Free Republic

The fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford ignited a nationwide debate on gun rights, profiling and Florida's controversial self-defense laws. That debate continues today, when a panel of experts convenes in Orlando to discuss the "stand your ground" law as part of an investigation the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights launched after the teen's death became a cause célèbre. Florida was the first state to adopt "stand your ground," and the killing of Trayvon shone a harsh light on it. Though Zimmerman's lawyers disputed that the controversial law played a role in his acquittal at trial last year,...

A lawyer friend of mine suspects that the Zimmerman trial is a clever trick that has been designed by cunning liberals to strip Americans of their second amendment rights. You all remember Clinton's legalisms in 1998, saying that what happened between him and Monica Lewinsky did not meet the strict legal definition of sex. According to my lawyer friend, it is easy for sneaky liberals to interpret the second amendment as giving Americans the right to own arms, but not the right to use them. Liberals may have figured out that going door-to-door to confiscate guns is too much trouble....

In November, one of the oldest condors in Central California died from lead poisoning after being found with tiny bullet fragments and a .22-caliber slug in his gullet that he apparently swallowed with a mouthful of meat. The 9-year-old giant was one of the earliest released in a condor recovery program along the Big Sur coast. His death -- and the recent death of a golden eagle near Sacramento -- are being highlighted by health and environmental groups who want California to become the first state to impose a statewide ban on the use of lead bullets for hunting.

A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Final Rule published today in the Federal Register and a news release issued Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services, followed up with a notice to be published tomorrow, are two developments all but ignored by the mainstream press even though Vice President Joe Biden announced last week that the administration would be using executive orders to advance “gun control” goals following a Senate battle that could not muster the votes to do so legislatively. The Importation of Defense Articles and Defense Services -- U.S. Munitions Import List references executive...

Citing risks to birds and to human health, roughly 100 environmental groups formally asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency this week to ban or at least impose limits on lead in the manufacturing of bullets and shotgun pellets for hunting or recreation. The use of such ammo by hunters puts about 3,000 pounds of lead into the environment annually and causes the death of 20 million birds each year from lead poisoning, said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate at one of the groups, the Center for Biological Diversity. Consumption of meat from animals that are shot with lead bullets also...