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Proving the validity of the “Law of Unintended Consequences again,” Anti gun groups are unwittingly helping to boost the sales of the FN Herstal 5.7 pistol, its ammunition, and high capacity magazines, by asking Obama for an import ban on them. The events of the last 13 months have shown what happens to gun, magazines, and ammunition sales when Americans have good reason to fear draconian changes in our gun laws. Never failing to further their agendas by using tragedy, 27 anti gun groups have joined together to blame the gun, the ammunition, and the high capacity magazines for the...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Opponents of the so-called guns in bars and restaurant law won their battle in court Friday. Nine local restaurant owners filed a petition in August asking for a hearing on an injunction to challenge the law. In court on Friday, a judge found the new state law to be unconstitutional due to vagueness. The law, which allows gun carry permit holders to take their weapons into bars and restaurants where alcohol is served, went into effect in July. The law will be put on hold until lawmakers return to session in January. Some lawmakers said they would...

Michigan - -(AmmoLand.com)- Things are going well with the Second Amendment March. We now have 29 State Coordinators and website traffic is holding steady at 45,000 unique visitors per week. Donations were up slightly last month but still painfully short of what we’ll need to pull this event off. I hate to beg, but even five dollars per person would be a great help in organizing efforts. Dennis Sanford, our Field Representative, will be sending out the official letters to the gun industry next week asking for monetary and logistical support. We’re hoping that during these times of record firearm...

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- No charges will be filed against a man who stabbed a teenager to death earlier this month in Minneapolis. The Hennepin County Attorney says the man acted in reasonable self defense. Timothy Jackson, 17, died in the early morning hours of November 7. Investigators say Jackson and another teenager tried to rob the man on the Midtown Greenway. The man stabbed Jackson Robbery charges were filed last week against the teenager who was with Jackson.

Many people will sympathize with an Arlington, WA man who fired a couple of shots at a burglary suspect who later turned up dead with jewelry belonging homeowner’s wife in his pocket, because the homeowner has now been arrested for investigation of second-degree murder. Keira S. Earhart was booked into the Snohomish County Jail and is being held there on $1 million bail. The man he shot, Ryan A. Rzechula, 25, of Stanwood, has a criminal record, according to the Everett Herald. What allegedly occurred in this case will need some sorting out, but the basic facts are that Earhart...

The BDN’s recent series of stories on guns in Maine revealed, among other things, the chasm that lies between those who want to regulate gun ownership and use and those who believe gun ownership is as sacrosanct as the secret ballot and free speech. It’s unlikely the gap will be bridged in the near future, but both camps would do well to work at understanding that their extreme positions may undermine their goals. For the first 100 years of the nation’s history, the Constitution’s Second Amendment was generally understood as supporting the rights of states to keep militias. In 2008,...

A hardware store clerk in Nacogdoches, Texas used his handgun to fend off a knife wielding criminal. Police say that a man in the Cason-Monk Hardware store on the 300 block of Commerce St became upset and was asked to leave. The man reportedly left, only to return armed with a knife, which he used to threaten the life of a store clerk. The clerk is said to have grabbed a handgun, causing man to flee. The clerk, who didn't have to fire a shot, was unharmed. Police are seeking the suspect, who was described only as a Caucasian male...

EAST ST. LOUIS — A store clerk in East St. Louis killed robber Larando King, but it was holdup accomplice Michael T. Hunter Jr., who was charged Friday with first-degree murder, officials said. CRIME STATS bullet Get the breaking news from our St. Louis Crime Beat blog bullet See stats around St. Louis and the nation in our searchable database. A person committing a felony can be charged with murder under Illinois law for the death of anyone during the crime. St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida, whose office filed the charge, said in a prepared statement: "I commend...

Student expelled for having unloaded shotguns in truck By RYAN OLSON - Staff Writer Posted: 11/20/2009 12:09:32 AM PST WILLOWS -- The Willows Unified School District board of trustees has expelled a 16-year-old for having unloaded shotguns in his pickup parked just off the Willows High School campus. The board voted 4-0 Thursday to expel junior Gary Tudesko after the weapons were discovered via scent-sniffing dogs on Oct. 26. Board Vice President Alex Parisio abstained from the discussion and vote because he is related to Tudesko's family. Expulsion hearings are normally held in closed sessions, but affected students and their...

While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president. In 2000 and 2001, while Barack Obama served as a board member for a Chicago-based charitable foundation, he helped to fund a pioneering carbon trading exchange that is likely to fill a critical role in the controversial cap-and-trade carbon reduction scheme that President Obama is now trying to push rapidly through Congress. During those two years, the Joyce Foundation gave nearly...

Robbery victim won't be charged. Prosecutors have decided not to file charges against the man accused of killing 18-year old Tim Jackson, saying he was acting in self-defense. Investigators say Jackson and another man tried to rob a man identified as P.W. as he walked in the Midtown Greenway near 28th Ave. and Hiawatha in Minneapolis. P.W. told police he stabbed Jackson in the stomach as Jackson tried to hit him in the head. "Minnesota law is pretty clear, folks are entitled to walk in the streets, if someone assualts you, you have a right to respond with reasonable force"...

WASHINGTON, DC, November 19, 2009 — The Mississippi Court of Appeals has granted a retrial for Covington & Burling LLP client Cory Maye, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 shooting of a police officer that occurred during a narcotics task force search of Mr. Maye’s home. In its opinion of November 17, the Court of Appeals found that Mr. Maye had been denied the right to be tried in the county where the offense occurred, and that the trial court had improperly rejected Mr. Maye’s attempt to withdraw a prior motion to transfer venue. The shooting...

Clergy members oppose legislation; gun rights groups endorse it HARRISBURG - Some of Pennsylvania's clergy say a state house bill being considered will increase gun violence and deaths, while supporters contend the bill simply expands your right to self-defense.Dozens of clergy members crowded the steps in the Capitol rotunda Thursday morning to rally against House Bill 40. The group had gathered at the Capitol to watch a House Judicial Committee Public Hearing on the bill.The piece of legislation eliminates the "duty to retreat" if you are confronted by an attacker. It also expands the so-called "castle doctrine." That's a piece...

The 30-year-old officer was gunned down at his home early Thursday morning. Police are saying the crime was a random act. The officer's wife, mother and two very young children were in the home at the time of the shooting. Metro is firming up the burial plans for the officer but expects the funeral to take place next Tuesday or Wednesday.

In a report highlighting the "open carry" gun movement, KTVU's Lloyd LaCuesta interviewed locals who are hanging out in public, packing heat and exerting their Second Amendment right for all the world to see. Advocates across the country are picnicking together, going to zoos, going to church and picking up trash. Most notably, supporters protested Obama this past summer. In the Bay area, David Julian, 27, and others are hanging out at a Cupertino Starbucks, sipping their Venti coffees with guns holstered to their hips.

Our interest in a single Supreme Court case has perhaps never been as high as it is in a case currently being briefed. The issues are fascinating on several levels, and the potential impact of a ruling is big. The case is McDonald v. City of Chicago, for which the court granted cert on Sept. 30. The petitioners in the case, a group challenging a gun-control ordinance in Chicago, filed their brief with the court earlier this week. Were the court to adopt their position — something well within the realm of possibility — we could be looking at a...

The federal government has no right to regulate guns made, sold and used within Utah, state lawmakers at a committee hearing decided Wednesday. The Legislature's Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee advanced a bill that its sponsor, Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, calls the "Firearms Freedom Act." If upheld in federal courts -- a big if, considering past rulings on states' rights -- Utahns purchasing Utah-made guns would not face federal requirements such as background checks. "I love the idea of the firearms," said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, "and I love to swipe at the federal government on this...

Yesterday, Somali pirates attacked the commercial cargo ship Maersk Alabama. This time, however, an armed security team successfully thwarted the attackers. Last April, Somali pirates successfully attacked the Alabama, kidnapping ship’s Captain Phillips and holding him hostage until Navy SEAL snipers killed the captors. In 2008, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the U.S. Navy’s fleet in that area, specifically warned that the Navy “can’t be everywhere” and that “shipping companies have to take responsibility for their own ships.” It appears that after the last near-tragedy, Maersk took the warning seriously. But the story also highlights media bias against self-defense....

There has been a close association between sexually transmitted diseases and the military for as long as the two have existed, but the focus of this article is not Venereal Disease, but a different kind of VD that has shocked the military community and the nation. The VD which currently plagues the military and puts our soldiers at grave risk is the policy of Victim Disarmament which has been increasingly prevalent even as laws in the civilian world have been moving in the opposite direction While some have pointed to regulation changes during the Clinton administration as the turning point,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Before the Senate Judiciary Committee November 18th, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed a stunningly broad and aggressive anti-gun agenda. "The President of the United States asked that politicians not use the Ft. Hood attack to engage in 'political theater.' It appears those committed to attacking gun owners and the Second Amendment simply can't help themselves and are engaged in blaming guns and gun owners on the heels of this terrorist attack. Sadly it looks like 'politics as usual,'" said LEAA's spokesperson, Ted Deeds. After explaining and defending his decision to give enemy combatants constitutional...

Two people attempted to rob the BFM Market in East St. Louis at 4 am yesterday. An alert employee shot at the robbers, who retreated. One of the wounded robbers was dropped off at the hospital, where he expired of his injuries. The other robber is still at large. Free Republic is banned from posting the original sources.

Two men attempted to Rob Gifford's gas station in Reader Sunday night, but all they got away with were some ventilation holes in their getaway vehicle. At approximately 11:20 p.m. a man went to the residence next door to the station and asked owner Tom Gifford if he could use his phone because his car had broken down. Gifford got the phone and when he turned around, the man was holding an knife and a second man wearing a ski mask was in his house holding a pistol. The unmasked man asked for money and drugs; Gifford complied. "They didn't...

David Michaels, a left-wing ideologue who supports junk science and seeks to restrict gun possession, has been approved by the Senate Health Committee to head the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Only two Senators -- both Republicans -- voted against Michaels, who was nominated by President Obama. The vote occurred with no discussion, and no hearing was even held on his nomination, although hearings have consistently been held on nominees in the past, even for far less controversial picks. Gun-law expert David Kopel explains how Michaels wants to ban guns in and near workplaces, and could use his...

I got the following pictures in an e-mail. How would a revolver explode like this?

New Jersey Governor, John Corzine, signed into law a new ban limiting New Jersey residents to the purchase of just one handgun every 30 days. But, in the fever pitched liberal rush to limit handgun purchases, the Legislature's poorly drafted law also banned legitimate gun dealers from buying more than one handgun a month too. The law does not apply to Police purchases and Curio & Relic Licensees’ purchases. Nor, does it apply to transfers of handguns between licensed retail dealers. The problem is that the law does not exempt dealer purchases from wholesale distributor suppliers from the one handgun...

Medford teacher Shirley Katz, who was denied permission to take her handgun to South Medford High School, has lost her appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals. The court opinion, issued Wednesday by Judge Jack Landau, upheld a November 2007 decision by the Jackson County Circuit Court that affirmed the Medford School District's authority to prohibit employees from carrying firearms on school grounds.

Recently in the Cincinnatus Standard I wrote about "teachable moments with the media." Sadly the lesson must continue as we talk about how the media looks at issues with bias and distortion. One must conclude they are quite lazy, as they don't do their homework and seem quite willing to accept anything spoon-fed to them that fits their liberal mental template without critical thought. In the process they miss the facts, pass on the fabricated material, and thus do the public a great general disservice. October was a hot month of media activity and there is much I can comment...

In a report highlighting the "open carry" gun movement, KTVU's Lloyd LaCuesta interviewed locals who are hanging out in public, packing heat and exerting their Second Amendment right for all the world to see. Advocates across the country are picnicking together, going to zoos, going to church and picking up trash. Most notably, supporters protested Obama this past summer. In the Bay area, David Julian, 27, and others are hanging out at a Cupertino Starbucks, sipping their Venti coffees with guns holstered to their hips. Supporters, who appear to come from all backgrounds, also say they're toting firearms to educate...

Just how much clout does the gun lobby have on Capitol Hill? This week may prove to be a crucial test: A House-Senate conference committee is about to take up a massive transportation-funding bill that is pitting advocates of gun rights against security-minded members worried about the threat of terrorist attacks on Amtrak trains. Tucked into the measure is a controversial National Rifle Association-backed amendment that would cut off $1.5 billion in subsidies to Amtrak unless the federally backed national passenger-train company reverses its post-9/11 security policies and permits train passengers to travel with handguns and other firearms as part...

The Seventh Circuit last week vacated a man’s conviction for possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. However, the court did not strike the statute down as unconstitutional, but remanded the case to the district court to give the government the opportunity to “establish a reasonable fit” between the “statute’s means and its end.” Addressing the record made before the district court, Judge Diane S. Sykes wrote for the court, “The government … has premised its argument almost entirely on Heller’s reference to the presumptive validity of felon-dispossession laws and reasoned by...

In an effort to rebut the idea that allowing law-abiding Americans to carry handguns in public helps prevent crime, the Violence Policy Center has begun compiling a list of homicides committed by people with carry permits. "Concealed handgun permit holders killed eight law enforcement officers and 77 private citizens (including 10 shooters who killed themselves after an attack) during the period May 2007 through October 2009," it says, based on news reports. "Contrary to the false promises of the gun lobby," says VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann, "the simple and deadly fact is that state concealed handgun systems are arming...

An Indianapolis, IN homeowner held a burglar at gunpoint until the police arrived. Police say that the burglar, who was armed with a screwdriver, broke in to a home on the southwest side of Indianapolis late Monday night and began rummaging around. The homeowner reportedly grabbed his self defense gun, fired a shot that struck a glass door, and then held the home invader at gunpoint until police arrived. Police reportedly took 22 year old Jorge Barrera into custody, where he now faces burglary charges.

As the new hunting season begins today, animal rights activists are threatening to disrupt meets as "observers", as well as joining hunts undercover. The saboteurs will film constantly using new telescopic lenses so hunts can be monitored from a distance. They will also use hidden cameras in clothing and time-delay devices dotted around the countryside. (edit) Hunting was banned in 2005 but since then the number of people taking part in the sport has continued to increase, with 50,000 mounted followers expected this year compared to 40,000 in 2004. This year there are expected to be a further 50,000...

If you've ever been a victim and had your security stolen then you understand how it leaves many people, especially women, wondering how to fight back. One popular option is pepper spray, but these days more Valley women are packing something much stronger. "I knew right then and there I was robbed," recalls Patricia Fallon. "You feel like you're violated, feel like you've been assaulted." Fallon's sense of security was shattered in September of 2007 when someone broke in and ransacked her home. "You live in fear after that because you're afraid they're gonna come back," Fallon began putting safety...

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Homeowners and authorities in Incline Village, Nev., say they're on the lookout for a marauding, 700-pound black bear . The bear, they say, has caused as much as $70,000 in damage so far this year, including havoc wrought inside a home it has broken into several times, the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal reported Wednesday. "The deputies up there all say he's the biggest bear they've ever seen," Carl Lackey, a biologist and bear expert with the Nevada Department of Wildlife, told the newspaper. "He'll walk right by a trap. He won't go in them....

INDIANAPOLIS—Kerry A. Thomas, 46, Oakland City, Indiana, was charged late yesterday with Possession of unregistered machine guns and a destructive device, announced Timothy M. Morrison, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Indiana, following an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pike County Sheriff’s Department, and the Evansville Police Department. The complaint alleges that on March 16, 2009, Thomas unlawfully possessed three machine guns—Gladiator Automobile and Cycle Factory 8X50 mmR Caliber machine gun; Marlin, model 1917, 30-06 caliber machine gun; and a Colt, AR-15, model XM16E1, 5.56 mm caliber machine gun—which had not...

The lesson from an unsuccessful pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden this week was simple: Guns talk. The Maersk Alabama, the American-flagged ship infamously attacked by pirates in April, was attacked again Monday when Somali pirates opened fire on the ship in an attempt to board it. But the pirates didn't get far this time, after a four-man security team aboard the ship fired back, thwarting the attack. It's the first time a large cargo ship with an armed security team aboard is known to have repelled an attack, says Vice Adm. William Gortney, who commands the Pacific region...

Patriots or extremists? That was the title of a CNN story that aired this morning, looking at how some 100 new volunteer militia groups have sprung up since President Obama was elected. The story focused on the Michigan Militia, filming them while they trained at Camp Stasa in Bancroft, a city halfway between Lansing and Flint. According to a show of hands at the training session, about half the members there were new. "Any time we get a democratic president in office people become concerned, including myself, and we get a resurgence out here," said a militia member identified only...

This month’s tragic — and probably preventable — mass shooting at Ft. Hood, Texas, certainly raises questions about why a lone shooter was able to unload not one but several magazines of ammunition over a several minute period – shooting and wounding more than 30 soldiers and killing 13, at a heavily restricted US Army base. Just as legitimate questions were raised following the mass killings on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007, both military personnel and civilian citizens alike ought now to be asking of themselves and our elected and appointed leaders, not only whether the perpetrators of such...

<p>The former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection called Monday for the U.S. to reinstitute the ban on assault weapons and take other measures to rein in the war between Mexico and its drug cartels, saying the violence has the potential to bring down legitimate rule in that country.</p>

...Under such legislation -- let's call it the Gun Insurance Act of 2009 -- every American would be required to buy some kind of gun. Those who cannot afford even the simplest weapon -- say, those whose 2009 annual income is less than twice the federal poverty level -- could be issued $500 vouchers that would be valid only at gun shops or gun shows, and would have to be used before the 2010 Census. (Just think: What a stimulus to private enterprise all these gun sales would provide, and how many new gun-selling jobs would be created!)

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   NRA Files Brief in McDonald v. Chicago   Tuesday, November 17, 2009   On November 16, the NRA filed its brief with the U.S. Supreme Court as Respondent in Support of Petitioner in McDonald v. City of Chicago. The NRA brief asks the U.S. Supreme Court to hold that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment. In September, the Supreme Court agreed to consider the McDonald case, on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. That court incorrectly claimed that prior...

About an hour ago, the Associated Press reported that the crew of the US-flagged merchant vessel Maersk Alabama repelled a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia.  This is the same ship that was boarded by pirates last April.  At that time, the captain of the ship was taken hostage and was held by pirates in a lifeboat for five days.  The incident ended when US Navy SEAL snipers simultaneously killed all three pirates aboard the lifeboat in a nighttime action.  This time, the pirates never got aboard the ship. What was the difference?  Guns.As the AP report makes abundantly clear,...

... private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship repelled the attack with gunfire...

Alan Gura, who successfully defended the individual right to keep and bear arms under Second Amendment in District of Columbia v. Heller has now filed his brief in the case that seeks to apply that right to the states, McDonald v. City of Chicago. (Cato earlier filed a brief supporting Alan’s cert petition, the background to which you can read about here.) The question presented in this case is: Whether the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is incorporated as against the States by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities or Due Process Clauses. Remarkably, only 7 of...

DRIGGS, Idaho (AP) — An 11-year-old boy shot a black bear on his family's front porch after he said it wouldn't leave. The boy was at his home near Driggs, just west of the Idaho-Wyoming border, with his younger sisters last Wednesday when the bear showed up. The youngster says he couldn't shoo it away, so he went and got his gun and shot it. Black bears in the area have prompted multiple complaint calls, largely because they've been hanging around a transfer station. It wasn't clear if the bear shot by the boy was also attracted by the transfer...

Attorney Matt Brown said Monday a fatal shooting at Riverside Park on Nov. 5 was a case of self-defense, noting that Edward Jackson III was being beaten by two other men. However, prosecutor said the 18-year-old Jackson came to the park armed with a semi-automatic handgun. He said it was a jury question whether he is found guilty of criminal homicide, a lesser charge, or exonerated. General Sessions Court Judge David Bales bound the case to the Grand Jury on the criminal homicide count. He said he was "another case involving the plethora of guns, many of them unregistered, in...

Application of Second Amendment to be decided by Supreme Court Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll Lawyer Alan Gura says that owning semi-automatic guns is constitutional. The man who successfully challenged a prohibition against handguns in the District of Columbia before the Supreme Court said last night during a local debate about the Second Amendment that some states have gone too far. That's what happened in the District of Columbia, which required that firearms either be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, said Alan Gura, a lawyer from Alexandria, Va., who argued the Supreme Court case. "If you have a...

AUXVASSE - Bernie Breer, 67, died when his friend accidentally shot him after deer hunting off Route B in Callaway County. Breer was one of three hunters accidentally shot during the opening weekend of dear season. Breer's friend accidentally shot him while taking his gun off his shoulder. "The firearm discharged and hit the victim in the stomach area," Missouri Department of Conservation officer Tom Stother said. Officials reported hunters in Adair and Macon Counties were accidentally shot while deer hunting during the weekend. Last year, a total of five people were accidentally shot during all of deer season. None...

A Naples, Florida teenager was captured at gunpoint by armed men, and was forced to drive them to a Walmart, where they made him buy them a Playstation 3. The shopping spree at his expense began when he was kidnapped when he entered a gated community as he was going to visit a friend. It ended inside a Walmart. He told deputies who came to the store where he was released that he was forced to buy the video game controller just before they arrived at the crime scene. The ordeal began when he was kidnapped by armed teenage criminals...