Free Republic

On September 24, 2018, Yunsong Zhao was vindicated. He had done nothing illegal. The evidence against him was so weak, the judge did not let the case go to trial. He dismissed the case based on lack of evidence. From wsls.com: CHRISTIANSBURG — A judge on Monday dismissed the firearms charge against former Virginia Tech student Yunsong Zhao, saying that he didn’t believe the police officer or gun dealer who were the prosecution’s main witnesses.The evidence that Zhao, a 20-year-old Chinese national, possessed an assault weapon that is allowed only for U.S. citizens or permanent residents was too flimsy...

Dr. John R. Lott, Jr. spoke with the Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur about how universal background checks disarm poor minorities. The also debated whether more guns mean less crime. Regarding claims about how crime rates vary across nations see here and how crime rates change after guns are banned see here. In reference to the graph on mass public shootings that Cenk shows see the paper discussed here. Lott wasn’t able to see the graph when he was talking to Cenk Uygur, but he was correct guessing that they were relying on numbers from Adam Lankford at the University of...

Leaked govt memo: Shooter may be linked to hate groupBy Liz Goodwin 29 mins ago According to a leaked memo obtained by Fox News, the Department of Homeland Security is looking into the possibility that suspected shooter Jared Loughner was linked to a white supremacist group called American Renaissance, or AmRen. AmRen founder Jared Taylor, however, tells Fox he'd never heard of Loughner and that according to his group's records, Loughner never received AmRen publications. His group's events are all held on the East Coast, he said, far from Loughner's hometown of Tucson. According to the memo, Loughner "is possibly...

Is Venezuela paying the price for adopting gun control? The shocking nature of Venezuela’s economic collapse has been covered ad nauseam. However, one aspect of the Venezuelan crisis that does not receive much coverage is the country’s gun control regime. Fox News recently published an excellent article highlighting Venezuelan citizens’ regret over the gun control policies the Venezuelan government has implemented since 2012. Naturally, this regret is warranted. The Venezuelan government is among the most tyrannical in the world, with a proven track record of violating basic civil liberties such as free speech, debasing its national currency, confiscating private property,...

Church shooting in Texas. I guess the congregation wasn't properly armed. No other info.

Urge Your Senators to Oppose AG Nominee William Barr! Tuesday’s confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee William Barr was very disturbing. Even the most liberal, anti-gun Justice on the Supreme Court -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- didn’t sit in the witness chair in the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell us she intended to shred the Second Amendment. So, when Barr openly spat on the right to keep and bear arms -- and threatened to break down our doors in the middle of the night in order to confiscate our guns -- well, that’s a problem for us. Listening to William...

Last week, a 25-year-old woman was standing at a bus stop before dawn in the Fernwood neighborhood on Chicago’s Far South Side when she was approached by a teen who attempted to rob her with a gun. Instead, the woman, a concealed carry permit holder, pulled out her own gun and shot and killed the 19-year-old. On its face, this story may seem to make the case for the merits of concealed carry as a method of self-protection, especially for people living in high-crime neighborhoods. But the fact is that this scenario is an outlier. It is extremely rare for...

Last year, after the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Boulder, Colorado decided to ban AR-15 rifles. Current residents who owned these firearms were subject to a grandfather clause. They also had until July 18, 2018 to get rid of, or sell, so-called high-capacity magazines and bump stocks. Those who were grandfathered in had until December 27, 2018 to certify their rifles with the local sheriff’s department. There is no paper trail. No records are kept, but it sure sounds like a test run for a gun registry. Only 342 people have certified their rifles. You know there...

Do you want to be good with a pistol? And, we're not talking about just standing in front of a paper target shooting at your leisure. You want to be able to defend yourself and loved ones. What do you do? There are many shooting drills out there for every skill level, but as with any hobby or skill, the basics are the most important. Without basic proficiency, one cannot become competent, let alone get actually good.. Getting good means you'll need to attend all of these top of the line defensive firearms courses offered at Joe's Tactical School. Reality...

–In August of 2016, Terry Holcomb, a Second Amendment activist, wrote a letter to Waller County, Texas. The letter asked Waller County to stop breaking the law, according to what had been passed in the 2015 legislature.  Some county officials disagreed with the Texas Attorney General, on what the law meant. So Waller County sued the Second Amendment activist, in an attempt to undercut the Attorney General. This was a direct violation of Texas Law, the Texas Constitution, and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.A Government entity cannot sue a citizen merely for complaining against it and...

Based on the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI), about 1 in 5 (21%) of all state and federal prisoners reported that they had possessed or carried a frearm when they committed the ofense for which they were serving time in prison (fgure 1) . More than 1 in 8 (13%) of all prisoners had used a frearm by showing, pointing, or discharging it during the ofense for which they were imprisoned. Fewer than 1 in 50 (less than 2%) of all prisoners had obtained a frearm from a retail source and possessed, carried, or used it during the ofense...

7 minute video.

The Pittsburgh City Council is pushing a ban on AR-15s and other commonly-owned semiautomatic rifles, as well BB guns and starter pistols. The ban would prohibit the possession of some weapons, while limiting the possession of other weapons to one’s own land and/or residence. Regarding “assault weapons,” the City Council says, “It shall be unlawful to manufacture, sell, purchase, transport, carry, store, or otherwise hold in one’s possession within the City of Pittsburgh an assault weapon.” They define “assault weapons” as weapons that run the gamut between full-auto to semiautomatic. In other words, a machine gun with select-fire switch is...

Veteran broadcaster Bob Costas is stepping down from his longtime role with NBC Sports. Costas told the New York Post of the decision Tuesday, which the network confirmed with the paper. “It’s all settled quietly and happily for all concerned,” Costas told The Post. Costas also told The Post he will continue to do work for MLB Network and is considering pursuing a long-form interview show.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh wants to mandate that Doctors teach patients about gun safety. It appears to be another Orwellian definition. Gun safety in these circumstances seems to mean getting rid of guns. There is no mention of using known gun safety experts who have been working on the subject for decades. From bizjournals.com: Involving doctors in gun safety: This act would require medical professionals to ask patients about guns in the home, and bring up the topics of gun safety. The goal, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said, is to identify those at risk for domestic violence, suicide...

While most observers’ eyes initially focused on the drama surrounding freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s long shot bid for a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, veteran Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) was quietly installed as Chair of the Financial Services Committee. For gun owners and businesses, this is a worst-case scenario. To many of those outside observers, it might seem as if the Judiciary Committee — with primary jurisdiction in the House over firearms laws and regulations — would be the key battleground for firearms-related attacks. However, for those of us who bear the battle scars earned through years...

"Bullets and booze don't mix," Alderman Edward Burke growled. Then the Chairman of the Finance Committee vowed to fight the NRA. He had spent much of his 50 years in power fighting for gun control. And the man dubbed “Alderman-for-Life”, whose wife who sat on the Illinois Supreme Court, had the heft. Five years ago, Chicago had lost yet another of its serial gun control battles. But Burke and the Democrat machine were vowing to go on fighting with more laws attempting to restrict the Second Amendment. Burke, an Obama and Blagojevich ally, and the godfather of Chicago politics (dubbed...

Last Tuesday a 25-year-old woman in Chicago was waiting at the bus stop in the early morning when she was approached by a 19-year-old man with a gun. The Chicago Tribune describes what happened next: Video from across the street apparently captured the incident so police know exactly what happened. The intended victim had a concealed carry permit for her gun so she is not in any trouble with authorities. This is a clear case of self-defense.

Hearings Will Determine Whether Barr is Committed to the 2nd AmendmentDear Friend: As if we didn’t have enough gun control to fight recently, we now have another battle emerging.To replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, President Trump has nominated an individual who has advocated very restrictive gun control proposals in the past. The Senate Judiciary Committee began confirmation hearings on the nominee today. His name is William Barr, and he actually served as U.S. Attorney General once before under President George H.W. Bush from 1991-1993.It was during the hearings for that position in 1991 that William Barr expressed his support...

A report published on Jan. 9 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that in 2016, criminals who carried firearms while they committed crimes most frequently obtained the guns either off the street or underground, rather than through legal purchases. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported that an estimated 287,400 prisoners possessed a gun in 2016 while they committed the crimes for which they were imprisoned. Of these, “more than half (56%) had either stolen it (6%), found it at the scene of the crime (7%), or obtained it off the street or from the underground market (43%). Most...