Free Republic

I. Introduction In October 1992, in Louisiana, a Japanese exchange student named Yoshihiro Hattori went into the wrong house on the way to a Halloween party. The homeowner's wife screamed for help and the homeowner drew his .44 pistol and yelled for the student to 'freeze!' Not understanding the American idiom that 'freeze!' means 'Don't move or I'll shoot', the student continued advancing towards the homeowner. The homeowner pulled the trigger and shot him dead.[1] While the incident initially attracted only brief attention in the national American press, the shooting horrified Japan; hundreds of thousands of Japanese have signed petitions...

Discussing gun control, CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday told a Utah sheriff that if Barack Obama issues an executive order, that order is the law and the sheriff must obey. However, jurisprudence on this topic reveals exactly the opposite. As the head of the executive branch of the federal government, a president can issue executive orders only to employees of the federal government—and only regarding implementing federal laws or programs. A governor can likewise issue executive orders to employees of his state government regarding the laws or programs of that state. Every sheriff is a county officer, elected by the...

Turk Pierce (Jan. 28) says that "guns do kill people" and that fewer guns equals fewer deaths." Since Mr. Pierce is playing the numbers game, let us continue down that road. The following is a list of countries that initiated gun control and confiscation: Turkey, Soviet Union, Germany, China, Guatemala, Uganda and Cambodia; and the result -- 55, million citizens murdered. Not on a street corner by a thug, or in a parking lot by a gang member, but by their very own government. Mr. Pierce should do a little more research as to what our founding fathers were concerned...

As Connecticut lawmakers discuss how already-strict state gun laws might be strengthened in response to the Newtown shootings, some lawyers are expecting a spike in firearms confiscations under an existing law. Connecticut's gun seizure law allows police to take a licensed firearm from someone who is considered a danger to themselves or others and hold it for up to a year. The law was passed in response to the workplace shooting deaths of four people at the Connecticut State Lottery headquarters in 1998. The gunman, Matthew Beck, had a history of suicide attempts. "This law has been used over 300...

State Rep. Dan Muhlbauer's declaration that he stands firmly behind the U.S. Constitution's gun-rights amendment drew a strong challenge at the Carroll Chamber of Commerce's first legislative forum of the Legislature's 2013 session Saturday morning. Muhlbauer continues to draw heat for comments he made in an interview with the Times Herald soon after the shooting massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in December. In that interview, Muhlbauer, D-Manilla, suggested strong gun-control measures, including possible confiscation of particularly high-powered weapons, and received nationwide media attention. At Saturday's forum attended by about 40 people in the New Hope activities building, Muhlbauer...

There is an epidemic taking hold in America that appears immune to intervention or therapy, and despite the best effort of the nation’s brightest minds to find a cure, it seems likely to remain virulent, but limited to a particular segment of the population for the foreseeable future. The disease’s symptoms are beliefs with the strong conviction despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and unlike beliefs based on confabulation, faulty or incomplete information, there are no known remedies for delusion. Unlike most severe mental disorders, this epidemic has a traceable beginning and a very predictable demise, but that is little...

Gun rights advocates worry that an assault weapons ban — like the one proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein (r-Calif.) — would be the start of a slippery slope that would end with a total gun ban in the U.S., as has happened in the UK and Australia. There already have been some calls for outright confiscation, including from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as from other lawmakers. Feinstein says this isn't her intention. But do gun owners have anything to worry about? Feinstein said on PBS Newshour that she would not attempt to ban and confiscate all guns....

For those of you who know me, you can pick your jaw up off the floor (after reading the title) and move on. There is a pseudo-discussion taking place all over America about gun ownership which consists of the actual “need” for firearms in citizens’ hands and limits that should be placed on American gun owners. As unlikely as it might seem, this is pure distraction. In an earlier life – the one the press refuses to report – Obama summarily declared that he believed Americans should not own guns. That declaration seems to have been forgotten by some who...

An interesting little factoid has emerged from a new Fox News poll of U.S. voters: Personal sentiments are strong and defiant among many U.S. gun owners. Question 46 in the wide-ranging survey of more than 1,000 registered voters asks if there is a gun in the household. Overall, 52 percent of the respondents said yes, someone in their home owned a gun. That number included 65 percent of Republicans, 59 percent of conservatives, 38 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of liberals. But on to Question 47, addressed to those with a gun in their home: "If the government passed...

President Barack Obama could never have done this in his first term. If he’d tried to pass a slate of gun control measures such as the ones announced last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would have joined forces with Republicans and gun rights organizations to stop him. But with no election in his future, the president is operating with new “flexibility.” Reid may still try to stop him, but the president has come up with a long list of items that won’t work. We’re dealing with emotion here — and possibly a long-term strategy to — what? If the...

New York passed the toughest gun control laws in the nation last week. The SAFE Act called for a new assault weapons ban, among other measures. Over this past weekend, New York State Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin revealed other measures that were removed from the final bill that was eventually signed into law. These 15 measures were pulled from the final bill: 1. Confiscation of "assault weapons" 2. Confiscation of ten round clips 3. Statewide database for ALL Guns 4. Continue to allow pistol permit holder's information to be replaced to the public 5. Label semiautomatic shotguns with more than 5...

As a citizen of the United States, I am proud of the deep-rooted patriotism of my forefathers. Many lives have been sacrificed in order to maintain the liberty which we all enjoy, including those of many of my ancestors. I was deeply saddened by recent tragedies such as those in Colorado and at Sandy Hook. However, I am troubled by the fact that our legislators are rushing to strip away the constitutional rights of the American people. The media attempts to reinforce a need for more strict gun control, yet anyone who spends any amount of time seeking the truth...

A Virginia lawmaker who drew gasps from his colleagues when he brandished a borrowed AK-47 during an anti-gun speech Thursday was found guilty in 2002 of committing a vicious 1999 assault, was sanctioned for legal misconduct while prosecuting a rape case, spent six months in jail for contempt of a federal court, and saw his law license revoked in 2003. Democratic Delegate Joseph Morrissey brought the rifle to the floor of the House of Delegates to demonstrate how easy it is to carry firearms in Virginia. Republican Delegate Todd Gilbert interrupted Morrissey’s speech to ask him to remove his finger...

A colleague made an interesting point this morning. If the NRA and its paranoid membership are so worried about the government creating a national gun registry, lest the government use that list to confiscate guns, they should stop worrying: The best list in the country already exists. It’s called the NRA membership. Sure, the NRA membership list doesn’t contain a gun registry of “all” firearms owners in America. But it does contain a list of many of the most paranoid, crazy, militant gun owners. The very people a “fascist” government would be most concerned about. Why does this matter? Well,...

The National Rifle Association didn't disagree with everything in President Obama's proposal today to cut back on escalating gun violence, the group's president David Keene told CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Bill Plante today, but with coming talks of reform, he said there are "legitimate" fears on the horizon for law-abiding gun owners. One of his fears: that a universal background check for anyone purchasing a firearm - the first of Mr. Obama's suggestions today - would lead to a national tracking registry of gun owners. That, in turn, Keene said, could give way to "forced buybacks," or, door-to-door...

Today Vice President Joe Biden is submitting his report to President Barack Obama on gun control and one thing is becoming clear - up to 50-80% of all guns in circulation will be affected by his suggestions. As we reported earlier regarding Dianne Feinstein's proposal, it will affect 50% of all long guns and 80% of all handguns. The proposal includes the creation of a national database of gun owners, tracking who owns what guns and private gun sales would fade into history. The proposal is all gun sales will need to have a Brady Check and for most guns...

In a video uploaded to YouTube yesterday, Anonymous warned of an "insurrection" in the United States and said that the federal government is using the Sandy Hook school shooting as an excuse to confiscate weapons from law-abiding citizens. It appears that the original video was uploaded on Dec. 24, 2012 and has received about 1,000 views, but within the past two days, renewed interest in its message caused over a dozen copies to appear online and receive tens of thousands of views. According to CNN, Vice President Joe Biden's gun task force will have their recommendations ready on Tuesday. "Many...

"My office will not comply with any federal actions which violate the United States Constitution or the Kentucky Constitution which I swore to uphold," Jackson County Sheriff Denny Peyman said. FRANKFORT -- An Eastern Kentucky sheriff said Saturday that he will not enforce any new gun control laws that he considers unconstitutional. Asked whether such a stance makes him more a judge than a law-enforcement official, Jackson County Sheriff Denny Peyman said he has "a team of attorneys to step up with me if necessary to be sure the Second Amendment is upheld." "I consider this a moral obligation," he...

As the Obama administration openly vows to use unconstitutional “executive orders” to further infringe on the right to keep and bear arms, gun rights activists, members of the law enforcement community, military personnel and others are pledging to resist. Everything from an armed uprising and nationwide civil disobedience to legal means of resistance like the courts and nullification is being openly discussed online and even in the establishment media. “The president is going to act,” pledged Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading an administration task force to further restrict gun rights in the wake of the Newtown massacre. "Executive...

The gun control hysteria and propaganda emanating from President Barak Obama, members of Congress, state legislators, mayors of major cities and assorted interest groups finds them in a considerable dither. With some wanting no less that the eventual confiscation of any weapon that can shoot more than one round of ammunition upon reloading, a rancorous debate and considerable push-back from the grass roots of the nation is inevitable. The very use of the term "assault weapon" — a propaganda term for any semi-automatic firearm — has been repeated so many times by media pundits that the very term has lost...