Free Republic

Virginia - -(AmmoLand.com)- Yesterday 24 VCDL members showed up at the Portsmouth City Hall to support VCDL urging the Mayor to drop his membership in the disgraceful Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) – a front for generic gun control run by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The first problem we had was a requirement that you sign in and show photo ID. Board member John Fenter is working to get that fixed. Under the Freedom of Information Act they cannot turn someone away from a public meeting because they didn’t bring any ID. John and I went up to the...

Alaska resident Dave Ross' flight into Pittsburgh Airport for a short visit to the Keystone State last July was uneventful - until, that is, he was arrested for retrieving his sidearm from checked baggage and holstering up on the way out of the airport. Mr. Ross told the Examiner.com that he tried to explain to Magistrate Judge Anthony Saveikis that Allegheny County's ordinance banning gun carry at the airport was "preempted by Section 6120 of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act," but Saveikis found him guilty anyway. Ross then hired Pennsylvania attorney J. Michael McCormick to appeal his conviction to the...

Dick's Sporting Goods informed GeorgiaCarry.Org that it permits lawfully carried handguns in its stores in Georgia, so long as the person carrying the handgun is abiding by state law. This issue arose when the President of GeorgiaCarry.Org, more precisely, me, was kicked out of the Fayetteville, Georgia store because of a lawfully carried H&K USP 45 pistol. I was carrying a holstered pistol, as is my daily habit, and wearing a GeorgiaCarry.Org T-shirt when I brought my eight year old son to the store to look at the Davey Crickett rifles that I knew to be in stock. My eager...

Ironically, in his latest book “Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie”, Cramer documents the fact that the decline of the visibility of the firearm in modern life has coincided with the rise of gun control. And yet he is asking us to conceal our firearms. Come on Clayton, you don’t hide apple pie.

I recently wrote an article for Shotgun News making the argument that while open carry of firearms is legal in many American cities, it may not be particularly wise. Open carry in a number of states is not just legal, but protected by the state constitution. But just because something is legal, even constitutionally protected, doesn’t mean that it is wise. Carrying a gun openly in a city can — and does — offend people who might not have a strong opinion one way or the other about gun control. Boise, Idaho, is about as pro-gun as any big city...

Officials say a law signed by President Obama in May will allow gun owners to openly carry firearms in Grand Teton and the Wyoming portions of Yellowstone when the law goes into effect in February. Several National Park Service employees and legal experts who interpreted the legislation say it extends to all, not just those with concealed weapons permits. When U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., attached a rider to a credit card reform bill earlier this year, almost all reports indicated it applied to concealed weapons only. While federal officials are trying to figure out the nuances of the law...

Gunslingers twice rejected from family dining establishments First, they were turned away from Fuddruckers, then Idaho Pizza Company, farther out. But here at Shari's, just west of the Idaho State Police building in Meridian, John Carter and Mike Ludlow are finally able to sit down to dinner, black Glocks still strapped to their hips. The evening, up to this point, had certainly taken on a no-room-at-the-inn feel. Their objectives were simple: to sit down in a restaurant with their handguns clearly hanging in hip holsters, and to enjoy dinner with other like-minded and explicitly armed individuals. Carter and Ludlow are...

It’s going to happen. Gun rights activist and former Afton resident David E. Olson of Glenwood City has announced that an “Open Carry Tea Party” will be held the afternoon of Oct. 17, a Saturday, at Lakefront Park in Hudson, Wis. The purpose of the event is for people to exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly and their Second Amendment rights to own and carry firearms, Olson said. After holding an open carry event in Glenwood City on Aug. 23, Olson told other media outlets that he was planning a similar event for Hudson in mid-October....

May we, please, have a respite from the supposed controversy over open carrying of firearms? Perhaps it is extremism fatigue brought on by the recent wave of demonstrations about health care, a purported turn toward socialism, and so on-all of which have added to the amount of noise but not to the potential solutions for problems. The people now accusing Racine police of overreacting to an armed citizen are off base. Our problem is not with open carry in and of itself. Our problem is that the advocates of open carry are asserting that the right to carry a firearm...

On August 8, 2009 a person named Ryan working at "Fromaginations on the Square" called the Madison police to ask if there was a "law in the state of Wisconsin that allows you to carry a gun," reporting that "a gentleman walked past me with a rather large rather large gun attached to his hip . . . he was walking north toward State Street." Replied the police dispatcher, "[n]o there is not . . . let me get someone to check that area to see if we can find 'em because there is no such law here." . ....

RACINE - Normally inside Mechanix Auto Shop, repair is done on cars. Saturday, it was done on a man's reputation. Hubert Hoffman, a member of www.opencarry.org, organized a gathering to support Frank Hannan-Rock. Most everyone there was openly carrying a firearm, which is legal in Wisconsin. "You stand by your friends," Hoffman said. "Frank was, in my opinion harassed and detained unlawfully." It all started Wednesday night when Racine Police were investigating a raccoon shooting in Hannan-Rock's neighborhood. They noticed he was wearing a gun on his hip and asked him questions. "I did nothing to provoke them," said Hannan-Rock....

But can law enforcement themselves be entrapped? That seems to be the extraordinary claim of the Racine, Wisconsin police department in the case of an open carrier who was arrested for obstructing justice after he apparently refused to identify himself when officers began questioning him for open carrying on the porch of his own home. The facts are still emerging, but reports seem to agree that officers were in the neighborhood where Frank Rock lives on Wednesday night investigating the shooting of one or more raccoons. While in the neighborhood, officers noticed that Rock, sitting peacefully on his front porch,...

This multi-year near-comedic chain of communication, from AAG Kassel’s “honest your honors, you can open carry on State Street,” to the current game of “memo, memo, who’s got the memo” down at Madtown PD got me thinking . . . so I made ANOTHER open records request under Wisconsin law, this time for any video discussions of these internal police discussions about “the memo,” and low and behold, they sent me this, a videotaped “counseling session” between Madison’s own Captain Victor Wahl and the officer who arrested Travis Yates in Madison recently . . .

I intend to photograph the Beck gathering at SAFECO. 9/26/09 As a non violent demonstration., I would like to be accompanied by one or more liberals carrying (legally) holstered (unloaded) firearms. Realistic stage weapons or blank guns are also welcome but I am informed that these will also require carry permits. My object is to provoke discussion and photograph participants. I would carry myself but do not own a gun and I am told it may take several weeks to get a carry permit. Feel free to share. PLEASE ASK PEOPLE TO REPLY HERE.

Many people around the world are interested in learning more about the growing open carry movement in the United States, particularly when and where they can open carry too! . . . Key points everyone should know about open carry, i.e., the practice of carrying holstered unconcealed functional handguns (functionality includes being loaded): 42 states permit open carry in public 26 states require no license to open carry Only 7 states ban open carry in public California allows open carry in many or most parts of rural areas, but figuring out precisely where it is banned (i.e., that guns must...

examiner.com — On September 8, 2009, United States District Judge Bruce D. Black of the United States District Court for New Mexico entered summary judgment in a civil case for damages against Alamogordo, NM police officers. The Judge’s straight shootin’ message to police: Leave open carriers alone unless you have “reason to believe that a crime [is] afoot.” . . .

To the editor: I carry a gun everywhere I go in Flagstaff. I carry at the bank, I carry at the grocery store, I carry when I go check the mail. Any business with a sign that says "no weapons" does not get my business. I do not have a permit to carry a gun, as you do not need one in our great state. I carry a gun for one reason; guns save lives. According to a study by The University of Florida a person defends himself with a gun every 53 seconds. According to the NCIPC, a homicide...

Jeff Niles asked his local police chief about his ability to openly carry a gun a few months ago. The response from the Police Chief to Jeff was essentially no you can’t carry a gun because Milton has a local ordinance that prohibits open carry. However Jeff knew the ordinance was unenforceable and he was just trying to determine if the Police Chief knew the ordinance was unenforceable as well. It turns out the Chief apparently did not know that Wisconsin Stat. § 66.0409 (local regulation of firearms) effectively repealed the local ordinance which prohibited citizens from carrying a gun,...

Choices: Yes. Law-abiding citizens should be able to do whatever is legal. No. It's needlessly provocative and could be dangerous. Current standings: 69.6% - 30.4% in favor, with 24,153 voting

To passers-by, the event at Lake Loveland on Wednesday looked like any other friendly picnic. Casseroles were served on disposable plates, and the local wasp population was abuzz in anticipation of finding a soda can left unattended for too long. But a closer inspection of the 10 or so participants showed it was more than just a dinner — it was an opportunity to send a message. Several local gun owners used the picnic at South Shore Scenic Park to show solidarity with a man who was approached last year by police because he was openly carrying a firearm. Six...

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...

A retired Navy petty officer is encouraging fellow gun owners to bring unloaded weapons to weekly rallies in Escondido next month to strike a blow for the right to bear arms. Gerald Reaster, 69, said the purpose of the rallies, which will begin Tuesday, is to assert Second Amendment rights and the freedom to carry unloaded firearms openly without a license, as allowed by state law, The San Diego Union- Tribune reported. “I am a disabled vet, a member of the American Legion, a good patriot,” Reaster told the newspaper. “The older I am, the more I see the need...

Frommer's Travel guide guru Arthur Frommer said yesterday in his blog that he is considering recommending an Arizona travel boycott because of recent open firearms carry in a non secure area at an Obama speech location . And what was the police and Secret Service action was taken to citizens openly carrying guns there? Precisely what it should have been. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No reaction whatsoever. Although his travel guide is not urging a boycott, not just yet anyway, Frommer said that he will not travel in any state where people can legally carry loaded weapons in the open as...

Guns near the president have started an "open-carry" debate. Gun owners may be arguing among themselves and with gun-control activists about it, but for Mustapha Kassou, there’s no debate over the “open-carry” movement thrust into nationwide controversy this month when pistol- and rifle-packing citizens showed up near several public appearances by President Barack Obama. Kassou was working the cash register in the Richmond, Va., market he owns on July 11 when a gunman stormed the store with robbery on his mind. In an incident captured on surveillance video, the bandit ordered the eight customers to the floor and pumped two...

Gun owners may be arguing among themselves and with gun-control activists about it, but for Mustapha Kassou, there’s no debate over the “open-carry” movement thrust into nationwide controversy this month when pistol- and rifle-packing citizens showed up near several public appearances by President Barack Obama. Kassou was working the cash register in the Richmond, Va., market he owns on July 11 when a gunman stormed the store with robbery on his mind. In an incident captured on surveillance video, the bandit ordered the eight customers to the floor and pumped two bullets from his snub-nosed pistol into Kassou, who...

One of the easier tactics against Americans is to divide Americans. One of Saul Alinksy’s urgings was to vex people and alienate against each other, thereby dividing them. More are beginning to feel this. The left in America pushed for acceptance and open-mindedness in the sixties, but when it got its way -- in divorce law, gun control, education, environment and thought – it tended to silence others as ‘offensive’, ‘hateful’ and worse, and created Political Co-reckless, a sort of phoney etiquette that was censorship in disguise. Fooled again by the left, then coerced and punished by the left, as...

In the often heard cry, "Its a return to the Wild West," the Rev. Jackson has blasted the open carry of firearms in states where it is legal at places where public officials are present. Several people carried firearms, including a shoulder slung AR 15 in the open at a non-secure area where Obama was speaking recently. The good reverend, in a statement to an Arkansas TV station yesterday, said that the people who had guns, "...were responding to calls by a right-wing radio host who sought to organize people with guns near the president to make a political point."...

Daily Gut: Frommer = Tool Posted By Greg Gutfeld On August 24, 2009 @ 2:09 pm In Daily Gut, News, Politics So the king of the travel guide racket, Arthur Frommer, has come out against Arizona. Yes, he claims he’ll no longer visit the state because it permit “thugs” to openly carry guns. He revealed this on his blog, after witnessing a protester carrying a rifle outside a building where the President was speaking.

Glenwood City (WQOW) - More than 200 residents showed up for the open carry picnic in Glenwood City on Sunday afternoon. The picnic was held at the Saint Croix County Fairgrounds, in Glenwood City. The picnic was open to the public and was free to attend. Most of the 200 residents who were at Sunday's picnic were carrying guns. Organizers say they held the picnic to celebrate a recent memo from Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen regarding the legality of open carry. "My wife and I and our grown daughters organized this as an informational session more than anything else...

At the link is the interview done with Chris B. at the Phoenix Healthcare protest of President Obama. Chris B. is the black activist who was carrying the AR-15. Chris is a freedom activist. The interview with Chris starts about 4 minutes into the clip. Go to the link to hear the interview.

This week Arizonans were shocked when iconic travel industry promoter Arthur Frommer blogged that "I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks [and t]ourists should safeguard themselves by avoiding stays in Arizona." Mr. Frommer's comments, touched off a firestorm of criticism - so much so that as of publication of this column, Frommer's blog entry attracted 1,061 comments compared to the usual 8 comments or so for his other blog entries. . . . Well Mr. Frommer? Are you going to keep blogging against travel in your own country? Let us know....

“IT is time to water the tree of liberty” said the sign carried by a gun-toting protester milling outside President Obama’s town-hall meeting in New Hampshire two weeks ago. The Thomas Jefferson quote that inspired this message, of course, said nothing about water: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” That’s the beauty of a gun — you don’t have to spell out the “blood.” The protester was a nut. America has never had a shortage of them. But what’s Tom Coburn’s excuse? Coburn is a Republican senator from...

Arthur Frommer the supposed travel expert said he would travel boycott Arizona because a man should up at a political rally in AZ with an open carry gun. Well maybe Frommer needs to answer a question from me.

Travel icon Arthur Frommer says he won't be spending his tourism dollars at the Grand Canyon, or anywhere else in Arizona, because the state's laws allow people he described as "thugs" and "extremists" to openly carry firearms. The author of budget-travel guides said on his blog Wednesday that he was "shocked beyond measure" by reports that protesters openly carried guns and rifles outside a Phoenix building where President Barack Obama spoke on Monday. Frommer says he won't personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons as a means of political protest.

CNN Ernest Hancock talks some talking head at CNN about the Man with the AR 15. the Talking head tried to own Hancock but in the end Freedom Always wins! http://freedomsphoenix.com http://wearechangearizona.com

GUN DEBATE - As President Obama travels the country to promote his ideas about health care reform, he has been met with hearty debate. But he's also been met with something unexpected, gun-toting citizens who seem to be making a statement about more than just health policy. Are these citizens merely expressing their second amendment rights or do they present a dangerous provocation? We asked two experts for their take. Opinion contributed by Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America. Click here for Paul Helmke's opposing view. SPRINGFIELD, Va. (OPINION) From New Hampshire to Arizona, Americans openly carrying...

Many people were startled to see a man bring an AR-15 assault rifle to the vicinity of a presidential town hall on healthcare in Phoenix on Monday. His intent, he told reporters, was to show his willingness to “forcefully resist” an overreaching government. He broke no laws, police say, and he was not a threat to the president. But it turns out there’s an actual connection between gun rights and healthcare reform, at least according to one gun lobby. Gun Owners of America director Larry Pratt says that a Democrat-sponsored government-run healthcare system with a centralized patient record database could...

The opinion of the Los Angeles Times is that Americans are volatile and dangerous. As an American, my opinion is that anti-liberty-nuts are defamatory and ignorant, abusing their first amendment rights. The Friday, August 21, 2009 edition of the Los Angeles Times has the editorial Gunning for trouble. The mistaken idea (ignorance) is that the subject of the armed citizen is even open to debate. Newspapers depend entirely on an amendment to the constitution which is far from absolute, and apply (abuse) their right to attack another’s right which is absolute. The First Amendment has reasonable restrictions – you may...

A man carries a military style AR-15 type assault rifle during a Barack Obama opposition rally in Phoenix. (AP photo / August 17, 2009 PBS host and U.S. News & World Report contributing editor Bonnie Erbe goes right into an attack dive on gun owners with an insulting headline: "Letting Gun Nuts Pack Weapons Near Obama Is Insane" So she starts right off with name-calling and a lie. The Secret Service has said the legally armed protesters posed no threat to the president: "We work closely with local law enforcement to make sure that their very strict laws on gun...

It is hard to know what is more shocking: the sight of a dozen Americans showing up to flaunt guns outside the venue for President Obama’s speech in Phoenix on Monday, or the fact that the swaggering display was completely legal. We are all familiar with the right to bear arms and the noisome extremes indulged by its zealots. But is there no sense of simple respect due the nation’s elected leader when he ventures forth among the citizenry? One man strutted through the crowd with an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle slung over his shoulder. (That weapon was banned in...

"I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest," travel guide legend Arthur Frommer told his loyal readers earlier this week. And that means, he wrote, that he won't be going to Arizona anytime soon and may suggest that others join him in an "open boycott." He added that: I would feel as I do regardless of the political identity of the speaker whom these thugs attempted to intimidate. The continued tolerance of extremists carrying guns is a frightening development which strikes at the heart of...

I wrote earlier how an MSNBC segment is drawing heat from conservatives who accuse the network of selectively cropping an image so as not to show that one of the people carrying guns at an Obama event was an African-American. Now, Bill Wilson, president of Americans for Limited Government, is now calling on the network to fire those responsible for producing the broadcast, in what he describes as a "nefarious assault on decency." On behalf of the nearly half million members of Americans for Limited Government — and tens of millions of other equally appalled Americans of all races nationwide...

When Shakespeare wrote, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers," it was a quip by a murderous villain designed to elicit a laugh about creating an ideal world in "Henry VI." But at a recent event where I spoke, listeners vented their hostility by bashing politicians. When someone said, "Let's kill all the politicians," it wasn't amusing, clever or Shakespearean. Terralever/Yourloanmodification.com Most Popular Stories # STATE OF EMERGENCY:: Illegal immigrants burden UMC # NORM: Tale of doctor, dancer recounted # NORM: Swimsuit model slain in California # Woman arrested in pharmacy drug case # Las Vegas businessman...

Some members of the media have their knickers all in a bunch over the presence of armed protesters outside the Phoenix venue where President Obama spoke on Monday. CNN’s Rick Sanchez and Ed Henry spent a few minutes Tuesday discussing the potentially dire implications of citizens simultaneously exercising both their First and Second Amendment rights. Henry waded into the crowd outside the president’s appearance and was startled by the sight of a man carrying what he described as an AR-15 rifle. “It’s kind of jarring,” said Henry, “to see an assault weapon in the middle of the street.” And indeed...

In separate op-eds, liberals Marie Cocco and E.J. Dionne are exclaiming against those people who have the audacity to exercise their right to keep and bear arms at political rallies. Cocco says that the “gun guys” were “displaying their perfectly state-permitted firearms.” State-permitted! How about that? The right to keep and bear arms isn’t a right at all. It’s a state-granted privilege, one that the state can revoke at any time. No, Ms. Cocco. That’s not the way it works. The right to keep and bear arms has nothing to do with some type of permission or license from the...

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...

On Tuesday, MSNBCs Contessa Brewer fretted over health care reform protesters legally carrying guns: "A man at a pro-health care reform rally...wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip....there are questions about whether this has racial overtones....white people showing up with guns." Brewer failed to mention the man she described was black.

Norton Calls on Homeland Security Officials to Restrict Gun Carrying Outside Public Events Where President and Federal Officials Appear in D.C. and NationwideAugust 19, 2009    WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, today called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to restrict the carrying of weapons openly or concealed in or around the areas where the President of the United States and cabinet officials are appearing, following reports, photos, and videos of people carrying guns outside of  an Obama town...

Ernest Hancock, the online radio host who interviewed the man with the assault rifle outside yesterday's Obama event in Arizona, today stated that the whole event was actually planned in advance. Watch the video below. Hancock appeared on Rick Sanchez's CNN show this afternoon. After explaining a few details about the interview, including the tidbit that he's known 'Chris' (the man with the AR-15) for two years because of their mutual work for Ron Paul, the CNN host said "the more we look into this, the more it appears that it was really planned." "Oh, it's more planned than you...

As the Obama health care program continues to descend from debate to debacle, increasing attention is being given to a handful of activists who have attended protest rallies openly carrying firearms, leaving some television reporters and commentators having to acknowledge there is nothing illegal about it. When I wrote about MSNBC’s Chris Matthews joining in the vitriolic attacks on gun owners here, and about anti-gun bigotry here, it brought the hoplophobes out of the proverbial woodwork. At least a few of these folks were not shy about displaying their prejudices, to the point of race baiting, which – thanks to...