Free Republic

A short exposure, small aperture shot of the TNT formulation burning. The purple colour is down to the potassium perchlorate © WileyIt might seem counterintuitive but one way of making decoy flares for fighter planes better and safer is to make them out of TNT, say European scientists.Decoy flares are pyrotechnic devices shot out of aeroplanes to confuse heat seeking missiles. For the simpler missiles a hot flame will suffice but technology is always improving and advanced missiles now look for the tell tale signatures of water and carbon dioxide to distinguish between a plane and a flare. Of course,...

Surprise! The DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement have requested more ammunition. However, it is the type of ammunition and not necessarily the quantity that is troubling. First on the agenda is the .223 rifle ammunition. Just a measly 40 million rounds in the first year, and another 160 million rounds in the following four years. 200,00 million rounds in total. You know, just enough to make you cringe thinking that some government office that is not military has more ammunition than you do. The .223 caliber round is a decent hunting round, but that is not the rounds to be...

CORPUS CHRISTI - A resident in the 2400 block of Niagra opened fire on a couple of intruders last night. Police say the 48-year-old man heard glass breaking after 2:30 a.m., so he got a gun and headed towards the kitchen. There were two men inside the kitchen who he ordered to 'freeze.' Instead, one of the men headed towards him. The victim fired his gun and the men ran off. While being interviewed by police, the resident collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital for an undisclosed medical issue. There's no word on his condition this afternoon.

TORONTO - A Toronto woman hopes to curb gun violence by urging women to withhold sex from men who carry guns. Following the devastating Danzig Street shooting in July, Nicole Osbourne James started the blog, 'Got a gun? You get none!' with the hopes of curbing gun violence. "Women. Mothers. Lovers. We need to use our own power and have a BAN on SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS with men that have guns. We need to stop HARBOURING and ENABLING our sons with guns. Can we make it happen?" the blog states.

A rabid beaver approached young children at a nature center in Fairfax County over the weekend, officials said, just days after another rabid beaver bit an 83-year-old woman in a Fairfax lake. About 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Fairfax County Animal Control officers went to Hidden Pond Nature Center in Springfield. The incident occurred during a program in which about 15 children were participating. The kids were fishing when a beaver was spotted approaching a dock where about four or five children were located, a nature center staff member who witnessed the incident told Fairfax County Park Authority spokeswoman Judy Pedersen. The...

As Cabela's Inc. CAB +0.45%prepares the selection of guns it will sell for the holiday season and winter hunting, the outdoor-gear retailer has two plans: one if President Barack Obama is re-elected, and one if he isn't. The Sidney, Neb.-based retailer and other companies in the guns-and-ammo business say if Mr. Obama wins a second term they are preparing for a surge in sales—the same as they saw after he was elected in 2008—from buyers fearful the president would back policies to make buying a gun more difficult. If Republican challenger Mitt Romney wins, though, the chain plans to stock...

After government-trafficked guns were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010, higher-ups all the way to the White House started scrambling to cover their tracks. The gun-walking program known as Operation Fast and Furious came to a head two years later on June 20, 2012, when the House voted to hold the United States attorney general in contempt for lying to Congress. The same day of the House vote, the president himself publicly stepped into the fray. Obama invoked executive privilege in order to prevent long-awaited subpoenaed documents from seeing the light of day....

Just over two weeks before the 27th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) – sponsored by the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms – convenes in Orlando, the Florida task force examining that state’s Stand Your Ground law has an interesting revelation. The controversial law, passed seven years ago, has not produced any negative effect on the tourist trade. That had been one of the predictions from the anti-self-defense lobby during debate on the proposal in 2005. But according to the Tampa Tribune, Bradenton Herald and Tampa Bay Times, a gathering...

WEST PALM BEACH — Members of a task force reviewing Florida’s “stand your ground” law expressed wide support Wednesday for the statute’s core provision that deadly force can be used if necessary to prevent death or serious injury.

What the ….?Via WFB: U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition, limiting their ability to respond to attacks like those this week on the U.S. consulate in Cairo.Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.”U.S. officials have yet to confirm or comment on the reports. Timemagazine’s Battleland blog reported Thursday “Senior...

NEW BRITAIN — Following several heated discussions over the past few months with members of the public, the Common Council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that gives gun owners the flexibility to conceal their weapons or not. The old ordinance required individuals to carry their legal firearms openly. New Britain — which had been the last municipality in Connecticut with such an ordinance — is now in line with the rest of the state. While state law would supercede local ordinances, City attorney Mary Pokorski said Wednesday that the state law “does not dictate the method of carrying weapons.”...

Did the State Department ban Marines from carrying ammo at the U.S. embassy in Cairo? That's what some are reporting, as well as claiming our Ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, had forbidden it. U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition, limiting their ability to respond to attacks like those this week on the U.S. consulate in Cairo. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit US Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blog spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any US...

PORTLAND – A Portland man was afraid he’d lost an irreplaceable family heirloom, until he found out Wednesday police had tracked down his father's stolen gun collection. Police told Vietnam veteran Randal Snider that they were able to arrest the suspect and recover the guns, thanks to a tip they received. ----------------------cut------------------------- The two men knew each other because McGrew's father had done some handyman work for Snider.

PHOENIX -- Eight years ago, a Tucson man suspected of stealing a bottle of lotion was asphyxiated by a security guard. Now that incident -- and the legal fight over liability -- is spilling over to the ballot. Proposition 114 would alter two provisions of the Arizona Constitution that prohibit the Legislature from limiting the right of individuals to sue for damages. The sections would remain, but with a new exception: It would not apply to someone who is injured while engaged in a felony, attempting to commit one or even fleeing. "If someone breaks into a home and gets...

U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition, limiting their ability to respond to attacks like those this week on the U.S. consulate in Cairo. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.” If true, the reports indicate that Patterson shirked her obligation to protect U.S. interests, Nightwatch states.

MARION – A meeting set for Thursday in Marion will update gun owners about new efforts to pass concealed-carry legislation in Illinois, as well as a pending lawsuit aimed at getting rid of anti-gun laws. State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, will be hosting the meeting set for 8 p.m. in the Operators Local 318 office, located at 3310 Water Tower in Marion. Todd Vandermyde, a state lobbyist with the National Rifle Association, is scheduled to speak. The meeting is open to the public. “I am confident that we will be able to pass a concealed-carry bill in the Senate during...

TALLAHASSEE — Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll has repeatedly said that the task force commissioned to look into Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law will make its decision based on facts, not emotions. But Carroll and 18 other task force members learned Wednesday that those facts — like many stand your ground cases — can be difficult to pin down. A University of Florida professor presented a slew of data tracking trends in crime, gun ownership and tourism since the 2005, but ultimately concluded that no definitive connections could be made yet to the stand your ground law. "The data that...

If you’re following the ongoing debacle that is Recoil, you’ll love this next bit: the recent statement from Joe Galloway is now officially not the official Recoil stance. If you’re unaware, Mr. Galloway sent out a message that basically said, “We’re sticking to the editor’s apology. If you don’t like it, piss off. Other people will buy our magazine.” It was, in fact, so condescending and arrogant that I called his office -and that of Jerry Tsai – to confirm it wasn’t bogus. I couldn’t believe his message reflected their official response. Maybe it’s an internet troll trying to make...

By improperly causing a hearing to be removed from the court calendar, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives prevented a Federal Firearms Licensee from seeking discovery crucial to its case for a scheduled revocation hearing, a motion filed on behalf of Brink’s, Incorporated, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas at Dallas asserted Monday. Requesting either “to reinstate [the court] hearing date or, in the alternative, to reschedule [the] FFL revocation hearing,” the motion points out it “serves as Brink’s only opportunity to obtain discovery for the purposes of defending its license.” This...

PINELLAS PARK — The man shot by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper Monday morning at a Pinellas Park cemetery was the cemetery's owner — a Tampa man who lives in a 7,000-square-foot home, has no criminal history and has held a concealed-weapons permit. Clifford F. Work remained hospitalized in fair condition Tuesday at Bayfront Medical Center as questions remained about why Trooper Daniel Cole, a 13-year FHP veteran, shot the 48-year-old businessman. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting, which is the latest in a string of incidents throughout Cole's career in which his actions have been...