Free Republic

The first and second amendments of the Bill of Rights are essential for supporting each other.   The first amendment is essential to support the second, while the second amendment provides the means to protect the first.   It is clear that the open carry of firearms is itself a strong political message.   Openly carrying a gun is protected political speech. In Texas, open carry activists have been pushing hard to have the right to open carry modern handguns restored.   It was lost during reconstruction when the carpet bagger government rewrote the state constitution.   Open carry activists have participated in hundreds,...

A Philadelphia mother of two is facing three years in prison after she mistakenly entered New Jersey, where she was stopped for a traffic violation and found in possession of a handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets. Shaneen Allen, 27, was pulled over in New Jersey’s Atlantic County after making an unsafe lane change in the early morning hours of Oct. 1. Allen then told the officer that she had the .380 Bersa Thunder handgun, as well as a concealed carry permit for Pennsylvania, unaware that her permit was not transferable to The Garden State. “The gun charge was not proper...

Police say two men walked into a mini-mart Friday to rob the place when things went terribly awry. About 11:15 a.m., the men, both believed to be gang members, walked into the store near the intersection of Alhambra and Hollister avenues in El Sereno, LAPD detective Michael Zolezzi said. One man was wielding a rifle and the other toting a machete. As they attempted to rob the store, the man with the firearm got into a struggle with someone inside. The rifle went off, firing a single bullet into his accomplice’s upper body. He died at the scene. It’s unclear...

From reducing student loan debt to expanding voter rights to dealing with the scourge of violent crime, liberals have laid out an ambitious agenda for the waning years of the Obama presidency. At a day-long summit Wednesday organized by Generation Progress, the youth division of the influential Washington-based think tank Center for American Progress, speakers such as Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi articulated their goals to a Washington audience of more than 1,000. Here are five issues that came up again and again at the Make Progress National Summit, and the...

What may have started out as an ordinary evening in February 2012, ended with a dead teen-ager and a national controversy that is still unresolved. The fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and the subsequent not-guilty verdict of the shooter, George Zimmerman, on July 13, 2013, prompted citizens across the nation to question the "stand-your-ground" laws. Such laws, often criticized as being "shoot first" laws, make it hard to prosecute cases against people who shoot others and then claim self-defense. Kentucky, as well as the other states with such laws, should revise them so that the one who initiates a...

Suspects who called the Police Florida recently passed a law making it harder to prosecute people who are defending themselves with firearms.   The law builds on a trend started with an Arizona law that codified the defensive display of a firearm as legal. The Arizona law had been prompted by criminals use of the criminal justice system to punish people who had foiled their crimes by displaying a firearm in self defense. This Oregon case, though it did not receive official sanction, shows how criminals attempt to use, or use, the criminal justice system to their advantage. In the...

Obama and his comrades created the border crisis to force amnesty down our throats, but it’s not working as intended. So why do they soldier on with their insanity? It should be obvious to everyone that the current border crisis was preplanned and created by the regime. They implied that our borders are open, set up logistical support to infiltrate them everywhere on the taxpayer dime and in came the flood. Insane as it sounds, this seems to be their grand plan to force 30 million new Democratic voters on the nation and insure themselves a perpetual voting base. But...

A July 16 column describing the gun-banning efforts of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America reveals that a Moms Demand chapter was kicked out of San Antonio's Park North Target when they tried to hold a "Stroller Jam" in the store. Store management kicked the gun control group out for "wielding signs and petitions in a 'distraction-free' shopping environment."

Many people claim that handguns are useless for protection against bears.   Numerous examples have shown that this is a false notion.   Handguns may not be ideal as defensive weapons for bears, but they can be effective.  In a defensive situation, you have to use what is available.   In this case, a homeowner in Alaska used a .45 against a brown bear that was trying to get into his house on July 7th of this year.  He and his son were in the home.   He had scared off the animal with some warning shots just three hours before. ...

According to a Presidential Executive Order issued Wednesday, the importation of AKs manufactured by the Kalashnikov Concern in Izhmash, Russia has been banned. This includes the popular "Saiga" line of rifles and shotguns. Mikhail Kalashnikov spent his life at the Izhmash firm. The sanctions were taken because of Russia's aggression toward the Ukraine. Russian banks and energy companies were also targeted. To be clear, the executive order does not affect Izhmash or Saiga firearms already in this country. This is not an "assault weapons" ban. Instead, it halts the importation of firearms from the Izhmash-based firm. The news was released...

Over the July 4 weekend, in Chicago alone, 16 people were shot to death and another 66 were wounded. At a press briefing on July 11, the White House weighed in, stating that Obama would "continue to make the case" that lawmakers should adopt new gun control laws. Two days later, on Sunday, Gov. Pat Quinn also called for more gun control, in particular a state ban on assault weapons, as the solution. But Chicago's problems lie with the city’s politicians. Nationally, police solve almost two out of every three murders – 63 percent of them. That figure is much...

Attacker who beheaded British Policeman This incident in Missouri shows the use of discretion by  Missouri County Prosecutor Matt Howard.     In this case, the homeowner, Mark Routh, discovered a man, Hanna, attempting to break into his home.  The homeowner armed himself with a shotgun and approached the intruder.  A struggle ensued, during which Hanna stabbed Routh in the upper leg.  As reported in connectmidmissouri.com: After a struggle, Hanna began to move away with his back turned and was shot by Routh at a distance of 66 feet, near the outer effective limit for a 12-gauge. The shot peppered Hanna in...

UN Document Or Not, the Plot to Disarm America Is Commencing The evidence is mounting that Obama and his colleagues at the United Nations are preparing for complete gun confiscation of civilian-owned American guns. There is a new document, previously held secret, which has surfaced and clearly signals the intention of the United Nations to engage in gun confiscation in the relatively near future. The document is damning, however, the existence of the document is not even needed to prove the point that there is a major confrontation, brewing between the American people and an international peace-keeping UN force, right...

“I heard footsteps, and they kind of bum-rushed me from behind,” he said. “And I turned around, and there was a revolver in my face.” Dittrich said he gave the men his wallet with $25 inside, doing exactly what some self-defense experts suggest when confronted with a burglar: Give them what they want. As he opened the door, Dittrich said, he tried to make as much noise as possible, trying desperately to alert his fiance, Duffy, who was in the bedroom asleep. But one of the men found Duffy and, pointing the gun at her head, sexually assaulted her, she...

In response to Russia’s aggressive actions in Ukraine, the U.S. government has issued a number of new sanctions against Russian companies. Among the companies targeted is Kalashnikov Concern, the arms manufacturing company that makes AK-47s. Under the new sanctions, Americans who own a Kalashnikov Concern product, like an AK-47, that was “bought and fully paid for prior to the date of designation (i.e., no payment remains due to Kalashnikov Concern), then that product is not blocked and OFAC sanctions would not prohibit the U.S. person from keeping or selling the product in the secondary market, so long as Kalashnikov Concern...

At least 50 people carting weapons, flags and posters expressing anger with the porous border took to Vassar, Mich., streets to rally against a plan to ship some of the illegal minor-aged immigrants to their community. Many in the crowd carried AR-15 rifles and handguns — the latest sign of the growing unrest around the nation that’s marking the federal government’s response to tens of thousands of illegals crossing into U.S. territories in recent months. They also carted “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and a “Second Amendment Revolution” flag, a design that includes the basic Betsy Ross pattern with the...

Petition to Remove Suppressors from NFA Take Action: Sign Petition to Remove Suppressors from NFA by G&A Online Editors | July 14th, 2014 0 petition_suppressor_NFA_sig_sauer_silencer_1Those of us who support improvements in suppressor legislation have an opportunity to take action. A new petition posted on Whitehouse.gov aims to remove suppressors from the list of items regulated by the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA). The petition requests suppressors be taken off the list of NFA regulated items, remove the costly $200 tax stamp on any purchase of a suppressor, eliminate the complex legality and travel issues between states and reduce safety concerns...

On Monday, a lawsuit was filed challenging the anti-gun ballot initiative filed with the Secretary of State. Your NRA-ILA previously reported on the filing of this ballot initiative here. This ballot initiative seeks to criminalize most private transfers and mandate background checks for nearly all gun transfers in Nevada, with very limited exceptions. The lawsuit challenges the wording of the initiative alleging that it inaccurately characterizes the current state of the law as a “loophole.” This initiative also does not provide voters adequate notice of its intent to alter current law to include onerous criminal penalties for a violation of...

I went to the shooting range last night for the first time in about 2 years. Lot's of fun, and I have to admit, I did pretty well for being so out of practice. But talking with some folks, I heard something that I had not heard before, but they all agreed it was true. I'd like to know if anyone can cite a source for this, as I'd like to use it in a conversation with my sister, who is opposed to gun ownership. What I heard was that the U.S. has the 3rd highest rate of murder by...

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) is supporting statewide "restrictions" on .50 caliber rifles and bans on "assault weapon" and "high capacity" magazines because of the violence in heavily gun-controlled Chicago.