Free Republic

A suspected burglar called 911 after the owner of the home he broke into caught and held him at gunpoint. The suspect, Christopher Moore, placed the emergency call in Springtown, Texas, during the botched burglary attempt early Tuesday after James Gerow, the homeowner, and Gerow's son pointed guns at him as he sat in his pickup truck parked in the driveway. "I'm out in the country somewhere," Moore told the 911 operator during the 10-minute call. "Some guy's got a gun on me." Gerow's wife, Lindy, placed a concurrent call to 911 that confirmed Moore's account. "You better come quick,"...

The horror of war, repeated deployments, the operations tempo, failed relationships, financial problems, legal trouble, depression, PTSD, TBI. Many reasons have been suggested to explain the substantial rise in the suicide rate of soldiers that began in 2004. Numerous prevention efforts were launched, hundreds of millions of dollars spent on studies and task forces, resilience programs and increasing access to mental health care. Yet eight years and hundreds of deaths later, the suicide rate hasn’t improved. The number of suspected suicides in 2012 among active-duty soldiers was 166 at the end of October, surpassing the 165 total for all of...

Yael Matzpun was sleeping in a room with her four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son when she was awoken by heavy footsteps in the hall. She knew that her husband, an IDF officer, was not due at home. “Suddenly I saw a terrorist in a kefiyyeh [head scarf] standing opposite me,” she told Maariv. “I decided that if I didn’t fight, he would murder me and my four children, there would be a massacre like in Itamar, where the Fogels and three of their children were murdered in their home.” The terrorist turned on the light and said something in Arabic,...

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.

A lot of people say Obama is anti-business, but there’s one part of the American economy that is delighted that he got reelected. No, I’m not talking about bankruptcy lawyers or corrupt lobbyists, though those would be good guesses.The real winners from Obama’s re-election are America’s gun manufacturers and gun sellers.Not that I’ve looked at any data. I’m just basing this on the comments I’ve heard over the past few years and the up-tick in such comments in the past 36 hours.But I’m quite confident that the overall firearms industry has profited from Obama’s tenure.Anyway, the great economist Frederic Bastiat...

I’m the new (2nd owner) of a saiga 12. I’ve read about the “low brass” issues it has, but mine has no gas port markings “1” or “2” since it came with some customization from the previous owner. My interwebs reading shows set it to “1” for low brass and “2” for high brass. Does having the port screwed all the way in as far as it will go (toward the buttstock ) equal “1” ? It jams (failure to eject) with No # 4 estate tactical 2-3/4” and with S&B 00 buck 2-3/4. And what exactly is considered “low...

The conversation was about internet marketing and it was with my friend Jon Gibbon of armslist.com. Then out of the blue Jon asked me “If you could only have one gun the rest of your life what would it be?” “Hmmm…I guess it would be my Remington 870.” I figured I could hunt big and small game, defend the home patch and nothing stops like a 12 gauge slug. You can stop a charging dump truck with a 12 gauge slug. Then the conversation moved to: What would you take if you could only have five guns the rest of...

A 90-year-old Greenbrae man who was shot in the head during an alleged burglary has been sued by the alleged burglar. Samuel Cutrufelli, who was also shot during the incident, claims Jay Leone "negligently shot" him during the confrontation inside Leone's home. Cutrufelli, 31, claims Leone caused him "great bodily injury, and other financial damage, including loss of Mr. Cutrufelli's home, and also the dissolution of Mr. Cutrufelli's marriage." Cutrufelli shot Leone once in the face during the alleged burglary, and Leone returned fire, hitting Cutrufelli several times. Both men were hospitalized for an extended period after the gun battle

The national right to keep and bear arms advocacy group, Gun Owners of America, urged its members and supporters today to ask Rep. Paul Ryan “to bring up Fast & Furious in the debate this Thursday with [Vice President] Joe Biden. “Just recently, Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan – ‘A’ rated by Gun Owners of America -- became the 131st Representative to call for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation,” the alert reports. “This is a unique opportunity for him to show how the administration will use diabolical methods to advance its gun control agenda,” GOA explains, providing a link to...

Emergency communications officials say some of the 911 calls made during a shooting rampage at a Minneapolis sign company went unanswered. Communications director Heather Hunt says as many as six people who made 911 calls hung up when no one answered. It's one of the reasons why the city will set up a recorded message to play if 911 callers don't get an answer within 10 seconds. The recording will tell the callers to hang on until an operator is available. The Star Tribune says 16 calls related to the shooting at Accent Signage System were answered. And police responded...

Get ready for the best feel-good gun story of the month. Marty Mark Childs, 52, doesn’t have what you’d call a spotless record. A while ago he was caught on a string of burglaries and was thrown in jail for four-and-a-half years. His modus operandi was to sneak into houses while people were out doing yardwork and swipe all their valuables. Childs served his time and was released in May. But old habits die hard, it seems, because he was back snatching purses in no time. But this time, he chose the wrong house. According to reports, Rebecca Larson, a...

Maybe he thought it would be an easy grab: an unlocked door, a purse on the kitchen table. But before suspected burglar Marty Mark Childs could get away, a woman who lived at the St. Paul house angrily demanded to know why he was there. She forced him to the floor, knelt on his back and called for her daughter -- who held Childs at gunpoint until police arrived.

WASHINGTON - In the wake of mass shootings this summer, a fusillade of a different sort erupted when gun rights advocates suggested a good Samaritan with a concealed weapon might have saved the day. After gunman James Holmes opened fire in a crowded Aurora, Colo., theater, killing 12 and wounding 58, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, wondered whether an armed movie patron "could have stopped this guy more quickly." In a subsequent interview, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch gun-control advocate, called Gohmert's view "nonsensical." This rather typical exchange is a measure of how far the gun debate has come...

Locked and Loaded: Guess Which Industry Is Thriving While Everyone Else Teeters on the Edge of Failure Mac Slavo September 7th, 2012 SHTFplan.com As consumer retail giants like Best Buy, which saw a 90% decline in net income in the second quarter of 2012, struggle for survival amid the worst economic crisis to hit the globe since the Great Depression of the 1930′s, there’s one industry that’s not only maintained its growth, but is showing record profits month after month. This is no doubt a terrifying trend for those who’d prefer to “hug it out” with mass shooters or violent...

HARTFORD, Conn. — The newest Colt .45-caliber pistol is touted for its durability and design. It is tested to make sure it can be dropped in water, covered in mud, immersed in sand or ice, or left in a dust storm — and still be able to blast off a round when you pull the trigger. "Virtually, it's indestructible," said Casimir Pawlowski, who works in international sales and technical sevices for Colt Defense LLC. "You can drive over these things with a Humvee and they're still gonna work. It's like a brick that shoots bullets." An order last month of...

CORRALES, N.M. - A controversy emerged Tuesday night at the Corrales Village council meeting when the audience was asked to say the pledge of allegiance in Spanish. The words in Spanish on a projector didn't help, and even after the mayor explained that it's a village tradition, the crowd defiantly said the pledge in English. Corrales Mayor Phil Gasteyer said the incident was disrespectful, unfortunate and embarrassing. "There was some disrespect shown to the village and its residents," Gasteyer said. The mayor said he's never had a crowd challenge the Spanish language before. He said it could have something to...

Full Headline: 'Run, hide, fight': Homeland Security releases public service video on how to get to safety and survive a mass shooting Following last Friday's mass casualty shooting in Aurora, Colorado, the City of Houston has released an instructional video on what to do in case of a similar emergency. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, the city hopes that the video can help people prepare people for the worst. Entitled Run.Hide.Fight. Surviving an Active Shooter Event, it depicts a fictional shooting incident in a crowded office building. In the six-minute video, a narrator warns that all shooter events...

A man wielding an ax apologized after the owner of a business he was trying to rob got out a handgun, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said. Early Wednesday morning, deputies were called to Rusty’s Grill on Pineview Drive because of an attempted armed robbery. The sheriff’s office said a man with an ax had walked into the restaurant and demanded money. When the business owner produced a handgun and challenged the man, he apologized, said he was on drugs and fled the scene, according to investigators.

Most U.S. gun owners - even current and former members of the National Rifle Association - support some firearms ownership restrictions including criminal background checks for prospective gun buyers, according to a poll commissioned by an anti-gun lobbying group. The survey, conducted by Republican pollster Frank Luntz for the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, was carried out in May but was released on Tuesday in the aftermath of the Colorado movie theater shooting that killed 12 people last week. -snip Luntz said he polled 945 gun owners nationwide - half of whom were gun owners who were current or former...

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — An elderly patron at a strip mall casino in Marion County shot two men who attempted to rob the place, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. According to investigators, two men burst into the Palms Internet Cafe on State Road 200 in Ocala on Friday afternoon. A sheriff's report said that one of the men was carrying a baseball bat, the other had a gun.