Free Republic

Jack in the Box, a popular fast-food restaurant chain, has followed Starbucks' unfortunate lead in limiting its customers' Second Amendment rights. Friday, the company announced it would start enforcing its no-firearms-in-stores policy. Jack in the Box’s Vice President of Corporate Communications Brian Luscomb released this statement: “The presence of guns inside a restaurant could create an uncomfortable situation for our guests and employees and lead to unintended consequences.” The company's decision comes a day after gun control group Moms Demand Action launched a petition to pressure the restaurant to enforce the policy. They started the campaign in response to...

Freedom for a man with a gun trumps freedom for parents of kids who feel endangered by him. Our scary new reality. Imagine you’re sitting in a restaurant and a loud group of armed men come through the door. They are ostentatiously displaying their weapons, making sure that everyone notices them. Would you feel safe or would you feel in danger? Would you feel comfortable confronting them? If you owned the restaurant could you ask them to leave? These are questions that are facing more and more Americans in their everyday lives as “open carry” enthusiasts descend on public places...

It started when a mother posted a simple picture on Facebook, and asked a simple question: Is openly carrying a gun legal in an Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, park? TMJ4, a Milwaukee based, NBC affiliated television station, asked Oconomowoc officials, who said that they had a local ordinance forbidding the practice, and that it was enforceable.   In the process, they smeared Second Amendment supporters. WisconsinCarry President Nik Clark and other Second Amendment supporters wrote and told TMJ4 that they were wrong, citing the statutes in question.   The TV station went back to the city officials, who doubled down:  Both the city...

"Moms Demand Action continues to give a very emotional responseto open carry. Hillary Rand's basic argument is, 'My kids shouldn't have to lookat a gun,' which is based only on emotion. I don't want to look at Hillary Rand, but I'mnot going to force her out of the public eye." - CJ, battling over open-carry in Texas: Alice Tripp of the Texas State Rifle Association was the first person to testify at a hearing about open-carry in Austin on April 7. She said that Texas is one of only five states that outright bans the open carry of handguns....

Open carry is legal in Wisconsin.  The State has a strong state preemption law forbidding local governments from enacting a patchwork quilt of conflicting ordinances.   A local mother noticed that one of the people using a park, imagination station,  was openly carrying a holstered pistol.   She  posted a picture of it on facebook and wondered if it were legal.    The local Milwaukee television station, TMJ4, affiliated with NBC, saw the discussion of it on Facebook.   Steve Chamraz asked questions of local officials in Oconomowoc, where the park is located.  From TMJ4: While the sign in the park does...

I appreciate that there is a link to a Gun Watch article in the New York Times.  It is in the opinionator piece linked to here and below.   The link to Gun Watch is at the phrase this Michigan lawsuit:  According to open carry advocates, their presence in public space represents more than just an expression of their Second Amendment rights, it’s a statement, an “educational,” communicative act  — in short, an exercise of their First Amendment freedom of speech. (See this, from the group Ohio Carry, and this Michigan lawsuit.)  Could the New York Times be dragged into...

On April 29th, hundreds of Second Amendment supporters attended the Second Amendment rally at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan.   The rally has grown over the years and is now a major annual event at the Capitol.   These rallies are becoming more and more common around the nation.  There were numerous articles written about the Michigan event this year. MLive published an article complaining about the open carry practices of the rally members at the Capitol.  The writer, Mark Lawrence, is identified as: Mark Lawrence works for the Michigan Legislature and is a member of the National Rifle...

Photo: Alma E. Hernandez, For The San Antonio Express News Henry Vichique, shown with his pregnant wife, above, is the 19 year old man who was tased by police for carrying a WWII Russian rifle in a San Antonio residential neighborhood while walking home.  From the Houston Chronicle: San Antonio police arrested him March 30 while he was walking home with a loaded Russian World War II-vintage rifle slung across his shoulder. The event occurred after dark.   Police at the scene told Henry that people had reported that he had been pointing the rifle at others.   Henry replied that...

Today, the Tennessee Senate passed SB2424, a Vermont* style, permit-less open-carry bill. This bill would further restore the basic human right to self-defense in Tennessee. The question is, will the House follow suit? The companion bill, HB2409, if passed, would give Governor Haslam the opportunity to make good on the promise he made in a Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA) meeting on October 18, 2010, on Vermont Style Carry.Here is a transcription of part of that meeting:TFA member, If the legislature were to pass a Vermont style carry, and bring it to you, would you sign it? Candidate (Knoxville Mayor) Haslam,...

Open Carry Event in Texas, where open carry of modern handguns is not legal in most cases In July of 2013, an open carrier in Wisconsin narrowly avoided being "SWATted" by police.  He was well known in the area and had friends on the local police force.   They contacted him after he was accused of flashing a gun at the clerk of a convenience store. In the same incident, another innocent citizen was stopped by police at gunpoint and ordered out of their car because of bad information supplied by the clerk. Here is updated information: The open...

Photo Credit Star-Telegram Rodger Mallison The open carry movement in Texas is becoming mainstream.  Texas is one of a few states where openly carrying a holstered, modern handgun is barred by law from most public places.  This anomaly in the law occurred because Texas was on the losing side of the Civil War, or War Between the States, if you prefer.  There is a convoluted history to explain it, but before the war, the Texas Constitution guaranteed an absolute right to carry arms, even for slaves.  After the war, the change through two Constitutional conventions resulted in losing the...

Safety Breifing Before Eureka Springs Constitutional Carry/Act 746 walk Open Carry Walkers in Eureka Springs As has become the norm in Arkansas, the open carry/constitutional carry/ celebrate Act 746 walk in Eureka springs did not cause any drama or trauma. Dozens of people participated in the event on 29 March.  In spite of concerns, and some hostility expressed during a city council meeting prior to the event, there did not appear to be any significant opposition to the walk.   No one protested the open carriers.   One of the event participants actively looked for signs in businesses banning guns or...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators gave final approval Saturday to a bill that would nullify city and county gun restrictions and ensure that it's legal across the state to openly carry firearms, a measure the National Rifle Association sees as a model for stripping local officials of their gun-regulating power. The House approved the legislation, 102-19, a day after the Senate passed it, 37-2. The measure goes next to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. He hasn't said whether he'll sign it, but he's a strong supporter of gun rights and has signed other measures backed by the NRA and the...

Safety Breifing Before Eureka Springs Constitutional Carry/Act 746 walk Open Carry Walkers in Eureka Springs As has become the norm in Arkansas, the open carry/constitutional carry/ celebrate Act 746 walk in Eureka springs did not cause any drama or trauma. Dozens of people participated in the event on 29 March.  In spite of concerns, and some hostility expressed during a city council meeting prior to the event, there did not appear to be any significant opposition to the walk.   No one protested the open carriers.   One of the event participants actively looked for signs in businesses banning guns or...

San Antonio, TX --(Ammoland.com)- On March 31, 2014, a member of Open Carry Texas was exercising his right to self defense while on a walk near his home in San Antonio. San Antonio Police Department officers from the West Substation responded to what they claim was an individual waving his rifle around and pointing it at people. Nothing could be further from the truth. After approaching and recognizing that Henry Vichique wasn’t a threat and that the call was a hoax, officers still attempted to disarm a law-abiding citizen walking home from a friend’s house. As officers were about to...

In a brilliant bit of second amendment promotion, members of Wisconsin Carry went door to door in a bad part of Milwaukee, offering free training required to obtain the Wisconsin concealed carry license.  The south side of town does not have a good reputation, and it has a high crime rate.   Milwaukee has 10 percent of Wisconsin residents and 60 percent of Wisconsin murders. Wisconsin Carry has been giving free classes so that people can obtain the Wisconsin permit since 2009.   The Wisconsin shall issue law went into effect in November of 2011.  Wisconsin exceeded 200,000 permit holders in...

BREAKING: Master Sergeant Christopher Grisham has been found guilty of interfering with police duties, a class B misdemeanor. Grisham could face a possible $2,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail for the offense. The retrial of Fort Hood soldier C.J. Grisham began Monday after a jury was unable to come to a verdict in the case last month. Monday, the jury heard two witnesses testify including the Temple police officer who arrested Grisham as well as the woman who made the call to police. Temple police officer Steve Ermis took the stand to give his account of what...

The Eureka Springs, Arkansas city council had a special meeting on how to deal with a planned open carry/celebrate Act 746 walk in the city.  Some of the discussion is disturbing, as a council member openly seems to suggest ways in which to conspire to chill the exercise of the second amendment.  The video is 42:40 long on YouTube.   The most chilling comments are these, beginning about 22:30: "What I think I have, I think I have heard you say, that, our only recourse of action is then, is what you are going to do with the signs, which...

Alabama SB 354  passed the senate on Wednesday by the wide margin of 20 - 7. The bill includes vehicles as an extension of the home for purposes of carrying firearms, recognizing the right to bear arms extends to a person's vehicle, where a great deal of time is spent in modern society.  This is especially helpful to the growing number of people who live in recreational vehicles and travel about the country. The bill makes clear that open carry of firearms is not disorderly conduct.  In the section dealing with definitions of disorderly conduct, the bill reads: "The...

Constitutional/open/Celebrate Act 746 Walk in Russelville, Arkansas Two separate open carry/ constitutional carry, or celebrate Act 746 walks, took place in Arkansas last Saturday, 15 March.   One of the walks was in Russelville, the second was in Mountain Home.   Both walks were peaceful and relatively uneventful, as has come to be the norm.  No one was arrested and a good time was had.  From Arkansascarry.com: The Russellvile open carry celebration walk on March 15th, 2014 was another huge success. The Russellville police department was very easy to work with and Fat Daddy's BBQ did an excellent job feeding all of...