Free Republic

Those handy digital blueprints that enable anyone to 3D print gun parts or even a weapon from scratch could be under threat thanks to a new proposal from the State Department. A notice posted on June 3rd in a recent Federal Register show that some changes are being made to the International Traffic in Arms (ITAR) regulations. Hidden within the proposal, which restricts what gear, technology, and info can and cannot be exported out of the US, is a ban on posting schematics for 3D printed gun parts online. The ruling comes just a month after Cody Wilson and, his...

A court ruling striking down a Pennsylvania law that made it easier for gun-rights advocates like the National Rifle Association to challenge local gun ordinances is drawing strong reaction from both sides of the issue. A spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter says Thursday’s Commonwealth Court ruling that the law is unconstitutional will allow municipalities to pursue common-sense gun safety requirements. Sen. Daylin Leach is one of five Democrats who joined in the challenge of the law. He says municipalities that repealed their gun ordinances because of the law can now restore them. An attorney for four pro-gun groups dismisses...

In the wake of the Charleston shooting, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) are considering ways to renew their failed push to pass meaningful gun control legislation. In separate interviews Tuesday night at a reception before a ceremony hosted by Sandy Hook families to honor Toomey, they discussed their desire to find a new way forward. “We want to make sure we have the votes. Pat’s going to have to, and I’ll work with him, to get some of our colleagues on the Republican side,” Manchin said, adding he hasn’t talked directly to Toomey about a revival. Manchin...

So some selfish little moron has blown away nine people in a church in South Carolina. And predictably every blood-dancer from Barack Obama to Stephen King has already gone on a crusade to blame the gun. Never mind that the murderer was such a sociopathic creep that he killed those innocents despite observing that they were nice to him in the hour he sat praying with them. Never mind that the murderer was a racist pig. Never mind that he was a criminal with an existing record (nature of which is so far unknown). We’re about to be plunged into...

Following last week’s shooting in Charleston, White House press secretary Josh Earnest implied during his daily press briefing that Americans don’t need to own weapons that aren’t used for hunting. “You don’t need an assault rifle to go hunting,” Earnest said. “It’s not part of your family heritage.” SNIP------------------------------------- For starters, I’m not sure Earnest understands what an assault rifle is. The term “assault rifle” is not a catch-all to describe any gun you think is scary; it actually has a very specific meaning. The term “assault rifle” is almost always used to describe a selective fire weapon designed for...

President Obama continued pressing for change of the nation’s gun laws, which he argues would help stop mass shootings that he says have become all too frequent. He also signaled frustration with the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers for blocking his proposed legislative efforts. During an interview with the “WTF Podcast,” with Marc Maron, Obama complained that gun manufacturers reaped the benefits from shootings, based on the fear that the government would take away their guns. “Each time that these events occur, ironically, gun manufacturers make out like bandits, partly because of this fear that’s churned up that the...

n response to a spate of deadly shootings across the United States in recent days, President Barack Obama noted that gun violence is a far more drastic problem in the US than Israel. On Saturday evening, Obama tweeted: "Here are the stats: Per population, we kill each other with guns at a rate 297x more than Japan, 49x more than France, 33x more than Israel." .....

Longtime Democratic strategist Bob Shrum said on MSNBC Friday that he “cannot imagine the horror that could’ve unfolded” if churchgoers were armed during the recent massacre in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine people were slaughtered on Wednesday night after suspected gunman Dylann Roof allegedly opened fire in the historically black church. Only three people survived, including a grandmother who played dead and laid on top of her granddaughter to protect her. Roof reportedly had time to reload his gun several times. “I cannot imagine the horror that could’ve occurred if people were sitting around with concealed weapons, this thing started and...

Thursday while making a statement about the Charleston church shooting, President Barack Obama raised the issue of dealing with guns and gun violence. Transcript as follows: This morning, I spoke with Vice President Biden and with Mayor Joe Riley and other leaders of Charleston to express our deep sorrow over the senseless murders that took place last night. Michelle and I know several members of Emanuel AME church.

The blogosphere is sounding off about a pending new Obama policy that would impact not only the 2nd Amendment, but the 1st Amendment as well. As incredible as it seems, individuals would be in violation by “merely posting information on the Internet about common firearms” which “could be interpreted as illegally sharing sensitive information with foreign nationals” Applying issues related to “exporting” and “foreign nations” under an international treaty to individual on-line speech (under the guise of improperly sharing technical data about firearms) may seem like a stretch, but it is apparently what is happening, unless public opposition is voiced...

Commonly used and unregulated internet discussions and videos about guns and ammo could be closed down under rules proposed by the State Department, amounting to a "gag order on firearm-related speech," the National Rifle Association is warning. In updating regulations governing international arms sales, State is demanding that anyone who puts technical details about arms and ammo on the web first get the OK from the federal government — or face a fine of up to $1 million and 20 years in jail.According to the NRA, that would include blogs and web forums discussing technical details of common guns and...

The Justice Department plans move forward this year with more than a dozen new gun-related regulations, according to list of rules the agency has proposed to enact before the end of the Obama administration. The regulations range from new restrictions on high-powered pistols to gun storage requirements. Chief among them is a renewed effort to keep guns out of the hands of people who are mentally unstable or have been convicted of domestic abuse. Gun safety advocates have been calling for such reforms since the Sandy Hook school shooting nearly three years ago in Newtown, Conn. They say keeping guns...

The latest dispatch from the United Kingdom’s ongoing campaign to eliminate all forms of armed self-defense seems too incredible to be true. Unfortunately, after tracking down the origin of a publicly distributed statement regarding self-defense products on the country’s “Ask the Police” website, we can confirm that British subjects continue to live at the mercy of their potential attackers. Even to the point of baffling absurdity. The statement appears in the Frequently Asked Questions section of www.askthe.police.uk – a site that is operated by the Police National Legal Database. Information provided by the PNLD and its site are used by...

On June 2 HBO, MTV, and a host of celebrities will be joining Michael Bloomberg and other pro-gun control groups to watch participating mayors proclaim “Gun Violence Awareness Day” in their cities. Those participating will “wear orange” and MTV will “change its on-air logo — as well as several of its social media avatars — to orange in recognition of National Gun Violence Awareness Day.” According to PRNewsWire, participating celebrities–aka, “cultural influencers”–include: Julianne Moore, Russell Simmons, Sarah Silverman, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Aasif Mandvi,Alyssa Milano, Padma Lakshmi, John Hodgman, Amanda Peet, Perez Hilton, Melissa Joan Hart, Tiffani Thiessen, Tunde Adebimpe...

Potential GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and his daughter have donated “at least $105,000 to the Clinton Foundation,” The Hill reported Thursday. Contributions, per the Foundation website, “advance the work of any part of the Clinton Foundation, including the Clinton Global Initiative.”That would be the same group behind the Clinton Global Citizen Award, presented to anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg by Vice President Joe Biden for being the “most fierce and most effective advocate that we have on the matter of gun sanity.” And it’s hardly the first time Trump has come across as effectively bipolar on guns.“I love the NRA,...

Ever since the 2012 massacre at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Conn., gun-control advocates have worked hard to close so-called “loopholes” in background-check laws. Not all the efforts have been successful; gun-rights advocates say such measures are needlessly burdensome and do little to stop violent crime. But last year, Washington state residents voted to toughen the state’s background-check laws. And now the Oregon legislature has done the same. On Monday, the Oregon House voted 32-28 in support of Senate Bill 941, which requires background checks for all purchasers of guns through private sales. Currently, background checks in Oregon are...

Cherished family heirlooms were among the 21 firearms Michael Roberts surrendered to the Torrance Police Department in 2010, after his doctor filed a restraining order against him. The court order was the result of a dispute Roberts had with a member of the doctor’s staff and, after Roberts pleaded no contest, the matter was resolved. Yet, even though he filed the proper Law Enforcement Gun Release paperwork on four separate occasions, obtained clearance from the California Department of Justice and had two court orders commanding the return of his guns, police refused to hand them over. With the backing of...

One of the nation’s largest gun retailers will soon find out if it may continue to sell sporting rifles. Some investors have argued Wal-Mart shouldn’t be in the business of selling high-capacity magazine rifles.

Washington, D.C., will drop its appeal of a federal court ruling that overturned the city’s ban on carrying handguns in public, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Wednesday. City attorneys will instead focus on defending concealed-carry laws adopted by legislators in the months after U.S. District Court Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. declared the ban was unconstitutional. “We need to focus our energies not on litigating old laws, but defending new ones that our leaders enacted in good faith to comply with court rulings while still protecting public safety,” Mr. Racine said. Up until Judge Scullin’s ruling in July, D.C. residents...

Sarah Palin is an outspoken proponent of gun owners’ rights, but are her gun-friendly grandchildren at risk? After Bristol Palin’s fiancé, Dakota Meyer, and her baby daddy, Levi Johnston, both came under fire for posting photos of children with guns, RadarOnline.com spoke with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. A spokesperson warned the families that this is a “teachable moment” and they have a responsibility not to promote an “attitude of recklessness.”(Five-photo-slide-show)