Free Republic

“The lowest-common-denominator approach proposed by this bill would undermine the core principles of federalism, the traditional police powers of state governments, and the safety of law enforcement officers across the country. It’s absolutely unacceptable for the federal government to dictate that someone can carry a concealed, loaded gun within a state’s border, in violation of that state’s laws.” – New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in New Bill Would Force States to Allow Visiting Gun Owners to Pack Heat Without a Permit

Gun rights advocates have long defended their right to bear arms out of a need for self-defense. And now they have a new report from the Centers for Disease Control that says they make a darn good point. The $10 million study commissioned by President Barack Obama as part of 23 executive orders he signed in January says “self-defense can be an important crime deterrent.”

Five miles north of the Mexican border on a remote West Texas ranch, a New Mexico hunting guide and his client were wounded over the weekend in an alleged gunfight that a family friend described as an attack by “illegal aliens” and an attempted kidnapping. The Presidio County Sheriff’s Office appeared to question that account in a statement Monday, saying “there is no evidence to support allegations of ‘cross-border violence.'” A Border Patrol spokesman called the alleged incident “highly unusual for our part of the border.” The following is an account of the events. Hunting guide Walker Daugherty, 26, of...

In just 10 days a new administration takes over the executive branch of government. Among the agencies to be taken over will be the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF). Will the infamous Operation & Furious documents be available to the newcomers or has the current BATF already destroyed those files? Ditto for the Department of Justice.

State Attorney General Maura Healey’s office and a Worcester gun dealer have settled a case that involved selling handguns that were not Massachusetts-compliant. The Gun Parlor has agreed to end sales of handguns that do not meet state-mandated safety regulations, specifically load indicators and magazine safety disconnects, and pay $10,000 in fees and costs associated with an investigation into the store while $25,000 in fines will remain outstanding and will be waived if the shop remains in compliance for two years. “In Massachusetts, we rely on gun dealers to help ensure responsible gun ownership and use by following the...

Rockin 'n Rollin' with a Shotgun When it comes to rapid shotgun fire, this is just about as good as it gets! Never mind the XRAIL system that this guy is using on his shotgun. Shotgun fans out there will debate over a better system to use, like one of the comments below and that it has no real world application. (umm, fire power is a huge debate) But other than that, just the pure fun and excitement of shooting it on rapid is exhilarating, you can't argue that. This guy puts some mods (XRAIL System) to his shotgun in...

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-Chart done by David Scott2016 has become the year with the most gun sales ever. The 2016 NICS checks have surpassed those for 2015, the previous record holder. In December, 2016 there were 2,771,159 National Instant Checks done.  In 2015, the number done in December was 3,314,594. December 2016, after the election of Donald Trump, slumped to only the third highest number of NICS checks in a month, the second highest being December, 2012, at the height of the Obama push for more infringements on the Second Amendment. There were 2,783,765 NICS done that month. December, 2016 was...

The store is Dixie Gun and Pawn and the store owner’s name is Jimmy Groover. Action News 5 reports that Groover was wearing a handgun on his hip when the suspects entered the store. Once under threat, he drew his gun and shot, hitting one of the suspects and killing him on the spot. Surveillance video of the incident has now been released and published by LiveLeak. In it you can clearly see one of two suspects pointing a gun at a store employee and then in Groover’s direction. The next thing you see is Groover shooting and killing one...

We Americans love our guns -- and apparently, we love them twice as much as we used to. We first twigged to this trend in 2015, when an astounding story on The Washington Post's Wonkblog site revealed that the average number of firearms owned by a "typical gun-owning household" had roughly doubled between 1994 and 2013, to 8.1 guns per household. The trend has only gone up since. How do we know this? A recent Harvard/Northwestern University joint study estimates that America's 319 million citizens own about 265 million guns today. And although from 1994 to 2016 the number of...

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson apparently wants the Evergreen State to have gun laws similar to those in New York and Connecticut, according to the Yakima Herald, as he released details on bills to ban so-called “assault weapons” and require “enhanced” background checks for the purchase of such guns. The measures may be read here and here. “I believe a ban on the sale of assault weapons is the right policy for Washington, and I will keep fighting for that,” Ferguson said in a prepared statement, “I’ve said from the beginning that it would be an uphill battle. My...

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Police are searching for answers after a man shot himself in the head while in custody and in handcuffs in Downtown Austin Sunday afternoon. It happened in a patrol car, right outside of a busy bar and partially shut down sixth street. Around noon police were called to Barton Creek Mall, where they took the man, possibly a teen, into custody for shoplifting and possession of a controlled substance. Police say he refused to identify himself, and they suspected he may have had warrants, so they arrested him to take him to APD Headquarters for fingerprints....

Anyone that follows Rob Leatham, who is known for his pistol shooting prowess knows about his "the Walk Back Challenge" drill. Basically the drill starts at the 50 yard take a shot with your pistol, if you hit the full size steel target. Proceed to the 100 yard, you keep repeating this drill until you've reached a distance where you miss the target. Normally this is around the 200 to 250 yard range. In this demonstration Larry Vicker using a Glock 20 which shoots a 10mm, the power is between a .357 and 41 Magnum. This pistol is ideal not...

Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has left at least 5 dead and 13 injured. Not surprisingly, Florida is one of only 6 states with laws that banned carrying guns in the unsecured areas of airports. A move was killed in 2016 to overturn this ban, and the reason for overturning it seems very applicable to today’s events. Time after time these attacks keep occurring at places where civilians aren’t allowed to defend themselves. A Broward County official indicates that the killer, Esteban Santiago, had checked is gun in on his flight and that when he got his baggage he took his gun...

Chicago is a bloody mess. Last year, Chicago had 762 homicides — more than New York and Los Angeles combined. This represents an astounding 57 percent increase from the 2015 murder rate. On Sunday night, CBS’s 60 Minutes rightfully expressed concern about the fall in stops and arrests by police over the last year. Criminals have seemingly become emboldened as a result of the decrease in arrests. The 60 Minutes piece quotes Garry McCarthy — Chicago’s Police Superintendent up until a year ago — as saying that “officers are under attack, that is how they feel.” This isn’t a new...

Congressman Danny Davis is a Democrat representing Illinois's 7th District, which includes some Chicago neighborhoods hardest hit by gun violence. His own grandson was shot and killed last November. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: We hear now from Congressman Danny Davis. He's represented the 7th Congressional District since 1996, but gun violence is not just an abstract concept to him. His 15-year-old grandson Javon was killed in a dispute over borrowed clothing last November, and Congressman Davis delivered the eulogy. He was kind enough to host us in his offices on Capitol Hill. Congressman, thank you so much for speaking with us...

The Anchorage man accused in the mass shooting at a Florida airport Friday did not have ties to a terrorist organization when he was investigated last year, the FBI said at a news conference Saturday in Anchorage. Law enforcement said he had exhibited mental health problems during an incident at the Anchorage FBI office that led local police to take his gun. ... the Anchorage Police Department said it later returned the gun to Esteban Santiago, 26, after the weapon had been logged into evidence for safekeeping. "I want to be clear, during our investigation, we found no known ties...

WASHINGTON – The case of Esteban Santiago, the 26-year-old shooter in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport massacre, gets stranger by the minute. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2017/01/who-gave-this-guy-his-gun-back-twice/#tAM5FIZOumo98joZ.99

Image courtesy Mando Martinez Just after midnight on 1 January, 2017, Texas Representative Amando "Mando" Martinez was struck on the head by a bullet or bullet fragment. It seems most likely that it was celebratory gunfire, and a "spent" projectile.  From themonitor.com: The incident, which is being investigated by the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office, reportedly occurred just after midnight Sunday, when Martinez was celebrating the New Year with family and friends outside a residence located north of Weslaco in the 5400 block of Sago. The sheriff said Martinez felt something on top of his head and was rushed to a...

The last time there was a new president elected for the United States, attendance at Rapid City’s annual gun show spiked. This time, attitudes in the community are much more relaxed. “Over the past year, sales and attendance at gun shows has been down a little bit, but that comes after a giant increase we had since 2008. In 2008 and 2012 for this show, we had like 22,000 people come through here in a weekend,” said Lee Rohrer, one of the event organizers and member of the Rapid City Rifle Club.

On January 7–the day after the heinous attack in the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood international gun-free zone–the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence Tweeted that you can “carry a gun and ammo in a checked bag” when you fly.