Free Republic

On April 25 California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom used a tweet to call out the NRA and suggests lives being saved by gun control. His tweet came on the same day Breitbart News reported that the NRA had launched what promises to be the first of many lawsuits designed to challenge California gun control laws. The Los Angeles Times reports that the NRA has a “series” of suits planned now that Neil Gorsuch is seated on the Supreme Court. Newsom’s tweet appears to be an attempt to convince the NRA that gun control has already won the day. He wrote:

A retired NYPD lieutenant, two retired NYPD officers and a former Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney were arrested early Tuesday by FBI agents in connection with the issuance of gun licenses by the NYPD's licensing division, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the case. The federal charges include bribery, extortion, making false statements and conspiracy, court papers say. The four men were arrested at their respective residences in Manhattan and Long Island, law enforcement sources said. Authorities allege they fast-tracked gun licenses and investigations. Read More...

Gabby Giffords’ gun control group Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS) is urging opposition to a repeal of the gun ban for military veterans. On March 16 Breitbart News reported that the House voted to repeal the gun ban for military veterans and ARS is asking gun controllers to convince their Senators not to follow suit. ARS posted a link that helps gun controllers write a letter to their Senators. The text of the link says, “Write a letter to your Senators saying that you OPPOSE legislation that would prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from submitting mental health records to...

The Second Amendment has never been recondite, it is only the judges who have been obtuse. An intelligible interpretation of the Second Amendment emerges the instant one reconciles the prefatory and operative clauses. In other words, the “militia” described in the prefatory clause is a militia composed of a people with a right to keep and bear arms. What type of arms? In 1939, the Supreme Court spoke explicitly to this. At the time the Second Amendment was adopted, men summoned to militia duty were expected “to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use...

During an April 16 appearance on MSNBC, Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts suggested “caring Americans” support gun control, while others support or at least tolerate “the gun lobby.” She was speaking on the 10th anniversary of the April 16, 2007, attack on Virginia Tech University, an attack in which one individual used guns acquired through background checks to kill 32 people in a gun-free zone.

While rolling back onerous Obama-era environmental and business regulations, President Donald Trump has also been quietly dropping gun controls which were either put in place or at least prolonged by the Obama administration. On February 28 Breitbart News reported that Trump signed the repeal of Obama’s Social Security gun ban; a ban which empowered the Social Security administration to strip away the Second Amendment rights of Social Security beneficiaries without due process. Days later, Trump’s Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke squashed Obama’s lead ammunition ban for federal lands and waters. According to McClatchy, Trump’s administration has been quietly working to do...

A former United States Marine who traveled to New Jersey with a gun he legally owned — but which was not registered in New Jersey — is facing three years in prison for firearm law violations. The three years is the minimum sentence that former Marine Sergeant Hisashi Pompey has to serve before he can even be eligible for parole under New Jersey’s strict gun control laws. ABC 7 reports that Pompey did “three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan for which he received medals for bravery.” He was a military police sergeant.

Anti-gun rhetoric has been a fact of my life as long as I can remember. As a new mom, I even tried keeping toy guns out of the house because I had bought into some of the myths surrounding gun ownership. For example: Accidental gun deaths are bound to happen with a gun in the house. A gun-free home will keep kids safe from guns. If kids play with toy guns, they will grow up to be violent. survival mom gun All of those are nonsense, of course, but as a mom, all I wanted was for my children to...

The state’s senators and representatives have failed to exempt the University of Kansas Health System from a law that will allow concealed weapons to be carried in the state’s public buildings starting in July. Already, executives are hearing from medical students who say they are hesitant to complete their residency in a place where guns are allowed. Patients say they will go elsewhere for care. Other hospitals, once eager to transfer their charges to the many highly specialized programs in the KU Health System, are warning that such arrangements are likely to slow when guns are permitted.

Four people were shot at an elementary school in San Bernardino, California, Monday just after 10:30 a.m. Pacific time – and at least one leading anti-gun activist wasted no time before she blamed the National Rifle Association for “trying to force guns into schools across the U.S.”

With Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch confirmed to replace Antonin Scalia as a Justice of Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), he may immediately have an impact on a Second Amendment case from California, plus a long docket of government authority cases. In a California firearms restriction case: Peruta v. San Diego, a plaintiff is challenging government restrictions on the Second Amendment right of ordinary, law-abiding citizens to carry handguns outside of their home for self-defense, including concealed carry when open carry is forbidden by state law. In a religious freedom case: Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado...

Last week the show “Hollywood Weapons” premiered on the Outdoor Channel. Along with former Green Beret and cohost Terry Schappert, Larry Zanoff gives viewers an inside look at the Independent Studio Services (ISS) weapons department. In each episode, the duo tests popular action scenes and Zanoff’s expertise and knowledge is key. When not working at the largest rental armory in the film and television industry, Zanoff provides weapons training to law enforcement, military and other government agencies. Phil Schreier, senior curator of the NRA’s National Firearms Museum, said, “For most of us, film & television were our first introduction to...

The Texas state dish is chili, its tree is the pecan and its fish is the Guadalupe bass. And soon, Texas may have an explosive addition to its set of official symbols: plans are afoot for a state gun. Though Texas lawmakers through the years have seen fit to designate dozens of symbols, including an official pollinator (the western honey bee), cooking implement (the cast-iron Dutch oven) and shell (the lightning whelk), they have not yet given the seal of approval to a weapon, despite the state’s famous fondness for arms.

The Wednesday, April 5, episode of ABC’s conspiracy drama, Designated Survivor, may as well have been written by the Brady Campaign, or any one of Michael Bloomberg’s consortium of anti-Second Amendment organizations. For those unfamiliar with Kiefer Sutherland’s new role as President Tom Kirkman, he seems to have done a complete 180 from his days as 24’s Jack Bauer. Sutherland now stars as the reluctant president, thrust into the role after an attack on the State of the Union address kills most of his predecessor’s administration and the entirety of Congress. The warning signs were there. When the staff director...

When the Florida House passed legislation Wednesday to bolster the state’s Stand Your Ground law–adding new protections for citizens’ natural right to self-defense–dejected Moms Demand Action members looked on from the gallery with faces marked by disappointment. Moms Demand volunteer state chapter leader Michelle Gajda said, “It’s absolutely heartbreaking.” According to the Miami Herald, the legislation is contained in Senate Bill 128–a bill designed to remove the burden of proof from the citizen and shift it to the state. It does this by requiring prosecutors to use a pretrial hearing to prove a defendant cannot use Stand Your Ground in...

There’s been far too much bad news to cover lately, so let’s look at some positive developments to lighten the mood. One of these comes out of South Carolina, where the state legislature just passed a constitutional carry bill. Under these rules, anyone who is legally entitled to own a firearm can carry it in public, which falls in line with that whole keep and bear arms thing that Democrats hate to talk about. Hopes are not high for passage in the state senate, but the bill is still causing a considerable uproar. (WSPA) The South Carolina House passed a...

Officials said an intruder was shot by a homeowner during an apparent home invasion Monday evening. Authorities said crews were called just after 9 p.m. to the 400 block of Marshall Avenue in Pittsburgh's Perry South neighborhood. Channel 11's Steven Fisher reported that the 51-year-old resident heard someone rummaging around the first floor of his home. He grabbed his gun and confronted the intruder, who police identified as 56-year-old Darrell Bettis. Police said Bettis charged at the man and struck him with a crowbar. After a struggle, police said the homeowner shot Bettis in the upper right thigh. Bettis was...

No charges to be filed against Mr. AR15.

It's difficult to do a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of American gun culture. It fuels a multibillion-dollar industry employing around 142,000, and it kills more than 30,000 and injures an additional 70,000 annually. A new study by researchers at Stanford University tries to come to grips with one of the less frequently mentioned costs of gun culture -- the hospitalization expenses resulting from firearm injuries. The study tracked a total of 267,265 patients who were admitted to a hospital for firearm-related injuries from 2006 through 2014. Costs for initial inpatient hospitalization were about $730 million annually, or a total of $6.6...

Reader “Wild” Bill Baldwin dropped this nugget in a comment: “According to the Boone County (IN) tax collector, John or Shannon Watts no longer own property there. According to the Boulder County (CO) tax collector, John and Shannon Watts do own property there. They live in Colorado’s 2nd congressional (deep blue) district. It certainly wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that she try to unseat Cory Gardner in 2020.” So I checked her Linkedin account: It seems she officially has moved to the People’s Republic of Denver. Apparently Bloomberg feels that Colorado is now under his control and...