Free Republic

CPRC’s op-ed in the Star-Ledger (the largest paper in New Jersey) starts this way: ut there is a reason that gun control supporters, such as Malloy, don’t provide evidence that Christie is factually in the wrong. There have been plenty of studies on assault weapon bans by criminologists and economists alike, but there isn’t any evidence that limiting magazine size helps fight crime. Take the work of two criminology professors, Chris Koper and Jeff Roth. They were hired by the Clinton administration to evaluate the original assault weapons ban, which limited magazines to 10 bullets. They found: “the evidence is...

Over the July 4 weekend, in Chicago alone, 16 people were shot to death and another 66 were wounded. At a press briefing on July 11, the White House weighed in, stating that Obama would "continue to make the case" that lawmakers should adopt new gun control laws. Two days later, on Sunday, Gov. Pat Quinn also called for more gun control, in particular a state ban on assault weapons, as the solution. But Chicago's problems lie with the city’s politicians. Nationally, police solve almost two out of every three murders – 63 percent of them. That figure is much...

It looks like four party goers happened upon some gang members. Fortunately, one of the victims had his permitted concealed handgun. This dramatic defensive gun use got attention in Chicago, but if the permit holder hadn’t been at the scene, having multiple victims shot would have made national news. From the Chicago Tribune: A Gresham man fired on a group of people leaving a party, only to be shot himself by one of the victims, a military service member with a concealed carry permit, authorities said. The military member and three others were leaving a party Friday night in the...

A dramatic spike in the number of Americans with permits to carry concealed weapons coincides with an equally stark drop in violent crime, according to a new study, which Second Amendment advocates say makes the case that more guns can mean safer streets. The study by the Crime Prevention Research Center found that 11.1 million Americans now have permits to carry concealed weapons, up from 4.5 million in 2007. The 146 percent increase has come even as both murder and violent crime rates have dropped by 22 percent. “When you allow people to carry concealed handguns, you see changes in...

In what’s being hailed by many as a victory for gun-control advocates, the recent Supreme Court decision on “straw” purchases of guns has completely muddled the whole issue of background checks and “straw” purchases for potential gun owners. The court ruled 5-4 that, as The Hill.com put it, “one legal gun owner may not acquire a firearm on behalf of another — a practice known as "straw" purchasing. The case heard by the high court involved a Virginia police officer, Bruce Abramski, who bought a gun, a Glock 19 handgun, for his uncle. The police officer, who could get a...

The NRA’s strong statement reprimanding a few people for carrying long guns into restaurants was bound to get media attention. Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action and much of the media quickly jumped in and described various restaurants as “asking customers to leave their guns at home.” But their assertions couldn’t be more misleading. The headline at USA Today saying “No Guns Inside” or at MSNBC and Huffington Post saying “No-Gun Policies” are simply wrong. A big deal has been made of Starbucks, Jack in the Box, Chipotle, Wendy's, Applebee's, Chili’s and Sonic’s supposed bans on guns, with Bloomberg’s groups declaring “victory.”...

The death-penalty debate goes on. After a piece that I wrote about the debate last week, National Review’s Charles C. W. Cooke wrote a response, followed later by a much stronger attack by the Washington Post’s Radley Balko. Cooke’s response was philosophical and drew a distinction between killing someone in self-defense and using the death penalty, though given the evidence that the death penalty deters murders and thus saves lives, that distinction isn’t as clear as he thinks. Balko, a blogger/reporter for the Washington Post, based his reply on empirical evidence. He puts a lot of faith in studies by...

Another multiple victim public shooting, yet another attack that occurred where guns are banned. Tuesday’s tragic attack at a FedEx facility in Cobb County, Georgia, left six people injured, with one still in critical condition. The media quickly rushed in with stories about an “assault rifle” being used in the attack. This claim was made everywhere, in stories including the New York Times, USA Today, CBS News and the BBC. But it wasn’t an “assault” weapon. The attack occurred with a shotgun. During the first two days of news coverage, there was a virtual complete media blackout on one of...

Economist and political commentator John Lott has once again been crunching numbers and in an article published this week for the National Review takes a look at how the Violence Policy Center “cooks the books” in an effort to prove the dangerousness of concealed carry permit holders.(see article for video and chart) However, the report fails to indicate how many of those killed resulted from an act of self-defense. And even self-defense killings are more often than not classified as homicides, simply meaning that the life of one person was taken by another person. And although sometimes these shootings are...

Gun control advocates have recently put hundreds of millions of dollars toward "public health" studies, with predetermined outcomes. These studies are beginning to find their way to the main stream media. Soon there will be an avalanche of studies, and their advice puts lives at risk. John Lott is the founder of this organization and is seeking to counter the bogus studies by providing rapid response to the new studies as well as conducting high-quality peer-reviewed academic studies. Lott, the author of More Guns, Less Crime and The Bias Against Guns, has conducted decades of research showing that armed citizens...

Gun control has largely been a top down effort. Michael Bloomberg’s latest announcement that he will spend another $50 million to push gun control – 2.5 times the amount spent by the NRA annually on political activities – is all too typical. Last year, gun control groups, largely due to Bloomberg’s money, outspent gun rights groups by about 7.4 to 1 on TV advertising. With a net worth of $31.2 billion, Bloomberg can afford round-the-clock armed bodyguards, but he doesn’t recognize the need for others to have armed protection. Despite his money, mayors belonging to Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns...

~~Come on in and shoot the breeze~~ Gun Talk Radio 4/13/14~~07:00 CST Listen to the podcast Here Or the KIDO 580 stream HereOr the KPRC feed Here

It is quite flattering that Media Matters and TPM spent so much real estate going after me. Media Matters’ post was at the top of their front page from late morning on Friday until at least midnight (my last check). [UPDATE: As of 2:15 PM on Saturday, their article has been at the very top of their front page for over an entire day.] John Lott’s debate on MSNBC is available here (April 4, 2014 from 10:05 to 10:14 AM (this version has almost the entire exchange, though it doesn’t include Chris Jansing’s introduction and first question)). Unfortunately, Media Matters,...

The Obama administration hasn’t learned anything from the massacres at Fort Hood in 2009 or the Washington Navy Yard last year. For all my research on how to stop or prevent mass public shootings and all the victims at these attacks that I have talked to over the years, the attack this week at Fort Hood was different. My son Ryan, who is stationed at Fort Hood and recently back from a tour in Afghanistan, was just two blocks from the attack and could hear the shots. However, as was true in the 2009 attack at Fort Hood by Major...

President Obama has pushed hard for gun control this year and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent millions of dollars on ads, but the administration's promise to coordinate "a November lobbying effort and plan events to commemorate the first anniversary of the Newtown, Connecticut" has gotten little traction. Last year the Newtown shooting, with it horrific slaughter, lead to an immediate national movement for gun control. But that was short-lived, and opposition to gun control is currently very strong. Indeed, it appears to be the strongest in decades.

California may soon join 42 other states in letting people carry concealed handguns once they meet certain objective criteria. Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state couldn’t ban both concealed and open carry guns. The court also struck down the so-called “good cause” requirement for getting a permit, saying that concern for one’s personal safety should be sufficient justification. The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to “keep and bear arms.” To “bear” means to carry. Ironically, California may have opened the door to make it much easier for people to get concealed handgun permits by recently...

If we are to believe the mainstream media, the powerful NRA has used its political muscle to keep people ignorant of how guns impact our safety. They are supposedly to blame for the elimination of firearms research. This is all a result of a 1996 amendment to the federal budget stating “None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.” Thus last month, ABC News reported: “In 1996 the NRA successfully lobbied Congress to pull millions of dollars out of government-funded...

When will some Democrats who describe themselves as “pro-gun” realize that they aren't fooling anyone? Here's their latest deception. President Obama’s nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy to be surgeon general is in trouble, because the National Rifle Association decided that it was going to “score” the vote – that is, let its members know which senators voted for someone they believe is a threat to people being able to own guns for self-defense.

Piers Morgan He was vilified for his abhorrence of the second amendment.  His ratings sank lower and lower until he was shown the door.   He had a petition signed by over 100,000 people asking for his deportation from the United States. Frontpagemag.com reports that he abused his staff (quoting from the New York Daily News).  Yet, in spite of these achievements, or perhaps, because of them, a commenter at frontpagemag.com says that Piers Morgan brought positive change to a number of people in his life.  Olorin writes: I think he was terribly useful and served an outstanding niche: I...

Are schools and colleges dangerous places, with lots of gun violence? Some groups paint a picture of these places being particularly unsafe. Supposedly both murders and firearm suicides are very common at educational institutions. Last Wednesday, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s two groups, Moms Demand Gun Sense in America and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, jointly released a report that received massive uncritical news coverage. They claimed that 44 shootings occurred in schools and colleges nationwide since the Newtown, Conn. massacre on Dec. 14, 2012 and Feb. 10 of this year. Out of the 44 shootings, a total of 28...