Free Republic

<p>WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Knife Owners' Protection Act, H.R.3478, has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Matt Salmon (AZ-05). H.R.3478 would protect the right of knife owners to travel throughout the U.S. without fear of prosecution under the myriad patchwork of state and local knife laws.</p>

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN FOUND NOT GUILTY George Zimmerman found not guilty Here are my own feelings regarding this highly publicized trial, which I followed the trial closely...each day. The jury clearly looked at the evidence, which was overwhelming for the defense and Zimmerman. Zimmerman's nose was broken and his face was bruised and bloodied after the confrontation. He had cuts and bruises on the back of his head. He had grass stains on the back of his shirt and pants. Treyvon had no injuries from the fight, except the gunshot wound. There were scrapes on his knuckles. And he had grass...

Guns: Illinois has become the last state in the union to allow citizens their full Second Amendment rights, and officials in the murder capital of America worry about the consequences of citizens defending themselves. Illinois' legislature on Tuesday voted to let gun owners carry concealed weapons. The action followed a violent and bloody Fourth of July weekend in President Obama's hometown during which 74 people were shot and 12 were killed. Permission for concealed carry in Illinois was prompted by a ruling late last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. It found that...

Second Amendment: A House resolution, as futile as it may be, represents growing opposition to another administration bow to the U.N. encroachment on U.S. sovereignty at the expense of its laws and even our Constitution. Treaties are ratified by a two-thirds majority of the Senate, and the final version of the U.N.'s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) may likely be signed by this president and ratified by this Senate, especially if presented as a "sensible restriction" on international arms trafficking with no impact on our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. But some House members are not going to...

Second Amendment: The United Nations is putting the finishing touches on an Arms Trade Treaty that transcends borders and may even trample our Constitutional right to bear arms. Every indication is that the president will sign it. Like the New Start and Law of the Sea treaties before it, as well as the Kyoto Protocol and Agenda 21, the Arms Trade Treaty being finalized at the U.N. this month is one of those feel-good, can't-we-all-get-along pieces of parchment whose net effect is to accomplish little except to eat away at American sovereignty and freedom. Just as the world's worst human...

Self-Protection: Pennsylvania's governor vetoes a bill expanding a citizen's right to protect self and family outside one's residence rather than exercise a "duty to retreat." It is a victory for predators over victims. On Saturday, while people were still sleeping off their turkey feast or celebrating their Black Friday goodies, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell vetoed a bill that would have expanded the state's so-called Castle Doctrine to expand the permissible use of deadly force in self-defense outside of the currently allowed home and workplace. The Castle Doctrine gets its name from the saying that a man's home is his "castle."...

Second Amendment: In the "living Constitution" era, the Supreme Court rediscovers original intent and rightly rules that the right to bear arms applies to all Americans just as the rest of the Bill of Rights does. It's hard to conceive how the justices could have decided otherwise. But by the narrowest of margins — 5-4 — they have reaffirmed that keeping and bearing arms is an inalienable and individual right like speech and religion, and that it applies to all individuals as the Founding Fathers intended. Why anyone thinks the Second Amendment does not apply to all Americans is a...

Second Amendment: Chicago is deciding whether to prosecute a great-grandfather and Korean War veteran under its handgun ban. He refused to be a victim, and now there's one less armed thug roaming the streets. What's the problem? If the 80-year-old vet living on the city's West Side didn't have the gun the city said he shouldn't have, he and his 83-year-old wife and 12-year-old great-grandson might have joined those victims of gun violence about whom gun-control advocates constantly chirp. The vet obtained the gun in violation of the city's handgun ban after a prior incident in which the couple was...

Gun Rights: Not happy with interfering in our internal affairs by savaging Arizona's new immigration law, the president of Mexico wants to shred our Second Amendment too. And the mayor of Chicago wants to help. There stood Mexican President Felipe Calderon before Congress, blaming America for the violence on his side of the border and, among other things, the guns that fuel the Mexican drug war that has claimed more than 23,000 Mexican lives since he took office in 2006. Rather than taking responsibility himself, he shoved the blame on America. It would all stop, he implied, if America would...

Homeland Security: Forget about foreign jihadists getting nukes or planting bombs in their underwear. The real enemies, some say, are domestic militia groups who play at war and those nasty Tea Party racists. The raid on a Michigan militia group accused of plotting war against the government will no doubt feed into the arguments of those who claim in the wake of health reform that the vast right-wing conspiracy is not only angry, but armed and dangerous. According to an Associated Press report, "Authorities said the arrests underscored the dangers of homegrown right-wing extremism of the sort seen in the...

Otis McDonald, 76, stands before the Supreme Court, which Tuesday heard arguments in his suit to overturn Chicago's handgun ban Gun Rights: Otis McDonald, 76, an Army vet who lives in a high-crime area of Chicago, thinks the Constitution gives him the right to bear arms to protect himself and his wife as he protected his country. We think so too. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments on behalf of four Chicago residents led by homeowner McDonald, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association to overturn Chicago's three-decade-old ban on owning handguns. In a 5-4...

In 2009 Montana and Tennessee passed state laws for the 2nd amendment nullifying Federal efforts. Now, Wyoming is on the verge of passing one with some teeth, and 21 other states are considering it. Come on Idaho and Texas and all you others. Time to step up to the plate and restore the Constitution! http://www.nationalexpositor.com/News/2215.htmlWyoming State Representative Allen Jaggi has introduced a “Firearms Freedom Act” (FFA) for the state – it’s filed as House Bill 95 (HB95). While the FFA’s title focuses on gun regulations, it has far more to do with the federal violations of the commerce clause. If...

Gun Rights: A decade after Congress forbade the CDC from studying the health consequences of gun ownership, the National Institutes of Health has started funding such research. Will reform pry the guns from our cold, sick hands? More than a decade ago Congress, seeing it as a backdoor assault on the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, voted to cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control. Such research was viewed as one-sided and based on flawed assumptions that all gun use was bad, even that which saved lives and deterred crime. --...

Gun Rights: A decade after Congress forbade the CDC from studying the health consequences of gun ownership, the National Institutes of Health has started funding such research. Will reform pry the guns from our cold, sick hands? More than a decade ago Congress, seeing it as a backdoor assault on the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, voted to cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control. Such research was viewed as one-sided and based on flawed assumptions that all gun use was bad, even that which saved lives and deterred crime. The...

Gun Control: The Supreme Court agrees to decide if the Second Amendment applies to all of us, or just Washington, D.C. Why would the Founders put in the Bill of Rights something applying only to a federal enclave? In a 5-4 decision last year written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court overturned a draconian District of Columbia gun ban enacted 32 years ago that barred private ownership of handguns at all. Scalia wrote that an individual's right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. The court ruled that...

(Corrected) Gun Control: In a case headed for the Supreme Court, a three-judge panel rules Chicago's gun ban constitutional since the 2nd Amendment doesn't apply to states and cities. High court nominee Sonia Sotomayor concurs.Those Pennsylvania townsfolk bitterly clinging to their guns may have been premature in celebrating the decision in D.C. v. Heller that the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does indeed guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms.

On April 19, 1775, the town of Concord, Massachusetts was the scene of an interesting confrontation. After the militia of Concord and the surrounding towns had driven the British back from the North Bridge, some of the militiamen began to disperse. The wife of Nathan Barrett, captain of one of Concord's militia companies, spotted one of her husband's men skedaddling home. She went out of her house to confront him, and when he explained that he was feeling ill, she responded that he must not take his gun with him. When he replied simply, "Yes, I shall," she exclaimed, "No,...

Contact: Jeff Garvas of Ohioans For Concealed Carry, 216-496-3928 or jeff@ofcc.net CLEVELAND, Jan. 30 -- "Ken Blackwell, a Life Member of the NRA, has been a strong, consistent supporter of the rights of gun owners," said Jeff Garvas, president of Ohioans For Concealed Carry (OFCC). "As Governor, we believe he will be instrumental in furthering concealed carry reform in Ohio." OFCC Vice-President and OFCC-PAC Chairman Bryan Torok added, "It is past time to end Governor Taft's roadblocks to freedom that have for too long thwarted the will of the Ohio Legislature and the grassroots supporters who worked on this issue."...

Stephen DeFerrari, a Dedham native whose sister-in-law lives in Hanover, and his wife, Pam, escaped from their New Orleans home yesterday, brandishing a shotgun, in a canoe with their seven cats. Stephen spoke to the Herald last night after they arrived at a Baton Rouge hotel.

Man shot in self defense in court Posted 08/19/05 BAKERSFIELD - A man who was shot in the thigh Wednesday by a homeowner made his first court appearance Friday in a wheelchair. Jonathan Heade pleaded not guilty to charges of cruelty to animals, assault with a deadly weapons other than a firearm, and possession of PCP. Investigators said a Bakersfield couple found Heade standing in their yard, beating their dogs with a belt. The wife confronted the man and told him to leave, but the man refused and then attacked her husband. That’s when police said the woman fired two...