Free Republic

A Tucson police lieutenant pleaded not guilty to a federal weapons violation Thursday, denying he did anything wrong in purchasing a gun that later was found at a drug bust. Lt. Michael J. Lara, a 20-year Tucson Police Department veteran, was released on his own recognizance after the appearance in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Nancy Fiora. Another appearance was scheduled for Aug. 8, and trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 19 before Judge Cindy Jorgenson. Federal officials have released little information about the investigation from which the charge stemmed, but Lara's attorney, Michael Piccarreta, on Thursday said it...

Pete the Pilot, who I interviewed on Sept. 12, 2001, for the "Sept. 11" chapter of my latest book, had a layover in Vegas a short time back, so I asked him how things were going with arming America's commercial airline pilots. "You see, the airline executives were against it, and the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) was against it -- the pilots were the only ones who wanted it." So, although Congress overwhelmingly mandated the program, "they've already run into some problems with it. The original TSA guy didn't want the pilots to be armed, so he set out to...

Akron students will be fingerprinted beginning this fall to identify them in school lunch lines. After a lengthy debate, school board members voted 5-2 Tuesday to spend $700,000 on a controversial, modernized cafeteria system. Board members Rebecca Heimbaugh and Mary Stormer voted ``no,'' mirroring the concerns of parents about the cost and privacy issue involved with fingerprinting students. ``I do not believe that any parent or any student has ever had the expectation that in order to go through the lunch line or to buy a cookie or carton of milk that they or their children would be requested to...

Alaska has joined a growing national rebellion against the USA Patriot Act, voting to oppose the massive federal anti-terrorism law passed by Congress soon after Sept. 11, 2001. The state Legislature used some of the strongest language yet in passing a resolution condemning USA Patriot, following the lead of Hawaii and 112 cities, towns and counties around the country that have passed similar resolutions against the law. But Alaska's measure goes further than most, advising police and other state agencies not to "initiate, participate in, or assist or cooperate with an inquiry, investigation, surveillance or detention" if there is not...

About 10 days ago, some obscure British diplomat opined that America was becoming a police state. This utterance brought on the usual expressions of outrage from Americans who have grown somewhat weary of the anti-American sentiments of foreign leftists. Now that the rhetoric has died down a bit, can we take a second look at what this anti-American firebrand had to say? While it's almost certainly true that this British politician's statement had malicious, rather than benevolent, overtones, perhaps we should consider whether there might be some truth in his words. Let's take that "police state" charge and run with...

A Pasadena man mistakenly shot in the face by an FBI agent searching for a bank robber filed a $10 million lawsuit yesterday against three agents, alleging that they disregarded bureau arrest policies and then played down the potentially deadly result, telling an informant at the scene: "This [expletive] happens every day."

The Texas Declaration of Independence was produced, literally, overnight. Its urgency was paramount, because while it was being prepared, the Alamo in San Antonio was under seige by Santa Anna's army of Mexico. Immediately upon the assemblage of the Convention of 1836 on March 1, a committee of five of its delegates were appointed to draft the document. The committee, consisting of George C. Childress, Edward Conrad, James Gaines, Bailey Hardeman, and Collin McKinney, prepared the declaration in record time. It was briefly reviewed, then adopted by the delegates of the convention the following day. As seen from the transcription...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has finally acknowledged the threat of Chinese espionage against U.S. centers of advanced science and technology. At least, that’s what senior bureau officials are telling the New York Times. The revelation comes as the bureau is trying to increase its budget on Capitol Hill and almost certainly represents an effort to repair the FBI’s tarnished image as the nation’s premier spy-catching agency. If true, however, the admission represents a dramatic turnabout from the bureau’s approach to Chinese espionage during the tenure of FBI Director Louis Freeh. Bureau officials told the Times that China has stepped...

Many Americans recognize Lexington as the place where “the shot fired around the world” ignited the American Revolution, but few Americans are knowledgeable of the details. For instance, what would compel the residents of a small Massachusetts town to stand against a considerably larger group of British soldiers? Just who were these 77 patriots who made the decision to line up on the Lexington Green on the morning of April 19, 1775? Arthur B. Tourtellot answers these and other questions in his 300-page book “Lexington and Concord”. I have summarized some of his salient points into a brief narrative describing...

Police will be able to enter houses without a warrant and seize handguns belonging to sporting shooters if the owner failed to attend sufficient competitions under proposed tough new firearms laws. And people found with banned pistols could be liable for prison sentences of up to 10 years, according to those who have seen the legislation, which was prompted by the Monash University shootings last year. But the new laws, expected to be introduced into the Victorian Parliament by early March, have sparked outrage from some shooters, who claim it threatens to decimate their sport. The laws are designed to...

I didn't watch 60 minutes tonight, but according to several folks who did watch, one of the Vice Presidents of Glock stated he supports ballistic fingerprinting on a national level. If true, this is a total sellout of gun owners in America.

ATHENS, Alabama — With 11 law enforcement men standing guard in the courtroom Friday night, Limestone County Circuit Court Judge Jimmy Woodroof Jr. read a jury's guilty verdict in the manslaughter case of a game warden who shot and killed motorist James Sharpley. John Raley, 49, of Holly Pond stood with his hands folded in front of him and showed no emotion. The audience re-mained inside the courtroom while Limestone County deputies and an investigator escorted him from the crowded courtroom. His wife, Elaine, cried as she followed him. A prosecutor said her husband could face up to 25 years...

San Diego police are searching for four gunmen who impersonated federal law enforcement officers and invaded a home near the San Ysidro border crossing Thursday.

<p>A Marion County jury on Tuesday night found a 61-year-old man guilty of aggravated battery for chasing down and shooting an intruder.</p> <p>Jurors also found Michael Clements guilty of carrying a firearm without a license.</p> <p>Clements had been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of Leon Williams Jr., 30, last December. Jurors began deliberating about 7 p.m.; by about 9 p.m., they had decided to convict Clements of the lesser offense.</p>

Doctors at several Denver-area hospitals no longer will have to wait for a patient to become "brain dead" before harvesting organs, but can take organs from prospective donors as soon as their hearts stop beating. Nationally, organ donation experts predict, the change could increase the number of eligible donors by about 14 percent. St. Anthony Central changed its policy a year ago. The University of Colorado Hospital, Swedish Medical Center, Children's Hospital, Presbyterian/St. Luke's, Porter and the Medical Center of Aurora are preparing to follow suit. Under the hospitals' former policies, only people who had been declared legally brain dead...

<p>For years, the government touted federal air marshals as the best of the best — an "elite corps" of undercover officers trained to stop hijackings on commercial flights.</p> <p>But today, after rushing to hire thousands of new marshals, the program is so beset with problems that sources say at least 80 marshals have quit, and other marshals say they are considering a class-action lawsuit over working conditions that they fear put travelers at risk.</p>

QUEENSLAND gun owners will be able to surrender illegal weapons without prosecution under an amnesty to start later this year. It will be only the second gun amnesty since 1996-97 when 130,000 weapons were handed in to Queensland authorities in the wake of tough new national gun laws following the Port Arthur massacre. The amnesty will require new laws to be passed in state parliament and is expected to run for three months. Premier Peter Beattie said today the amnesty provided a unique opportunity for affected firearm owners to do the right thing. "This will allow for unlicensed firearms, of...

A Thomas Jefferson University Hospital doctor is on leave while a faculty committee investigates an incident in which he brought a revolver - an unloaded Civil War replica - to a meeting with residents, hospital spokeswoman Phyllis Fisher said. She declined to name the doctor or his specialty but said he recently had been named residency-program director for his specialty. Residents are doctors receiving advanced training. Jefferson trains residents in more than 20 specialities, Fisher said. Fisher said the doctor, a Civil War buff, brought the gun to an early-morning meeting May 31 with six or seven residents who were...

I drove up to the massive cavern known as the Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Courthouse. The outside was as inviting as a Khrushchev-era Soviet housing project in Minsk. The inside had all the charm of an aircraft hangar with out the benefit of the cool planes. I stepped into the building and moved up to the security station which sported a sign requesting "Government Issued Photo Identification." The federal guard looked at my drivers license perhaps long enough to be aware that it was an Arizona document but I doubt if he could have compared the photo or read any...

I just finished reading "None Dare Call it Treason" by John Stormer, and he started the final chapter by asking "has time run out for America?", followed by these paragraphs (any gramatical errors are mine): "The end will not come when the commissars finally haul 60-million hopelessly diseased, capitalistic "animals" off to liquidation centers or when Communist Party Chief, Gus Hall, gets his wish to see the "last Congressman strangled to death with the guts of the last preacher." If the battle is lost, the real end will come long before. It will come when those who oppose collectivism have...