Free Republic

Our interest in a single Supreme Court case has perhaps never been as high as it is in a case currently being briefed. The issues are fascinating on several levels, and the potential impact of a ruling is big. The case is McDonald v. City of Chicago, for which the court granted cert on Sept. 30. The petitioners in the case, a group challenging a gun-control ordinance in Chicago, filed their brief with the court earlier this week. Were the court to adopt their position — something well within the realm of possibility — we could be looking at a...

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...

SARALAND, Ala. — Police in Saraland say an Alabama National Guardsman was beaten and stabbed to death in a robbery that netted about $120 in cash. Anthony Embley Sr.'s son-in-law and daughter, John Lamar Pope and Lacy Elizabeth Pope, are charged with murder. Embley's body was found in the hallway of his home last month. Saraland Police Chief Kevin Anderson says John Pope was arrested in Baldwin County earlier this month after he failed a drug test, which was required as a condition of his parole on a previous conviction.

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...

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,...

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...