Free Republic

If I were the parent or spouse of one of those killed in the terrorist attack at Fort Hood last week, I would begin raising utter hell in the public arena the minute my loved one was buried and my tears dried up. Not only did outrageous political correctness convince otherwise rational people in authority to put our soldiers in unnecessary danger, but since 1993, there has been a gun-ban in place on our army bases.

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. --...

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...

For a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been forbidden by Congress from doing research on gun-control issues. Such piddling hurdles as federal law don't matter to the Obama administration. With a wave of a hand, the CDC has simply redefined gun-control research so the ban no longer applies. They're not researching guns; they're researching alcohol sales and their impact on gun violence, or researching how teens carrying guns affect the rates of non-gun injuries. "These particular grants do not address gun control; rather they deal with the surrounding web of circumstances," wrote National Institutes of Health...

John Lennon’s observation that happiness is a warm gun may be more true now than ever if membership at the Tri-County Gun Club is any indication. The club has picked up an average of 70 new members a month through most of this year, according to George Pitts, Tri-County’s public information officer. The credit for that spike in membership falls on the Barack Obama administration, Pitts says. “We took in 77 new members this month,” Pitts said on a sunny afternoon last April, as sporadic gunfire echoed through the hills of the 230-acre club nestled in the hills between Tualatin...

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.

Some judges on an 11-member panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared to agree with gun-rights advocates that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, recently interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect an individual's right to own guns, is binding on the states and can be used to challenge the county ordinance.

Daniel Ames reckons he dealt one for the good guys on Saturday night near Soldotna when he came home, found two burglars in his house, wrestled with them over a pistol, then took them down, telling them he was going to blow off their knees if they didn't start following his orders.

You can be forgiven if you thought that Republicans are for states’ rights. The Republican Party’s 2008 platform insists that Congress should respect the limits imposed by the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution, which declares that authority not granted to the federal government is reserved to the states. But for some Republicans, federal preemption of state authority seems just fine if it promotes the possession of guns. That is the message of a bill sponsored by the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, John Thune of South Dakota. The bill, sprung on us as a proposed amendment to a...

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A man was shot and killed outside a home near Altamonte Springs early Friday morning. Deputies say he was trying to break into a home on S. Magnolia Avenue when someone inside shot him. Investigators say at approximately 4:00am on Friday, a woman was awakened by a loud, pounding sound coming from the front door of her home. She woke up her husband to let him know what she heard and asked him to go check on what was happening. "Yes someone's just tried to break down my front door," said the caller to the 911...

WASHINGTON - The National Rifle Association is asking the Supreme Court to strike down strict gun control laws in the Chicago area, setting the stage for another high court battle over Second Amendment protections for gun owners.

Chicago had seven shooting deaths in 24 hours this weekend, and police say they have no suspects in custody.

AUSTIN — The Senate gave preliminary approval Tuesday to legislation that would allow concealed handguns at colleges and universities, but with less than two weeks left in the 2009 Legislature, the bill's ultimate outcome is uncertain. "That's the real question. I don't know the answer to that," said Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, when asked whether there is enough time to win final passage in the Senate and rush the bill through the House before the June 1 adjournment. The bill would allow Texans who have concealed-handgun permits to carry the weapons into college and university buildings, classrooms and dormitories....

Regarding the 07 Apr 09 Sound Off! comment: “In one week, mass shootings have killed over 30 people. The shooters are well-armed. Automatic weapons and assault rifles need to be taken out of gun show and retail sales. There is not “right” to own an assault rifle in the Constitution.” Hm, let’s take this apart and see how truthful this statement is. The 2ND Amendment of the Constitution reads as follows: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” So, obviously...

Regarding the 07 Apr 09 Sound Off! comment: “In one week, mass shootings have killed over 30 people. The shooters are well-armed. Automatic weapons and assault rifles need to be taken out of gun show and retail sales. There is not “right” to own an assault rifle in the Constitution.” Hm, let’s take this apart and see how truthful this statement is. The 2ND Amendment of the Constitution reads as follows: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” So, obviously...

This pistol-packing granny, who shot a man she accused of mugging her in her wheelchair, wishes she had finished the job -- because now, he's suing her for millions. "I'm a peaceful person. I wish that I had killed him," said Margaret Johnson, 59, whose grandfather, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, once ruled Harlem's underworld and was immortalized in several hit movies.

A British man sailing with his wife off the coast of southern Thailand was allegedly beaten to death and thrown overboard by men trying to steal their dinghy, Thai police said on Tuesday.

A federal judge today blocked a last-minute rule enacted by President Bush allowing visitors to national parks to carry concealed weapons. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by gun-control advocates and environmental groups. The Justice Department had sought to block the injunction against the controversial rule.

KNOXVILLE - No charges are expected against a trucker who fatally shot a man entering the trucker's parked rig in West Knox County, an official said this morning. "Our recommendation is not to charge that gentleman," said John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols. The trucker, Richard Vance Allen, 68, of North Carolina shot James Edward Hodges Jr., 34, of Loudon about 2:30 a.m. March 11.

AUSTIN - Every summer, just before children go back to school, millions of Texas families take advantage of a three-day sales tax holiday to buy clothes and shoes for the youngsters. Sen. Jeff Wentworth wants to do the same for hunters who need handguns, rifles, shotguns and ammunition for their annual hunting trip. The San Antonio Republican has introduced a bill that would exempt the sale of those items from the state sales tax if purchased the last weekend of August. The state collects about $22 million a year in sales taxes from the purchase of firearms and ammunition, Wentworth...

KNOXVILLE - Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of a man who allegedly tried to enter a parked tractor-trailer rig in West Knox County. Knox County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Martha Dooley said the incident occurred about 2:30 a.m. at a warehouse parking lot at 10720 Lexington Drive, which runs off of Lovell Road. Killed was James Edward Hodges Jr., 34, of Loudon, according to Dooley. He was trying to break into a tractor-trailer while the driver was asleep in the truck's sleeper cabin, Dooley said.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Springfield is headed toward a political showdown over guns, with both sides loading up like they haven't in years. The gun owners lobby is close to getting a floor debate in the Legislature on its pinnacle goal of allowing residents to carry concealed handguns in Illinois, which is one of just two states that still outlaw it. (Wisconsin is the other.) "It's heating up. We think we're close," said Todd Vandermyde, a National Rifle Association lobbyist who has pushed the concealed-carry proposal in Springfield before. "You've got 48 states that have this. That's a statement." Gun control...

In the foothills west of Red Bluff, Bill Gaines and I had shotguns in our hands as we hiked up a ravine. Guns? Right there, with that word, 95 percent of the residents of the Bay Area, Sacramento and other urban areas across America might think that something bad is about to happen. Yet if you live in a rural area, like remote Siskiyou County, rural Kansas or west Texas, you would not give this sighting a second glance. The ownership and recreational use of firearms has become the "outdoor divide" in California and across much of America. Gaines wants...

Warsaw Ghetto. Darfur. Katrina. Some people call it the sky falling, SHTF, or in the words of the President, Catastrophe. I call it the worst case scenario. Since the November 4th mistake, The Dow is down 2000 points. Even more since the 2006 elections put the Socialists in charge of the economy. Reasonable people are now alarmed into buying guns for the first time in their life, with a president telling them catastrophe is possible.

LEBANON -- Jeffrey Maxwell, a 30-year-old student at Western Oregon University who served in the Marines, always carries a loaded two-bullet derringer in his front pocket that's so small it looks like it could be his keys. He has a license to carry and conceal the gun, but he never takes it out or talks about it on campus because he doesn't want to scare anyone. It's only for protection, he says. State law allows him to carry his gun in most public places. But the university says he can't carry it on campus -- license or no license. Maxwell's...

More than 50 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to enforce a ban on importing assault weapons. The 53 lawmakers, all Democrats, say many such guns are later smuggled south to arm Mexico's ruthless drug cartels. The ban was implemented under the administrations of President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, and the U.S. government can enforce it under provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act. But the lawmakers say in their letter that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has quietly abandoned the ban in recent years. The ATF declined...

Misunderstandings with people who carry guns can turn ugly. This past week it has been ugly at the newspaper, after passionate gun owners latched onto three very wrong ideas about why The Commercial Appeal's Web site now lists all those in Tennessee who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. -- Wrong idea No. 1: The newspaper is against the Second Amendment that gives Americans the right to keep and bear arms. -- Wrong idea No. 2: The newspaper is invading people's privacy by posting the permit-to-carry-guns list on its Web site. -- Wrong idea No. 3: Posting the...

To many gun owners, it's the tsunami of gun control legislation, the mother of all efforts to restrict private gun ownership and the guarantees of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. To others, it's just the latest anti-gun agitation, a formerly defeated proposal dredged back up for another try in this time of shifting political winds. "It" is H.R. 45: Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009. This bill was introduced in the 111th Congress by U. S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) on Jan. 6, 2009. Failing to attract any co-sponsors, it was referred for...

Another gun show and another record turnout at the Southtowne Expo Center. This time more than 11,000 people showed up to the first day of the Crossroads of the West Gun Show. That’s about twice as many people as were expected, according to show organizer Bob Templeton. “We knew it would be busy, I don't think we knew it would be as busy as it has been. I think people are concerned about the future of gun rights," said Templeton. The hot item at this gun show was ammunition. Gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama could implement an increased bullet...

Pick up the morning newspaper or turn on the evening newscast and the story that you’re bound to see is that America is facing an economic recession of historic proportions. Consumer spending is down and unemployment is up, but there is one item that Americans are rushing to buy -- guns. Why? Well, as NRA-certified instructor Joel Rosenberg told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “It’s the Obama effect.” Gun sales have skyrocketed ever since it became clear that Barack Obama was going to win the White House and be able to govern with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. The...

Mike Massie got his first shotgun at the age of 10. Guns have been in Massie’s life since he was 5 years old and trudging along beside his father carrying an unloaded shotgun. His children know how to handle weapons; he even purchased his nephew’s first shotgun when the boy was just one month old. That’s why the Lynchburg resident is worried about what will happen to gun-control laws when President-elect Barack Obama takes office next month. “I feel that I have the right to bear arms legally to defend myself, my family and my property,” Massie said. “I don’t...

Gun dealers have seen a rise in sales surrounding the final days of the presidential election. Some are concerned the newly elected president may put restrictions on firearms. So, could that mean record sales at this weekend's gun show in Knoxville? Many of the people here remember President elect Obama's last democrat predecessor, (President)Bill Clinton, who put restrictions on assault rifles in 1994. That ban expired in 2004 and was not renewed by President Bush. And some at the show fear the policies of old may come back. For three straight days, the Jacob Building will be filled with guns...

So much for hope. Even Barack Obama says the economy will get worse before it gets better. In the meantime, freaked out New Mexicans are putting their money where they can see it: at home, under lock and key. And they’re packing heat, just in case. For metals dealers like Gregg Hoffman, an owner of Premier Precious Metals on Cerrillos Road, the financial crisis has provided a kind of vindication. “For many years, stockbrokers treated metals—silver and gold—as being something that only nuts and idiots would have anything to do with,” Hoffman says. “Well, it seems like there’s a lot...

The firearms massacres that have periodically caused shock and horror around the world have been dwarfed by the Mumbai shootings, in which a handful of gunmen left some 500 people killed or wounded. For anybody who still believed in it, the Mumbai shootings exposed the myth of “gun control”. India had some of the strictest firearms laws in the world, going back to the Indian Arms Act of 1878, by which Britain had sought to prevent a recurrence of the Indian Mutiny.

The gun show at the Stillwater Armory on Thanksgiving weekend featured an unlikely salesman. A flier taped to the door featured a stern-looking picture of the president-elect, with the words: ''Barack Obama: Enemy of your gun rights." While the gun show had plenty of competition from retailers starting their Christmas sales, business was brisk as people streamed in and bought up shotguns, hunting knives and at least a few semiautomatic rifles -- the gun most gun-rights advocates think an Obama presidency might ban. "It's the Obama effect," said Joel Rosenberg, a gun law expert who teaches a gun course for...

The Bush administration on Friday finalized a rule allowing loaded, concealed weapons in national parks. Assistant Interior Secretary Lyle Laverty said the rule would allow individuals with concealed-weapons permits to carry a loaded, concealed weapon in a national park as long as the park is in the state that issued the permit. The rule is expected to go into effect in early January. “The department believes that in managing parks and refuges we should, as appropriate, make every effort to give the greatest respect to the democratic judgements of state legislatures with respect to concealed firearms,” Laverty said in a...

Push to end all private sales tops list “Universal background checks for EVERY gun sold in this country.” [NOTE: Don't forget to recognize and celebrate Bill of Rights Day, Dec. 15; in Phoenix we will be at the Wrigley Mansion starting at 5:30 p.m., you're invited, for details or to RSVP: http://www.gunlaws.com/newstuff.htm] Plenty of gun-ban speculation is flying. I have this quote direct from Sarah Brady in a letter addressed to me: “On Election Day, we helped deliver a strong victory for President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice-President-Elect Joe Biden. They will be two of the most powerful allies we have...

The Mumbai, India terrorist attacks should serve as a reminder that terrorism is real, tangible, and a threat everywhere...waiting only for the right opportunity to explode. And, try as we all do to engage in denial, the reality is that it is only a matter of time before a Mumbai-style event occurs on American soil. Back in 1993, right after the first World Trade Center bombing, I was talking with a friend of mine who was raised in Israel. I opined that it would be a relatively simple matter for terrorists to stage simultaneous attacks on, say, a dozen shopping...

The New York Times, the New York Daily News, Newsday, U.S.A Today, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News and a host of other news organizations recently reported that gun sales across the country increased 10 percent after Barack Obama defeated John McCain. Many of the gun shop owners that were interviewed on camera stated they had never seen sales increase to this level in 15 to 20 years. Those purchasing guns said they were doing so because of a growing fear that the spiraling economy will force desperate people to commit criminal acts. Others bought them because they believe an...

During the 2008 Democratic primary debate in Philadelphia, April 16, 2008, here is how Barack Obama responded to a question pertaining to the right to keep and bear arms (emphasis added): Q: Is the D.C. law prohibiting ownership of handguns consistent with an individual’s right to bear arms? A: As a general principle, I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can’t constrain the exercise of that right, in the same way that we have a right to private...

A black man gets elected president and half the country dives for the panic room, buying up guns and squirreling away supplies like fatalists awaiting the End of Days. That's an exaggeration, of course. Barack Obama is biracial, not black. And it's not half the country diving, but a goodly portion of us, judging by soaring gun sales post-Election Day that have even hit Hampton Roads. "Stock up on guns, ammunition, and canned goods," a reader named "Church Slave" suggests in our online Topix system. "And maybe a candy bar or two." I'm no stranger to the idea of laying...

South Carolina becomes the first state in the country to hold a sales tax holiday only for guns, starting today. And Beaufort County gun shops said they're prepared for big sales -- not only because of the holiday but due to a rising fear that a Barack Obama administration will curtail gun rights. Bob Oberst, owner of the Palmetto State Shooting Center in Okatie, said customers have made plans to come by his store today and Saturday to make tax-free purchases. "Gun sales are up substantially, and I think primarily because of the recent election," Oberst said. "People are deathly...

Local residents concerned that the election of Barack Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress will translate into stricter gun laws are buying more guns. But sales are not as brisk as in other states, possibly because California already has some of the strictest gun laws on the books. "I'd say we're up in the sales of guns about 30 percent," said Paul Berezay, store manager of Big 5 Sporting Goods in Salinas. "People evidently think because of the election, guns are going to go away. They don't seem to know that California is already one of the strictest states when it...

The Nichols Store can sell you a rifle, shotgun or handgun any day it's open. But this Friday and Saturday, the Rock Hill-area outdoor emporium and its fellow gun dealers across South Carolina will be selling all of those items with a twist: tax-free, under a new sales tax holiday devoted exclusively to guns. Long popular for back-to-school shopping, sales tax holidays have, in recent years, expanded to include energy-efficient appliances and hurricane preparedness supplies in selected states. But never before has a state offered a temporary tax break for firearms alone -- at least, not until June, when the...

Since the election of Barack Obama, and the Democratic near-sweep of Congress, two weeks ago there have beenhundreds of news stories about an up surge of gun sales across the West and across the country. Many of these have appeared in newspapers in the Rocky Mountain West: the Denver Post, Boulder’s Daily Camera, the Salt Lake Tribune, and so on. All of the officials, gun sellers and purchasers interviewed agree on the cause of this brisk market for firearms: the threat of radical new gun-control legislation issuing from the Democratic-controlled Congress and signed by the new president. “They want to...

DAYTONA BEACH -- The owners of Buck's Gun Rack say they didn't vote for Barack Obama, but the president-elect sure has been good for business. Assault-style rifles, personal protection handguns, shotguns and ammunition -- business was up by as much as 400 percent after the election, exceeding records that followed Sept. 11 and preceded the Y2K scare of 2000. "Sales have gone through the roof," Forrest Buckwald said, attributing the boost to a belief that Obama would support gun control measures. "People were talking about Obama before the election," said Buckwald's brother and co-owner, Scott. "The Saturday after the election...

The election of the nation's first democratic president in eight years and the country's economic turmoil is prompting more people to take up arms, according to local gun rights supporters. The promoter of the West's largest gun and ammunition expo said that attendance at some shows across the nation has increased by 50 percent to 100 percent. He expected attendance of about 12,000 for this weekend's show at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, compared to a typical crowd of around 9,000. The show will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. "Sales at shows, particularly in the area...

It was on Election Day when John Derosier said he first noticed his steady stream of customers at his Gretna Gun Works began looking more like a deluge. "Business has been booming," Derosier said. "Gun sales have been up, ammunition sales have been up from the day of the election. It seems like they left the polls, came to the gun shops to buy guns." Since then, gun sales at his shop are up nearly 60 percent. He said the sales are motivated by customers' fears that President-elect Barack Obama will institute stricter gun control laws. That could include a...

Until recently Justin Antill only owned a few guns that had been passed down to him from family members. Fueled by fears that gun rights could be reduced when President-elect Barack Obama takes office, Antill and millions of other Americans are stocking up on firearms, ammunition and accessories. Antill, 23, has purchased two guns within the past few weeks. He anticipates buying more. "I hadn't planned on spending that kind of money, but I'm concerned I may not be able to buy what I want down the road," Antill said. "I think they're really going to crack down on guns...