Free Republic

Is Denny Crane a FReeper? He just cot arrested carrying 5 guns after shooting a mugger in a dark allyThe mugger was black and Denny declared this wouldn't be helpfut to the election of a black president.

In this letter sent this week to TV station managers from Obama campaign general counsel Bob Bauer, obtained by ABC News, the Obama campaign argues that a TV ad by the National Rifle Association should not air. "Unlike federal candidates, independent political organizations do not have a 'right to command the use of broadcast facilities,'" Bauer writes. "Moreover, you have a duty 'to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.'" The Obama campaign takes issue with an ad called "Hunter," pointing out that claims in the ad were called "false" by Factcheck.org, and was given three Pinocchios by...

Please copy, paste, and circulate this press release from the Governor of Missouri. Note the Web domain of the press release, governor.mo.gov. This is not "someone's blog," a "rumor," or a "smear." It is the official Web site of Missouri's state government. The Governor of Missouri says openly that Barack Obama conspired to misuse his state's law enforcement resources to "threaten and intimidate his critics."We cannot overemphasize the gravity of Governor Blunt's accusation. While we are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice, "Conspiracy against rights" is a felony under the U.S. Code, Title 18 (Crimes). At present, Governor Blunt's...

Earlier this week Ohioans For Concealed Carry issued a cease and desist letter to the City of Independence in south-central Cuyahoga County, and on Tuesday afternoon we sent a request to the Village of Northfield in Summit County. Independence had a two year old park ban, and Northfield outlawed 'unconcealed' carrying of firearms, a first degree misdemeanor. These letters are just a few of many we've sent to communities all across Ohio this week seeking RC 9.68 compliance (local gun law repeals, park bans). On Wednesday night Ohioans For Concealed Carry president Jeff Garvas addressed the Northfield Council with respect...

ATLANTA - Oconee County sheriff's deputies are hard-pressed to decide whether they're dealing with a criminal when they get a call that someone is carrying a concealed weapon where they shouldn't be, Sheriff Scott Berry said Tuesday. The state's ban on firearms at public gatherings is too ambiguous, Berry told a panel of state senators conducting a wholesale review of the state's gun laws. Places of worship, sporting and political events, publicly owned buildings and places the public may gather currently are off-limits to concealed weapons carriers. But Berry said the situations his deputies encounter often straddle the line between...

I'd like some advise on conceal carry options for women. The weapon is a Smith and Wesson 36 Lady Smith revolver. See here *pops*, although I'm sure it's familiar to most everyone here. Specific questions are: would one be better off getting a brand new bag specifically meant for CCW, or would a holster for a "regular" bag do? Currently carrying a smallish, soft-sided, teardrop shaped "better back bag from LL Bean (example here *pops*). The main zipper is on the side toward the handle & runs almost the entire length of the side of the bag, probably 14 inches...

The chances of running into a person who is legally concealing a firearm is increasing in New Mexico. That's because there has seen a 63 percent increase in people getting their concealed carry permits in the last year. As expected, mostly men have concealed carry permits in New Mexico, but the number of senior citizens who carry guns is surprising. In the five years that New Mexico's concealed carry law has been around, more than 11,000 men have held a license. But women are being certified as well. One out of every five licenses are being issued to a female.

Free Republic Gun Club – Tuesday – Pocket Pistols!!!!!! Morning. Today’s FRGC article is about those misunderstood, mouse guns. The smallish pocket 22’s, 25’s, 32’s, 380’s. I will limit the discussion around these calibers and to the revolver/autos available, simply because once you get outside this range you get into larger, holster-necessary type of firearms. I am also not dismissing the derringer type of weapons, but that is another category entirely. The mouse guns have a good/bad history. Generally, of the smaller calibers, they have the drawback of effectiveness or lack thereof. I carry a pocket pistol in a variety...

A friend sent me a link to this site and I liked what I saw. The site is dedicated primarily to female shooters, but the articles are well written and worthy of anyone's time. Kathy Jackson deals primarily with new shooters and people new to the idea that they might one day have to use deadly force to protect themself or their family. Although I've been around this stuff for a long time, I read many of the articles and even found a couple of things I didn't know on some of the n00b pages. It's definitely worth your time....

Like a lot of people down here in Texas, I keep a gun close at hand. This usually means one in my vehicle and one on my person. I’ve kept one in my vehicle for nearly two decades and one on my person since 1998, when I got my first concealed carry permit. It’s hard to beat the protection that my concealed carry permit affords my family and friends, even if they aren’t armed. The fact that I am armed means they are safer when with me whether they realize it or not; and everything from annual FBI crime numbers...

Free Republic Gun Club – Concealed Means Concealed You finally have your CCW permit. Now what? You’ve qualified, shot the course of fire, did all the paperwork, made the conscious decision to protect yourself. Now what? Holsters.The one mistake I see novice CCW permit holders make is the ‘hand-check. They consciously keep reaching for where the gun is in its holster. It’s a dead giveaway. I have more than once walked up to a permit holder and ask them why they keep checking to see if the gun is still there. If it’s in a secure holster and you’ve done...

A horrific news story has slowly made its way into the headlines here in the Twin Cities. A local resident, his wife and three daughters spent the evening of the Fourth of July at Valleyfair, a local amusement park. They were leaving the park at midnight when a criminal began to molest his twelve-year-old daughter. The father intervened to defend his daughter, and the offender put out a call for his "homies." Eight "men" materialized and began to beat up the father. They knocked him to the ground and took turns stomping on his head. The man's wife and daughters...

Walt Disney World fired a security guard on Monday after he protested the company's decision not to allow people with concealed weapons permits to keep guns in their cars on Disney property. Disney terminated Edwin Sotomayor, 36, of Orlando for violating three Disney employee policies, essentially for failing to cooperate with an internal investigation, said spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez. Sotomayor vowed to continue his fight. At issue is Florida's new law that allows people with concealed weapons permits to keep firearms in their vehicles in employee parking lots. Disney advised its employees late last month that the theme-park resort is exempt...

I got wind of this from John Lott's website - a Briton is advocating allowing concealed carry in the United Kingdom with requirements much similar to those of the United States. Clayton Cramer points out: what Graham Showell is proposing is more restrictive than British handgun laws were from 1870 (when they adopted a license to carry concealed weapons) to 1920 (when the Firearms Act pretty well limited pistol ownership to those with a really, really good reason). Please visit and put in your real name and maybe a well-reasoned response for why you feel that way. You don't have...

www.gunowners.org/a061808.htmJun 2008 Vitter To Introduce Concealed Carry Reciprocity Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 (703)321-8585 Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Senator David Vitter (R-LA) is planning to introduce a concealed carry reciprocity bill next week. Senator Vitter had been working closely with Gun Owners of America to draft and file a reciprocity amendment a few weeks ago, but that amendment, unfortunately, never saw the light of day -- thanks to powerful opponents inside the Senate. However, Sen. Vitter has continued undaunted and last week sent a Dear Colleague letter to his fellow senators, asking them...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Washington State: Montesano Mayor Stands-Up and Vetoes Attack on Concealed Carry!   Friday, June 20, 2008   In a victory for Montesano’s law-abiding gun owners, Montesano Mayor Ron Schillinger vetoed an ordinance banning the carrying of concealed firearms in the city’s parks, even by licensed Right-to-Carry permit holders.  Please contact Mayor Schillinger, TODAY and thank him for opposing this violation of state law and unjust and unwarranted attack on our right to self-defense and Second Amendment freedoms.  Mayor Schillinger can be reached by phone at (360) 249-3021, ext. 102 or via email at mayor@montesano.us.  ...

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels wants to review city rules regulating firearms on city-owned property, try to tighten those rules, and continue pushing for state legislation to strengthen gun laws,

On Sunday May 25, 2008 at approximately 2:30 a.m. the Winnemucca Police Department was dispatched to the Players Bar and Grill located at 1062 South Grass Valley Road on the report of numerous shots fired and multiple gunshot victims. A combined law enforcement team consisting of Officers from the Winnemucca Police Department and Deputies from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office responded to the dispatch call and secured the scene. There were approximately 300 patrons in and around the bar. No shots were fired by law enforcement during the incident. The officers on scene discovered three adult males who had died...

The Virginia Citizens Defense League joined in the discussion over whether to bring firearms into town hall. A recently posted sign requesting that guns not be brought into Boones Mill town hall sparked controversy at a town council meeting Tuesday night -- and drew the attention of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. But, in the end, debate over the Second Amendment paled in comparison to other, more personal issues, the likes of which have repeatedly plagued the council's notoriously volatile meetings. Last week, incumbent mayor E.V. "Ben" Flora won re-election over challenger Robert Hogan by a vote of 40 to...

www.gunowners.org/a051308.htmMay 2008 Senator Vitter To Offer Concealed Carry Reciprocity Amendment -- Action needed right away! Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 (703)321-8585 Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Senator David Vitter (R-LA) has filed a pro-gun amendment to HR 980, and it could be voted on as early as tomorrow! This amendment would protect the right of citizens to carry concealed weapons (outside of their home state) in states that allow concealed carry. Sen. Vitter explains that his amendment does not violate the rights of states as it "does NOT establish national standards for concealed carry,...

The patrons at Champps in Reston, an upscale restaurant and bar chain, were eating ribs and drinking beer on a recent Saturday when customer Bruce Jackson stood up and made an announcement: He was armed, and so were dozens of other patrons. The armed customers stood up in unison, showing off holstered pistols. Mr. Jackson said a word or two about the rights of gun owners to carry firearms in Virginia, then thanked everyone for his or her attention and sat down. And the diners returned to their burgers and Budweisers. The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) organized the dinner...

Right now Illinois and Wisconsin are the only two states in the U.S. that entirely outlaw citizens carrying concealed firearms. But two board members are pushing a proposal to change that, starting with Winnebago County. Looking back at recent tragedies like the N.I.U. shooting prompts many of us to ask what could have been done differently. "If there had been a person there, who was of age and who had met the qualifications and chose to have concealed carry and the campus didn't have a problem with it, you might not have as many people dead today as you do...

East Brainerd resident Monica Dobbs hikes 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail every winter with friends and craves the quiet days without cell phones, television and work. Hikers who want to leave their daily lives behind sleep next to strangers in shelters, and many trade their real names for trail names. They sometimes can walk two or three days to find a town or a phone. While leaving society behind is refreshing, being alone in the woods also can be terrifying. “It’s an invitation for a disaster,” said Ms. Dobbs, a 28-year-old hairdresser, who plans to take a 9 mm...

DADEVILLE, Mo. -- A burglar in southern Cedar County found himself in a standoff this week -- not with police but with a 57-year-old woman armed with a pistol and training for a conceal-and-carry permit. She held the burglar at bay until police could arrive to arrest him at the rural home where whe found him in the closet.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida - Most Florida residents would be allowed to take guns to work under a measure passed by Florida lawmakers on Wednesday.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Before he could hit a man with a 4-pound hard plastic garbage can lid during an argument outside a Boston Square gas station last month, Gabriel Rodriguez was shot and killed, a homicide Kent County Prosecutor Bill Forsyth ruled today was justifiable. Forsyth said he will not file charges against Glenn Tett for the Feb. 18 shooting that left Rodriguez dead, citing an imminent threat and videotape evidence that shows Rodriguez, 48, as the aggressor in the altercation. Tett, the 41-year-old brother of a Grand Rapids police officer, shot Rodriguez once in the head with a legally...

CCRKBA SAYS PRESS PURPOSELY DOWNPLAYS KEY ROLE OF ARMED STUDENT IN JERUSALEM BELLEVUE, WA – An armed student at Jerusalem’s Mercaz Haray seminary played a crucial role in stopping a gun-wielding terrorist Thursday, but the American press is downplaying his heroism because it proves that armed students can stop campus gunmen, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. Yitzhak Dadon, 40, was described as “a private citizen who had a gun license and was able to shoot the gunman with his pistol”

In 1979 I carried a gun. I had a permit to do so. It was a 9 mm Browning automatic with 14 rounds in a clip. The reason I had a weapon was because I handled large sums of money, and my boss suggested that it might be a good idea. I carried my 9 mm every time I went out...

The front page news of young college students being shot and murdered on campuses across the nation has become sickeningly familiar. The latest mass murder at Northern Illinois University took five students, plus the shooter, most of whom were under the age of 21. We all agree that the senseless slaughter of young people at school needs to stop. On the other hand, the question of how to stop it and why it happens in the first place has seen less collectivity. Nevertheless, it's clear this nation needs to make changes in firearm regulation to try and curb these events...

A committee of the Arizona Legislature is weighing arguments made today over a proposal to let people with permits to carry concealed weapons bring guns to K-12 schools, community colleges and universities. The Senate's Judiciary Committee listened to more than two hours of testimony about the proposal, but didn't take a vote. The testimony came four days after a gunman opened fire during a lecture at Northern Illinois University, killing five young people before turning a gun on himself. Supporters say the permit-holders should be allowed to carry guns at schools so they can defend themselves and others if a...

Question 1: Why are murderers always counted in the victims tally? The day after the mass murder of students at Northern Illinois University (NIU), the headline in the closest major newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, was: "6 Dead in NIU Shooting." "6 dead" included the murderer. Why wasn't the headline "5 killed at NIU"? It is nothing less than moronic that the media routinely lump murderers and their victims in the same tally. This is something entirely new. Until the morally confused took over the universities and the news media, murderers were never counted along with their victims. To give a...

Four months after Peter Hamm, spokesperson for The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, verbally attacked the college-based, grassroots organization Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, telling a Fox News reporter, "You don't like the fact that you can't have a gun on your college campus? Drop out of school," he is stepping up the rhetoric. Not content with encouraging college students to forgo their educations rather than fight for a cause in which they believe, Mr. Hamm has resorted to baseless conspiracy theories and slander. In a February 19, 2008, interview with Anna Hipsley of Australia’s ABC News radio,...

Legislators are holding up a proposed gun bill, and that's just fine with the University of Idaho administration. A provision in the bill would have forbid local governments and college administrators from banning guns on Idaho college campuses. UI President Tim White said Friday if the bill had passed as written, they'd have a potentially dangerous situation on their hands. "It would have allowed concealed weapons, loaded weapons, on the University of Idaho campus, and all the campuses in the state of Idaho," said White. "We just found that to be unacceptable." Senate Bill 1381 was officially pulled for revision....

RICHMOND (AP) — Bills championed by gun rights advocates that would result in more concealed firearms in restaurants, bars and vehicle glove boxes were endorsed yesterday by a House of Delegates committee. One bill would allow concealed-weapons permit holders to carry hidden guns into restaurants or clubs but would prohibit them from drinking alcohol while doing so. Current law allows guns in such establishments only if they are visible. The other measure would allow people who don't have a concealed-weapons permit to transport handguns in a locked glove box or other interior compartment of a vehicle rather than carry it...

In my column last week, I wrote about the shooting rampage at the Town Council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri that took the lives of 5 people. Only a couple of days after the column appeared on the Thinker, another gun-related tragedy occurred; this time at Northern Illinois University and it claimed 5 more innocent lives. That's right: another maniac, with guns bristling all over him, walked into a "gun-free zone" and began picking off human beings as if they were ducks in a shooting gallery. There were only a few minutes left in the ocean sciences class being held in...

Or so it seems, now that our state Legislature considered the issue of allowing firearms on college campuses in South Dakota. Earlier this week, at least six people died at Northern Illinois University when a gunman opened fire in a classroom. Add that to a handful of other recent college shootings, plus the horrific loss of life at Virginia Tech last year, and the idea of letting students defend themselves against deranged gunmen by carrying weapons on campus seems to almost make sense. Almost, but not quite.

DEKALB, Ill. (CBS) ― Bloody students fleeing in terror. Bodies carried out on stretchers. Candlelight vigils and makeshift shrines. Another campus, another deadly attack with a sickening senselessness that now borders on routine. Despite a national push to secure schools after the Virginia Tech shootings, the rampage at Northern Illinois University this week proves a gut-wrenching reality: Unless colleges are willing to turn themselves into armed camps, they're helpless against these kinds of attacks. As word of the shootings rippled throughout the country, students and authorities alike reacted with frustration and - tellingly - resignation. "I don't think there's anything...

Interviewing a student advocate of concealed carry on campus, Good Morning America's Bill Weir fretted today that it coud lead to an "OK Corral" situation. Weir spoke with Mike Guzman, a student at Texas State University who's the head of a national group called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. Weir's opening question: "Are you carrying a gun now?" Guzman said that he was, and does so everywhere but on campus. Sort of made me wish Guzman had asked Weir if he was unarmed. You can view the video of the entire interview here, but I'd focus on this bit...

RICHMOND (AP) — People would be allowed to store guns in a locked glove box or other interior compartment of a vehicle or boat even if they lack a concealed-weapons permit under legislation that passed the Senate yesterday. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine vetoed similar legislation in 2006 for fear that it could endanger law-enforcement officers. The Senate voted 31-9 to pass the bill, within the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. Under current law, motorists without concealed-weapons permits may put guns on the seat beside them in plain view. Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, Winchester Republican, said her bill was...

In the blink of an eye, and with no fingerprints, the state Senate may have just deep-sixed H.B. 89, the tortured guns-in-parking-lots bill. We say “may” because deniability is such an important part of the conspiracy. Just to review: You’ll recall that the Senate passed the bill out early this session, to get rid of the legislation that had provoked the state’s business community. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle had promised the National Rifle Association, which backed the measure, a roll call vote. The gun group threatened to make the vote a scorecard issue come the next election. The NRA got...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee lawmakers voted Wednesday on a proposal that would allow guns in businesses that served alcohol such as bars and restaurants. There will be some restrictions. The vote affects people who have state gun carry permits. The vote was 24-6 in favor of allowing people with handgun carry permits to carry that gun into a place where alcohol is served. Senator Doug Jackson of Dickson sponsored the bill in the Senate. He said 34 other states allow citizens with gun carry permits into businesses that serve alcoholic beverages.

Folks: I've been going back and forth on my next pick for a personal carry weapon. I've already got the SA XD subcompact in .40. Love the pistol and it shoots like a dream; but it's a mite heavy and blocky. I can carry it under coats, etc., but it ain't little...it's just short!So...I'm down to being really interested in the Kel-Tec PF-9, a slim little 9mm that looks like it'll do the trick. It's not for range shooting much, although I'll do enough popping to keep proficient. No, this one's going to be for toting around. Anyone have any...

Yesterday (Friday) Charles Gibson featured as “Person of the Week” a young lady who stayed on the phone for half an hour, reporting to police what she saw in the mass shooting in an Omaha shopping mall. Did she display heroism, “grace under pressure” as Gibson said, quoting Hemingway? Yes, she did. But the deeper question from the reporting on this latest public killing is whether Charles Gibson wants you to get shot. Here’s the evidence. These shootings took place at Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. Six of the eight people killed by an angry teenager who’d been fired by...

Iowans should press presidential candidates for their views on assault weapons in light of Wednesday's shopping-mall massacre in Omaha, a national gun-control advocate said Thursday. Most Democratic candidates support reinstating a federal assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004. Most Republican candidates oppose reinstating the ban, saying it was ineffective. Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Thursday that the 30-round ammunition clips Robert Hawkins reportedly used in Wednesday's shootings in Omaha would have been illegal to purchase under the assault-weapons ban. Helmke said it was not clear whether the gun itself, described as an AK-47-style...

Who’s going to duck and cover on the Second Amendment debate that’s really getting wound up since the Supreme Court of the United States decided to rule on District of Columbia vs. Heller, or more commonly known as the D.C. Gun Ban? It seems that the republican candidates are getting involved and are at least letting voters know how they interpret the Second Amendment. The democrats seems mum on the issue, maybe because they know that gun rights can be politically deadly. The debate hitting all the media outlets still seems to be on the interpretation of “A well-regulated militia...

LADSON, S.C., Nov. 24 — Joe McCormick, a burly man over six feet tall, a World War II-era Mauser rifle at his side, said he was frightened. “Giuliani scares me,” Mr. McCormick said of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. “What does a mayor of New York know about guns?” Fred D. Thompson, who was about 30 yards away — just past the “Confederate Cutlery” collection of knives, fingering an M-1 rifle at the Land of Sky Gun Show here Saturday — was more his kind of candidate. Mr....

Here's another reason why it's important that we appoint judges who use the Constitution as more than a set of suggestions. Today [Tuesday, November 20], the Supreme Court decided to hear the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. Six plaintiffs from Washington, D.C. challenged the provisions of the D.C. Code that prohibited them from owning or carrying a handgun. They argued that the rules were an unconstitutional abridgment of their Second Amendment rights. The Second Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, provides, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of...

Yesterday, Senator Fred Thompson issued a statement on the Supreme Court's decision to grant certiorari in the District of Columbia gun ban case. It reads, in part: I’ve always understood the Second Amendment to mean what it says – it guarantees a citizen the right to “keep and bear” firearms, and that’s why I’ve been supportive of the National Rifle Association’s efforts to have the DC law overturned. In general, lawful gun ownership is a pretty simple matter. The Founders established gun-owner rights so that citizens would possess and be able to exercise the universal right of self-defense. Guns enable...

In what may turn out to be the most important Second Amendment ruling since 1939’s hideously misinterpreted Miller - and maybe the most important ruling on the Amendment in American history, the Supreme Court has granted cert to Parker v. D.C. and will be taking up the case in this session. Natch, Glenn Reynolds has tonsalinks. My first take (I have to admit I’m shaking in my boots at the negative possibilities here, given that I thought the SCOTUS would dodge this one) is that the Court will find an individual right, but do so in such a way that...

During the week of October 22-26, 2007, college students throughout America, organized under the banner of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, will attend classes wearing empty holsters, in protest of state laws and campus policies that stack the odds in favor of armed killers by disarming law abiding citizens licensed to carry concealed handguns virtually everywhere else. In 39 U.S. states, thousands of collegiate students and faculty—age 21 and above—are licensed to carry concealed handguns throughout their day-to-day lives. And they do so without incident. However, despite the absence of any compelling evidence that these licensed individuals would pose...