Free Republic

According to a 2013 Pew Research study, 37 percent of households had an adult who owned a gun — 24 percent said they owned a gun, and 13 percent said someone else in their household did. There are about 319 million people in the United States, so that means there are about 118 milion gun owners in this nation. Mother Jones reports there have been 69 mass shootings in the last 30 years. The Washington Post says, a Congressional Research Service report published in 2013 counted 78 incidents over roughly the same period, in which 547 were killed.

While second amendment supporters have been watching the progress of the open carry and campus carry legislation in Texas, another bill with significant effects has passed the Senate, the House, and will likely by signed by Governor Abbott.  The legislation is SB 273, and it preempts the ability of most government entities to ban people who have concealed carry licenses from carrying weapons on most of their premises.   The bill passed 26 to 5 in the Senate, and 116 to 23 in the House.    There are significant exceptions.  Carry is banned in schools, polling places while voting...

Six people were killed and at least 23 others—including a 4-year-old girl—have been wounded in shootings across Chicago this Memorial Day weekend, police said. The 4-year-old, identified by her family as Jacele Johnson, was shot about 8 p.m. Friday in the West Englewood neighborhood. She and her 17-year-old cousin Romare Wilson were inside an SUV in the 7000 block of South Justine when another vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, according to their family and Chicago Police.The girl was shot in the head and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was in critical condition, authorities said. The...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Starting Thursday, the armed security guard at Panera Bread Co. across from Vanderbilt University will no longer be carrying a firearm. According to the manager at the 21st Avenue location, the decision comes after multiple patrons complained to corporate that the armed security agent was violating the company’s own gun policy and making them uncomfortable. One of those who complained was Lillian Hallstrand, a long-time customer of the Panera on 21st. The Director of Stewardship and Vocational Planning at Vanderbilt’s divinity school told news 2 coming to the restaurant in recent months has been unsettling since...

The University of Maryland, Baltimore and numerous downtown businesses closed early Monday, citing concerns about potentially violent activity in the area. Lexington Market, a city courthouse and businesses including T. Rowe Price and Venable LLP said police warned them of large gatherings and protests downtown. According to widely circulated flier, a high school "purge" was to take place at 3 p.m., starting at Mondawmin and ending downtown. Such memes have been known to circulate regularly, but today's has led to bolstered police presence around the city. The flier includes an image of protesters smashing the windshield of a police car...

Wyoming seemed posed to repeal many of the gun free zones that have accumulated in the state over years of special pleadings, especially by the powerful education lobby.  HB0114 passed the house with an overwhelming 42 to 17 vote.  With a lopsided 26 Republicans to 4 Democrats in the Senate, the bill seemed assured of quick passage.  John Lott gave testimony in the Senate; his testimony was considered to be extremely effective. However, the Machiavellian politics of legislatures quickly became apparent.  Instead of the bill being assigned to the Judiciary committee, as was done in the House, it was...

Bloomberg's argument here is that the bill to allow concealed handgun permit holders to carry on school property is really an attempt to let criminals carry guns around schools. The fact that people will need a permit that requires a criminal background check is never mentioned. So what is the rate that permit holders cause problems? It is very, very rare. . . .

ecurity: A video by Somalia's al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab group warns Minnesota's Mall of America may be a repeat of a 2013 mall attack in Kenya. The Second Amendment may be our best defense against terrorism. The immense Mall of America in Bloomington would indeed make an inviting target for jihadists intent on martyrdom. Its 520 stores, the most of any mall in the world, attracts 40 million people annually and is a global tourist destination. It's as inviting a target and as much of an iconic symbol of Western capitalism and culture as was the World Trade Center on Sept. 11,...

A Somali affiliate of al Qaeda has called for attacks against Western shopping malls, which they see as soft targets.   The call for attacks was seen in a video celebrating the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.  From ibtimes.com: “If just a handful of mujahedeen [militant jihadists] fighters could bring Kenya to a complete standstill for nearly a week, just imagine what the dedicated mujahedeen could do in the West to American or Jewish shopping centers across the world,” a masked gunman says toward the end of the video. “What if such an attack were to...

Arizona representatives have introduced a bill to require 'gun free zones' in public buildings to have teeth.   If the public officials are not willing to insure that the buildings actually prevent people from bringing guns into them, then people who are licensed to carry concealed weapons will not be required to disarm, merely by 'gun free' signs.  The theory is simple.  Mere signage will not stop people who have evil intent from carrying concealed weapons into public buildings.   By placing signage, but without significant enforcement mechanisms, the signs effectively screen out the most law abiding, while doing little to...

A bill repealing most of the gun free zones in the state for concealed carry permit holders passed the house on a 42-17 vote.   The main sponsor of the bill, Allen Jaggi, R-Lyman, said that it is a public safety issue.  Most of the Republican supports reemphasized that point.  From reuters.com: Backers of the Wyoming bill argued it would increase the safety of children enrolled in Wyoming’s 48 school districts by allowing school employees, from teachers to janitors, to be armed in class and on campus grounds. Supporters pointed to the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, where a...

The two French police officers, who both lost their lives in the effort to prevent the Charlie Hebdo attackers from executing their grim mission, are heroes. Their sacrifice in defense of their fellow citizens is beyond noble, and their bravery will be remembered in the coming days. It is not a knock on Parisian police but French domestic policy to note and criticize the fact that the first responders who arrived at the scene on bicycles and without defensive weaponry were entirely unprepared to face an ongoing attack by murderous, AK-47-wieldling Islamist gunmen. The first police to arrive at...

Police officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio as he walked into the police press conference about the two NYPD officers shot and killed execution-style in Brooklyn.

A handful of families impacted by the Sandy Hook school shooting have decided to ease their grief by suing the manufacturer of AR style rifles. Obviously, a little unnecessary litigation is the most effective way to right the wrongs of a madman. According to CNBC: Ten families touched by the Newtown massacre filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against companies that made, distributed and sold the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle that Adam Lanza used to kill 20 children and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary two years ago. The suit argues that the gun is a military assault weapon that never...

HOUSTON - Two people were killed early Saturday morning after deputies say four men tried to rob a bar in northwest Harris County. Four men with guns went into EJ's Place on Kuykendahl and Colwell roads around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Deputies said when they tried to rob the bar, one of the customers pulled out a gun and opened fire, killing two of the suspects. The other two alleged robbers left the scene. The customer who pulled the trigger also left before law enforcement arrived. Deputies are now trying to locate him.

A criminal justice instructor at Technology Center of DuPage in Addison accidentally discharged a handgun during class Friday afternoon, striking a file cabinet and hollow wall, officials said....

<p>Dr. John Edeen, above spoke as part of a panel on targeting "Gun Free Zones".   Dr. Edeen was not always part of the gun culture.   He grew up in New Jersey, but now practices medicine in San Antonio, Texas.</p> <p>He started taking colleagues shooting, and talking about the dangerous "gun free" policy of the hospital where he works.   He ran into considerable opposition, but over the course of time, he has converted many.   He says that he has obtained over 400 signatures from coworkers on a petition for the Hospital to change its policy.</p>

Officials from Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department confirmed late Monday that a 31-year-old Utah man had been killed by a bear. ... A release from the Wyoming wildlife agency said Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan "indicated the pathologist’s preliminary report stated the individual suffered blunt force trauma from a probable bear bite." Evidence collected at the site is being analyzed to try to determine if the bear that attacked Stewart was a grizzly or a black bear. ... Hunter said there are high densities of grizzly and black bears in the drainage where the body was found and there were...

Lorna Weafer, the 36-year-old Suncor instrument technician who was mauled and killed by a black bear ... Weafer was on her way back to work from a washroom when she was attacked by a large, male black bear while working at a Suncor oilsands site north of Fort McMurray, Alta., around 2 p.m. on Wednesday. She was declared dead on the scene. ... Mike Ewald, an investigator with Alberta Fish and Wildlife, said Weafer’s co-workers tried to scare the bear off using fire extinguishers, a water cannon and air horn — “all general things that should scare it off,” Ewald...

In a previous article I wrote about the improper signage at the Meteor Crater rest stop in Arizona.   At the first stop, I failed to obtain a picture. The rest stop is a member of a pair of rest stops as is often seen; one on each side of the freeway.   On the return trip, I stopped at the sister rest area to see if it had the bad signage as well.   It did.  The sign appeared to be identical with the sign that I recalled on the South side of I-40. Note the location of the prohibition on...