Free Republic

Over the course of a decade filled with political drama and dire predictions, Ohio legislators introduced seven separate bills in an attempt to bring concealed carry to Ohio.Finally, on Jan. 8, 2004, House Bill 12 made it to the desk of Gov. Bob Taft, who signed the bill, and made Ohio the 46th state to legalize concealed carry. The new law went into effect 20 years ago today, on April 8, 2004.Buckeye Firearms Association volunteers played a key role in this battle for constitutional rights, and stood beside the governor as he signed the bill into law.However, the battle over...

Democrats in Colorado’s Senate passed legislation barring licensed concealed carry permit holders from being armed for self-defense in five new places on Wednesday. The bill, SB 24-131, uses the moniker “sensitive places” to describe the new areas in which licensed concealed carriers will not be allowed to have guns to defend their lives. KDVR quoted state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis (D), a SB 24-131 cosponsor, saying, “We aligned the bill with the Supreme Court rulings of Bruen and Heller. So now the five sensitive spaces are legislative assemblies, polling centers, schools, government buildings and courthouses.”

The Democrat-controlled Massachusetts House will take up legislation this week that would require licensed concealed carriers to ask permission before entering someone’s home while armed. The legislation would also expand many of the state’s already stringent gun controls. Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety currently ranks Massachusetts the No. 6 state in the Union for gun control strength.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed three new gun control bills Tuesday, one of which expands areas where concealed carry for self-defense is banned. State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Glendale) sponsored the expanded ban contained in SB2. He spoke prior to the signing, saying, “Do you need a gun to go to your daughter’s…soccer game? I would say you need a water bottle and orange slices.” He said, “When you go to the mall, do you need a weapon to go shopping, or do you need a credit card? You need a credit card.”

A concealed carry holder in Chicago turned the tables on an armed robbery suspect on the city’s Far North side this week. Chicago Police said three men, ages 26, 33 and 31, were standing near a vehicle on West Devon Avenue at about 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday when they were approached by the suspect, CBS reported. The suspect, who the three men said they did not know, flashed his handgun and demanded they fork over personal items. The victims complied with the suspect’s demands until one of the victims pulled out his licensed concealed carry and fired shots at the...

GREENSBORO, N.C. — North Carolina House representatives will be voting on house bill 189 today pertaining to concealed carry permits. Republican lawmakers advanced legislation yesterday to make it to where anyone would be able to carry a concealed handgun without getting a permit from a local sheriff. This comes barely a month after the Republican-controlled General Assembly agreed with gun-rights groups and repealed — overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto — another kind of permit issued by sheriffs before someone could buy a pistol. Those groups now are lobbying to eliminate the concealed handgun permit mandate, which has been in...

Today, March 29, the House voted 71-46 to override Governor Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 41, a bill that recognizes law-abiding citizens’ right to self-defense while attending a church with a school attached and also repeals the redundant permit-to-purchase system. NRA thanks the Senate leadership of Senator Danny Britt, Senator Warren Daniel, Senator Jim Perry, Senator Phil Berger, and others for fighting to protect the rights of North Carolina’s law-abiding citizens. Also, on the House side, NRA thanks Speaker Tim Moore, Representative Destin Hall, and others for their tireless efforts to advance Second Amendment freedom in the Tar Heel State....

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) used a press conference Wednesday to make clear his response to recent mass shootings in California will be to limit concealed carry. The Sacramento Bee reported Newsom is rallying behind Senate Bill 2, which tightens concealed carry permit issuance requirements in response to the Supreme Court of the United States’ Bruen (2022) decision. That decision struck down New York’s proper cause requirement for concealed carry permit issuance, which, as result, also gutted California’s “good cause” requirement.

Maryland Democrats are pushing restrictions for licensed concealed carry that would prevent the legal carriers from being armed for self defense in pubic places. WBAL-TV reports that State Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D) is pushing the Gun Safety Act of 2023, would bans concealed carry in “schools, hospitals, libraries, synagogues, churches, mosques. Also parks, restaurants, anywhere the public is gathering.” The synopsis of Waldstreicher’s bill says: “Prohibiting a person from knowingly wearing, carrying, or transporting a firearm onto the real property of another unless the other has given certain permission to the person or the public generally; and prohibiting a person...

Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed legislation Thursday limiting the locations in which concealed carry permit holders can be armed for self-defense. The gun control was passed in reaction to SCOTUS’s June 23, 2022, Bruen decision, which struck down New York’s proper cause requirement for concealed carry permit issuance. NJ.com reports that the legislation, A4769, creates “sensitive places” in which firearms cannot be carried.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced numerous new gun controls going into effect in her state Thursday and made clear her belief that good guys with guns do not stop bad guys. “This whole concept that a good guy with a gun will stop the bad guys with a gun, it doesn’t hold up. And the data bears this out, so that theory is over,” she said, according to Fox News. On August 9, 2022, Breitbart News pointed to an incident in West Palm Beach, Florida, where a 22-year-old man retrieved a gun from his car and allegedly threatened...

A police officer once told me, "You can't stop crazy." Unfortunately, mentally ill people permeate our society and are increasingly putting students and school staff members at risk. The name Laurie Dann immediately comes to mind. Laurie murdered one boy and wounded two girls at Hubbard Woods Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois in 1957. Schools are no longer guaranteed safe havens and security protocols must must be instituted. Vigilance must always remain high.There is no magic bullet in achieving school security. Security is achieved in layers: the more layers you have the more effective security becomes. Some school administrators slap...

On Tuesday, March 1, 2022, the Ohio House Government Oversight Committee voted 8-5 to pass Senate Bill 215 on Constitutional Carry. The bill now moves to the House floor for a vote. If it clears the House, it would then go back to the Senate floor for Concurrence, then on to the Governor for his signature. We are at a historic moment in Ohio legislative history. This is the closest we've ever been to passing a bill to make the licensing process optional for concealed carry of a firearm. Bills have been presented in former legislative sessions, but have not...

Early Thursday evening, on a 84-56 vote, the Texas House gave initial approval to House Bill 1927, by Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler), an NRA-backed permitless carry proposal that would allow law-abiding citizens to carry a handgun without a state-issued License To Carry (LTC). This is the first time a permitless carry bill has been debated by, and passed out of, one legislative chamber. Earlier today, the House gave final approval to HB 1927 and voted 87-58 to send the measure to the Texas Senate. Click on the links provided to see how your State Representatives voted on HB 1927. Be...

Former Vice President of the U.S. Joe Biden concealed and confounding the Senate and the U.S. Congress about the criminal actions of fifth president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in Crimea as MP Andriy Derkach stated during the press conference. Related: Conversation between Poroshenko and Putin in April 2015 published Particularly, Derkach noted that it is clear from the tapes that ex-president Petro Poroshenko ordered the special services in 2016 to organize the terrorist act against his fellow citizens to keep his own rating and former U.S. Vice President Biden concealed the criminal intent of Poroshenko, while he was aware of...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — After a one-week detour, a bill that would allow Ohioans to carry a concealed gun without a permit has advanced in the Ohio House. A House committee on Wednesday voted mostly along party lines to refer for passage House Bill 178, which would allow anyone 21 and older to carry any concealed deadly weapon as long as they’re not legally barred from owning a gun. The bill is now expected to head to a different committee for further review, something that’s unlikely to happen before the legislature breaks for its summer recess.

An evidence based argument with real life situational videos for carrying a concealed pistol with a round in the chamber.

Black Chicagoans Ignore Dem Leaders, Pull Epic Conservative Move By Kim Smith on September 19, 2017 at 3:38pm Black women in Chicago are coming to the realization that the best defense is a good offense. Despite Democrat leadership in the crime-ridden city imploring citizens to let law enforcement handle the exploding crime, residents — primarily black women — are thinking for themselves and buying guns for self defense. The Chicago Tribune reported that nearly 1,400 black women in Illinois have received concealed carry permits in 2017. That number has gone up since last year and is almost twice the 800...

On Saturday, 25 February, 2017, Senator John Cornyn (R) Texas announced that he will introduce the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act in the Senate this week.  From the dailycaller.com: Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn announced Saturday at the general meeting of the Texas State Rifle Association in Austin that he will introduce the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act in the upper chamber next week. The bill is said to mirror H.R. 38, in the House of Representatives.A similar national reciprocity bill was put forward by Senator Cornyn in 2013. It came within 3 votes of overcoming the Senate fillibuster. ...