agenda this Week Daniel Horowitz | July 05, 2016 In case you thought congressional Republicans would be infused with a fresh sense of constitutionalism, patriotism, and moral clarity on the heels of this Independence Day weekend, think again. House Republicans will continue their dyslexic response to Orlando by validating the Left’s entire premise regarding homeland security and guns. Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (A, 97%) conducted a hearing which revealed that the Department of Homeland Security, at the behest of Muslim Brotherhood organizations, is deleting critical counter-terrorism research that would have...

Gun Shop-Owning Roseburg Grandma Gives Completely Unfiltered Answers When Asked About Gun Control — Including Her Nickname for Obama Oct. 6, 2015 9:19am Jason Howerton An 86-year-old gun shop owner in Roseburg, Oregon, recently gave an unfiltered interview to NBC News, criticizing President Barack Obama’s “strange” gun control ideas and revealing her unflattering nickname for the commander in chief.

College gunman shot a woman in her wheelchair after demanding that she climb back into it off the ground A survivor of the attack said Chris Harper-Mercer shot a woman in a wheelchair who was accompanied by a service dog The survivor, how did want to be identified, was shot in the hand The 26-year-old killer reportedly ordered his Christian classmates to crawl into the middle of the room to be shot dead By Kelly Mclaughlin and Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com and Martin Gould In Roseburg, Oregon For Dailymail.com Published: 18:48 EST, 4 October 2015 | Updated: 07:14 EST,...

October 3, 2015 Obama's wink and nod on gun confiscation By Thomas Lifson President Obama couldn’t be more eager to change the subject of national news discussion away from the catastrophic failure of his Middle East foreign policy. So the shooting in Roseburg, OR offered an opportunity to gin up his base and re-focus his domestic opponents on playing defense against gun control. By framing his goal as the extremely vague phrase “common sense gun control legislation,” he avoids specifics. And in fact, nobody on his team has yet come up with a concrete suggestion that would have saved the...

Veterans, Dependents Account for Disproportionate Share of ‘Mental Defective’ Category on Gun Ban List Apr 15, 2015 WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is requesting an explanation for why nearly all of the names on the Justice Department’s gun ban list in the “mental defective” category belong to veterans or their dependents. “It’s disturbing to think that the men and women who dedicated themselves to defending our freedom and values face undue threats to their fundamental Second Amendment rights from the very agency established to serve them. A veteran or dependent shouldn’t lose...

In the wake of the December 15 hostage situation in which an armed man held unarmed Australians at gunpoint for hours, former Sydney Deputy Mayor Nick Adams is calling for a gun ban to be lifted so Australians can defend themselves. Adams said he believes if there was ever a time Australians wanted to have a gun, it was December 15.