Free Republic

When I was on vacation to the Meteor Crater in Arizona, I open carried into the museum and display area, and on the tour.  The guard/ticket seller at the front entrance never blinked.  I listened to the tour guide tell us of some of the history, and I asked a question or two.  I must have caught the attention of a presumably Navajo grandmother with her family.  She might have been my age, give or take a few years. She asked me if I believed what the tour guide had told us.  I said that I believed most of...

Michigan Officer Shells Out $35,000 For Open Carry Stop Posted by Bob Owens on July 30, 2015 at 2:03 pm ï‚‚ Somehow, I donÂ’t think Flint Township Police will be stopping people who open carry firearms any time soon unless they have a darn good reason. A man who claimed he was wrongfully arrested on Christmas Eve while legally open-carrying his pistol has reached a $35,000 settlement with the officer who stopped him, according to the manÂ’s attorney. John David McMorris reached the agreement Tuesday, July 28, after he sued Flint Township Police and Sgt. Russell Fries following his Dec....

ADulay, a regular contributor to opencarry.org, wrote about the open carry event that was held in Tampa over the weekend.   From opencarry.org: For those of you who could not make this meeting, here's a very quick synopsis of what you missed. Just over 50 guys, all open carrying, showed up with fishing gear, donuts, coffee and a great attitude. No police anywhere near the place. Lots of civilian people fishing and no problems with that at all. Several questions from curious people and most, if not all were amazed at the laws in Florida. I can only assume that...

A Marine veteran standing guard outside an Armed Forces Recruiting Center has been told he is no longer welcome and ordered off the property. Matthew Benack took up a sentry post outside the Center in Jacksonville, Fla., in response to the deadly attack on five members of the U.S. military last week in Chattanooga, Tenn., WNCT reported. Police said the vet was within his constitutional rights to have a loaded weapon outside the center as long as the unidentified property owner gave permission.

In some countries, such as Israel and Switzerland, it is common to see people walking around with slung military rifles.  No one except tourists pay much attention.  The United States is split.  In areas where the gun culture is entrenched and accepted (most of the land area of the U.S.) nobody pays much attention, but it is more unusual than in Switzerland.  In areas where the gun culture is reviled by the local powers that be, it can land you in trouble.  There are five states that ban the open carry of firearms in most public places.  They  are...

Gresham man robbed of gun he was openly carryingA man practicing his open carry right was robbed of the gun he was openly carrying. William Coleman III was robbed of his Walter- brand P22 just after 2:00 a.m. October 4 in Gresham by a young man who asked him for it — and flashed his own weapon as persuasion. Coleman, 21, was talking to his cousin in the 17200 block of NE Glisan St., after purchasing the handgun earlier that day, when a young man asked him for a cigarette, police said. The man then asked about the gun, pulled...

This model is carrying the "edgy" cell phone holder in about the worst or *best* way to make it sensational.  The choice of black holder, black phone and black shorts does the most to make the holder look as though a pistol is in the back pocket.  It does not hold up to close inspection.   From japantrendshop.com: More a piece of equipment than a regular "cover," the Gun Grip Case transforms your iPhone 5 into a handgun! Available in black, white or pink, this fake "pistol" works with an app so you can interact with a digital version of...

On my recent vacation to Meteor Crater and environs, I stopped at the rest areas along the way to check and see if the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) had done its job.  They needed to replace old signs that illegally banned guns in the rest areas.  When other travellers were available, I had them take my picture for use in this and future articles.   After the pretty young woman holding the child took my picture, I asked if I could take hers.   She was happy to pose for me.  Here is the picture she took of me at...

local court in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico this month issued a stern ruling that could end some of the strongest gun laws in the country. Taking control of Puerto Rico’s strict firearms statutes is Judge Lugo Anibal Irizarry, sitting in the Court of Salinas, who found the U.S. territory’s Ley de Armas unconstitutionally prohibitive and in violation of the Second Amendment as part of a class action lawsuit brought by 850 plaintiffs. As Irizarry’s 42-page (Spanish) ruling reads, explained by the Second Amendment Foundation, Puerto Ricans in the Commonwealth may now carry openly or concealed without a permit, and...

The open carry activists did not win the open carry victory in Texas because of public opinion, at least not on the superficial and transitory image of public opinion that is usually measured.   It was won because the activists developed means and methods to communicate around the elite establishment, grew their own organizations and vision, and exerted raw political power to bend the government to their will. They had several advantages.   The facts were on their side;  the Constitution is on their side; and the culture is on their side.  Against them were the big government elites, big media,...

The St. Louis Zoo has asked for, and Judge Joan Moriarty has issued, a temporary restraining order barring a Second Amendment activist from visiting the Zoo while armed.  From Fox2now.com: ST. LOUIS (AP) – A judge is barring a gun-rights advocate from entering the St. Louis Zoo with a gun as he pledged to do this weekend.St. Louis Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty issued a temporary restraining order against 56-year-old Jeffry Smith of Cincinnati. It’s in effect until a hearing June 22.Smith planned to go armed to the St. Louis Zoo on Saturday afternoon to test the legality of the...

In March of 2014, Johann Deffert was exercising his second amendment rights by peacefully openly carrying a holstered handgun in Grand Rapids.  As he passed a Church, someone called 911, perhaps to harass the open carrier.  Such harassment has become common, and is advocated by disarmists.  When the police arrived on the scene, Deffert was already well past the Church.  The officer drew his pistol and pointed it at Deffert.  The most threatening activity appears to be something the 911 caller never mentioned, and which the officer characterised as "talking to nobody", certainly an innocuous activity in these days...

Act 746 went into effect in 2013.  The law was clear at the time, and is clear now.  The Democrat Attorney General when the law went into effect, Dustin McDaniel, expressed an opinion about the law which seemed designed to cause confusion about the issue.   In the opinion, former AG McDaniel simply ignores the most important change in the law.    Here is the relevant section, ignored by McDaniel: 5-73-120. Carrying a weapon.(a) A person commits the offense of carrying a weapon if he or she possesses a handgun, knife, or club on or about his or her person, in...

Open carrier Todd Scott. In the attempted mass shooting at the Conyers Magnet Package store, customer Todd Scott was openly carrying his Smith & Wesson 4013STW.   When the active shooter opened fire, Todd took cover, evaluated the situation, and returned fire.  At that point the active shooter left the store, returned to his parents home, and shot and wounded them.  Rockdale Sheriff Eric Levett said that Todd Scott was a Hero.  From rockdalenews.com: There were three customers, who weren't injured in the incident, inside the liquor store. One customer, Todd Scott, returned fired from a handgun from the back...

I had to do some business at a local bank today.   I was reminded that some people find it unusual to openly carry holstered guns into banks.  Of course, we have been conditioned to pay no attention to the practice when someone in a uniform does it.   In the early 1980s, in military uniform, I and a brother-in-law carried full flap holsters into a bank in Madison, Wisconsin.  It was difficult to tell if there were 1911A1 .45 pistols in the holsters or not, and no one blinked.  In any case, it was not against the law.  Here in...

Link to video of start of shooting In Conyers, Georgia, a citizen, openly carrying a holstered pistol, returned fire at a man who had already killed two people.   The attack appears to be a planned mass shooting.   The attacker was armed with a semiautomatic pistol, which he is seen firing in the video.  When the open carrier, Todd Scott, returned fire, the active shooter stopped the attack, and fled the store.  He returned to the home where he lived with his parents, and shot and wounded them both.   At this point the police arrived at the...

I feel mostly recovered after a lingering virus with a nasty cough.  As related in another post, I was able to experience what it is like to be old, sick, and tired (while open carrying).   I had not conducted my usual exercise regime for nearly two months, being interrupted by travel, care for the new Grandson, and illness. Yesterday morning I did a hundred crunches, then drove back to Yuma from Las Vegas.  I have found crunches to be helpful in strengthening the core and relieving lower back pain. I usually climb a mountain twice a week as part...

I am mostly recovered from a nasty virus that I caught from my six month old grandson.  At times I was sleeping, or attempting to, 20 hours a day,  I could handle necessary chores, but simply trying to avoid coughing enough to breath comfortably, left me weak, and feeling too tired to exert myself.  Walking a couple of hundred yards was exhausting.  I had to go to the store a couple of times for off the shelf medicine and some ice cream, which I normally eat little of.   I became acutely aware of how vulnerable I was.  I could...

I was traveling up Arizona highway 95 from Yuma to Las Vegas to take care of some business.  I follow 95 through Bullhead City, to avoid crossing a little, but inconvenient, strip of California.   Just outside the southern city limits of Bullhead city, there is a gun shop, N.P. Gun Sales, on the east side of the highway.  I was looking for some 16 gauge buckshot loads, which are not that easy to come by.  It was a good excuse to check out the store.  The first thing that I noticed as I approached the door, was this sign....

A woman testifying for Moms Demand Action has been called on the carpet for misleading the Texas Senate for implying by omission that the tragic killing of her husband by her son resulted from the use of a firearm. In reality, her son killed his father with a pipe wrench and a knife. The fact that her son owned what she called “an arsenal” had no bearing on the murder. Open Carry Texas (OCT) has produced a short video which contrasts the woman’s testimony at the Capitol with newspaper and television reports about the murder, and her son’s trial.