Free Republic

Watching the Minneapolis Police Department abandon its precinct to the torch and crowbar-wielding peaceful protesters in that Democrat-run state and city, my first thought was that I should disarm. After all, I have been reliably informed by our smart and competent elite betters that I don’t need firearms because the police will protect me, and I am sure that even though they can’t defend their own police station they will absolutely defend me, my family, and our pet unicorn Chet. Confusingly, I have also been reliably informed that the police are evil monsters of racism and badness and that they...

The Oklahoma legislature passed SB 1081 on 15 May, the last day of the legislative session.  It was one of the last bills passed in 2020 before the legislature adjourned. It appears to be the first anti-red flag law passed by any legislature. The legislature passed the bill, had it signed, enrolled, returned to the House, signed, returned to the Senate, and sent to the Governor, all on the same day.A legislature can act quickly, when there is sufficient will to do so. The anti-red flag bill was introduced in 2019, by Senator Nathan Dahm. Dahm wrote an op-ed, published...

A Pennsylvania school director resigned Wednesday amid backlash over a Facebook post that said she would “shoot” anyone who came within 6 feet of her without a face mask on. Selinsgrove school director Jennifer Rager-Kay, a physician who last year unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for Rep. Fred Keller’s state House seat, came under fire Monday after she posted a rant against anti-lockdown protesters that gathered last week in Harrisburg. “I find it interesting that the largest group of those protesting in the anti-lockdown protest and refusing to wear masks in public as they see it as a violation of...

Chuck Schumer: We can't let protestors with "automatic weapons" determine our re-opening policies.--------------- Well, Chuck, we can't let firearm policies be set by senators as ignorant as you about firearms! Can gun control advocates like Schumer truly be this ignorant? No matter how many times they are corrected about the difference between semi-automatics and automatics, they continue making stupid statements like this.

Nineteen years ago, a small group of Canadian FReepers set out on a journey to provide Canada with the same sort of political outlet that our American friends have with Free Republic. We started a Canada Chapter on this site, which we quickly outgrew. Then, we moved to our own site, and called it Free Dominion. Out of gratitude to Jim Robinson, and our friends on FR, we provided a backup forum for FReepers for when FR experienced technical problems. And, many Free Republic members registered, and regularly logged in to say hi! Several FR stalwarts, like coteblanche, backhoe and...

Protestors in Michigan planning to rally at the state Capitol on Thursday are being warned that if they bring firearms to the event they will be arrested. The warnings come after several members of the groups planning on attending the rally called for the assassination of Governor Gretchen Whitmer which saw one man writing: “Can we please just take up a collection for an assassin to put that woman from Michigan down.” On Monday, Whitmer said she respected people’s rights to protest but was becoming “increasingly concerned about the violent nature of the comments being made” and the “extreme rhetoric...

A pregnant woman and her boyfriend were fatally shot inside their Staten Island home Monday by a convicted killer during a botched home robbery, ­sources said. The suspect Philip Moreno, 45, allegedly stormed into the home in Arlington at about 5 p.m. and gunned down both victims in the living room, according to law-enforcement sources. Ana Desousa, 33, who was pregnant, and her partner, Alafia Rodriguez, 46, were discovered dead on the floor by police.

This latest Coronavirus is quite good at laying low until the time is right. For days it sits idle, remaining largely asymptomatic. Then the virus makes its move. Like a virus attempting to infect its host, some liberal U.S. senators are trying to use Coronavirus as an excuse to stop gun sales. In a letter now made public and sent April 2 to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, several Democrat senators — Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) — urged the directors of the FBI and ATF to effectively halt pending gun...

International Firearms Ownership and Homicides In 2016 Adam Lankford of the University of Alabama, published a paper examining the distribution of mass shooting/mass shooters around the world. The published result concluded the United States had a disproportionate number of these rare events.  Lankford's study showed the United States had 5% of the world's population, but 31% of the the mass shootings/mass shooters, as defined by Lankford.  It has become clear that Lankford was looking almost exclusively at single perpetrators, though he included about 2% where two people were involved. Lankford excluded terrorist attacks he identified as “sponsored” terrorism, but included...

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Massachusetts authorities to allow gun shops to reopen after the governor deemed them non-essential businesses that needed to close to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock in Boston ruled that the restrictions ordered by Republican Governor Charlie Baker in response to the pandemic imposed an “improper burden” on the constitutional rights of citizens seeking to possess firearms. Baker imposed the restrictions through executive orders issued beginning in mid-March that, like those adopted in other states, forced the closure of an array of brick-and-mortar businesses in response to the...

Dean Weingarten in Front of Supreme Court of the United States When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the New York Rifle & Pistol case in 2019, it was big news. The lower courts in the circuits hostile to the Second Amendment have been busy rendering the Second Amendment a second tier Constitutional right. Some members of the Court, notably Justice Clarence Thomas, had written about it. A few days ago, the Court ruled the New York Rifle & Pistol case was moot. Four justices indicated they should grant a writ of certiorari (hear the case) of another Second...

May the fourth turned out to be an unlucky day for one “Star Wars” enthusiast dressed as a stormtrooper from the sci-fi franchise, when police responded with guns drawn to two 911 calls about her. Now police in Lethbridge, Alta. say they’ve launched a service investigation into the actions of the officers who responded on Monday morning. A video circulating on YouTube shows a person dressed as a “Star Wars” stormtrooper in front of a business called Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina. The person recording the video asks the costumed person to do a dance. However, the video takes a serious...

A new Democratic-aligned political action committee advised by retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, is planning to deploy technology originally developed to counter Islamic State propaganda in service of a domestic political goal - to combat online efforts to promote President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The group, Defeat Disinfo, will use artificial intelligence and network analysis to map discussion of the president's claims on social media. It will seek to intervene by identifying the most popular counter-narratives and boosting them through a network of more than 3.4 million influencers across...

The restrictions Canada has placed on obtaining, keeping, and using firearms failed entirely in the recent mass murder case in Nova Scotia. I refrain from using the murderer's name. Canadian restrictions on gun ownership failed. The murderer had plead guilty to an assault charge in 2002. He paid a $50 fine, and served probation for nine months. He then had a lifetime ban on owning firearms.  From nypost.com: Authorities said Wortman did not have a police record, but information later emerged of at least one run-in with the law. Nova Scotia court records confirm he was ordered to receive counseling...

Canada's government is set to announce a ban on assault-style weapons following a deadly shooting in Nova Scotia this month that killed 22 people. Officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's administration will announce the ban before the week's end, though the key provisions have already been decided by his Cabinet. Among the weapons set to be banned include the AR-15 and the Ruger Mini-14. It wasn't initially clear whether Canadian citizens who currently own such weapons will be required to turn them in.

In the District Court, petitioners challenged a New York City rule regarding the transport of firearms. Petitioners claimed that the rule violated the Second Amendment. Petitioners sought declaratory and injunctive relief against enforcement of the rule insofar as the rule prevented their transport of firearms to a second home or shooting range outside of the city. The District Court and the Court of Appeals rejected petitioners’ claim. See 883 F. 3d 45 (CA2 2018). We granted certiorari. 586 U. S. ___ (2019). After we granted certiorari, the State of New York amended its firearm licensing statute, and the City amended...

Guttenberg told the audience at a virtual town hall Monday that Trump was killing Americans by allowing gun stores to remain open, pointing to federal guidelines that labeled gun businesses "essential." . . . "You have crowds showing up around these gun stores not only spreading coronavirus, but they're buying weapons, or they're buying ammunition," he said. "And many of them are prohibited purchasers of weapons, or they already have the weapon, and now they're running out and buying the ammunition to use it."

Screenshot from C-Span video, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten David Chipman is a former ATF agent. He found a new gig as a spokesman for those who want the population disarmed. David Chipman's latest attempt at scaring Americans away from exercising their Second Amendment rights seems rather ham-handed. From cheddar.com: David Chipman, Senior Policy Advisor at the Giffords organization said hopelessness, anxiety and fear might cause people to try to use firearms to control some aspect of their lives as they are inundated with concerning news about COVID-19, “but there are risks to that choice.”“They might think that they’re...

It seemed Tennessee would be the first state to join the Constitutional Carry club in 2020.  From an earlier article on Ammoland: On 27 February, 2020, at 1 p.m., Governor Bill Lee announced he is proposing Constitutional Carry for Tennessee in 2020. Both Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson and House Majority Leader William Lampeth endorsed the idea of Constitutional Carry. A specific statute was not in place when the announcement was made. With all three leaders endorsing the popular idea of Constitutional Carry, a bill seemed almost certain of passage. From tn.gov: “I applaud Governor Lee’s commitment to Tennesseans’ Second...

It shouldn't take a global pandemic shutting down schools to end school shootings. https://t.co/H9Xwn6Mhkd— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 13, 2020