Free Republic

Yeah, Politico decided to run this op-ed, which says that toxic masculinity and men should be blamed for mass shootings. Not only that but the writer places doubt about the mental illness angle of this debate: ...as we begin a new year, it’s time to have a more nuanced discussion about what might really be to blame for the trend of mass shootings in America—as well as the gun violence epidemic more broadly. No, it isn’t mental illness. It’s gender. If we want to stop the problem of mass shootings, we need to fix the problem of toxic masculinity.If you take...

We still don’t know what set off Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas. The 64-year-old checked into the Mandalay Bay hotel, went to the 32nd floor, took 23 firearms with him, and proceeded to fire upon the 22,000 concertgoers below at the Route 91 Harvest music festival. It was the last night of the festival. He killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500 more. He killed himself before police breached the door to his suite. As Democratic members of Congress prepare to push gun control again, they’re faced with the same obstacles of this increasingly stale debate over whether or not we...

There’s that scene in Star Wars Episode VI when the Rebel Alliance finds itself between the Death Star and the Imperial Fleet to which Admiral Ackbar shouts, “It’s a trap!” It’s a line used  heavily in pop culture—and that’s all I can say to the Republican Party as they consider joining Democrats to ban “bump stocks.”The device is used to increase the rate of fire of a semi-automatic weapon. It’s not the same as automatic—and no, it doesn’t convert a semiautomatic system into an automatic one. That falsehood surely made its rounds yesterday. At least some outlets were somewhat more...

By now, you all know the news, the National Rifle Association is asking for a federal review of bump stocks that use recoil to increase the rate of fire for a semiautomatic weapon. It doesn’t convert the firearm into an automatic weapon, however, which I’ve seen some politicians and pundits say over the airwaves. That’s false. Stephen Gutowski of the Washington Free Beacon had a good description of the bump stock accessory: You see, bump firing is a shooting technique which enables a shooter to repeatedly engage the trigger of a semi-automatic firearm, utilizing the assistance of the recoiling produced...

The sit-in that was launched by House Democrats to force a vote on gun control has finally come to an end. The House adjourned until after the Independence Day holiday, which meant that there would certainly be no votes on gun control. Prior to the protest’s conclusion on the House floor, the will of Democrats to stand fast began to falter (via Politico): House Democrats ended their sit-in protest on gun control Thursday, a full day after they seized control of the floor. The protest wrapped up with closing remarks by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who helped spearhead the effort, and...

After a nearly 15-hour filibuster, the Senate has agreed to vote on two Democratic amendments relating to expanding background checks and keeping those on terror watch lists from buying firearms. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) led the charge, stalling a spending bill for the Department of Justice yesterday afternoon to make the point that the Senate has to do something. This will not stop future mass shootings or terrorist attacks, as the Orlando killer had no criminal history making more background checks a useless exercise, and he wasn’t on any terror watch list. He was placed on one of them when the...

No, Rep. Alan Grayson—an AR-15 rifle cannot shoot 700 rounds per minute. And CNN’s Erin Burnett did nothing to press him on this outrageous claim during her on-camera interview with him Sunday. Now, the AR-15 wasn’t the rifle used in the Orlando attack, which left 49 people dead in the worst mass shooting in American history. It also was a likely terrorist attack, but let’s discuss these remarks by Grayson because it shows how the anti-gun Left has no clue what they’re talking about.Alan Grayson claims AR-15 can fire 700 rounds per minute, which is ridiculous “If I may just say...

Folks—the demonization of the AR-15 rifle has begun in the media. The usual talking points about its lethality, its rate of fire, and its scariness are coursing through the veins of the anti-gun Left following the Orlando attack. Omar Mateen committed the worst mass shooting in U.S. history on Sunday morning, which will likely be reclassified as a terrorist attack, when he murdered 49 people at a gay nightclub (Pulse). As Bob Owens and Streiff noted at Bearing Arms and RedState respectively, Mateen didn’t use an AR-15 rifle, but the media has a narrative to dole out (via CBS News):...

I wish I could say I'm shocked, but this is New York. It's an anti-gun state. Of course, some local legislators were going to try and regulate the sale of ammunition (via Brooklyn Daily Eagle): State lawmakers from Brooklyn announced on Monday new draft legislation aimed at tightly restricting the sale of ammunition in New York. The Senate and Assembly bills were drafted in an effort to keep potential terrorists from stocking up on ammo, according to sponsors state Sen. Roxanne Persaud and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. The twin bills are backed by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who worked with...

Well, if there's one thing that was left out of the president's final press conference of the year, it was gun control. There have been rumblings that some policy initiative coming from this administration on guns could be announced after the holidays (via Roll Call): So far, the White House is keeping its plans — and the details of its legal review — under wraps. But sources say the administration is zeroing in on the definition of just who is in the gun sales realm. "What we expect is that they are going to better define what it means to...

The San Bernardino shooting that occurred earlier this month was horrific. Two radical Muslim shooters, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, took the lives of 14 people and wounded more than 20 in what is increasingly looking like a terrorist attack. The media's reaction to the shooting was equally horrendous. On the day of the attack, the LA Times editorial board said our infatuation with guns borders on suicidal impulses. This is before we knew anything. Yet, the media's reaction to those offering prayers to the victims and their families bordered on perversion; for heaven's sake those who survived the attack gathered...

Well, it seems the media's horrific campaign of inaccuracy hasn't stopped. According to Reuters, for the first time in nearly a century, The New York Times editorial board took their plea for gun bans to the front page on Saturday, calling our nation's inaction on gun control a "moral outrage and a national disgrace." No, we shouldn't be surprised that they decided to follow the likes of the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times with their own inane call to arms for gun control. And we shouldn't be shocked that they want policies that employ confiscatory measures, while also banning...

Cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war…for gun control. This appears to be the mantra of the left in the wake of the horrific mass shooting in San Bernardino. The perpetrators were officially identified yesterday as Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, both in their late-20s, who opened fire at a Christmas party for the county's health department workers; Farook was a county employee of five years prior to his senseless rampage. They killed 14 and wounded up to 21 people in the worst mass shooting since Newtown in 2012. They were subsequently killed in a firefight with police and...

Our sister site Twitchy posted about this pro-gun control tidbit from CNN's Sally Kohn, where she wrote that guns kill or injure 10,000 kids a year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. In all, she was trying to say that given these figures, shouldn’t we regulate firearms in the same fashion as we do cars and children's toys? Recently, my CNN colleague Mel Robbins made a startling point. Robbins was on "Legal View" to discuss the case of an 11-year-old who shot and killed an 8-year-old neighbor when host Ashleigh Banfield noted that 10,000 children are killed or injured by guns every year. […]...

The nation's demagogues and constitutionally ignorant are using the Charleston, South Carolina, AME church shooting to attack the Second Amendment's "right of the people to keep and bear Arms." A couple of years ago, President Barack Obama said, "I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations." That's a vision shared by many Americans, namely that the Constitution's framers gave us the Second Amendment to protect our rights to go deer and duck hunting, do a bit of skeet shooting, and protect ourselves against criminals. That this vision is so widely...

It would be awful if the Democrats decide that the latest massacre by a non-Tea Partier means it’s time for yet another high-profile Congressional push for gun control. Awful awesome. You should never interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake, so those of us who don’t think the Bill of Rights is optional need to keep this on the down low. Gun control destroys Democrat politicians. While I’m against gun control ever being enacted, I’m always delighted to see the Democrats push it. Though they probably won’t get the red statey analogy, go ahead and throw us in...

2 minutes ago Senate overcomes filibuster, votes to open debate on gun bill Posted by CNN's Tom Cohen Washington (CNN) - The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to overcome a Republican-led filibuster against tougher gun laws, clearing the way for a major congressional debate on a package of proposals sought by President Barack Obama in the aftermath of the Connecticut school massacre. The procedural vote followed a breakthrough by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania,

The Senate cleared the way on Thursday for an emotional, weeks-long debate on proposals to curb gun violence, rejecting an effort by conservative Republicans to block consideration of gun-control legislation prompted by December's Connecticut elementary school massacre. The Senate voted 68-31 to open debate on President Barack Obama's proposals to expand background checks for gun buyers, tighten restrictions on gun trafficking and increase funding for school security. The legislation still faces many hurdles, including a weeks-long debate in the Senate featuring many amendments that could make the bill unacceptable to senators who now support it. No major gun legislation has...

The Obama administration's assault on the Second Amendment in reaction to Newtown is not a serious solution. It's a Band-Aid on cancer. The NRA's call for armed guards in every school also misses the point. When is anyone going to get serious? The problem is violence, a violence of monstrous and horrific proportions that has infected America's popular culture. The Hartford Courant reported on Sunday that during a search of Newtown grade-school killer Adam Lanza's home after the shootings, "police found thousands of dollars worth of graphically violent video games." Detectives are exploring whether Adam Lanza might have been emulating...

The Great Gun Debate shows American political discourse at its irrational worst; with both left and right promoting panic and hysteria that distracts attention from the nation’s truly menacing problems. Instead of addressing crushing deficits, economic stagnation, political gridlock, and the erosion of middle-class security, politicians and pundits obsess over gun violence—one of the few challenges where the United States has made dramatic progress in recent years. How can the president and his supporters work themselves into a self-righteous lather over minor regulatory adjustments that have been tried before with no measurable impact on the rate of firearms crime? And...