Free Republic

Two new lawsuits over the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) controversial pistol brace rule were filed yesterday, with over half the states and the country joining in suits challenging the ATF’s rule. Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, and the state of Texas teamed up to sue the ATF. over what they see as an unconstitutional rule that violated the American Procedures Act (APA). The lawsuit highlights that both pistols and short-barreled rifles (SBR) are protected arms. It points out that SBRs are also no more dangerous than any other firearm and that the length doesn’t...

AGENCY: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Department of Justice. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Department of Justice (“Department” or “DOJ”) is amending the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) to clarify when a rifle is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder. Specifically, under the Gun Control Act of 1968 (“GCA”) and the National Firearms Act of 1934 (“NFA”) the definition of “rifle” shall include a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a “stabilizing brace”) that provides surface area that allows the weapon...

Republican lawmakers and gun rights groups blasted the Biden administration over a new rule that tightens regulations on pistol stabilizing braces. The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives (ATF) finalized a new regulation Friday that will treat guns with stabilizing accessories like short-barreled rifles, which require a federal license to own under the National Firearms Act. The move is part of a comprehensive gun crime strategy President Biden announced in April 2021, in response to the massacre at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, where a gunman using a stabilizing brace killed 10 people. A stabilizing brace was also...

The United States stood Sunday at the brink of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths as Dr Anthony Fauci warned that Americans could be wearing masks into 2022 despite infections falling 77 per cent over the last six weeks. A year into the pandemic, the running total of lives lost was about 498,000 — roughly the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and just shy of the size of Atlanta. The figure compiled by Johns Hopkins University surpasses the number of people who died in 2019 of chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer's, flu and pneumonia combined.

In a 16 page draft copy of proposed rulemaking/guidance specifying “Objective Factors for Classifying Stablizing Braces”, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has proposed entering into rulemaking to delineate the objective factors considered when “evaluating firearms with an attached stabilizing brace to determine whether they are considered firearms under the National Firearms Act (‘NFA’) and/or the Gun Control Act (‘GCA)” and the Department of Justice’s plan to “subsequently implement a separate process for current possessors of stabilizer-equipped firearms to choose to register such firearms in compliance with the NFA.”While the proposed rulemaking/guidance has not yet been published...

In 2013, the tax increases in Obamacare will increasingly conspire against kitchen-table family healthcare decisions. As just one example, below are some of the taxes that will impact the purchase of dental braces: Obamacare Medical Device Tax: As of Jan.1, Obamacare imposes a new tax of 2.3 percent on medical device manufacturers, including those who make dental braces. The tax is imposed on gross sales -- even if the company does not earn a profit in a given year. While the tax will be paid to the IRS by the manufacturer, the tax will be passed along as a higher...

NEW YORK—While Federal Reserve officials openly feud over the right time to begin tightening monetary policy, Treasury investors are starting to lean with the hawks. U.S. Treasurys last week endured their longest losing streak in more than two decades—nine consecutive days—and ended the worst quarter since late 2009 as U.S. government bondholders brace for the end of "quantitative easing" and a sooner-than-expected interest-rate increase. The yield on the two-year note, which is traditionally the most sensitive to shifting monetary-policy outlooks, touched 0.901% on Friday, the highest level since May 10, before trading at 0.805% late in the day.

Amtrak is adding more cars to its trains to accommodate passengers next week, the busiest week of the year for the state’s three passenger train routes, including the “San Joaquin” through much of the Central Valley. On what is anticipated to be the heaviest single travel day of the year for Amtrak — the Wednesday before Thanksgiving – Amtrak expects ridership to reach as many as 127,000 passengers system-wide. Last year, Amtrak carried nearly 686,000 passengers for the holiday week setting a new Thanksgiving ridership record. To accommodate more passengers traveling during this holiday week, more capacity will be added...

The White House is bracing for a new jobs report Friday that is expected to show paltry hiring by the private sector The report from the Labor Department is expected to show the nation’s unemployment rate rising above 9.5 percent. While weekly claims for unemployment fell on Thursday, a private report earlier this week projected the businesses would lose 10,000 jobs for the month. President Obama, under pressure to bolster the sluggish economy with only two months before the mid-term election, is working on new business tax breaks to provide a jolt to the sluggish economy. In Rose Garden comments...

WASHINGTON – Buoyed by good news on the jobs front, the White House claimed credit Sunday for reversing the downward economic spiral while bracing out-of-work Americans for a slow recovery. The Obama administration also eased away from confrontation with China over its artificially low currency. The U.S. wants to encourage Beijing's help on nuclear proliferation and new penalties against Iran for its perceived attempts to build a bomb. Given the depth and length of the recession, the White House wants to cool expectations of a rapid economic recovery before the November elections that will determine whether Democrats retain control of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The rarely-shuttered US government closed down for a second day Tuesday, as the northeast braced for another massive snow blitz just days after a historic blizzard paralyzed the region. Schools in the Washington area were shut and thousands of homes were without power after a massive snowfall barreled across the area Friday and Saturday, leaving some areas entombed in as much as three feet (one meter) of snow. Forecasters said residents now face another wintry onslaught, with another 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of snow forecast to fall on Tuesday and Wednesday. Unlike the...

WASHINGTON - Scott Brown’s Senate victory Tuesday sent shock waves through the Massachusetts congressional delegation, many members of which saw key communities in their districts vote overwhelmingly Republican.....Gleeful Republican strategists said three House members looked particularly vulnerable after the strong Republican turnout for Brown in their districts: Niki Tsongas of Lowell, James McGovern of Worcester, and William Delahunt, of Quincy.

Along the fringes of land scorched by last fall's massive wildfires, pockets of oat grass are sprouting from the Malibu canyons to the San Diego suburbs. A damp winter has suppressed large fires this year, but encouraged the growth of combustible grasses, highlighting an irony of wildfire season that has become a punch line of sorts for firefighters. "If rainfall is normal, it will be a terrible fire season. If it's a drought year, it will be a terrible fire season," said Thom Porter of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The number of acres burned this year...

MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines have put civil defense personnel on alert for possible deadly volcanic mudflows as a tropical storm began bearing down on a volcano that has been spitting ash for weeks. Just before she left for a visit to Europe, President Gloria Arroyo said the civil defense office had prepared contingency measures in case rain from the storm mixes with ash on the slopes of Bulusan volcano to form deadly mudflows. Arroyo said two C-130 cargo planes, eight helicopters including the presidential helicopter and a train were ready to travel to the Bicol peninsula south of Manila...

CRAWFORD, Texas - Several thousand people descended on President Bush's adopted hometown Saturday, most in a cross-country caravan for a pro-Bush rally and others to support an anti-war demonstration led by grieving mother Cindy Sheehan. Bush supporters gathered for an event marking the culmination of the "You don't speak for me, Cindy!" tour, which started last week in California. The crowd of about 1,500 chanted, "Cindy, go home!" "You are giving hope and encouragement to the enemies of America," said former California Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, a Republican who co-founded the group that coordinated the rally. Meanwhile, busloads of war protesters...

10:02 AM EST Mar 15 Two wounded suspected Abu Sayyaf prisoners walk after police stormed a maximum-security jail in a hail of gunfire Tuesday. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippines braced for retaliatory attacks after some of the country's most hardened terror suspects were killed in a failed prison uprising that left 28 people dead, most of them inmates killed in a barrage of bullets as hundreds of police stormed the maximum security facility. The dead included three leaders and a fourth member of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for deadly attacks and ransom kidnappings...

Special Announcement: Episode III Title July 24, 2004 Starwars.com is pleased to announce that Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith is the full title of the next Star Wars film, scheduled for release on May 19, 2005. The Sith are masters of the dark side of the Force and the sworn enemies of the Jedi. They were all but exterminated by the Jedi a thousand years ago, but the evil order continued in secrecy. They operated quietly, behind the scenes, acting in pairs - a Master and an Apprentice - patiently biding their time before they could take...

Flee! The Democrats are coming to Boston Massachusetts braces for convention to cause traffic snarls; locals aim to leave Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, July 11, 2004 Medford, Mass. -- When the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Boston in two weeks, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn would like to be there, mingling among some 35,000 fellow Democrats, and celebrating the presidential nomination of a Massachusetts favorite son. Instead, McGlynn said, he will be manning a red, white and blue roadblock on an interstate off-ramp in Medford, seven miles north of Boston's convention center. "Don't get me wrong," said Glynn,...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Silicon Valley is bracing for even deeper cuts to community programs after politicians announced Friday that property values and tax revenues had shrunk dramatically for the second straight year. The Santa Clara County Assessor's Office said the assessed prices of industrial and commercial property in San Jose - the nation's 11th largest city and epicenter of the global technology industry - fell below prices that owners paid for them. When that happens, a state law goes into effect that allows owners to pay taxes on the lower value. Assessed property values in San Jose redevelopment...

Experts say that better dentistry can add years to the life of pets, and can spare them the pain that comes from poor dental hygiene. Some dogs undergo root canals, get crowns and even braces — and none of it is for cosmetic purposes. "Their teeth are their front hands," said Dr. Marty Becker, a veterinarian who is also co-author of Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover's Soul. "Try living without your front arms. And there's also the pain issue. A German shepherd puppy I knew was in so much pain, he had to sleep with a toy in his...