Free Republic

One of two concealed gun permit holders involved in a rolling shootout down Milwaukee streets and freeways last year was turned down Thursday when he asked a judge to order the return of the gun seized after the incident. Roy Anthony Scott told police he was merely trying to escape from Eric Adamany, 29, and fired in self-defense. Scott was never charged in the June 2013 shootout. Adamany was, and his case of recklessly endangering safety is pending. Scott, also 29, was charged in September 2013 with being party to the crime of armed robbery at an auto-parts store three...

Karissa Neff and Sara Shertz drive away from the hustle and bustle, down a lonely stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South until they reach their turn-off, a road where asphalt meets gravel. It’s late afternoon and their truck is loaded with about a dozen semi-automatic handguns, revolvers, and bolt action and high-powered rifles. A utopia for gun enthusiasts seeking outdoor target practice, the location near Sloan is barren isolation with a touch of lawlessness. Pockmarked by divots and peppered debris, the off-road stretch is lined with pickup trucks and empty ammunition shells. For the women of Gun Play Vegas, it’s...

Come to Chicago, Michael Bloomberg — in a big way — if you really want to fight gun violence in America. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Among American big cities, Chicago suffers one of the highest per capita rates of gun violence. And you, since stepping down as mayor of New York, have established yourself as a national leader — certainly the leader with the deepest pockets — in the uphill fight for sanity in gun laws. No city or state could use you more. As we wrote in an editorial last month, Chicago...

Illinois has a chance to get smarter about penalties for gun crimes, hitting offenders with longer sentences where needed and shorter ones where appropriate. We urge the Legislature to seize the opportunity. So much is at stake, especially in Chicago, where the bloodshed from guns is constant and horrific. Within the next couple of days, the Legislature’s Joint Criminal Justice Reform Committee will present a series of findings on gun violence and gun laws, reflecting months of listening to law enforcement officials, national criminal justice experts and others. The committee’s findings are expected to be the basis for new laws...

The leftist media present the fictional story with glee, repeating the lies endlessly, sometimes doctoring the evidence and always ignoring the facts. They appear oblivious to the hatred and division that they are causing. Or worse, they appear to seek violence as a ratings booster. In Ferguson, the mob knew the script. For media and mob it was, “lights, camera, action!” Eric Holder knows every detail of the eyewitness testimony and he knows the physical evidence. He knows, but he doesn’t care. He has a role to play in this sick, political drama and the facts will not change his...

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (AP) - Black Friday isn't just when shoppers rush to stores for holiday sales. It's also one of the busiest days of the year for gun purchases. In the U.S., there are nine guns for every 10 people. Someone is killed with a firearm every 16 minutes. And every minute, gun shops make about 40 new requests for criminal background checks on people wanting weapons. On Black Friday, the rush accelerates to nearly two checks a second, testing the limits of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. "We have a perfect storm coming," says Kimberly Del Greco,...

Blase Cupich’s arrival as archbishop presents a historic opportunity to turn Chicago away from its horrific gun violence. As Cupich officially assumes his duties Tuesday, we urge him to take a leading and visible role in fighting the devastating flow of illegal guns into our city. Nothing could be more God’s work. Cupich has said he is “prepared to speak” on a gamut of pressing social issues in the Chicago archdiocese, from the “deep pockets of poverty” to income inequality to compassionate care for the elderly — all profound matters. But arguably no issue is more pressing than the violence...

Gun Control: To some, concern over a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty set to take effect Dec. 24 is much ado about nothing. But a president unconstrained by Congress or the Constitution may try to impose severe limits on gun rights. All treaties must be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate, and that's not about to happen in the case of the unratified Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), particularly after the 2014 election that gave the GOP Senate control. The same, of course, could have been said about the Kyoto Protocol and other climate change deals that mandate that governments tie their...

Chicago desperately needs a real leader in the fight to get illegal guns off our blood-stained streets. Nothing is more important to our city’s future. We believe that leader can and must be Bruce Rauner. That may seem counter-intuitive. Rauner is a Republican who ran for governor as a strong defender of the Second Amendment, against an incumbent Democratic governor, Pat Quinn, with a long record in support of gun control. But it is precisely because Rauner is a Republican and a staunch defender of legal gun rights — and because he now faces the prospect of finding common ground...

Experts on gun violence met at a symposium Friday afternoon in Milwaukee as another Milwaukee family mourned the death of a child hit by a stray bullet Thursday night. Laylah C. Petersen — remember her name — was sitting on her grandfather's lap when she was hit. She was 5. Sierra Guyton — remember her name, too — was killed while playing on her school playground last May. She was 10. In Racine, a 4-year-old girl was shot the day before Petersen was shot. Our hearts reach out to Petersen's family and echo the words of Laylah's aunt, Jocelyn Petersen:...

On Thursday night, 5-year-old Laylah C. Petersen became one of about 300 Americans per year killed by stray bullets. Laylah, who was sitting on her grandfather's lap when a bullet pierced the wall of her home and struck her in the head, joins Sierra Guyton, 10, fatally shot on a playground in May, and at least nine other Milwaukee children killed by errant gunfire since 1995. On Friday, city residents were once again left with this question: "What can we do?" While the answer is multifaceted, one thing is clear, according to Joshua Horwitz, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based...

Colorado's governor, intensely criticized over death-row reprieve, says he'd do it again. ... Part of Hickenlooper's problem has been the ambitous liberal agenda, from gays to guns, he signed into law in 2013 after a Democratic legislative spree. Part has been his habit of thinking out loud and his seeming eagerness to please all sides of an issue; a meeting this summer with hostile sheriffs turned into a political disaster when the governor equivocated about the gun-control laws he backed, upsetting both sides. But Hickenlooper will also have someone else to blame: Nathan Dunlap. In 1993, as a 19-year-old, Dunlap...

"Own a gun in Missouri? Legally? With a concealed carry license? Well, congratulations are in order, because you can open carry that gun all you want, seemingly anywhere, and nobody -- not St. Louis mayor Francis Slay, state legislators or the cops -- will stop you. That's the takeaway from Saturday's open carry demonstration through Citygarden and the Gateway Arch, which attracted around 50 local and out-of-state activists to the heart of downtown St. Louis. Participants wore holstered pistols or carried long rifles slung over the shoulder, drawing both stares from passing tourists and the ire of the city's mayor."

Security: In a country with strict gun control and without a Second Amendment, an armed citizen stopped a terrorist attack as our neighbor to the north becomes a jihadi target. When Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, aka Michael Hall, was shot dead by Kevin Vickers, the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms, the jihadist wannabe and Muslim convert had already murdered Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a guard at Canada's National War Memorial, and was inside Canada's Parliament building, very near a room where Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was meeting with members of his Conservative Party. "PM (Harper) was addressing caucus, then a huge boom, followed...

The top deputy to Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation on Thursday amid revelations that Operation Fast and Furious scandal guns were used to harm Americans in Phoenix in 2013, a development top congressional Republicans say President Obama’s administration sought to cover up. ... Holder, the attorney general, has failed to cooperate with the Fast and Furious congressional investigation led by Issa and Grassley. Holder was voted, on a bipartisan basis, into both criminal and civil contempt of Congress—a first in the history of the United States for a Cabinet-level official—after he failed to provide documents to Issa’s committee...

Beyond Colorado's headline-grabbing races for Senate and governor, the election for House District 59 is starting to generate its own news for being the most expensive race for state house in Colorado — all thanks to tough new gun control laws passed in 2013. The contest is between Democratic incumbent Mike McLachlan and Republican challenger J. Paul Brown for a small district centered on the rural city of Durango. According to the Durango Herald, the race has attracted "a waterfall of money" from outside groups, to the tune of at least $718,000 in a market where media and advertising are...

The Islamic State has issued a global call to lone wolves. One could be standing behind you on the bus, walking next you at the mall or sitting in the next cubicle. In the age of the Islamic State and solo terrorism, gun-free zones are simply an invitation for a terrorist attack. In Moore, Okla., the life-saving value of the Second Amendment was proved once again. It may be our secret weapon in the ongoing war against terrorism.

If you're going to Bergeron's Restaurant in Louisiana bring your appetite - and your gun. Customers at the Port Allen outlet who carry a weapon are given a 10% discount on their meal. According to US news reports, restaurant owner Kevin Cox said he came up with the idea as a way to thank law enforcement officers who go to the restaurant.

MOORE, Okla. – Officials with the Moore Police Department say the FBI is now involved in the investigation related to a brutal attack of workers at a food distribution plant. Sgt. Jeremy Lewis says the alleged suspect, 30-year-old Alton Nolen had just been fired when he drove to the front of the business, hit a vehicle and walked inside. He walked into the front office area where he met 54-year-old Colleen Hufford and began attacking her with a knife. Sgt. Lewis confirms the type of knife used in the attack is the same kind used at the plant. Lewis confirms...

Gun control in Britain passed in stages, beginning just after World War I and continuing in a reactionary fashion with increasing strictness through the 1990s. When the final stage arrived in 1997, and virtually all handguns were banned via the Firearms Act, the promise was a reduction in crime and greater safety for the British people. But the result was the emergence of Britain as the "most violent country in Europe." Britain began placing restrictions on gun ownership after World War I with the Firearms Act of 1920. .... The Firearms Act of 1920 did not ban guns. Rather, it...