Free Republic

The Arizona legislation just passed HB 2177 in the Senate and it now moves on to the Arizona House and then to Gov... reported that passed 21-9, however, specific vote count not confirmed yet

A bill that would strip Washington citizens of a unique self-defense protection is being fast-tracked by its sponsor, anti-gun State Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48th District), who unveiled the measure on Saturday and has it scheduled for a hearing before the House Ways & Means Committee – which he chairs – on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in Olympia. Both the National Rifle Association and Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms are furiously alerting their members. CCRKBA is issuing a press statement that calls the move “an outrage.” Both alerts have the names, phone numbers and e-mail...

JUNEAU — The state House on Saturday easily cleared a plan to clarify — or broaden, depending on who’s talking — people’s right to defend themselves with deadly force. It would expand the explicit (in state law) right to use lethal force to apply anywhere someone has “a right to be.” Proponents say it will assure everyone in Alaska he or she does not need to back off if they find themselves in a dangerous situation and want to fight back with a lethal weapon. Rep. Eric Feige, R-Chickaloon and a co-sponsor, said the change would send two messages. To...

The National Beer Wholesalers Association is pushing hard for something they claim is "states rights" but will take away my right to drink the beer I want!

Carrying a gun out in the open could become a reality in Oklahoma. State lawmakers have shot down several gun proposals but one Senate bill still alive has some surprising opponents. SB 129, sponsored by Senator Steven Russell R-Oklahoma City, would give anyone 18 years of age or older the right to openly carry a gun without a license or training. FOX23’s Abbie Alford reports why the Oklahoma Rifle Association is saying no to the current proposal. The uproar with lawmakers first started on campus, college students and faculty member should be able to carry guns. Those proposals were shot...

TALLAHASSEE — A bill backed by the National Rifle Association that strengthens financial penalties against cities and counties for enacting tougher gun laws than the state requires gained momentum on Monday. Committees in both the Senate and House voted to approve the bill, which takes an existing law that prevents local governments from pre-empting the state's gun laws and adds financial penalties between $5,000 and $100,000. The financial penalty was reduced from the originally proposed $5 million through an amendment to both chambers' version of the bill. The proposal (SB 402, HB 45) was not without critics, who blasted the...

Despite the US Supreme Court's striking down of the District of Columbia's handgun ownership ban in 2008, residents and visitors to the nation's Capital continued to be denied the fundamental right to carry handguns in public, either concealed, or openly. This issue is both under litigation and being scrutinized by a restless Congress. But while DC fiddles for any right to carry, Oklahoma burns for open carry. Oklahoma is one of only 7 states banning the open carry of properly holstered handguns in public. Last week the Republican dominated Oklahoma Senate passed SB 129, a bill to, like most states,...

Anyone remember when President Obama invited Republicans to a sit-down on health care? The Prez proceeded to dominate the “discussions,” completely ignored Republican suggestions and rammed through one of the largest and most unpopular pieces of legislation in United States history. That’s just one example of the President’s bogus bi-partisanship: the Commander-in-Chief’s desire to appear centrist without actually being centrist. Is it any wonder that National Rifle Association jefe Wayne LaPierre greeted Obama’s invitation to meet with the Prez and gun control groups to discuss current gun laws with his own invitation to the President to fuck off and die...

March 11, 2011 Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt issued an opinion that concealed carry permit holders can legally open carry a firearm with state preemption of local city ordinances and county resolutions. In addition to preemption, cities and counties cannot make open carry laws that require firearms to be unloaded while carrying and those municipalities may only regulate unlicensed open carry not licensed permit holders on property open to the public. A grass roots organization, Open Carry Kansas, requested the opinion through Kansas Legislator, Representative Lana Gordon, District 52 of Topeka. Open Carry Kansas appreciates the support of the Kansas...

President Obama's decision to subvert the law and usurp the prerogatives of the Federal Judiciary by declaring the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional should be cause for great concern for Bible-believing Americans. The president announced that the Department of Justice would no longer defend DOMA. By deeming the Defense of Marriage Act to be indefensible and unconstitutional, President Obama has once again exposed his willingness to subvert the checks and balances at the heart of our Constitution. This, in spite of the fact that DOMA has been in federal law since 1996 - and has withstood many...

President Barack Obama once promised that negotiations over his health care overhaul would be carried out openly, in front of TV cameras and microphones. Tell that to the White House now. Republican congressional investigators got the brush-off this past week after pressing for details of meetings between White House officials and interest groups, including drug companies and hospitals that provided critical backing for Obama's health insurance expansion. Complying with the records request from the House Energy and Commerce Committee "would constitute a vast and expensive undertaking" and could "implicate longstanding executive branch confidentiality interests," White House lawyer Robert Bauer wrote...

(Feb. 24, 2011) — As the battle for states’ rights heat up across the country, Montana and Arizona have leaped out into the lead by introducing the first broad-based State Nullification Reaffirmation Act designed to return the power to the people and their states and rein in federal government abuses of misinterpreted power. The Model Legislation was researched and created by the Constitutional Justice Division of Wyoming-based United States Patriots Union. This model legislation aims to reaffirm and reassert broad-based sovereign state’s rights under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by providing both the constitutional grounds and...

Former pizza chain CEO, tea partier and potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain closed out CPAC on day two, declaring that "the American Dream is under attack," and that "stupid people are ruining America." Cain said that the American Dream is being attacked by what he calls "the -ations" -- legislation, regulation, and taxation. He continued that Republicans need to repeal and replace health care reform, and also "throw out" the "messed up tax code" and replace it with a new system. The "objective of the liberals is to destroy America," he Cain continued, but "if you can get...

I have found this to be a very usesful website each Jan - Mar when the Virginia General Assembly is in session. See http://leg1.state.va.us/ Here, you can look up VA bills by bill number, by delegate/senator, by date submitted and by subject. Also, it lists all emails for members and lists the committees.

The Tucson events of yesterday are tragic and despicable...

A New Year approaches. Along with it comes a brand new Congress. There are many things Congress needs to do next year. However, I believe there are five that are of the utmost importance; things that the new Congress should make New Years Resolutions.

Today, Carey Baker, recently acquired aid/consultant to Senator Haridopolos (President of the Florida Senate), announced through a FaceBook post that state FL State Sen. Rene Garcia will be filing a statutory version of SJR-2 Health Care Freedom Act. (similar to the Virginia legislation) This announcement is a clear victory for the tea party movement in the state, which is now being recognized as one of the most active, well organized in the nation. It also indicates a strong show of respect toward the movement by state lawmakers.

Both the White House and Congressional Democrats are upset about Republican plans to require that bills be read before being voted on. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called the read-before-passing strategy “a new low in this nation’s history. What they’re doing with the START Treaty, foe example, is both unconscionable and unconstitutional. Anyone familiar with the Constitution knows that the President is granted the power to make treaties. The Senate’s role is to ‘advise and consent.’ There is no need for them to read the treaty. There is no Constitutional authorization for them to hold a treaty hostage with this kind...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 841, The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, legislation that will provide blind, visually impaired, and other pedestrians greater security when traveling in close proximity to hybrid or electric vehicles. "The passage of this legislation is momentous and marks over two years of vigorous advocacy by ACB membership that has resulted in consensus by the blind community, auto industry, and Congress," stated Mitch Pomerantz, President of the American Council of the Blind. "The silent nature of hybrid and electric vehicles, coupled with their growing popularity, presents a dilemma....

America is choking on laws of our own making. Once a law is in place in the United States, it's almost impossible to dislodge. Our political class assumes that, after a law is forged in the crucible of democracy, it should be honored as if it's one of the Ten Commandments - except it's more like one of 10 million... --snip-- Sunset laws have been proposed from time to time, and they were a domestic priority for President Jimmy Carter. "Too many Federal programs have been allowed to continue indefinitely," he wrote to Congress in 1979, "without examining whether they...