Free Republic

Capitol Confidential has the video of Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Carmel, Putnam County, standing next to Jake McGuigan, director of government relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation Inc., as he opposed the microstamping technology Monday being supported by some Democratic lawmakers at a news conference Monday. Microstamping would require bullets fired from guns to be marked so they can be more easily traced to their origin—a proposal which has drawn criticism from the gun industry.

ALBANY -- Efforts to mandate "microstamping" technology in handguns, which advocates say would allow police to better trace bullets, appear to have faded in the state Senate after being targeted by opponents in the gun lobby. News that the effort lost momentum emerged Monday following a live-fire demonstration at the State Police headquarters target range to promote the technology. The event, set up by Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, D-Great Neck, underscored the increasingly heated debate over the concept. In an unusual breach of unwritten legislative protocol, opponents, including one of Schimel's colleagues and representatives of gun groups, showed up unexpectedly. The...

Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel today went to the New York State Police firing range in Albany to call attention to a live demonstration of semiautomatic pistols equipped with microstamping technology. Microstamping is a patented technology that makes the firing pin and breech face in semiautomatic pistols capable of stamping letters and numbers onto the cartridge case of the ammunition when fired. The characters are imprinted onto the firing pin by a laser when the gun is manufactured. The information on the cartridge can help law enforcement link the ammunition to the make, model and serial number of the gun it was...

State Assemblyman Greg Ball apparently made his feelings known today on a piece of legislation that would require every semi-automatic weapon manufactured in the state capable of stamping a unique code onto the cartridge case of fired ammuntion. The information, proponents say, can help police link the ammunition to the gun it was fired from without having the gun. Ball, R-Patterson, showed up at the event at a State Police HQ firing range, which was hosted by Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, D-Great Neck. He brought along Jake McGuigan of the National Shooting Sports Foundation and Greg Costa, a representative of the...

When Steven Barber turned in a short story this semester for his creative-writing class at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, his instructor was alarmed. The 23-year-old student had produced an imagined account of someone on the edge of a violent breakdown, touching on suicide and murder. ...

Do as I say, not as I do. That could be the lesson from Maj. Donald Lamar, a firearms instructor for the Bristol County Sheriff's Department, who was teaching a class on weapons safety last week when he accidentally fired the weapon while placing it into his holster. The bullet ripped through Maj. Lamar's pants leg and lodged in the floor, but amazingly missed his leg and foot. Just days earlier, a Marshfield police recruit accidentally shot himself in the leg while attempting to holster his weapon during a training session at the New Bedford Police Department's shooting range in...

TOMBSTONE, Ariz (Reuters) - Gunslinger Bob Krueger blasts away at his outlaw rivals at a tourist show in this storied Old West town, although rising ammo costs may force him to choose his shots. Krueger and his gnarly band of pistoleros are among millions of shooters, hunters and even lawmen across the United States feeling the pinch as sky-high metals prices and demand from wars abroad are driving up the price of bullets. Ammo prices for many popular guns have more than tripled in the last three years, driven in large part by surging demand for metals in rapidly industrializing...

The media have been telling us to watch the gun-control case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, where we await a decision about Americans' Second Amendment rights. But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just handed down an equally important gun decision that has additional implications against judicial supremacy. The court, which convenes in New York City, shot down the longtime liberal dream of achieving gun control by suing gun manufacturers for crimes committed by firearms. In a remarkable decision, this federal appellate court dismissed City of New York v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. and protected gun corporations against frivolous...

<p>LOS ANGELES—A former Los Angeles police officer who participated in home invasion robberies staged to look like police raids was sentenced Monday to 102 years in prison.</p> <p>William Ferguson, 35, was convicted of participating in more than 40 phony raids from early 1999 to June 2001 at homes in working-class neighborhoods while he worked at the department's scandal-ridden Rampart Division.</p>

Police are asking bus riders to be on alert after two men were recently robbed at gunpoint. Both incidents happened at bus stops on Chicago Avenue South; one on 40th Street and the other on 41st Street. That's when two victims came face to face with the barrel of a gun. Robbery victim Brad Hagberg is a bus stop regular. One morning last week he was waiting at the bus stop when he was confronted by a young man. "And I turned and as another guy was raising a shotgun, and he said 'You know what to do. Give me...

Youths 18 through 20 may now legally possess handguns under a state Supreme Court ruling issued this morning. The five-member court unanimously said the state law banning those under 21 from possessing handguns violated the state constitution. The justices upheld a lower court ruling that threw out a York County indictment on that charge against Berry Scott Bolin. The ruling mirrors a new state law that lowers the minimum age for S.C. residents to own a handgun to 18. Bolin was 19 when he was charged in connection with the February 2006 shooting death of Bobby Royce Hovis III, 19....

Today, as president of the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), I announced our endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. Because the gun issue has recently become a factor in the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, I want to share the remarks I made today: As a gun rights organization we have not come to this decision lightly. We were formed two years ago because our research shows that millions of gun owners wanted a change. They not only wanted an organization that would protect their gun rights but an organization that...

Way down a dusty gravel road, tucked deep in Redstone Arsenal, right at the border's edge, hails a story that verges on legend, of a gun so big and so fast that people question its existence. It's said that people often talk about it in hushed tones, almost giving it a mythical feel. The tale has only grown over the years. "Every once in awhile, there will be someone, someone who works on the arsenal, who'll say, 'I hear you've got a big gun down there,' " says Brian Akins, research scientist and range engineer at the Aerophysics Research Center...

Mayors Against Illegal Guns — the group that was co-founded by Mayors Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and Thomas M. Menino of Boston — has an interesting new advertisement up and running. It has old footage of various politicians speaking out against a federal provision that allows those who only occasionally sell firearms — often operating at gun shows — to do so without performing the usual background checks or record keeping, the so-called “gun-show loophole.” The spot features various politicians calling for an end to the provision — there’s footage from 2000 of Senator Hillary Clinton of New...

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Witnesses and police gave conflicting accounts of the fatal shooting of a terminally ill, mentally disabled man by Long Beach police over the weekend, and the shooting remained under investigation Monday. Roketi Su'e, 46, was killed at about 7 p.m. Saturday in a cul-de-sac in the 3400 block of 67th Way in North Long Beach as he was walking home from a birthday party. Police said he fought with officers, but witnesses said he was shot as he lay unarmed on the sidewalk. "He had no shirt on. He didn't have a weapon. He never carried...

Byrd endorses a shining young statesmen Tribune-Review By Salena Zito Well, his state may have gone Clinton, but he didn't. In a statement released by the Obama campaign, Sen, Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., announced his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama saying:

The Press Association Justice minister Kenny MacAskill has stepped up calls for Westminster to take action to deal with the problem of air weapons in Scotland. The minister said he would be contacting Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and making it clear that current legislation is not fit for purpose in the 21st Century. He added that he would be seeking to put Scotland forward for pilot schemes with a view to getting tighter controls in air weapons across the whole of the UK. Mr MacAskill was speaking after a firearms summit in Edinburgh, attended by police, shooting representatives and gun...

According to Elizabeth Gritzmacher and Emma Howland-Bolton at the Prescott College Aztlan Center in the May 4, "Talk of the Town," the use of the term "illegal" to denote illegal immigrants is hate speech. Using the writer's impeccable logic, I have a list of words with the appropriate euphemisms that also have negative connotations. • Murderer: an individual with a somewhat low regard for human life. • Mass Murderer: population control activist. • Rapist: socially inept seeker of intimacy with a non-cooperative partner. • Child Molester: socially inept seeker of intimacy with a non-cooperative partner of inappropriate age. • Drug...

GREEN RIVER -- The prairie dog rises above its burrow on the high plains of southern Wyoming and takes a casual look around. Seconds later, the animal disappears in an explosion of blood and dirt. The self-described "shortgrass sniper" dressed in camouflage and orange chuckles for the camera and gets ready to fire again. With thousands of hits on YouTube, this popular prairie dog video by Colorado hunter Jim Bowman advises hunters to get ready for the upcoming prairie dog killing contest in southern Wyoming's Carbon County. The controversial, fifth annual, three-day "There Goes the Neighborhood" prairie dog killing contest...

BOULDER, Colo. - It wasn't exactly pistols at 30 paces, but police say a security company supervisor and a restaurateur shot each other with Tasers in a "bonehead" confrontation over parking...

BAGHDAD - An American sniper was removed from Iraq after he used a copy of the Quran for target practice, the military said Sunday, a day after a U.S. commander held a formal ceremony apologizing to Sunni tribal leaders. The elaborate ceremony - in which one U.S. officer kissed a new copy of Islam's holy book before giving it to the tribal leaders - reflected the military's eagerness to stave off anger among Sunni Arabs it has been cultivating as allies. The tribesmen have become key in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq militants, who depict the American forces as...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― More students are speaking out against gun violence in their neighborhoods. They met Sunday to show Illinois lawmakers and the governor that they want tougher gun laws. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports that the high school students have collected more than 1,000 petition signatures. Each stood with their own story of gun violence. "It hurts me to see the youth, because I have a friend who died, Blair Holt, from gun violence,' said Christine Goggins, a student from the Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy. "Before I was born, 18 years ago, a 16-year-old New Trier student shot...

Dr. Zoo typing for Jim: Howdy everyone. Looks like I made it through the surgery OK, bad leg is gone. So far, so good. Hope to be able to get out of this bed pretty soon and get back to work. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers and well wishes. Freepers are absolutely the greatest. The VA hospital is the best place to go for this kind of stuff.

DBKP announces the opening of its new Second Amendment forum, moderated by RidesAPaleHorse. DBKP Forum: The Right of the PeopleThis bears repeating... Article [II.] "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."The Second Amendment The Second Amendment guarantees: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This guarantees a citizen's right to keep and bear arms for personal defense. The revolutionary experience...

Many of you have seen my map: About a year ago, someone asked if he could put the map on the Concealed Carry page on Wikipedia. I said yes, and the image was added. Since then, there have been several attempts by Wikipedia admins to have it pulled. First, it was yanked because it hadn't been posted with the permission of the creator - despite my having not only granted permission, but having explicitly added to the image a statement that I had done so. The image was eventually restored, after I formally released the image under a Creative Commons...

A 210-pound alligator fought the law and the law won. But not before the 8-foot reptile sent the Volusia County sheriff's deputy who jumped it to the hospital. Deputy Keith Baughman intended to protect people from the alligator roaming an apartment complex ... so the lawman threw a towel over the gator's eyes and climbed onto its back. And that turned out to be the wrong tactic. The alligator threw off Baughman, then quickly snagged the deputy's left leg in its large jaws... As the alligator clamped down, Deputy Jason Stickels did what he could to free his fellow officer...

Confronting Lion Was Breathtaking Experience. “I was walking this trail I had made, hunting for mushrooms, when I came across a deer carcass which hadn't been there before,” said Ron Olson... “I kind of looked around and didn't see anything. When I turned around, just to my left, there stood a mountain lion.” The lion sighting was officially confirmed Friday by officials from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. It is the state's first confirmed sighting in four years. About 90 minutes after they set up the camera, four shots were taken of the mountain lion eating on the carcass....

A rifleman angered by a custody dispute with his ex-girlfriend opened fire Saturday at a parish school festival in Granada Hills this morning, wounding the woman and two other fair-goers before being tackled by bystanders and arrested by an off-duty police officer, authorities said. Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic as the man nonchalantly brandished a .22-caliber rifle made to look like an M-16 assault rifle and fired into booths at the fair. The shooting took place shortly before the 11 a.m. start of the festival on a baseball field on the grounds of the St. John Baptist de...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond apologizes after a soldier admitted using the Quran for target practice. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized to leaders in Radhwaniya, in the western outskirts of Baghdad, for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment. He also read a letter of apology by the shooter. It was the first...

Coroner officials released an autopsy report Friday suggesting that a slain Roosevelt High School sophomore who attacked a campus police officer was not taking proper dosages of drugs prescribed to control his mental illness. Dr. David Hadden, Fresno County coroner, said it's clear that Jesus "Jesse" Carrizales, 17, had a high dose of the antidepressant Lexapro in his blood that could have caused him to be paranoid. But the teen's blood also revealed he was not taking antipsychotic drugs. Carrizales' family has said he was taking Lexapro and Geodon, an antipsychotic medication, for depression. Hadden said it's far too early...

KALKASKA -- A Detroit police officer faces criminal charges after he allegedly fired a gun from a car window while drunk. Kalkaska County Prosecutor Brian Donnelly this week charged Michael Arthur Knox, 38, with possession of a firearm while under the influence and reckless use of a firearm, he said. Knox is from the Detroit suburb of New Hudson and told a Kalkaska County sheriff's deputy he is a Detroit police officer, Undersheriff Bruce Gualtiere said. Sheriff's officials later contacted the Detroit Police Department and confirmed Knox is a police officer there, Gualtiere said. Detroit police officials could not be...

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain warned gun owners on Friday that his Democratic opponents Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would threaten their right to bear arms, as he sought to rally conservatives' support in the November election. The right to bear arms in the Constitution's second amendment is considered sacred by many U.S. gun owners. Both Obama and Clinton tout their support for it, although they also say ways must be found to keep guns from falling into the hands of criminals or those who are mentally ill. But the Arizona senator accused the two Democrats...

Investigators were still trying to sort fact from fiction in the story of the fake DEA agent. They know this much, or think they do: He is a 36-year-old man from Washington, Mo. He is married. He never was a federal agent. He was arrested and released Monday. No charges had been filed, so the Post-Dispatch is not using his name. The Franklin County Sheriff's Department, Missouri Highway Patrol and FBI are investigating. The fake agent seemed to know the ins and outs of law enforcement, according to investigators and those who worked with him.

"Hearing a loud noise and interrupting his speech, Huckabee said: "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he—he dove for the floor."

If this seems familiar to some it is because I included this in my novel A Sense of Duty. http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19683247&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

Second Amendment Sisters, Texas chapter, will be holding another Ladies Learn to Shoot Day in the Austin area on May 31. All interested women freepers are invited to join us for a day of fun and learning.You must call the toll free number on the flyer to get on the list of attendees:TX Shoot Flyer

(The terror was real, say judge, victims) Waukesha, WI - When a ski-masked Matthew S. Baker shoved a handgun into Kari Mirek's back, walked her to the cash register and put the gun up to her head, Mirek said, she feared for her life. She didn't know the handgun Baker was using to rob the Wonderland Tap in the City of Pewaukee was a fake. The bartender had no way of knowing that Baker wasn't going to shoot her. Her terror on the night of March 6, 2007, was real, she told Waukesha County Circuit Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr....

An Austrian man who killed five members of his family with an axe on Tuesday reportedly planned the killings for weeks. 39-year-old Reinhard Steinbauer showed no emotion when he walked into a police station and confessed to killing first his wife and daughter, and later his parents and father-in-law, with an axe he bought for that purpose. Steinbauer described how he decided Tuesday was “a good time” for the killings after having purchased the axe on Saturday and celebrating the Pentecost holiday with his family on Monday. Police found the bodies of his 42-year-old wife Barbara and 7-year-old daughter Natalie...

AN Australian army captain who stole 10 rocket launchers from the military and sold them on the black market must have known they could end up in the hands of terrorists. Shane Della-Vedova was sentenced yesterday to a maximum of 10 years' jail, with a minimum term of seven years, after pleading guilty to stealing and selling the rocket launchers between 2001 and 2003 to a convicted criminal with terrorist links.

Robert Harry to AZRKBA show details 9:33 AM (9 hours ago) Reply I spent the last three weeks on a Central American cruise and fell in with a group of Canadians in the smoking lounge. They have an interesting debate about guns up there. The man who seemed most interesting was an Inspector with Violent Crimes RCMP. Not all we are told about violent crime in Canada is true. The Inspector told me that while Canada as a whole has less guns deaths than the United States and less violent deaths than us the official numbers are less than honest....

Contact: Press Office, 703-650-5550; www.JohnMcCain.com ARLINGTON, Virginia, May 16 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery at the National Rifle Association of America Annual Meeting, in Louisville, KY, today at 4:30 p.m. EDT: It is a pleasure to be here this afternoon. I know you have heard from a number of my friends and colleagues today -- Governors Huckabee and Romney, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Ambassador John Bolton, and Kentucky's own, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. And you have heard from an American hero, Greg Stubbe, who sacrificed greatly so that...

David E. Young Interview Our guest today is David E. Young, author, historian researcher... Before we begin, a brief biography is in order to introduce some of you to who this man is, what he's done, and why it's important for RKBA activists to know about his significant work. Biographical Information: David E. Young Born, 1947, Flint, Michigan Graduated with high honors, Michigan State University, 1972, with Bachelor of Science Degree in Park and Recreation Resources specializing in Environmental Interpretation (Naturalist). Have minors in Music Composition, Mathematics, Earth Sciences, and Biology. Retired from career with Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources...

Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), looking to shore up support with the once-hostile National Rifle Association (NRA), used his speech to the group’s national convention to blast Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). Seizing on what has come to be known as Obama’s “bitterness” comments, McCain on Friday said the Second Amendment “isn’t some archaic custom that matters only to rural Americans who find solace in firearms out of frustration with their economic circumstances.” In his prepared remarks, McCain also hit Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), though to a noticeably lesser degree. McCain said Democrats will dress up...

It’s not often you watch a video where a frail, 98-pound grandmother is slammed into the wall by a burly police officer, handcuffed and dragged from her home — all because she refused to surrender her firearm and leave her home. She was not a felon, drug dealer or other miscreant but was a homeowner in New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Katrina. This somewhat brushed-over bit of history is reappearing in discussion on talk radio and other locations as we await the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on the District of Columbia’s wholesale ban on handgun possession. In following...

NOTAM Recommends Steep Approaches, Departures Is this southern Florida... or Baghdad? WPLG-10 reports the FAA recently took the unusual -- and disturbing -- step of issuing a Notice to Airmen for pilots flying into Kendall/Tamiami Executive Airport (TMB) southwest of Miami, after bullet holes were found in the fuselages of two aircraft based at the busy general aviation field. To avoid the chances of being hit by gunfire, pilots are advised to make steep approaches into the airport, and to make haste when climbing out on takeoff. Not surprisingly, users of TMB are hopping mad... and fearful the gunfire could...

The media have been telling us to watch the gun-control case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, where we await a decision about Americans' Second Amendment rights. But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just handed down an equally important gun decision that has additional implications against judicial supremacy. The court, which convenes in New York City, shot down the longtime liberal dream of achieving gun control by suing gun manufacturers for crimes committed by firearms. In a remarkable decision, this federal appellate court dismissed City of New York v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. and protected gun corporations against frivolous...

Texas businessman Jeff Hawn was charged May 8 in the March slaying of 32 bison near Hartsel and faces one count of class 3 felony theft, one count of class 3 felony criminal mischief and 32 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, each a class 6 felony. Hawn turned himself in to the Park County Jail on May 12 and bonded out... Kobe Bryant's attorney The arrest warrant affidavit indicates that the bison had been killed over the course of a number of weeks. For instance, it states that on April 1 officers "retrieved a spent bullet from one of...

Saturday, May 3: A Philadelphia police officer, Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, is shot and killed with a semiautomatic weapon while responding to reports of a bank robbery in the city’s Port Richmond section. Liczbinski is the second officer shot in the city this year, and the third in the last two years. Monday, May 5: About a dozen Philadelphia police officers, less than 24 hours into the manhunt for the third and final suspect in the Liczbinski shooting, beat three suspects who had been fleeing the scene of an unrelated murder. The entire incident happens to be caught on tape by...

New technology to link cartridge cases to guns by engraving microscopic codes on the firing pin is feasible, but did not work equally well for all guns and ammunition tested in a pilot study by researchers from the forensic science program at the University of California, Davis. More testing in a wider range of firearms is needed, the researchers said. Microstamping technology uses a laser to cut a pattern or code into the head of a firing pin or another internal surface. The method is similar to that used to engrave codes on computer chips. When the trigger is pulled,...

A man opened fire into a crowd of people Wednesday night, hitting a woman holding her 2-year-old granddaughter and the woman's 18-year-old male relative in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood, police said today. The 49-year-old woman and the man were each shot in the leg and had non-life-threatening injuries, said Peter Panos, police spokesman. A fight between juveniles had broken out in the street near the woman's home in the 700 block of Conway Street about 6:30 p.m., Panos said. The woman went to get her granddaughter from the yard, he said. "As she started to walk back to the...