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BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have confiscated more than 50,000 guns and nearly 900 tonnes of explosives in a crackdown during the past five months, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said Thursday.

Commenting about the recent shooting at a fitness center near Pittsburgh in which three women were killed and nine others wounded by a gunman who then killed himself, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes: We’ve seen this tragic ritual so often that it has the feel of a formula. A guy is filled with a seething rage toward women and has easy access to guns. The result: mass slaughter. ... Herbert is right about one thing: Men are much likelier to commit violent crimes – as well as gun homicides – than women. ... Unfortunately - and predictably -...

A friend of mine recently forwarded me a question a friend of his had posed: "If/when our Federal Government comes to pilfer, pillage, plunder our property and destroy our lives, what good can a handgun do against an army with advanced weaponry, tanks, missiles, planes, or whatever else they might have at their disposal to achieve their nefarious goals? (I'm not being facetious: I accept the possibility that what happened in Germany, or similar, could happen here; I'm just not sure that the potential good from an armed citizenry in such a situation outweighs the day-to-day problems caused by masses...

U-T SACRAMENTO BUREAU OVERVIEW Background: In 2007, the Legislature passed a bill that requires new models of semiautomatic handguns to leave an identifying code on shell casings. The law is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. What's changing: Unresolved legal issues and concerns about the technology have raised questions about whether the law will go into effect as planned. The future: Efforts by other states and the federal government to adopt similar rules may lag if implementation of the California law becomes problematic. SACRAMENTO – Two years after California passed a novel law requiring the next generation of semiautomatic handguns...

WASHINGTON – Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends. The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration. Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the...

Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends. The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration. Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most growth...

Ted kicking arse and taking names.

Bigotry assumes many forms, hides behind many facades, but always it is the same; the social demonization of entire groups, classes or races of people in an effort to make them appear inferior and detrimental by their very existence. In the wake of a nasty multiple shooting at a Pittsburgh, PA-area fitness club by a not-so-clearly psychotic man identified as George Sodini, America’s gun prohibitionists – led by the Violence Policy Center and Freedom States Alliance – are clamoring for restrictions or repeal of concealed carry statutes. In the case against legally-armed citizens, the VPC has even manufactured an innuendo-riddled...

The Senate confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court yesterday. Gun-control groups are crowing that the 68-31 vote was a major defeat for the National Rifle Association, which actively opposed the nomination. The gun controllers are reading too much into this vote. The NRA scored Judge Sotomayor's confirmation and ran ads to defeat her, but the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence counted eight NRA-endorsed senators who spurned the powerful gun-rights group to support her nomination. Some Democratic senators, such as Virginia's Mark R. Warner, even took to lecturing the NRA about being hijacked by extremists. The Sotomayor vote...

What do you Freepers think of the S&W m&p 9mm? I've been hearing some really good things, but a few people have had nothing but trouble. I'm inclined to think that any gun could potentially be a lemon, and that people are more likely to tell about a bad experience than a good one. Still, I want your opinions if you have one. Thanks as always, FA

After years of losing, gun control advocates say this week's vote on confirming Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court will be their long-awaited win that shatters conventional wisdom and proves that the Second Amendment is no longer the unstoppable force of Washington politics. Proponents of gun control say the National Rifle Association (NRA) and similar groups have overreached. They point to a Senate vote last month blocking an effort to expand concealed-carry laws. "The lesson that's going to come out of this is you can vote against the NRA and still win, and win in gun-friendly areas," said Paul...

Earlier in July, the Violence Policy Center’s Josh Sugarmann – writing on the Huffington Post website – made what had to be one of the more bone-headed attempts in recent memory to drive a wedge between people in the firearms community when he critiqued remarks written by Jan Libourel, editor of Gun World magazine. Libourel is an extraordinarily bright guy, well-read in every sense, and – as is common among gun writers – unabashedly opinionated. As a recognized firearms authority, he’s supposed to be opinionated. That’s his job, and he is very good at it. Gun owners enjoy those opinions,...

Alleged Drug Dealers, Robbers Had Been Under Surveillance By Officers Before All Hell Broke Loose Thursday Morning Pump-Action Automatic Shotgun Used Against Cops, 5 WoundedJERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBS) ―Jersey city looked more like a war zone early Thursday morning. In the hours since the deadly shootout that injured five police officers doctors have been working furiously to save the lives of the two most critically hurt. The gunfight erupted just before dawn Thursday during a police stakeout in Jersey City. Officers were tracking the two people seen in a surveillance video robbing and shooting a man last month. But they...

Many American gun owners are not surprised that the Irish have joined Britain and Australia in the gun ban swamp. Irish gun wielding criminals must be celebrating because In legislation designed to stop the emergence of what the Irish Justice Minister called a "gun culture" in Ireland, Dermot Ahern has signed a law banning all handguns in Ireland. It also begins a requirement for background medical checks and standards for the safe keeping of other guns in the home for all firearms licence applicants. It also makes it an crime to brandish a realistic imitation or toy firearm in public....

Last week, I recalled the story of the homeowner who used a hand gun to defend his children against an intruder, and who was "rewarded" for his courage by being fined by his village for illegally possessing that .38 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol. But I didn't write the other half of the story -- because I didn't have the requisite citation in hand. -- Not surprisingly, the Illinois General Assembly followed the lead of many other states in the late 1990s and took up legislation to authorize so-called "No Knock Warrants" in special circumstances -- where the cop had...

(1) the manufacture, distribution, and importation of firearms is inherently commercial in nature; (2) firearms regularly move in interstate commerce; (3) to the extent that firearms trafficking is intrastate in nature, it arises out of and is substantially connected with a commercial transaction, which, when viewed in the aggregate, substantially affects interstate commerce; (4) because the intrastate and interstate trafficking of firearms are so commingled, full regulation of interstate commerce requires the incidental regulation of intrastate commerce; (5) gun violence in the United States is associated with the majority of homicides, over half the suicides, and two-thirds of non-fatal violent...

States offer a hodgepodge of concealed-handgun rules that prevent citizens from protecting themselves when traveling from one state to another. Sen. John Thune, South Dakota Republican, introduced an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would have fixed this problem by granting reciprocity for gun permits across state lines. In a 58-39 vote on Wednesday, supporters fell two short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. This was a victory of fear over facts. Thirty-seven of the 39 no votes were cast by Democrats. The two Republicans who crossed party lines to vote nay were Sen. Richard G....

Memo to the millions of American citizens who have managed to qualify for government permits to carry firearms: you are "potential criminals," and you are "a threat to our citizens' safety and well-being," even though you have passed criminal background checks and satisfied state firearms proficiency standards. That according to New Jersey governor Jon Corzine (D), who apparently thinks that the path to re-election later this year is paved by trampling the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Before The Thune Amendment for Concealed Handgun Carry reciprocity among the states failed in the Senate, New Jersey Governor John Corzine had this to say. "I urge every lawmaker, every citizen in favor of "local control of our safety and security," to make their voices heard in opposing this so-called "Respecting State's Rights and Concealed and Carry Reciprocity Act... It does not respect state's rights, in fact, it endangers the safety of law-abiding Americans throughout New Jersey, and throughout this great nation by effectively nullifying state laws for non-residents." Never mind Chicago. They have been upstaged. This time its in...

There was a single case in the VPC report from Minnesota. The VPC, apparently relying solely upon a Star Tribune article, reported the incident as: "Iheme, who had a concealed handgun permit, was found guilty of second degree murder." But actual court records which would have been easily researchable, reveal that Mr. Iheme did not have a permit.

A decade ago, the calculus was simple: Those who wanted greater gun control aligned with the Democrats. And those who wanted fewer restrictions on guns turned to the Republicans. No longer. Despite the fact that Democrats control both the executive branch and Congress, supporters of gun control have had few opportunities to celebrate this year. The Senate moved to weaken the District of Columbia's strong gun laws (though the House stalled the legislation, which was attached to the D.C. Voting Rights bill) and Congress voted to allow individuals to carry guns in national parks. Indeed, for many Democrats a vote...

The National Rifle Association is warning senators that it will consider their votes on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as part of its influential annual ratings of lawmakers. The NRA says President Barack Obama's first high court nominee has a hostile view of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. It announced last week that it was opposing her nomination, although her confirmation in early August is virtually guaranteed.

Earlier this week, Senator John Thune offered a Concealed Carry Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. Today, the Senator issued the following statement after his bipartisan amendment allowing individuals to lawfully carry concealed firearms across state lines under the condition that the laws of the host state are obeyed was defeated by a vote of 58 to 39: "Today, overheated rhetoric and fearmongering overcame common sense. My amendment would allow responsible firearms owners to protect themselves while obeying the firearms laws of the states they visit. The individual right to self-defense should not end at the state line. Despite today's...

In a loss by just 2 votes, concealed handgun permit holders were denied the first step in handgun carry permit national reciprocity. The final vote was 58 to 39 with 60 votes needed to pass the Thune amendment. As Charles Schumer smirked his way through an argument against our Second Amendment freedoms, it was a bizarre liberal two faced championing of "state's rights" political expediency. Will there be the same liberal clamoring for state's rights when someone in Montana, who is squeaky clean, sends a letter to BATFE telling them that they intend to comply with Montana state law and...

Tomorrow morning the US Senate will vote on whether to allow concealed handgun permit holders to carry handguns across state lines. The legislation sponsored by Senator John Thune (R, SD) would only allow reciprocity in permitting, as anybody would still be required to obey the laws of the states that they travel in. This is the same way driver's licenses work. Yet, gun control advocates are predicting the worst. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D, NJ) warns it is an "attempt by the gun lobby to put its radical agenda ahead of safety and security in our communities." Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D,...

In a rare win for gun control advocates, the Senate on Wednesday rejected a measure allowing a person with a concealed weapon permit in one state to also hide his firearm when visiting another state. The vote was 58-39 in favor of the provision establishing concealed carry permit reciprocity in the 48 states that have concealed weapons laws. That fell two votes short of the 60 needed to approve the measure, offered as an amendment to a defense spending bill. Opponents prevailed in their argument that the measure violated states rights by forcing states with stringent requirements for permits to...

When I was leading Handgun Control, Jim and Sarah Brady's national gun control organization, in the 1990s, we studied everything the NRA did. We wanted to know exactly how they thought, what their tactics were to sneak through legislation, and who their go-to people were when they needed something done. After a while, we were almost able to predict what their next move would be -- which helped us out-fox them and pass the Brady Bill, assault weapons ban, and ban on large clips...........

The Thune Amendment allowing National Reciprocity for handgun permit holders is up for Senate vote this afternoon. Contact your Senator to give your support for it. This Amendment to a Defense bill will allow national reciprocity of handgun permits. They would be recognized the way that individual state's driver's licenses are recognized in other states. If a person has a valid state permit and travels to another state that allows a similar permit, then his home state permit is recognized in the other state. Some states already have reciprocity. This simply expands reciprocity to other states. It does not create...

The number of knife deaths in areas targeted by an anti-knife crime scheme has risen, the Home Office has said. ...snip... The Home Office-led Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) was triggered by a series of high-profile teenage stabbings. Police have stepped up searches and patrols in knife crime hotspots and are running courses to highlight the dangers of carrying the weapons.

On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to vote on the latest assault on public safety in the name of gun ownership. Introduced as an amendment to the military’s budget bill by Senator John Thune, a Republican of South Dakota, this radical measure would nullify the laws of almost every state, subjecting police officers to greater risk and increasing the potential for gun violence. Nearly all states issue licenses to carry concealed firearms, but the criteria for granting such permits vary widely, and it is now, sensibly, up to each state to decide whether to accept another state’s permits. At least...

WASHINGTON -- Out-of-staters visiting New York could be allowed to legally carry concealed firearms under a measure up for debate in the Senate today. New York Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, said yesterday he would pull out all the stops to kill the amendment, calling the proposal "simply appalling." The legislation, offered by South Dakota Republican John Thune, would allow gun owners to carry their weapons across state lines if they have a valid permit in their home state. The amendment is considered unlikely to pass.

The guns-everywhere-guns-for-all crowd in Congress is at it again. This time it's Sen. John Thune's turn. The South Dakota Republican has attached an amendment to the Defense Department authorization bill that would create a national standard for carrying concealed weapons. Those who are permitted to have them in their home states would be allowed to travel with them to almost any other state. We urge senators to vote no when it comes up for a vote Monday.... None of this, including existing reciprocity agreements among some of the states, will matter if Mr. Thune's amendment passes. It would make concealed-carry...

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- The biggest importer of small arms in the world isn't a rogue or war-torn nation. It's us, the United States.According to a report out this month, we are the largest exporter of small arms too, making America the largest small-arms dealer in the world. The annual Small Arms Survey says the U.S. "continues to drive the global small-arms trade, remaining the largest importer of pistols and revolvers, sporting shotguns and small-caliber ammunition." Indeed, greater demand for small arms in the United States was responsible for 48% of the worldwide increase in imports from 2000 to...

PORT ALLEN, LA (WAFB) - A mother is counting her blessings after her ten-year-old son defended himself and his younger sister against three people who broke into their apartment. Late Tuesday, West Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies received a call to a Port Allen apartment complex after several shots rang out from inside one of the apartments. "You are out here trying to work and for someone to come and do that and invade your home is very hard," the children's mother said. She asked to not be identified. Deputies say Dean Favron and Roderick Porter knocked several times on...

FROM:Dr. Michael S. Brown of Vancouver, WA TOPIC:"NEGROES WITH GUNS" 12/29/01 12:22:27 The year was 1957. Monroe, North Carolina, was a rigidly segregated town where all levels of white society and government were dedicated to preserving the racial status quo. Blacks who dared to speak out were subject to brutal, sadistic violence. It was common practice for convoys of Ku Klux Klan members to drive through black neighborhoods shooting in all directions. A black physician who owned a nice brick house on a main road was a frequent target of racist anger. In the summer of 1957, a Klan...

Congress continues to do the gun lobby's lethal bidding, delivering a bipartisan boost in a House committee to a reckless proposal that would allow residents of public housing projects to keep guns in their homes. The measure would endanger projects in major cities that have adopted the common sense precaution of declaring public housing to be no-gun zones. The gun amendment was perversely attached to a much-needed measure widening access to Section 8 subsidized housing for families hard pressed in the current recession. Why these families should be forced to face this latest duck-and-cover mischief from the gun lobby is...

In fact, AP writer Julie Davis describes it as, "Sotomayor pushes back hard." Isn't that special? Sotomayor even told the Senators that she is no gun-grabbing extremist, adding that "one of her godchildren is a member of the National Rifle Association and she has friends who hunt." That should satisfy even the most hard-core, bitter-clingers. Not. Actually, I wasn't aware that the GOP had been pushing Sotomayor at all.... Jabbing a bit, maybe, but as always, refusing to throw a body punch. Certainly nothing like Sen Biden's slimy example of hackery during the Clarence Thomas hearings. It's simply unexplainable to...

Do those who carry a gun for self defense belong here? (photo of prison cell) Agree to disagree. Live and let live, right? This is the attitude of most people in Atlanta today about controversial topics. We all can disagree and yet still get along. Does this philosophy hold up when applied to the "gun control" debate? I think not. It does from my side of the argument. I carry a gun every day. I enjoy shooting guns, and I am competent at doing so. I also view my gun as a necessary tool that might save my life or...

In Russia and Italy this week, President Obama is taking steps on nuclear weapons and climate change that are in line with his pledge to rebuild U.S. alliances around the world. It's a window on what we could see in the next four to eight years: The birth of new treaties and the revival of old ones that have long been stalled, some for decades. This shift was a cornerstone of Obama's campaign. He made it clear that he sees international laws and institutions as potential "pillars of U.S. policy and influence as opposed to constraints that hinder and hobble...

Big lies die slowly. After a claim by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that 90% of Mexican drug dealers' military weapons (machine guns, hand grenades and missiles) come from American gun stores was exposed as a lie several months ago, it's back — this time with the imprimatur of the Government Accountability Office.A June 21 CBS "60 Minutes" report by Anderson Cooper was clearly coordinated to coincide with release of the GAO report and a similar one by "activist" Josh Sugarmann. You are likely to soon hear and read that the GAO report commissioned by Rep. Eliot...

A sunbathing session in western Sweden took a sinister turn on Friday when a teenage girl in Lidköping attempted to strangle her cousin with a bikini top. Two cousins, both 17-year-old girls, began fighting with each other on Friday in Lidköping in western Sweden. One girl attempted to strangle the other by pulling her cousin's bikini top up around her neck and pulling it tight. She also reportedly bit and threatened to kill the other girl, according to Nya Lidköpings-Tidningen newspaper. The girl was arrested for attempted murder, but was later transferred to a juvenile facility.

A genuine outbreak of 2nd Amendment appreciation in Gaffney, South Carolina as residents are confronted by a Serial Killer who has murdered 5 people in six days. Perhaps the killer will hear the sound of gunfire as people target practice with their newly acquired weapons to prepare for his visit.

When a Leftist lunatic shot up the Holocaust Museum we heard predictable whines about the “need for SOMETHING to be done.” The Left’s preferred “something” is often a total ban on private ownership of handguns something we know is wrong on many levels. Writing “estrogen driven” laws against legal firearms procession is bad business. The clearest example of why it is bad, is the almost total ban on personal gun ownership rushed into law by the United Kingdom after a gruesome multiple homicide/ suicide involving handguns at a school. Dunblane Massacre On March 13, 1996 the United Kingdom received shocking...

In light of all that is going on in America today and in other parts of the world Iran for example this is a must watch video. Thankfully the people of Honduras have an honorable Military who ousted their would be Dictator who the obamageddon supports (talk about a world gone mad!) and I having served would like to think that our own Military would behave honorably as well however in perilous times and with Nazi Napolitano in charge having labeled Veterans and citizens opposing the tax and spend policies or illegal aliens as terrorists and not knowing what information...

Massachusetts' Liberals are celebrating the 4th of July weekend by planning to pass legislation to ban public access to firearms training. Since no one in MA can go to their chief of police to beg for a MA LTC without completing training, this is another way to ban firearms ownership in MA without violating Heller. They are undoubtedly laughing it up over this one on Beacon Hill. Pay attention. This is part of Obama's test plan to end private firearms ownership in the U.S. (Patrick was reportedly on the team that helped train ACORN to "win" the 2008 election).

Welcome to Shreveport: Your rights are now suspended. According to Cedric Glover, mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, his cops "have a power that [. . .] the President of these Unites States does not have": His cops can take away your rights. And would you like to guess which rights he has in mind? Just ask Shreveport resident Robert Baillio, who got pulled over for having two pro-gun bumper stickers on the back of his truck -- and had his gun confiscated. While the officer who pulled him over says Baillio failed to use his turn signal, the only questions he...

Legislation introduced by veteran anti-gun New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg is designed to expand his gun prohibition agenda under the cloak of national security, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said. Sen. Lautenberg’s new “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009” would place unprecedented authority in the hands of the Attorney General to deny someone their Second Amendment rights without having been convicted, or even charged, with any crime. Instead, under this legislation, someone whose name is added – for whatever reason – to a terrorist watch list can suddenly find himself...

Welcome to Shreveport: Your rights are now suspended. According to Cedric Glover, mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, his cops "have a power that [. . .] the President of these Unites States does not have": His cops can take away your rights. And would you like to guess which rights he has in mind? Just ask Shreveport resident Robert Baillio, who got pulled over for having two pro-gun bumper stickers on the back of his truck -- and had his gun confiscated. While the officer who pulled him over says Baillio failed to use his turn signal, the only questions he...

Anti-gun book reviews hide an agenda June 26, 7:51 AM · David Codrea - Gun Rights Examiner  Courtesy Oleg Volk, A Human Right I wasn't going to say anything about Joshua Horwitz and Casey Anderson's new book Guns, Democracy and the Insurrectionist Idea. First, because I've seen the ideas they're promoting and I think they're...mistaken, and secondly because I see no reason to publicize efforts by people who are working to subvert my rights. Besides, I've engaged with Horwitz before, and quite honestly, I found him to be...disagreeable. I'm being polite. The idea that the Framers did not view...