Free Republic

I already know the anti-gun zealots’ talking points on the Orlando gay nightclub tragedy. If it weren’t so tragic, it would be boring. You don’t need to turn on CNN, MSNBC, or turn to HuffPost. I can tell you what they’re saying: #1 “It’s a gun related tragedy. Guns kill people. If we outlawed guns, it would not be possible to kill people. So let’s outlaw guns, already. People have nothing to do with it; it’s all the gun’s fault. What are you, a racist?” # 2 [If domestic terrorism, insert the following here]: “You see? Hate is running through...

“Pray for Orlando" we read on Facebook and Twitter. Prayer is vitally important, but is there more we can do? As United Methodist Christians, we mourn with the victims and families of those wounded and killed in the shootings on June 12, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. We may even pray and wonder if anything could have been done to avert this heinous act. But should we do more? Is there anything that can be done to keep something similar from happening in the future? While we may not agree on a solution, many of us agree there is a problem....

With shooting deaths soaring in Milwaukee, gun cases have swamped the county criminal courts, but there has been no similar spike in federal firearm prosecutions. In fact, the opposite occurred last year, according to new data analyzed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The number of people sentenced in the Eastern District of Wisconsin primarily for federal firearms offenses fell to 46 in fiscal year 2015 — a 47% drop from the previous year, and a 10-year low, according to U.S. Sentencing Commission data. Federal gun prosecutions are down nationwide, but the drop here was one of the steepest among the...

If there is any issue that could intensify the emotions and raise the stakes in the 2016 presidential election, it's guns. That issue just got cranked up to 11. A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the Second Amendment does not protect the right to carry a concealed firearm in public. Another appeals court has reached a somewhat different conclusion, and the question is bound eventually to demand the attention of the Supreme Court. On the general topic of gun rights, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump strongly differ. He got the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, and she won...

Jenny Beth Martin, president and co-founder of the so-called Tea Party Patriots, outdid even herself with a recent column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel insisting that Sen. Ron Johnson is standing in the way of letting President Obama take away your guns. Yes, that's still the mantra after all these years. Barack Obama really wanted to become president of the United States so he could send out troops (or someone) to grab your guns and hold you helpless against the forces of evil, which, of course, include the U.S. government. How is Ron Johnson standing in the way of Obama...

Connecticut has a new anti-gun law. Governor Dannel Malloy signed the law that makes it illegal for any person subject to a temporary restraining order ("TRO") to possess a firearm of any sort. People subject to a temporary restraining order must surrender all firearms to the police within 24 hours or face jail time. The new law deprives citizens who have been convicted of no crime of their Constitutional rights without due process...

After the shooting of 9-year-old Za'layia Jenkins, her family, friends and neighbors rallied and marched for peace. It was the children, though, who sent a particularly poignant, powerful message when they joined the rally-cry: "We're fighting for the right to grow up!" In a state where at least 408 children have been gunned down since 1999, we must listen to our children's urgent message, and we must take meaningful action. That is why today, the second-annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day, Wisconsinites from every corner of the state are joining caring people from across the country in rising up and...

If the Republicans had nominated a skunk in the contest against Hillary Clinton, the National Rifle Association would have heartily embraced the odoriferous Mr. Stinky. A week ago, the NRA, which has millions of members and is eager to target congressional races in which guns are an issue, endorsed Donald Trump for president. He spoke, of course. Hand in the air for emphasis, he told the NRA that Clinton would try to "abolish" the Second Amendment. How does one "abolish" anything in the Constitution? It takes many steps. It's not going to happen. But that doesn't matter. It was what...

The makers of a new Katie Couric documentary on gun violence deceptively edited an interview between Couric and a group of gun rights activists in an apparent attempt to embarrass the activists, an audio recording of the full interview shows. At the 21:48 mark of Under the Gun a scene of Katie Couric interviewing members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights organization, is shown. Couric can be heard in the interview asking activists from the group, “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?” The...

Just how easy it is for a legally owned gun to turn into a crime gun — and how hard it is to trace the path — was made clear in Sunday’s Sun-Times as Frank Main reported how a gun stolen from an ex-Chicago cop was used to shoot three Chicago Police officers on the West Side. The ex-cop kept a .40 caliber Glock Model 22 handgun at a relative’s home in unincorporated Palatine until, police said, it was stolen by a cable TV installer who said he put it into his company truck. From there it somehow traveled to...

The lid may finally blow off the Fast and Furious cover-up by the Obama administration, as a federal judge ordered the release of thousands of emails showing how then-attorney general Eric Holder obstructed, stonewalled, and misdirected congressional investigators looking into the program. People in the Nixon administration went to jail for less. ... The documents reveal how senior Justice Department officials — including Attorney General Holder — intensely followed and managed an effort to carefully limit and obstruct the information produced to Congress,” he asserted. They also indict Holder deputy Lanny Breuer, an old Clinton hand, who had to step...

Written by Allen West on May 21, 2016 : on this day I am honored to say I have been elected for a three-year term to the NRA Board of Directors.

Louisville, Ky. — Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke's message to those attending Friday's NRA-ILA Leadership Forum was in part cautionary: Be wary of "freedom-loathing gun-haters." "Don't be misled by phony sloganeering like 'common sense gun legislation' or 'smart guns,'" he said. "There is nothing smart about what they are up to, as you and I both know. None of this crap will reduce violence, suicides or mass shootings." The crowd erupted in applause several times during Clarke's talk, which was one in a nearly four-hour-long series of speeches from pro-gun heavyweights and politicians like presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and...

... There appears to be a troubling trend within the VA. As of December 2015, almost 99 percent of the names listed on the 'mental defective' category for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, otherwise known as the national gun-ban list, are from the Veterans Administration. Once a person's name is on that list, they are banned from owning or possessing a firearm. Their Second Amendment rights are completely null and void...

“Yesterday, once again, this time horrifically on live television,” says Hillary Clinton in a video on her presidential campaign website, “we saw the terrible consequences of gun violence.” As it turns out, Clinton is not talking about civilian deaths from drone strikes or bombing raids on hospitals by the U.S. government, but about a criminal shooting spree in the United States. Sure enough, the Washington Postpointed out last week that one of Clinton’s signature issues heading into the general election is tightening restrictions on the ownership and use of guns by Americans.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Media attention to gun violence tends to be doled out in predictable, limited ways: when a mass shooting happens, when the anniversary of such a tragedy is marked or when the use of deadly force by law enforcement or citizens is questioned. But the headline-driven nature of the coverage is starting to shift, with documentary filmmakers, TV networks and others attempting to reach beyond the heat and anger of the moment in search of more nuanced — and sometimes more pointed — scrutiny of a crucial American issue. With "Armed in America," PBS is giving over...

A survey of African-American and Latino communities found most believe addressing gun violence can lead to improved police-community relations and reduced rates of incarceration, according to a new report. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the Urban Institute and the Joyce Foundation commissioned the study, which was based on a national survey of 1,200 African-American and Latino likely voters and four focus groups in Atlanta and Milwaukee. "I think people are coming to grips that we can't address these issues in isolation," said Reggie Moore, director of Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention. He also referenced the survey's finding...

Shamara Austin felt violated when she and her two sons, one just a few months old, came home six years ago to find their condo on Milwaukee's northwest side had been burglarized. Someone broke in through the sliding glass patio door and ransacked the unit, flipping over mattresses, stealing televisions and a video game system. The burglary shook her up and terrified her 7-year-old son, who began having nightmares. Austin had always been afraid of guns, and had no direct experience with them — other than hearing about people hurt or killed in shootings. For the first time in her...

At Swords & Dreams Reptile Rescue in West Allis, owner Tom McNeil sells lots of knives of nearly every size and description. Until this year, though, his line did not include switchblades, "out the fronts" or butterfly knives, all long considered contraband on Wisconsin streets. His customers kept telling him they would be legal soon, McNeil recalled. "But I've been hearing that for 20 years." This time, it's true. In February, Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill that repealed the state's ban on automatic knives and pre-empted all local government efforts to regulate knives by blade length or other characteristics.

There are some knee-jerk reactions to the seemingly "political correctness run amok" move to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, replacing President Andrew Jackson. But the replacing of the slave-owning founder of the Democratic Party with a gun-toting black Republican may spark a political debate worth having and unearth historical truths worth learning. As PJ Media described the announcement: The first woman on United States bank notes will be the famous abolitionist and Republican Harriet Tubman, Politico reported Wednesday. She will give the boot to the nation's sixth president and a major figure in the Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson,...