Free Republic

Israel has historically been vocal concerning gun violence, opposing open-carry legislation and one law that would allow concealed weapons on campuses. He began implementing body cameras for his deputies in 2016. This week, Israel announced that deputies guarding Broward County Schools will now carry rifle, including AR-15s... a police officer assigned to Stoneman Douglas resigned after failing to enter the Parkland school as a gunman opened fire and killed 17 students and faculty. Israel said Deputy Scot Peterson should have “went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer.” The sheriff placed two other deputies under investigation for their handling of...

Ohio teachers are flocking to a gun training class being offered by an Ohio Sheriff’s department. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones told Fox & Friends that when they decided to offer the firearm training class to teachers they expected maybe 20 educators to sign up — instead there were hundreds. “We put it online, we thought we’d get 20 school teachers maybe. Within 20 minutes we had 40. Within an hour we had 100. Within four hours we had 200. By the next morning, at 300, we cut it off,” Jones said. The class was open to teachers as well...

Laura Carno, executive director of FASTER Colorado, who helped organize the first statewide training class last summer in Weld County, for school personnel... 48 people have registered for two three-day classes scheduled to be held in Adams County in June. There were 17 people at the debut class last year. "Dozens of school districts in Colorado already have authorized school staff to carry concealed (weapons), she said. "All we're talking about is having more armed good guys and gals on campuses to deal with (shooting) situations." FASTER, (or Faculty/Administrator Safety Training & Emergency Response), .. provide weapons and medical training....

A sheriff in Ohio thinks one way to prevent mass shootings at schools is to arm teachers and make sure they know how to protect their students. One day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, which left 17 people dead, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones posted a video to Facebook explaining that “the current way we do things in the school system needs to be changed.” “We need to put armed personnel in schools,” he said in the video. “We need to look at metal detectors. This is not going to stop or go...

I honestly believe that, on some level, the American political left loves mass shootings. It provides a veritable smorgasbord of opportunities for them to trot out their favorite tropes, especially gun control. They can push their agenda, even when they lack any real punch, in part because they’re enabled by a complicit media. However, they invariably say some incredibly stupid things during the aftermath. Kind of like this guy:

New York Police Department commissioner James O’Neill says it is “insanity” to allow national concealed carry reciprocity for law-abiding citizens. He suggested more guns will only lead to more violence, although a 2012 Congressional Research Service study showed that a massive increase in private gun ownership–from 192 million firearms in 1994 to 310 million firearms in 2009–correlated with sharp drops in crime. Moreover, the Crime Prevention Research Center (CRPC) has shown that concealed carry permit holders are among the most law-abiding of law-abiding citizens. To highlight how just how law-abiding concealed carriers are CPRC juxtaposed crimes by police versus crimes...

Last year, we saw yet another knee-jerk reaction by liberals to the supposed "gun problem." The Dems seized on the mass killing that occurred in Las Vegas as an opportunity to push for more restrictive gun laws and an outright ban on firearm accessories. By year's end, cooler heads had prevailed, and most of this legislation did not make it through. On the contrary, December of 2017 saw the House approving the concealed carry reciprocity bill that will allow for citizens with concealed carry permits in one state to carry outside that state. While that might sound like good news...

During the February 11 airing of 60 Minutes, CBS News described guns as a flyover county “security blanket” that could become coastal cities’ worst nightmare. National reciprocity passed the House on December 6, 2017, and the CBS News warns that passage in the Senate would mandate that the carry permit of any one state be recognized in every state. They turned to Robyn Thomas, with Gabby Giffords’ gun control group, and Thomas said, “Someone who lives in Nevada, who’s able to carry a loaded, concealed weapon in Nevada could now bring that loaded gun into Los Angeles, into San Francisco,...

CCW Fashion Show 3/9/18 Get Your Tickets Before Price Increase On 2/28/18! Join us for a great night of fun, Friday March 9, 2018 at the Bass Pro Shop in Foxborough, MA. Location: Bass Pro Shops 1 Bass Pro Drive, Foxborough, Ma Time/Date: Friday, March 9th, 6:00 PM- 9:00 PM, with cocktail hr starting at 6pm, Show starts at 7pm. Presented by: GOAL and Massachusetts Women Gun Owners.

Two armed robbery suspects fled a Cherokee County, Georgia, Waffle House Saturday morning after demanding money and having a patron open fire on them. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office has released photos of the two suspects, both of whom were wearing black hoodies. Fox 5 reports that the suspects entered the restaurant just before 4 a.m. on Saturday. Both suspects were allegedly armed and demanding money from the cashier. But before money could be passed to them, a Waffle House patron pulled his own handgun and shot, causing the suspects to the flee the scene. According to Woodstock Patch, law...

The attacker wielding a large wrench threatened to kill several people. The attacker had cornered one of the employees at a Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership, and he would have likely killed her. Fortunately, two concealed handgun permit holders stopped the attack.

Republican North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson believes law-abiding Americans should be allowed to carry their concealed weapons in every state, and he’s hoping the White House will help him soon make that a reality. “I can tell you, the president’s ready to sign this law,” Hudson told The Daily Caller Wednesday in an exclusive interview on the subject for TheDC’s “Newsmakers” series. “President Trump actually campaigned on concealed carry reciprocity,” the North Carolina Republican recalled. “We’ve got a partner in the White House and we just got to get it to his desk.” Hudson introduced the House version of the...

 On 2 January, 2018, the City of Bowling Green, Kentucky finalized an action that repealed the city ban on the carrying of concealed weapons in city buildings.  The video of the Commissioners meeting can be seen here. Commissioner Nash (sunglasses on top of head, tie, second from left) was the lone dissenting vote. From bgdailynews.com: Bowling Green city commissioners approved in a 4-1 vote Tuesday lifting a ban on carrying concealed weapons in city buildings. Commissioners previously voted 3-2 on Dec. 19 to eliminate the portion of a city ordinance that prohibits the carrying of concealed weapons into city...

From the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California, which is located in Riverside County: It was the summer of 2016 when Steve Perkio, a retired construction worker with a love for the outdoors, walked into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department headquarters with his paperwork in hand.

Black Guns Matter, a Second Amendment education group with an urban focus, will be featured in and sponsoring SHOT Show, the largest gun show in the world. Maj Toure founded Black Guns Matter in 2015. The group is focused on providing Second Amendment education and information to urban communities that are plagued by violence. “I don’t think there’s a black gun culture or white gun culture,” Toure says on the group’s website. “I think there’s an informed gun culture and an ignorant gun culture.” In their December feature on black gun ownership, Toure told The Huffington Post why gun ownership...

Guns are tools, and having the right tool for every task is ideal. Which is why most gun instructors will tell you that picking a home defense handgun may be different than having a concealed carry gun. Yes, there are some pistols that can be used for both roles, but some of these guns were designed small for concealment vs a full size 1911 .45. Which brings us back to the original statement, if you’re going to choose a handgun for home defense, here are a few things you should look for. Home Defense Most home defense handgun size does...

Christmas is less than a week away and that means the time is right for a list of seven concealed carry handguns for last minute shoppers. Some of the handguns on the list are revolvers, others semiautomatics, but all are concealable and demonstrably popular for self-defense. Ruger LCP II—The Ruger LCP II is an updated version of the extremely popular LCP. The pistol is chambered in .380 with a grip that is slightly wider than the original LCP. The wider grip was added to diminish recoil. The grip of the LCP II is textured to help keep the gun steady...

South Dakota passed Constitutional Carry in the 2017 Legislative session.  The legislation allowed people who had North Dakota drivers licenses or nondriver identification cards to carry concealed weapons, thus becoming a practical Constitutional Carry state.  However, another provision of North Dakota law prohibits most people from carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle. State legislators asked the Attorney General if the Constitutional Carry provision applied to carrying a loaded firearm in vehicles. He wrote an official opinion stating that it did so apply.  Here are the relevant conclusions.  From nd.gov: Thus, even though a concealed weapons license is no...

Full title: Pelosi claim that GOP invites violent criminals to carry concealed weapons gets her 'Three Pinocchios'Nancy Pelosi earned “Three Pinocchios” from The Washington Post's Fact Checker over a tweet claiming that House Republicans are inviting violent criminals, domestic abusers and convicted stalkers to carry concealed weapons. The House minority leader sent the tweet last week after House Republicans passed the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, sending it to the Senate by a 231-198 vote. “Inviting violent criminals to carry concealed weapons doesn’t save lives,” Pelosi tweeted. “Inviting domestic abusers to carry concealed weapons doesn’t save lives. Inviting convicted stalkers to...

In Rockledge, Florida, at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, the 25th of November, 2017, two armed citizens stopped a mass murder in progress.  Police Chief Joseph P. LaSata of the Rockledge Police Department, made clear the intervention of the armed citizens was responsible for stopping the murderer.  Two employees were shot, one killed, in the parking lot. Then two armed employees intervened. From the transcript of this video from wesh.com: Matt Lupoli, reporter:Another employee, a manager, came out with a gun of his own and shot and wounded Baily. That man has not been named, but police say he saved several...