Free Republic

As people on both sides of the debate regarding open carry—the practice of carrying firearms in plain view—have been turning up the heat, more companies are being forced to take a side. Gun-rights advocates see the practice as a way to normalize gun ownership and deter crime, while gun-control activists believe carrying guns in stores and restaurants is disruptive to the public and encourages violence. Recently, Target, Starbucks and Chipotle have asked their patrons not to bring their guns. After petitions by gun-control groups such as Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Kroger said it would uphold local...

Second Amendment: An African-American single mom on her way to a birthday party for one of her kids faces 10 years in prison for straying into the Garden State carrying a firearm in her purse licensed in Pennsylvania. Shaneen Allen is less well-known than Michael Brown, the man shot by police in Ferguson, Mo., and it's doubtful Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton will pay her a visit anytime soon. They're busy elsewhere. A mother exercising her Second Amendment right not only to keep but to bear arms to protect her family is of little interest to them. Allen is a...

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. — Deputies confirm a suspect has been arrested in Jacksonville, Florida for the deadly shooting of a 55-year-old man in Columbia County last night. The coroner's office identifies the victim as William Davitte. He was shot and killed at Marvin United Methodist Church on S. Belair Rd near Wheeler Rd. Davitte and his wife, Jennifer Davitte, were turning on the sprinkler system at the church around 10:30 p.m. when the shooting happened, said Columbia County Cpt. Steve Morris. The husband was shot three times and died on the scene. His wife was taken to the hospital with...

Gun Control: A federal judge rules that the AR-15 and similar weapons commonly used in self-defense "fall outside Second Amendment protection as dangerous and unusual arms," and we have no right to keep or bear them. Nobody looted the gun shop and tattoo parlor that share a storefront in a strip mall less than 10 minutes from Ferguson, Mo., where riots followed the police shooting of Michael Brown. According to the local Riverfront Times, the owners of County Guns and Tattoo Studio arrived with friends to protect their businesses. One owner carried a rifle and pistol and wore a vest,...

I don't think I can even post an excerpt of this story on FR. The gist is that a kook professor is positing on Holmes' show that if an open carry group enters a restaurant, the patrons should (among other things) exit en masse without paying.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's political action committee, Independence USA, has purchased $150,833 in television ads in an effort to defeat Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. and support his opponent, Milwaukee police Lt. Chris Moews. In response to the news of Bloomberg's ads, Clarke said in a statement: "I trust the voters. The voters can't be bought." The ad buys by Bloomberg's PAC come on top of $400,000 in media ads purchased by the Greater Wisconsin Committee to try to beat Clarke, who is seeking his fourth term in Tuesday's Democratic primary election. Also on Friday, Citizens...

It's the way of politics these days, but pardon us if we yearn for simpler times...like when hundreds of thousands of dollars wasn't spent by outside groups on a sheriff's race in Milwaukee County. A sheriff's race. We've had our differences with Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., who is up for re-election on Tuesday. As we noted in an editorial back in June, "Whether it's irresponsibly calling on citizens to arm themselves, bombastic talk-radio appearances or his intensely personal feud with County Executive Chris Abele (all the while never acknowledging his own flaws), the sheriff has repeatedly diminished himself before...

As Illinois became the last state to allow concealed guns in public, state officials wrote a host of rules designed to prevent irresponsible uses of force that could take innocent lives. But multiple instructors authorized to teach people how to tote guns under the new state program are police officers with documented histories of making questionable decisions about when to use force, a Tribune review has found. One instructor is an officer whom two suburbs sought to fire because of substantiated excessive force allegations, municipal records show. Another was accused by two ex-wives of physical abuse — and by one...

Gun control advocates are learning the downside of getting their way. Recently, a federal judge struck down the District of Columbia's ban on the carrying of concealed handguns. Anti-gun forces have been losing in legislatures for a long time. Now they are finding that even where they win, they lose. Washington used to have the strictest gun laws in America. Besides the prohibition of concealed guns, all firearms had to be registered and handgun ownership was forbidden. Graphic: Legal restrictions of Illinois' concealed carry law Graphic: Legal restrictions of Illinois' concealed carry law READ THE STORY The restrictions had no...

“In light of Heller, McDonald, and their progeny, there is no longer any basis on which this Court can conclude that the District of Columbia's total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny. Therefore, the Court finds that the District of Columbia's complete ban on the carrying of handguns in public is unconstitutional.” “Accordingly, the Court grants Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and enjoins Defendants from enforcing the home limitations of D.C. Code § 72502.02(a)(4) and enforcing D.C. Code § 22-4504(a) unless and until such time as the District...

MOBILE, Alabama -- On Friday afternoon a tense scene played out in front of the Rouses Supermarket on Theodore Dawes Road. Three people drew their guns after a reported theft, a Mobile Police Department spokesman said. Donnie James Moore, 60 had shoplifted steaks from the grocery store before officers arrived at 12:20 p.m., according to MPD. When a loss prevention officer tried to stop him, Moore shoved past him. Moore made it to his car, where he grabbed a gun. He pulled it on the officer, MPD spokesman Officer Terence Perkins said. The loss prevention officer stepped back and pulled...

A proposed gun shop/shooting range that has generated controversy because of its location near several neighborhood schools will be coming to Niles. The Niles Village Board of Trustees voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve a special use permit to allow firearms sales, firearms safety training and an indoor firing range at the proposed location, at 6143 Howard St. About 200 supporters and critics of the plan packed the Village of Niles Municipal Building to make their voices heard on the gun shop, to be called Sportsman’s Club and Firearms Training Academy. Dozens wore green shirts and ribbons to honor victims...

Missouri will have a strengthened Right to Keep and Bear Arms provision on the August 5th ballot.  Yesterday the Supreme Court upheld rulings against foes of the amendment , who tried to keep it off the ballot.   The constitutional amendment was passed by overwhelming margins in the legislature, assuming that it would be on the November Ballot.   Governor Nixon (D) decided to put the measure on the August primary ballot instead.   A few days ago, Governor Nixon vetoed a popular gun law reform that was passed with veto proof margins in the house, and potentially veto proof margins...

For the first time this entire election cycle The New York Times Senate forecast at The Upshot predicts Udall has a greater chance of losing reelection than winning (53%-47%). This is a huge deal, as The Upshot tries to go beyond just the polls and factor in other intangibles about a race, such as, incumbency, fundraising, a state’s past election history among others, who the liberals at the NYT want to win. All those factors in The Upshot model lean heavily Udall’s way. Yet, despite this inherent, built-in advantage, Udall can’t overcome one thing: the people of Colorado feel he...

This is a personal snapshot of inner city gun violence from a man who knows what it feels like: Claude Motley dropped off a friend late at night on W. Capitol Drive and paused to check his cellphone for emails. Motley, 43, was in Milwaukee for the class reunion of Milwaukee Tech High School from his current hometown of Charlotte, N.C., where he and his wife moved five years ago from Milwaukee to pursue business opportunities. They wanted to live somewhere else for various reasons, including their concern about rising violence in the city. Born and raised on the north...

Two weeks after Chicago's rampant gun violence shot back into the national spotlight with a bloody Fourth of July weekend, federal authorities are scheduled to announce Thursday that seven new ATF agents are being deployed to the city to try to help stem the violence. By year end, the move will boost to 52 the number of agents in the Chicago office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which traditionally has worked closely with Chicago police on tracing the flow of guns into the city and tracking guns used in crimes. In a separate action, the...

Is “Operation Choke Point” about to get choked by Congress? Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., sure hopes so. Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is calling for the dismantling of what he calls a secretive initiative launched by the Obama administration in early 2013. Critics say that Operation Choke Point, so dubbed by Department of Justice officials under Attorney General Eric Holder, seeks to weed out businesses from the marketplace that the Obama administration considers objectionable. According to The Wall Street Journal, it was an outgrowth of the Financial Fraud Task Force, established by President Obama’s executive...

We could throw up our hands after a brazen gunman killed a photographer and then kept shooting at other people on a Saturday afternoon on a busy street in a neighborhood where shootings aren’t common. The shooting added to a ceaseless toll of horror that seems to flow like a river of blood. Three others died and 29 were hurt by gunfire over the weekend. The Independence Day weekend before: 16 dead, more than 60 wounded. Tragedy compounding tragedy. Families burying their loved ones, children gunned down, all after a concerted effort by Chicago police to reduce the bloodshed. The...

Sierra Guyton put up a long fight, but on Sunday her young body finally succumbed to her injuries. It was two months ago that a dispute between two men ended in gunfire and 10-year-old Sierra was shot in the head as she played at the Clarke Street Elementary School playground. Sierra died about 1:35 a.m. Sunday at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. She was taken off life support June 25, but survived another 2 1/2 weeks. If an effort ever was needed to get young black men to put down their guns and settle their disputes in a sensible manner, this...

A proposal to eliminate the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is drawing opposition from groups that typically sit on opposite sides of the gun debate. The idea, advanced last week by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and a left-leaning think tank, also is drawing support from powerful Republicans, and some Democrats are indicating a willingness to at least discuss the idea. A longtime former top ATF supervisor said his former employer is hobbled by a lack of supervision and leadership and folding it into the FBI and other agencies has merit. "I am not surprised by the proposed...