Free Republic

City officials in Paragould, Arkansas, a town of 26,000, are recommending a plan that would enact martial law beginning in 2013. The plan, purportedly a response to recent property and violent crimes, would send police into the streets with AR-15 rifles and authorize them to stop anyone in the street and demand to know what they are doing. Mayor Mike Gaskill and Police Chief Todd Stovall announced in a town hall meeting last week that the program would begin in the new year: “[Police are] going to be in SWAT gear and have AR-15s around their neck,” Stovall said. “If...

Harvard Study: Gun Control Is Counterproductive I've just learned that Washington, D.C.'s petition for a rehearing of the Parker case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was denied today. This is good news. Readers will recall in this case that the D.C. Circuit overturned the decades-long ban on gun ownership in the nation's capitol on Second Amendment grounds. However, as my colleague Peter Ferrara explained in his National Review Online article following the initial decision in March, it looks very likely that the United States Supreme Court will take the case on appeal. When it does...

Whatever their agenda and the passion behind it, those advocates made certain explicit or implied assumptions about patterns in mass murder and the profile of the assailants. Unfortunately, those assumptions do not always align with the facts. Myth: Enhanced background checks will keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of these madmen. Reality: Most mass murderers do not have criminal records or a history of psychiatric hospitalization. Myth: Restoring the federal ban on assault weapons will prevent these horrible crimes. Reality: The overwhelming majority of mass murderers use firearms that would not be restricted by an assault-weapons ban.

"We must reject the idea that each time a law's broken, society is guilty- rather than the lawbreaker. It's time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions"-Ronald Reagan ________________________________ 'nuff said...

This information is taken from an excellent summary booklet put out by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership entitled "Will Gun Control Make You Safer?", issue number six in their "Gran'pa Jack" series of pamphlets. *** Gun Control Saves Lives New York City and Washington, D.C. are two of the most restrictive cities in the country with respect to gun control, yet they are also two of the least safest cities in the country. *** Criminals buy guns outside of the restrictive areas and bring them in illegally. Arlington, VA has a significantly lower crime rate than D.C., but...

A 26-year-old man who allegedly threatened to burn down a church, kill its pastor and "fill the seas with Christian blood" is in custody at the county jail, facing a felony charge. (SNIP) According to police, Ficik phoned Marc Simka, pastor of Matthias' Lot Church, 2645 West Clay Boulevard, on Sunday and threatened to burn down the church and to "look the pastor in the eyes and tell him to pray to God right before he puts a bullet in his head." He further threatened Christianity and all of its followers, police said. He left a total of three threatening...

Among his customers Tuesday was the Rev. Steve Whitaker, president and CEO of the John 3:16 Mission in downtown Tulsa. "But my environment is much safer with the presence of firearms, whether it's in the hands of a security person or law enforcement or whether it's in the hands of a lawful gun carrier." Whitaker said having a firearm saved his life seven years ago. Leaving the Mission late one night, he stopped at a convenience store on North Cincinnati Avenue to gas up and fetched his gun from his vehicle after armed men threatened to kill him. The men,...

“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It’s time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” — Ronald Reagan Of course, any number of people have done their utmost to politicize what’s happened. In the wake of any crisis, there are the unscrupulous few that are going to look for an opportunity here and there. Before we wander too far off track, it’s important to know that government is neither a force for good nor evil. Rather, it is a force that when...

Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla) charged that the Department of Homeland Security has squandered huge sums in its Urban Area Security Initiative grant program. Included in his list of dubious outlays were funds used to buy sno-cone machines in Michigan, a video produced by the City of Jacksonville, Florida warning residents to be wary of people with above average intelligence, and travel to posh resorts for “security training” conferences. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended her agency and maintained that “the Senator’s understanding of security matters is deficient. We carefully consider each grant request. We wouldn’t approve any spending that wasn’t...

Forget old conspiracy theories about snake bites and fatal poisons. Egyptian King Ramesses III died after a brutal throat slashing, a new study says. The study provides the latest twist in a mystery that has long perplexed researchers. Did a venomous viper take him out? Poison? An assassination plot in a reign tainted by war? And if it were the latter, who did it? Researches say he died at the hands of a killer in a plot planned by one of his wives and a son who wanted to succeed him....

Details are still sketchy, but San Antonio, TX., residents and local reporters are spreading word about a shooting at a local movie theater:

Friday’s murder spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut took the lives of 28 people and has already sparked calls for tighter gun control. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) characterized the slayings as “a very fortuitous event for those of us determined to disarm the general public. The fact that so many of the victims were young children should go a long way toward softening up the opposition of the right wing gun nuts who have blocked constructive measures against this much needed action.” The ineffectiveness of current laws banning weapons in public schools failed to stem McCarthy’s hopes....

The two main proposals for making schools safer are: 1. Reduce or eliminate guns in the general population, and 2. Eliminate “gun-free zones” around schools permitting teachers and administrators to bring personal guns to school. We should seriously consider a third way: build a variety of defensive systems into each school that could stop or at least slow down armed attackers.

According to a criminal complaint, a woman stole an ambulance that was on a call in the 4000 Block of MacCorkle Avenue in Charleston, W.Va on Dec 13. According EMS personnel who were responding to a call, Elizabeth Ann Lacy, 47, approached them and asked for a ride home. The EMS told her that they were on a call and couldn't take her home. The paramedics then entered the home of the patient and began treatment. According to witnesses, after the EMS's entered the home Lacy entered the ambulance and drove off with the emergency lights still on.

A bicyclist who apparently was angry at being cut off in traffic fought with and stabbed the motorist he believed to be responsible. D.C. police officers were called to the 1600 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW about 10:20 p.m. Wednesday for a report of a stabbing. Witnesses told investigators that a bicyclist struck the driver's side mirror of a Smart car with a heavy bike lock. According to the police report, the driver then got out of the car and asked, "Why did you do that?" That's when it escalated into a fight, which ended, according to witnesses, when the...

(credit: NYPD) Filed under Local, News, NY News, Radio.com - News, Syndicated Local, Syndication Related tags Crime Stoppers, elderly, John Slattery, NYPD, robbery, Yvonne Sherwell Check Out Lindsay Lohan Celeb Train Wrecks Dead Or Alive? Dead Or Alive? Celebrity Crybabies Better With Age Politicians Goofing Off Notable Deaths 2012 Conservative Celebs Conservative Celebs Separated At Birth Separated At Birth NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – An elderly woman was brutally attacked in her Greenwich Village apartment building. The suspect was caught on tape waiting for the moment to strike. The NYPD released surveillance video Monday of the man they are hoping to...

SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP — Although some local law enforcement officials say the concealed-carry law isn’t perfect, there has been little negative fallout in Walworth County during its first year. It’s been a little more than a year since Wisconsin adopted the concealed carry law, and despite high profile tragedies in Milwaukee, law enforcement officials in Walworth County report that the Wild West has not returned like detractors claimed it would. The Wisconsin Department of Justice has approved more than 138,500 concealed carry permits since Act 35 went into effect Nov. 1, 2011, and DOJ statistics show that handgun sales are...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two boys, ages 7 and 11, are accused of trying to rob a woman with a loaded gun, police said Sunday. The boys tried to carjack a 22-year-old woman who was in her family's truck waiting for her parents in a church parking lot, Portland police said in a statement. Ami Garrett, of southeast Portland, told officers that when the boys approached her, the younger boy told the older boy to "show her your piece." The woman said that when she refused to give them her vehicle, they demanded cash and her phone. She said that...

FULL TITLE: Walmart security guard shoots 'shoplifting' mother dead in parking lot as she tries to escape with two young children A 27-year-old mother of two has been fatally shot by an off-duty sheriff's deputy after he suspected her of shoplifting at a Houston Walmart. Harris County Sheriff's deputies have said that victim Shelly Frey, Tisa Andrews and Yolanda Craig were stealing when they were confronted by Louis Campbell a 26-year veteran of the force who works as a security guard at the store. According to Campbell the women ran to their car and when he rushed to open the...

A 27-year-old mother of two has been fatally shot by an off-duty sheriff's deputy after he suspected her of shoplifting at a Houston Walmart. Harris County Sheriff's deputies have said that victim Shelly Frey, Tisa Andrews and Yolanda Craig were stealing when they were confronted by Louis Campbell a 26-year veteran of the force who works as a security guard at the store. According to Campbell the women ran to their car and when he rushed to open the door, they accelerated away - at which point he fired the deadly shot into the car which hit Frey in the...