Free Republic

Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla The Florida open carry bill has moved out of Committee in the Florida House.  It will likely be voted on by the full House in the next few weeks.  From cbslocal.com: TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) - A bill that would allow Florida gun owners to openly carry their weapons is headed to a full vote. The bill cleared a committee vote 12 to 4 on Thursday.The next step will be a full vote by the Florida House in the next few weeks.The difficulty lies in the Senate, where Senator Portilla is Chair of the Judiciary Committee...

Gun rights is a topic which seems all too readily broken down among racial lines if you get all of your news from cable TV or the New York Times. Black Americans don’t like guns and white people are just crazy about them, right? (Or just crazy, I suppose.) But while there are some definite trends to support the stereotype, no group is ever as homogeneous as the press would have you believe. While I rarely turn to NPR for my news, I ran across an interesting interview this month conducted by Karen Grigsby Bates, speaking with one black gun...

Korean men defending Koreatown during the 1992 LA riots. A few days ago, on 21 January, Military.com White House Correspondent Bryant Jordan wrote an article about the Air Force reviewing its policies on allowing trained military personnel to carry concealed or openly, on and off duty, to supplement official guards and military police. From military.com: The Air Force on Wednesday said its review of “active-shooter incidents across the country” found that many ended without police intervention because someone present with a weapon stopped the shooter. (skip)  The Air Force also did not release the data showing how many active-shooter incidents...

 Picture from Human Events One of the most popular articles that I have written was "Mass Killings Stopped by Armed Citizens".  The article is a compilation of documented cases where armed citizens stopped what would likely have become mass killings before they occured.  Such incidents are usually spiked by the media because the body count is either non-existent or too low to meed the FBI criteria of a mass killing. It appears that the Air Force has got the memo.  In an article From military.com: The Air Force on Wednesday said its review of "active-shooter incidents across the country"...

The First and Second Amendments protect and reinforce each other.In a free society, there is always pressure to expand the power of the government to suppress freedom of speech.  Those in power, for the last 100 years, have been infringing on our right to bear arms, and claiming that those who support the Second Amendment are kooks, in an attempt to suppress our First Amendment rights. With the voice provided by the First Amendment and the Internet, brave activists have been rolling back those attacks on the First and Second Amendments, and have been winning important victories. Michael Picard...

A pistol carrier in Connecticut was asked by a police officer to produce a permit.  He asked the officer what the reason was for the officer asking for the permit.  The officer replied with an expetive.  From fox61.com: Brown told FOX 61 what happened next: "Well, you have a gun. So then he said, 'do you have a permit?' And I'm like why? He said 'because I (expletive) said so." But, according to the newly written law, police may only request a permit if there is reasonable suspicion of a crime.The officer did not arrest or detain Brown.I did...

Law requires stores to verify carry license or turn them away.More laws, more problems. That's always the way it is. The more rules you have, the more trouble it is for everyone. And in this case, stores like Wal-Mart are reportedly bearing the brunt. Texas recently began allowing open carry of handguns by folks who are licensed for concealed carry, and naturally, some folks are doing just that. But that creates a problem for retailers who sell alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine. Apparently, Texas has a law that dictates that any business selling alcolohic beverages cannot "knowingly allow"...

Before Texas' open carry law went into effect on Jan. 1, several businesses disclosed they would ban firearms on their private property. Now, one Houston-area eatery is making news by rewarding customers for carrying their guns. According to several media reports, Brooks' Place will give customers a 25 percent discount for openly carrying a gun. Previously, the Cypress-area barbecue trailer offered a 10 percent discount for concealed carry. Owner Trent Brooks told the Houston Chronicle the promotion received some backlash on Yelp but mostly positive reactions on Facebook. The new law allows Texans with a concealed handgun license to openly...

After years of work, political activism, protests and educational open carry marches, Texas now has licensed open carry.  If you have a carry license, you can carry your holstered pistol in most public spaces in Texas.  On this first day of licensed open carry, I celebrated by going doing a little open carry.  I started with the library in Benbrook, because I have been spending some time working there.  They have very good Internet connectivity, and the place that I am visiting does not.  They were not open on the First, a holiday, so I contented myself with carrying...

California-based Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), which has a major presence in Houston, joins the growing list of businesses opting out of Texas’ open carry law. The company sent an email to employees on Dec. 31 notifying them that, “based on existing laws and company policy, no firearms (handguns, rifles or shotguns) are permitted inside Chevron office buildings.”... Texas' open carry law goes into effect Jan. 1. The law allows Texans with a concealed handgun license to openly carry a gun in a belt or shoulder holster. Several grocery stores, Houston's Galleria mall, San Antonio-based Whataburger and Austin-based Torchy's Tacos are...

When Texas passed the shall issue concealed carry law in 1995, part of the deal concerned how people would be notified that a business did not allow concealed carry on the premises.  A compromise was worked out that an entity that chose not to allow concealed carry on its premises was required to post a sign on all entrances, clearly showing people entering, that concealed carry was not allowed.  The sign had to be large and highly visible, in both English and Spanish.  The letters had to be at least one inch tall.   An example of the "30.06" sign...

With about 900,000 concealed handgun permit holders in Texas, there is a good chance that someone next you in a Lone Star State grocery store or restaurant is carrying a concealed handgun. Starting Friday, Texas will join 44 other states that already allow people to openly carry handguns throughout the state.

Beginning on Jan. 1 the new open carry gun laws Texas will go into effect, allowing licensed handgun owners to openly carry guns in public. "As of January, there is no such thing as a concealed license anymore," said Stephens County Sheriff Billy Wade. "Your license is simply going to say license to carry a handgun." According to Wade, under the new law, handgun license owners have two options when carrying a handgun, they can continue to carry it concealed, as they always have, or carry it open which means with the weapon in view. "You have to carry it...

H-E-B grocers in Texas have put signage on their doors barring openly carried handguns, while Kroger says they will simply abide by the new law which will allow openly carried handguns, beginning January 1.

  Officers feloniously killed in U.S. (red)  Killed with own gun (green) When people talk about open carry, a common comment is that the open carrier will have their gun taken from them and used against them.  I have yet to find a case in the United States where that happened to someone who was not a law officer.  Law officers almost all open carry, and some have their guns taken from them and used against them, but the numbers are vanishingly small.   Here is a link to the data sources used to construct the graphic above. In the...

As of January 1, 2016, licensed Texans will no longer be forced to conceal their revolvers or semi-automatic handguns while out in public. According to a new open carry law, which Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed at a gun range last June, licensed Texans can now openly carry their firearm (as long as it's secured in a belt or shoulder holster) in all the same places where they could already carry a concealed weapon - which is pretty much anywhere except federal buildings, courthouses, polling places, amusement parks, worship centers, sporting events, jails, and businesses like bars where more...

RICHMOND — Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) plans to announce Tuesday that Virginia will no longer recognize concealed carry handgun permits from 25 states that have reciprocity agreements with the commonwealth. The move also means Virginians with a history of stalking, drug dealing or inpatient mental-health treatment cannot obtain a permit in a state with comparatively lax laws and carry a handgun legally at home. Herring said severing the out-of-state agreements can prevent people who may be dangerous or irresponsible from carrying a concealed weapon. “To me, this is a commonsense step that can help make Virginians and our...

Both people in the picture above are open carrying.A correspondent reports on open carry at a church in Northern Wisconsin.  There is a sign near the entrance that says that legal carry of guns is welcome. Here is the pro-carry sign.  It is a simple 8 1/2 by 11 sheet: Wisconsin is underrated as a pro-Second Amendment state. The state never outlawed open carry, even if the urban areas routinely violated Second Amendment rights of citizens before 2010. Wisconsin passed a strong amendment to the State Constitution in 1998, affirming the right to keep and bear arms for all...

The push to reform Florida gun laws to restore open carry rights has gained significant momentum in the last few weeks.  First, on October 5th, the licensed Open Carry bill,  HB-163, passed the Florida House Criminal Justice sub-committee, with an 8-4 vote.  Second, one day later, the Florida Supreme Court agreed to hear a constitutional challenge to the Florida Open Carry ban in the Norman v. State (Florida) (PDF) case.   The Florida Sheriff's Association, using rather heavy-handed tactics, came out against the open carry bill in the middle of October . Now the Florida Police Chiefs Association has said...

Link only: http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/news/local/2015/12/07/homer-schools-locked-down-over-parent-carrying-gun/76947308/