Free Republic

lredmond@lowellsun.com BOSTON -- As a Billerica gun case heads to the state's highest court next week, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Police Chiefs and other high-profile groups are urging the Supreme Judicial Court to reject the constitutional challenge to the state's safe firearm-storage law. The groups are joining with Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone, who is challenging a Lowell District Court judge's ruling that dismissed a gun-storage case against Richard Runyan, a Billerica man who kept an unlocked semiautomatic hunting rifle under his bed where it could be accessed by his teenage...

In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them. Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year.

There are few things that keep me up at night, but this is one of them. It may be cynicism, but more likely it’s the long sad experience of watching the courts over the years. So when your side finally wins one that should have you celebrating, and yet you walk away with a knot in your gut, it’s probably warranted. Senior Judge Laurence H. Silberman’s majority opinion in Parker v. District of Columbia was a thing of beauty, affirming armed self-defense as an individual right pre-existing the Constitution. It was almost hard to believe. Maybe that's what’s bugging me....

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...

October 22, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Be a Good VictimUnder current law, the Second Amendment ends at your front door. By David Rittgers In August, a man shot two people to death on a bridge near San Francisco. At the moment of the killings, two on-duty Marin County sheriff’s deputies were within 100 yards of the shooter. One was close enough to see the muzzle blast of the shotgun. The police officers, however, did not move against the culprit. One, stuck in traffic, called in a description of the killer’s vehicle as he fled. The other positioned her car to...

In the brief age of Obama, we have had "truthers," "birthers," tea party activists and town-hall dissenters. Comes now, the "Oath Keepers." And who might they be? Writes Alan Maimon in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Oath Keepers, depending on where one stands, are "either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia." Formed in March, they are ex-military and police who repledge themselves to defend the Constitution, even if it means disobeying orders. If the U.S. government ordered law enforcement agencies to violate Second Amendment rights by disarming the people, Oath Keepers will not obey. "The whole point of...

As the U.S. Supreme Court makes its stately way into the new term, a case over the horizon promises to hit the 20,000 gun control laws in this country with the impact of a 9mm round. The prep work came last year in District of Columbia vs. Heller. A narrow 5-4 majority struck down the gun control law in the nation's capital, and for the moment settled an argument over just what the Second Amendment to the Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, actually means. The Second Amendment reads, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto. The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush's administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would support the talks as long as the negotiating forum, the so-called Conference...

SEATTLE -- Seattle Parks and Recreation on Wednesday put into effect a new rule banning the possession or display of firearms at playgrounds, community centers and other places where children are likely to be.   Firearms will be prohibited at designated facilities once signs are posted notifying people of the new rule. The first signs are to be posted Friday, with the rest up by Dec. 1.   In all, the rule will be applied at more than 500 parks, recreation centers, pools, beaches and golf courses.

DeVore assails Schwarzenegger, Fiorina Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore said Monday night Republicans would repeat the mistake they made in supporting Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor if they back former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina for the Senate. In a speech to the Republican Party of San Diego County, DeVore, a three-term Assembly member from Irvine who cannot run for re-election because of term limits, denounced Schwarzenegger for signing a gun control bill and one establishing a day of recognition for slain gay-rights leader Harvey Milk. "We were told in 2003 that it was important in this historic one-of-a-kind recall...

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on Chairman Max Baucus' socialized healthcare bill Tuesday, October 13, and Gun Owners of America (GOA) is warning the bill contains language that could be used to ban firearms. In a statement Friday, GOA gave highlights of the unnumbered bill based on a summary of the legislation published recently. The pro-gun organization complains that the actual bill has not been released to the public yet. It is listed on the Senate Finance Committee website simply as "an Original Bill providing for Health Care Reform." The legislation would require individuals to maintain a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, has joined the bipartisan Second Amendment Task Force (SATF). Members of this group act as a unified and proactive force to promote legislation that protects the Second Amendment and to fight legislation that poses a threat to citizens’ Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. "Now, more than ever before, it will be necessary to maintain a vigilant eye against real efforts to disarm the American people," said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. "Montanans sent me to Washington, D.C. to represent them. And as their...

Neal Knox: The Gun Rights War is a collection of articles from magazines and newspapers that were written by the founder of the Firearms Coalition.

Whatever significance is attached to Chicago’s failed bid to host the 2016 Olympics, it is of small importance to the rest of the country. More far-reaching and frightening is the Supreme Court’s decision to take up a case challenging the city’s ban on handgun ownership in the court’s new term, which begins this week. The case is best considered a preview of coming attractions. The gun lobby, if it wins in the Supreme Court, is prepared to challenge every gun control law enacted at any level of government. It will usher in a scary season of assault on the common...

Stings were conducted at seven gun shows in Tennessee, Ohio and NevadaInvestigators hired by New York City conducted stings at gun shows in states that have not closed the "gun show loophole'' and found some vendors openly selling weapons to buyers who admitted they couldn't pass background checks. The stings, described in a city report released Wednesday, were conducted at seven gun shows in Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada. Those states are among the many that permit private unlicensed dealers, known as "occasional sellers," to sell weapons at gun shows without conducting background checks. Some 30 weapons were sold to NYPD...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it would decide whether state and local gun control laws may be challenged under the Second Amendment. The court also agreed to hear nine other cases from among those that had piled up over its summer break, including one concerning the constitutionality of an antiterrorism law that is a favorite tool of federal prosecutors. The Second Amendment case, McDonald v. Chicago, No. 08-1521, addresses a question that was left open last year when the court decided that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own firearms rather than a collective...

Heller lawyer Alan Gura revived the Second Amendment. Can he do the same for the 14th? It has been only a year and a season since the Supreme Court shook the world of Second Amendment jurisprudence with the historical D.C. v. Heller decision. In that case, the court declared for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms against infringement by the federal government — at least commonly used arms, for self-defense in the home. Heller opened the gates for a flood of new lawsuits by gun-rights friendly attorneys and organizations, most prominently the...

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...

Recently the Massachusetts Attorney General filed what is called an Amici Curiae (friend of the court brief) in the case of Commonwealth v. Richard Runyan. The brief is signed on to by a host of district attorneys and state officials. This is a case that is going before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court regarding the Massachusetts firearm storage laws. In typical fashion of what we have come to expect of our state officials, the brief is full of support for state restrictions on innocent lawful citizens and an outright objection that the Second Amendment applies to the states. One of...

* Last year, when the Supreme Court struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., some municipalities saw the writing on the wall and repealed similar laws. Chicago, however, chose to fight. On Wednesday, the court set up the final battle by agreeing to decide whether the city's ordinance violates the Second Amendment to the Constitution. For those who favor strict regulation of handguns, that development is not good news. It opens the way for the court to invalidate a 26-year-oldban on weapons that are often used in murders and other crimes.

ChicagoGunCase.com Restoring the Second Amendment Sep 30 2009 The Schedule Published by Alan Gura under Uncategorized Here is what we can look forward to in the coming months… Our opening brief is due November 16. The city’s brief is then due December 16. Our reply brief is due January 15. The case is expected to be argued in February, with a decision expected by the end of June, 2010. No responses yet Sep 30 2009 PRESS RELEASE: SUPREME COURT TO HEAR McDONALD CASE Published by Alan Gura under news release Read the the U.S. Supreme Court docket WASHINGTON, D.C. –...

Even as you are reading this, the Second Amendment offers you no protection whatsoever from state gun laws! But today, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of McDonald v. Chicago and we may soon finally see the Second Amendment take its rightful place as a protection for ALL Americans!

While high profile issues (snip) are getting front page headlines, (ship) be very wary of stealth legislation slowly working its way through Congress to restrict gun ownership. Passage of either of two bills, HR 45 (also known as Blair-Holt Firearm Licensing and Record Sale Act of 2009) and S 1317, would be a devastating blow to Second Amendment rights.***** HR 45, introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush, would make it illegal to own a gun unless you are fingerprinted and can provide a driver’s license and Social Security number. ***** Additionally under HR 45, a person buying a gun would have...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the Constitution puts limits on state gun regulations, the second phase of the justices' re-examination of weapons rights in the 21st century. Last year, the court ruled that the Second Amendment includes an individual right to self-defense, and struck down a Washington, D.C., ordinance that effectively banned possession of handguns within the capital city. That decision rested on the District of Columbia's status as a federal enclave and left unanswered what the amendment means for states. Supporters of gun control say states are free to set their own weapons laws as...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether strict local and state gun control laws violate the Second Amendment, ensuring another high-profile battle over the rights of gun owners. The court said it will review a lower court ruling that upheld a handgun ban in Chicago. Gun rights supporters challenged gun laws in Chicago and some suburbs immediately following the high court's decision in June 2008 that struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia, a federal enclave. The new case tests whether last year's ruling applies as well to local and state laws.

Breaking on WLS Talk Radio. SCOTUS has agreed to hear the NRA case against the Chicago handgun ban.

The Supreme Court has clearly ruled that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution means individuals have a right to own weapons, and the justices have been asked to take up two cases that could broaden that right to include state laws. The court’s decision on whether to take up the cases, National Rifle Association v. Chicago and McDonald v. Chicago, could come this week, before the fall term officially starts Oct. 5. The Second Amendment is one of the most contentious provisions in the Constitution. To many, it is an unqualified guarantee of Americans’ right to defend themselves. Others...

Associated Press press story, please go to link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVhBAI9a66s Joe Bethancourt, an Arizona minstrel, sings Lock & Load, (which can be found on an album be found on an album of the same name by another Arizonan - Leslie Fish). I find the song chilling, given current events. Another song, Me and My .30-06 is also on You-tube.

En banc arguments in a controversial gun rights case were animated Thursday, but don't be surprised if the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sits on this one for awhile. A federal appellate court in Chicago said in June that the Second Amendment should not restrict state gun control laws until the Supreme Court rules that the right binds the states. The high court is scheduled to make up its mind next week about whether to grant cert. "That may well give us an answer, and there would be no need for us to decide this case," 9th Circuit Judge...

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Thursday will confront America's next big gun rights question: Whether or not the Second Amendment prevents state governments from enacting anti-gun laws. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in a case that's likely to decide whether the Bill of Rights' guarantee of a right to "keep and bear arms" restricts only the federal government and the District of Columbia -- the current state of affairs -- or whether it can be invoked to strike down intrusive state and local laws too. In an earlier ruling in April,...

While a remarkable surge that began late last year is starting to ease, Americans' demand for firearms and ammunition - driven largely by economic concerns and the fear of new regulations - remains brisk as double-digit sales increases continue to fill the financial coffers of gun and ammo makers alike. In August, the number of background checks performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Instant Criminal Background Check System was up 12.3% from the same month in 2008 to about 1.1 million. That is down from the nearly 42% increase of November but is still a growth rate that would...

The two men arrested are 19-year-old Kendell Towns and 19-year-old Frederick Dorsey. The victims tell WAVE 3 that a 14-year-old girl had just taken the dog out when the men chased her back inside the home. "Once patrol got there they found the two subjects upstairs with the victims in the bedroom," Schraut said. "They were starting to duct tape the victims up, the one child had duct tape in her hair still when we got there. They threw their guns down and gave up." Detectives tell us they don't know why the two men targeted that particular home, saying...

(MOBILE, Ala.) Sept. 10 - The lesson here is never threaten an expecting mother, especially if she's armed with a shotgun. "I was angry," Randi Fairley says. "I was really mad that he was in my house." At around 4 A.M. Sunday, Fairley was wide awake, because her unborn daughter was kicking. That is when she heard a noise; it sounded like someone touching a potato-chip bag downstairs. "I came and looked over the stairs," Fairley says. "I saw this kid, down at the bottom of the stairs. He was about to grab my computer." Fairley is six and a...

Sorry for this rare vanity.. but need to get word out Please Call and Write the Governor Now! Ammo Bill Going to the Governor! Late last night AB 962, the Ammunitions Sales Restrictions bill,was approved by the Senate on a 21 to 18 vote. It was then sent back to the Assembly for concurrence. Today the Assembly approved the bill on a 44 to 31 vote. It now goes to the Governor. Please contact the Governor's office and urge him to VETO AB 962. Contact information is listed below. Please both CALL and email the Governor. We need to turn...

D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles filed a motion in U.S. District Court Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit brought by four gun advocates who are seeking the right to carry their weapons outside their homes. Mr. Nickles argues that current city gun laws, which allow licensed gun owners to keep weapons in their homes for their personal protection, fall under the category of "reasonable restrictions" permitted by the court. The current laws were enacted after the Supreme Court struck down the District's decades-old gun ban in its June 2008 ruling on the District v. Heller case. "The District's regulation of...

Sorry for the vanity. Hope it's not too silly. Also hope it hasn't been done before. The other day, contemplating the ammo shortage with a friend, the question, "Where has all the ammo gone?" transformed in my mind into this variation on the old folk song, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone". Here it is. Feel free to tweak or use however you like. (Sorry I can't get the stanzas to post with any separation different from the lines.) Where has all the ammo gone Long time coming Where has all the ammo gone Coming at last Where has all...

Annual Second Amendment Tax Free Holiday Posted: Sep 3, 2009 06:44 PM Updated: Sep 3, 2009 06:47 PM Second Amendment Tax Holiday A state senator is trying to boost the Louisiana economy by giving hunting and outdoor enthusiasts, a tax break. Louisiana state senator Robert Marinneaux is calling it the "Second Amendment Weekend Holiday," it's a tax break the senator created to allow families to save money, boost retailers sales, and help the economy of this sportsman's paradise. Sasha Lambert is no stranger to firearms. "My dad and I come every time I'm in town to practice for personal protection...

The Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, declared that Washington’s 32-year ban on all functional firearms violated the Second Amendment. Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion, however, applied only to possession of guns in the home. The court did not address, and was not asked to address, firearms carried outside the home. That’s the issue posed in a new lawsuit against the District by Tom Palmer (disclosure: my colleague at the Cato Institute) and four other plaintiffs — represented by Alan Gura, the lawyer who successfully argued Heller before the court. After Heller, the District relaxed its ban on...

Rachel Maddow, gun lover? Well, sort of - and with some strings attached, of course. The MSNBC host of the "The Rachel Maddow Show" appeared on Jimmy Fallon's Aug. 31 NBC show and told the host about her first date - at a shooting range. "My first date with my girlfriend Susan was at a shooting range," Maddow said. "That was awesome. It was ladies' day on the range. Her sister is a lifetime NRA member and she was organizing ladies' day on the range at her gun club. So we did it. We shot AR-15s and we threw tomahawks...

So is this guy a terrifying threat to democracy? Or just a civic-minded citizen? If you think that his position on healthcare changes the likelihood that he will discharge that weapon, is this a rational belief? I think carrying guns to protests is entirely counterproductive. Indeed, I'm not sold on the general virtues of protesting, which worked for Gandhi and the civil rights marcher, but has a dismal track record on other concerns. But I think people have a perfect right to do it, including with guns, though I also think the secret service is within its rights to ensure...

Fear stalks Merced, California – fear of the government. The mass media never told Americans what really happened in Merced. But the tale of the Merced Pitchfork Murders will not die. Through talk radio; through the Internet; by word of mouth, the story gathers momentum with each passing year. Like the tale of the Boston Massacre in 1770, passed from patriot to patriot over tankards of ale, the Merced Pitchfork Murders live and burn in the hearts of millions of Americans.

Leftist elites are up in arms about Americans up in arms. At two recent Obama town hall meetings, men exercising their Second Amendment rights were spotted carrying firearms. While we do not condone threatening the president or anyone else for that matter, these citizens are well within their rights. It is legal to carry a firearm while demonstrating to protect your liberties. In New Hampshire, William Kostric showed up near a town hall meeting carrying a pistol, and a placard proclaiming, "It is time to water the tree of liberty!" in reference to the famous Thomas Jefferson quotation, "The tree...

17 year old pulls a gun on a 32 year old man in an armed robbery attempt. 32 year old victim has a MCPL (Michigan Concealed Pistol License) and responds accordingly. 17 year old thug gets the surprise of his life as he ends up critically injured. See The Link Above for the Complete Story

Nebraska is gun country, the sort of place where one of the newsroom hunters sometimes brings deer jerky from a white-tail buck he shot himself to share with colleagues. We have no problems with responsible gun ownership. But the sight of gun-carrying citizens and protesters gathering near locations where President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak creeps us out. Stop it.

The Supreme Court will consider two new cases on the scope of individuals’ Second Amendment right to have guns at its first Conference for the new Term, on Sept. 29, according to the Court’s electronic docket.  Both petitions challenge a Seventh Circuit Court ruling that the Amendment does not restrict gun control laws adopted by state, county or city government, but applies only to federal laws. The cases are National Rifle Association v. Chicago (08-1497 [1]) and McDonald v. Chicago (08-1521 [2]).The so-called “incorporation� issue is the most significant sequel issue raised in the wake of the Court’s 2008 decision...

(AP) An appeals court in Chicago has ruled that the federal, state or local government can require all citizens to register their firearms under penalty of law. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said that, even after the Supreme Court's high-profile gun rights decision last year, the Second Amendment is no obstacle to mandatory gun registration. The case arose out of the Chicago-area town of Cicero's mandatory registration requirement for firearms. A local man named John Justice was raided by the Cicero police on suspicion of violating business ordinances including improper storage of chemicals; the...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Bloomberg Wants to "Counter" the NRA   Friday, August 14, 2009   It is old news to gun owners that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is not a friend.  As one of the leading proponents of new gun laws, Bloomberg has already earned his place in the Second Amendment rights hall of shame.  But apparently, Hizzoner does not believe he is doing enough to destroy our rights. On an appearance on "Meet the Press," Bloomberg announced that he would raise money to counter the influence of the NRA.  Bloomberg was on the...

One Arizona professor says people carrying guns to protests at President Barack Obama's events could be the beginning of a disturbing trend. About a dozen people packing heat, including one man with a semi-automatic rifle, milled with protesters outside Phoenix's convention center, where Obama was speaking Monday. At Obama's town hall in New Hampshire last week, a man stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg. Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right and police say they are not violating any laws. But Northern Arizona University political scientist Fred Solop says guns at political rallies create "a chilling...