Free Republic

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Responding to Red Dirt Report's October 27, 2011 story "Uganda, The Family and the reintroduction of 'loving punishments," U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., offered the following statement, sent to this reporter on Friday: "I do not, nor have I ever, supported or condoned this legislation. It is my hope that Uganda will abandon this unjust and extraordinarily harsh legislation," Inhofe said. As we reported in the aforementioned story, the Ugandan parliament is re-examining a bill in committee that would take a very hardline against homosexuals in Uganda. The bill, first introduced in 2009, was met with international...

Wisconsin --(Ammoland.com)- A single mom. Two kids in the backseat. Grocery shopping went fine, but the man approaching their car has a gun and is about to turn the parking lot into a scene straight from hell. Thankfully mom has a gun. Wait a minute, no she doesn’t. She doesn’t have the gun … because according to State Rep. Garey Bies and a small group of self-righteous elitist do-gooders in the gun community she doesn’t have … “enough training.” Too late. Many gun owners talk a good game about concealed carry training and boast endlessly about what they want to...

Bob Martin doesn’t mind paying taxes. As a pharmacist at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, the Lake Hallie resident said he is paid a good salary and is glad to pay taxes. But, he said: “I shouldn’t have to pay someone $400 to do them.” Martin said the Fair Tax Act of 2011 would change that, revitalize the nation’s economy and spur the creation of thousands of jobs, if not more. The Fair Tax is still a tax, and it wouldn’t affect state income taxes. But instead of paying a federal income and payroll tax, people would pay what...

For the first time in at least a decade, state lawmakers met to review the status of Oklahoma’s gun laws in an effort to maximize citizens’ rights. “We are conducting a serious, thoughtful examination of Oklahoma’s gun laws,” said state Rep. Mark McCullough, a Sapulpa Republican who requested the study. “Our goal is to develop responsible proposals for expanding the right to carry firearms in self-defense.” During the study, members of the House Public Safety Committee heard testimony from Oklahoma City University law professor Michael O’Shea, a nationally recognized expert on the Second Amendment; Miles Hall, owner of H&H Gun...

OKLAHOMA CITY – If Oklahoma becomes an open-carry state, people will be able to carry a gun on display for everyone to see. It's an issue state lawmakers are setting their sights on once again. A group of lawmakers is studying the idea before pulling the trigger on a new law. The study included both law enforcement officials and gun industry leaders. It was an opportunity for lawmakers to learn more about the pros and cons of allowing Oklahoma to become an open carry state. Supporters are hopeful that this time around a law will be signed. Paul Isenberg is...

BOISE --Idaho's congressional delegation introduced legislation today that would amend the Endangered Species Act to clarify that people have the right to defend themselves and their families from grizzly bear attacks. The legislation is in response to the well-publicized case of Jeremy Hill, a north Idaho man who was charged last month with violating the ESA for killing a grizzly bear on his property in May. Hill said he believed he was defending himself and his family. While the U.S. attorney later dropped all federal criminal charges, Hill agreed to pay a $1,000 fine. Grizzly bears are listed as threatened...

2011/08/06 10:01 KST S. Korea to raise reward money for reporting spies, spy ships SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will sharply raise the amount of money given to people who report spies and spy ships as part of its efforts to raise peoples' awareness toward national security threats, the government said Saturday. The Ministry of Justice said a preannouncement of legislation has been made that will revise current rules regarding rewards so a maximum 500 million won (US$467,700) can be given for information on spies, and 750 million won for people who report spy ships.

Representative Darrel Issa (R-CA) referred to the activities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Operation Fast and Furious as “felony stupid.” Others have suggested that the plan was intentionally designed and cleverly crafted to bolster statistics in support of stricter gun control laws. Whether the operation was just stupid or intentionally criminal, it was clearly bad behavior on the part of ATF and Justice Department (DOJ) and such bad behavior should not be rewarded. Some members of Congress, Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in particular, want to reward ATF and DOJ’s criminal stupidity with...

President Barack Obama alienated 37,00 twitter followers last night with scores of tweets urging followers to contact their local Congressman over the debt deal. With his approval rating sitting at an all-time low of 40 per cent amidst the debt crisis, tens of thousands of Americans unfollwed the President to avoid the deulge. The president’s staff sent a total of 118 tweets asking his followers to write their Republican lawmakers to demand a compromise on debt legislation. The first tweet read: 'The time for putting party first is over. If you want to see a bipartisan #compromise, let Congress know....

Hemera Technologies/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON ) -- It’s already written in the Constitution's Second Amendment, and now Congress is addressing new legislation that will revise regulations regarding citizens' right to bear arms. If passed, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity bill would increase the number of legally-owned handguns on American streets and lower the conceal-and-carry restrictions on those weapons. The new bill would make it legal across all states for out-of-state visitors to conceal and carry firearms, so long as they are permitted to do so in their home states. This would essentially make the conceal-and-carry laws of California, Illinois, and New York obsolete.

Catalina, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- The 2011 Legislative session started on January 10th and ended on April 20th. With pro-rights majorities in both chambers and a Governor that signed Constitutional Carry into law in 2010, the passage of pro-rights legislation looked encouraging. Four bills, three in the House and one in the Senate, were filed early that dealt positively with some form of Campus Carry. However, after an assassination attempt on Congresswoman Giffords at a political gathering in Tucson on January 8th, some alleged “pro-rights” state legislators revealed that they were willing to take any position on any issue for the sake...

Federal Act Could Limit Environmental Lawsuits, Awards By Etta Pettijohn The practices of two environmental groups best known for suing federal agencies to end logging, grazing, mining on public land and to hamstring wildlife agencies could be halted if legislation sponsored by western Congressional members becomes law. The Government Litigation Savings Act, introduced to Congress in late May, would amend the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). Supporters say it would not, as some critics of the measure claim, reverse the opportunity for disadvantaged plaintiffs to recoup legal fees as recourse against government actions. The EAJA, passed in 1980, was...

Marriage in New York State, by act of its legislature, and in spite of everything you've always heard, is for everybody, and every combination of everybodies. Except, you know what -- it's not. And, what's more, won't ever be. For all the legislature's grandeur and power, and the fervent encouragement of The New York Times, no aggregation of human beings enjoys the power to redefine marriage. What New York has done, amid much trumpeting and self-congratulation, is create a secular-political institution and give it, spuriously, the name of marriage, according to whose regulations two men may join themselves to each...

The use of BB guns and other air-powered weapons will soon be legal on private property throughout Virginia, angering Northern Virginia officials whose constituents live in heavily populated areas. "For our area, it is insane," said state Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Fairfax. "It's one thing to do this in any rural area, but to allow it in a suburban or urban area like much of Northern Virginia?" "Pneumatic weapons" - from paintball guns to pellet guns that shoot at 1,000 feet per second -- have long been treated as regular firearms under Fairfax County's code. Their use is generally prohibited in...

Last week I posted on a clearly antisemitic piece of legislation in San Francisco and Santa Monica banning the Jewish religious tradition of circumcision. Judenrein in Sunny Southern California: Banning Male Circumcision. America, this is getting very, very ugly. Male circumcision is significantly healthier with or without the important religious significance. The Islamic practice of female genital mutilation (cutting off the clitoris) is sick misogyny. To equate the two is officially legislating Jew-hatred. Any doubt this was motivated by hatred and racism? Zombie over at PJM: Proof that S.F.’s circumcision ban is anti-Semitic As you may have heard by now,...

Prior to 0bama's act yesterday, no US president has used an autopen to sign legislation into law (there is no evidence of this prior to yesterday - likely because noone but a president with no proof he is Constitutionally qualified would be so cavalier about signing a bill into law). You would think a real journalist would investigate and highlight this fact as incredibly problematic (especially a journalist who formerly hated the Patriot Act when it was Bush's legislation). All TSA-type actions (that are lawful only by virtue of the Patriot Act) performed in the period between the old law's...

Dear Patriot, Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and all Americans - a very fast-paced week, and here we are for our weekly update to you all. I must share a "Sense of the Congressman" at this time. This is the last week of high school for my oldest daughter Aubrey Elizabeth. She will be graduating from Archbishop McCarthy and going on to attend Nova Southeastern University to begin her pre-med studies. I just want to take the time to express to all how proud I am of my daughter in this accomplishment. Likewise, my youngest daughter, Austen Brianna, will...

Right through the back door, while everyone was focused on the gulf oil spill, Barack Obama gave his signature to legislation permitting the U.S. Government to outlaw supplements and alternative health treatments. That means that the supplements you take and therapies you use to keep your body healthy, can now be made illegal by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Obama quietly gave permission for Codex Alimentarius - the United Nation's worldwide plan for food standards - to take effect in the U.S. via Executive Order 13544 of June 10, 2010....

MSSA’s permitless carry bill, HB 271, has passed the Senate with a vote of 30-20. More properly said, the Senate has concurred in the conference committee report on HB 271 by a vote of 30-20. The conference committee version only affects concealed carry INSIDE the city limits of an incorporated city or town. Concealed carry outside city limits (99.4% of Montana) has not required a permit since 1991. Open carry inside city limits has never required a permit in Montana. The CC version of HB 271 allows a person to carry concealed (“wholly or partially covered by clothing or wearing...

Much attention has been placed on HR 822 – National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act – and rightfully so. It now has 171 co-sponsors and, hopefully, will have more after Congress gets back from its district “work” break. Besides this bill, there are a number of other gun rights measures starting to gain traction in Congress if measured by the number of co-sponsors. HR 58, the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act, which was introduced by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) now has 93 co-sponsors including a number of Blue Dog Democrats. Under current law, you are allowed to purchase a long gun at...