Free Republic

This seems like a question for which the answer wouldn't matter much. Why should we care? But, sometimes things turn out to be more important than we can imagine. As will be explained later on this topic and in others at the site and to be added to it, this matter of determining how many of us own guns turns out to be one that is vitally important, not so much because of the number itself but because of the important facts that the quest brings out. THE NUMBER OF GUNS Nobody knows precisely how many guns there are in...

Today, the Michigan House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to repeal the state handgun “permit-to-purchase” and registration requirements. House Bill 5225 passed in the state House by a 74 to 36 vote. HB 5225 would repeal the bureaucratic state “permit-to-purchase” handguns and instead utilize the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. House Bill 5498 and House Bill 5499 also passed in the state House along with HB 5225. These three bills now go to the state Senate where they will be assigned to the appropriate committees. HB 5225, sponsored by state Representative Paul Opsommer (R-93), which became obsolete when the...

Our fearless leader suggested that I take a look at the flip side of the anti’s latest attack on our freedoms (a recycled strategy from the Clinton-era Public Health model of gun control): the monetary cost of gun violence. For example, the Center for American Progress touted the “fact” that the Virginia Tech massacre cost taxpayers $48.2 million (including autopsy costs and a fine against Virginia Tech for failing to get their skates on when the killer started shooting). It’s one of the antis’ favorite tricks: cost benefit analysis omitting the benefit side of the equation. So what are the...

The truest of conservative political pundits argue that, as a Presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is just Obama in a Reagan suit—and, thus, even as the longstanding frontrunner in the primary, he can’t seem to close the deal on getting the nomination. To this point, most of the critical attention he’s receiving has to do with his record on social issues. But, as Larry Pratt, executive director of the Gun Owners of America (GOA), points out, Romney’s moderate inclinations and flip-flopping habits are converging on the conservative staple issue of gun rights—leaving folks like Pratt very concerned. In...

Looking past the Romney win in Florida, what do the next primary races look like for candidates espousing Second Amendment rights? The four remaining GOP candidates are spending millions of dollars tearing each other apart for the chance to take on President Obama in November. But while all eyes are on the Republican presidential primary, Gun Owners of America (GOA) also has to prepare for something that American gun owners don’t even want to think about; the possibility of a second Obama term. Think about it. A second term for Obama means he will be unencumbered with thoughts about reelection....

True or false: Federal law dictates felons lose their right to bear arms. True. True or false: Felons can get those rights back, even those convicted of murder. Also true. In fact, in some states a judge can reinstate those rights without review; in other states, gun rights are automatically restored after felons complete their sentence. In Washington state alone, The New York Times reports that “since 1995, more than 3,300 felons and people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors have regained their gun rights," 13 percent of whom committed new crimes. The breakdown occurs at the intersection of state and...

Nearly three years into President Obama’s first term in office, Michelle Obama finally said something with which I can agree. At a recent fundraiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign in Providence, Rhode Island, the first lady told her audience: “We stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country. You’re here because you know that in just 13 months, we’re going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come … let’s not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices … let’s not forget the impact that their decisions will...

A House panel unanimously approved a measure that would allow business owners, managers or employees to defend themselves when they have a reasonable fear they face death or great bodily harm. Rep. Steve Vaughan, R-Ponca City, said he filed the measure partly because of the publicity over a pharmacist being charged with first-degree murder after shooting a masked robber six times in May 2009 inside an Oklahoma City pharmacy. Vaughan said his measure, House Bill 1439, is patterned after Oklahoma’s Make My Day Law, which allows a homeowner to use deadly force against someone who has unlawfully and forcibly entered...

Gun owners are the Navi ('the People'); whose history, tradition and culture are under fire. The anti-gunners, who would have the machine-like, all-powerful State control every aspect of life, are the heartless mercenaries who would obediently bulldoze the Tree of Liberty in their blind quest for an unobtainable state controlled utopia.

WEEKNIGHTS at 9 ET on BLOG TALK RADIOPROGRAM SCHEDULE Next Show: Thursday, April 16 at 9 pm ET. THE ANDREA SHEA KING SHOW - TONIGHT AT 9 ET. Pour yourself a stiff one. Preferably straight up. Haven’t you gotten the memo? The War on Terror has been won! Now the Obama administration has a new enemy in its sights: Right-wing Extremists! But exactly who are these extremists? Can we really believe that we are being told to be more suspicious of each other as law-abiding Americans, rather than on the alert against the true enemies of our country? Is our...

Thanks to you, a bill expanding gun control on federal land was narrowly defeated Wednesday morning, March 11. The Omnibus Public Lands Act of 2009, S. 22, would have drastically increased the amount of land controlled by the National Park Service, thus subjecting such land to the anti-gun regulations of the agency. The bill was brought to the floor of the U.S. House on what is known as the "suspension calendar." This calendar is normally reserved for non-controversial bills. As such, any bill being passed under the suspension calendar requires a two-thirds majority of those voting. In this case, the...

I was talking to a friend of mine last night, who happens to be a lawyer, and he made a comment about how much people's values have changed in this country in the last hundred years or so. In particular, he was talking about the "us vs. them" mentality that people tend to get when it comes to the police. There was a time when everyone took responsibility not only for their own safety, but for the safety of their communities as well. Although, that was also a time when support for guns and religion was respected, not a punchline...

TONIGHT AT 9 ET on THE ANDREA SHEA KING SHOW Own a gun? You're probably among most gun owners who are concerned about what the Barack Obama presidency will mean for our 2nd Amendment protections. Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America (GOA), shares your concern. Of particular interest is Eric Holder, Barack Obama’s choice for Attorney General. Pratt does not consider Holder to be in support of the second amendment. "The President's choice for U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, is an anti-gun extremist who has assailed gun owners since his days in the Bill Clinton administration."BANG! Holder...

The Obama administration, cited by many Georgia gun owners as the reason they applied for concealed-carry permits last year, supports restrictions on certain kinds of guns and certain kinds of gun sales. Brundage said Obama supports reviving the expired ban on assault weapons and making it permanent. And he backs closing the “gun show loophole,” ... Obama said: “This has been peddled again and again. Here’s what I believe … people have the right to bear arms. But I also believe there is nothing wrong with some common-sense gun safety measures.”

Senate Republicans have invited the son of man killed in a 1975 Puerto Rican nationalist bombing as well as a former FBI agent who investigated two violent groups supporting Puerto Rican independence to appear at Eric Holder’s confirmation hearings. In particular, they question Holder’s role in President Clinton’s 2001 pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich as well as Holder’s involvement in Clinton’s 1999 decision to grant clemency to 16 violent Puerto Rican nationalists. To drive home those questions, Republicans have arranged for Joseph F. Connor, whose father was killed in the Jan. 24, 1975, bombing of Fraunces Tavern in New...

.O. Woman Gets New Gun To Replace One Taken During Katrina By The confiscated gun has yet to be returned, says Cong. Steve Scalise and the Gun Owners of America Wednesday, October 22, 2008 A New Orleans woman whose gun was confiscated by law enforcement officers in the days after Katrina, and who was injured during the incident at her home, got a brand new 38-caliber revolver Wednesday, courtesy of the Gun Owners of America. 61-year-old Patricia Konie says getting a new gun is a great idea because now she's more afraid of police than she was before. Konie says...

With Virginia as a battleground state in the 2008 election and given Democrat Barack Obama's damaging gaffe earlier this year about rural voters clinging "to guns or religion", a new gaffe by another Democrat should be worthy of media attention. It remains to be seen if the mainstream media will even notice. (h/t Reformed Chicks Blabbing) Running to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Republican John Warner, former Gov. Mark Warner (no relation) has a healthy lead in recent polls and the admiration of a pliant media. Yet an audio recording of Warner at a Democratic Party gathering caught...

"Hearing a loud noise and interrupting his speech, Huckabee said: "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he—he dove for the floor."

Preparing to hear oral arguments Tuesday on the extent of gun rights guaranteed by the Constitution's Second Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has before it a brief signed by Vice President Cheney opposing the Bush administration's stance. Even more remarkably, Cheney is faithfully reflecting the views of President George W. Bush. The government position filed with the Supreme Court by U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement stunned gun advocates by opposing the breadth of an appellate court affirmation of individual ownership rights. The Justice Department, not the vice president, is out of order. But if Bush agrees with Cheney, why did...

[Barack Obama will have a big problem attracting the blue-collar Democrat voters he needs to win the presidency - they like guns and he wants to take them away.] As she clawed for survival against Barack Obama in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary this past weekend, Hillary Clinton lamely asserted her Second Amendment bona fides over that of her rival by claiming that she once shot a duck in Arkansas. As pathetic a pander as that tale was, it did serve to point out one gaping weakness in the armor of the Illinois senator, a man who must rely on blue-collar white...