Free Republic

On Feb. 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida there was a shooting that would, for whatever reason, transfix this country and pressure how we as a nation understand our natural right to self-defense. I am of course referring to the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. It’s not my intention here to pour over the details of this case — I’m sure we have all heard those, time and time again. I personally have no desire to hear them again. Rather, I want to look at what we can learn, as a community of gun owners and concealed carry holders,...

I just got an E-Mail that .22 LR and other types of ammo are available. Sales are going fast and the Sportsmans Guide site keeps going down.

Whether it was finding the solid ground in writing the Declaration of Independence that would justify and drive a revolution or defining the core rights that would guide the crafting for our Constitution, our Founding Fathers held firmly to core principles that would help them navigate through unchartered waters. Every improvement is the result of change, but not every change is an improvement. Our Founding Fathers had to find a compass to give them a true north as they sorted through the choices and changes our emerging country faced. After more than two centuries, it is understandable that our citizens...

In the Tampa Tribune  there is a long, interesting article about a young man walking across the U.S.A.  It was a very positive experience for him.   About halfway through, he casually mentions that he had to use a previously concealed weapon to stop an attack: In Albuquerque, N.M., he was approached by a half-dozen members of a street gang, who began yelling at him to get off their sidewalk. They got belligerent, refusing to let him pass. “They just exploded in anger,” he said. He was reluctant to say what exactly happened next. “I have a concealed weapons permit,” was...

Prohibitions on the carrying of knives in general, or of particular knives, are unconstitutional. There is no knife which is more dangerous than a modern handgun; to the contrary, knives are much less dangerous. Therefore, restrictions on the carrying of handguns set the upper limit for restrictions on knife carrying. Read the rest here http://westernshootingjournal.com/editors-blog/are-knives-considered-arms-protected-by-the-second-amendment/

As California Congressman Henry Waxman promised, he has introduced a Bill to ban the sale of “Parts kits” for “Assault Rifles, Assault Shotguns, and Assault Pistols." This also includes a ban on Receiver blanks. The Bill defines an “assault weapons parts kit as: “ any part or combination of parts not designed and intended for repair or replacement but designed and intended to enable a consumer who possesses all such necessary parts to assemble a semiautomatic assault weapon…” Which raised the question of vagueness in the law as to which components of an “Assault Weapons Parts Kits” could be sold...

Following in the well-worn footsteps of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Blueprint for Federal Action on Illegal Guns, this week the Council on Foreign Relations released a memo urging the Obama administration to disregard the will of the American people and Congress and unilaterally enact a series of gun controls. Entitled, A Strategy to Reduce Gun Trafficking and Violence in the Americas, and written by CFR Senior Fellow for Latin American Studies, Julia F. Sweig, the memo pins the ills of Central and South America on U.S. gun owners and urges the president to curb our rights to...

Professor Richard Dawkins, known as the world’s most famous atheist, has risen to rock star status for his attacks on God and religion, in particular, his attacks on the God of the Bible. But when he recently criticized Muslims, he was in for a surprise. Before looking at Dawkins’ rather mild criticism of Muslims, let’s remember the depth of his vitriol against Christians and the Bible, most of which has only enhanced Dawkins’ reputation. In an April interview aired on the Qatar-based TV network Al Jazeera, Dawkins railed on the Catholic Church, saying that, as “Horrible as sexual abuse no...

Florida Sit-In Against ‘Stand Your Ground’ By LIZETTE ALVAREZ TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The college and high school students arranged themselves in the colonial-style chairs and on the green carpet, a portrait of the state’s Old Capitol building above them, as they exchanged stories about their lives and the travails of the “black and brown youth” in Florida. One young woman whose parents were both drug addicts spoke about how she had defied the odds; she will graduate from college next year. A young man mentioned that he was one of the few in his family who had not ended up...

A spate of gun-control bills could put California in the lead when it comes to restricting firearms. According to the San Jose Mercury News, the gun-control bills, which include proposals to ban a wide range of semi-automatic rifles and strict new regulations on ammunition, could reignite the national debate that erupted after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school last year.

A prosecutor has dropped criminal cases against three more defendants charged in an undercover ATF sting in Milwaukee last year — the latest setback for the beleaguered operation. Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Karen Loebel said in court she was dismissing the cases to protect informants who arranged gun and drug deals for federal agents. She blamed the publicity surrounding the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sting, saying it made it too dangerous to proceed with the cases. The ATF is usually keen on getting publicity for its operations, but not the kind the Milwaukee sting has...

The rise of ‘smart gun’ technology, which utilizes an RFID interface to allow for both the government and the manufacturer to remotely render the gun useless at any time, is the upcoming new tactic used by anti-Constitution control freaks in the effort to take away legal firearms from the hands of law-abiding citizens.(VIDEO-AT-LINK) And these smart guns are coming much sooner than you think. TriggerSmart, the manufacturer of the Orwellian weapons that already exist in various European regions thanks to branding that smart guns are the ‘safer’ alternative to real weapons, hopes to start selling smart guns within the United...

Subbing for mylife...

 Open carriers in Arizona protesting politicization of the IRS On August 2nd, 2008, five years ago, Christopher Fetters was illegally arrested for exercising his Constitutional rights during the Coast Guard festival in New Haven, Michigan.  Parts of the original article are still available on  The High Road.  Fetters was legally carrying his holstered Glock when he was disarmed, arrested, and had his pistol confiscated. When the city attorney read the law, he realized that the City had made a mistake.  The charges were dropped and the pistol returned.    Mr. Fetters filed a Federal lawsuit against New Haven for civil...

Here is what happened at  a local bookstore in Tennessee, according to booksbikesboomsticksblog:    (now you see the anti-defense sign) Now you see it gone! Quite a bit more detail at the blog site.  It looks to be a pretty good one. This is what I have noticed all over the country.  Stores put up signs, realize that they are losing business and money, and take them down. The most resistant seem to be non-profits and government agencies. Dean Weingarten Link to Gun Watch

PHOENIX (AP) - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is providing each of his patrol deputies with a semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle, and has ordered them to carry a weapon at all times, even when they're off duty. Arpaio says "we live in a violent society," and he wants his officers to have "enough firepower to fight back."

Would Nazi Germany’s systematic enslavement and extermination policies have gone unchallenged by victim populations if the Third Reich had not imposed and expanded on the “gun control” edicts of the Weimar Republic? The question has been explored for decades now, by innovative civil rights groups presenting groundbreaking research, like Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, as well as by a handful of Second Amendment scholars. Unfortunately, for those interested in a more complete understanding, it has gone unasked and unmentioned in most “mainstream” history books. “A skeptic could surmise that a better-armed populace might have made no difference,” the...

A majority of Americans say they think gun crime has increased over the past 20 years, even though it has actually fallen dramatically, a recent Pew Research Center survey shows. The infographic below provides a closer look at some recent numbers.

The Gulfport, Florida Police released a video a couple of weeks ago from a school bus surveillance camera that shows three, weed-dealing black teenaged thugs beating the shitake out of one, thirteen-year-old white kid. It was an unholy smack down of demonic proportions. If you haven’t seen it you can watch the gruesome video here. Satan must be so proud. The kid got his clocked cleaned because he told his school officials that the three, black teens tried to sell him a dime bag of weed. After they pummeled him, breaking his arm and blackening his eyes, they stole his...

Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin is facing a firestorm of criticism after sending letters to hundreds of organizations trying to find out the depth of their relationship with the American Legislative Exchange Council. The senator’s interest in ALEC is based on the stand your ground legislation that has become a focal point for liberal activists and lawmakers after the George Zimmerman trial in Florida. But his hometown newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, editorialized that the inquiries looked like “Durbin’s enemies list.” In the August 6 letter sent to think tanks and corporations, Durbin wrote, “I am seeking clarification whether organizations that...

The extent of the transformation of our mass media into a mere propaganda apparatus can be gauged by the black hole treatment given to a story that pushes all of the buttons needed for wall-to-wall treatment, save one: the villain is a member of victim group acting on behalf of left wing causes. The shooting at the Family Research Council last year has been consigned to obscurity by the MSM. One favorite meta-narratives of the propaganda media is that crazy right-wingers all over the country are hording guns in order to use them on innocent victims. This framework can be...

McALLEN — Organizers expect more than 100 gun owners to gather Saturday at the McAllen police station to protest the arrest of a gun rights activist who sought to photograph himself outside the Police Department with a rifle slung across his back. Zach William Horton, 37, had been traveling for work throughout the Rio Grande Valley, stopping at various police departments along the way and taking photographs outside them with his rifle. In McAllen, the effort landed him in jail. It’s a legal practice in Texas, which is an open carry state for rifles but not for handguns, said Robert...

INDIANAPOLIS - A bizarre scene played out Tuesday night at the State Fair when police found a man trying to carry five guns into the fairgrounds. State Police found the man with five guns on the midway, but say, despite the number of weapons, there was no immediate threat. Troopers say the man had a gun permit and was allowed to take his guns with him after police unloaded the ammunition near the fair's Midway. It is not the first time people with gun permits have entered the fairgrounds with a weapon, police say. For safety reasons, State Police asks...

Derrick Washington of Cleveland, Ohio, is suing police for the return of his legally owned firearm. Washington alleges that the police seized the weapon from him illegally in a case for which he was never charged and have refused to return it since February. Washington has filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in order to get the gun returned along with tens of thousands of dollars in damages. According to the lawsuit, Washington called the police in order to report a shooting. He later told police that he has a permit to carry a weapon. The police...

Sen. Mark Pryor gets an assist from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to save him from Bloomberg’s money, then cuts the ribbon at an ammunition factory. Gun control advocates are fine with the factory thing, but not Gillibrand’s money. Welcome to Arkansas 2014. WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Pryor broke ground at an expanded Remington ammunition factory in his home state of Arkansas Thursday — a gun-friendly move by a gun-friendly Democrat. That’s not normally something that would make much news: Even ardent Democrats in Arkansas are firmly supportive of gun rights. But with pro-gun control Democrats coming to his aid, Pryor’s 2014...

A majority of American parents with grade-school children say they would feel safer if their child attended a school with an armed guard, according to a new Rasmussen poll. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they’d feel safer if their child attended such a school, against only 24 percent who say they’d feel safer if their child went to a school where no adult was allowed to own a gun. Fifteen percent weren’t sure. The poll comes a week after Arkansas’s attorney general, Democrat Dustin McDaniel, said school districts in his state can’t employ teachers and staff as armed guards...

Are people safer if criminals know who is carrying concealed handguns? Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel seems to think so. With school starting soon, he claims that if the Clarksville, Arkansas School District lets employees carry concealed handguns at school, their names must be made public. This is his second attempt to derail the school district’s proposal. McDaniel’s demand to publicize the names will greatly limit the protection these employees can offer. School shooters have a strategic advantage in that they determine when and where to attack. The alternative of hiring uniformed armed guards is not only costly, with one...

Two important documents have been filed with the Supreme Court of Mississippi in recent days in response to an injunction preventing House Bill 2, a law clarifying the definition of “concealed” and characterized by some as an “open carry” bill, from going into effect. A halt, egged on by the Southern Poverty Law Center, was placed on the new law’s implementation by an activist Hinds County Circuit Court Judge at the behest of an anti-gun prosecutor and legislators. Hinds County District Attorney Robert Schuler Smith’s Response in Opposition to the State of Mississippi’s Combined Petition to Vacate a Permanent Injunction...

The Florida Sheriffs Association is no longer neutral on the state's controversial "stand your ground" law. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, the new president of the association, announced Friday that members agreed earlier this week without opposition to support the law "as currently written." "Our current judicial system is comprised of multiple checks and balances to ensure fair and equitable application of all laws, including ‘stand your ground,'" Judd said in a prepared statement. When the National Rifle Association-backed law was approved in 2005, the association remained neutral on the issue. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who...

Starbucks is closing early in Newtown today as a gun rights groups holds a "Starbucks Appreciation Day." "Today, advocacy groups from different sides of the open carry debate announced plans to visit our Newtown, Connecticut store to bring attention to their points of view," Chris Carr, executive vice president for U.S. Retail at Starbucks posted on the company's Web site. "We recognize that there is significant and genuine passion surrounding this topic, however out of respect for Newtown and everything the community has been through we decided to close our store early before the event started."

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a close ally of labor union and trial lawyer interests on Capitol Hill, is sending out hundreds of letters to groups linked to ALEC, the free-market group of state legislators that has occasionally involved itself in other issue areas like criminal and self-defense law, promising to shame those supporters at a public hearing for the notional link to the Trayvon Martin affair

In a move that should make gun owners across the nation happy, Remington just broke ground on their newest ammo plant in Lonoke, Arkansas. This comes at a time where ammunition is scarce and prices are high. The facility is expected to employ 50 to 100 people when it’s up and running, and should have the space and tooling to manufacture something to the tune of 2 to 3 billion rounds of ammo a year. If construction goes according to schedule, the facility will be up and running in June of 2014. It will have 35,000 square-feet of floor space...

Today is Gun Appreciation Day at Starbucks! No it doesn't mean we're getting a Free coffee if we brandish our guns. Starbucks is only announcing this because in the past they did not support the rights of those to bear arms. Read more here westernshootingjournal.com/editors-blog/today-is-gun-appreciation-day-at-starbucks/

About a month after the U.S. Senate voted down a series of gun control amendments back in April, an article in the New Republic magazine boldly declared, “This is How the NRA Ends: A Bigger, Richer, Meaner Gun Control Movement has Arrived.” The article was a long diatribe regurgitating much of the stale tripe and distortion we’ve been hearing from the anti-rights movement for decades and singing the praises of the movement’s new messiah, Mike Bloomberg, the three-term mayor of New York City. Alec MacGillis, the author of the article and a senior editor at the magazine, is, like so...

Now we wait Attorney Lisa Mishune Ross who represents DA Robert Shuler Smith and the handful of Hinds County Constables who have been “confused” by House Bill 2, filed a rambling and mostly irrelevant brief with the MS Supreme Court supporting Judge Winston Kidd’s injunction against House Bill 2. After reading her brief I am concerned that we are left completely uninformed of Ms Ross’ stand on dueling. Ms Ross proposes to address three issues in her brief: A. Whether the phrase “called not be called into question” [ I believe she means "shall not be called into question"] means...

For Immediate Release FSA President, Sheriff Grady Judd, today announced, “The right to self-defense is well-established in law.  The Florida Sheriffs confirmed this position by voting unanimously, at the 2013 Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Conference, to support the Stand Your Ground law as it is currently written.  Our current judicial system is comprised of multiple checks and balances to ensure fair and equitable application of all laws, including Stand Your Ground.”  Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity, and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a...

Starbucks seems an unlikely dueling ground in the national debate over guns, but the ubiquitous coffee chain Friday will once again find itself squarely in the cross hairs in the battle between gun control and gun rights advocates. More than 2,000 gun rights activists plan to visit their local Starbucks with their sidearms for a national “Starbucks Appreciation Day.”

Does the sight of a gun in a holster make you nervous?

A general consensus question, "Why do you carry a gun?" Here are some sentiments from "Gun Owners": -We just want to be safe -Vigilance, not Paranoia -We Don’t Want to Shoot Anyone -It’s a Dangerous World Non-Gun Owners views: -Gun People Think They’re Rambo! -You Have to be Paranoid to Carry a Gun -It’ll be the Wild West All Over Again! They’re Going to Shoot us All! What do you all think? Read the article why carry gun here

Newspapers are a tough business to be in. But life is tougher when you’re stupid, as one of John Wayne’s characters famously said, and certainly some of the layoffs that befell the employees of the Gannett newspaper chain this week are that kind of tougher. The chain is institutionally anti-gun, and its editorial employees have been hostile to legal gun owners on a visceral level. Some properties particularly stand out, like the Lower Hudson News, famous for “outing” the gun owners in its publication area, and for then hunkering down behind armed guards and demanding the arrest of plebes who...

From Firearms Records Bureau v. Simkin (Mass. Aug. 8, 2013): Simkin is a New Hampshire resident and a federally licensed firearms dealer who is engaged in the “buying and selling [of] firearms in the region, from private parties, at gun shows, and at auctions.” Since 2002, he has held a temporary nonresident Class A unrestricted license to carry firearms in Massachusetts. In February, 2009, Simkin applied to the bureau for a renewal of his license, stating as his purpose for requesting the renewal that he traveled in and through Massachusetts for business purposes, carrying firearms, ammunition, and cash, and...

Gun rights advocates across the country plan to openly carry firearms at Starbucks coffee shops on Friday in appreciation of the company's policy that allows gun owners to do so in states that it is legal. Some gun owners in Connecticut said Thursday they plan on open carrying their firearms at a Newtown store on Friday. On the Facebook group, "Starbucks appreciation day," the event's organizers say, "Starbucks is allowing us to lawfully carry firearms in their store. Recently, they have been the target of unjust attacks from certain groups that do not support our right to bear arms. We...

But he refused to sign 5 others so everything is ok, right?Um...no: Two of the bills Christie signed were opposed by gun-rights activists: One bars gun purchases by people on the federal terrorism watch-list; the other makes it mandatory for the state to submit information on people who are banned from gun ownership to a national database. Christie has not tipped his hand as to whether he will sign or veto the other five bills, which include an outright ban on the sale of the highest caliber rifle Christie's handling of the gun bills was just another day of walking...

Venezuelans never had a right to keep and bear arms, not even before Chavez. Of course, the death of Chavez has not stopped draconian push for even more gun control, and contrary to The Christian Science Monitor, gun ownership was never unregulated.Still, I assume the rest of their article is truthful, so here are the highlights.“The CPD and Mixed Commission differed mainly over the issue of restricting the sale and carrying of legal arms. According to Fernández, “The illegal market is nourished by legal arms.” In contrast, the military faction argued that the two issues were distinct and that,...

TRENTON – One of the bills Gov. Chris Christie signed into law today deals with keeping guns out of the hands of those on the Terrorist Watch List. In signing A3687, Christie talked in an accompanying statement about the need to balance national security needs with a desire to ensure law-abiding citizens are not improperly implicated with wrongdoing. He said that “To the extent that this bill will keep guns out of the hands of known terrorists, or those who have taken active steps to support terrorist activities, my signature on this bill represents my commitment to keeping the citizens...

This sow and four cubs are part of an exploding bear population Quoted below are comments from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area chat group (BWCA).  It shows an interesting cultural divide in this country.   The first poster is willing to be oblivious to some dangers, the second offers to increase the first poster's skill level, but that would never happen without a change in attitude. The old saw about a conservative as a liberal who has been mugged comes to mind. This is of some interest  to me because I have inside knowledge that I do not have permission...

Sheriff Lee Baca announced the destruction Tuesday of 5,495 weapons confiscated from criminals in Los Angeles County and collected through the “Gifts for Guns” exchange program. Annually, Gerdau Steel Mill, located in Rancho Cucamonga, generously donates its furnace, equipment and personnel to convert these weapons into steel rebar. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works also donates the trucks every year that transport the weapons to the Mill. These weapons will be melted into steel reinforcing bar (rebar) and ultimately transformed into elements of construction for upgrades in freeways and bridges in Arizona, California and Nevada. “Our partnership with...

New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed 10 pieces of gun legislation into law Thursday. Christie, widely seen as a probable GOP candidate for president in 2016, signed off on the slate of bills, most of which were non-controversial, while leaving five more contentious bills still awaiting his signature or veto. One of the new laws will disqualify any person on the federal terrorist watch list from obtaining firearms identification cards or permits to purchase handguns. “To the extent that this bill will keep guns out of the hands of known terrorists, or those who have taken active steps to...

Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner has uncovered a fascinating document: an 80-page "talking points" monograph titled "Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective Messaging," written by a trio of Democratic political operatives. The document, as Bedard writes, instructs politicians and advocates "to hype high-profile gun incidents like the Florida slaying of Trayvon Martin to win support for new gun control laws." Essentially it's a how-to book on inciting a moral panic. "The most powerful time to communicate is when concern and emotions are running at their peak," it advises. Antigun advocates are urged to seize opportunistically on horrific crimes: "The debate...

New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed 10 pieces of gun legislation into law Thursday. Christie, widely seen as a probable GOP candidate for president in 2016, signed off on the slate of bills, most of which were non-controversial, while leaving five more contentious bills still awaiting his signature or veto. One of the new laws will disqualify any person on the federal terrorist watch list from obtaining firearms identification cards or permits to purchase handguns. “To the extent that this bill will keep guns out of the hands of known terrorists, or those who have taken active steps to...