Free Republic

The Secret Service announced this week that the agency has finished its investigation into the mysterious baggie of cocaine that was found in the White House earlier this month with finding the culprit. The agency said that the case was closed due to a lack of forensic evidence coupled with the fact that the class A drug was found an area in which around 500 people passed through at the time it was believed to have been discarded. It was determined by the agency that because the cocaine amounted to around 0.007 ounces, meaning it would only be a misdemeanor...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” host and NBC News Chief Washington Correspondent and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell argued that “there’s nothing in the Constitution at all about assault weapons.” And that law enforcement in the school shooting in Uvalde, TX couldn’t stop a shooter who was armed “with what appears to be something like an assault weapon.” After playing a clip of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) saying that armed law enforcement on school grounds is the most effective tool to keep students safe and that “inevitably, when there’s a murder of this kind, you see...

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson introduced legislation this week that would create a national gun registry. Known as the “Crime Gun Tracing Modernization Act,” the bill would require ATF to set up a “searchable, computerized database” of all records pertaining to the sale, importation, production or shipment of firearms. The agency would be given three years to get the system up and running. “The fact that there is a law on the books that forces agents to comb through millions of files by hand is absolutely ridiculous,” said Nelson, a Florida Democrat.

On December 10, the Daily Camera published an interview wherein the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America said her group is not anti-gun but they do oppose law-abiding citizens being able to carry guns for self-defense nationally. Shannon Watts was expressing her group’s opposition to the national reciprocity for concealed carry legislation that Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) plans to introduce once Donald Trump is inaugurated. That legislation will make the concealed carry license of any state valid in every state, thereby opening the door for a permit holder to have his or her gun with them...

During the September 26 presidential debate Hillary Clinton said America has a “gun epidemic” and called for background checks to fix it. She also called for adding the terror watch list to background checks in hopes of keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists.

“We started to find out that people actually can get guns without a background check,” said Daniel, who lives in Illinois, where all gun purchasers must pass a background check. “As naive as I was back then, I thought because I go through a background check, everybody did. So we start to find out about all these loopholes that we have in our laws.” Since his sister’s death, Daniel has pushed lawmakers to expand criminal background checks beyond licensed dealers to private sellers, such as those who advertise on Armslist. That is where Radcliffe found the seller of the gun...

Sources inside the Senate tell me that the Republican Conference is scared to death of the tactics of Senators Lee, Cruz and Paul – that it is supposedly putting them in a tough spot. Several of the Republicans are using the Manchin-Toomey compromise plan as an excuse to cave on the gun filibuster. They claim that Senators Lee, Cruz, and Paul are running ahead of the conference in their insistence on a filibuster. What they fail to see is that the cloture vote is the vote to stop the gun legislation from passage. Several Republican Senators intend to vote against...

Lonely Conservative has the story behind this graphic here.

This is one of the most frightening things I've learned in a long time. Over in the US, a bill has passed the House of Representatives and is heading to Congress – with a huge amount of support. The PRO-IP bill, H.R.4279, significantly increases the state's power to detect and prosecute IP infringement, carrying with it a whole host of new law enforcement positions and capabilities. It establishes an IP Czar, someone with the job of overseeing zealous action on behalf of copyright and trademark owners, and includes such powers as the ability to seize equipment if it contains just...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Security "pat-downs" of fans at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games are unconstitutional and unreasonable, a federal judge ruled Friday, throwing into question the practice at NFL games nationwide. U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore issued an order siding with a Bucs season-ticket holder who had sued to stop the fan searches that began last season after the NFL implemented enhanced security measures. High school civics teacher Gordon Johnson sued the Tampa Sports Authority, which operates the stadium, to stop officials from conducting the "suspicionless" searches. A state judge agreed with Johnston that the searches are likely unconstitutional and...