Free Republic

The right to carry a concealed weapon in California is mostly reserved for those at risk of violence — jewelers, bail bondsmen and criminal prosecutors among them. But some legislators say their job has become dangerous too. Despite objections from some law enforcement officials and even gun rights advocates, they want a law that would make it easier for them to tote firearms for protection. The lawmakers cite the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in Tucson and threats from constituents in California as cause for permits to carry weapons. "I've had guys physically come up to me

The Second Amendment and court precedent guarantee an individual's right to bear arms, but improved and expanded background checks are needed to prevent gun violence like the shocking attack in Tucson in January, President Obama wrote in an op-ed Sunday. Writing in the Arizona Daily Star more than two months after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others, six of whom died, Obama said he's "willing to bet" that responsible gun owners would support laws to "keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few -- dangerous criminals and fugitives, for example -- from getting their hands on" guns. "Most gun owners...

President Obama on Sunday called for gun-rights advocates and proponents of gun control to find common ground two months after the shooting which killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). The Arizona Daily Star published an op-ed by Obama on Sunday calling for stronger restrictions on gun sales to buyers suspected of mental instability. “A man our Army rejected as unfit for service; a man one of our colleges deemed too unstable for studies; a man apparently bent on violence, was able to walk into a store and buy a gun,” Obama wrote of Jared...

<p>Before Sarah Palin posted her infamous “Blood Libel” video on Facebook on January 12, she placed a call to Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. In the wake of the Tucson massacre, Palin was fuming that the media was blaming her heated rhetoric for the actions of a madman that left six people dead and thirteen others injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.</p>

Discussing the issue in the context of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, President Obama penned an opinion column on guns that was published Sunday in the Arizona Daily Star, a Tucson newspaper. The president acknowledged that gun control is one of the most sensitive of all hot-button issues: "I know some aren't interested in participating. Some will say that anything short of the most sweeping anti-gun legislation is a capitulation to the gun lobby. Others will predictably cast any discussion as the opening salvo in a wild-eyed scheme to take away everybody's guns. And such hyperbole will become the fodder for...

After Jared Loughner shot and killed six people in his attempt to assassinate Rep. Gabby Gifford, D-AZ, President Obama spoke eloquently and forcefully against violent political rhetoric and the need for political opponents to remember they are opponents, not enemies. With that in mind, we're sure the chief executive will soon condemn the multiple death threats that have been delivered to Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican majorities in the Wisconsin state senate and house. Doug Ross has a selection of the most disturbing threats that have been made public.

MADISON - The State Department of Justice confirms that it is investigating several death threats against a number of lawmakers in response to the legislature's move to strip employees of many collective bargaining rights. Among the threats the Justice Department is investigationg is one that was emailed to Republican Senators Wednesday night.  Newsradio 620 WTMJ has obtained that email.The following is the unedited email:Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your famileswill also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explainto them that this is because if we get rid...

On the morning of Saturday, Jan. 8, Chief Judge John M. Roll attended Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Tucson, Ariz., before heading to the grocery store where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was holding an event for constituents. When a gunman opened fire on the crowd moments later, Roll shielded a friend from attack and took a fatal bullet in his own back. In the weeks that followed this devastating attack, much has been written and said about the victims. Although Judge Roll is now known as a hero, the Catholic community may not fully appreciate the loss it...

Ironically, the Morning Joe show has discovered that the Progressive Liberal Media is not reporting on unions acting badly in Wisconsin. In the aftermath of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona shooting and the call for political civility from president Barry Hussein Soetoro Progressives, Liberals and Union members are attacking Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker with all of the hate speech that Homophobes, Nazis and Racists can muster. (see 2:10min video)

Two months after suffering a bullet to the brain in an assassination attempt, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, R-Ariz., is “responding beautifully… already speaking in full sentences,” her doctors said in a press conference Friday at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, where Giffords is undergoing rehabilitation. Still, they said, the congresswoman has no memory of the event in Tucson that almost took her life. Her “memories of childhood and past years… are all normal,” the medical team said. But “she does not have memories of the event, which is normal.” Doctors said her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, told her about the shooting....

Make no mistake that the events of the past few weeks in Madison, Wisconsin will go down in the history books alongside such precursors to great upheavals as the Boston Massacre and Harpers Ferry. Only five weeks after Jared Loughner’s shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others elicited calls for a new civility in American politics, Wisconsin’s Democratic state senators fled Madison, lighting a fuse that now threatens old greasy rags accumulated for decades in the garages, basements, and tool sheds of American civics and government. Rather than work within the procedural rules of Wisconsin’s elected body, these senators...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The decision to have the suspect in the Tucson, Ariz., shooting rampage undergo a psychological examination seemed obvious given the man's bizarre behavior both before and after the deadly attack. So why would Jared Loughner's lawyer try to stop something that seemingly could help his defense? Legal experts say it's not that simple: The threshold a judge uses to determine if someone is mentally competent to stand trial is extremely low - usually based on whether the person understands the proceedings and the judge and attorneys' roles. It does not address a person's mental state during...

Watch President Obama's Full Speech at Tucson Memorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztbJmXQDIGA

SCOTTSDALE - Members of Sarah Palin's camp are considering basing her presidential campaign in Scottsdale, according to Politico.com. She hasn't yet decided whether she will run, but Politico reports that sources within her camp think Scottsdale is a top headquarters location. For one, Palin's daughter Bristol bought a home in Maricopa a few months ago. In the wake of the Tucson shootings, Palin was blasted for a "crosshairs map" she released during the 2010 election that marked Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson as a Democratic to vote out. Some critics connected that rhetoric to the shooting, later leading her to release...

ACCUSED gunman Jared Lee Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 felony counts, including murder and attempted murder, in connection with a January shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded 13, including a congresswoman. Loughner, 22, smirked through much of Wednesday's proceedings, held at the same federal courthouse where one of those killed, US District Judge John M Roll, had worked. Loughner is accused of targeting Arizona US Representative Gabrielle Giffords at a January 8 event outside a Tucson supermarket. Investigatory documents unsealed on Wednesday said authorities found a note at Loughner's home that said: "I planned ahead! My...

American BrownshirtsUnion thugs unleash violence. ‘Every once in a while, you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary,” Rep. Michael Capuano (D., Mass.) told a February 22 union rally in Boston. Even if union members and their supporters missed Capuano’s call to mayhem (or his subsequent tepid apology), many of them are on the same brutal wavelength. Although Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.) still is recovering from a January 8 assassination attempt, the Left’s post-Tucson civility campaign has vanished like gunsmoke in a desert breeze. Rather than make nice, labor activists and fans...

"Every once in a while, you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary," U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., told a Feb. 22 union rally in Boston. Even if union members and their supporters missed Capuano's call to mayhem or his subsequent tepid apology, many of them are on the same brutal wavelength. Although U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., still is recovering from a Jan. 8 assassination attempt, the Left's post-Tucson civility campaign has vanished. Rather than make nice, labor activists and fans are preaching and perpetrating violence. n On Feb. 23, unionized government...

The terrible violence in Arizona last weekend prompted much national discussion on many issues. All Americans are united in their sympathies for the victims and their families. All wonder what could motivate such a horrible act. However, some have attempted to use this tragedy to discredit philosophical adversaries or score political points. This sort of opportunism is simply despicable. We are fortunate to live in a society where violence is universally denounced. Not one public official or commentator has attempted to justify this reprehensible act, yet the newspapers, internet, and airwaves are full of people trying to claim it was...

Suspected Tucson gunman Jared Loughner has been indicted on 46 new charges, including the murders of a federal judge and an aide to congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The new indictment, by a federal grand jury in Arizona, is the first step in a formal Department of Justice process to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the 22-year-old.

PHOENIX -- The suspect in the Tucson, Arizona, shooting rampage has been indicted on new charges that include the murders of a federal judge and a congressional aide. The charges filed Friday were added to other federal counts that 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner already faced in the Jan. 8 shooting. The shooting occurred at a political event held by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson grocery store. The latest indictment charges Loughner with murder in the deaths of U.S. District Judge John Roll and Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman.