Free Republic

Does your state support your 2nd Amendment rights – or make it exceedingly difficult to keep and bear arms? We’ve ranked the worst states to be a gun owner by analyzing each state’s current laws, upcoming laws, concealed carry guidelines, self-defense statutes, and 2A-centric taxes. #1 Hawaii #2 California #3 New York #4 Illinois #5 New Jersey #6 Connecticut #7 Maryland #8 Massachusetts #9 Rhode Island #10 Michigan #11 Washington #12 Minnesota #13 Colorado #14 Nebraska #15 New Mexico #16 Pennsylvania #17 Oregon #18 Delaware #19 Wisconsin #20 Vermont #21 Virginia #22 Nevada #23 Ohio #24 Maine #25 North Carolina

Though still far behind the number of cases granted for the next term this time last year, the court on Monday added two new cases to its docket for the 2024-2025 term. The justices agreed to weigh in on a challenge to a rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives regulating so-called “ghost guns” – firearms without serial numbers that virtually anyone can assemble from parts, often purchased in a kit. Garland v. VanDerStok was one of two cases granted on Monday on a list of orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The dispute over...

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona judge declares a mistrial Monday in the case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border. George Alan Kelly, 75, was charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away on his cattle ranch, prosecutors said. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but he didn’t...

A Brooklyn man has been convicted of 13 weapons charges after having been arrested and charged in 2022 for building his own firearms. Dexter Taylor’s ordeal could become a landmark Second Amendment case in light of the Bruen ruling handed down in the same year. The jury found Taylor guilty of second-degree criminal possession of a loaded weapon, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree criminal possession of five or more firearms, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, violation of certificate of registration, prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers. Two...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to take up a Biden administration appeal over the regulation of difficult-to-trace ghost guns that had been struck down by lower courts. The justices by a 5-4 vote had previously intervened to keep the regulation in effect during the legal fight. Ghost guns, which lack serial numbers, have been turning up at crime scenes with increasing regularity. The regulation, which took effect in 2022, changed the definition of a firearm under federal law to include unfinished parts, like the frame of a handgun or the receiver of a long gun, so...

The Louisiana legislature is in the process of strengthening the current state preemption law regarding weapons and the right to keep and bear arms. Local governments seeking to push gun control have been clever about finding ways to restrict people’s right to keep and bear arms in ways not foreseen by previous preemption laws. For example, in Iowa, the Dubuque City Council voted to create a zoning ordinance to prohibit otherwise legitimate gun sales. In Montana, the city government of Missoula, dominated by the University of Montana, voted to require government approval of all firearm sales in the city. In...

It was a common scam that ended with an uncommon outcome, tragically in an Ohio driveway. William J. Brock fatally shot an Uber driver because he wrongly assumed she was part of a scheme to extract $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said this week. Lo-Letha Hall was a victim of the same con, summoned by the grifters to Brock’s house to retrieve a purported package for delivery. Brock later told investigators he believed Hall arrived to get the money the scammers wanted. He is now facing murder charges, to which he’s pleaded not guilty. Hall’s family...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The Memphis Police Department is investigating a shooting incident in the Orange Mound area. Around 7 p.m., officers surrounded the area near Carnes Avenue and Grand. When officers were on the scene, they discovered five victims had been shot. Three were rushed to the hospital in critical condition and two were pronounced dead on the scene. All six victims in the hospital are now in stable condition, according to MPD. One was released from the hospital. SNIP

GONZALES COUNTY, Texas – A boy, who is now 10 years old, confessed to an unsolved murder from 2022, Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office announced on Friday. But GCSO said he will not be charged with the crime because he committed it before the age of culpability. Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was shot and killed while he slept in his RV at the Lazy J RV Park located at 85 Wild Meadow in Nixon. He had just moved there four days before. His body was discovered after he failed to show up to work for two days. He had been shot...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Memphis Police are responding to reports of multiple people shot in Orange Mound. Viewer videos from the scene showed dozens of gunshots fired as a crowd gathered at the Orange Mound Community Center. People could be seen running for cover.

GREENBELT, Md. (WDCW) – Five teens were injured in a shooting in Greenbelt, Maryland, during “senior skip day” festivities for local high school students, police said. Three of the victims had serious injuries and the two others were critically hurt, fire officials said. One remained in critical condition as of Saturday. The victims were all between the ages of 16 and 18.

Special counsel David Weiss urged the judge overseeing the Delaware-based federal gun case against Hunter Biden not to allow the defense to delay proceedings in a pointed motion filed late Friday. On Wednesday, attorneys for President Joe Biden’s son asked to indefinitely stay proceedings pending the outcome of an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit — imploring U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika not to “plow ahead in scheduling a trial.” In that request, the younger Biden characterized the government’s efforts to move forward with the case as “unlawful and illogical.” On Friday, Weiss shot back...

After another trans lunatic was arrested for allegedly planning to commit a mass shooting at a school district in Maryland, the county's Democrat executive declared at a press briefing it's not newsworthy that the would-be shooter identifies as transgender. Asked why authorities are reluctant to admit that the suspect is trans-identifying, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, defiantly denied that the Democrat-led county is burying the proverbial lede. "'Cause it's not a lede," a livid Elrich claimed. "Do you publicize every time someone gets murdered that it's a white Christian male who's heterosexual?...

ASPEN HILL, Md. (DC News Now) — A resident fired multiple gunshots during a burglary that took place early Thursday morning at the Peppertree Apartments in Aspen Hill. “I left the night before around eight or nine o’clock to go buy auto parts and then came back today just to see my home invaded,” resident Matthew James told DC News Now. At approximately 3 o’clock in the morning, Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) officers responded to the report of a burglary at the 3200 block of Weeping Willow Ct. where James lives. According to James and MCPD, two unidentified adult...

I have long followed every abortive attempt to develop “smart guns,” handguns that can only be fired by a designated user. Early attempts used magnetic locks, requiring rings on both hands. Obviously, anyone with a magnet could fire such guns, and gloves interfered. Various other methods, including radio transmitters, have also failed. Among the more recent was the Armatix iP1, a .22LR caliber pistol with a watch/transmitter. Back in 2015 the handgun cost $1400 and the watch, $300. Imagine what that would be with today’s inflation. It was rapidly revealed the transmitter could be spoofed with Radio Shack parts costing...

A Rule by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau on 04/19/2024 Document Details, Information about this document as published in the Federal Register. Printed version: PDF https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-04-19/pdf/2024-07838.pdf Publication Date: 04/19/2024 Agencies: Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Dates: This rule is effective May 20, 2024. Effective Date: 05/20/2024 Document Type: Rule Document Citation: 89 FR 28968 Page: 28968-29093 (126 pages) CFR: 27 CFR 478 Agency/Docket Numbers: Docket No. ATF 2022R-17 AG Order No. 5920-2024 RIN: 1140-AA58 Document Number: 2024-07838

Today marks the 249th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the “shot heard ‘round the world” started the American Revolution and gave us not just the country we know today, but also started a chain of events that led to other countries freeing themselves from the yoke of tyranny. Scores of patriots gave their lives or were injured that day to stop the British Crown from further brutalizing the people. Their sacrifices were not in vain, as April 19, 1775 marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War and culminated in...

On March 27, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, which resulted in multiple fatalities. The attack was carried out by a transgender leftist who had written a “manifesto” which has currently been withheld due to public records requests made by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department as well as the activism of Southern Baptist Convention ERLC head, Brent Leatherwood. Brent Leatherwood, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), is calling on TN lawmakers to back a proposal by Governor Bill Lee for an extreme risk protective...

New Orleans police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick wants gun-free zones within the city where even licensed concealed carriers would be barred from carrying for self-defense. 4WWL reported that Kirkpatrick is pushing the zones in response to the constitutional carry bill signed by Gov. Jeff Landry (R) on March 5, 2024. “New Orleans is unique. And this is not a one-size-fits-all bill. And so, what would apply and maybe be perfectly acceptable in a different part of the state of Louisiana, it’s not going to be effective for the entire city of New Orleans,” Kirkpatrick said. “Too much gun violence as it...

Yikes. It's been just over a year since Audrey Hale killed six at Covenant School in Nashville, TN. Authorities still haven't released Hale's manifesto (something the police said they were 'considering' for release a year ago), but the Left insists Hale was 'right-wing' and not one of their own. Now news is breaking from Montgomery County, Maryland, where another 'trans' individual wrote a 129-page manifesto with plans to get 'famous' by committing a school shooting. Police: 'Transgender' Maryland student who wrote 129-page manifesto to shoot up school wanted to be famous pic.twitter.com/9XItXts5XW — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 18, 2024 Wow. Another...