Free Republic

Alabama wife shot by police after she guns down husband in self-defense: cops BY DOYLE MURPHY An Alabama woman blasted her crazed husband in self-defense — and then was shot in the hip by a cop, authorities said. Lisa Skinner was still holding a shotgun on Sunday evening when she spun to face a Huntsville police officer, who opened fire when she didn’t immediately drop the weapon, police said. “The whole situation was just unfortunate for everyone involved,” police spokesman Lt. Darryl Lawson told the Daily News.

NORWOOD, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — A coyote attack in Norwood, N.J. has residents on edge. Stephen Sinisi said he was walking his dog, Raleigh, near the woods on McClellan Street and D’Ercole Court after 9 p.m. Sunday when he saw what he thought was a stray dog approaching.“I was walking back and what looked like a dog approaching me,” Sinisi told CBS2’s Meg Baker. “Then we got closer I was like, ‘No, this is not a stray dog,’” he told 1010 WINS’ Rebecca Granet. Sinisi was attacked as he tried to get his dog back into the house.

Target shooters at the 27 1/4 Road range could find themselves with military company about four times a year. Soldiers with Company C of 1st Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, headquartered in Grand Junction, will qualify at the range in the use of small arms, under an agreement with the Colorado National Guard and the Bureau of Land Management. Charlie Company soldiers now qualify on arms smaller than an M 240 Bravo — a machine gun — at a range in Fort Carson. “It’s a five-hour bus ride in good weather and a $5,000 round-trip proposition,” said Lt. Col. Brey Hopkins,...

On Friday, the New York Times stated, in a blaring headline, that my support for Second Amendment rights is “strange.” In particular, the writer took issue with my statement that “”the Second Amendment to the Constitution isn’t for just protecting hunting rights, and it’s not only to safeguard your right to target practice. It is a constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny — for the protection of liberty.” In addition to “strange,” the NYT described this view as “ridiculous,” “silly,” and “absurd” (methinks the...

Texas is poised to become the largest state in the U.S. to allow citizens to openly carry handguns, a change long sought by gun-rights activists. The Texas House of Representatives on Friday voted 96-35 to allow residents with concealed-handgun licenses to openly carry their guns in public in holsters. A similar open-carry measure passed the Texas Senate last month; the two open-carry bills must be squared before being sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has indicated support for the idea. In contrast to its reputation for being permissive on firearms, Texas is one of six states, including California, New...

Yesterday was a good day for gun rights in Minnesota. A bipartisan group of Representatives at the State Capitol passed several bills protecting and enhancing the Second Amendment. Bills enhancing the Second Amendment include: ⦁ Emergency Powers Act ⦁ (HF 722) - Protects private property rights by prohibiting government officials from confiscating firearms during a declared state of emergency.

Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder expressing deep concerns over Veterans Affairs evaluations classifying veterans as "mentally defective" and banning them in the federal background check system from purchasing or owning a firearm. According to Grassley's office, the VA "reports individuals to the gun ban list if an individual merely needs financial assistance managing VA benefits," keeping them from exercising their Second Amendment rights. (Bolding is mine) "The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is effectively a national gun ban list and placement on the list precludes...

Country fans were outraged and on April 16, Currington announced he was pulling out of the concert. According to the International Business Times (IBI), the gun control concert got the wrong kind of exposure when Breitbart News reported that concert beneficiary Sandy Hook Promise “is a vehicle through which various relatives of Sandy Hook victims have joined to push gun control until it passes.” Currington announced his decision to pull out via Facebook:

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A seventh police officer invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Thursday in the voluntary manslaughter trial of fellow Cleveland officer Michael Brelo. Officer Erin O'Donnell, who participated in the Nov. 29, 2012 police chase and shootings that resulted in charges against Brelo, entered the courtroom with her attorney, Mark Stanton. Prosecutors asked her if she had told investigators the "whole story" of what happened on the night of Nov. 29, 2012, at which point O'Donnell invoked her Fifth Amendment right. After brief discussion, Judge John P. O'Donnell agreed that since the officer was present and fired...

Veterans, Dependents Account for Disproportionate Share of ‘Mental Defective’ Category on Gun Ban List Apr 15, 2015 WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is requesting an explanation for why nearly all of the names on the Justice Department’s gun ban list in the “mental defective” category belong to veterans or their dependents. “It’s disturbing to think that the men and women who dedicated themselves to defending our freedom and values face undue threats to their fundamental Second Amendment rights from the very agency established to serve them. A veteran or dependent shouldn’t lose...

What Is the State of the U.S. Gun Business? By Marcelo Prince and Carlos A. Tovar After several years of strong sales to civilians worried about new regulations, big U.S. firearms makers have recently reported lower sales. The overall number of American households with guns is declining..

If anyone but a law enforcement official carries a gun into an Ann Arbor school, administrators will ask the person to leave and call the police. Under a new policy, a weapon such as a gun in a school constitutes an emergency. The Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education on Wednesday, April 15, unanimously voted to ban dangerous weapons, including guns, from school buildings and property. The vote approved three policies that outline the superintendent's ability to be able to close schools, cancel buses or student and staff events before, during and after school in the case of an...

.......“This community has to face the reality that the gun laws that this state has put forward over the last few years – as proud as it makes the governor and legislature feel – has resulted in more guns on the streets of the City of Milwaukee,” Barrett said. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said that the gun laws Barrett referenced actually deal with concealed carry permits. “There is zero evidence that concealed carry permits [have] led to an increase in guns on the streets,” Clarke said.

Check out this old toy gun commercial from the 1950s or '60s and compare it to how children who play with toy guns (or even their own food or fingers fashioned like a gun) are treated today. Do you think kids today are going to want to uphold their 2nd Amendment rights after they are terrorized and suspended or expelled by their schools for chewing a breakfast tart into an L-shape or being forced at age five to undergo a psych eval for bringing a Hello Kitty bubble gun to class? Others not included here are a kid who was...

While addressing some 4,000 NRA members on Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican now running for the White House, challenged other Republicans running for office to prove they "bled" standing for principle while fighting Barack Obama, the Washington Examiner reported Saturday. Cruz, Pau Bedard said, mocked candidates in past primaries for being all talk but no action."There are a lot of good men and women thinking about running in 2016 and we've been around the block before," Cruz said in a teleprompter-free speech that lasted nearly 20 minutes. "We understand that in a Republican primary and everyone stands up...

Nashville - Speaking from the 144th annual NRA Annual Meetings Friday afternoon, potential GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson attempted to clarify his stance on the Second Amendment. "For the record let me make it extremely clear that I am extremely pro-Second Amendment and that I would never allow anyone to tamper with that right," Carson said. "We will never let the right to keep and bear arms be removed from those [generations] who follow us in this great nation," he continued.

NASHVILLE — Before mentioning the National Rifle Association or even firearms at the gun rights group’s annual meeting in Nashville on Friday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, asked all the men and women in the audience who serve or have served in the armed forces to stand so they could be properly thanked. “Freedom. Endowed by our Creator. Defined by our Constitution, but defended each and every day by the men and women who proudly wear the uniform of these United States,” Walker began. He then asked anyone who is serving or has served in the military to stand...

Sen. Rand Paul wasn’t invited to speak at this weekend’s National Rifle Association annual convention because the Kentucky Republican is caught in the crossfire between competing gun-rights organizations. Top NRA officials are unhappy that Mr. Paul has for years lent his name to fundraising solicitations for the National Association for Gun Rights, a group that fashions itself a more conservative alternative to NRA. Mr. Paul’s aides have been told by the NRA he will be unwelcome to participate at NRA events as long as he remains affiliated with NAGR, according to people familiar with the conversation. Publicly, the NRA chalked...

The list of politicians appearing at the 2015 NRA annual meeting this weekend illustrates how the NRA has ceased being a gun rights group and has become little more than a puppet organization for the establishment wing of the Republican Party. The NRA-ILA Leadership Forum on Friday will include a number of political insiders with questionable records on guns, like Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal. Truly pro-freedom legislators like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Utah Senator Mike Lee were not invited. This comes after an election year where the NRA endorsed several establishment types (like Mitch McConnell and Thad Cochran)...

It is a decision law enforcement officials have to make in a split second. Is a weapon real or fake? Earlier this week Cleveland police officers were faced with this type of incident at Mercedes Cotner Park. With the orange tip removed, would you be able to tell a real gun from a fake? On Tuesday night a call came in for three juveniles flashing a gun. We’ve learned the boys complied with police orders and were taken home to their parents. Possible charges for a facsimile firearm are pending. So we are asking you, can you tell the difference?...