Free Republic

Click this link to take you to a page which allows you to tell the entire membership of both the New Mexico Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee (16 senators) to oppose House Bill 77 with one mouse click.House Bill 77 has been revised since it was first introduced, and initially failed to move forward, but it has now passed in the New Mexico House and been referred to the Senate Public Affairs And Senate Judiciary Committees.According to the NRA, HB 77 "is the first step toward the criminalization of all private firearm transfers..." and "mandates that...

**SNIP** It's a two day course that teaches how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia. "A lot of times what you think to do in a mental health circumstance is exactly the wrong thing to do, like telling a person who's feeling seriously depressed to 'snap out of it' or 'you have so much to live for'," said Spindeltop spokesperson Janna Fulbright. The class was offered free to educators. And Henry believes a better knowledge of mental disorders could help decrease violence in schools. "This actually gives you a little more...

Among comments to my last piece, “Lautenberg gun show bill as bad as expected,” several were from well-meaning gun owners who honestly questioned why S. 843 – ostensibly submitted to close the “gun show loophole” – is really so bad. A typical and knowledgeable comment went like this: “I am a very pro-gun person. I own a couple of rifles and I will never support any [‘assault weapon’ ban]. I don't even support the ‘86 [McClure-Volkmer] automatic ban. But background checks should be required for any and every sale. If that means transferring it at the dealer, then fine. "But...

Guns, Mental Illness and Newtown There were 18 random mass shootings in the 1980s, 54 in the 1990s, and 87 in the 2000s. By DAVID KOPEL Has the rate of random mass shootings in the United States increased? Over the past 30 years, the answer is definitely yes. It is also true that the total U.S. homicide rate has fallen by over half since 1980, and the gun homicide rate has fallen along with it. Today, Americans are safer from violent crime, including gun homicide, than they have been at any time since the mid-1960s. Mass shootings, defined as four...

  NLM   -h/t Ed Z

New York’s new gun law requires that mental health professionals report any person they consider “likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others.” If they don’t report this concern, and if something happens involving this person such as a shooting, the mental health professional could face charges for not reporting the person’s behavior to law enforcement. Obviously, this will lead to over-reporting, which is fine by state officials, because that means that’s more people they get to bar from ever owning a gun. The other effect however is that gun-owners will be refusing...

State funding to keep NC group homes open through JanuaryPosted: 10:17 a.m. today Updated: 44 minutes ago Raleigh, N.C. — State officials said Tuesday that they have freed up $1 million to allow people with mental illness or developmental disabilities to stay in group homes across North Carolina through the end of January. A change in federal rules means that, as of Jan. 1, group home patients are no longer eligible to receive Medicaid payments for personal care services, such as assistance with bathing, feeding or other daily chores. The loss of funding puts the homes that rely on that...

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) compared companies and workers to a “cage fight” between a “giant” and a “midget” on Wednesday night. By Thursday, he publicly expressed regret to “abnormally small people” for using the “m-word”. Johnson was discussing the right-to-work enacted in Michigan on Wednesday when he said, “What happens when you put in a cage fight a giant in with a midget? Well, the midget will not win the fight, I’m going to tell you that. Why? He just doesn’t carry enough weight to do so.” …

Turns out, the language one uses in speeches on the House floor is no small matter. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) today apologized for using what he terms “the m-word” during a speech the previous evening.

Mental Hospital Voter Sign-Up QuestionedPatients registered without local election officials' OK By Don Carrington Oct. 26th, 2012 RALEIGH — Cherry Hospital, a state-run adult inpatient psychiatric facility in Goldsboro, welcomed a federally funded nonprofit organization to conduct a voter registration drive of mental patients, likely a violation of state law. Moreover, a memo from a hospital administrator indicated the nonprofit, Disability Rights North Carolina, assisted patients in completing absentee ballots, which may have been illegal as well. **SNIP** North Carolina General Statute 163-226.3 makes it a Class I felony for anyone other than the legal guardian or close relative of...

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNBC’s Larry Kudlow tonight that Vice President Biden may be unfit for office. Here’s the transcript: KUDLOW: You know, what did he say? ‘Y’all going to be put back in chains’? That almost has racial overtones, Rudy Giuliani. What’s your take on that? GIULIANI: Well, I think if it came from somebody serious maybe we’d get all excited about it. But the — I think the vice president of the United States has become a laugh line on late night television. I mean, he — I’ve never seen a vice president

PRESS (11:31:) … But it’s an abomination. First it ranges two octaves most people can only do kind of one octave. I mean when you think about it, it’s bombs bursting in air rocket’s red glare it all kinds of, you know a lot of national anthems are that way, all kinds of military jargon and the land there’s only one phrase ‘the land of the free’ which is kind of nice and ‘the home of the brave?’ I don’t know. OGBURN: I mean I get that part. PRESS: Are we [Americans] the only ones who are brave on the...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Minnesota teachers have been taking medical leaves more often in recent years, and while there could be many factors for the increase, some teachers say they are using the leaves to get a break from mounting pressures and high expectations being placed on them. A Minnesota School Boards Association survey of 85 school districts found a 27 percent increase in days that educators spent on various types of leave in 2008 compared with two years earlier. The association also said it has been receiving more questions about medical leaves, while districts have seen a spike in mental-health-related leave...

BOISE -- The candidate for Congress accused of threatening Boise store employees with a handgun was arraigned Monday in Ada County court. And much more information was revealed as to what exactly Cynthia Clinkingbeard is accused of doing. Clinkingbeard had filed to run against Rep. Raul Labrador in Idaho's 1st congressional district. In court Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Robert Bleazard said Clinkingbeard had gone to the Staples on Eagle Road and Chinden Boulevard Friday night to see about getting some posters for her campaign. Bleazard says Clinkingbeard was escorted to the copy center at the back of the store and began...

Liberalism is a mental psychosis where the inflicted cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. This is evidenced by the Obama supporter in Arizona who threatened to kill Sheriff Arpiao and his family because the Arizona Sheriff's "cold case" team discovered fraud associated with Obama's birth certificate. Further evidence of this liberal psychosis is Bill Mauer calling Mrs. Palin a "-unt" and the liberal left celebrated this name calling.

Manasquan, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- The New Jersey Appellate Division decided two cases this week in support of fair treatment for those who received mental health care, but who no longer suffer from such disabilities in such a manner that would handicap them in the safe handling of firearms. The law firm of Evan F. Nappen, Attorney at Law PC of Eatontown, New Jersey, (www.evannappen.com) represented both of these appellants. Both cases were partially funded by the NRA’s Civil Rights Defense Fund. IN RE M.L., PETITIONER FOR EXPUNGEMENT Two years ago, M.L., a retired law enforcement officer with over 25 years of...

BOSTON, January 19, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After news broke this week that the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) was seeking to force a mentally ill woman to abort her child, the state agency has dug in its heels in the face of widespread outrage, defending its decision in a statement to the Boston Herald this week. The DMH had filed a petition to have the parents of a 32-year-old mentally ill woman appointed as the woman’s temporary guardians for the purpose of forcing her to have an abortion. The woman, who is identified in court documents under the pseudonym...

In today’s United States v. Rehlander (1st Cir. Jan. 13, 2012), the First Circuit revisited and narrowed its precedents related to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4) — the statute that bars gun possession by people who had at some point been “committed to a mental institution” — in light of the Second Amendment: Benjamin Small and Nathan Rehlander were each involuntarily admitted to psychiatric hospitals under Maine’s “emergency procedure,” Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 34-B, § 3863 (2011), and each was later convicted for possessing firearms after having been “committed to a mental institution.” 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4) (2006). This court has...

National Journal reporter Beth Reinhard got a chilly reception from Republican frontrunner Ron Paul when she ran into him eating his breakfast all alone at the Des Moines Embassy Suites. Reinhard asked the unaccompanied candidate whether his supporters would support the eventual nominee if it wasn’t him, which drew a sharp retort. “Right now, the only thing that bothers me is people who don’t respect my privacy enough to leave me alone for five minutes when I’m eating breakfast,” Paul allegedly responded. Reinhard reports the Republican hopeful coldly went back to reading his USA Today.RELATED: Dick Morris Calls Ron Paul...

REP. JIM MCDERMOTT SHOVING COAL IN STOCKING: ...Here's your Christmas gift, right? We're going to say to 2.5 million unemployed people, no unemployment benefits because its only for 2 months and we can't... There's every excuse in the book you can give, but when they get up on Christmas there's going to be coal in their sock! The working poor of this country are counting on that tax break. They've gone out and bought gifts for their kids! And they think they are going to pay for them because they have this tax reduction and you are taking it away...