Free Republic

These libs are out of control. One of them is Nicole Lapin who is a former CNN financial reporter who wants to ban all semi-automatic weapons because they ‘can be turned into machine guns’. Yeah, she really said that. She also said that if the Sandy Hook shooter had walked in with a handgun, that he could have only killed 2 people. Yeah, just like in the 1800s? Oh wait, those were six-shooters. Well, seems clear she is far more beautiful than she is bright.

This is a great video showing the absurdity of the "assault weapons" ban. The current leftist talking point going around is, "Who needs an assault weapon." Many in the soccer mom crowd buy the talking point, because they have no understanding of how guns work. In this video, Officer Pyle of the San Jose Police Department explains how semi-automatic weapons really work, and that internally guns that "look evil" are identical to those which "look good." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysf8x477c30

Michigan --(Ammoland.com)- Certain collectible guns bring out that “wow” factor. This is especially true of the vintage firearms from the Soviet Union that helped turn back the Nazi invaders and were carried by soldiers of the Red Army during the so-called Great Patriotic War. Of course actually trying to obtain a live firing version of the infamous PPSh-41 submachine gun, or DP-28 light machinegun can be no small challenge. Non-firing versions of both guns were once fairly common, but have since dried up. However, some of those old parts kits have been used to good effect by skilled gunsmiths such...

A couple weeks ago, Maryland state Senator Michael Lenett (D) introduced a bill to ban so called "assault weapons"--common, semi-automatic, detachable magazine fed rifles, in other words. Maryland's gun laws are already horribly restrictive, but SB 516 would have made them dramatically worse. Gratifyingly, though, Maryland residents are apparently mad as (heck), and aren't going to take it anymore, and they mustered enough grassroots pressure to have the bill withdrawn. We know from first hand knowledge that the incredible pressure, to the tune of several hundred emails and calls a day, brought to bear upon the sponsor of this bill...

As predicted earlier in this column, gun prohibitionists are using the murder of a Seattle police officer, and a couple of other slayings, to launch a new effort to ban the sale of semiautomatic firearms in Washington State, and require current owners to register their firearms. I forecast this development in a Nov. 3 column that addressed the cowardly slaying of Seattle Officer. Timothy Brenton on Halloween as he sat in his patrol car in the Central District with trainee Britt Sweeney, who was able to return fire. The irony is that Brenton, as I wrote in a Nov. 10...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   23 State Attorneys General To Attorney General Holder: "No Semi-Auto Ban"   Friday, June 12, 2009   On June 11, the top law enforcement officials of nearly half the states signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, expressing their opposition to reinstatement of the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms. "We share the Obama Administration's commitment to reducing illegal drugs and violent crime within the United States. We also share your deep concern about drug cartel violence in Mexico. However, we do not believe that restricting law-abiding Americans' access to certain...

LICATA: You mentioned common-sense gun legislation. Would you consider the assault weapons ban and registration of guns to fall into that category of common-sense gun control?[Emphasis added]. SENATOR OBAMA: I think those are two separate issues. I think that when it comes to the assault weapons ban, the answer is yes. I think AK-47s generally are not used for hunting. AK-47s or vest-piercing bullets are generally used to hurt people. And I think that it's legitimate for us to say military-style weapons that aren't traditionally used for purposes other than killing people, we've got to be careful about. But I'll...

D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson says he will propose regulations Tuesday that would legalize semi-automatic handguns in the District because the stopgap legislation the council passed in response to a Supreme Court ruling "would not stand up to judicial scrutiny." "The Supreme Court has spoken, and we have to act accordingly," he said. "We are still going to have a strong gun control law." Mr. Mendelson, at-large Democrat, said the bill will refine the city's definition of machine guns by using wording from other jurisdictions and the federal assault-weapons ban, which has since expired. The bill also will cap at...

A pro-Second Amendment group is taking the unusual step of asking for financial help for the family of a gun owner caught up in a bizarre prosecution for a malfunctioning firearm. David Olofson is a U.S. Army veteran, Army Reservist and a gun enthusiast who loaned his personal 20-year-old AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to a neighbor who had expressed an interest in learning to shoot. A semi-automatic weapon fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled. But – as Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, explains – when the neighbor took the gun to a range, it...

BATFE: Any Semi-Auto Can Be A Machine Gun by Larry Pratt On July 2 I went to jail. Happily for me, I left right away. Sadly for David Olofson and his family, he had to stay, and will have to stay for 30 months in the Federal Correctional Institute in Sandstone, Minnesota. Why is the federal government incarcerating an Army reservist from Berlin, Wisconsin who has 16 years of service, a mortgage, a wife and three kids? They convicted him for knowingly transferring an unregistered machine gun. Since the case was brought by the rogue agency -- the Bureau of...

Every DA/SA semi that I have shot (SIG P232, P226, P229, P239) has had a decocker but not a safety. Is that setup true for all DA/SAs? That is, do all DA/SAs have decockers but no safeties? Or are there exceptions? What reason would a manufacturer have for putting a safety on a DA/SA? Wouldn't it be redundant with the safety feature of the long initial trigger pull? Another question: do all SAO semis have safeties but not decockers, or are there exceptions? Again, if there are, what reason would a manufacturer have for putting a decocker on a SAO...

One of four men accused in the so-called Houston Taliban case was found guilty Tuesday of unlawful possession of a firearm. Shiraz Syed Qazi, 26, waived his right to a jury trial, opting for a decision from U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal. The trial lasted 15 minutes. Qazi and the others arrested last year are accused of material support of terrorism by training to fight with the Taliban against U.S.-led forces. A July 2005 camping trip in Willis, north of Conroe, was part of the conspiracy, FBI officials have said. Agents used Qazi's acknowledgment that "he overheard statements...

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. - A 19-year-old man barricaded himself in a garage and fired at least 150 shots from a semiautomatic rifle, wounding a neighbor in bed across the street, authorities said. Police evacuated nearby homes, surrounded the house and a standoff lasted about 45 minutes Tuesday before negotiators persuaded Robert James Espy to surrender, spokesman Charles Francis said. At least 100 bullet holes were found in the garage door and 50 more were in a wooden fence across the street. One bullet hit William Winfield, a 26-year-old neighbor, but his injury was not life-threatening, police said. Espy's mother told...

In reading books (e.g. Farnam) on the issue of malfunctions and immediate action, I see a number of references to "tapping" (the magazine to make sure it's seated properly), then racking the slide. Is it possible, however, that this sequence makes the situation worse, by introducing a second round into the chamber (?double feed?)? Are there some situations in which it's better to drop the magazine first, THEN rack? That way, you address one problem at a time. Does it matter whether you're practicing, on the range, or in a real-life confrontation? Thanks.

St. Petersburg police officers have added the Colt AR-15 rifle to their inventory to counter the expiration of the assault weapons ban and the appearance of more heavily armed criminals. ST. PETERSBURG - (AP) -- The expiration of the nation's ban on the sale of assault rifles and the appearance of more heavily armed criminals have pushed more than 100 St. Petersburg police officers to order assault rifles of their own for official duty. The first group of officers completed the required 16 hours of instruction for using Colt AR-15s in January. The semiautomatic weapons fire bullets that travel up...