Free Republic

ALBANY — City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., weighing his options in the wake of a surprisingly close loss in the mayoral race, is seriously considering challenging Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in next year’s primary elections, according to people who have spoken to Mr. Thompson and his advisers. Challenging Senator Gillibrand is one of three options being mulled by Mr. Thompson and his advisers. He is also considering a run against the state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, in the primaries, or returning to the private sector for now and running again for mayor in 2013. With the primary 10 months...

According to AmmoLand.com, data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,233,982 NICS Checks in October 2009, a 4 percent increase from the 1,183,279 reported in October 2008. So far that is roughly 11,403,417 gun bought this year. The total is probably more as NICS background checks may cover the purchase of more than one gun at a time. "This latest jump in background checks show that Americans are solidly in-favor of keeping firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens," Ammoland reports in an no-byline article. "This clearly shows that the Obama Administration’s OK to...

Police in Berlin, N.H., are investigating an attempted robbery that turned deadly. Residents of an apartment at 616 3rd Ave. told police that three men forced their way into the home around 8 p.m. Wednesday night, threatening and assaulting a man and his girlfriend inside. Police say the man got hold of his own handgun and exchanged shots with the robbers during a struggle. In the end, one of the alleged intruders, 23-year-old Nathaniel Stringfield of Berlin was found dead at the scene. Another alleged intruder was found a short distance away. He's at the hospital in critical condition with...

OSU's Second Amendment Center Runs Out of Ammo [Robert VerBruggen] Ohio State University's Second Amendment Center, funded largely by the anti-gun Joyce Foundation, has called it quits. Randy Barnett has details over at the Volokh Conspiracy. Barnett argues that the Center closed because its purpose — to argue against an individual-right interpretation of the Second Amendment — was rendered moot by Heller. In NR last year, I detailed how the Joyce Foundation funded law-review symposia on the Second Amendment (subscribers can read my piece here). Whatever the Foundation and Center's problems, I found the Center's head, Prof. Saul Cornell, very...

I rarely pay attention to the squealing, indignant rants that define Michael Daly of the New York Daily News. His paper is notoriously hostile to the right to keep and bear arms, and Daly typifies the stereotype defined so well in Julia Gorin's brilliant classic, "The anti-gun male": In short, he is a man begging for subjugation. He longs for its promise of equality in helplessness. Because only when that strange, independent alpha breed of male is helpless along with him will he feel adequate. So I'm not going to waste my time rebutting his latest foot-stamping tantrum against South...

Gun rights documentary maker Max Lemus informs me his "Not without a fight" video has been completed and its official release date is today. Here's his latest preview: Max traveled the country interviewing gun rights activists. If you're unfamiliar with his project, you can catch up by visiting my gun rights documentary archive. The "Not without a fight" website is here, and his preview archive is posted on YouTube. With today's release, you can download a copy of the complete documentary for yourself by purchasing it here. I hope you do, and I hope you help spread the word.

matthew.chayes@newsday.com Quick Summary Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and her former ardent foe, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), announced they were teaming up to sponsor legislation to combat gun trafficking. Talk about a thaw. In the latest example of politics making for the unlikeliest bedfellows, hugs, mutual praise and chitchat punctuated a news conference between Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a former darling of the National Rifle Association, and her former ardent foe, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), the stridently pro-gun-control congresswoman whose husband was killed in the mass shooting aboard the Long Island Rail Road. Earlier this year, McCarthy had threatened to derail Gillibrand's upcoming...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Congressman Todd Tiahrt (pronounced TEE-hart), R-Kan., released the following statement in response to heinous accusations from Mayor Bloomberg’s political organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns. On Monday the Bloomberg organization paid for a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post assigning blame for the Fort Hood massacre, in part, to firearm policy authored by Tiahrt and approved by Congress since 2002. “The mayors who politicized the tragic deaths of those whose lives were taken along with the dozens who sustained injuries at Fort Hood should immediately issue a public apology to the victims and their families,� said Tiahrt. “Their use of...

Here's a Mauser model 1934 I just purchased. It's the nicest one I've ever seen, and I couldn't resist.

Obamacare May Target Gun Owners Jillian Bandes Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Who might be the next victim of Obamacare? Gun owners. Government health care reform "will most likely dump your gun-related health data into a government database…that can preclude you from owning firearms,” said Gun Owners of America, in an email notification to their members, shortly before the health care debate on Saturday. GOA said that diagnoses such as post-traumatic stress disorders or other mental illnesses could be a reason the government uses to charge you more for health insurance under the public plan, or as part of co-op regulations....

Dismayed by the lack of marksmanship shown by their troops, Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate formed the National Rifle Association in 1871. The primary goal of the association would be to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis," according to a magazine editorial written by Church. After being granted a charter by the state of New York on November 17, 1871, the NRA was founded. Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who was also the former governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. Senator, became the fledgling NRA's first president. An important facet of...

NEW YORK -- New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy are introducing a bill to crack down on illegal gun trafficking. They said Tuesday the bill would make it a crime to traffic in firearms and would also go after middlemen who buy a gun for someone else so that person can evade background checks. The bill would provide funding for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to hire 1,500 agents and investigators.

Smart armor being developed by scientists and engineers at U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Michigan can not only predict its own failure, but also identify the size of bullets shot at it and even generate electrical power upon impact. "As a kid, everyone played those video games that showed you how much armor you had left as a percentage bar," said John Wray, a TARDEC contractor. "That's exactly what we're working on here and more." WATCH VIDEO: See the amazing body armor that can stop the AK-47's 7.62mm rounds. Intelligent armor is based on...

Police beat ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Two gunmen rob Razorback Pizza Two men armed with handguns robbed Razorback Pizza in southwest Little Rock late Sunday, forcing people to the floor before taking money from the register, safe, employees and customers and firing shots randomly as they ran away. No one was injured. The men walked into the restaurant at 10900 Stagecoach Road not long after 9:30 p.m. showing their weapons, police said. They ordered customers and employees to put their personal belongings — wallets, cell phones and other items — into bags. The gunmen then forced the customers from the bar into...

For those who missed his appearance on Fox & Friends Monday morning, Willows High School junior Gary Tudesko, with his mother, Susan Parisio at his side, seemed like a normal kid who might live across the street in any American neighborhood, and you would be glad to have him there. This Northern California teen has now been branded by an expulsion by the Willows Unified School District board for having had unloaded shotguns locked in his pickup truck off-campus (!) on Oct. 26. They were discovered by “scent-sniffing dogs.” They belonged to Gary and one of his pals who -...

Recession-stoked fears of rising crime and tougher gun laws under a Democratic government are sending US gun sales sky high, and big crowds at the Chantilly Gun Show this weekend proved it once again. Several hundred people thronged the gun show in the Washington suburb of Chantilly, where some 260 retailers have set up stalls hung with ready-to-fire Smith and Wessons, Glocks, Walthers, Colts and Berettas. "We've had a huge increase in sales since last October," 2008 just before President Barack Obama was elected. "Well over 200 percent. It's coming back," said Jerry Cochran, owner of his eponymous major gun...

Against a backdrop of recent shootings of innocent bystanders, including a 13-year-old boy from Queens and a 15-year-old girl from the Bronx, city officials and activists each did their part on Monday in their fight against gun violence, albeit in different ways and at different venues. At City Hall, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other city officials announced the takedown of an illegal gun sales operation in Brooklyn, while the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network gathered supporters for a “day of outrage” in cities across the country. Mayor Bloomberg blamed “extremists in the pro-gun movement” for lax gun laws,...

Today, Michael Bloomberg's coalition against illegal guns placed a full-page ad in the Washington Post urging lawmakers to prevent suspects on a federally maintained "terror watch list" from being allowed to purchase guns. "500 mayors agree with the Obama and Bush Administrations: stop terror suspects from getting guns," the ad says. It's also been an issue that Rahm Emanuel voiced support for back in 2007, according to this video clip. "We got to make this a number one issue, as a test vote, and take it into the election." He added, "If it's between that terrorist list and the NRA,...

St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner Kurt Hofmann speculates on potential consequences for a group of current and retired military and law enforcement personnel who believe their oath to the Constitution should have bearing on their professional conduct. In today's column, he asks "Will Pentagon try to crush Oath Keepers?" The immediate basis for Hofmann's concern is a report following up on the Fort Hood shootings: The Pentagon may reconsider rules governing participation in extremist organizations that some lawmakers say appear outdated and too narrow in light of the shooting rampage at the Army base in Texas. Some have been following...

Last week, the body of Chicago school board president Michael Scott was found in the Chicago River with a single bullet wound in his head. The big story was that this powerful, well-connected public official had, according to the county medical examiner, committed suicide. The less-noticed story was that he did it with an illegal weapon. After all, handgun ownership is not allowed in the city of Chicago, which has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and Scott killed himself with a .380-caliber sidearm. Unlike most Chicagoans, Scott could have been a legal handgun owner. Because...

In today's Los Angeles Times (Medicine section) Francis W. Adams writes not of gun shot wounds but of his seeing the traumas of police officers who have shot suspects. Wounds I began to see (print edition, An NYPD surgeon learns the random nature of wounds online edition today) plays on the emotionalism of his own experience as if it might resonate with others and somehow soothe. Or ban guns. Does it? Dr. Adams described the police shooting of a robbery suspect as ‘..inflicted by another human being.' Dr. Adams begins with a story about a suspect shot by police. Reporting...

LEE COUNTY: A unique court battle is shaping up in Lee County. A man is facing third degree felony charges for shooting an endangered black bear in his back yard and wants to use the "Stand Your Ground" law as his defense. Kevin Doerr and his attorney were in a Lee County courtroom Monday trying to get all charges against him dropped. Doerr, who lives in San Carlos Park, shot the bear in May and says he was just protecting his family and his property. His attorney, Joe Viacava, says the charges should be dismissed under the unique defense of...

Mike Wiley won’t fire until he sees the whites of their eyes, but needs you to provide him with the ammo he’ll need to win this campaign

Last week, the body of Chicago school board president Michael Scott was found in the Chicago River with a single bullet wound in his head. The big story was that this powerful, well-connected public official had, according to the county medical examiner, committed suicide. The less-noticed story was that he did it with an illegal weapon. After all, handgun ownership is not allowed in the city of Chicago, which has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and Scott killed himself with a .380-caliber sidearm. Unlike most Chicagoans, Scott could have been a legal handgun owner. Because...

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man transformed his apartment into a pornographic shrine to young girls, arranging mannequins in a sex act, plastering the walls with photos and setting up a bed covered with stuffed animals, investigators said Monday. Kevin M. Derks' collection featured photographs of Hollywood starlets, including a poster of actresses Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen with a caption inviting himself to join in sex acts with them, DVDs of child pornography and photos he said he took of girls at local beaches. Prosecutors charged Derks, 53, of Kenosha, with 20 felony counts of possessing child pornography. His...

Of all the sinister intrustions and usurpations of Government over the past few decades, the War On Food must rank as among the most bizarre. Included are updates for the Stowers Family Saga which began almost exactly a year ago and some other background and explanatory links.

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683 State Legislators File Amicus Brief Supporting NRA's Stance in Pivotal Supreme Court Case Monday, November 23, 2009 Fairfax, Va. -- A large bipartisan group of state legislators and other elected officials from all 50 states have signed an amicus curiae, or "friend of the court," brief supporting the NRA’s position that the Second Amendment is incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The amicus brief, bearing the signatures of 891 state legislators and other elected officials -- including two governors and three lieutenant governors -- was filed with the U.S. Supreme...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683 Bipartisan Majority of U.S. Congress Signs Amicus Brief Supporting NRA's Position in Pivotal Supreme Court Case Monday, November 23, 2009 Fairfax, Va. -- An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have signed an amicus curiae, or "friend of the court," brief supporting the NRA’s position that the Second Amendment is incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The amicus brief, bearing the signatures of 251 Members of Congress and 58 Senators, was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court today in the case...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683 Bipartisan Majority of Attorneys General File Amicus Brief Supporting NRA's Stance in Pivotal Supreme Court Case Monday, November 23, 2009 Fairfax, Va. -- An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of attorneys general have signed an amicus curiae, or "friend of the court," brief supporting the NRA’s position that the Second Amendment is incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The amicus brief, prepared by the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and bearing the signatures of attorneys general from 38 states, was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court today in the case...

How nine Houston men were assaulted and robbed in the ranchlands of Mexico MEXICO CITY — Like generations of Texans, nine Houston hunters traveled each autumn into northeastern Mexico's wildlife-rich ranchlands for a few uninterrupted days of shooting game, far removed from the workday world. But that ended abruptly last month after the men were rounded up, robbed and terrorized by well-armed marauders. The nine were wrapping up an afternoon of white-wing dove hunting about 100 miles south of the Rio Grande when a dozen men, armed with assault rifles, roared into the grain field in pickup trucks. The businessmen,...

It may come as a surprise to many of his Democratic supporters, but Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown has gone to bat for the National Rifle Association. The NRA's cause: urging the U.S. Supreme Court to guarantee the ability of gun owners across the land to keep and bear arms. Last year, the high court struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., ruling for the first time that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms applies to individuals who keep a gun at home for self-defense. But the court made it clear the ruling applied only...

OLEAN - Gun owners in the area could feel the impact of several anti-gun bills that have passed through the Assembly, including the possible ban of .50 caliber firearms. The summary for Assembly bill 3211A, sponsored by State Assemblywoman Patricia Eddington, outlaws all .50 caliber firearms and larger weapons. According to the proposed legislation, “The .50 caliber weapon is one of the most dangerous weapons in the U.S. military’s arsenal. These weapons are used for long-range tactical assassinations and assaults in the U.S. military. “These weapons of war are readily available on the Internet and in gun stores,” the bill...

LA GRANDE -- Three years ago, multimillionaire hotel chain owner Mark Hemstreet and his wife, Shannon, faced 19 citations for alleged game violations on their Wallowa County ranch. The allegations, brought by Oregon State Police fish and wildlife officers, included shooting a bull elk without a valid elk tag, falsely applying for resident-of-Oregon hunting licenses while living elsewhere and lending a big-game tag. Then the case fell apart. Now state police have agreed in a settlement to pay $295,000 to Mark Hemstreet, 59, and his longtime friend and political ally Gregg Clapper, 59, of Portland. State police brought charges against...

A man who Bessemer police said was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon as he attempted to rob a business has been identifed by the Jefferson County Coroner's Office as Kevin Dudley, 41, of Pleasant Grove. Dudley, armed with a shotgun, attempted to rob The Bait Shop at 729 9th St. N. in Bessemer, said Capt. Mike Roper. The owner shot and killed him, Roper said.

A federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of a Wisconsin man barred from owning firearms because of his criminal record, ruling the lifetime prohibition may violate Americans' Second Amendment rights and calling into question the future of a 13-year old gun control law. In a 3-0 decision on Wednesday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a trial judge to take a second look at the evidence that a 1996 federal law prohibiting anyone convicted of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" is constitutional in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that emphasized "the individual right...

ACHIN, Afghanistan — American and Afghan officials have begun helping a number of anti-Taliban militias that have independently taken up arms against insurgents in several parts of Afghanistan, prompting hopes of a large-scale tribal rebellion against the Taliban. The emergence of the militias, which took some leaders in Kabul by surprise, has so encouraged the American and Afghan officials that they are planning to spur the growth of similar armed groups across the Taliban heartland in the southern and eastern parts of the country. The American and Afghan officials say they are hoping the plan, called the Community Defense Initiative,...

~~Come on in and shoot the breeze~~   Gun Talk Radio   11/22/09~~07:00 CST

A few weeks ago seven of the eight incumbent Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates who lost their seat to a Republican had one other thing in common - a lower National Rifle Association (NRA) rating that their opponent . . . [and] the disparity in support for gun rights between the parties seems to have sharpened.

In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them. Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year.

Last week, the body of Chicago school board president Michael Scott was found in the Chicago River with a single bullet wound in his head. The big story was that this powerful, well-connected public official had, according to the Cook County medical examiner, committed suicide. The less-noticed story was that he did it with an illegal weapon. After all, handgun ownership is not allowed in Chicago, which has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and Scott killed himself with a .380-caliber sidearm. Unlike most Chicagoans, Scott could have been a legal handgun owner. Because he had...

Fort Hood Texas Shootings Free Republic Archives PART IIORIGINAL Fort Hood Archives... If you create a new thread, feel free to post a link to it here as well. If you post a link, you don't have to ping it to me..just take my name out of the ping field. The last time it filled my ping box pretty fast. My thanks to ALL who helped create the previous thread. Our prayers Continue...... Fort Hood's Fallen HeroesBy Freeper La Enchiladita...

Anyone here see this? I have googled it and it seems that they havent given up.

Tennessee's new law allowing people with handgun permits to be armed in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol is unconstitutionally vague, a judge ruled on Friday. Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman said the law, enacted earlier this year over the veto of Gov. Phil Bredesen, is "fraught with ambiguity." She ruled after an hour of arguments in a lawsuit brought by a group of plaintiffs, many of them restaurant owners. More than 257,000 people have handgun carry permits in Tennessee. Tennessee previously banned handguns in all locations where alcohol was served. The new law made an exception for establishments that serve at...

Earlier this week, I was invited to be Benjamin Rockwell’s guest on Digital Computer Talk, to record a segment for an episode of his nationally syndicated broadcast radio show (prior episodes here). The subject was “smart gun” technology and the discussion centered around whether an implementation of that technology could have stopped or minimized the carnage in the Fort Hood terrorist attack or any of the other mass shootings that have taken place in recent years. A hypothetical “what if” version of events was assumed, where civilian firearms — including Major Hasan’s FN pistol — had been enabled with smart...

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,...