Free Republic

OTTAWA — A long-running effort by the Conservatives to kill the long-gun registry has passed an important hurdle in the House of Commons, with a majority voting for the first time in 14 years to study a bill to repeal it. MPs voted 164-137 to give "second reading" — or "approval-in-principle" - to a private member's bill sponsored by MP Candice Hoeppner (Portage-Lisgar) that calls for the repeal of legal requirements to register long-barrelled rifles and shotguns. The stage was set for the vote to pass hours earlier when Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff declared the current long-gun registry faces a...

Gun Rights: A decade after Congress forbade the CDC from studying the health consequences of gun ownership, the National Institutes of Health has started funding such research. Will reform pry the guns from our cold, sick hands? More than a decade ago Congress, seeing it as a backdoor assault on the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, voted to cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control. Such research was viewed as one-sided and based on flawed assumptions that all gun use was bad, even that which saved lives and deterred crime. The...

18:28 PDT SACRAMENTO -- People buying ammunition in California will soon have to be thumbprinted and dealers will have to keep records of sales, under legislation that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law. More News After vetoing similar bills three times since 2004, Schwarzenegger signed AB962 by Assemblyman Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, on Sunday, saying he now believes it will promote public safety. The measure is California's first statewide regulation of ammunition sales. It survived close votes in both the Assembly and state Senate and strong opposition from gun-rights organizations, which succeeded in stripping a provision that would have...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683 Governor Schwarzenegger/California Lawmakers Squander Limited Financial Resources on Firearm Owner Registration Scheme Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Fairfax, Va. - Governor Schwarzenegger has signed a severe yet impotent gun control measure into law. Assembly Bill 962, taking effect on February 1, 2011, mandates individuals purchasing ammunition to be fingerprinted and registered at the time of sale and outlaws mail order ammunition purchases. AB 962 also requires dealers to maintain these records indefinitely and make them available for inspection by the California Department of Justice. As an additional burden, ammunition retailers are also required...

Just a reminder....for those wanting to vote in the Nov. 3 general election, TODAY is the deadline for registration. Your form must be in to a registrar by today at 5 pm IN PERSON or postmarked by today to be valid for this year's election. Faxed forms are not accepted. Click below or on the link above to print the voter registration form. http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/documents/VoterRegistration/sbe_voter_app_DOJ-Printed.pdf

Gun Control: The Supreme Court agrees to decide if the Second Amendment applies to all of us, or just Washington, D.C. Why would the Founders put in the Bill of Rights something applying only to a federal enclave? In a 5-4 decision last year written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court overturned a draconian District of Columbia gun ban enacted 32 years ago that barred private ownership of handguns at all. Scalia wrote that an individual's right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. The court ruled that...

(Corrected) Gun Control: In a case headed for the Supreme Court, a three-judge panel rules Chicago's gun ban constitutional since the 2nd Amendment doesn't apply to states and cities. High court nominee Sonia Sotomayor concurs.Those Pennsylvania townsfolk bitterly clinging to their guns may have been premature in celebrating the decision in D.C. v. Heller that the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does indeed guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms.

Last February I explained how, counter intuitively, the DC City Council's 2008 action to repeal the DC Police Chief's power to issue handgun carry permits made it possible for DC residents to apply by mail for handgun carry permits from Pennsylvania Sherrifs. Such applications can be made by filling out a simple form, no fingerprints, social security numbers, or training required. And these permits are accepted by many states too. . . . So how can DC residents legally acquire guns without jumping through all the hoops erected by the DC City Council? It turns out it's pretty simple -...

One of Cleveland's complaints about Statewide Preemption, which has led them to sue the State of Ohio over it, is that it scrapped their mandatory handgun registration. Our neighbors to the north have had an even more stringent gun registration scheme since 2001 despite the fact that "there is no convincing research showing that the gun registry has saved a single life." Gary Mauser, professor emeritus, Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies, Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B. C. explains. It is time to pull the plug on the long gun registry. The present Canadian firearms program...

The Knox Update From the Firearms Coalition July 4, 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of The Firearms Coalition and our bi-monthly newsletter The Hard Corps Report. It also marks the release of a long overdue book, Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War. Dad always wanted to write a history of the gun rights movement and it turns out that he had already done so in his columns and articles while the history was being made. Now, thanks to a lot of hard work by my brother Chris, it is finally about to be released. As we prepare for the...

This gun proposal misfired By FRED LEBRUN COMMENTARY First published in print: Sunday, May 31, 2009 Guns bring out the worst in people. Mobile AlertsGet weather alerts, sports scores and more. Or at least the on-going acrimonious, polarizing debate over gun control seems to. Finding a middle ground that preserves our constitutional rights and traditions in terms of gun ownership and use while addressing changing public safety needs driven by increased street violence remains increasingly elusive, nationally and regionally. Moving toward a wider public consensus on what to do about guns in America is getting harder, not easier. That should...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—A group of conservatives sued Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and 25 county election officials Thursday over allegedly incomplete voter records. Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis said the counties failed to post voter history updates as required within six weeks of the November 2008 election. His lawsuit also alleges that Ritchie's office has yet to update voter records to reflect all those who voted. Davis said the lawsuit was filed Thursday with the Minnesota Supreme Court. Ritchie, a Democrat, said the attorney general's office will respond to the lawsuit.

My oldest daughter patted my hand indulgently and said "Dad, I can assure you that nobody is going to come take your guns." We were again discussing gun rights and she cannot fathom my trepidation about the current trend in our federal government. I agree that the current legislation being considered doesn't empower the police to come confiscate our guns, but it does put in place a national permit system to oversee citizens rights to own a gun. That is step one: make it an earned privilege to own a gun. Step two is to raise the bar so high...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Registration & Licensing 5th Amendment, Self-Incrimination, & Gun Registration   5th Amendment, Self-Incrimination, & Gun Registration by Clayton E. Cramer A recurring question that we are asked, not only by gun control advocates, but even by a number of gun owners is, "What`s wrong with mandatory gun registration?" Usually by the time we finish telling them about the Supreme Court decision U.S. v. Haynes (1968), they are laughing -- and they understand our objection to registration.In Haynes, a Miles Edward Haynes appealed his conviction for unlawful possession of an unregistered short-barreled...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein recently said that she will pick the time, she will pick the place and she will bring back the failed Clinton gun ban. And she said President Obama will sign it. Most of the media has swept it under the rug, like always. But they can't deny it any longer and there's no doubt about it. They're coming after every law-abiding gun owner in America. They want your name and personal information in a federal database. That's right - national registration of all firearms. The Speaker of the House - Nancy Pelosi - fully admitted her gun...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   H.R. 2324--Aiming At Registering Gun Owners And Putting Gun Shows Out Of Business   Friday, May 08, 2009   On May 6, at a press conference with Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign, U.S. Representatives Michael Castle (R-Del.) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) introduced H.R. 2324--the "Gun Show Loophole Closing Act."  Masquerading as reform, H.R. 2324 would impose severe bureaucratic restrictions aimed at shutting down gun shows. The bill is essentially a re-introduction of the failed H.R. 96, introduced in the 110th Congress.  Despite changes from the Lautenberg juvenile justice amendment of...

Among comments to my last piece, “Lautenberg gun show bill as bad as expected,” several were from well-meaning gun owners who honestly questioned why S. 843 – ostensibly submitted to close the “gun show loophole” – is really so bad. A typical and knowledgeable comment went like this: “I am a very pro-gun person. I own a couple of rifles and I will never support any [‘assault weapon’ ban]. I don't even support the ‘86 [McClure-Volkmer] automatic ban. But background checks should be required for any and every sale. If that means transferring it at the dealer, then fine. "But...

Pierre Lemieux is a libertarian Quebecer, which makes him a member of what may be North America's least electorally significant minority. He's a gun owner, and a couple of years back he was obliged to fill in the relevant government paperwork: Before renewing his gun permit in 2007, the authorities decided to inquire into Lemieux's bedroom history. Did he divorce anyone in the last two years? Did he break up with a girlfriend? If yes, use a separate sheet to explain. Pardon me? Explain? Well, it was nothing personal . Apparently, Canada's government feels it ought to know the romantic...

What is the gun show loophole? It is the ability of a person to buy a gun from another attendee at the show, person to person, with no Instacheck to see if the buyer is a felon, or for any other reason should not be able to have a gun. If a person buys a gun from a Federal Fire Arms licensed dealer at the show, they must show ID and get the InstaCheck. On it's surface, this seems like a bad thing. The ABC television show 20/20 last Friday documented the ease with which a man bought lots of...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, announced last week that she wants to register guns. Her next move will be to try to confiscate them. The speaker picked a television show with a viewership of 4.6 million to float the Democrats' coming gun-control push. Questioned on ABC's "Good Morning America" about the prospect of new gun-control laws now that "it's a Democratic president, a Democratic House," she responded, "We don't want to take their guns away. We want them registered." Politicians and bureaucrats routinely claim that registration helps solve crimes. If a registered gun is used in a crime and...

Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dropped a verbal bombshell in the middle of an interview on Good Morning America April 7, and surprisingly, neither the press nor a majority of gun rights activists seemed to notice. Responding to a question from ABC’s Robin Roberts, Pelosi said that while Congress apparently does not want to take anyone’s guns away, “We want them registered.” Roberts: Under the Bush administration, you pretty much said the ball was in their court when it came to reinstating the ban. Now, it's a Democratic President, a Democratic House. So, is the ball in your court where...

BELLEVUE, Wash., April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on April 7 acknowledged that gun registration is on her agenda, days after Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters in Mexico that the Second Amendment would not "stand in the way" of administration plans to crack down on alleged gun trafficking to Mexico. "These are alarming remarks from Speaker Pelosi and Attorney General Holder," said Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb. "It appears that the Obama administration and Capitol Hill anti-gunners have dropped all pretences about their plans for gun owners' rights, and it looks like the gloves are...

I just got the following email, which I am wondering whether it is a bonafide leak or a hoax: > I am an 11B currently assigned at Fort Campbell. I live off > post, > with my firearms(which I don't bring on post for any > reason). A > very frightening thing happened at work yesterday. I was > ordered to > fill out a list containing my firearm information. This > included > make, model, caliber, and serial number of all firearms I > currently > posses. In addition, I was also required to list > registration > information,...

Ammunition update in California & What You Can Do! Please read and see how this will apply to all of us. Long Beach City Council to Vote on Ammunition Registration TuesdayMarch 24 Please Make Your Opposition Heard! On Tuesday, March 24, the Long Beach City Council is set to vote on whether to draft an ordinance to force ammunition sellers in Long Beach to record the identity of all ammunition purchasers, as well as other details of the sales transaction. These records would then be collected and used by the Long Beach Police Department to identify purchasers who are legally...

http://www.examiner.com/x-2782-DC-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m3d22-DC-Councilmember-Mendelsons-defense-of-DC-gun-registration-stretches-truth-beyond-breaking-point SNIP But today Councilmember Phil Mendelson insists in a Washington Post commentary that Congress must allow DC gun registration scheme to continue. Let's consider Mendelson's arguments in detail. First, Mendelson said that the Supreme Court "upheld the constitutionality of gun registration." Um, wrong. In DC v. Heller the Supreme Court said that "Respondent conceded at oral argument that he does not 'have a problem with ... licensing' and that the District's law is permissible so long as it is 'not enforced in an arbitrary and capricious manner.' Tr. of Oral Arg. 74-75. We therefore assume that petitioners' issuance of...

http://www.examiner.com/x-2782-DC-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m3d14-DC-Attorney-General-Peter-Nickels-acts-schizophrenic-on-constitutional-rights SNIP On March 3, 2009, the Washington Times reported that District of Columbia Attorney General Peter J. Nickels said that DC residents owning certain legally registered long guns will be barred from re-registering them in three years due to the DC City Council's quietly passed December 2008 amendments to DC's gun control statutes. These changes make it unlawful to register long guns if the guns have certain features such as pistol grips even though long guns with pistol grips are in common use across the United States. But on March 11, 2009, Attorney General Nickels ordered corrections officials to...

Please DIGG this column (button at bottom) - let's make this story white hot! http://www.examiner.com/x-2782-DC-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m3d9-Federal-law-suit-filed-after-DC-refuses-to-register-handgun-because-its-the-wrong-color SNIP In a federal lawsuit filed today by civil rights attorney Alan Gura, three DC residents seek relief from DC's onerous and odious handgun registration scheme. Under the statute adopted by the DC Council last December, DC now bans many ordinary and common handguns based upon silly criteria such as the color of the gun.

Minnesotaâ's own Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance is back on the job at the Capitol. This year, we are seeing a number of very dangerous bills proposed. Second Amendment rights, American liberties, are very much at risk. Metrocrats ( Urban Liberal anti gun democrats) control both the MN House and the MN Senate. They have done their best to stack committees to pass legislation that will harass law-abiding gun owners, sometimes turning them into criminals. So far we have two items to report to you. One needs your action this week. This Week Paymar's Gun Owners Criminalization Legislation This Friday...

Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty is planning to introduce a private member’s bill calling for the abolition of the long gun registry once Parliament resumes later this month. “The reason I’m doing that is really because I promised the constituents in every election that that’s what I would do, given the opportunity, and you know what, I got the opportunity,” Rafferty said last week while hosting a pre-budget consultation here. Rafferty said he will introduce the bill as soon as he can during the upcoming sitting of Parliament. “While a lot of the debate going on in the legislature...

According to its sample legislation, manufacturers would be forced to code all ammunition sold in the state. Private citizens and retail outlets would be required to dispose of all non-coded ammunition no later than Jan. 1, 2011. Each vendor would record the following information about customers who buy the ammunition: Date, name, driver's license or ID number, date of birth and ammunition identifier. The businesses would maintain records for three years from the date of purchase.

The 34-year-old Chester man must serve six to 23 months of home confinement after his sentencing Monday in Delaware County, reports the Associated Press.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich (WZZM) Two people from West Michigan are facing felony charges after authorities say they forged multiple voter registration applications. Robin Anderson and Patty Wallace are both facing multiple charges of felony forgery. The State Attorney General's Office says Anderson and Wallace both told Grand Rapids authorities they turned in fake voter applications to meet quotas set by their employer Community Voter's Project. They face up to 14 years on each count but could face tougher penalties for being habitual offenders. Anderson was convicted of dealing drugs in 2006. Wallace was convicted in Florida of unemployment compensation fraud...

A record number of Californians has registered to vote in the run-up to next week's general election, with voter rolls surpassing 17 million for the first time. The secretary of state's office said Friday that the state has 17.3 million registered voters. That's up from the previous peak in February 2005, when California had 16.6 million voters.

So what if ACORN registered Mickey Mouse to vote? Like Obama said, its only fraud if they show up to vote—right? What possible harm could one poor black mouse really do? After all, he’s fictional. I seriously doubt that Mickey Mouse would have shown up to vote. So it begs the question, “What is the point in registering him in the first place?” The answer is laid out plainly in the little known Crisis Strategy known as the Cloward-Piven Strategy. And by the looks of it; Democrats may be unwittingly following a play book that was ghost written by two...

An article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Cleveland is now claiming their gun registry is "voluntary" now that the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in the OFCC v. Clyde case that all local gun laws are invalid. ...the city no longer requires people to register their handguns with City Hall. But some people continue to do so, and the city willingly takes down their information, said Lt. Thomas Stacho, a police spokesman. Willingly preying on the unsuspecting citizens who don't realize they are no longer required to register? Say it isn't so! The City would have you believe that...

CINCINNATI - About 200,000 newly registered Ohio voters will be affected by a federal appeals court ruling that requires the state to do more to help county election boards verify eligibility, an elections spokesman said yesterday. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner estimated that an initial review found at least 200,000 potential voters reported driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers that don't match records in other government databases, said Kevin Kidder, a spokesman for the office.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AFP) – Barack Obama's White House campaign charged Tuesday that desperate Republicans were waging a nationwide campaign orchestrated with John McCain's staff to intimidate voters and depress turnout. Top aides to the Democrat battled back against what they called a Republican "smokescreen" over a liberal advocacy group called ACORN, which is under investigation in several states over allegations of voter registration fraud. The group released a video, set to the song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," showing McCain warmly greeting its activists at a February 2006 event in support of immigration reform. Obama said his own ties to...

Hey Yall, This just happened to my husband and I wanted to alert you all to this. Apologies if I have filed this under the wrong category; moderators please fix as necessary. My husband and I live in the San Francisco area and are registered to vote by mail permanently. We both successfully voted in the California Republican primary earlier on February 5. In September I received a notice that I would get my Presidential ballot in early October but he did not. When I got mine last week but he did not get his, he called the voter registration...

ACORN's hypocrisy also extends to its stand on the minimum wage. While it has often attempted to force minimum-wage increases on private businesses through ballot initiatives and local ordinances, ACORN tried to exempt itself from California's minimum-wage requirements. According to EPI, "ACORN argued that being forced to pay higher wages would mean that they would hire fewer employees — the very dilemma faced by businesses. Incredibly, ACORN stated that paying its employees a lower wage would allow them to be more sympathetic to the low- and moderate-income families they were attempting to help. ACORN argued that abiding by the state...

ACORN Says It Can't Prevent All Registration FraudLast Edited: Wednesday, 08 Oct 2008, 8:23 PM EDT By The Associated Press CLEVELAND -- An organization under scrutiny across the country for voter registration irregularities has told Ohio election officials it cannot eliminate fraud from its operations. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, said Tuesday that inefficiency and lack of resources were to blame for problems including duplicate registrations and workers filling out registration cards to make quotas. The group, which works to get low-income people to vote, has turned in at least 65,000 cards to the Cuyahoga...

A leading critic of Islam isn't surprised there has been virtually no coverage or action taken against a Muslim group that has been running an illegal "get out the vote" campaign in swing-state mosques. The group, Muslim Americans for Obama [MAFO], insists that all of its voter registration activity is non-partisan, despite the fact that its mission statement says it was launched in August 2008 "to provide a vehicle for Muslim-American supporters of Barack Obama to organize and mobilize our fellow citizens to get out the vote to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States." Continuing, the...

You may already be registered to vote, but you probably know several people who are not. If they're not registered by today, they can't vote in this critical election. This election is going to hinge on unprecedented voter turnout -- especially in Virginia. Make sure you're registered. Then encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to do the same. Virginia voter registration forms must be postmarked by today -- so be sure to check what time your local post office closes. Ideally, people should register IN PERSON at their local city or county voter office.

Finding out how to vote is now quick and easy. Using this tool you can: * 1. Register to vote. * 2. Request to vote absentee. * 3. Find your polling location. This should only take about 3 minutes.

STEUBENVILLE -EMPTY ENVELOPE — Brian D’Amico, vice president of the College Republicans at Franciscan University of Steubenville, holds the torn and empty envelope that was received Friday at the Jefferson County Board of Elections. D’Amico said he had mailed the envelope containing 115-130 voter registration forms a week ago but it was stamped at the Youngstown postal center as “received unsealed.” Some voter registration forms originally thought to be missing were delivered today to the Jefferson County Board of Elections. Diane Gribble, director of the board of elections, said 56 voter registration cards were delivered today from the Pittsburgh post...

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William Greene would like to register his guns with the city of Chicago. So would Charles Wilson, Ronald Wallace, Alberto Ortega, J. Anthony Clark, Nashaat Mhanna, Thomas Scileppi and Darrell Powell. And for the life of me, I don't really understand why we shouldn't let them. Each of the eight men appeared before a city hearing officer Tuesday to argue that the Chicago Police Department erred in rejecting their efforts to register -- or in many cases re-register -- their firearms. I was in attendance mostly by accident, thinking I'd be seeing cases brought under the city's handgun ban ordinance....

Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said Tuesday he will meet today with a Democrat-affiliated group responsible for a voter registration effort that is inundating East Baton Rouge and other parish registrars with bogus and incomplete applications. Dardenne said his investigators are trying to determine if any state election laws have been violated as thousands of voter registration cards have been dumped on registrars offices through the efforts of VIP. “We have some very real concerns about the data we are getting from them,” Dardenne said. VIP is a Washington, D.C., group hired by national Democrats to register some 70,000...

I suppose you can't fault a candidate for not volunteering for the military, particularly in the late 1970s when Obama came of military age. However, I do think it is important to know whether a male candidate for Commander-in-Chief registered for the draft. I remember doing it in 1981. Obama should have in 1979. I wonder if he did, given his foreign upbringing and foreign/lefty background. Anyone know how to check this? The Selective Service website required birthdate and social security number.

DEADLINE to Register is March 24th in Pennsylvania BY JULIE BENAMATI The Tribune-Democrat As Monday’s deadline fast approaches to sign up to vote in Pennsylvania’s presidential primary, elections offices in Cambria and Somerset counties report a significant increase in Democratic registrations. Political party leaders say the contest between Democratic hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is bringing new voters to the polls – and causing some to change party affiliation altogether. Cambria County’s election office has seen 955 new voter registrations since October, and 377 voters have changed parties in the past four weeks – about 90 percent of...

Maybe it’s a vast right-wing conspiracy, or maybe people really want a choice. Either way, it’s making work for the Lackawanna County Voter Registration Office. In the three weeks since it became clear Pennsylvanians would have a meaningful role in selecting the Democratic presidential nominee, 832 county voters — Republicans, independents or third-party members — have switched their registration to the Democratic Party. The number who have gone the other way, from Democrat, independent or third party to the Republican camp, is just 27. That’s a ratio of more than 30 to 1 in favor of the Democrats. “There’s obviously...