Free Republic

An Illinois man is facing two felony firearms charges after accidentally shooting himself in his sleep while dreaming about a home invasion. Mark Dicara, 62, mistakenly believed a burglar was breaking into his home after he dozed off on the night of April 10. While dreaming he was fending off a criminal, he grabbed his .357 Magnum revolver and fired a shot into the darkness, only to wake himself up after inadvertently shooting himself in the leg. Dicara was rushed to hospital when police found him losing a 'significant amount of blood', and investigators would later discover he used the...

Oregon voters handed gun reformers a major victory when they backed a ballot measure creating one of the country’s most stringent systems for buying and selling firearms in 2022. New gun purchases would require approval from local law enforcement — a rule common in Europe but almost unheard of in the United States. Measure 114 banned both semi-automatic “assault” rifles and magazines capable of holding more than five rounds. It was a fleeting triumph. The next month, a state judge barred the law from going into effect. Parallel legal challenges are also working their way through the federal courts. A...

Following Monday's 22,000-plus strong rally in Richmond, Virginia – which Gov. Northam claimed was "some kind of über-Klan rally of white supremacists," but the only arrest was for an LGBT activist who refused to remove her mask – the state's Democratic lawmakers proceeded to push through a gun-control bill one day later. I don't think Virginia politicians realize what a hornet's nest they're stirring.

In our political debates over gun policies, those who favor increased regulations and restrictions on firearms often claim that they're only asking for widely-supported, modest changes in the law. We're not coming for your guns, they promise; we're only looking to make a few 'common sense' alterations to the status quo. They cite polling that favors their position, and they ridicule as paranoid those Second Amendment supporters who warn about a so-called slippery slope. But emboldened leftist Democrats have been vindicating many conservatives' worst fears in recent days, with two answers at last Thursday's presidential debate standing out on this...

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) responded on Thursday after the chief executives of more than 100 companies wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate urging Congress to pass various anti-gun measures. “Now look, here’s my starting point: I want to see facts. I believe love is the answer, but I also own a handgun just in case, and that’s my right as an American citizen,” Kennedy told Fox Business host Stuart Varney. “The Bill of Rights is not an a la carte menu — the Second [Amendment] is just as important as the First or the Fourth.” “Some of my colleagues...

Let's take a moment to celebrate a religious liberty victory. It doesn't happen often so let's cherish it. In the most unexpected news of the day, the state of Wisconsin cannot legally force Christian photographer Amy Lynn to photograph same-sex weddings, a court has said. Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs said, “The court’s announcement has important implications for everyone in Wisconsin who values artistic freedom. It means that government officials must allow creative professionals without storefronts anywhere in the city and state the freedom to make their own decisions about which ideas they will use their artistic expression...

On March 26, the Tampa Bay Times responded to the numerous pro-Second Amendment bills making their way through the Florida legislature by suggesting that “gun rights are not absolute.” In other words, “shall not be infringed” does not mean “shall not be infringed.” According to the Times, the numerous gun rights bills–especially campus carry–show that Republican legislators are controlled by the NRA and do not understand that if certain limits are not placed on Second Amendment rights, public safety is sacrificed.

So I tune into to the Zimmerman trial and watching the closing arguments I can't help but think this whole thing is contrived. The prosecutor, in his closing, is presenting possibilities of theories, multiple, and asking the jury to choose from some weird buffet of the circumstances. When you want to make your case you are specific in your accusation and theory of what exactly happened. This is the weirdest closing I have ever seen. When you close, in prosecuting, you claim very specifically what happened not some bland, rambling, theory. He is presenting a variety of scenarios by inference....

So I stop werking for a minute to peruse the news and see all this baloney about SnowJob. Forget this shinny object but, direct your attention to what has been revealed in this whole affair and confirmed by your government. Thought: Can the government obtain a warrant, using "Reasonable Cause", to name a subject and an object or objects and a place where they believe the evidence they are looking for may likely be and then search not only your apartment but, the whole apartment complex, rifling through innocent peoples private communications and then, and then! Finally, after collecting all...

Call it the vacuum-cleaner approach. It's employed when police have obtained a court order and an Internet service provider can't "isolate the particular person or IP address" because of technical constraints, says Paul Ohm, a former trial attorney at the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. (An Internet Protocol address is a series of digits that can identify an individual computer.) That kind of full-pipe surveillance can record all Internet traffic, including Web browsing--or, optionally, only certain subsets such as all e-mail messages flowing through the network. Interception typically takes place inside an Internet provider's network at...

Call it the vacuum-cleaner approach. It's employed when police have obtained a court order and an Internet service provider can't "isolate the particular person or IP address" because of technical constraints, says Paul Ohm, a former trial attorney at the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. (An Internet Protocol address is a series of digits that can identify an individual computer.) That kind of full-pipe surveillance can record all Internet traffic, including Web browsing--or, optionally, only certain subsets such as all e-mail messages flowing through the network. Interception typically takes place inside an Internet provider's network at...

New data from law enforcement agencies across the country has confirmed what EFF has long been afraid of: while police are routinely using cell phone location tracking information, only a handful of agencies are bothering to obtain search warrants. Since 2005, we've been beating the drum loudly, warning that the government's attempts to track a person's physical location through their cell phone requires a search warrant. As we've said again and again, because cell phone tracking can give the government a snapshot of a person's life through their movements, a search warrant is necessary to safeguard against privacy intrusions.

EXPLODING THE PHONE The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell PHIL LAPSLEY Grove Press New York [pp. 92-97] If there were no billing records for fraudulent calls, there was no way to know how many fraudulent calls there were or how long they lasted. And that meant AT&T was gazing into the abyss. Say the phone company catches some college students with electronic boxes. Fantastic! But elation is soon replaced by worry. Is that all of them? Or is that just the tip of the iceberg? Are there another ten college students doing it? A...

So I'm watching the news today and start seeing our illustrious Bureaucrats Out Right Lying about what they collect and what they don't.   They tell us today they don't collect locations of cell phone trawled for in pursuit of a target named in a warrant.   I want you to understand when they issue a warrant, many times, with "Reasonable Cause" They are violating the Constitution by: 1.  Using "Reasonable Cause" as the basis for a warrant.  The Constitution requires no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.   2.  supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the...

The government scanning and archiving your personal telephone number and any calls associated with it are privately owned.   READ THIS  CAREFULLY!   The Post Office is a government owned entity.   Your phone number and any phone you use are privately owned.   As are the service providers.   As is the equipment of anyone you call.   Private Property, Ingringement of your 4th amendment and 1st, which will lead to jeopardy of your 5th and 2nd amendment.

A decorated war veteran on a Boy Scout hike with his 15-year-old son was arrested alongside a Texas country road after a police officer accused him of “rudely displaying” a firearm. Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham told Fox News he was illegally disarmed by members of the Temple Police Dept. – even though he held the proper permits to carry his weapons. <snip> “In this day and age people are alarmed when they see someone with what you have,” one of the officers told a handcuffed Grisham. “They don’t care what the law is.” <snip> By all indications, Grisham was...

In a surprising turnaround, New York State Police have admitted that they made a mistake when they confiscated the guns and suspended the permit of an Erie County resident on the grounds of mental health. Late Wednesday, Erie County, NY, released a statement (posted below) blaming the New York State Police for giving them bad information regarding the suspension of a pistol permit and demand to surrender firearms sent to Amherst resident David Lewis. (Mr. Lewis was not identified in our original story, his name has since been released in conjunction with court documents filed by his attorney, Jim Tresmond.)...

Hearst Newspapers Seattle, Milwaukee and other large U.S. cities are warning the Supreme Court that gun-control laws around the nation would be jeopardized if the justices decide to eliminate the local District of Columbia ban on handguns. In a legal brief filed with the high court, the cities, joined by the nonpartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors, argue that they suffer "disproportionately" from firearm violence and should be able to enact reasonable restrictions on the weapons."Major American cities ... bear the brunt of the problem," said the legal brief, signed by Seattle City Attorney Thomas Carr and lawyers for the...

One useful fact all Americans should keep in mind is that they have no "right" to be protected by the police. American police are reactive, not proactive. They don't usually "prevent" crime. They catch lawbreakers after they have committed a crime. This was by design of the Founding Fathers. Because, as we see today with the anti-terrorism laws, in order to "prevent" crime, police would need all sorts of obnoxious powers that would trample all over our rights of life, liberty and property. Instead, Americans were intended to have the means of self defense. Put another way, the Constitution does...