Free Republic

Leftist elites are up in arms about Americans up in arms. At two recent Obama town hall meetings, men exercising their Second Amendment rights were spotted carrying firearms. While we do not condone threatening the president or anyone else for that matter, these citizens are well within their rights. It is legal to carry a firearm while demonstrating to protect your liberties. In New Hampshire, William Kostric showed up near a town hall meeting carrying a pistol, and a placard proclaiming, "It is time to water the tree of liberty!" in reference to the famous Thomas Jefferson quotation, "The tree...

In Portsmouth, New Hampshire recently, a man carried a handgun a few blocks away from the site where President Obama was scheduled to hold a town hall a couple of hours later. Was it a danger or not? The man carrying the gun, William Kostric, even had permission to have the gun on private church property while he was protesting Obama's appearance. Everybody from the New York Times to USA Today to CBS News expressed their outrage, interpreting it as a hot head threatening the president and linking it to militias and conservative talk radio. A prominent liberal radio talk...

The Faster Times: Hey there, Mr. Kostric. So what’s going on? Are you at home? Has your phone been ringing off the hook? William Kostric: Well, my only phone is my cell and it gets spotty reception where I live so I’ve actually been staying with friends in order to conduct phone interviews. So far there’s been Alan Colmes, Alex Jones, Ernie Hancock and Richard Hunter. I have a few more scheduled next week. When the on-site interviews were happening, I was asked by a few reporters for a phone number which I declined to give out so the contacts...

Much has been made of the New Hampshire man, William Kostric, who showed up outside President Obama’s health care speech in Portsmouth Tuesday with a loaded gun strapped to his leg and a sign calling for the blood of tyrants. Last night, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) weighed in on the episode, telling MSNBC’s Ed Schultz that Kostric “was just, you know, practicing a right that he had.” What this demonstrates is that it’s — it’s the old conservative argument. It’s not the gun that’s the danger. It’s the person that’s dangerous. He’s a peaceful person. He obeyed the law. He...

A 9mm pistol holstered clearly to his side, and holding a placard that references spilling the blood of patriots, this gunman is waiting for none other than Barack Obama. But instead of being wrestled to the ground by police and taken away to prison, William Kostnic is left untouched - because it is legally OK to carry a weapon in New Hampshire so long as it is not concealed. Even American commentators were taken aback at the sight. 'Just to be clear,' a baffled MSBC anchor said to the reporter on the scene. 'You're saying a guy has a gun...

Good question, especially given the sign this guy was carrying. Considering the lengths to which the Secret Service normally goes to investigate threats against the president, I’m amazed he wasn’t hauled in for questioning at the scene as a potential threat. People are going to beat the Second Amendment drum in the comments, but (a) I doubt it would have sat well with our readers if lefties carrying Bushitler signs had shown up to Dubya’s events packing heat and (b) having a right doesn’t mean you’re obliged to exercise it, particularly in circumstances where it would be provocative to do...

<p>MSNBC is having an on air meltdown over a man their camera crew videotaped openly carrying a handgun at an anti-Obama protest in Portsmouth, New Hampshire this morning near where Barack Obama will be holding a town hall meeting later today.</p>

To the increasingly toxic American mix of racial anger, political frustration and economic despair, a frightening new ingredient was added last week — belligerent gun-owners on a mission to defy President Barack Obama. A series of minor but worrying incidents involving citizens carrying handguns to political meetings has raised new questions about the president’s security and a potentially inflammatory gun control issue that he has so far managed to avoid. When William Kostric, a 36-year-old gun-owner from New Hampshire, turned up near an Obama meeting last Tuesday with a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol strapped to his leg, he instantly...