Free Republic

Vice President Joseph R. Biden said in a wide-ranging magazine interview that gun-control legislation will pass eventually because several senators who voted against it are experiencing a public backlash. “To use the vernacular, there’s suddenly a lot of senators out there who have seen the Lord,” Mr. Biden told Rolling Stone magazine. “You find out that the senator from New Hampshire [Republican Kelly Ayotte] is in trouble; she voted no. I can name you four senators who called me and said, “Jesus, I guess you were right — maybe we can find some other way of doing this. Can we...

Making the rounds on Youtube. The new NRA president Jim Porter makes some off the cuff comments a 2012 speech to the New York Rifle & Pistol Association. He is outspoken about overturning recent gun laws adopted by states after the Newtown massacre, according to the NY Daily News.. He also supports firearms training for all U.S. citizens -- including civilians -- so they're "ready to fight tyranny."

The Austin American-Statesman reports: “On a day when the nation’s strongest Second Amendment lobby group was gathered in Houston, the Texas House on Saturday tentatively approved a dozen pro-gun bills — including a highly controversial measure that would legalize concealed weapons in buildings on college campuses. Another bill would thwart enforcement of new federal gun restrictions in Texas, a move intended to target firearms laws proposed by the Obama administration. Saturday’s votes were on a wide array of legislation that would provide state training for new school marshals to protect students from shooting attacks, exempt concealed weapons licensees living in...

The Obama administration is on a collision course with the state of Kansas over a new law that claims to nullify federal gun controls. Attorney General Eric Holder has threatened litigation against Kansas over the law in what could the opening salvo of a blockbuster legal battle with national ramifications. “This is definitely a case that could make it to the Supreme Court,” Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Friday afternoon. “There is nothing symbolic about this law.” Kobach, a former constitutional law professor, helped craft the statute, which bars the federal government from regulating guns and ammunition manufactured...

Gun control advocates are in hysterics, using frenzied, emotional attacks against Senators who opposed gun control last month in hopes of changing the momentum. This explains why Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has been targeted in New Hampshire, and it's why Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly have been targeting Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in Kentucky. Staunch gun control supporters saw Sandy Hook Elementary as their opportunity to secure more gun laws, but now they see that opportunity fading away....

The Hill reports that Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback just signed into law a statute that "bars the federal government from regulating guns and ammunition manufactured and stored within Kansas state lines." Moreover, the new law makes it a felony for federal authorities to attempt to enforce federal gun control laws, treaties, or rules related to firearms within Kansas state lines. Federal agents would not be arrested but will be prosecuted on "a complaint-and-summons basis." Naturally, U.S. Attorney general Eric Holder is furious. Already he has sent a letter to Brownback promising, “The United States will take all appropriate action, including...

The public face of the National Rifle Association is imploring members to never surrender their weapons in the wake of recent gun control efforts in Congress that he said will "destroy us and every ounce of our freedom." Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre spoke in Houston during the organization's annual member meeting, which is part of the yearly convention. LaPierre told several thousand people that the "political and media elites" have tried to use December's shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school and other recent mass shootings "to blame us, to shame us, to compromise our freedom for their agenda."...

“I now agree that it’s fruitless to give the benefit of the doubt to people who are so obviously corrupt, so clearly malevolent, so bent on hurting innocent people for their own sick gain,” Aurora Sentinel editor Dave Perry wrote in an April 25 editorial. “No more due process in the clear-cut case of insidious terrorism. “When the facts are so clearly before all Americans, for the whole world to see, why bother with this country’s odious and cumbersome system of justice?” he asked. “Send the guilty monsters directly to Guantanamo Bay for all eternity and let them rot in...

Signs at a gun-control rally in Washington, D.C., January 26, 2013.The gun-control debate is one of the most dishonest arguments we have in American politics. It is dishonest in its particulars, of course, but it is in an important sense dishonest in general: The United States does not suffer from an inflated rate of homicides perpetrated with guns; it suffers from an inflated rate of homicides. The argument about gun control is at its root a way to put conservatives on the defensive about liberal failures, from schools that do not teach to police departments that do not police and...

On Monday, May 6, the current National Rifle Association president, David Keene, will step down after completing his two-year term, and the new president, Jim Porter, will step up to the role. The new president is certainly not new to the NRA. James W. Porter II, known to friends and family as “Jim,” has been a long-time board member of the NRA, recently serving two years as second vice president and two years as first vice president before becoming eligible for the position as president, which is a voluntary and unpaid position. Porter will be the first ever second generation...

After the defeat of the Manchin-Toomey background-check bill, and the subsequent demonization of the Senate, Senators Manchin and Toomey are reportedly back at work on bipartisan legislation addressing gun control. John R. Lott, author of the new book At the Brink, who has been researching gun policy for decades, talks about the state of the debate with National Review Online’s Kathryn Jean Lopez. Kathryn Jean Lopez: Gabby Giffords has accused the Senate of being in the grips of the gun lobby. Is there another explanation for the defeat of the Manchin-Toomey bill? JOHN R. LOTT: Yes, there is. The politicians...

"Most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States," President Obama said during a speech at Mexico's Anthropology Museum. "I think many of you know that in America, our Constitution guarantees our individual right to bear arms. And as president, I swore an oath to uphold that right, and I always will.""But at the same time, as I’ve said in the United States, I will continue to do everything in my power to pass common-sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people. That can save lives here...

A new law in Kansas that criminalizes the enforcement of federal gun controls in the state is unconstitutional, Attorney General Eric H. Holder said. “In purporting to override federal law and to criminalize the official acts of federal officers, [the law] directly conflicts with federal law and is therefore unconstitutional,” Mr. Holder wrote to Gov. Sam Brownback in a letter dated April 26. “Federal officers who are responsible for enforcing federal laws and regulations in order to maintain public safety cannot be forced to choose between the risk of a criminal prosecution by a state and the continued performance of...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama Legislature is telling the federal government and others to back off on gun control. The Senate passed legislation Tuesday declaring that “All federal acts, laws, orders, rules or regulations regarding firearms are a violation of the Second Amendment.” It also says federal laws in violation of the Second Amendment shall be considered null and void in Alabama. The vote was 24-6. The sponsor, Republican Sen. Paul Sanford of Huntsville, said the bill resulted from hundreds of emails and calls he received from his north Alabama constituents concerned that Congress might enact new gun regulations or...

Democratic leaders are wooing staunchly pro-gun candidates to run in pivotal Senate races at the same time they are discussing a strategy for bringing gun control legislation back up for debate. The two-pronged effort has prompted Republicans to accuse the Senate Democratic leadership of hypocrisy, but Democrats say it is simply smart politics. The question is whether two of the Democrats’ most promising potential candidates in Montana and South Dakota will pay a price for the leadership’s political maneuverings in Washington. Or will recruiting candidates who do not support President Obama’s gun control agenda have any effect on Democratic fundraising...

While the left is frequently up in arms about the about the Koch brother’s money funding political and campaign projects, there is no shortage of big leftist corporate and foundation money floating around hot political issues. Both the Joyce Foundation and Google are established players in the anti-second amendment movement as well as other progressive political causes. The Joyce Foundation has injected large chucks of money into the anti-gun movement, including Mayor’s Against Gun Control and the Violence Prevention Center. (Aside: Who was on the Board of the Joyce Foundation? None other than President Barack Obama who keeps assuring us...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was glum after background checks went down April 17. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) A week after gun legislation suffered a stinging defeat in the Senate, an uncomfortable realization has settled over the Capitol that it will likely take another mass shooting or similar tragedy to reignite momentum for gun control. President Obama called last week’s vote “round one.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pledged that it was “just the beginning.” But gun-control advocates, both inside and outside of Congress, have identified no immediate path forward to alter a political landscape that left them five...

In comments made on April 25, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) both said they were saddened gun control didn't pass on April 17 but assured reporters the measures would be brought up for another vote some time this year. "I think we will bring the bill back before the end of the year... lots of Senators who thought it was safe to vote against it [on April 17] because of the intensity [pro-gun groups] are not so sure anymore," Schumer said. Schumer said the intensity for gun control has increased since the failed vote for gun control...

Vice President Joe Biden reassured leading gun control groups Thursday that the administration remains committed to pushing an expansion of background checks for gun purchases through Congress, according to one of the event's attendees. Biden, who has led the administration's efforts on gun control in the wake of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, told the meeting of about 15 participants that despite last week's defeat of a bi-partisan measure in the Senate to expand checks at gun shows and online sales, that this was just the beginning. "He was delivering a charge to us" to stay engaged Pia Carusone, executive...

To The Left On The 2nd Amendment: Give UpMarket Ticker Karl DenningerApril 25, 2013 It's over folks. Look, I know that "95% of America wants reasonable gun restrictions", or so the media says. So Obama says. So lots of people say. So after The Senate said "NO" to more Gun Control, after 80 years of so-called "gun control" that has not done one damn thing to actually reduce gun violence (and in the most-jackbooted areas it can be argued it has doubled homicides or more!) there should be thousands of people willing to march from McPherson Square in Washington DC...

I have to wonder sometimes how some people reach the conclusions that they do. To be specific, let’s look at those who would say that we’d all have a safer society if only the government had guns. Right now it seems farfetched that anyone would agree to that. But the issue today is comprehensive gun owner registration and smaller clips. That nose under the tent now will easily lead to stricter rules when it is discovered, after another mass murder using legal arms, more restrictions will be necessary. Eventually only the government will have guns – much to the joy...

The Newtown killings had anti-gunners licking their chops from CNN to Capitol Hill. Years of working to undermine the right to keep and bear arms had come virtually to naught for gun confiscationists, but they knew the deaths of 20 children could be manipulated any way they liked, allowing them to make the most asinine and unsupportable claims imaginable about the evils of gun ownership. Call it a benefit of owning the national media. So Barack and friends spent months dancing on the graves of 20 sons and daughters while cooking up senate bills and executive “actions” advocating every conceivable...

Gun shows across the nation have experienced record turnout, even as the federal gun control push has hit a major roadblock. April gun shows—both before and after the Senate killed the Toomey-Manchin bill—have seen record crowds, as many fear the debate over the Second Amendment is not yet over. …

They can’t pass gun control via Congress so they’re going the dictator route. This is not going to go over well. On a conference call with “stakeholders,” Biden told gun control advocates that the fight is not over and that eventual action on gun control will come. Press were not invited to the conference call; a participant provided BuzzFeed with access. “Look I know you’re going to say that I’m just being an optimist and I’m trying to put a good face on this. But you know I’ve been around here a long time and we’ve already done, because of...

The first mistake the media-complex made was the decision to immediately make the National Rifle Association the "Newtown Bogeyman." This happened even before the bodies had been removed and was an immediate "tell" into the media's motives. This wasn't going to be about protecting children, this was going to be yet-another culture war launched to marginalize the dreaded NRA and hand Obama a win. This was also a media so full of its own power, they simply assumed they could exploit another tragedy into yet-another another Us vs. Them cultural victory. Out of the box, though, the plan was tactically...

During her Thursday press conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that Wednesday’s sweeping gun control defeat in the Democrat-controlled Senate is a setback, but not the end, of Democrats’ gun control efforts. During Senate action Wednesday, nine gun control measures came up for votes, and all nine were defeated. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s “assault� weapons ban went down in flames, with 15 Democrats voting with Republicans to kill it. It fell in a lopsided 60-40 vote. Going O for 9 is but a fleshwound, says Pelosi: “The process on where to go from here is we will be collecting any...

Bills 'nullifying' Washington overreach gaining momentum across the country It was called the strongest pro-gun bill in the country, and now it’s the law in Kansas. The law is designed to counter the push by liberal federal lawmakers for increased restrictions on gun rights. It nullifies any new limits on firearms, magazines and ammunition – whether enacted by Congress, presidential executive order or any agency. If Congress would have passed the Senate amendment expanding federal background checks, for example, the Kansas law would nullify it in the state. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, signed Senate Bill 102 into law...

Is N.Y.'s Gun Confiscation Scheme Tied to Larger Federal Plan? Written by Dave Bohon A report from TheBlaze.com alleges that the state of New York is using its recently enacted NY SAFE Act as justification to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens — specifically individuals who have been prescribed anti-anxiety medication. But some Second Amendment advocates allege the scheme is part of a larger federal gun control plot. According to the Blaze, on April 1 a legal gun owner in upstate New York, later identified by a Buffalo newspaper as 35-year-old David Lewis, “received an official notice from the state ordering...

President Obama gave the Senate a scolding in the Rose Garden this afternoon, declaring today’s defeat of the Manchin-Toomey background check amendment “a pretty shameful day for Washington.” He blamed “politics” for the failure of the legislation and, while standing alongside Gabby Giffords and tearful Newtown families, dismissed charges that he had used people as props for “emotional blackmail.”

The Feinstein Amendment to ban 157 semi-automatic weapons and high (regular) capacity magazines has massively failed 60-40.

Following a series of amendment votes in the Senate, including the Manchin-Toomey Amendment expanding background checks that failed to pass, the President makes a statement to reporters on what the White House calls "common-sense" gun control.

The Senate delivered a devastating blow to President Obama’s agenda to regulate guns Wednesday by defeating a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks. It failed by a vote of 54 to 46, with 5 Democrats voting against it. Only 4 Republicans supported it. Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor (Ark.), Max Baucus (Mont.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Mark Begich (Alaska) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) voted against it. Reid supported the measure but voted against it to preserve his ability to bring the measure up again. GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Susan Collins (Maine), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Mark Kirk

Three Democratic governors who successfully pushed their state legislatures to toughen gun laws are asking Congress to do the same. “We need the federal government to take the lead and enact reasonable laws to reduce gun violence by, at a minimum, ensuring that more gun purchasers pass a federal background check,” Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Martin O’Malley of Maryland and Dan Malloy of Connecticut wrote in a letter to Senators on Wednesday. “The American people are clear on this issue – more than 90% support background checks prior to gun purchases. They understand that if you can’t pass...

With Senate support for the Manchin-Toomey "compromise" continuing to slide, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) appear willing to revert to gimmicks to try to squeak the bill through. (snip) To stop the momentum shift before it is too late, Manchin and Toomey are "considering the possibility of adding language to the bill that would exempt select far-flung communities in Alaska and North Dakota from some background check requirements." They hope this would win the votes of Sens. Mark Begich (D-AK) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), as well Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND). If being exempted from the bill is what...

Senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) introduced an alternative gun bill this morning that would replace the current Senate proposal from Chuck Schumer and would replace the Manchin-Toomey background checks legislation. The proposal is the "Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act." This Cruz-Grassley proposal would "improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, increase resources for prosecutions of gun crime, address mental illness in the criminal justice system, and strengthen criminal law by including straw purchasing and illegal firearm trafficking statutes." Grassley put an emphasis on the mental illness part of the bill. "We’ve put together...

In the immediate aftermath of the tragic Newtown murders, Obama and His Media joined forces to exploit the deaths of innocent children for all it was worth -- with a series of laws that would have done absolutely nothing to stop the very crime they were exploiting. This naked political move to leverage the murder of innocents as an excuse to attack the National Rifle Association and gun owners, who live predominantly in red states, is about as cynical and craven as it gets. According to Politico, though, all this soul selling is likely to come to nothing. Politico reports...

The threat of gun confiscation by the government was the spark that ignited the American Revolution (look up the Battles of Lexington and Concord). Americans have cherished their God-given right to keep and bear arms long before the constitution or the second amendment was even ratified to guarantee it. Our unalienable God-given rights are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Millions of patriots have fought and many died defending same. Our God-given rights are paid for by the sacrifice of the blood of patriots, warrior and civilian alike. And the debt...

RUSH: Senator Elizabeth Warren wanted to get in on the big press conference in Boston this morning that happened about 10:30. The first words out of her mouth were praise for Obama and government. "The president of the United States has pledged his full support in all efforts, both to keep the city safe, and to find the person who did this. We did not have to reach out to the president; the president reached out to us," Warren said. He called the governor. He called the mayor. He called the members of congressional delegation because the president is actively...

In an apparent slip of the tongue, Harry Reid this morning referred to the gun-control bill he brought to the Senate floor as “anti-gun legislation.” “On the anti-gun legislation before the Senate, we are making good progress on the effort to schedule a series of votes on amendments to the anti-gun-violence legislation before the Senate.” Some, however, are questioning whether the Senate minority leader accidentally revealed his true feelings. GOP Sentaor Ted Cruz, a leading opponent of the bill, asked whether Reid’s statement was a ”Freudian slip.” He said in a Tweet:

President Obama can't see how Congress could buck public opinion to vote against new gun laws, he said in an interview released Tuesday. “The notion that Congress would defy the overwhelming instinct of the American people after what we saw happen in Newtown I think is unimaginable,” he told "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie in an interview conducted before Monday's explosions at the Boston Marathon. The Senate is expected to vote on gun legislation later this week, though it's not yet clear whether there will be enough votes for it to pass. Obama has been calling lawmakers to try to...

Washington (CNN) – Supporters of a bipartisan compromise to expand background checks for guns sales currently don't have the 60 votes they will need to win approval of their amendment so a vote on the proposal - which was expected midweek - is unlikely before the end of the week, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, told CNN in an exclusive interview Monday. The vote is being pushed back so Manchin and others can build support for the controversial plan.

Amid all the heated, emotional advocacy of gun control, have you ever heard even one person present convincing hard evidence that tighter gun control laws have in fact reduced murders? Think about all the states, communities within states, as well as foreign countries, that have either tight gun control laws or loose or non-existent gun control laws. With so many variations and so many sources of evidence available, surely there would be some compelling evidence somewhere if tighter gun control laws actually reduced the murder rate. And if tighter gun control laws don't actually reduce the murder rate, then why...

It is not constitutional for the federal government to pass any gun regulations whatsoever. The second amendment clearly states "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

When Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., visited the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board in February, he essentially predicted that Washington would end up where it is today. Asked whether an assault weapons ban had a realistic chance of passage, the longtime gun owner, Vietnam vet and Democrats' point man on crafting legislation in the wake of the horrific Dec. 14 Sandy Hook shooting replied, "You don't think this whole thing's going to get through?" His apparent assessment was that it would not. With a foot in both the gun world and the sausage factory, Thompson has a keen sense of what...

“Gun control” is probably the most cunning and dangerous oxymoron in use today. Real gun control is a father teaching his child how to hold, shoot, and care for his firearms properly. The gun control currently spreading across America would more aptly be called pre-gun confiscation or even more extreme, pre-genocide. History reveals many examples of nations that confiscated guns, leading to the extermination of millions of it citizens. This isn’t a new phenomena or an idea that gun lovers have made up; it’s happened for generations. In the Twentieth Century alone, there were between 74.2 and 79.8 million people...

Gun Control, Compromised The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2013, as proposed by Republican senators Pat Toomey and Mark Kirk and Democrats Joe Manchin and Charles Schumer, deals partly in symbolism. It “reaffirms,” for instance, an existing ban on government firearms registries, and establishes Washington’s umpteenth blue-ribbon panel — the National Commission on Mass Violence — to “study the availability and nature of firearms, including the means of acquiring firearms, issues relating to mental health, and all positive and negative impacts of the availability and nature of firearms on incidents of mass violence.” It also does...

Most people assumed that anything truly problematic in new gun-control legislation that comes out of the Senate would have little chance of getting through the House. Looks like we’ll get a chance to test that hypothesis sooner rather than later. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) told Politico today that he and Mike Thompson (D-CA) will introduce the House version of Manchin-Toomey by Tuesday at the latest: "Reps. Peter King and Mike Thompson are planning to introduce a House version of the compromise on background checks for gun buyers on Monday or Tuesday, King told POLITICO exclusively on Friday. “I will be...

Upon taking office, senators-elect must swear or affirm that they will "support and defend the Constitution." The president of the Senate or a surrogate administers the oath to newly elected or re-elected senators. The oath is required by the Constitution; the wording is prescribed by law. "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Any senator who fails to support and defend the second amendment which most definitely is part of the constitution is a TRAITOR!! Traitors beware!! DON'T TREAD ON...

Senators Joe Manchin (R) and Pat Toomey (D) today announced a so-called "compromise" bill/amendment which they claim would increase gun safety through improving "background checks," but is in truth a flawed piece of legislation, WHICH IS WHY YOU SHOULD ACT NOW TO STOP THE MEASURE (or click here for more options). The title of their bill is Orwellian: "The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act." It is double-speak, as their measure infringes on the Second Amendment -- it doesn't "protect" anything. It will in fact push the U.S. towards the establishment of a national gun registry, the eventual...

More than half of Colorado's elected sheriffs are planning to mount a legal challenge to the state's sweeping new gun restrictions. The Denver Post reports that 37 of the state's 62 sheriffs will sue to overturn laws passed in March that set limits on ammunition magazines and expand background checks for firearms. Weld County Sheriff John Cooke told the paper that the proposed lawsuit would argue the laws violate Second Amendment rights. He said the lawsuit would likely be filed within the next few weeks. The group County Sheriffs of Colorado has opposed a ban on high-capacity magazines, and about...