Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Authorities in Ecuador are officially treating the disappearance of an Oklahoma City valedictorian as a kidnapping case, according to family members searching for the teen." SNIPPET: "Classen SAS graduate August Reiger went missing Sunday from a mountain near his Baños resort where he had been staying for the last week." SNIPPET: "The U.S. Embassy says it is in close contact with the Reiger family while the State Department continues to warn of the dangers in the area." SNIPPET: "The family tells supporters in Oklahoma City that roughly 150 people searched for August on Tuesday. Those close to August say...

TULSA, Oklahoma - The owner of a Tulsa lawn care service made use of his handgun permit to protect himself and his business Monday afternoon. The owner was on a mower when he said two people tried to steal some of this other equipment in a neighborhood near 31st and Garnett. He said the two people also tried to run him over in the truck they were driving. It was at that point he said he made the decision to draw his weapon. A bullet hole and a couple of flat tires was all the damage left behind after Steve...

OKLAHOMA CITY - Police say an elderly man held a 28-year-old burglary suspect at gunpoint when the man allegedly tried to break into his house early Thursday morning. The man was awakened around 4:30 a.m. when he heard noise at his back door in the 5000 block of S. Bypass Terrace. When he went to investigate, he said he saw Anthony Cabralalez attempting to break in to the house. The victim told Cabralalez to stop and go away, but the suspect kept trying to get inside the house. The victim said he even tried to get in through a small...

Tulsa, Okla. — A homeowner opens fire after he finds three men trying to break into his barn early Sunday morning. Tulsa police say it happened around 2:35 a.m., near 17th and Memorial. The homeowner heard a noise and went outside to investigate. Police say the suspects were attempting to break inside the barn when they were discovered. Before the suspects could get inside, police say the homeowner fired four shots. It's not known whether he was firing at the suspects or if he was just trying to scare them. None of the three suspects were hit. Police say they...

President Obama will gain one more day of respite from the controversies that have crowded in on his administration Tuesday, as he tours the New Jersey coast to inspect the recovery and rebuilding efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

DENVER (AP) -- In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill. The Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts chain argues that businesses - not just the currently exempted religious groups - should be allowed to seek exception from that part of the health law if it violates their religious beliefs. "They ought to be able - just like a church, just like a charity - to...

If you can believe that President Obama doesn’t know anything about his own administration, then I’m sure it isn’t hard to believe this:

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said Tuesday that her state will rebuild, and she asked for prayers to aid the rescue and recovery.

Tornado warnings up in Oklahoma. Watches in TX, OK, KS, MO, far NW Arkansas.

More than 100 people lined up to check out the handguns and rifles being auctioned off in Poteau on Saturday (May 18). The LeFlore County Sheriff’s Office auctioned off 264 weapons that had been confiscated and held in the department’s evidence vault. Sheriff Rob Seale said some of the guns were collected as far back as 1999. “A lot of them are weapons that have been seized in court cases that have been cleared,” said Seale. “A lot of them are just lost property that’s been found, property that’s been turned over by the owners.” The auction brought in potential...

A Muskogee business owner told police he shot a man breaking into his business. Muskogee police are investigating a case where the owner of Fast Wrecker shot a suspected burglar he says he caught breaking into his business early Thursday morning. Oklahoma’s Stand Your Ground law expanded to businesses in 2011, that allows a business owner to shoot an intruder if they feel they fear death or great bodily harm. The intruder doesn’t have to be armed. In the three-and-a-half minute 911 call, business owner, Dale Ford, didn’t know at first if he shot the suspected burglar. Ford: "I fired...

GUTHRIE, Okla. – One person was shot and killed Thursday on Guthrie’s east side. Police said a homeowner opened fire on a naked intruder who stunned the family after breaking through a back door. That homeowner told police his family was asleep when they first heard banging at the door. He loaded his weapon and shot the man when he walked into the kitchen and lunged at him. The victim’s name hasn’t been released but they said he’s a white male in his 40s who lives in the area. Officials said the suspected intruder may have been suffering from mental...

NORMAN, Okla.—The family of a man who was questioned by police for a shooting Saturday afternoon says he shot another man in self-defense. Police were called to the 4000 block of Mayfair Dr. around 10 a.m. Saturday, regarding a fight. While officers were on their way to the scene, the fight intensified to a shooting. Authorities took the suspected shooter, 47-year-old Todd William Hoss into custody at that time. After investigating the shooting, police learned that Hoss may have fired the weapon in self-defense.

memory hole reminder The first documentary evidence that Vietnamese communists were directly steering John Kerry’s group Vietnam Veterans Against the War has been discovered in a U.S. archive, according to a researcher who spoke with WorldNetDaily. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2004/10/27207/#615wufvA5oZXKuWK.99

A suspect who was shot by a McLoud homeowner during a reported overnight burglary remained hospitalized Friday.

Police were at two locations in southeast Oklahoma City Friday night investigating reports of a burglary and a shooting. Police said five people were trying to burglarize a home at the 1500 block of SE 45 when the female homeowner shot one of them with her gun. A friend of the homeowner, a man, shot another burglar with the homeowner's gun, police report. The burglars fled the scene and went to a house at the 500 block of SE 79, police said. Both shooting victims were taken to a hospital and were in serious to critical condition, police said.

State Rep. Sean Roberts will be among 15 bill authors of a measure named the Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act. House Bill 2021 would assert the Second Amendment rights of Oklahomans by exempting guns or ammunition made in the state from federal regulations. The bill specifies that to qualify for the exemption the guns must be clearly marked as “Made in Oklahoma” and kept within state boundaries. In 2010, the legislation was introduced as Senate Bill 1685, but was vetoed by then Gov. Brad Henry after passing in both the House and Senate.

Dear...: Thank you for contacting me about the Second Amendment. As your voice in Washington, I appreciate knowing your views. In 1994, the assault weapons ban established a comprehensive regulatory scheme of prohibiting the manufacture, transfer, or possession of assault weapons, as well as the possession or transfer of large capacity ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 rounds. These magazines are used by millions of Americans and are customary in handguns and other firearms. Nineteen specific weapons and their copycats were banned by the original legislation signed into law by President Clinton on September 13, 1994. The weapons...

We now know the name of the masked man dressed in camouflage that opened fire in a shopping mall near Portland, Oregon. Police say Jacob Tyler Roberts was armed with a stolen semi-automatic weapon when he stormed the mall on Tuesday. FOX23 did some checking and neither Woodland Hills Mall or the Promenade allows open carry holders to bring their guns inside. Tulsa police say it’s a good thing it would allow them to pinpoint who a shooter is if this were ever to happen here. However, local gun advocates say it puts them more in danger. Kirby Ellis is...

<p>ON the first day Douglass High School students walked the halls of their new building, the Oklahoma City School Board chairman at the time stood before students with a message of hope.</p> <p>“The investment they made in you is one we expect to pay off for years to come,” Cliff Hudson said that day in January 2006. He was referencing voter support of MAPS for Kids, which paid for the new Douglass and hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of capital improvements throughout the district.</p>