Free Republic

During her confirmation hearing, 7th Circuit Court nominee Nancy Maldonado was questioned by Sen. John Kennedy about supporting Illinois’ “assault weapons” ban. Maldonado had signed a brief arguing such weapons could be banned as too dangerous for self-defense. However, when Kennedy pressed her to define “assault weapon,” Maldonado said she was “not a gun expert” and could not remember the exact definition. Kennedy said, “You said, ‘Assault weapons may be banned because they’re extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes.’ Tell me what you meant by ‘assault weapons’?” Kennedy noted she had submitted a brief calling to...

That’s why I signed the historic executive order to advance executive [effective] and accountable community policing, and it’s very effective so far. You know, and I’m going to continue to call on Congress to pass the George Floyd Policing and Justice — the Justice in Policing Act so we can make police reform the law of the land. We’ve also made historic investments in proven strategies to interrupt and prevent crime and violence in the first place. These programs use trusted messengers, including people — people who are in the neighborhood, people who have — have been incarcerated and are...

Virginia’s House passed a ban an “assault weapons” ban last week and the Senate followed suit on Wednesday of this week, which means an “assault weapons” ban is now headed to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) desk. Breitbart News reported that the ‘assault weapons’ legislation, House Bill 2 and companion bill Senate Bill 2, targets semiautomatic centerfire rifles and semiautomatic centerfire pistols with threaded barrels and semiautomatic shotguns, if the shotguns have “a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the shotgun … the ability to accept a detachable magazine … [or] a fixed magazine capacity in excess of...

Democrats in New Mexico’s House of Representatives are weighing an “assault weapons” ban and two-week waiting period on gun purchases, along with other requirements that closely mirror controls that have been in place in California for years. On January 13, 2024, Breitbart News reported that New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) was pushing the two week waiting period and other controls, including the ability for New Mexicans to sue gun manufacturers. Grisham also wanted an expansion of gun-free zones in which even licensed concealed carriers would be prohibited from being armed for self-defense.

Pennsylvania House Democrats advanced an “assault weapons” ban and a ban on the purchase, possession, and sale of non-serialized gun parts on Wednesday. The Democrats also advanced legislation to “prohibit accelerated trigger activators, which increase the rate of gunfire,” and a bill to “subject 3D-printed firearms to the same regulations as standard firearms,” the Associated Press reported.

A coalition of twenty Democratic attorneys general, including several from states without a prohibition on so-called assault weapons, are sounding off in support of California’s gun ban. In an amicus brief filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Miller v. Bonta, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Massachusetts AG Andrea Campbell and the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington contend that California’s ban doesn’t violate the Second Amendment because the arms that are prohibited aren’t protected by the Constitution...

President Joe Biden released a statement calling for an “assault weapons” ban following Wednesday’s University of Nevada, Las Vegas, handgun attack. Breitbart News reported that UNLV attacker killed three people and left a fourth critically wounded. And CNN reported the gunman was a “67-year-old career college professor.” It was later learned that the 67-year-old had applied to be a professor at UNLV “but was not hired,” according to ABC News. When Biden released his statement, facts about the UNLV attack, including the description of the shooter–a professor–and the type of gun used–a handgun–were not known. Yet Biden pushed for a...

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked efforts by Senate Democrats to pass an assault weapons ban and universal background checks legislation after the United States over the weekend broke the record for most mass shootings in a single year. Republican Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) objected to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) request for unanimous consent to pass the assault weapons ban, despite the pleas of Democratic senators who took to the Senate floor to cite the harrowing statistics of gun violence in America. “The scourge of gun violence in America is a national crisis. The American people are sick and...

On the face of it, Friday’s decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn an injunction against enforcement of Illinois’ recently enacted ban on “assault weapons” and “large capacity” magazines doesn’t change circumstances on the ground. The three-judge panel that issued today’s decision had previously stayed U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn’s injunction while the state appealed, so the law has been in effect throughout litigation. Still, the 2-1 decision does matter, both because it provides an opportunity for some or all of the plaintiffs to appeal on an emergency basis to the Supreme Court and because it will...

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez delivered another scathing rebuke to the state of California on Thursday, just weeks after declaring the state’s ban on “large capacity” magazines unconstitutional. This time around it was the state’s ban on “assault weapons” that was before the judge, in a case known as Miller v. Bonta. Benitez was unsparing in his criticism of the law, which he says bars ordinary Californians from possessing commonly-owned arms that are protected by the language of the Second Amendment. Modern semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 platform rifle are widely owned by law-abiding citizens across the nation. Other than...

While speaking at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner on Saturday night, President Joe Biden pushed for an “assault weapons” ban and asked, “Who in God’s name needs a weapon with 100 rounds in the chamber?” Biden did not provide an example of a gun that holds 100 rounds in the chamber, but simply added, “That weapon’s only meant for one thing…to kill people.” Biden emphasized that an “assault weapons” ban was enacted once at the federal level and declared, “As long as I’m in office I’m not going to stop until we get it done again.”

Connecticut’s Democrat-run House voted Thursday to expand the state’s “assault weapons” ban to include firearms that were exempted when the ban was originally passed. The CT Mirror noted that Connecticut’s General Assembly has passed two “assault weapons” bans, and each time, the bans had a grandfather clause, allowing those who already owned the banned firearms to keep them. On December 11, 2022, Breitbart News reported that Gov. Ned Lamont (D) pushed an expansion of the current ban to eliminate the grandfather clause exempting firearms that Democrats defined as “assault weapons”

The Supreme Court declined to immediately block Illinois’s assault weapons and high-capacity magazine bans, leaving them in place, for now. A gun rights group and gun shop owner asked the justices to pause the law’s enforcement by intervening in the case ahead of an appeals court’s final ruling. The lawsuit also challenges an ordinance in Naperville, Ill., that bans the sale of assault rifles.

President Biden took aim at Republicans for not taking action in the wake of the latest Texas mass shooting that left nine people dead and again called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban. “Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables. Republican Members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough,” Biden said in a statement Sunday.

Gun control Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) tweeted Sunday that AR-15 rifles are not necessary for hunting or self-defense and suggested mass shooters would be those “most affected” by an “assault weapons” ban. He described the AR-15 as “the mass shooter’s best friend,” omitting any mention that the shooting at an Atlanta hospital earlier in the week was carried out with a handgun.

Vice President Kamala Harris pushed an “assault weapons” ban the day after a 24-year-old former member of the Coast Guard killed one and wounded four with a handgun in Atlanta. Breitbart News reported that the shooting occurred Wednesday just after noon in Northside Hospital, which has a gun-free policy

Colorado lawmakers narrowly voted down a state House bill calling for the ban of so-called ”assault weapons” on Wednesday, in a vote that included three Democrats joining with the Republicans to defeat the measure. The Colorado bill, HB23-1230, would have made it illegal to manufacture, import, purchase, sell, or transfer an “assault weapon” and prohibit a person from possessing a rapid-fire trigger activator. After hours of debate, the lawmakers voted down the bill in a 7-6 vote. A local gun rights organization, the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, organized hundreds of witnesses to testify against passing the proposed “assault weapons” ban....

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee spent Monday’s Manhattan field hearing blaming guns, not people, for crime. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee spent Monday’s Manhattan field hearing blaming guns, not the criminals behind them, for the nation’s crime epidemic. The committee held a field hearing in Manhattan as New York City deteriorates from an American centerpiece of capital ingenuity into a treacherous urban jungle where far-left prosecutors allow criminals to control the streets. “Today’s hearing is about the administration of justice, and keeping communities safe, something that has always been a central focus of the House Judiciary Committee,” opened...

Steve Dettelbach, the man President Biden chose to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), followed in the footsteps of other Biden administration officials who have been stumped by seemingly straightforward questions from lawmakers, questions that deal with subjects within what is supposed to be their purview. On Tuesday, Director Dettelbach was asked by Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-TX) to give a brief, 15-second definition of the term "assault weapon," the thing President Biden and Democrats have demanded must be banned within the United States in order to reduce the frequency of crimes committed by individuals with guns....

President Joe Biden pushed for an “assault weapons” ban, a gun storage law, universal background checks, and the ability to sue gun manufacturers before details about Saturday’s Alabama birthday party shooting were known. Breitbart News reported that four people were killed and multiple people were injured after shots were fired inside the party venue in Dadeville Saturday night. The party’s DJ indicated the incident “sounded like an attack with multiple shooters,” NBC News noted. Police have yet to say how many people were shooting, nor have they indicated what kind of guns, how those guns were acquired, or whether any...