Free Republic

This Benjamin .22 pump air rifle was in like new condition The gun turn in event at Phoenix the last two weekends also collected air guns. No gift cards were given for them, but a few came in anyway. The lucky private buyer paid $45 for the Benjamin pictured above, including a tin of 500 pellets. This table of air rifles and handguns was turned in on 11 May. Most of them are relatively inexpensive, but you can see what appears to be a decent quality break open air rifle with scope under the imitation model 94 Winchester. The...

Some guns that went past private buyers and were turned in at the Phoenix events Yes, you do see a stainless mini-14 with a folding stock, an M1 carbine, a utility double, and many more. Just short of a thousand were turned in. Another mysterious source comes up with $100K to further fund gun turn in events in Phoenix this Saturday, May 18th. The hours have changed to 0900 - 1300. Private buyers have made amazing deals at these events during the last two weekends, and some fantastic firearms have been turned in, in spite of dozens of private buyers...

Author, with a Kassnar .22 AR lookalike (complete with homemade folding stock). Photo ©2013 by Dean Weingarten. The Arizona state legislature recently passed a law requiring cities to sell guns they collect in gun buy-backs, rather than destroy them, as is typically done. The law has been passed but not yet gone into effect – so the city of Phoenix and the a group called Arizonans for Gun Safety set up a series of three buybacks to be held before the law took effect.AFGS provided $100,000 of private money, and they partnered with the local grocery chain Bashas to give...

These ladies agreed to have their picture taken with some of their purchases, but only after I told them I was new media. They insisted that they did not want their pictures used for anti-freedom propaganda. They said that they would be checking up on me. Ladies, this story is for you. The gift cards could not always compete with cash. About 60-70 percent of the people bringing guns to the turn in wanted to get rid of the guns because they considered them worth less than the value of the cards, or because they thought the firearms were...

Happy, private, buyer of .22 "Assault Rifle" at Phoenix gun turn in event. This rifle seems to have most things needed to make a media inspired "assault rifle". It has a flash hider, large magazine, folding stock, pistol grip, and is semi-automatic. Luckily, it has "brown privilege", so it is less likely to be discriminated against than if it were black. The ordinary Philippene made semi-auto .22 was fitted with some AR-15 style hardware to give it more sales appeal. Interesting homemade folding stock using cabinet hardware Note the hardware latch used to secure the folding stock Detail of...

Likely WWII war trophy. This Luger came in with an Original Holster The holster is in the lower left, just three guns to the left of what appears to be a Model 97 Winchester shotun I arrived at the gun turn in at a little after 9 am on Saturday morning. I had a couple of inexpensive .22 rifles to test the system with. I promptly got in the line of vehicles to enter the area for the turn in. The line was a couple of hundred yards long when I entered itThis woman was one of many that offered...

My waitress was a young, pretty, Gen X or Millennial. I am in Phoenix again for the next and last gun turn in for an unknown period. I stopped for dinner at a Gyro sandwich place somewhere in Scottsdale. The food was good, the water acceptable, the company pleasant. The waitress was photogenic, so I asked her what she thought of the gun turn in (buyback) being run by the city. At first, she didn't recall what I was talking about, but then she said that she remembered seeing a sign for the event. She said that she wasn't...

Numerous private buyers found that the police set up rendered the sit with sign strategy unproductive. At the gun turn in in Phoenix, the line of cars quickly became several blocks long. A private buyer examines guns for sale while others start to walk the line. The turn in event rapidly assumed the ambiance of a street festival. Private buyers walked the line of cars, politely asking people if they were willing to take cash for their guns. This Smith & Wesson model 19 was in 95% condition. The private buyer said that he paid $120. One was recently...

The first location visited to day was the Sunnyslope Mennonite Church located at 9835 North 7th Street. The weather cooperated today, with lots of sunshine, little wind, and moderate temperatures. People started showing up early at this location, but were not generally let in until very close to the official starting time. I walked into there area where they were about to start processing turn ins. A woman walked in with me and I asked her what she was turning in, and why. She was a widow, she had inherited a pistol from her husband who was a WWII...

The drive to Phoenix from Yuma is about three hours, for what will be the first gun turn in event in 20 years. Many people come to the valley of the sun to retire, so the potential for widows who are not familiar with their husbands "old army rifle" or "Grandpa's shotgun" are pretty good. I and a good friend looked at the three sites last night. A couple were on the South side in modest neighborhoods. I have seen much, much worse. A lady of the evening in a red sequined dress and a nice figure sauntered along the...

by John HillStand With ArizonaWebsite | Facebook | Twitter Sheriff Joe Arpaio is facing a campaign to recall him from office. They are collecting signatures, and already have more than half the required amount with two months to go. This follows a re-election campaign last year which saw unprecedented amounts spent on both sides, as George Soros committed $10 million to oust "America's Sheriff". Joe was forced to spend his entire 'war chest' of $8 million to (barely) hold onto office - the closest race of his career. Why?Why is the Left in America so focused on a single county's...

Today in Brief Acts of Criminal Stupidity, a burglary got a face full of concrete as he tripped over himself while stealing golf clubs from a Phoenix home. The only thing that could've made this video better is if it would've ended in an arrest, thus associating a name and mugshot with this act of criminal stupidity.

The gay son of Rep. Matt Salmon, Arizona Republican, told KPNX-TV in Phoenix on Sunday that both MSNBC’s “The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell” and CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live” canceled interviews with him because he refused to attack his father on the air. Matt R. Salmon, the son, said MSNBC canceled his appearance because “they had intended to be critical of him and … I was unwilling to do so.” He also said CNN “seemed very gung ho about” an interview at first, but when he said he was supportive of his father, “they seemed to lose interest.”

After noticing that most of the lifeguards at the public pools used by Latino and African-American kids were white, the Phoenix aquatics department decided to try to recruit minorities. More than 90 percent of the students at Alhambra High are black, Latino or Asian. On a recruiting effort there over the winter, the city's Melissa Boyle tells students she's not looking for strong swimmers. Like many under-resourced schools, Alhambra doesn't have a swim team. "We will work with you in your swimming abilities," Boyle says. Boyle's colleague Kelly Martinez takes on the delicate task of explaining the scenario the city...

Monsters among us: yet another illegal alien pedophile strikes- by John HillStand With Arizona Illegal aliens are leaving a trail of victims from coast to coast - a massive crime wave that most Americans don't know about - because the media typically plays it down. And so frequently the victims are children or involve children - thanks to a perverse Mexican culture that virtually ensures the victimization of the young. There was one such a murder last night outside Phoenix. Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Maricopa County Sheriff's detectives are  are investigating thmurder that happened late Monday night in...

In a staggering case of affirmative action gone wild, officials in a major U.S. city are actually recruiting minorities to be lifeguards at public pools even if they’re not good swimmers. It’s all in the name of diversity. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s a real-life story out of Phoenix, the capitol of Arizona and the nation’s sixth-largest city. It has more than 1.4 million residents and, among its official mottos is “value and respect” of diversity. This means “more than gender and race,” according to the city’s official website. It also encompasses “uniqueness and individuality” and embracing differences....

The gun turn in events for Phoenix have been given dates. They will be held on Saturdays, the 4th, 11th, and 18th of May. $100 gift cards will be given for handguns, most rifles, and shotguns. $200 will be given for semi-automatic "military style" rifles. The turn in events will be held in the Maryvale, South Phoenix, and Sunnyslope neighborhoods. The addresses of the events have not yet been announced. It has been reported that "high capacity" magazines that are turned in will also earn a card. No limits or qualifiers have been announced so far, but only $100,000 has...

The word arid has two meanings: insufficient rainfall to grow trees or dull and boring. The second meaning seems to characterize the level of intelligence that’s on display in the recent media water war that has broken out between the major newspapers in Los Angeles and Phoenix. This e-water war was provoked by William deBuys’ op-ed article in the March 14 Los Angeles Times, “Phoenix’s Too Hot Future.” The Phoenix-based Arizona Republic newspaper retorted on March 15 with an editorial, “Los Angeles More of a Water Vacuum than Phoenix.” DeBuys is the author of the book: “A Great Aridness: Climate...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - At the end of a day of driving around Phoenix in his battered Ford truck scavenging for boxes, Mexican day laborer Jesus Aquilar sells the load to a recycler for pennies a pound, and tosses the yellow receipt with others on his dashboard. Now that President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress have begun a push for comprehensive immigration reform, he wants to ensure he will benefit. When the time comes - if it does - to apply for legal status, the stash of dog-eared receipts could be a paper trail to a hoped-for life out of...

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton has announced that he will be arranging a gun turn in for every Saturday during the month of May. Locations have yet to be announced, or what will be used as incentives for the turn ins. Called by the propaganda term “buy back” the programs insinuate that all firearms belong to the government, when in fact the guns were never owned by the government. This is a prime opportunity for Constitutionalists to have fun and the possibility of picking up some decent guns for very good prices. It appears that Mayor Stanton has $100,000 to play...

by John HillStand With ArizonaWebsite | Facebook | Twitter Americans are furious over the outrageous, lawless release of thousands of criminal illegal aliens from ICE detention - hundreds in Arizona alone - endangering families and communities from coast-to-coast. As the controversy swirled today, an angry Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) appeared on FoxNews' Neil Cavuto show to react to both the detainee releases, as well as to two days of finger-pointing and avoidance of responsibility on the part of the White House and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. “The American people are fed up. We have all of this outrageous activity going on.  And,...

Welcome to the 2013 Nascar Race Season. This week's race is run in Phoenix.

PHOENIX - A bill in front of the city council would change the non-discrimination law in Phoenix, protecting Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual and Transgender people. Essentially, the proposal prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations, such as restaurants and hotels. But, opponents have dubbed it, the "Bathroom Bill", because, if approved, a man could follow a woman into the bathroom by claiming to be transgender. Supporters say they despise the nickname, claiming it's a fear-mongering lie created by critics of the bill. “They can swing this, that's why they do this because they know if they can get people to...

Pro-Constitution and Second Amendment Rally at Arizona Capitol, 8 February, 2013 I attended the Rally on 8 February at the Arizona Capitol that was aimed at protecting the Constitution, especially the Second Amendment. I and my brother arrived about half an hour early and were able to find parking. Some other reformers looking to protect the Constitution and roll back some of the infringements on citizens rights were arriving just as we got there. They had an extra Gadsden flag for my brother to carry, and I had brought a megaphone because of the lack of organization and an...

David Spade can now check this off his Christmas list: 300 rifles. The funnyman. 44, stopped by a police station in his former hometown of Phoenix on Monday morning to present a check for $100,000 toward the purchase of rifles for patrol officers, the police department says in a statement. The donation helps fund a program being coordinated by Phoenix Police Chief and Public Safety Manager Jack Harris and Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Officer Mark Spencer.

A bipartisan group in Arizona will try to oust controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in a recall election. “We believe he has not done justice. Sheriff Arpaio has not taken responsibility for his acts, he has done a lot of harm to the Hispanic community, the county has paid millions of dollars in lawsuits filed against him,” Randy Parraz, a member of Respect Arizona that is pushing the recall effort, told Efe. Arpaio, 80, was first elected in 1992 and since then has been reelected six times. Nonetheless, his popularity has tumbled among voters in the county, which includes...

Police in Mesa, Ariz., reported finding a man with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound who matches the description of a suspect in a Phoenix shooting. Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos said a person matching the description of the suspect, 70-year-old Arthur Douglas Harmon, was found Thursday with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, KTVK-TV, Phoenix, reported. "Mesa Police have informed us they have located the suspect vehicle involved in yesterday's [Wednesday's] incident," Martos said in an email distributed to media outlets Thursday. "In addition, they have located an individual matching the suspect description nearby with what appears to...

PHOENIX—Two men have been sentenced to several years behind bars for their roles in a gun smuggling ring that was part of the U.S. government's Operation Fast and Furious. The U.S. Justice Department says Jacob Anthony Montelongo was sentenced Monday in Phoenix to nearly 3 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and dealing guns without a license. Sean Christopher Steward received a nine-year sentence for conspiracy and lying. During the Fast and Furious operation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents hoped to track illegally obtained weapons to high-level arms traffickers, but authorities lost track...

In one of the more surreal scenes in recent NASCAR memory, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer set off a sequence of events during the Sunday Phoenix race that could have repercussions not just for next week, but for next season and the Sprint Cup championship.

Two to go and this week it's PHoenix.. To the victor the spoils and a likely leg up in the Chase for the Cup.. to the rest of the pack, it's just one more race to go after Sunday. Who has the stuff to finish ahead of the pack? Place your bets!

The 2012 presidential election is still more than two weeks away, but on Friday a CBS News affiliate in Arizona called the race for President Barack Obama

Excerpted from The Daily Caller: The 2012 presidential election is still more than two weeks away, but on Friday a CBS News affiliate in Arizona called the race for President Barack Obama. For 17 seconds, Phoenix, Arizona CBS News affiliate KPHO ran a lower third graphic that showed that Obama had won the Nov. 6 election over Gov. Mitt Romney with 99% of the precincts reporting. The lower third graphic appeared around 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 19, during an episode of “The People’s Court.” The CBS News graphic showed Obama winning the election with 43 percent of the vote nationwide...

The University of Phoenix, the nation’s largest for-profit university, is closing 115 of its brick-and-mortar locations, including 25 main campuses and 90 smaller satellite learning centers. The closings will affect some 13,000 students, about 4 percent of its student body of 328,000. [Snip] Enrollments at the University of Phoenix and in the for-profit sector over all have been declining in the last two years, partly because of growing competition from other online providers, including nonprofit and public universities, and a steady drumroll of negative publicity about the sector’s recruiting abuses, low graduation rates and high default rates. Late last month,...

PHOENIX (AP) — Several hundred activists and union officials have spread out across Latino neighborhoods in metropolitan Phoenix to register voters in an effort to prevent the re-election of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

A group of illegal immigrants from the Phoenix area is headed to Los Angeles to be part of a rally urging Gov. Jerry Brown to sign a bill known as "The Trust Act." The measure, passed by the California legislature last month, would limit the cooperation between state and local police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At a news conference outside the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, some of those who are making the trip referred to The Trust Act as "the anti-SB 1070," referring to Arizona's immigration enforcement law. A provision of that law, which was just recently allowed to...

PHOENIX -- Erika Andiola's mother was pulled over by Mesa Police Saturday night for speeding but Andiola believes there was another reason, a reason police said is irrelevant. "According to the police she was going 50 miles per hour when it was supposed to be 40," Andiola told 92.3 KTAR's Jay Lawrence. "I actually went to speak to one of the cops and he didn't even want to answer whether he stopped them or not because of the color of their skin but I honestly felt that was the reason why that happened." Andiola added that her mother and two...

lfonso Vazquez barely remembers life in Guanajuato, his childhood home north of Mexico City. Some snippets remain: His mother crying a lot, days when a plate of tortillas fed him and his five siblings, other days when the plate was empty. His mom made weekly phone calls to his father, who sent money every week to their village from wherever he was. But there's a memory that's proved "one of the hardest things to forget to this day," says Vazquez. At age 4, Vazquez was carried by his mother through the Sonoran Desert, a 120,000-square-mile stretch of sweltering land that...

This is what government is all about. Forget roads, mass murder through warfare, or locking people up for their consumption choices: it's making sure that no one gives out water without a permit.This is from last week but I believe un-noted here: ABC-TV 15 from Phoenix reports that local Christian proselytizer Dana Crow-Smith was ordered by a "Neighborhood Preservation Inspector" to stop giving out free bottled water last month because she lacked a vending permit, though she was not vending.She is threatening to sue the city with help from the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group with a focus...

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Glendale Police responded to reports of a shooting in the parking lot of University of Phoenix stadium Friday night, while the Cardinals were playing the Raiders in their first preseason game. We're hearing a man in his 30s was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. He's currently in stable condition. A suspect has apparently been taken into custody. No other information was made available. Stay with myfoxphoenix.com for updates on this developing story.

Phoenix officials have until next Friday to apologize for the actions of a code enforcement officer after he stopped Christians from giving out water bottles to city festival participants on a day that reached 112 degrees. A legal team that fights for religious and civil rights is also demanding a commitment that the city will no longer interfere with the Christian group’s acts of charity. According to a letter to the city from the Rutherford Institute, the case developed in July during a “First Friday” festival when Dana Crow-Smith was giving “free bottles of cold water to passersby” on the...

PHOENIX — The route they will take on their cross-country trek resembles a slithering snake — up, down and around in a series of intentional detours that are equal parts political strategy and provocation. Their bus leaves from this sprawling city in the desert at sunrise on Monday, carrying 30 men and women who say they have chosen to live in the shadows no more. If all goes as planned, they will get to Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 3, just as the Democratic National Convention is getting started. For the illegal immigrants taking the ride, it is time to make...

There was more drama outside the Susan Day O’Connor federal courthouse in Phoenix than inside the courtroom Tuesday — where Sheriff Joe Arpaio said his office did not make arrests based on people’s “color of their skin” — as about 50 people demonstrated in the street, including several illegal immigrants who had come willing to be arrested. Four immigrants with no legal status were handcuffed and taken away by city police after they blocked a nearby intersection, with an unfurled a banner that read “No Papers, No Fear,” for about an hour. Each one sat on one corner of the...

Last week two Christian pastors were jailed in the United States for violation of court orders involving two different types of property cases. In Phoenix, Arizona, Pastor Michael Salman of the Harvest Christian Fellowship Community Church (not affiliated with the Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA) is serving a 60-day prison sentence for violating building, fire, and zoning codes. In 2008 Salman received a permit to build a 2,000 square foot “game room” which expressly prohibited its use as a church, business or assembly because it did not meet the physical requirements that such structures were required to meet. Large...

Phoenix police arrest 3 women in fake coupon ringWHITNEY PHILLIPS, Associated Press Updated 07:13 p.m., Wednesday, July 11, 2012 PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix police say they have seized more than $25 million worth of fake coupons and $2 million in other assets from the homes of three women linked to a widespread counterfeiting and forgery operation. Officer James Holmes said officers served several warrants Tuesday morning at the Phoenix-area residences, and 40-year-old Robin Ramirez, 42-year-old Amiko Fountain and 54-year-old Marilyn Johnson were arrested after an eight-week investigation. **SNIP** Police say Ramirez, believed to be the leader of the operation, bought...

Cries of religious persecution rose in the Arizona desert after Phoenix pastor Michael Salman began serving a 60 day jail sentence on July 9 and faces a $12,000 fine after refusing to stop holding a Bible study at his home. But like any news story, it is important to get past the headlines making their way across the media and blogosphere and take a look at the facts. The Bible study, known as the Harvest Christian Fellowship Community Church, is actually held in a building, constructed in 2008, that seats 100 people in what used to be the backyard of...

A Phoenix man who violated city zoning laws by hosting a Bible study in the privacy of his home has started serving a 60-day jail sentence for his crimes. Michael Salman was found guilty in the City of Phoenix Court of 67 code violations. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail along with three years of probation and a $12,180 fine. A spokesperson for the city attorney confirmed that Salman reported to a county jail Monday afternoon. Members of Salman’s Bible study group posted video of their teacher as he self-reported to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. It was...

PHOENIX (AP) — A 14-year-old boy shot and nearly killed an intruder who broke into his Phoenix home and pulled a gun on him while he was watching his three younger siblings, police said Saturday. The teen and his siblings, ages 8, 10 and 12, were at home alone when a woman rang the doorbell Friday afternoon, Phoenix police Officer James Holmes said. The teen didn’t open the door because he didn’t recognize the woman. Soon after, the teen heard a loud bang on the door, rushed his siblings upstairs and got a handgun from his parent’s bedroom.

A 14-year-old boy shot and nearly killed an intruder who broke into his Phoenix home and pulled a gun on him while he was watching his three younger siblings, police said Saturday. The teen and his siblings, ages 8, 10 and 12, were at home alone when a woman rang the doorbell Friday afternoon, Phoenix police Officer James Holmes said. The teen didn't open the door because he didn't recognize the woman. Soon after, the teen heard a loud bang on the door, rushed his siblings upstairs and got a handgun from his parent's bedroom. When he got to the...

by John HillStand With ArizonaSheriff Joe Arpaio's attorneys have filed a "Motion to Dismiss" in response to Eric Holder's ridiculous lawsuit alleging racial discrimination by the Sheriff and his deputies against "Latinos" through their enforcement of existing Federal immigration laws. Arpaio's lawyers have called on a Federal court in Phoenix to dismiss the DOJ's lawsuit, in a 23-page response, asserting that Holder failed to back his claims with "sufficient statistical evidence." Such evidence is required in Federal discrimination lawsuits, and the DOJ has provided none. The filing also asserts that the DOJ has no ability to even sue the sheriff's office...

Flick the switch on these flashlights and they don’t light up. They blow up. Three of these bombs have exploded within the last month in the Phoenix area, causing minor injuries to five people and raising fears of more serious ones. Police still have no idea who is behind them and have taken the unusual step of putting up 22 billboards across the sprawling metro area to warn residents about discarded flashlights. “The nature of the bombings are so random,” said Tom Mangan, a special agent at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix. An explosive...