Free Republic

Venezuela’s centrally planned economy may have run out of the essentials like toilet paper, milk and sugar, but a shortage of AK-103 rifles is not something they need worry about now that the government’s new rifle and ammunition factory has come online. The factory, long overdue to have begun production, is a collaboration between the Venezuelan government and Russia’s Izhmash. Izhmash has supplied the tooling and will be paid royalties for each rifle manufactured. The factory is expected to produce 25,000 rifles per year. This works out to be 80 – 90 completed rifles per day. This is on top...

You've probably never seen so many bald eagles in one place. Bald eagles might be scarce in the lower 48 of the United States, but the noble national bird is in abundance in the unusually named and lovely town of Unalaska, Alaska. Typically depicted as noble lone hunters, bald eagles will be happy to accept a free lunch just like the rest of us would. This flash mob of angry birds apparently couldn't pass up their favorite food. The group of about 40 bald eagles is seen at leisure, casually lunching on a giant load of fish fillets carelessly left...

A group organized as The Tea Party Leadership Fund is trying to draft former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014. The fund claims that the former Fox News analyst would be favored to unseat incumbent Mark Begich (D-AK), whose polling numbers have suffered recently. But the organization has not even discussed its effort with Gov. Palin, and she has never expressed any real desire to be a U.S. Senator. The fund's Niger Innis says the interest of Tea Party members in a Palin run, however, is clear. "We...

If any Alaska member cares to receive a ping. I am creating a list.

Defense Distributed is making progress on a 3D printed AK magazine, as shown in the pictures below. They call this magazine "The Feinstein". Link to video

In the wake of the most recent mass shooting in Newtown, CT, Gun control has become a hot topic nationwide. In a press conference Friday President Barack Obama said, "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics." Even though the President's statement was vague many feel that more strict gun control laws is the direction he is pursuing, especially customers at Wild West Guns in Anchorage. “I mean if you figure we have 300,000,000 guns in this country, how many are used in crimes? Statistically it’s insignificant...

BIG LAKE — A bail-jumping burglar may be feeling lucky at the possibility of spending the next several decades in jail after an armed confrontation that nearly left him shot. Joshua Beaty, 25, was in the process of robbing the Big Lake area home of James Conner Oct. 26 when Conner and a couple of his friends caught Beaty in the act. “He already had the TV loaded up and some other stuff,” said Jim Bowe Jr., owner of Mark’s Big Lake Repair and friend of Conner. “He came out of the house and tried to sneak into his truck,...

a father in St. Louis Park faces a felony charge for allegedly confronting children with an assault weapon, because he thought they took candy from his children on Halloween. Police say 44-year-old Orrin Hager is accused of pulling out an AK-47 on a group of boys he saw walking, and confronted them about the candy. According to the complaint, Hager told police he pulled out the gun because the boys weren't taking him seriously. The gun was not loaded. No one was hurt.

FAIRBANKS — A Seattle woman working for a Canadian mining company was attacked and bitten in the hand by a grizzly bear about 20 miles north of the Denali Highway near Tangle Lakes on Sunday. Julia Stafford, 20, and a male co-worker she knows only as Kerry, were collecting rock samples in the rain when they encountered the bear in a foggy ravine about 1:30 p.m. “The bear sort of walked out of the fog and it had two cubs with it,” Stafford said by phone Monday from her bed at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where she was being treated for...

A passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight looked out the window and saw what looked like a damaged area on the wing with a handwritten note saying, "We know about this." A photo was posted on social media sites about the note a passenger spotted on July 28th. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines says the plane was safe and there was nothing to worry about. There was an approved trim repair to the corner flap on the right wing. A maintenance technician wrote a note on the wing to let the flight crew know that it wasn't a problem - they were...

FAIRBANKS — Holding her walking stick in one hand and a bottle of natural insect repellent in the other, Alyson Jones-Robinson wished she had a gun. There was a grizzly bear standing only a few feet in front of her, snapping its teeth and growling at her and her two nieces, 13 and 9, who were huddled behind her, as was her husky, Rowyn. “It was a very surreal experience,” 43-year-old Jones-Robinson said on Friday, a day after the ordeal. “All I could think about was this bear is so close to me I can see its teeth. I could...

A brown bear mauled a hiker on an offshoot of the Bird Creek Trail south of Anchorage early Sunday, and the man escaped by scrambling up a tree, Alaska State Troopers said. Ben Radakovich, 30 of Eagle River, was about three miles from the trail head hiking alone when he rounded a curve and met up with a bear cub. "(The encounter) scared the cub and the cub turned around and high-tailed it out of there," said Beth Ipsen, trooper spokeswoman. Then the sow attacked. Radakovich was wearing a backpack, which provided some protection, and carrying ski poles, which he...

Fairfax, VA --(Ammoland.com)- NRA-News is a valued partner that continues to cover breaking gun rights news with a new and improved short video format in the “NRA News Minute” videos. To view the current firearms or gun rights news video, please click above: Ginny Simone talks to Congressman Don Young (R-AK) about his recent discussions with ATF over their requests for Firearms Retailers Bound Books – For more information, go to: http://tiny.cc/d5g6ew

2 Alaska girls injured by stampeding moose EAGLE RIVER, Alaska—Police in Alaska say two girls playing in the street were injured when they were stomped by a moose. The Anchorage Daily News (http://is.gd/e69xTA) reports the girls, ages 11 and 6, were playing Monday when the moose chased them. Police in Eagle River say the girls ran to a nearby yard but the moose followed. Police spokesman Dave Parker says the 6-year-old was severely stomped on her back and arm. He says the older girl was struck by the collapsing playground equipment, and was treated and released at the scene.

Anchorage-area firearms dealers are being invited to a June 5 seminar by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives nearly two months after a controversy erupted that set off alarms among Northwest gun rights activists and got the attention of Alaska Congressman Don Young. The ATF field office in Anchorage takes direction from the Seattle Field Division office, and in January, an agent in Anchorage approached several local gun shops including Great Northern Guns, asking for their bound books, containing information on all gun transactions, so he could make copies. Great Northern Guns, as this column noted, refused. The...

If you haven’t heard all the recent chatter about Ted Nugent, you’re likely living in a hovel in the far reaches of Siberia. As a result of his highly outspoken views in support of freedom, the Second Amendment, and the American way of life in general, Ted has been persecuted by many. I have a number of things in common with Ted, as many of us do. I love music, guitars, and firearms, especially the 10mm automatic – Ted’s all-time favorite pistol cartridge. I caught up with Ted at his Mescalero, New Mexico concert the other night and had the...

Alaska Congressman Don Young today demanded to know why agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been asking gun shop owners in the 49th State for copies of their gun sales records. As this column reported, ATF agents had contacted gun shops in Anchorage for the bound books which contain information on gun buyers. Federal law prohibits federal agents from doing that, and they know it. Gun rights activists across the Northwest are furious. The situation has caused an uproar in the firearms community, and Young – a member of the National Rifle Association Board of...

AI member Tyler relays a tale of wanton death and destruction that was only narrowly averted by the vigilance of our friends who work for the Transportation Safety Administration. We’re not sure what Tyler was thinking – trying to carry such a dangerous item on board a commercial aircraft – but here’s his story . . . I had the friendly people at TSA notify me when I tried to get on a flight to Alaska (where I work around bears) this morning that a disassembled bolt for a Ruger m77 is not, in fact, a nicely machined paper weight...

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- House Bill 80, critical self-defense legislation, passed in the state House at the end of last session, and was reported by the state Senate Judiciary Committee on March 23. This bill has since been languishing in the Senate Finance Committee. With only three days left in this legislative session, it is imperative that HB 80 be heard in committee immediately. Introduced by state Representative Mark Neuman (R-15), HB 80 is important self-defense legislation that would provide that a law-abiding person, who is justified in using deadly force in self-defense, has “no duty-to-retreat” from an attack if the...

Anchorage, AK --(Ammoland.com)- BATFE is violating the law again. Anchorage gun shops are being visited by BATFE agents that are requesting the shops 4473 forms as far back as 2007. They claim they want to make copies of the “book”. This is defacto registration, against the law, and BATFE knows it. Please inform everyone you know about this and notify any gun dealers you know that they don’t have to comply. Contact your congressman and senators and demand a full investigation. Don Young and our Senators have been informed about what is happening. Congressman Young is acutely interested but our...

JUNEAU -- Two years ago, when the Legislature was debating the first incarnation of "stand your ground" legislation, then-Attorney General Dan Sullivan decried the bill as an invitation to violence. Covering a broad swath of beliefs from religion to atheism, from conservatism to liberalism, Sullivan's unequivocal letter to the House Judiciary Committee, written by a subordinate, said the bill had no place in the statute books. "Whatever source one thinks our laws should be drawn from -- the ten commandments which say 'thou shalt not kill,' simple morality, utilitarianism principles of the greater good, or simply the concept that life...

WASHINGTON, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Several of the states where we have been working to introduce bills to remove restrictions for law-abiding knife owners are moving forward. There’s exciting things happening in several states. Take action TODAY to tell your legislators to vote YES. LOUISIANA KNIFE BILL WILL PROVIDE CLEAR DEFINITION OF SWITCHBLADES SB 78 sponsored by Senator Dan “Blade” Morrish will clearly separate utility, work and hunting knives from being classified as illegal switchblades. Incorporating our “bias toward closure” language will align Louisiana knife law with the 2009 definition amended to the Federal Switchblade Act. Dan Lawson, AKTI’s Legal Contributing Counsel,...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A bill that would expand the right to use lethal force as a means of self-defense is dangerous, without support in the prosecutorial community, and rife with potential unintended consequences, an Anchorage prosecutor said Friday. James Fayette, an assistant district attorney, took a day off work to fly to Juneau on his own dime to speak out against HB80 during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake, would allow Alaskans to use lethal force in self-defense anywhere they are legally allowed. Current law explicitly affords that right only when...

A court-appointed special prosecutor's report made public on Thursday details findings that U.S. Justice Department attorneys intentionally withheld information from the defense in the bungled prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. The Stevens investigation and prosecution "were permeated by the systematic concealment" of key evidence that would have been beneficial to his defense and "seriously damaged the testimony and credibility" of the government's key witness, former Veco chief Bill Allen, the report said. The 514-page report, by Washington lawyer Henry Schuelke, was released Thursday by order of U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who presided over Stevens' 2008 trial and...

PALMER — It takes a high-caliber weapon to turn heads at the annual Palmer Lions Club Gun Show, like Doug Albright’s Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun. The Fairbanks resident had the fully functional weapon mounted on two-by-fours at his booth. Albright isn’t selling the gun, but said it’s a great conversation piece and a way to draw show-goers to his table to see what else he has to offer. “Oh, it works,” he said. “I’ve shot up old cars with it before, cast-iron boilers, they’re good, too.” It’s at Albright’s table, Anchorage resident Deryl Titus was found admiring the Browning....

FAIRBANKS - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney maintained a strong lead with most of the results counted in the Alaska Republican presidential preference poll held today. With 4,225 votes, the former Massachusetts Governor took 32.6 percent of the statewide vote. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum took 29 percent, Texas congressman Ron Paul took about 24 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took 14 percent. At 10:30 p.m., 95 percent of the vote had been counted. Alaska was one of 10 states to participate in the Republican nomination process today and will divvy up 24 of its delegates according to...

Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Alaska heard argument in an extraordinary case about gun control, federalism, and so-called "tort reform." At the heart of Kim v. Coxe is the question of how state judges ought to apply a Bush-era law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which was designed and enacted by Congress to protect gun manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits and liability for crimes committed with their weapons. When the Alaskan high court (right now it includes only four justices) issues its ruling, it will represent the first time a state supreme court was weighed in...

An Anchorage grand jury indicted two people in connection with a home invasion robbery that ended in the death of two people. The robbery occurred shortly after midnight on November 10 at the 700 block of Muldoon Road. APD's investigation revealed the criminals burst into a trailer, pistol-whipped a resident in the face, and demanded money and drugs. The victim grabbed a gun and shot two of the three robbers, who died. The third got away, as did the getaway driver. They're identified as Brian Albert Pfister and Ursula Pico, respectively. On Thursday, December 15, the grand jury returned an...

Anchorage, AK --(Ammoland.com)- On April 17, when Governor Sean Parnell adjourned the Alaska Legislature, there were four pro-gun bills left pending from the 2011 legislative session. Due to Alaska’s two-year sessions, all pending 2011 bills will carry over and be considered in 2012. * House Bill 80, sponsored by state Representative Mark Neuman (R-15), is a no-duty-to-retreat bill and would extend the right to use force, including deadly force, for self-defense anywhere a person has a legal right to be. HB 80 passed in the state House by a 33 to 6 vote. This bill is now pending in the...

FAIRBANKS - An associate of Fairbanks militia-leader Schaeffer Cox will appear in court for the first time today since the FBI took him into custody Tuesday afternoon on a material witness warrant. Michael O. Anderson, 35, does not face any criminal charges, but prosecutors say he is an important witness in the investigation into Cox and needed to be detained because he was allegedly avoiding a subpoena. Anderson spent more than six months in jail this year after he was arrested with Cox and three others and accused in state court of planning to kill Alaska State Troopers and court...

A deadly shooting rampage at a Carson City IHOP restaurant last month has prompted a call for a review of Nevada's gun laws. Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman William Horne said it would be appropriate for lawmakers to consider changes to the state's gun regulations after a man with a history of mental illness shot 11 people with an assault weapon at the restaurant, killing three Nevada National Guard members and a civilian before killing himself. Horne, D-Las Vegas, told the Reno Gazette-Journal that while he's a gun owner who supports gun rights, he questions why citizens need to own an...

Anchorage, Alaska, Oct 16, 2011 / 01:16 pm (CNA).- As young girls, Anastasia Kenney and her little sister played Mass. They cloaked their heads in a white curtain, draped accordingly as a bridal veil or a nun’s habit, and served crackers and grape juice to each other as they pretended to receive Holy Communion.Some 30 years later, Kenney is moving into a convent and aspiring to wear a white habit in earnest.The religious vocation startled even her.“I was horrified! I was the least nunnish person I knew,” said Kenney, 35, of her initial inclination. “I thought the last group of...

October 12, 2011 Wednesday (SitNews) - U.S Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have introduced the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act. The bill allows for the interstate sale of firearms and removes several antiquated and unnecessary restrictions imposed on interstate firearms transactions. “Current laws restricting interstate commerce of firearms not only lag behind common sense and new technology, they are unfair and burdensome,” Sen. Begich said. “This legislation cleans up decades-old laws that are unnecessarily restricting the rights of Alaskans and other Americans to purchase and sell firearms.” “Utahns and Americans everywhere have a right to bear arms,...

Rep. Don Young to Repeal Every Regulation Enacted Since 1991 Written by Brian Koenig Friday, 30 September 2011 11:38 Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska, left) plans to introduce a controversial bill that would abolish every federal regulation enacted in the past two decades, including restrictions on banking, oil drilling, healthcare, and food and drug safety. "My bill is very simple, I just null and void any regulations passed in the last 20 years," Young announced to a crowd at the Anchorage Downtown Rotary Club. "I picked 20 years ago because it crossed party lines and also we were prosperous at that...

“When all else fails … vote from the rooftops.” That’s how a T-shirt logo advertising Michael Dukes’ radio show reads. What can that statement, in blood-red lettering over a black background and paired with the image of an assault rifle, possibly mean except that people who aren’t satisfied with election results should use an assault rifle to take matters into their own hands. That they should climb to the top of a building and start killing people? It is, of course, a despicable logo. Most people, conservative to liberal, get that. Just this month, an AK47 owner blasted 11 folks...

FAIRBANKS — While most advertisements from candidates in the Oct. 4 local election promote their own positions, Van Lawrence has gone on the attack in the race against incumbent Michael Dukes. The ad, which ran in the News-Miner on Sept. 11, called out Dukes for carrying a gun to public meetings and community barbecues, among other points. Lawrence, a local attorney, said he ran the ad, titled “4 Reasons Why You Should Vote For Me,” as a way of pointing out what he felt are key differences between himself and Dukes. The other points included “I’m not an anti-government zealot,”...

Most Alaska residents will soon be getting a check for $1,174 simply because they live there. Each person's share of the state's vast oil wealth was announced with much fanfare in Anchorage Tuesday, with Gov. Sean Parnell ripping open a gold-colored envelope to reveal the number. This day is so widely anticipated in Alaska that the announcement of the Permanent Fund Dividend amount was carried live on television statewide, and dozens tuned in to watch a live webcast by the governor's office.

Among the many ways Sarah Palin was hit in the media during her 2008 vice presidential bid—criticism now spilling on to current presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann—was that she should forget politics and make time for her kids. GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway has an answer for those who think Palin, Bachmann, or other women with children don't have enough time to raise them while serving in public office...

Sarah Palin is one of the most media-saturated figures today, as filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon of the new film “The Undefeated” points out. Yet, watching the film, the details about the ex-governor that have remained unknown to the ‘lower 48’ will stun the viewer. The film itself has an interesting origin. The Palin team approached Bannon after the 2010 election about a film, but he wasn’t interested in the short video project they mentioned. Bannon decided to do a film that the Palin team had no editorial control over, although they did help him gain access to several key players...

JUNEAU — The state House on Saturday easily cleared a plan to clarify — or broaden, depending on who’s talking — people’s right to defend themselves with deadly force. It would expand the explicit (in state law) right to use lethal force to apply anywhere someone has “a right to be.” Proponents say it will assure everyone in Alaska he or she does not need to back off if they find themselves in a dangerous situation and want to fight back with a lethal weapon. Rep. Eric Feige, R-Chickaloon and a co-sponsor, said the change would send two messages. To...

Senate Republicans are making another bid to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling — but this time they are trying to sweeten the offer by dedicating a quarter of the revenue to renewable energy projects. The ANWR drilling plan is embedded in energy legislation unveiled Thursday by more than two dozen lawmakers, led by David Vitter of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas. The bill also would restrict environmental groups from filing legal challenges to energy projects, force the government to approve a pipeline that would bring Canadian oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast and clear the...

Believe it or not, it’s already high time for presidential hopefuls to kick off their campaigns even though the election isn’t until November 2012 — and we’ve connected some dots that strongly suggest where and when Sarah Palin will be announcing. HollywoodLife.com has learned that Palin has booked an appearance in April on The Bob and Mark Show on 106.5 KWHL-FM in Anchorage. Sarah has said all along — including on the final episode of her TLC show Sarah Palin’s Alaska — that she would announce her candidacy on the radio via Bob and Mark. While the exact date hasn’t...

ron Dog racers spend countless hours preparing for and riding in the 2,000-mile snowmachine race -- the world's longest. It's also hard on their wives, but for former Alaska Gov. and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin it's part of the routine. "It's stay out of the way," Palin said as her husband Todd Palin and his Iron Dog teammate, Eric Quam, worked on their sleds on a blustery Wednesday night in Nome. "Those who are closest to these guys know what they need to do." (snip) "I think these guys are the toughest men on the planet," Palin said. "Girly...

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Friday tried to take the unusual step of attaching a fiscal note from the committee to House Bill 80 in an attempt to dispute the Department of Law’s own note that states the proposed legislation would cost the department $450,000 a year. House Bill 80, which later passed out of the committee, would eliminate a person’s duty to retreat from a situation where that person uses deadly force in self-defense, as long as the defender was in a place where he or she had “a right to be.” The proposed note would...

LAS VEGAS—My nametag revealed I was a journalist from Alaska, so I said I was researching an article on firearms for bear protection in the Last Frontier backcountry. Century International Arms salesman Steve Sanko reached into a glass display case and came up with a bulky, tricked-out handgun. “If you’re looking for a compact bear gun, this is the best we have to offer,” Sanko said. “It’s our new for 2011, Centurion AK 39, semi-automatic pistol.” I handled the gun. It looked more like Han Solo’s blaster pistol than one of the big bore revolvers—.44 magnums and .454 Casulls—that Alaskans...

Anchorage, AK --(Ammoland.com)- The Anchorage Fish & Game Advisory Committee will hold their elections for regular seats on January 4th at 7:00 pm at the Anchorage Baptist Temple Children’s Ministry Gym, located at 6575 E Northern Lights Blvd. The public that is interested in serving on the advisory committee is encouraged to prepare and provide an 81/2 x 11 bio for posting at the meeting for public review. Also on the agenda will be an opportunity for public testimony. For more information contact Steve Flory at 727-3762. This is our list of candidates below. Just like at Matt Valley, the...

GOLD RUSH: ALASKA, follows six men who risk everything in the face of an economic meltdown — their families, their dignity, and in some cases, their lives — to strike it rich mining for gold in the wilds of Alaska. Inspired by his father Jack Hoffman, Todd Hoffman of Sandy, Oregon, leads a group of greenhorn miners to forge a new frontier and save their families from dire straits. While leasing a gold claim in Alaska, Todd and his company of mining rookies face the grandeur of Alaska as well as its hardships, including an impending winter that will halt...

The Arkansas Geological Survey is trying to unravel a mystery: What is causing earthquakes in the town of Guy, Arkansas? Since September 20, the community of 549 residents north of Little Rock has experienced an almost constant shaking from 487 measurable earthquakes. "We've had 15 today including a 3.1 (magnitude) from this morning," Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Geological Survey, said Monday. "These are shallow quakes between two and eight kilometers (between one-and-a-quarter and five miles) below the surface." While earthquakes aren't unusual in the Southeast state, the frequency is. "This time last year we had 39 quakes total...

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R) is slamming the Interior Department’s designation of large Arctic regions as “critical habitat” for polar bears threatened by climate change, alleging the decision will slow oil-and-gas drilling. The designation requires federal agencies to consult with Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before allowing or funding actions that could harm the bear’s northern Alaskan habitat. “Such consultations are increasingly being misused to challenge responsible resource development,” Parnell said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “This additional layer of regulatory burden will not only slow job creation and economic growth here and for our nation, but will also...

Just heard this on Shep. (Great intel....) Link to come when I find it.