Free Republic

BALTIMORE — An attorney for a former detective in the Baltimore police Gun Trace Task Force told jurors Tuesday that 17-year veteran Daniel Hersl did take money from people he arrested -- but he denied it was robbery. Defense attorney William Purpura's claim came during opening statements in the federal corruption trial of Hersl and former Detective Marcus Taylor. Purpura accused the federal government of overcharging in this case. Federal prosecutors called the Gun Trace Task Force the perfect storm for rogue cops who wanted to enrich themselves. In opening statements against Hersl and Taylor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise...

The Trump administration has drafted plans to strip key authorities from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, senior administration officials said on Friday, an acknowledgment that the agency has all but abandoned its legacy of fighting liquor and tobacco smugglers. The A.T.F. traces its roots to Eliot Ness and the Prohibition-era federal agents made famous in the movie “The Untouchables.” But the modern A.T.F. has focused its stagnant budget on violent crime and bombings, while tobacco smuggling — a little-known crime that costs the government billions in lost taxes each year — goes largely unenforced.

The first year of the Trump era National Instant Check System (NICS) has ended with the second highest number of NICS background checks on record.There were 2,586,138 NICS checks in December of 2017. There were 25,235,215 NICS checks for all of 2017. The only year to surpass 2017 was 2016, with 27,538,673, when Hillary Clinton was widely considered a shoo-in to be the next president. The next highest year was 2015, with 23,141,970That is a drop of 9 percent from 2016 to 2017. It is 9 percent higher than the numbers from 2015. The 2015 numbers are now the...

The Clay County Sheriff's Office said that there's nothing they can do. Orange Park, FL - Attention is being drawn to an unknown man or men who have been holding "Kill A Cop" signs in Orange Park. The signs are being held by the men near schools, and one witness is concerned, according to WJAX. Janice Gibson said she saw the man with the sign at the corner of Moody Avenue and Filmore Street on Monday, Dec. 18, and she took photos of the man. “People need to know about this. Its in my back yard. To me that’s not...

Police in a Colorado city just outside of Denver said "multiple deputies" are down after being shot while responding to a disturbance call early Sunday. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet that citizens in Highlands Ranch should shelter in place and avoid windows.

The war on drugs has been going on since 1971, and we have a winner: marijuana. Back then, possession of pot carried heavy penalties in many states -- even life imprisonment. Today, 29 states sanction medical use of cannabis, and eight allow recreational use. Legal weed has become about as controversial as Powerball. One sign of the shift came in Wednesday's debate among the Democrats running for governor of Illinois. The state didn't get its first medical marijuana dispensary until 2015, and it decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot only last year. But most of the candidates endorsed legalization...

Deinstitutionalization: How Does It Affect You Today? What Is the Real Cause of Mass Shootings Today? By Kimberly Amadeo Updated July 11, 2017 Definition: Deinstitutionalization is a government policy that moved mental health patients out of state-run "insane asylums" into federally funded community mental health centers. It began in the 1960s as a way to improve treatment of the mentally ill while also cutting government budgets. In 1955, the number peaked at 558,000 patients or 0.03 percent of the population. If the same percentage of the population were institutionalized today, that would be 750,000 mentally ill people. That's more than...

In the absence of police participation- robberies, shootings and homicides have soared in these cities and other similar cities BLM and Liberal Press Bashing of American Cops Lead to Greater Gun Violence Mitch Wolfe October 4, 2017 The latest FBI report on gun violence in American cities, especially in specific liberal Democratic-controlled cities- discloses a very inconvenient truth. The relentless bashing and public criticism of urban cops by the activist BLM (Black Lives Matter), the liberal press+ liberal civic leaders have had the unintended consequence of producing a huge increase in black on black killings in certain visible minority cities....

The shooter in Sunday night’s mass slaughter of 59 concert goers in Las Vegas, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock, a man with no criminal history, is now being investigated for possible ties to Islamic terrorists. At least 527 people were injured in what was described by Sheriff Joseph Lombardo as a well-coordinated attack. ISIS claimed credit in an Arabic-language website, but authorities immediately tried to debunk the claim saying they had no evidence to support it. “We will investigate that down to the end,” but thus far nothing has been found to connect Paddock to international terrorism, Lombardo...

In September, 2017, the City of Tucson taxpayers agreed to pay the State of Arizona for the legal fees required to stop the City Council from violating State law.  The Council had required that legal, valuable firearms be destroyed rather than sold for the benefit of the public. Even liberal academics understand that is a waste of valuable resources. In 2012, Arizona made the wasteful practice of destroying valuable firearms illegal for local governments.From AZCDL.org: This legislation was a follow-up to a 2010 law that required forfeited firearms to be sold to authorized dealers and not be scrapped. Unfortunately, there...

Summit County, Utah doesn’t boast a vast population. However, what the county lacks in population it makes up for in an abundance of firearms. Of the roughly 29,000 residents who occupy the county, 53 percent own a firearm. That’s according to City-Data’s list of U.S. counties with the highest percentage of residents who “keep firearms around their homes.” Impressive? Well, read on: (excerpt)

On Fri., Sept. 15, Secretary of the Interior (SOI) Ryan Zinke signed Secretarial Order 3356, continuing the Department of Interior’s (DOI) efforts to support sportsmen and women and enhance conservation stewardship. The order seeks to improve wildlife management and conservation, increase access to public lands for hunting, shooting and fishing and puts a greater emphasis on the promoting outdoor activities among youth, veterans and minority communities. -----SNIP----- As noted in the DOI press release, SO 3356 directs bureaus within the department to: 1. Within 120 days produce a plan to expand access for hunting and fishing on BLM, USFWS and...

A San Bernardino school counselor was arrested Monday morning after she brought a weapon onto the campus of Paakuma’ K-8 School, according to police and school district officials. “It was locked in the employee’s personal vehicle, which was in the parking lot, which is school property,” said Linda Bardere, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino City Unified School District. “At no time was the weapon brought out or shown.” At a community meeting Tuesday evening, the school’s principal and the school district’s police chief said no direct threat was made to a student or staff member. “We don’t believe that person...

Sawed off Shotgun used in another Australian crime Most fatal gun accidents involving young children in the United States involve reckless adult men who, very often, possess the gun illegally. It appears to be the same in Australia, where a three year old girl was shot and killed with an illegal sawed off shotgun, stored illegally, with illegally obtained ammunition, possessed by her father illegally. Ironically, a member of parliament called for stricter gun control as a result of the tragic circumstances. From theaustralian.com: The father of a three-year-old girl found with a fatal gunshot wound to her neck...

At an antique show in New South Wales, these 1850 era pocket pistols were for sale. The concept of small concealable pistols started as early as the 1700's.From ctmuzzleloaders.com: From ctmuzzleloaders.com: From the Eighteenth Century on there were huge numbers of small, concealable pistols manufactured in England and on the Continent. The smaller ones were described as "Muff Pistols" because they were often concealed in a lady's muff, although they could also be slipped inside a Gentleman's pocket (and Gentlemen used muffs too). The pocket pistol came into vogue about the same time as Australia was being colonized by England....

Creates process for obtaining extreme risk protection order prohibiting person from possessing deadly weapon when court finds that person presents risk in near future, including imminent risk, of suicide or causing injury to another person. Text of Bill 219

The NRA Institute for Legislative Action picked up a potentially important court ruling coming out of Arizona this week which has mostly flown under the media radar. Under debate is a policy in Tuscon (along with other cities and counties) which mandates the routine destruction of guns which are confiscated from criminals or surrendered during “no questions asked” gun turn-in events. Since guns are items of value, the question is raised as to whether or not they can simply destroy and dispose of them rather than offering them for legal sale to subsidize taxpayer contributions to the city’s coffers. The...

Committee on Art in Public Spaces deems image ‘not appropriate’ Officials at Yale University recently censored a stone work of art on campus depicting an armed Native American and Puritan side by side, which has been described as a “hostile” image by the Ivy League institution’s alumni magazine. The stone carving was edited to cover up the Puritan’s musket, while the Native American’s bow was left as is, reports Yale Alumni Magazine. The decision to censor the carving was made by both head librarian Susan Gibbons and Yale’s Committee on Art in Public Spaces, the latter of which advises President...

First-person shooter is one of the most popular perspectives among gamers, but these simulations can be used for much more than entertainment — specifically military training. And thanks to new the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer III, Marine Corps marksmen are about to take their sharpshooting skills to a whole new level. Though the Corps has been using virtual reality to train Marines for two decades, the systems for marksmanship have become exponentially better. With the ISMT III, Marines have access to multiple weapons: the M9 service pistol, M4 carbine, and wireless weapons, including the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, M32A1 Multi-Shot...

PHOENIX (AP) - A customer pulled a gun and shot a man who police say had jumped over the counter of a Phoenix pharmacy and pointed a gun at people while demanding opioids. Authorities didn't fault the customer, saying he was in the right place at the right time to stop the armed robbery attempt Tuesday night, police Sgt. Jonathan Howard said. The suspect has been identified as 30-year-old Stephen Holguin, but police didn't immediately release any other information on him. Howard said the customer has been interviewed and released pending further investigation, but has declined to be identified or...