Free Republic

On Friday, 3 February, 2017, 66-year-old Billy Harrell was being robbed in the parking lot of the restaurant he manages, the Ole Times Country Buffet.  He was closing for the night. It was about 9:30 p.m. in Dublin, Georgia.  Holding a gun to his head, the two robbers forced him into his SUV. They took a gun from the vehicle and other items. From idahostatesman.com: The robber grabbed a pistol and some other items from the vehicle and started to leave. When he turned back around with his gun pointed, Harrell fired a shot from another weapon he had...

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed pushed back Saturday on President-elect Donald Trump’s assessment of civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ district. In a series of tweets, Reed said: “John Lewis is an American hero & a national treasure. Period. Full stop. “That PEOTUS Trump would attack Congressman Lewis on MLK Day weekend for “all talk…no action” when he bled to actually “Make America Great” is why far less than half the country supports him at the dawn of his presidency.” Trump said Lewis’s district was “in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested)” in an early...

The store is Dixie Gun and Pawn and the store owner’s name is Jimmy Groover. Action News 5 reports that Groover was wearing a handgun on his hip when the suspects entered the store. Once under threat, he drew his gun and shot, hitting one of the suspects and killing him on the spot. Surveillance video of the incident has now been released and published by LiveLeak. In it you can clearly see one of two suspects pointing a gun at a store employee and then in Groover’s direction. The next thing you see is Groover shooting and killing one...

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- It was Saturday afternoon, the 26th of November, on Highway 138  in Georgia. The traffic was heavy after the college football game between Georgia and Georgia tech. The game had been a nail biter.  Georgia Tech  beat Georgia 28-27 in the last 30 seconds of the game.  In the heavy traffic after the close game, emotions may have been running high.That was when Dontavious Chancy pulled in ahead of four men in a pickup truck. Chancy said that they tried to run him off the road. All the vehicles ended up stuck in traffic near Forrester...

There is something unhealthy about a city administration that lists destroying valuable property as one of its highest priorities. That is the case with Savannah, Georgia. According to WTOC, Savannah, Georgia has a great many important issues on their plate. After considerable effort, they whittled down their list to their six highest priorities. Bold added.  From wtoc.com: The city has had a lot of issues, but city council members managed to narrow them down to a list of just six items. This list includes addressing the on-going blight issues, dramatic increases to commercial property taxes, improving transparency with the...

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Augusta's famous Haunted Pillar on the corner of Broad Street and Fifth Street has a legend for being cursed. But the site is much less eerie after a car crash brings the 10-foot tower crumbling down Sunday morning. The popular tourist attraction, known for its urban legend and long history near Downtown Augusta, is actually being credited for possibly saving a life. "It didn't really kick in until I talked to the officer," says an awestruck Cory Tyler. "After that, I realized it was the Haunted Pillar." A haunting piece of Augusta history is not looking...

Image from 11alive.com On November 21, 2016, in Atlanta, Georgia, an armed robber attempted to victimize a Dollar store. Attempted is the operative word. The suspect did not succeed. He was wounded twice for his efforts, then he was arrested. He is lucky to have survived. From 11alive.com: Atlanta Police say the man walked into the store around 9:55 p.m., pulled a gun and demanded the contents of the store’s cash register. As the robber was leaving the store with the cash register itself, an Atlanta Police spokesman said one of the store’s employees pulled a personal handgun and...

Just before 4 a.m. on 16 September, 2016, in Gwinnet County, Ga, a courageous Chinese immigrant drove off three home invaders.  It was all captured on surviellance video. The event went viral; not in the United States, but in China.  Chen Fengzu gave this interview to China Central Televison. From China Central Television 1 minute, 42 seconds.  Here are the captions: I didn’t have any choice, so I had to take out the gun I’d hid there. Then I loaded my pistol and walked out of my bedroom. I shot at the Invaders when I saw them. One of...

It is expected that Hurricane Mathew will be impacting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina within the next few days. Depending on the track and severity disruptions could be anywhere from days to a month, which puts us on the doorstep of Election Day. Persons in these areas may want to vote prior to the arrival of the storm. Pay attention to the Natl Hurricane Center http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ and your local Natl Weather Svc office.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is attempting to organize a gun turn in event in Atlanta, Georgia.  They hope to raise $100,000 to fund the event.  Two years ago, $40,000 was raised for a turn in event that brought in about a thousand firearms.  That event had competition from private buyers, who got some good deals.There is a gofundme link for the event at the Sheriff Department website, but the link is not working. A correspondent says that the site raised $130 before it was closed.  At the Sheriff Department site, Sheriff Ted Jackson states his support for the...

A police K-9 died after its handler left the dog in the back of a patrol car for nearly three hours. The Cherokee County Marshal’s Office and the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office were called out to the home of Cherokee County School Police Lt. Daniel Peabody on Friday after getting a call that the police dog had died, WSB-TV reports. Peabody arrived home around 4:15 p.m. and left the 4-year-old Belgian Malinois named Inka in the back of the car, with the engine turned off, while he dealt with another dog inside his home. “He gets out, turns the car off,...

Tommy DiMassimo, the Wright State University student with Atlanta ties who in March rushed the stage at an Donald Trump rally in Ohio, has raised $340 from 10 people through a Go Fund Me page for his legal defense as of Wednesday afternoon. His funding goal is $25,000, according to the page. DiMassimo was arrested March 12 after he vaulted a stage barrier and rushed to the back of the stage in a hangar near Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. His Go Fund Me page gets political, saying that he rushed the stage “not to...

Georgia Governor Nathan deal has said that he will either sign or veto the Campus Carry bill passed by the Georgia legislature today, 3 May, 2016. The bill was very popular in the legislature, passing with wide margins. The bill passed the House 113 to 59, and the Senate 37 to 17.  As the Legislature is adjourned, their is no reasonable possibility of a veto override. From 11alive.com: The May 3 deadline is here for Gov. Nathan Deal to make his decision whether to sign or veto the 'Campus Carry' bill. After the religious freedom bill, which Deal vetoed...

Image courtesy accesswdun.com by Rob Moore On April 5th, the City Council of Demorest, Georgia voted to restore the right to bear arms to city employees.  From accesswdun.com: DEMOREST — Demorest officials say they have passed a groundbreaking personnel policy amendment believed to be the first of its kind in Georgia. Tuesday night, the city council voted unanimously to amend the city's personnel policy to allow city employees with a valid concealed carry permit to carry their weapons during the workday. The policy may be the first for a city in Georgia, but it is a growing trend in...

Channel 2's Darryn Moore was the first reporter at the scene at Walmart where he talked to police. “The subject had several flat screens in a shopping cart he was trying to push out the door,” Lilburn Police Department Capt. Thomas Bardugon said. Lilburn police gave Moore the photo of the murder suspect. He is bald and was wearing dark pants.

The Georgia campus carry bill has caused some concern in Governor Deal's office.  It is not clear what, if anything, Governor Deal means to do.  However, he issued a troubling statement on Tuesday, 15 March, about a day after he recieved the campus carry bill, HB859. The bill passed the House 113 to 59, and the Senate 37 to 17.   A two thirds vote is needed for a veto override. There are sufficient votes in the Senate to override, but the House would be problematical.  Governor Deal did not say that he intended to veto the campus carry bill. ...

he Georgia campus carry bill is moving forward.  On February 22, the House passed HB859 113 to 59.  The bill has a number of compromises.  It bans guns at athletic events, which would likely pass Constitutional muster.  It also retains a ban on guns in housing, including the privately owned housing of fraternity and sorority houses.  On 11 March, the Senate passed HB859 37 to 17.  From wsbtv.com: Georgia’s state Senate voted to approve a bill allowing licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons on public college campuses. The proposal backed by the National Rifle Association won support from...

In Georgia, a business owner has taken a pioneering step in employee relations.  He is requiring his employees to obtain a concealed carry permit and to carry guns openly in his places of business.  I have been predicting that this would happen for a while. There are so many advantages, and so few disadvantages, that it is hard to see the idea failing to be adopted all over the country.  The only refinement that seems likely, is to require job applicants to have a concealed carry permit *before* they apply. From wsoctv.com: An Atlanta business owner with several offices...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) continued to ridicule his opponent for the presidency Donald Trump in front of a raucous rally of, according to the Rubio campaign, 7,000 people in Georgia this afternoon. Rubio told the crowd that Trump had been flying aboard “Hair Force One” tweeting mean things at him on Twitter. “[It’s] amazing to me that the guy with the worst spray tan in America is attacking me for putting on makeup,” Marco Rubio shot back with a grin. “Donald Trump likes to sue people, he should sue whoever did that to his face.”

Yesterday, 22 February, 2016, the Georgia House passed a campus safety act that restores some of the Second Amendment rights to people who have a Georgia Weapons Carry License (WCL).  In 2014, a gun law reform bill passed that seemed to allow carry on campus for people with a WCL, but the wording allowed for ambiguity of interpretation.  The reform passed by the house yesterday is clear and unambiguous. From HB859(pdf):  15 "(19)(A) Any license holder when he or she is in any building or on real property16 owned by or leased to any public technical school, vocational school,...