Free Republic

On January 31, 2024, US District Court Judge Susan P. Watters published an opinion on the motion to dismiss the Gun Free School Zone case in Billings, Montana. She found the Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZA) to be constitutional. The case has been covered extensively here on AmmoLand. The person charged, Gabriel Metcalf, had reason to carry a firearm for his own defense and that of others outside his home in Billings, Montana. His home is across the street from an elementary school. The school was not in session while he was carrying outside his home.Gabriel Metcalf’s primary defense...

The case is being prosecuted against Gabriel Metcalf, 49-years-old. To sum up the case to present, Gabriel came to Billings about a decade ago to help his mother at a difficult time in her life. She needed a new roof on her house, because she had befriended a drug addict who took advantage of her. Gabriel is skilled in the construction trades. He was the child who answered his mother’s call, put on a new roof, and stayed to help his mother, Vivian.A new neighbor rented the basement of the house next door, and became a serious threat. Vivian and...

ATF agents arrested Gabriel Cowan Metcalf for possessing a firearm in the controversial “gun free school zone” defined by federal law, on August 23, 2023. Federal law prohibits possession of a firearm within a thousand feet of a school. The law was found to be unconstitutional in 1994, re-passed with slightly different language in 1994, then re-passed with minor changes in 1996. It has not been subject to scrutiny by the Supreme Court since before the Heller decision in 2008. Under the Bruen decision, which reinforced the Heller decision in 2022, the gun free school zone act is blatantly unconstitutional....

In People vs Green, an Illinois appelate court struck down a state law banning  guns within 1,000 feet of a school.  The court relied on a previous decision that struck down a ban on guns within 1,000 feet of a park. Quovadis Green was observed across the street from a school. He was wearing his security guard uniform and had a holstered pistol on his belt. He moved into and out of a van. A teacher, Dan Svoboda, noticed him and notified an assistant principle. The principle approached green and and asked if he was a police officer. Green...

Congressman Thomas Massie has proposed repealing the controversial federal ban on guns within a thousand feet of a school. From cnsnews.com: Massie said the solution to school shootings is putting more than one armed guard at school or allowing teachers to be armed, adding that “98 percent of mass public shootings happen in a gun free zone.” “And we’ve labeled all of our schools as gun free zones. We need to take those labels off, and put our kids in that two percent category of being safe, instead of being in that 98 percent vulnerable category,” he said. Massie...

Representative Thomas Massie, (R) KY, has re-introduced a bill to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) of 1990 and its amendments.  It was found unconstitutional in 1995 in U.S. v Lopez. Then it was passed again, slightly modified, under pressure of the President Bill Clinton and the establishment media in 1996. Donald Trump has pledged to eliminate Gun Free Zones, but he will need Congressional help for the GFSZA.  The bill is numbered HR 34 for the 2017-18 Congress. Progress on the bill can be seen at congress.gov. Representative Massie issued a press release on Thursday, January 5th....

A woman pulled over for going 51 in a 20 mph school zone in Palm Beach County told the deputy "no wonder you people get shot" in an incident recorded by the deputy's dashcam video. The traffic stop was made back on Sept. 1 near Hagen Ranch Road and Boynton Beach Boulevard in the area of Hagen Ranch Elementary, WPTV reported. The video, which was posted by the Sheriff's Office to YouTube, shows the deputy pulling the speeding car over. He then writes up a $606 ticket and approaches the car to hand it to the woman. "You are being...

Representative Jim Lucas, R-Seymore, has introduced a bill to reform Indiana law that restricts self defense in or near schools.  The bill HB1048, aims to do a number of things, such as allow people to possess firearms that are locked in vehicles on school property,  change the definition of school property for firearms offenses to the actual buildings rather than all the real estate owned by the school, and perhaps most interestingly, decriminalize "roaming school zones". What are "roaming school zones", you might ask?  In 2013, the Indiana legislature passed a bill dealing with school safety.  It included a...

The ugly truth is that gun free zones are not about irrational dreams of safety. They are about power and control. The irrational spouting about safety is just a way to get emotional support from those who don’t really think about the issue. Gun free zones are just another incremental way to move toward total control. The idea is simple: make an example of a place where guns are not allowed, with no rational reason other than “we do not tolerated armed citizens *here*” . This lends legitimacy to the thought that citizens with guns are a bad thing, and...