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The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review a case against Maryland's requirement that applicants for concealed-carry permits provide "good and substantial reasons" to fulfill their request. Gun-rights groups that have filed a brief in the case, contending the law is unconstitutional, say it could have widespread impact. Advertisement - story continues below The court, said Second Amendment Foundation founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, "could define the parameters of bearing arms outside the home, and that will impact restrictive laws in several states where carry permits or licenses are strictly regulated, which translates to nearly impossible...

On a cloudy day in early November 1979, a caravan of Nazi and Ku Klux Klan members careened into Greensboro, North Carolina, winding toward a local Communist Workers’ Party protest that had gathered in the city to march against the state’s white supremacists. The communists, wearing berets and hard hats, spotted the fleet and taunted the new arrivals with chants of “Death to the Klan!” The KKK convoy slowed, and stopped. Far-left protesters, bearing both wooden planks and concealed pistols, began surrounding the motorcade, beating the doors. As TV cameras rolled, the trunk of a Ford Fairlane, stuffed with shotguns...

FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – The fall gun show at the Florence Civic Center revealed a new demographic for sales Sunday afternoon. Vendors who were there say women are buying more guns, hunting and participating in the shooting sport. Stan Davis is the owner of S&R Gun Sales. He attends the gun show in Florence in the spring and fall. However, this year he’s noticed a difference in people who are buying guns. “I have seen an increase in ladies, coming in and buying small arms for themselves, getting signed up for CWP classes,” Davis Said.

SPARTANBURG, S.C.-- A customer at the Waffle House on Chesnee Highway shot and killed a gunman attempting to rob the business early Saturday morning, according to a report from the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office. Deputies responded to a report of an armed robbery attempt at the Waffle House restaurant at 2230 Chesnee Highway at 1:13 Saturday morning. They discovered that two men had attempted to rob the business. Deputies said a customer at the restaurant who was a concealed weapons permit holder attempted to thwart the robbery and hold the suspects at gunpoint with his handgun until authorities arrived. However,...

It can happen to anyone, and does all the time. It can happen to you: One day, if the world is falling apart around you, you are going to need to know how to protect yourself. And that’s why you might be thinking about obtaining a concealed weapons permit. read the Rest in the FreeTimes

The 67-29 roll call by which the Senate on Tuesday approved an amendment that would allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to support the amendment and a "no" vote was a vote against it. Voting "yes" were 27 Democrats, 39 Republicans and 1 independent. Voting "no" were 27 Democrats, 1 Republican and 1 independent.

A citizen with a “concealed-carry” handgun license shot out a tire on a car full of fleeing shoplifters, then followed them in his own vehicle Wednesday morning, helping Azle police apprehend four people who were subsequently charged with robbery. Police officers from at least three agencies caught up with everyone in a neighborhood behind Allsup’s convenience store off Highway 199 west of Azle. Four accused shoplifters had been spotted by employees of Albertsons grocery store and were attempting a getaway with less than $50 worth of miscellaneous items when they were spotted by a citizen in the parking lot. The...

Obama Repeats '90 Percent' Stat for U.S. Guns Recovered in Mexico The White House stands by the president's use of the word "recovered" in describing the role firearms smuggled from the U.S. play in Mexico's drug war. By Major Garrett FOXNews.com Sunday, April 19, 2009 PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago -- What's the difference between "recovered" and "traceable" when it comes to firearms seized in Mexico's bloody war against drug cartels? The White House says none. But that's a distinction with a difference, even if President Obama used the words interchangeably last week to talk about the role firearms smuggled from...

A key House Republican Thursday called for a hearing to investigate a Department of Homeland Security report that highlights security risks posed by extremist groups and disgruntled veterans. Rep. Peter King (N.Y.), the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, has asked for a hearing into the matter, one day after the committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said he was “dumbfounded” by how the agency could release such a report. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, who has endured a barrage of congressional criticism over the report, on Thursday made the rounds of the morning news programs, appearing in five interviews...

Cavuto interviewing several tea party organizers. Cavuto says he has info that a well-organized and well-funded effort is underway to place Obamatrons inside tea party groups to then destroy the demonstrations when they occur through instigating violence and confusion. This in concert with the MSM to film only violence at such events so as to discredit anyone who opposes Obama. The guests are down-playing Cavuto's news, responding that the tea party movement is too large to be stopped in this way, estimating crowds of 10-15,000 at each demonstration on April 15.

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...

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The state House agreed Thursday to allow people with specialized firearms training, such as military personnel, to carry concealed weapons on the state's college campuses, despite opponents who said it made no sense following shootings at schools across the country. The measure was approved 65-36, and now heads to the state Senate for a vote. Introduced by Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, the law would authorize active-duty military and National Guard and reserve personnel, honorably discharged veterans and others with firearms training certified by the Council on Law Enforcement Education who hold a state concealed weapons license to...

Troubling Times If FreeRepublic stands for America, the real Anerica where the Constitution means something, where you have the right to be let alone in peace as a law-abiding citizen, where you have a right to defend yourself and your family then I need and beg for your help. Please ping any ping lists that apply. I’m posting as a newbie – I signed up in November 2000. I probably started lurking in late 1998. Before I post I’m alerting an Admin with my one and only original handle of this upcoming post to establish my bonafides. At first I...

Florida has given concealed weapon licenses to hundreds of people who wouldn't have a chance of getting them in most other states because of their criminal histories. Courts have found them responsible for assaults, burglaries, sexual battery, drug possession, child molestation -- even homicide.

The Progressive Era and Race: Reform and Reaction, 1900–1917, by David W. Southern, Wheeling, W.V.: Harlan Davidson, 240 pages, $15.95 The Progressive movement swept America from roughly the early 1890s through the early 1920s, producing a broad popular consensus that government should be the primary agent of social change. To that end, legions of idealistic young crusaders, operating at the local, state, and federal levels, seized and wielded sweeping new powers and enacted a mountain of new legislation, including minimum wage and maximum hour laws, antitrust statutes, restrictions on the sale and consumption of alcohol, appropriations for hundreds of miles...

DURHAM - The national chairman of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense says his group intends to march at Duke University on Monday to "deal directly" with lacrosse players about charges of rape of an escort service dancer at a team party. Duke's campus police are coordinating with the Durham Police Department to prepare for the black-separatist group, which has a reputation for coming to its protests armed. Malik Zulu Shabazz, a Washington lawyer who is the leader of the New Panthers, said he will be in Durham to rally with local black leaders and monitor progress of the...

BUDAPEST – A senior member of the Hungarian Communist Workers' Party has received a one-year suspended sentence for wearing a red star, the communist symbol which is banned under Hungarian law. State news agency MTI said Attila Vajna, who is deputy chairman of the fringe party, was sentenced by the Municipal Court in Budapest on Wednesday for wearing the star at a demonstration two years ago. Sporting communist or Nazi symbols is forbidden in Hungary. The red star was banned after Hungary threw off communism in 1989. The sentence comes three days after the Worker's Party voted to change its...

BELLEFONTE PA - Centre County has been cashing in on Missouri residents' desire to carry concealed weapons. A legal challenge to Missouri's concealed-weapons law prompted Missouri's attorney general last week to ask counties there to stop issuing permits. But the law allows residents to carry concealed weapons if they have a permit from another state. So last week, applications from Missouri residents started flowing into the Centre County Sheriff's Office, perhaps spurred by a sample permit bearing Sheriff Denny Nau's signature that was posted on www.packing.org. The Web site bills itself as an information clearinghouse for people who want to...

Really annoying to see this crud introduced by someone who is SUPPOSED to be MY state senator! This was supposed to be THE session where we finally get the CCW law revised to where it should have been all along (no more make & model of gun, interstate reciprocity, etc.), this may be a ploy or a preemptive strike to prevent the CCW reforms we were seeking this session. I WILL be contacting Mr. Amodei about this, all Nevada gun owners and CCW holders need to do the same! Since Nevada is so much a tourist destination, it might help...

by Ed Kelleher** Pres@SCFirearms.org "Gun Group Wants People Packing Heat in Schools," read the typical newspaper headline. "Not in MY kids school, you won't!" read the typical letter to the editor. Both were reactions to one of the "reasonable" gun law reforms we had proposed to our state legislature. South Carolina Concealed Weapon Permit (CWP) holders wanted to be able to carry in school parking lots while dropping their kids off at school. GrassRoots GunRights, a South Carolina organization of CWP holders and active gun owners, had included that in a list of changes to our states gun laws. We...