Free Republic

In a staggering twist of logic, the father of Umpqua Community College killer Christopher Harper-Mercer is blaming guns, rather than his son, for the bloody killing spree that ended with nine innocent people dead. In an interview with CNN, Ian Mercer claims he doesn’t blame guns, then spends much of the interview refuting that assertion. Mercer does not indicate that he believes his son was solely responsible for the massacre. "That's what guns are," he stated. "The killers. It's as simple as that. It's black and white."

They really are coming for your guns . . . After the Charleston church shootings, President Obama praised Australia's draconian gun laws, which included a mandatory buy-back program, AKA confiscation. On today's Morning Joe, Mika wondered "why" we couldn't institute a similar gun ban in the United States, throwing in support for a database of all gun ownership for good measure. Joe Scarborough was actually obliged to explain to Mika that her gun ban was never going to happen because we have the Second Amendment here. That left Mika grimacing in regret [see the screengrab]. View the video here.

Linda Stasi, a columnist for the New York Daily News, has a unique proposal to share with her readers. She thinks the NRA should be listed on the State Department terrorist list because they are responsible for thousands of gun deaths over the last few years. Sheesh.One terrorist group is responsible for more civilian deaths since December 2012 (the Sandy Hook massacre) than Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hamas and the Taliban. Yet it is the only nearly-state sponsored terrorist group that is not listed by the U.S. State Department as such. It is the National Rifle Association and for...

Calling the latest school shooting in southwest Oregon a “terrible, heartbreaking” tragedy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is once again pushing the federal government to enact stricter gun control laws. “The shooting earlier today at Umpqua Community College is the latest in a series of terrible, heartbreaking tragedies resulting from gun violence. … No one should suffer the pain of losing someone they love to gun violence, although it happens all too often,” Cuomo said in a statement, offering his condolences to the families of the reported 13 killed and 20 injured after a gunman opened fire at a community college earlier...

A visibly frustrated President Obama offered condolences to the victims of the mass shooting at an Oregon college on Thursday, but he added that "our thoughts and prayers are not enough" to stem an epidemic of mass shootings in the United States. Having now spoken after 15 such senseless killings during his administration, Obama again called for "common sense" legislation aimed at preventing gun violence, and he mocked opponents of past initiatives he has pushed. "Each time this happens, I'm going to bring this up," Obama said during emotional remarks in the White House press room. Obama said he has...

On September 14, Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley indicated that gun control is part of his plan for restoring the “American dream.” O’Malley pledged that his gun control policies are designed to “[cut] all deaths from gun violence in half—homicides, suicides, and accidents—within 10 years.”

Second Amendment groups are accusing the gun control lobby of putting law-abiding owners of firearms in danger by urging people to call the police on anyone carrying a gun in public. As more states relax rules about open-carrying of guns, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has taken to social media to urge the public to assume gun-toters are trouble, and to call the cops on anyone they feel may be a threat.

Give Josh Barro credit for candor. When it comes to guns, the New York Times correspondent makes no bones about the kind of draconian, Second Amendment-defying approach he thinks is necessary. Forget about expanded background checks or other such measures. The only way to have a "big impact on violent crime," according to Barro, is to emulate Australia and "really take away massive amounts of guns that people have, reduce the rate of gun ownership substantially." View the video here.

Hours after the shooting deaths of two Roanoke reporters on live television, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe called for more gun control. […] “It goes back to what I’ve talked about for a long time,” McAuliffe said. “There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have guns.” …

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) stated, “there are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have guns. This is why I’ve long advocated for background checks” in an interview on the shooting of a reporter and a cameraman on Washington DC’s WTOP radio, portions of which were broadcast on Wednesday’s “CNN Newsroom.”

On August 13 Florida League of Women Voters (FLWV) Gun Safety Committee chair Patti Brigham will hold a conference for leaders who oppose arming women and other law-abiding citizens on college campuses for self-defense. Brigham’s conference comes as Florida state senator Greg Evers (R-Baker) and representative Greg Steube (R-Sarasota) prepare to renew their push for women with concealed carry permits to be able to carry guns on college campuses for self-defense. Evers and Stuebe both offered bills that would have allowed women to arm themselves in 2015, and both bills were defeated by opposition from gun control groups geared toward...

The legal profession is full of blowhards, egomaniacs, hypocrites, and elitists, but even so, rarely are all those qualities present in a single individual to the same degree as in Alan Dershowitz. At age 28, Dershowitz became the youngest full professor of law in history with his appointment at Harvard. And, yes, it went to his head. He has written that he “does not hide behind the distorting shield of false humility” and has even suggested things might have gone differently for Jesus if he had been there to represent him. When not busy indoctrinating impressionable law students in his...

A Florida gun shop owner declared his store a "Muslim-free zone" in a video posted to Facebook this weekend. “I will not arm and train those who wish to harm,” Florida Gun Supply owner Andy Hallinan said in the video. Hallinan told FOX 13 that he understands that the majority of Muslims are not radical extremists, but that he believes Islam’s core foundation is evil. “The political correctness situation in America means that you know if somebody like me speaks out against Islam, I have to worry about CAIR or other organizations coming after me and calling me a bigot...

Seeking tighter controls over firearm purchases, the Obama administration is pushing to ban Social Security beneficiaries from owning guns if they lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs, a move that could affect millions whose monthly disability payments are handled by others. The push is intended to bring the Social Security Administration in line with laws regulating who gets reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, which is used to prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, immigrants in the country illegally and others. A potentially large group within Social Security are people who,...

There are dumb complaints from the anti-gun crowd, there are some really dumb complaints from the anti-gun crowd… and then there’s this complaint from Rita Richardson. She was going through her Sunday morning circulars, and spotted something on sale at JC Penny that outrageously outraged her. In outrageous fashion, mind you. She was so offended, she contacted the press (well, one does)…

What could be more patriotic on the Fourth of July than playing the Star-Spangled Banner with a Ruger 10/22? Chris Cheng demonstrates:

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...