Free Republic

I received a letter today from the NRA asking if I would like to upgrade my Life membership to Endowment member. They said it's normally $1000 but now it's $200. Is that $200/year or a one-time charge? Are any Freepers Endowment members? Is this an actual category or just an appeal to your vanity?

The February 2010 issue of GUNS Magazine is online, and a letter by NRA Life Member David Lundeen regarding my Firearms Freedom Act "Rights Watch" column caught my eye. He cited the September 2009 issue of their American Hunter magazine, and observed: [I]t is clearly stated “Firearms Freedom Act “ supporters have never planned to test these laws in criminal cases, and no one who puts himself in that situation should expect support from the NRA.” It's true. I'm a Life Member and get American Rifleman, and it's on page 18. Their rationale? [T]his kind of litigation faces major obstacles–mainly...

Good News From the NRA Like all UN efforts, the gun grabber initiative is sputtering, but we must stay vigilant.  Here's an excerpt from the NRA web site: The UN and International Treaties:  Over the last few weeks, we have received many inquiries regarding the UN and the impact of international treaties on our Second Amendment freedom. The current issue under discussion, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), is in the early stages of the negotiation process.  There is no actual draft text at this time.  Work on the ATT is scheduled to continue by a consensus process between now...

Fairfax, Va. -- An Arizona man who spent nearly three years in prison for justifiably shooting a man in self-defense is now free and clear of all guilt in his case. This week the Arizona Supreme Court let stand the state appellate court’s decision to overturn Harold Fish’s second-degree murder conviction. The National Rifle Association provided assistance in this case. NRA’s Office of General Counsel advised Fish’s defense counsel, and the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund provided financial aid for Fish’s defense. Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action said, “We are pleased that justice has...

Dismayed by the lack of marksmanship shown by their troops, Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate formed the National Rifle Association in 1871. The primary goal of the association would be to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis," according to a magazine editorial written by Church. After being granted a charter by the state of New York on November 17, 1871, the NRA was founded. Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who was also the former governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. Senator, became the fledgling NRA's first president. An important facet of...

Today, Michael Bloomberg's coalition against illegal guns placed a full-page ad in the Washington Post urging lawmakers to prevent suspects on a federally maintained "terror watch list" from being allowed to purchase guns. "500 mayors agree with the Obama and Bush Administrations: stop terror suspects from getting guns," the ad says. It's also been an issue that Rahm Emanuel voiced support for back in 2007, according to this video clip. "We got to make this a number one issue, as a test vote, and take it into the election." He added, "If it's between that terrorist list and the NRA,...

A few weeks ago seven of the eight incumbent Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates who lost their seat to a Republican had one other thing in common - a lower National Rifle Association (NRA) rating that their opponent . . . [and] the disparity in support for gun rights between the parties seems to have sharpened.

Showdown is playing out across the country in blogs, on the editorial pages of newspapers, and at countless gun clubs NEW YORK, NY November 23, 2009 —Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a known gun control advocate, and has built a national platform to stem the flow of illegal guns into cities and towns. The group he co-founded in 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has grown from 15 to 526 mayors. Its success has raised the ire of gun rights groups, most notably the National Rifle Association. The showdown between the NRA and Mayors Against Illegal Guns is playing out across the...

It may come as a surprise to many of his Democratic supporters, but Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown has gone to bat for the National Rifle Association. The NRA's cause: urging the U.S. Supreme Court to guarantee the ability of gun owners across the land to keep and bear arms. Last year, the high court struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., ruling for the first time that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms applies to individuals who keep a gun at home for self-defense. But the court made it clear the ruling applied only...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   NRA Files Brief in McDonald v. Chicago   Tuesday, November 17, 2009   On November 16, the NRA filed its brief with the U.S. Supreme Court as Respondent in Support of Petitioner in McDonald v. City of Chicago. The NRA brief asks the U.S. Supreme Court to hold that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment. In September, the Supreme Court agreed to consider the McDonald case, on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. That court incorrectly claimed that prior...

Officials: Anita Dunn may be leaving with her little red book, but her husband enters as the next White House counsel, bringing experience in suppressing dissent, assaulting the First Amendment and limiting speech. Dunn, whose favorite philosophers include mass murderer Mao Zedong, was expected to leave after a short stint. She rose to fame as chief strategist for former Senate majority leader, now national health care guru, Tom Daschle. While serving as White House communications director, she was the commanding general of the administration "war" on Fox News. Like her philosophical mentor, Mao, and her colleague, FCC diversity czar Mark...

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Nipplitaliano, warned Americans to “not let the actions of one troubled individual obscure a more serious threat.” The “troubled individual,” of course is Nidal Malik Hasan, the would-be jihadi who went on a shooting spree that killed 14 people at Fort Hood in Texas. “Many will cite this individual’s rants and affiliations with radical Islamist groups to divert attention from the fact that there are amongst us millions of military veterans and gun nuts who vastly outnumber the few thousand Muslim fanatics who would take up arms against unbelievers,” Nipplitaliano asserted. “Clearly, we must...

FAIRFAX, VA --(AmmoLand.com)– The National Rifle Association and MetaMedia Training International have won a CINE Golden Eagle Award for the Personal Protection Outside The Home DVD in the Business- Safety, Training, and Employee Development category. The training-oriented DVD is based on NRA’s Basic Personal Protection Outside The Home Course, developed by NRA’s Education & Training Division and taught to the public by NRA Certified Instructors. “We focus on educating the public about responsible handling and ownership of firearms. Our nationally-recognized firearms training programs, coupled with MetaMedia’s skill and experience in producing high-quality training videos, make the Personal Protection Outside the...

Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau The NRA wants to stop adoption agencies from asking prospective parents about whether they own guns, saying the question is a violation of gun-owners' rights. The National Rifle Association is pushing legislation to ban adoption agencies from asking potential parents if they have guns and ammunition in the home. NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer said adoption agencies are violating gun-owners' rights by asking about firearms in an adoption form. She said any request about gun ownership from an agency connected with government was tantamount to establishing a gun registry. ``Gun registration is illegal in Florida,'' Hammer said. ``An...

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, led by New York's Michael Bloomberg, is losing members after the National Rifle Association mounted a campaign against the group. The NRA and various gun proponents contend that the mayors' efforts represent a slippery slope. JACKI LYDEN, host: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Jacki Lyden. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, led by New York's Michael Bloomberg, is losing members after the National Rifle Association mounted a campaign against the group. The NRA and other gun proponents contend that the mayors' efforts represent a slippery slope. WNYC's Arun Venugopal reports. ARUN VENUGOPAL: Pennsylvania has about...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683 NRA Sues Seattle Over Illegal Gun Ban Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Fairfax, Va. - Today, the National Rifle Association filed a complaint in the Superior Court of Washington State against the City of Seattle, asking the court to enjoin and declare invalid a recently enacted parks and recreation administrative policy that prohibits firearms in parks, community centers and other city-owned buildings. Other plaintiffs in the case include state correctional officers and private citizens. “NRA members are outraged that the City of Seattle has ignored and defied state law and an opinion of...

Dont forget to vote on november 3rd. please view this link for who the gun rights candidates are in your district. http://www.nrapvf.org/ELECTIONS/State.a ... 9&State=NJ If you do not know the district you are in, please click the following link: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/ ... lities.asp

A push in Congress for broader gun rights is threatening to derail Amtrak and stall a transportation spending bill. Gun-rights advocates in Congress are pressing appropriators to keep a provision that would let Amtrak passengers check in handguns with their baggage. The provision, which calls for withholding $1.5 billion in Amtrak funding if the policy isn't implemented before April, was inserted into the $68.8 billion Senate transportation and housing and urban development spending bill as an amendment. All 40 Republicans, 27 Democrats and one independent voted for the amendment, sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).Amtrak and its defenders in Congress...

Once upon a time a newly elected President, supported by an adoring media, claimed powers beyond the Constitution, and the Supreme Court acted. Does that Court still sit? Some of us are asking ourselves that question these days. A week doesn't pass when some new federal infringement on the rights of a free society is enacted or promoted. Just recently, Obama's Pay Czar, Kenneth Feinberg, cut the salaries of twenty-five senior Wall Street executives. By what Constitutional authority does he do that? we ask. While the Democratic Party seems hell bent on socializing as many parts of the free market...

It is surely one of the most unusual pitches in this year's gubernatorial elections -- a Tony Soprano-like figure defending New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's recent efforts to close the gun show loophole and warning Virginians not to get too attached to their Second Amendment freedoms "if ya know what's good for ya." Bloomberg underwrote a commercial in April that attacked former Virginia Atty. Gen. Bob McDonnell for his pro-gun positions and pushed for the closure of the state's "gun show loophole." Now Bloomberg is running for re-election, McDonnell is running for governor and the nation's larger gun lobby --...

Gun Rights: A decade after Congress forbade the CDC from studying the health consequences of gun ownership, the National Institutes of Health has started funding such research. Will reform pry the guns from our cold, sick hands? More than a decade ago Congress, seeing it as a backdoor assault on the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, voted to cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control. Such research was viewed as one-sided and based on flawed assumptions that all gun use was bad, even that which saved lives and deterred crime. --...

Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in a key upcoming House special election, is running dangerously low on campaign cash, according to several GOP sources familiar with her spending and fundraising. While Scozzafava’s official fundraising numbers will not be known until next Thursday, the third-quarter Federal Election Commission reporting deadline, the GOP sources acknowledged to POLITICO that she’s unable to compete financially with her two opponents. Scozzafava supporters blame her cash crunch on the Washington Republican establishment, which they contend has not embraced her campaign enthusiastically. They specifically point to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, whose committee has been virtually...

Friday, September 25, 2009 Please Stand-Up and Make Your Voices Heard! On Wednesday, September 16, the Abington Heights School District voted 4-3 to eliminate funding for the Abington Heights High School Rifle Team. Unfortunately, the Abington Heights School District is choosing to balance the budget on the backs of tomorrow’s shooters. Rifle teams, such as these, help foster the future of our Second Amendment freedoms, shooting sports, and safe firearms training. The Abington Journal even reported that coaches, team members, and parents were not given advance notice that funding for the team was in jeopardy at the school district’s meeting...

Glenn Beck vetted Doug Hoffman, the CONSERVATIVE Republican candidate who is running for a Congressional seat in New York State, on his radio talk show this morning. He stated that Newt Gingrich has teamed up with ACORN to support Dede Scozzafava, who is also supported by the Daily Koz and the Working Family Party. Her conservative voting record had a high score of 15 out of 100. Hoffman said that 46 Democrats had a more conservative score than she, who is pro union and pro card check, among other things. A New York State Assemblywoman for eleven years, she is...

Gun Rights: A decade after Congress forbade the CDC from studying the health consequences of gun ownership, the National Institutes of Health has started funding such research. Will reform pry the guns from our cold, sick hands? More than a decade ago Congress, seeing it as a backdoor assault on the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, voted to cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control. Such research was viewed as one-sided and based on flawed assumptions that all gun use was bad, even that which saved lives and deterred crime. The...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683 Congress Passes NRA-backed Legislation Protecting Pocketknife Classification Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Fairfax, Va. – This week the United States Senate passed crucial legislation that will protect pocketknives used by tens of millions of Americans. The amendment, actively supported by the National Rifle Association, was included in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill and will keep pocketknives from being classified as illegal switchblades. U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) authored the amendment and were instrumental in its passage through Congress. U.S. Congressmen Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and...

Washington, D.C. – The issue is resolved, but it means an Idaho Congressman no longer has an excuse to slip out his pocketknife at a committee meeting. Last week, the House of Representatives approved the conference report setting appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. This final bill included language preventing spring-assisted knives from being classified by the Department as switchblades. The language was first championed by Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) and Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio.) “This amendment was necessary to prevent commonly-used pocketknives from being branded as illegal switchblades,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. “The National Rifle...

In the newest issue of the NRA's magazine "America's First Freedom", page 17, there is a blurb about how there is a bill in the Michigan Senate that would "allow" permit holders (students) to legally carry on college campuses. While I applaud any movement to increase gun rights, every time I see the word "allow", I bristle. We HAVE the right to defend ourselves and our loved ones and all this permit crap must be done away with -- and the sooner the better. While "allow" is not specifically used in this article, it has been used in previous magazine...

Is the National Rifle Association ashamed of its own endorsement, or are the media lying to us once again? I was stunned to read that the N.R.A. endorsed pro-gay, pro-abortion, climate alarmist, socialist Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava for Congress in the special, off-year election in New York's 23rd district. The N.R.A. is pro-gun rights, not (necessarily) conservative, but a moderate Democrat helps the N.R.A. maintain its nonpartisan status and reputation more than supporting a liberal Republican. On the other hand, the media widely reported that the N.R.A. endorsed former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. The reality is...

When Charlton Heston held up a replica Revolutionary War musket, and said "From my cold, dead hands," at the NRA Convention in 2000, he was not the first to use those words in that context, but his use is certainly the most famous. It was a powerful speech that Heston gave, delivered with both the solemnity and the fire one would expect from one of the few actors capable of pulling off the role of Moses. Much has changed since that speech, including the now much more politically correct NRA. Can anyone imagine the top of the NRA hierarchy now...

Hard to go wrong ripping New York in Virginia.

Three people are stable condition this afternoon after an accidental shooting this morning at a gun range near Lakeland. The Polk County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident that happened shortly before 10:40 a.m. at the Saddle Creek Gun Range, 3716 Morgan Combee Road. The victims were identified this afternoon as Michael Patrick Thourot, 47, Sherri Thourot, 46, both of Thomasville Circle in Tampa, and Gary Flynn, 29. Flynn was visiting Davenport from Ireland. Sheriff's office spokeswoman Donna Wood said that just before the shooting, the Thourots and Flynn, who didn't know each other, were all standing in the same...

For all you steadfast NRA supporters who pooh-poohed us when we told you that veterans were going to get shafted by this act... read this and start making excuses.

Gun Control: The Supreme Court agrees to decide if the Second Amendment applies to all of us, or just Washington, D.C. Why would the Founders put in the Bill of Rights something applying only to a federal enclave? In a 5-4 decision last year written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court overturned a draconian District of Columbia gun ban enacted 32 years ago that barred private ownership of handguns at all. Scalia wrote that an individual's right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. The court ruled that...

The 2nd Amendment is about to arrive in Chicago--which is good news for citizens who see a need to have a handgun in the home for protection against the city's many criminals. It's bad news for Mayor Daley and other supporters of the existing ban on handguns, one of the most draconian in the nation. Chicago has long behaved as though gun owners don't have any rights. It is probably going to find out they do. Last year, the Supreme Court struck down a similar Washington, D.C. ordinance banning handguns. "The Second Amendment," it found, "protects an individual's right to...

Breaking on WLS Talk Radio. SCOTUS has agreed to hear the NRA case against the Chicago handgun ban.

Sometimes the National Rifle Association needs to know when it’s time to lighten up. It pains us to say that, because the NRA has fought hard to keep the state and federal governments from denying responsible, law-abiding Americans from possessing and enjoying guns. But the organization jerked the trigger recently when it targeted Easthampton Mayor Michael A. Tautznik and other Western Massachusetts mayors because they had the temerity to join Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a national organization that works to deny irresponsible and criminal citizens from getting their hands on guns. It would take the logical skills of Aristotle to...

The Supreme Court has clearly ruled that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution means individuals have a right to own weapons, and the justices have been asked to take up two cases that could broaden that right to include state laws. The court’s decision on whether to take up the cases, National Rifle Association v. Chicago and McDonald v. Chicago, could come this week, before the fall term officially starts Oct. 5. The Second Amendment is one of the most contentious provisions in the Constitution. To many, it is an unqualified guarantee of Americans’ right to defend themselves. Others...

This week on Uncommon Knowledge, the man who saved the Second Amendment. In 2007, Judge Laurence Silberman, senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, wrote a decision overturning the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. The following year, the Supreme Court agreed with him.

"American firearm owners form the cutting edge of the modern freedom movement in the United States," gun rights expert John M. Snyder said here today. A former National Rifle Association editor, Snyder is Public Affairs Director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Treasurer of the Second Amendment Foundation, and Manager of Telum Associates, LL.C. Shotgun News last year named him the senior rights activist in Washington. Snyder said the Senate's recent 68-30 vote allowing Amtrak passengers to transport handguns in their checked luggage may indicate that, "politicians are beginning to get the message. The...

Akron's Republican mayor has resigned from a national organization opposing illegal weapons after the National Rifle Association launched a mail campaign labeling him "anti-gun." Mayor John McBeth joined Mayors Against Illegal Guns several months ago, but he announced at a borough council meeting this week that he has left the group following an NRA mailing and a flurry of phone calls from concerned constituents in early September. McBeth said he was looking for new anti-crime ideas when he joined the 450-member association, which combats illegal gun possession and is not opposed to legal gun ownership. "It's not an organization that's...

During Wednesday's extraordinary Supreme Court oral argument in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, some of the more remarkable moments came when Justice John Paul Stevens repeatedly referred, with approval, to a brief filed in the case by the National Rifle Association. Not a pairing you might expect, but Stevens saw in the brief a possible way to rule on the case narrowly, without totally upending major Court precedents on corporate and union spending in election campaigns.The NRA brief, authored by Charles Cooper of Cooper & Kirk in D.C., joined the opponents of spending restrictions by agreeing with Citizens United...

RICHMOND, Va. - Republican and Democratic operatives say the National Rifle Association will endorse Republican Bob McDonnell for governor. The gun rights group plans to announce its endorsement in a Monday afternoon conference call for reporters. Operatives with knowledge of the NRA's decision confirmed the endorsement on the condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made. Four years ago, the NRA endorsed Democrat R. Creigh Deeds over McDonnell in their race for attorney general.

Many gun-loving Americans are convinved that President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are bent on ripping rifles from their "cold, dead hands," as actor Charlton Heston once declared at a National Rifle Association meeting. But from the perspective of police departments – not to mention gunmakers – the Obama administration may go down as one of the most gun-friendly in history. Across America, police departments are using the taxpayer-funded stimulus bill to boost their arsenals with shotguns, handguns, and assault rifles. Among the general public, a record 1 million guns were sold across the United States in August alone, rebuffing...

That’s right. In one month alone Americans made themselves and this nation safer (from enemies foreign and domestic) by choosing to exercise one our most precious rights–the right to own a firearm. I think Thomas Jefferson would be especially pleased with this news when we consider a letter he sent to one of his nephews: “A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the Body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind . . . Let your gun therefore be the constant...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   New York: Sportsmen’s Association for Firearms Education Inc. (S.A.F.E.) 2009 Firearm Civil Rights Conference   Thursday, September 03, 2009   Please join the Sportsmen’s Association for Firearms Education Inc. (S.A.F.E.) for its 2009 Firearm Civil Rights Conference. Sunday, September 13, 2009, 1:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. (doors open at 12:00 noon) Sheraton Long Island Hotel110 Vanderbilt Motor ParkwaySmithtown, NY (631) 231-1100(on Motor Parkway on the North side of LIE between exits 53 & 55)Special guests include Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President; Ron Schmeits, NRA President; Chris Cox, Executive Director of the...

Please contact Governor Jodi Rell today and respectfully urge her not to balance the state’s budget on the backs of law-abiding-gun owners and sportsmen!After negotiating down to a more modest 25% fee increase for pistol licenses and hunting licenses during the regular legislative session, Democratic leaders met behind closed doors working out a deal to jack the fees back up to the 100% increase originally proposed.  Legislators then rubber-stamped the hikes as part of the larger budget in votes taking place in the wee hours of this morning. These increases will do little to raise revenue but will deal a...

“IT is time to water the tree of liberty” said the sign carried by a gun-toting protester milling outside President Obama’s town-hall meeting in New Hampshire two weeks ago. The Thomas Jefferson quote that inspired this message, of course, said nothing about water: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” That’s the beauty of a gun — you don’t have to spell out the “blood.” The protester was a nut. America has never had a shortage of them. But what’s Tom Coburn’s excuse? Coburn is a Republican senator from...

Norton Calls on Homeland Security Officials to Restrict Gun Carrying Outside Public Events Where President and Federal Officials Appear in D.C. and NationwideAugust 19, 2009    WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, today called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to restrict the carrying of weapons openly or concealed in or around the areas where the President of the United States and cabinet officials are appearing, following reports, photos, and videos of people carrying guns outside of  an Obama town...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Bloomberg Wants to "Counter" the NRA   Friday, August 14, 2009   It is old news to gun owners that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is not a friend.  As one of the leading proponents of new gun laws, Bloomberg has already earned his place in the Second Amendment rights hall of shame.  But apparently, Hizzoner does not believe he is doing enough to destroy our rights. On an appearance on "Meet the Press," Bloomberg announced that he would raise money to counter the influence of the NRA.  Bloomberg was on the...