Free Republic

Sociologist Jennifer Carlson says Americans will become more bitterly divided over the place of guns in society. The most significant development won’t be a nationwide swing toward gun rights or gun control—but a widening and entrenched gulf that will divide Americans politically, socially and even technologically. Gun-control initiatives will follow the approach blazed by the gun lobby, shifting away from the national stage and focusing increasingly on state-level efforts in places like California, Colorado, Connecticut and Washington. With the gun debate focused on state-level politics, high-profile shootings will exacerbate the division between these two Americas: in restrictive states, a demand...

OREM, Utah — Police say a shopper with a concealed weapons permit fatally shot a suspect to thwart a carjacking Saturday outside a Utah grocery store. ... the shooter ... heard a woman’s screams as she was being pulled from her SUV by the suspect ... went to assist the woman and fired one round after the 27-year-old male suspect lunged at him in an attempt to grab his gun. The suspect, who was shot in the chest, later died at a hospital.

Like many publications, Playboy magazine interviews many celebrities, but what’s interesting is the title’s habit of asking them if they own guns. Bill Maher, the comedian who hosts “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO, has said before that he has guns. In the May issue of Playboy, the editors asked him why. Maher told Playboy he has “two guns. They’re for protection. We live in a gun country, even Los Angeles. I’m not expecting anything to happen, but I want to be ready for it. So I have a lot of security measures at my house. If somebody gets...

The thing that always irks me about their "water the tree of liberty" types is their sheer stupidity. Seriously, you think you and your buddies are going to play Red Dawn against the full might of the U.S. government? Where do you suppose all that defense budget money went, folks? And now we have Ted Cruz, egging them on. Dear sweet Jesus, this man has no conscience. Via Talking Points Memo: WASHINGTON — It's a given that every Republican presidential candidate will run for president as a strong supporter of gun rights. But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is arguing that...

Hillary Clinton is no stranger to gun control. When she announced her run for the presidency two weeks ago I posted a little round-up of all the comments she has made on the record about her desire for things like mandatory registration, assault weapons bans, and that gun owners are potential terrorists. It seems that she is taking things a step further now, as her campaign has hired the Minnesota state director of the Michael Bloomberg funded gun control group “Everytown for Gun Safety” to manage her Minnesota campaign.

The New Hampshire House is preparing to vote on legislation that would remove the licensing requirement for carrying a concealed firearm, a significant change to the state's gun laws. If the House passes the bill Wednesday, it heads to Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan's desk. She has not said whether she will veto it, but did say recently the state's existing gun laws are working. Current law requires anyone who wants to carry a gun concealed such as in a purse or under a coat to get a license from local law enforcement or officials. This bill would allow anyone who...

This past Saturday Bloomberg’s Everytown representative, Ted Alcorn, insisted that he would not appear simultaneously with John Lott (the author of More Guns, Less Crime (University of Chicago Press) and the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center) on C-SPAN. Alcorn would only appear after Lott's segment was finished. Here is John Lott's discussion of Bloomberg's gun control advocates unwillingness to ever debate http://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4535462 Here is Bloomberg’s Research Director’s explanation for why his organization won't ever debate. http://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4535518 Acorn's explanation for why Bloomberg's groups refuse to debate is pretty embarrassing. Hopefully, these clips will get a lot of attention and...

Check out this old toy gun commercial from the 1950s or '60s and compare it to how children who play with toy guns (or even their own food or fingers fashioned like a gun) are treated today. Do you think kids today are going to want to uphold their 2nd Amendment rights after they are terrorized and suspended or expelled by their schools for chewing a breakfast tart into an L-shape or being forced at age five to undergo a psych eval for bringing a Hello Kitty bubble gun to class? Others not included here are a kid who was...

During a Monday appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) defended his post-Sandy Hook gun control push as something that “made sense” in 2013 and something that “makes sense now.” Host Joe Scarborough approached the subject by talking about how he and Manchin came from different backgrounds — one a Republican and the other a Democrat — yet they found common ground in “[talking] about the need for background checks” and about how they “disagreed with the NRA” post-Sandy Hook.

Sunday, we found out that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin removed himself from the running for Governor of West Virginia, but during the same announcement, he endorsed Hillary Clinton as his favorite presidential candidate. When Senator Manchin endorsed Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign on Sunday, he described Clinton as warm, compassionate, engaging, and tough. In 2008, Manchin waited until the Democratic candidate was already decided before endorsing Barack Obama.

Documents obtained by The Daily Caller and interviews with American veterans reveal a shocking government program: The Department of Veterans Affairs is disarming America’s veterans by getting them placed on the FBI’s criminal background-check list. The VA sends veterans’ personal medical and financial information directly to the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which can seize their guns in home raids. Veterans deemed mentally incompetent or financially incapable are finally speaking out about the errors in the system and the fearful harassment they and their families face from the federal government. And it all starts when vets...

This past Friday, an Uber driver with a permitted concealed handgun stopped what likely would have been a mass public shooting. Police arrived on the scene quickly, but the Uber driver had still already taken care of the situation before they arrived. From Mitch Dudek in the Chicago Sun-Times: . . . 20 other cases are also listed.

The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., is reportedly investigating a photo of Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Ken Buck (R-Colo.) holding an AR-15 rifle in a House office building.

DENVER (Reuters) - Police in Colorado have cited a 37-year-old man for carrying his computer into an alley then shooting it eight times with a handgun after what authorities said had been a long battle with the uncooperative machine. Lucas Hinch was cited for discharging a firearm within city limits after officers responded to a "shots fired" call early on Monday evening, the Colorado Springs Police Department said in a statement. "Investigation revealed a resident was fed up with fighting his computer for the last several months," said the statement, entitled "Man Kills His Computer."

Baltimore's mayor, police officials, and prosecutor sought to calm their city Monday, while six officers were suspended as authorities investigated how a suspect suffered a fatal spine injury in police custody last week. A week after Freddie Gray, 25, was pulled off the street and into a police van, authorities don't have any videos or other evidence explaining what happened to cause the "medical emergency" an arresting officer said Gray suffered while being taken to the local police station, Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said. The Gray family's lawyer, Billy Murphy, had said that Gray's "spine was 80 percent severed at...

Sen. Ted Cruz is firing back at The New York Times for calling his support of the Second Amendment “strange” by reminding the paper that he wasn’t the only “ridiculous” one who felt that way about gun rights.The Texas Republican penned an op-ed for National Review on Sunday, featuring quotes from five gun-loving American patriots, driving home the message that if guns were OK with them, then guns must not be all bad.Cruz wrote: “The writer, the lead editor for the Times’ editorial page, continued, ‘I just don’t get the argument on constitutional or historical grounds’.”“Perhaps this will help. Let’s...

Amid national protests over police treatment of black men, Baltimore officials have promised to investigate the death of Freddie Gray, an apparently healthy 25-year-old who was rushed to a hospital with spinal cord injuries after being chased and tackled by police officers. Mr. Gray, who is black, died Sunday, a week after his arrest. His family’s lawyer said that 80 percent of his spinal cord was severed at the neck while he was in police custody, and that he later lapsed into a coma. Witnesses captured parts of Mr Gray’s encounter with the police on a cellphone video, in which...

On Friday, the New York Times stated, in a blaring headline, that my support for Second Amendment rights is “strange.” In particular, the writer took issue with my statement that “”the Second Amendment to the Constitution isn’t for just protecting hunting rights, and it’s not only to safeguard your right to target practice. It is a constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny — for the protection of liberty.” In addition to “strange,” the NYT described this view as “ridiculous,” “silly,” and “absurd” (methinks the...

It looked like the scene in “Back to the Future”: A van screeches through a parking lot, pedal to the metal, disrupting the quiet and bringing forth pure chaos. In the movie version it was a van full of angry Libyan terrorists bent on snuffing out “Doc Brown” and “Marty McFly,” but last week in Iowa it was Hillary Clinton whose campaign van began final approach toward the entrance of a community college — press and supporters in waiting — when suddenly Hillary hit the afterburners and the so-called “Scooby van” flew right by, leaving fans bewildered and media members...

Sen. Ted Cruz made a Sunday campaign stop at a gun range in New Hampshire.