Free Republic

On March 11, 2024, Dr. John Lott debated the eminent law professor Sanford Levinson on the subject: Was the Second Amendment a Mistake? The debate lasted about an hour. It was held at the University of Wisconsin and started at 6:30 p.m. The debate was sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). The moderator was Professor Ryan Owens.Unlike much of what we see in politics, the debate was cordial and civilized. There was no student protest to prevent Dr. Lott from being able to debate Professor Levinson. Dr. Lott is an eminent scholar on gun control issues. Dr. Levison is...

On October 16, 2020, a number of plaintiffs, including Madison Lara, the Second Amendment Foundation, and others, filed a lawsuit claiming Pennsylvania law, which forbids 18-20-year-olds from obtaining a concealed carry permit or from openly carrying outside of the home during an emergency was an infringement of the rights protected by the Second Amendment. This was nearly two years before the Supreme Court decision of Bruen. On April 16, 2021, the District Court ruled against them. On April 21, 2021, the plaintiffs appealed the decision by the Pennsylvania District Court to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The...

Key Statistics: • There have been 196 accidental deaths related to firearms so far in 2023. • Accidental shooting deaths have declined from 1,491 per year (1979-1998) to an average of 606 (1999-2023). • 728 accidental shootings (including injuries or death) occur on average yearly. • 1% of all firearm-related deaths in 2022 were unintentional. • Individuals aged 14-30 are consistently more likely to die of accidental shootings than any other age group.

On January 14, 2023, David J. Nastri, Esq. filed suit against Katie Dykes as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. Nastri challenged the constitutionality of Connecticut’s ban on the carrying of handguns in Connecticut state parks for the purpose of self-defense. From the complaint: This is an action for declaratory and injunctive relief that challenges the constitutionality of Connecticut’s state regulation that bans the carrying of handguns in Connecticut state parks for the purpose of self-defense. Connecticut’s ban on handguns in state parks cannot pass constitutional muster under the historical standard that the Supreme Court announced...

We graded Alabama's candidates based on their previous 2A voting record, public statements on their constituents owning firearms, and their willingness to focus on 2A issues. Given our research on this criteria, we've assigned the following grades: A - Caroleene Dobson - Running for U.S. House District 2 B - Dick Brewbaker - Running for U.S. House District 2 D - Robin Litaker - Running for U.S. House District 7 F - Terrycina Sewell - Running for U.S. House District 7

Here are the highlights: A - Ted Cruz, Brandon Herrara, Jay Furman B - Monica De La Cruz, Mayra Flores C - Lazaro Garza Jr. D - Dan Crenshaw, Peter Filler, Tony Gonzales, Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez Jr. F - Colin Allred, Michelle Vallejo

Here are the highlights: A - Kat Cammack, Cory Mills, Jose Castillo, Adianis Morales B - Anna Paulina Luna C - Tatiana Fernandez D - Rick Scott, Mario Diaz Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar F - Debbie Mucarsal-Powell, Tom Wells, Darren Soto, Tony D’Arrigo

On March 22, 2024, Governor Mark Gordon vetoed Wyoming House Bill 125 ( House Enrolled Act 49), which would have eliminated many of the gun free zones which exist in Wyoming.Governor Gordon (R), in his veto letter to the Wyoming Secretary of State, said: “The bill exceeds the separation of powers embodied in Article 2 of our Wyoming Constitution. I must, therefore, veto it.”HB 125 passed with veto-proof margins in both the House and Senate. In the House, the vote was 57-7-1. In the Senate the vote was 22-8-1. Wyoming requires a 2/3 vote of both chambers of the legislature...

Nine states show up again and again as the most repressive states in the union of the United States of America. With the occasional exception, these states refuse to honor the Constitution; they have extremely restrictive policies on who may bear arms, they ban common rifles, they ban the ownership of suppressors, and they tend to have high taxes. They are all controlled by the Democratic Party.The nine most repressive states are California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.Of those nine states, all but Rhode Island have enacted bans on some semi-automatic firearms, usually...

“I swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of Virginia, and that absolutely includes protecting the right of law-abiding Virginians to keep and bear arms,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago announced a first-of-its-kind lawsuit Tuesday against Glock, the manufacturer of some of the most popular handguns in the U.S., alleging Glock is facilitating the proliferation of illegal machine guns in the city, a news release from the mayor's office said. "The lawsuit alleges that Glock unreasonably endangers Chicagoans by manufacturing and selling in the Chicago civilian market semiautomatic pistols that can easily be converted to illegal machine guns with an auto sear - a cheap, small device commonly known as a 'Glock switch,'" the release said. The suit is the first to use Illinois' new Firearms...

On March 8, 2024, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman decided against a federal ban on gun ownership for illegal immigrant Heriberto Carbajal-Flores. The case at hand centered on Carbajal-Flores, who was “charged with possession of a firearm while illegally or unlawfully in the United States.” He had a handgun in his possession “in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois,” on June 1, 2020. He was charged for being a non-citizen in possession for a firearm. Coleman ultimately concluded, “The noncitizen possession statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), violates the Second Amendment as applied to Carbajal-Flores. Thus, the Court grants...

Dear Reader, It's important to keep in mind everything conceivably wrong or criminal about firearms is already illegal. So, when new laws are proposed, they typically only impact the innocent. It's precisely why we, the people, object so strenuously to new laws: They affect us and don't impact crime and violence. Because new proposals omit the criminal problem, new rules raise the real specter of actual conspiracy within some halls of government to wrest control and disarm the public. Many in government furiously deny this, but it's supported by evidence and countless public statements. I'm a Utopian Pacifist. I support...

On March 5, 2024, Governor Landry of Louisiana signed Bill SB 1, Constitutional Carry into law, now known as Act No. 1. The new law will go into effect on July 4, 2024. Constitutional Carry is one of eleven interrelated crime bills designed to reduce crime in Louisiana. All eleven bills were passed in the special session on crime called for by Governor Landry SB 2 was another of the crime reform bills SB 2 limits the liability of a person who justifiably uses a handgun in self-defense. It provides immunity from civil liability for damages for injury, death, or...

On February 28, 2024, the US District Judge for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment to three individuals whose Second Amendment rights were unconstitutionally violated by the State of California. The case began over five years ago.On December 20, 2018, the case of Linton v Bonta (originally Linton v Becerra, the California AG at the time) was filed. Individual plaintiffs and several organizations, including Calguns, Firearms Policy Foundation, Madison Society Foundation, and SAF, sued the state of California for flagrantly denying the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the legal judgments of other states, the Full Faith and Credit...

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry campaigned on a pro-Constitutional Carry platform last fall, and the former Attorney General wasted no time at all to fulfill his campaign promise. Just a little more than two weeks after a permitless carry bill was formally introduced in a special session on crime and public safety, Landry put pen to paper today and officially made concealed carry licenses optional in the Sportsmans Paradise. ""Today, we join 27 other states in passing Constitutional Carry. I promised the folks of Louisiana that I would champion Constitutional Carry into law, and within two months, I have honored that...

If gun control is gaining steam in Congress, chances are Sen. John Cornyn is nearby, working on a ‘compromise’ with Democrats. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the first to announce his campaign to replace Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as the Senate’s Republican leader. The race for leadership will expose a weakness of Cornyn — his lack of support for Americans’ right to self-defense. “Every time gun control gains steam in Congress, Senator John Cornyn is right there working with Democrats on a ‘compromise,'” says Aidan Johnston with Gun Owners Of America. Unfortunately, Johnston is correct. Cornyn sponsored the 2022 Bipartisan Safer...

In September 2019, Russell Fouts and Tan Miguel Tolentino filed a lawsuit challenging California’s complete ban on the “manufacture, import into the state, keep for sale, or sale, loan, and possession of billies.” “Billies” are not explicitly defined but are, essentially, any short club and are considered to be synonymous with batons. On September 22, 2021, two years later, Judge Roger Benitez found the ban to meet the requirements of the law as determined by the Ninth Circuit precedent. This was nine months before the Bruen decision clarified the standards to be used in determining the bounds of the Second...

A deal made by congressional leaders to avert a partial shutdown of the U.S. government includes an attempt to ease some veterans' access to gun ownership, even when they are deemed "mentally incompetent" to handle their own finances. The $436 billion funding package agreed on by congressional lawmakers Wednesday extended the deadline for the expiration of funding for government agencies—including the military and Department of Veteran Affairs—from March 1 to March 8. It was the fourth extension painstakingly agreed on by a divided Congress during this fiscal year, but it spelled optimism that a deal for the long-term budget plan...

Gun Owners of America, a conservative firearm rights group, spoke out against Texas Sen. John Cornyn's bid to replace Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican leader. "The Senate deserves a conservative pro-gun leader, and John Cornyn is not that person," Gun Owners of America Federal Affairs Director Aidan Johnston said last week in a statement posted by the group on X, formerly Twitter. "Every time a gun issue comes up, he’s right there with a compromise. And that’s not leadership. That’s just capitulation to gun control." Johnston reiterated his group's opposition in comments to Fox News Digital on Saturday....