Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Matheson said Tuesday he intends to vote in favor of holding U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress regarding a government operation gone wrong. Utahns expect and deserve transparency and accountability from government officials, especially when a tragedy such as the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent occurs, he said. The tragedy, he said, is compounded when both sides play politics instead of releasing the facts. "Sadly, it seems that it will take holding the attorney general in contempt to communicate that evasiveness is unacceptable," Matheson said. In an operation known as “Fast...

Of all the amendments to the Constitution, I used to think the Second Amendment was my least favorite. It just did nothing for me. Quite obviously, I very much enjoy my freedom of speech, and of the press. Though there are some Sunday mornings I curse the 21st Amendment, I'm generally content with a nice glass of wine. And of course, number 19, allowing those of us with a uterus to vote, I find of particular importance. But the Second Amendment, the one ensuring us the right to bear arms, I was never entirely sold on. Mostly this is because...

An 18-year-old walked away with what appears to be non-life-threatening injuries after he was hit by a bus near the University of Texas at Austin. KXAN in Austin reports that Cyril Yannick “Nick” Engmann, 18, of Rockwall, was joining other students in “Foam Sword Friday,” an end-of-the-semester tradition, when he ran onto the street just as a bus was driving by. Shocked onlookers, who, like Engmann, were waving foam swords, watched as he was knocked several feet in front of the bus. He then walked away from the crash, but was taken to a nearby hospital to be checked out....

“It's not as bifurcated as male and female, again it will depend on how you define gender inclusive or gender neutral communities, so again we're too early in the process to say what it's going to look like or how we will define it,” said Hemlata Jhaveri, director of Residence Law at UT. According to Jhaveri, the discussion to allow men and women to co-habitate in the same campus dorm rooms began early this spring when a campus group called STANDOUT, advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student rights, approached the Residence Hall Association with the request.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Kiet Thanh Ly is accused of a stabbing spree at a downtown Salt Lake City supermarket. The stabbing happened at the 400 South 600 East Smith's location April 26 at about 5:30 p.m. where the stabbings sent customers running for safety. Police say Ly, who is 33-years-old, bought the knife at the store then stabbed two men in the parking lot and tried to stab others. Police say Ly did not know his victims. The hero of the hour is a man with a concealed weapons permit. He held Ly at gunpoint until...

Guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens can be used to save lives. On Thursday, April 26, 2012, we got more proof. An attacker bought the knife inside a local market in Salt Lake City, UT, then stabbed one man in the side of the head and another person in the stomach. The attack took place in the market parking lot. A bystander with a concealed carry permit witnessed the attack and stepped in to keep it from escalating. The bystander was suspicious of what might be going on, and when he saw the stabbing, he just drew his pistol...

Amid the crowded field of House candidates across the country in 2012, expect to hear a lot about Mia Love, a Republican who is an African American and a Mormon and who on Saturday defeated a handful of rivals to clinch the party nomination in the campaign for Utah's fourth congressional district. Love is preparing to face incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson. Victory in November would make her the first black Republican congresswoman in history. A Brooklyn-born Mormon convert, Love is a marathon-running mother of three and the daughter of Haitian immigrants who came to the United States with $10...

Black Mormon Conservative Mia Love won the GOP’s 4th Congressional District nomination Mia Love pulled a major upset, winning the Republican Party nomination in Utah’s 4th Congressional District, advancing to face U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson in November. Love won 70.4 percent of the vote from the delegates while former state lawmaker Carl Wimmer captured 29.6 percent. From Love4Utah website: In November 2011, Mia Love filed to run for Utah’s newly formed 4th Congressional District based on her demonstrated leadership on conservative principles. She credits her parents with providing the foundation for her ideals. After many years of living in the...

Sooner or later, a black Republican woman was bound to run for Congress. It’s just that nobody expected her to hail from Utah. Mia Love won the GOP nomination for the 4th Congressional District race Saturday at the Utah Republican Convention, scoring a major upset after wowing the crowd with a roof-raising speech at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy. The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Mrs. Love took 70.4 percent of the delegate vote, well in excess of the 60 percent required to avoid a primary runoff under Utah’s unique rules. She defeated former state legislator Carl Wimmer, who...

The Utah Senate was poised to pass a bill that would prevent open (and concealed) carriers from being charged with disorderly conduct for simply carrying their firearms in public, but the bill died after lawmakers couldn’t agree on a substitute version of the bill that contained objectionable language. In its original version, House Bill 49 (‘Firearms Revisions’) would prohibit a person who is lawfully carrying a firearm in public from being charged with non-firearm related crimes such as disorderly conduct or failure to disperse. The official language of the bill read, ‘… in the absence of additional threatening behavior, the...

SPRINGVILLE -- In the early hours of Thursday morning, a man sneaked into a Springville home. Police say the intruder changed out of his wet clothes, found a tortilla and made himself a wrap, then went upstairs and demanded money from the home's residents. But instead of turning over cash, the man living at the home shot and killed him. Springville police Lt. Dave Caron said the resident called to report the incident around 2:45 a.m. It occurred in a home on 475 East near 800 South. When police arrived, the intruder was already dead, Caron said. By early afternoon...

The Utah House is working on a change to the disorderly conduct statute to specifically state that open carry, absent "additional threatening behavior", does not constitute disorderly conduct. Naturally, the shrill shrieking hysteria has only just begun, but some of it has a disturbingly Geheime Staatspolizei tone. Witness one Peg McEntee who starts off her editorial (headlined Revised open-carry law obstructs law enforcement) by saying that she "honors" the Second Amendment. She is, however, a what David Codrea calls a Big "But" Second Amendment supporter: "Right from the start, let me say that I honor the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment...

A bill in the Utah Legislature raised a debate over whether firearms should be visible in public. The HB49 Substitute would prohibit local municipalities from enacting or enforcing ordinances against carrying firearms, visible or concealed, without permission from the state Legislature. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, is quoted in a story from the Jan. 30 issue of The Salt Lake Tribune defending HB49. Ray said the intent of the bill was to clarify which situations deserve disorderly conduct charges. "Just because I'm carrying the gun, they can't give me a disorderly conduct (charge)," Ray said. "If I'm acting...

OPINION – Utah’s lack of restrictive gun laws is one reason the state generally receives high marks in terms of personal freedoms. In 1995 lawmakers liberalized Utah’s laws regarding concealed weapon permits and opponents of concealed carry made predictions of blood in the streets, shootouts over parking spaces and police in constant fear for their lives. Not surprisingly, these grave expectations turned out to be false on every count. Concealed carry permit holders have proven themselves to be among the most law-abiding members of society with only the tiniest fraction of permits being revoked in the past 17 years. Many...

“Right from the start, let me say that I honor the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, although the editor in me wants to clarify its language to make it easier to understand,” columnist Peg McEntee for The Salt Lake City Tribune claims in a Friday opinion piece. Evidently from McEntee’s “clarification,” the way she would “honor” it is to remove “and bear” from the text, as her column quickly degenerates into a hit piece against lawful open carry—that is, the prevalent practice and custom at the time the Constitution was ratified. “Simply seeing someone carrying a handgun, rifle or shotgun can...

Utah residents may be one step closer to being able to carry their firearms with them wherever they go. Wednesday the Utah House of Representatives passed House Bill 49, an open-carry law that would make it legal for a resident to carry a gun in plain sight. HB 49, sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray (R-Clearfield) says that in the absence of threatening behavior, the lawful possession of a firearm or dangerous weapon, whether visible or concealed, cannot be considered in violation of municipal ordinances and government entities cannot give citations for disorderly conduct or a enforce dangerous weapon laws. Summit...

AMERICAN FORK, Utah— An American Fork man says his right to bear arms was violated after police stopped and cited him for disorderly conduct. Spencer Bergon is a manager at Walmart. He was getting ready to go target shooting with a friend and, while waiting for his ride, he took his guns out of his car to put them in their carrying cases. At the same time a woman walked by and got scared. Bergon says the woman came back and circled him in her car at least five times. He says he knew she was calling the police. Bergon...

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Forty students from Westlake High School went from taking pictures Friday afternoon to taking fire from target shooters near Utah Lake. It's a common thing on the western side of Utah Lake: gunfire, on public land, with signs everywhere to let people know to be cautious. But Friday, the group of students, here on a field trip, came under fire when target shooters bullets got far too close for comfort. A mother of one of the students recalls a text message from her terrified daughter: "It's been going on for 10 minutes. We're laying on the ground...

WILLIAMSON CO. - Classes at John A. Logan College are helping people get the right to carry a concealed handgun in 30 different states. After the class, students are eligible to apply for a permit through the state of Utah. A step that's necessary until Illinois passes a concealed carry law. Illinois stands alone in its views on concealed carry. It's the only state in the country that doesn't allow it, but that's not stopping people from getting a concealed carry permit. "We travel quite a bit from state to state and sometimes you get in a position you'll feel...

The last general answer seems to be a popular subject, especially with the new legislative session: laws concerning open carry and carrying concealed weapons. First off, when dealing with police, just notify us of the fact that you have a firearm. I cannot tell you how an individual officer will react, but that's what you do. Let me first say that I believe in gun ownership. I believe in defending yourself if in a life-threatening situation or defending the life of someone else. I however do not understand the need to own an assault rifle for private use, with ammunition...