Free Republic

MARLOW, Oklahoma – A small force in Stephens County is already under investigation by state and federal authorities but new controversy is brewing as two more Marlow police officers are accused of criminal conduct. One officer has resigned, another is still on the force, but together they join the growing list of Marlow cops accused of corruption. In Stephens County, many share the district attorney's opinion of the Marlow Police department. "I don't completely trust some of the officers at Marlow," said District Attorney Bret Burns. The D.A., who has already asked the FBI and OSBI to investigate the department...

Mayor Bloomberg's "future-crime" vision of American gun control is one where a United States citizen [will be denied gun purchases if] her name was added by a federal bureaucrat to the no-fly list . . . It is also at least foreseeable that under this scheme . . . TSA agents might confiscate guns from the checked baggage of airport travelers.

ST. PETERSBURG — Now that surveillance cameras are watching virtually every store and parking lot, it's increasingly common to see footage of robberies, fights and even shootings. But the disturbing video of a double murder in downtown St. Petersburg is something different. In graphic detail, with eight different cameras and relatively good sound, the video shows the entire August 2008 robbery of Central Food Mart, and the shootings of three men. Even in an era when video has become ubiquitous, prosecutors say this stands out as perhaps the clearest and most complete recording ever of a local murder — and...

These are the times that make men vomit. Have you seen the latest Gunowners Of America Alert? Mr. Milquetoast himself, Harry Reid, may pass some version of ObamaNationCare because NOT ONE Senate Republican has the brass to stand up and just say NO.....not one more lie....not one more penny... not one more day.... not one more usurpation. What possible power does this pantywaist Reid have over Senators like North Carolina's Richard Burr to silence him into submission? The State that gave the nation Jesse Helms (Senator NO), now has Richard Burr (Senator Go-Along-To-Get-Along).

The Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray (D) has released the concealed handgun license (CHL) statistics for the third quarter of 2009. The demand for licenses to conceal carry firearms remained strong last quarter, marking an unprecedented ten quarters in a row with an increased demand compared to the same year over year period. Concealed carry continues to be something both long-time and new gun owners are interested in. If you buy a handgun for self defense, it makes sense to get the license needed to carry it with you. The third quarter in 2009 saw a whopping 54% increase over...

Senator Ralph K. Smith (R - Roanoke) Virginia State Senator Ralph K. Smith (R - Roanoke) has pre-filed Senate Bill 3 ahead of the 2010 Virginia General Assembly session. SB 3 would require Clerks of Virginia's Circuit Courts to accept renewal applications for concealed handgun permits by mail and to mail the permit to the applicant once it approved by the court. Senator Smith's mail order gun permit proposal is likely the first of an avalanche of mainly pro but also some anti-gun rights bills to be considered by the 2010 Virginia General Assembly. Virginia Citizens Defense League President Philip...

Submitted by .Sean on November 19, 2009 - 4:24pm The Lafayette County Republican Central Committee is proudly celebrating a new crazy billboard on I-70 near Grain Valley. It calls for citizens to "starve the beast" and "vote out incumbents" -- and if that doesn't work, "PREPARE FOR WAR."

Montana state law says that guns made and shot in the state are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and that the federal should not tread on state law. Montana District 61 representative Joel Boniek sponsored House Bill 246, the bill says state law trumps federal law when it comes to gun laws. Firearms that are made and stay in Montana do not fall under the interstate commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution and is not in Congress' jurisdiction, according to Boniek who spoke Wednesday at the Big Sky Pachyderm luncheon. His law is in court at the...

Not only should we be careful in what we wish for, but we should be ever so diligent when drafting pro gun legislation. One of the greatest evils against the Bill of Rights is legislation that doesn't pass the constitutional test. This can happen even when the legislators have the best of intentions. Alaska police officers regularly disarm law abiding citizens, taking their firearms and running the serial numbers through the system. This in itself is a violation of the “fourth amendment”. No surprise here, officers that have taken an oath to uphold the constitution are regularly breaking this same...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Bloomington, Indiana Herald-Times Treats Law-Abiding Gun Owners like Registered Sex Offenders!   Tuesday, December 01, 2009   On November 30, 2009, the Bloomington Herald-Times made the following announcement:“This week, HeraldTimesOnline.com will launch its new gun permit database. You’ll be able to search gun permit records by county, city or town and street."The Herald-Times has begun receiving calls and emails, and their response is a defiant defense of their online gun permit database. Anyone who visits the newspaper website will be able to search the number of permits on a given street or neighborhood....

A Miami catering company turned into a crime scene Monday morning after police and paramedics rushed to help a man who had been shot. The man was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, according to Miami Fire Spokesman Ignatius Carroll. The shooting occurred sometime after 9 a.m. inside Yolene Catering on the 5900 block of Northwest Second Avenue. Yolene Francois, the owner, told CBS4's Tiffani Helberg that her husband shot a man in self defense. She said the man had worked for them briefly. He allegedly came in demanding money and picked up a chair as if to strike him. That's...

Nov 29, 2009 (Herald-Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Monroe County resident Brent Haley carries his .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun in a holster on his hip anywhere the law allows. "I have carried my handgun into the public mall on many occasions, out to dinner with my wife or even over to my father's house for Christmas morning," Haley said. "I always carry my handguns fully loaded with a cartridge chambered and ready to fire." Haley, like many other handgun owners within Monroe County, said he carries his handgun for protection in case he ever needed it. He hasn't...

According to a piece in the Everett Herald recently re-elected council member, John "Freedom County" Koster, doesn't think there are enough venues for gun owners in Snohomish County and is hoping to repeal the county's current ban on firearms in the county's parks. Herald reporter Noah Haglund writes, "If a new law passes, you could feel free to tote a legally owned firearm into county parks. Just don’t shoot it, unless it’s in self-defense. County code, as it reads now, prohibits people from carrying or discharging guns in county parks. Lifting the long-standing ban is mostly a house-keeping measure to...

Police beat ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Two gunmen rob Razorback Pizza Two men armed with handguns robbed Razorback Pizza in southwest Little Rock late Sunday, forcing people to the floor before taking money from the register, safe, employees and customers and firing shots randomly as they ran away. No one was injured. The men walked into the restaurant at 10900 Stagecoach Road not long after 9:30 p.m. showing their weapons, police said. They ordered customers and employees to put their personal belongings — wallets, cell phones and other items — into bags. The gunmen then forced the customers from the bar into...

Last week, the body of Chicago school board president Michael Scott was found in the Chicago River with a single bullet wound in his head. The big story was that this powerful, well-connected public official had, according to the county medical examiner, committed suicide. The less-noticed story was that he did it with an illegal weapon. After all, handgun ownership is not allowed in the city of Chicago, which has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and Scott killed himself with a .380-caliber sidearm. Unlike most Chicagoans, Scott could have been a legal handgun owner. Because...

In an effort to rebut the idea that allowing law-abiding Americans to carry handguns in public helps prevent crime, the Violence Policy Center has begun compiling a list of homicides committed by people with carry permits. "Concealed handgun permit holders killed eight law enforcement officers and 77 private citizens (including 10 shooters who killed themselves after an attack) during the period May 2007 through October 2009," it says, based on news reports. "Contrary to the false promises of the gun lobby," says VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann, "the simple and deadly fact is that state concealed handgun systems are arming...

The lesson from an unsuccessful pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden this week was simple: Guns talk. The Maersk Alabama, the American-flagged ship infamously attacked by pirates in April, was attacked again Monday when Somali pirates opened fire on the ship in an attempt to board it. But the pirates didn't get far this time, after a four-man security team aboard the ship fired back, thwarting the attack. It's the first time a large cargo ship with an armed security team aboard is known to have repelled an attack, says Vice Adm. William Gortney, who commands the Pacific region...

Readers of this blog know I have long admired from afar the activities of the New Hampshire "Free Staters". One of the best ideas they have had is an emergency communications network dubbed Porcupine 411. Now I learn they want to spread their idea nationwide. God Bless them!

In any case it is certainly not the job of We, The Abused to walk on eggshells lest we somehow be condemned for our righteous wrath when They, The Abusers are unpunished, unrepentant and unrestrained. If that is the message of Mike Vanderboegh he must be ignored. Miniature Fort Sumters occur around us all every day, from the unprovoked SWAT assault on a completely innocent family based on the undocumented testimony of a “Confidential Informant” CLICK LINK HERE to the unprovoked investigation of a family for “illegal food sales”.CLICK LINK HERE or CLICK LINK HERE They all share the same...

As a veteran of the U.S. Army, I was brought to tears by the horrific massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. Seeing coverage of my former comrades brutally murdered at my former duty station was almost too much to take. The news that it was allegedly the act of a fellow soldier remains unfathomable. While stationed there a few years back, we knew were sitting ducks for a terrorist attack and that only the appearance of security kept it from happening. Anyone on the inside, like the alleged gunman in this case, knew he could easily pull off such a massacre....

This is a big week for the Virginia Tech chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. It's Defense Education Week, and the student group, which has 100 to 200 members, has organized a week's worth of seminars and gatherings in support of concealed carry on Virginia college campuses. Monday night's featured speaker was Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League. Earlier Monday, I spoke to Ken Stanton, 32, a serious-sounding engineering graduate student and the vice president of the Virginia Tech chapter of the concealed carry group. Here's his argument in favor of guns on...

A Multnomah County jury Monday ordered the city of Portland to pay three men a total of $175,000 for a 2007 encounter with police at a downtown parking garage in which the men accused officers of battery, assault and false arrest. The jurors found the testimony of two independent witnesses especially compelling. The witnesses, a young college couple, saw the entire episode and corroborated the stories of the three men: Harold Hammick, Ri'Chard Booth and Alex Clay. "Justice does work," Clay said after the verdict. "The system does work." A city attorney had argued last week during the trial that...

When the city's top cop and county's top prosecutor want to open the door for a concealed-carry gun law in Wisconsin, it seems the writing may be on the wall. Police Chief Edward Flynn and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm told a City Hall committee last week that allowing concealed-carry permits in Wisconsin could ultimately make things safer for everyone. Specifically, they said, if the state issued such permits under a tough eligibility process and coupled that with more stringent background checks for all gun purchases, the number of illegally sold weapons could be cut across the board. The...

John Lennon’s observation that happiness is a warm gun may be more true now than ever if membership at the Tri-County Gun Club is any indication. The club has picked up an average of 70 new members a month through most of this year, according to George Pitts, Tri-County’s public information officer. The credit for that spike in membership falls on the Barack Obama administration, Pitts says. “We took in 77 new members this month,” Pitts said on a sunny afternoon last April, as sporadic gunfire echoed through the hills of the 230-acre club nestled in the hills between Tualatin...

It has become increasingly politically incorrect to be a firearms owner. This is because trends tend to be set by the fashionable and the media-connected in metropolitan environments. Gun ownership per capita is well under 50% in urban areas of this country. Nationwide, it is estimated that one half of all homes contain at least one firearm. As the demographics move into rural areas, gun ownership well exceeds that 50% margin, and on the frontiers and in the true backwoods home, gun ownership will generally be found to reach the 90th percentile of the population. When your beliefs and values...

Whatever significance is attached to Chicago’s failed bid to host the 2016 Olympics, it is of small importance to the rest of the country. More far-reaching and frightening is the Supreme Court’s decision to take up a case challenging the city’s ban on handgun ownership in the court’s new term, which begins this week. The case is best considered a preview of coming attractions. The gun lobby, if it wins in the Supreme Court, is prepared to challenge every gun control law enacted at any level of government. It will usher in a scary season of assault on the common...

Some of the readers here have received a response from Holden Thorp, the UNC Chancellor who canned a gun-owning professor for stating in an email he was prepared to defend himself in response to political enemies posting hateful fliers with his home address.

www.iowacarry.org. Iowa Carry, an organization devoted to preservation of Second Amendment rights, will hold a rally noon Saturday in Library Square in Estherville. A free lunch will be provided. According to Larry Walders, Iowa Carry Emmet County coordinator, Saturday's rally is to acquaint local citizens with the concealed carry law in Iowa. "There's 99 counties and there's 99 different policies," Walders said. Walders said a bill will be introduced in next year's Iowa Legislature to change the law from stating that county sheriff's "may issue" to "shall issue" concealed weapons permits to applicants. Walders said the legislation will provide that...

Apparently the population of stupid children and even dumber parents has grown so large in North Carolina it is now necessary to ban the retail sale of novelty cigarette lighters. EVERY novelty cigarette lighter that resembles a cartoon character,toy,gun,watch, musical instrument, vehicle, animal, food or beverage, or SIMILAR articles( Heaven only knows what THAT means!) is banned for retail sale. So that clever .50 Caliber Cartridge you keep on your desk to light cigars? Gone baby, gone.

LONDON– A campaign warning girls not to stash or carry guns for their boyfriends was launched by London police Wednesday. The hard-hitting adverts, which are aimed at 15 to 19-year-olds of African and African Caribbean heritage, are designed to combat a worrying growth in the number of young women being arrested and convicted of possessing weapons. "This year's campaign has been designed to tackle an emerging and concerning trend," "Sadly, young women have always been involved in carrying and storing firearms," said Claudia Webbe, chairman of Trident's Independent Advisory Group. "We are deeply concerned, however, that this involvement seems to...

Cops are hunting [for] a knife-wielding suspect who stabbed a young dad to death after a seemingly minor altercation outside the main post office in Manhattan. Christopher Gutierrez, 20, bumped into his killer along Eighth Ave. near W. 33rd St. early Sunday evening and, after just a few words were exchanged, the man flew into a rage, police said. He twice plunged a knife into Gutierrez's chest - and then calmly walked away. Bleeding profusely, Gutierrez collapsed on the steps of the James A. Farley Post Office, police said. He died soon after. The victim's mom was devastated that her...

The UN General Assembly has been in session, and if typical of them, nasty things are probably in store for American gun owners as a result. The Citizen's Committee For The Right To Keep and Bear Arms (CCKRBA), in a recent mailing, said that The UN is still actively pursuing the guns you own, and the ones you want to buy. Don't count out associated non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as The International Network On Small Arms (IANSA.) IANSA's Rebecca Peters was largely responsible for the disarming of Australians and the associated increase in violent crimes there as a result of...

Derrion Albert, 16, Was Killed In Thursday Attack Caught On Tape ....Silvonus Shannon, 19; Eric Carson, 16; Eugene Riley, 18; and Eugene Bailey, 18, allegedly kicked and punched Derrion, an innocent bystander in a fight between two groups of students near the South Side school Thursday afternoon, according to Cook County prosecutors... The assault, which was captured on videotape, was not gang-related but arose from a disagreement between students who live in Altgeld Gardens and another group who live in an area known as the "Ville," according to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Jodi Peterson...

Here is the flier circulating on UNC-Chapel Hill Campus about which Chancellor Holden Thorp HAS NOTHING to say! Apparently to falsely label a Professor Emeritus in good standing as a White Supremacist and “suggest” neighbors and friends “contact him” at his home address is just ordinary campus rhetoric-all in good fun. When the Professor *all in good fun* “suggests” he is a crack shot he is summarily reprimanded and removed as advisor to a student group! Good Grief! The Chancellor of a major University no longer feels compelled to even go through the motions of impartiality any

Published : Saturday, 26 Sep 2009, 10:00 PM EDT * By Darlene Hill, FOX Chicago News This is the hard lesson some students at Fenger High School have to deal with after a day of learning. For them it's a hard lesson of reality on the streets. Thursday after school, two rival gangs got into a fight three blocks from the high school. In all four students were beaten in that melee -- one was released from the hospital Friday morning.

GREENVILLE S.C. -- A candidate for South Carolina’s Adjutant General found a high-powered way to appeal to supporters over the weekend. Dean Allen held a drawing for an AK-47 at a fundraiser in Greenville on Saturday. The event, called a “Machine Gun Social,” was held at Allen Arms Indoor Range on Poinsett Highway. For $25, donors were given a barbeque lunch and twenty shots with a machine gun. A free drawing determined the winner of the semi-automatic AK-47, valued at $700.

“Thanks for your concern; I have a Colt 45 and I know how to use it. I used to be able to hit a quarter at 50 feet 7 times out of 10.” Those were the words from Professor Emeritus Elliot Cramer to a student concerned about the Professor’s safety that prompted UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp to demand Cramer’s resignation as advisor to the Youth For Western Civilization Student Group. Apparently discussions about prowess in matters of self defense are not protected speech in the enlightened corridors of North Carolina’s Taxpayer Funded Public Universities. Send your expressions of outrage and...

While a remarkable surge that began late last year is starting to ease, Americans' demand for firearms and ammunition -- driven largely by economic concerns and the fear of new regulations -- remains brisk as double-digit sales increases continue to fill the financial coffers of gun and ammo makers alike. In August, the number of background checks performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Instant Criminal Background Check System was up 12.3% from the same month in 2008 to about 1.1 million. That is down from the nearly 42% increase of November but is still a growth rate that would...

D.C. Circuit Hears Fourth Amendment Case On Withdrawn Warrant A federal appeals court heard arguments today in a Fourth Amendment case that has united civil libertarians and gun rights advocates against the District of Columbia government. At issue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was the question of whether a plaintiff could sue the city for wrongly targeting him with an arrest warrant, even though it was quickly withdrawn. The case was dismissed by a district court judge, who found that the man, Robert Ord, lacked standing. Ord’s attorney, Matthew LeFande, told today’s three judge panel...

Freepers, as they refer to themselves, are at best a wild and woolly bunch whose message board discussions can evoke images of barroom brawls as portrayed in a John Wayne Western. (You know, the visiting Ingénue sits on the bar with a teapot as she waits for a chance to smash it on the head of an evildoer as they coast past her position while Granny knits quietly in the corner and trips everyone who comes within range) And Codrea is a professional gun magazine writer whose online commentary frequently includes obscure sentences of the *We discussed that HERE(HTML Link)...

I finally got some of my images gathered, resized, and tweaked. Many of them are posted at our local tea party web site at http://www.chattanoogateaparty.com/resources/photo-gallery/washington-dc-september-12-2009/. Here's a few of them... The crowd... A true patriot... Joe was quite popular... No left turn... Some of my local cohorts with our banner... Who is John Galt... And my personal favorite... The march and rally was an amazing event. Just amazing! So many friendly people, all with a common cause!

GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY -- Someone walks into your classroom with a gun and threatens to open fire. Your best defense is to try to escape the room or take out your cell phone and call for help, but under a proposed change to Michigan legislation, you may have another option. Sparked by the shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007, Michigan Sen. Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, has proposed a change to Michigan law to allow permit holders to carry concealed weapons on college campuses. Currently, the open carry of weapons is permitted anywhere, so long as the owner has a license...

Jellyfish tossing helps land Madeira Beach man in jail By Brant James, Times Staff Writer Posted: Sep 08, 2009 02:27 PM MADEIRA BEACH — A 41-year-old man who witnesses said had been drinking since 9 a.m. was arrested Monday afternoon after authorities say he created a disturbance by pretending to drown and throw jellyfish on teenagers. Keith Edward Marriott, of 100 154th Ave. in Madeira Beach, faces charges of disorderly intoxication and carrying a concealed weapon after a pocketknife was found in his shorts, Pinellas County sheriff's deputies said. Marriott repeatedly submerged himself and floated to the surface, "causing concern...

The Violence Policy Center has a long record of cooking data to try to build a national case against civilian ownership of firearms. They’ve failed, of course; more Americans own guns today than ever, while the idea of a link between crime and the demonstrably law-abiding armed citizen is almost too specious for modern physics to measure. Gun control is a third rail like few others in American politics. Which doesn’t mean they won’t try; the VPC - the very definition of an astroturf group - has masters with deep pockets to obey. And so they keep cranking out the...

One Milwaukee Federal Judge has recused himself from cases which elevate street crime to Federal Offenses. His recusal was triggered by a gun possession prosecution. Is it possible the National Rifle Association’s insistance on enforcing existing Gun Control laws (rather than insist the Constitution be honored and criminals be convicted of criminal behaviour) has had the unintended consequence of prison overcrowding?

Here is a surveillance video of a 71 year-old gas station clerk that was beaten for refusing to sell cigarettes to a teenager. (Watch Video)

I do not understand how a gun buy-back (CR, Aug. 27) “paves the way to peace.” Five previous efforts offer no indication of doing so. Would not putting easy gun buy-back money in the hands of criminals that have guns just encourage them to steal guns? We can blame guns for a lack of peace, but if we want to respect humanity’s dignity we have to blame criminals. Crime is a choice. I do not know how to cure criminals. I do know that we need to protect ourselves from them and that a gun is a reasonable thing to...

George Boggs thought he was doing police a favor last week when he handed over the firearm he kept in his car after he was in a wreck. Boggs has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and he wanted his handgun secured while he went to the hospital, he said. The permit requires him to notify police of his weapon. On Monday, when he went to the Fayetteville Police Department to retrieve his gun, he couldn't get it back. He was told that police first wanted to fire the gun to see if the spent shell casing and round...

In the Olympics of car ownership, Rachel Veitch of Orlando, Fla., is a marathoner of the first order, with a record virtually impossible to match. For one thing, Veitch is still driving at the age of 91. For another, she has had her 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente for 45 years, racking up about 559,000 miles on it. Together, Veitch and her car have outlasted her three husbands -- a feat surely worth of a footnote in the annals of automotive history. This happened for a simple reason: A retired nurse, Veitch likes to keep things in good working order --...

A shooting on Saturday that claimed the life of a 25-year-old Olympia man “appears at this time to be a legitimate act of self-defense,” Grays Harbor Undersheriff Rick Scott said this morning. Westin Wolff was shot and killed at a remote campsite on Wynooche Lake early Saturday morning. The name of the person who shot Wolff is not being released. While the Sheriffs Office is investigating Wolff’s death as a homicide, Scott said the shooting appears to have been justified. “Homicide takes many forms, including justified homicide to criminal homicide. In criminal homicide there are varying degrees,” Scott added. No...