Free Republic

Gov. Rick Perry today lambasted new Department of Justice reporting requirements for gun dealers in states on the U.S.-Mexico border, calling the new rules “misguided” and “constitutionally questionable.” The new requirement from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, announced Monday, means firearms dealers from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California will have to notify the federal government whenever an individual buys two or more semi-automatic rifles. Gun dealers are already required to notify the government of multiple handgun purchases. Mexican President Felipe Calderón has repeatedly claimed that 85 percent of the 100,000 guns seized in Mexico in the...

Cultists now in charge Gene Lyons Some years ago, I reported on a self-defense/gun-safety class mainly for women at Rice University. There had been several forcible rapes on the Houston, Texas, campus. Students had armed themselves. The instructor was an Army ROTC officer. A Vietnam combat veteran, he found the prospect of undergraduates packing heat unsettling, but reasoned that if they were arming themselves anyway, some training was better than none. Unlike many entrepreneurs teaching concealed-carry classes from sea to shining sea, he urged students to leave their guns at home. He stressed that he couldn’t turn them into infantry...

Gun Rights: Not happy with interfering in our internal affairs by savaging Arizona's new immigration law, the president of Mexico wants to shred our Second Amendment too. And the mayor of Chicago wants to help. There stood Mexican President Felipe Calderon before Congress, blaming America for the violence on his side of the border and, among other things, the guns that fuel the Mexican drug war that has claimed more than 23,000 Mexican lives since he took office in 2006. Rather than taking responsibility himself, he shoved the blame on America. It would all stop, he implied, if America would...

NEW YORK -- A man fired a machine gun into the air Monday as he walked along streets in a commercial area and was shot by police after he wouldn't drop the weapon, witnesses said. No other injuries were reported.

A ban on assault rifles, pushed by the mayor of Chicago and our governor, is moldering in the state House Rules Committee. Lawmakers can take no action until they reconvene in October. And even then, there's little chance supporters can pick up the three additional votes they need to send the bill to the Senate. But like the villain at the end of a movie, the assault rifle ban never dies. It's just wounded, waiting to come back when you're not looking. So I thought I would look into the validity of its major argument. That is, this notion that...

I've grown up in Oklahoma and went through Boy Scouts (am an Eagle Scout) learning to shoot various types of firearms but haven't even touched one in 5+ years. Now that I'm about to leave college I'm thinking of getting a firearm of some kinda but don't know where to start. What should I be looking at and why?

A storm is brewing. It has the potential to utterly destroy the Republican Party. For years, under both Democrat and Republican administrations, American citizens -- cornerstones of their communities -- have been falsely charged and railroaded into prisons. Their lives have been ruined. Their families have been shattered. It has all been because of accusations and sham trials that belong in Communist China, not the United States of America. We're talking about the decades of abuses committed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). We're talking about the _continuing_ abuses that are ruining innocent gun owners and...

Terrorism as an Excuse Another CBS campaign. By John R. Lott Jr. Who could oppose laws preventing terrorists from getting guns? Obviously no one. But it would be nice if laws accomplished something more than simply making it more difficult for Americans to own guns. Ironically the day before CBS finally released its report on the 60 Minutes Memogate scandal, 60 Minutes was again stirring up fears about how terrorists would use 50-caliber rifles to attack Americans. Last year it was the semi-automatic assault-weapons ban before it expired. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.) claimed the ban was "the most...

[note: old news - 1989 - shows Specter character] S-747, The DeConcini Gun Bill Passes The Senate Judiciary Committee Are you getting the feeling these days that in the future you may have fewer types of firearms to sell? Recent events in Washington seem to indicate you are correct--and that the number of guns on the prohibited list may continue to grow. On July 7, the Bush Administration ordered that the temporary import suspension on 50 semiautomatic firearms be made permanent on 43 of the guns. Then 13 days later, the Senate Judiciary Committee surprised even most of its members...

I'm thinking about purchasing the WASR-10 version of the semi-automatic AKM. Does anyone have experience with this firearm, and any possible legal processes one has to go through to get one? How much does the ammo go for? Any other advice you could give me would be a great help!

The below arrived via email today. I thought more than a few of you might be interested in supporting our Constitution's Second Amendment... Here is an opportunity to make your voice heard. -----Original Message----- From: The Federalist [mailto:mailer@federalist.com] Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 12:13 Subject: Reject Renewal of Feinstein-Schumer Gun-Control Act (Please forward this time-sensitive notice to fellow American Patriots.) PatriotPetitions.US has launched a national campaign entreating our President, House of Representatives and Senate to reject legislation renewing the 1994 Clinton-Feinstein-Schumer Gun-Control Act schedule to sunset on 13 September 2004. Please read this brief description of the campaign and let...

<p>On July 2, Fairfax County police received a 911 call from a Champps restaurant in Reston. Six men are seated at a table, the caller said. They're all armed.</p> <p>Dispatchers quickly sent four officers to the scene. The officers were "extremely polite" and were hoping that some of the men were in law enforcement, said Sgt. Richard Perez, a spokesman for the police department. None was.</p>

Results so far (excerpted from View Results page): Lifted: 46096 votes Extended: 146687 votes

Petitioners are a group of California gentlemen, good citizens, placed at great risk and disadvantage by California legislation restricting firearm ownership. Plaintiffs would like to exercise their right to possess…In much the same manner as did the founders of the Constitution and authors of the Bill of Rights. Plaintiff Patrick Overstreet is a resident of Marin County …. He is employed by the San Francisco Police Department as a S.W.A.T officer, and is a graduate of California State University.. Plaintiff SGT. Steven Focht … performed military functions in Desert Storm … He was honorably discharged, and currently is a Sergeant...

WASHINGTON, May 7 — President Bush and the National Rifle Association, long regarded as staunch allies, find themselves unlikely adversaries over one of the most significant pieces of gun-control legislation in the last decade, a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. At issue is a measure to be introduced by Senate Democrats on Thursday to continue the ban. Groundbreaking 1994 legislation outlawing the sale and possession of such firearms will expire next year unless Congress extends it, and many gun-rights groups have made it their top priority to fight it. Even some advocates of gun control say the prohibition has been...

Veteran cop sees modern police methods failing May 5, 2003 BY MARK BROWN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Jimmy called. He wanted you to know that he's outraged. He's outraged by the killing of the children. He's more outraged that there's so little he can do to help. Jimmy is supposed to help. He's a Chicago cop, has been for more than 30 years. "Nothing else but a street cop," said Jimmy, "every day out on the street." But these days, Jimmy thinks he's the one wearing the handcuffs. "Nobody fears us anymore. Nobody respects us anymore," Jimmy said. "The police are now...

A coalition of "no compromise" gun-rights groups are drawing a line in the sand and putting federal politicians on notice: Any lawmaker who votes to reauthorize the current ban against so-called "assault weapons" risks losing gun owners' votes forever. "The result of the fight to sunset the gun ban could set the tone for the next decade, if not century, and we intend to win it," says a statement issued by the coalition. "We are putting every politician on notice: Vote for reauthorization, and you lose gun owners' votes forever. This vote is, indeed, the line in the sand." The...

A story was just posted about an Iraqi shopkeeper defending his shop against looters when U.S. troops arrived, were lied to and told the man was a Saddam loyalist, and shot the man to death with heavy machine gun fire. That and the battle for Baghdad are the biggest arguments against government interference in citizen ownership of semiautomatic rifles of ANY configuration that I know of. The Iraqis saw their heavy weaponry (i.e. mortars, tanks, APCs, heavy machine guns, artillery, etc., etc.) destroyed very quickly in the recent conflict. That left them with little but AUTOMATIC rifles, portable machine guns...

A Second Amendment Case is Moving Toward the U.S. Supreme Court. Your Immediate Support is Crucial to the Success of this Case! Link to Case http://www.keepandbeararms.com/Silveira/scotus.asp Lawsuit History In 1999, California’s Democrat-controlled government issued an edict banning the sale, manufacture, or importation into the state of all semi-automatic rifles having combinations of arbitrarily-selected ergonomic features, such as detachable magazines, folding stocks, flash suppressors, and pistol grips. If you already owned such a rifle, the edict said you must register it with the state. In 2000, California attorney Gary Gorski filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Eastern California challenging...

Anybody have anything good or bad to say about the HK P7M8? It looks like a sweet gun, though expensive. Thanks.