Free Republic

Reports out of Capitol Hill reveal that just-reelected turncoat West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin is about to stick a big knife in the back of American gun owners. And to make matters worse, he's lying about what he’s doing. Both Manchin and House anti-gun crazy Carolyn McCarthy are claiming to be “working with NRA” to enact gun bans and national gun registries. NRA says flatly that Manchin is lying, and we believe he is. (The Hill, 1/24/13) Ironically, Manchin was the “gun owner's best friend” on November 5 -- the day before his reelection to a six-year term let him...

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Gun Owners of America today submitted testimony at the request of the Ranking Member of the Senate Constitution Subcommittee. GOA took a strong stance against all the gun control legislation on the table and urged the Senate to put forth real solutions to school violence — like letting teachers and principals protect their students. Also, GOA wants to thank all of you who participated in our online poll over the past week. With 20,897 votes cast so far, the poll results indicate that 96% of GOA’s membership OPPOSES “universal background checks” — and, hence, opposes the very...

The National Rifle Association was out late yesterday with a blistering criticism of House Bill 1588 which would require “universal background checks” on all firearms transactions in Washington State, and Examiner has learned that the Gun Owner’s Action League of Washington “will take a similar tone” in this evening’s on-line edition of The GOAL Post. The NRA’s move was hardly unexpected in the wake of Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee during which he tangled with anti-gun Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) over such checks at the federal level. As reported by this column, LaPierre...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: On January 16, 2013, President Barack Obama unveiled 23 Executive Actions that his administration plans to take on schools and guns. To be sure, none of these gun control initiatives would have prevented the Connecticut school massacre from occurring in December, although the restrictions will greatly infringe upon the rights of law-abiding Americans. MEMO FROM: Michael Hammond, GOA legislative counsel RE: Obama’s Gun Control Proposals DATE: January 16, 2013 THE PRESIDENT’S EXECUTIVE ACTIONS Here’s a brief list of Obama’s Executive Orders and my comments: (1) Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available...

With the current attack on personal gun ownership and the Second Amendment, the radical Left has twisted the phrase “assault weapon” to try and take guns away from law-abiding Americans.Real assault rifles are used by modern infantrymen and are capable of firing in a fully-automatic mode. Yes, they are currently available to citizens -- but one must submit to a federal background check (which can take months), be photographed and fingerprinted, pay a tax of $200, and get a sign-off from the local chief of police or sheriff. Moreover, because of their limited supply, machineguns run in the thousands of...

"Obama Plans Broad Gun Control" screamed the Drudge Report headline. So what actions can a responsible gun owner take to stop this legislative insanity? There are, of course, the accepted channels of communications: email and phone calls to your two Senators and the Representative from your Congressional district. Having once worked as an idealistic political intern in a legislative office, I was flabbergasted at the utter contempt that the staff and "my" legislator held for the ordinary voters of the district. Respect was only paid to the large financial donors and their minions. Emails and phone calls may have a...

"I think we need to ban control laws that prevent people from protecting themselves".

A leading gun rights advocate announced it endorsed the Ohio man who became known as “Joe the Plumber” in his race to represent Ohio’s 9th Congressional District in Washington. “I’m excited and all the same time, incredibly humbled by the announcement we have received an enthusiastic and strong endorsement of the Gun Owners of America,” said Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who earned the moniker in 2008 when he confronted then-candidate Barack Obama about how Obama’s tax policies would discourage him from buying a plumbing business. “As an avid sportsman and gun owner, I can tell you with great pride that no...

THE best view of the Goa coast of western India can be seen from the topmost turret of the ruined Portuguese fort above Chapora. From the dark upper slopes of the Pernem hills down to the level ground of the coastline stretches kilometre upon kilometre of banana and coconut groves, the deep-green of the palms offset by the white sand of the shore and the foam of the breaking rollers. In the palm groves, you can just see the toddy tappers throwing ripe king coconuts down from the treetops. Further up the beach, lean fishermen are beaching their catamaran-canoes on...

Larry Pratt, executive director of the Gun Owners of America (GOA) has called for the Supreme Court to resist the threats and intimidation of the liberal media, and to recognize ObamaCare for the unconstitutional power-grab that it is...

The truest of conservative political pundits argue that, as a Presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is just Obama in a Reagan suit—and, thus, even as the longstanding frontrunner in the primary, he can’t seem to close the deal on getting the nomination. To this point, most of the critical attention he’s receiving has to do with his record on social issues. But, as Larry Pratt, executive director of the Gun Owners of America (GOA), points out, Romney’s moderate inclinations and flip-flopping habits are converging on the conservative staple issue of gun rights—leaving folks like Pratt very concerned...

Richard Mack is well known as the first of eventually six sheriffs to take on the Brady Law. And, much to the delight of pro-gunners around the country, the Supreme Court agreed with Mack in 1995 that the federal government did not have constitutional authority to force state officials to conduct background checks. Mack is no longer in office, but that has not stopped him from staying involved in promoting constitutional issues. He is now taking the lead in informing sheriffs of the authority they have as the chief law enforcement officer in their counties. While this has come as...

The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously sided with Gun Owners of America in finding that the placement of a Global Positioning Device on an automobile constitutes a “search” for purposes of the Fourth Amendment. The majority opinion in U.S. v. Jones was written by Justice Antonin Scalia and follows GOA’s reasoning to throw out the “reasonable expectation of privacy” test which has been thought to be the dominant Fourth Amendment standard in recent years. The Obama Administration argued that because the police could theoretically follow Antoine Jones’ car, he had no “reasonable expectation of privacy,” and thus, placing a GPS device...

At a campaign stop this weekend, in-the-spotlight GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum said he supports increased Internet regulation. According to Santorum, our rights aren’t “absolute” and stop at whatever point their exercise begins to infringe on the rights of others. Piracy represents an abuse of intellectual property rights — and that abuse should have consequences, Santorum says.So far, so good. Everybody agrees that piracy is a problem.But Santorum seems too ready to look to regulation for the solution to the piracy problem, suggesting that government interference might be an effective way to thwart piraters. That, to me, seems short-sighted, given...

Newt Gingrich has ramped up his attacks on Mitt Romney as a heartless leveraged buyout executive for his years at Bain Capital, asking reporters in Manchester on Monday, “Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of other people and walk off with the money? Or is that, somehow, a little bit of a flawed system?” But Mr. Gingrich was himself on an advisory board for a major investment firm that had a similar business model, Forstmann Little, a pioneering private equity firm co-founded in 1978 by Theodore J. Forstmann...

In a press release this afternoon, Club for Growth criticized Newt Gingrich for his attacks on Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital, calling them unbecoming a “Reagan Conservative.” Club for Growth’s statement: Yesterday, Gingrich said “Those of us who believe in free markets and those of us who believe that in fact the whole goal of investment is entrepreneurship and job creation…we find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company, leaving behind 1,700 families without a job.” Gingrich’s attack was echoed that same day that by the Democratic National Committee, which...

Mitt Romney: 36 Newt Gingrich: 25 Rick Santorum: 17 Ron Paul: 7 Other: 5 Undecided 10 Other: 5

Sarah Palin’s husband is endorsing Newt Gingrich for president, Todd Palin told ABC News today. But Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and John McCain’s 2008 Republican running mate, has yet to decide “who is best able to go up against Barack Obama,” Todd Palin said. Palin said he has not spoken to Gingrich or anyone from the former House speaker’s campaign. But he said he respects Gingrich for what he went through in the 1990s and compared that scrutiny in public life to what Sarah Palin went through during her run for the vice presidency.

GOP New Hampshire primary debate tonight on ABC at 9pm ET By Nate, on January 7th, 2012 Tonight will mark the first of two debates this weekend focused on the New Hampshire Republican primary. This evening's debate will take place at Saint Anselm College and is sponsored by ABC News, Yahoo! and WMUR. Sunday morning will feature a GOP debate broadcast on NBC at 9am ET (yes, am) but look for more details on that later today. Air Time: Saturday, January 7th at 9pm ET / 6pm PT on ABC Live Stream: WMUR and Yahoo! News Participants: Santorum, Romney, Paul,...

Ready, aim fire. That’s apparently Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s idea of relaxation before returning to the campaign trail this weekend. Ahead of Saturday night’s ABC News-Yahoo-WMUR debate in New Hampshire Perry took a few moments to himself at an Austin-area shooting range. “Just relaxing a bit @ Red’s Range before we leave for New Hampshire!” @governorperry tweeted Friday along with a photo of himself wearing a green sweatshirt and a baseball cap with a firearm in hand. On the campaign trail, Perry, a staunch defender of second amendment rights, has not been shy about talking about his “long love affair”...