Free Republic

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.