Free Republic

In 2006, Pennsylvania voters ended Rick Santorum’s Senate career. Six years later, could the Keystone State shut down his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination? Home states have posed critical tests for GOP candidates this year, from Mitt Romney in his birth state of Michigan to Newt Gingrich in Georgia, the state he represented in Congress. Next month’s Pennsylvania primary is a must-win battle for Santorum in the state he served as a congressman and senator for 16 years. If Santorum fails to win Pennsylvania’s April 24 primary – and there are signs he’s vulnerable here despite his longstanding ties...

Cops: Drug dealer kills would-be robber * Millbank Road near Midway Avenue, Upper Darby A drug dealer with a permit to carry a gun shot and killed a man who tried to rob him Monday night in Upper Darby, police said. The 24-year-old dealer was getting out of his car about 11:30 when Devaughn Tucker-Knight, 21, came up behind him, pulled a gun and demanded everything the man had, said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. Unfortunately for Tucker-Knight, the dealer had been reaching into his car to grab his handgun, Chitwood said. The two engaged in a gunbattle during...

PHILADELPHIA - One man is dead and another is in critical condition after a shootout at a North Philadelphia corner store. It happened around 8:30 p.m. Sunday at the La Familia Latina Mini-Market at Fifth and Glenwood streets in Hunting Park. Four men entered the store armed with guns. But the store owner was ready with his own gun. One of the suspects, a 26-year-old, was shot twice in the chest and pronounced dead at the scene. The store owner was also shot and rushed by a friend to Temple University Hospital. Police are still looking for the other three...

A Northeast Philadelphia man was charged with the murder of his 82-year-old father and the severe neglect his mother by starvation, according to police. Thomas Hauck, 57, of 3419 Kirkwood Road in Torresdale, was charged with third degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, felony theft and abuse of a corpse in the death of his father, according to authorities. Police say that paramedics found 82-year-old Leonard Hauck dead in the basement of the Northeast Philadelphia home. Police said it was Hauck's wife who notified authorities. The medical examiner determined on Feb. 27 that the elderly man died of dehydration and malnutrition. Police...

WILKES-BARRE – If it happened again, Samuel Smith said, he wouldn’t hesitate to use his gun on another person to protect himself. Smith, 24, of Ashley, made a split second decision and fired a round into the ground when two young men demanded that he empty his pockets on Reese Street near South Meade Street Wednesday night. Smith said he was hanging out with a friend outside a house sitting on a curb just before 9 p.m. After his friend went into a house, Smith said he noticed two men walk slowly pass him, describing them as a black male...

THE APPLEBEE'S in Folsom, Delaware County, attracted a high-caliber crowd Saturday night. More than 30 gun owners showed up with their weapons legally displayed, while the rest of the dinner crowd blithely ordered their "2 for $20" specials, boneless wings and Bourbon Street steaks, plus alcoholic refreshments. The "meet and eat" was organized by Mark Fiorino, 25, the Delaware Valley's on-target proponent of "open carry," the controversial right of gun owners to legally display their weapons. The event, Fiorino said with a Glock .40-caliber semiautomatic on his waist, was social, and an attempt to "raise awareness" and decrease fears about...

I’d love to open carry. Strategically, it’s a big no-no. But I reckon open carry is the final frontier, the gateway to the “normalization” that would seal the deal for American gun rights. And if enough people did it, the strategic downside would diminish and the deterrence effect would be gi-normous. Yes, well, I don’t want to lose my gun or my right to carry a gun, even temporarily. Even though open carry is legal in the Ocean State, RI cops would confiscate my gun, charge with me with disturbing the peace and ban me from carrying in a New...

A man is currently on the run from police in Dauphin County after he attempted an armed robbery at the Auto Liquidator's Outlet on Jonestown Road. Unfortunately for the robber, he chose the wrong place to try and hold up. The owner of the store said that the robber came in with a gun and demanded money. That is when the owner pulled out his own gun. When the robber saw that the owner's gun was much bigger than his, the robber ran away. This is how the owner said the incident went down, "He came running in the door...

The owner of a convenience store shot at a would-be robber early Thursday morning in Turtle Creek, Allegheny County police said. It's unclear if the suspect was hit by the gunfire, Sgt. Ann Lewis said. Police believe two men were trying to rob the 7-Eleven store on James Street about 3 a.m., she said. One man waited outside while the other went into the store and pointed a gun at the clerk, Lewis said. The owner fired his own weapon at the robber, and the two men fled on foot, she said. There was a similar incident at the store...

We get on President Obama’s case for neglecting to keep his campaign promises, so it’s only fair to note when he fulfills them. In January 2008, Obama promised to bankrupt coal-fired power plants with his new environmental regulations. Consider this a promise kept: GenOn Energy Inc. plans to close five of its older coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania over the next four years.The company, based in Houston, said Wednesday that tough new environmental rules make it unprofitable to operate the plants, which generate a total of 3,140 megawatts of electricity. The plants are in Portland, Shawville, Titus, New Castle and...

(Extended title) ...case dismissed by Quran-minded judge There are a number of breaking developments in the exclusive I wrote for the Daily Caller, today. Don't miss it. Go here.

The Pennsylvania State Director of American Atheists, Inc., Mr. Ernest Perce V., was assaulted by a Muslim while participating in a Halloween parade. Along with a Zombie Pope, Ernest was costumed as Zombie Muhammad. The assault was caught on video, the Muslim man admitted to his crime and charges were filed in what should have been an open-and-shut case. That’s not what happened, though. The defendant is an immigrant and claims he did not know his actions were illegal, or that it was legal in this country to represent Muhammad in any form. To add insult to injury, he also...

The Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon has raised $10,686,924.83 this year, organizers announced about 4 p.m. Sunday, capping the 40th annual fundraiser. The number marks the latest in a string of new fundraising records for THON. Billed as the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, THON raised $9.56 million in 2011. Its fundraising tally for 2012 catapults to the $90 million range the total amount of money THON has raised for The Four Diamonds Fund. The fund, which supports pediatric-cancer research and treatment, has been THON's beneficiary since 1977. Many of those helped by The Four Diamonds Fund visit...

The gunfight is over, and the cities lost. The question is: Do they realize it yet? For decades now, large majorities of urbanites - the people, the politicians, the interest groups - have favored stricter controls on guns, for reasons city residents find self-evident. In the last five years in Philadelphia, 1,656 people have been slain, and of those, more than 1,300 died of gunshot wounds. For many city residents, myself included, guns represent a plague, not protection. From the perspective of bloody Philadelphia, gun-rights advocates - and their allies in Harrisburg and Washington - appear all too willing to...

Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad said Wednesday his administration is actively defying Israel and operating in eastern Jerusalem. "The PA is continuously trying to allocate resources inside the city, which Israel occupied in 1967," Fayyad said in his weekly radio address from Ramallah. "The Israeli government is trying to impose its policies to control Jerusalem and its institutions, which is contrary to international law and signed agreements," Fayyad said. “This all won’t change the truth that East Jerusalem is the main part of the occupied Palestinian territories," Fayyad said in his weekly radio address, which focused on Israeli policy...

We are learning more about the double homicide in Great Bend Township Saturday afternoon. A gun shop owner, Lloyd Thomas is now charged with two counts of First Degree Homicide. We have also learned the name of the second victim. 28-year-old Gilberto Alvarez recently moved from Florida to the area to work for a gas drilling company. The other victim, 30-year-old Joshua Rogers of Hallstead, was Alvarez's friend and temporary roommate. A State Police investigator tells Fox 40 that both men have criminal records,and at the time of the killings one of them was carrying a shotgun. Investigators say the...

New details are emerging about the fatal shooting in Great Bend Township Saturday afternoon. According to court records Lloyd Thomas admitted to police that he shot Joshua Rogers and Gilberto Alvarez and said he was acting in self defense. Investigators are still trying to figure out why the two men who lived nearby in Hallstead were on the Thomas family property. Alvarez had moved to the area from Florida. After working at the New Milford Pump and Pantry, he got a job with a gas drilling company. A friend tells us both men were military veterans, and served overseas. Police...

The Incident In January 2010, Gerald Ung went out with a female friend in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood. As the night was coming to an end, the 29-year-old Temple law school student was accosted by three other nightlife denizens: Eddie DiDonato, Jr., Thomas Kelly and Andrew DiLoretto. The altercation quickly escalated and DiDonato charged at Ung, a licensed gun owner in his home state of Virginia, which has CCW reciprocity with Pennsylvania. Ung, fearing for his safety, pulled out his handgun and fired a half-dozen times at DiDonato, hitting him in the hand, abdomen and back. DiDonato, a former lacrosse...

Pending legislation in the state House of Representatives would allow the National Rifle Association to sue Lancaster and 29 other Pennsylvania cities. The bill, co-sponsored by six of Lancaster County's eight House members, would allow judges to impose triple damages against a city if a court finds its ordinance requiring the reporting of a lost or stolen handgun to be illegal. "They ought to be ashamed of themselves, to try to penalize communities that would regulate illegal guns because they don't have the guts to do it themselves," Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said. The 30 Pennsylvania cities passed ordinances requiring...

Pennsylvania: Firearms Preemption Enhancement Bill Scheduled to be Considered on the state House floor TODAY Please Contact your state Representative NOW! FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- Today, House Bill 1523 will be before the full House for its second consideration. As predicted, at least thirteen anti-gun amendments have been filed to the bill for second consideration. These amendments range from “ballistic imaging” mandate to gutting the current “state preemption” statute. It is imperative that you call AND e-mail your state Representative THIS MORNING and urge him or her to support HB 1523 and OPPOSE any and all House floor amendments. This much-needed...