Free Republic

April 1 — Marcus Thomas Jr., age 3 1/2 weeks, is shot and killed when a gunman sprays his parents’ car with bullets outside a North Las Vegas apartment building. April 25 — A 4-month-old is struck in the hand by a bullet fired through the wall of an apartment near the Las Vegas Strip. June 2 — A 2-year-old is injured at an apartment complex near UNLV after an argument between two men leads to gunfire. In Las Vegas and across the U.S., children are paying in blood for the nation’s refusal to control firearms and reduce gun violence.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s efforts to strengthen what already are some of the nation’s strictest gun laws took two blows this week, the latest coming when a federal judge blocked a law set to take effect Saturday that would have barred gun owners from possessing high-capacity ammunition magazines.

I am a lifelong firearm enthusiast. I started shooting at 10 years old when my father got me a Crossman pump action air rifle with a four power Tasco scope. He was one of only three NRA training counselors in the state of Wisconsin for many years. I began shooting competitively through 4-H not long after, eventually shooting air rifle, air pistol, and shotgun trap through the program. After 4-H, I went on to shoot small-bore rifle in local competitions. Today, I own four firearms of various kinds, make time to shoot several thousand rounds per year, and am licensed...

In the winter of 2008, shortly after the election of Barack Obama, my fiancee and I stopped into a local gun shop in Austin to buy ammunition for target practice, a hobby we enjoyed once or twice a month. Though we hadn't asked, the clerk behind the counter told us that all the AR- and AK-style rifles were back-ordered. We could get on the waitlist, he offered, but the delay might be a couple of months — "if it's still even legal to buy one then." Eight years later, gun rights in America appear not only to have survived the...

There is zero chance that the shooting of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise earlier this week will change anything about the gun debate in Washington, D.C. That’s because there is no gun debate in Washington, D.C. The NRA has won. Not the debate — the gun lobby remains very wrong on the facts. But the group had won the politics — big time. I have been a gun owner all my life. I’ve shot long guns of every kind and a variety of handguns. I have no problem with people owning them for legitimate purposes. I own a half dozen of...

Gerard Vowls told The Guardian newspaper that he saw a woman being stabbed by three men at the south end of London Bridge. He said he threw chairs, glasses and bottles at the attackers in a bid to stop them. “They kept coming to try to stab me . they were stabbing everyone. Evil, evil people,” he told the newspaper. “I want to know if this girl is still alive. I’ve been walking around for an hour and a half crying my eyes out. I don’t know what to do.” Bartender Alex Martinez said he hid in a garbage bin...

MADISON - People in Wisconsin would be able to carry concealed firearms without getting training or state permits, under a proposal debated by lawmakers Wednesday. The broad legislation would also allow some people to bring guns onto school grounds and lower the penalties on unauthorized people who are caught doing so. The bill by Sen. David Craig (R-Town of Vernon) and Rep. Mary Felzkowski (R-Irma) goes beyond the state’s 2011 law, which allows concealed weapons but reserves them for trained and licensed residents. Instead, Senate Bill 169 would make Wisconsin a “constitutional carry” state where qualifying people could pack firearms...

In 2011, on November 2nd, The Lincoln City Police Department received a call about a young man displaying a firearm in an Astro van outside of a convenience store. The call lead to the felony stop of an Astro van about 4 hours later.In the van was 58-year-old black pastor who was a double amputee. The officers forced the pastor, Leroy Duffie, to exit the van with his hands held up, after he had told them that he could not do so because of his disability. At gunpoint, Duffie opened his door, and twisted his body in an attempt...

Pennsylvania State Rep. Jamie Santora (R-163) is pushing a ban on private gun sales nearly identical to the ones Michael Bloomberg-funded Moms Demand Action pushed in Washington state, Maine, and Nevada. Santora’s bill would bar the private sales that Americans have enjoyed since the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791 and would require that every sale be processed in front of an agent of the government via a background check. This means that law-abiding Pennsylvanians selling a gun to a fellow hunter, lifelong co-worker, or childhood friend would have to seek out a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder and the...

Time seemed to slow for Thomas Yoxall. He soaked in the details: the four flares set up roadside, the patrol car’s lights in the pre-dawn darkness. The trooper on the ground that a man was pummeling. Yoxall pulled his car over and exited. He held his handgun in a three-quarter draw, ready to fire. He walked step over step, trying to keep himself as narrow a potential target as possible. Yoxall yelled at the man to back away from the trooper; the man did not. Instead, he raised his fists high in the air. Yoxall saw his opportunity. He fired...

Italy’s Court of Cassation ruled on Monday that a Sikh man was not allowed to carry a knife considered sacred by his religion in public. Migrants have a duty to conform to local values in the society they choose to move to, the court said, even if those values are different from in their home country. The kirpan, a small knife or sword, is one of five religious articles many Sikhs carry with them at all times. But the legality of carrying the curved knife in public has been debated in several countries where Sikhs are a minority. Denmark became...

Demand for legal firearms in Chicago continues to grow even as the appetite nationally and in Illinois has fallen significantly in recent months — something gun vendors attribute to the election of President Donald Trump. While gun sales nationwide appear to have dropped from the levels they reached during the Obama years — apparently driven in part by lessened concerns under Trump that access will be restricted — changes in state laws and Chicago's crime wave have unleashed a pent-up demand for legal gun ownership in the area. Gun suppliers have called former President Barack Obama their best salesman, because...

Chicago police are used to facing the possibility of death every time they put on their badges. But it's safe to assume they paid special attention to the alert on police radio channels Monday advising them to "expect a heightened presence of Satan Disciples" in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the city's Southwest Side. The real news: "This gang is in possession of numerous military-style rifles that are capable of piercing police protection." Shootings in Chicago, as in most places, are usually done with handguns, which have the advantage of being relatively inexpensive and easy to conceal. But in recent...

--(snip)"In Wisconsin, we experienced more than 600 gun deaths in 2015 alone, and nearly 70% of those gun deaths were gun suicides like my mom. Southeastern Wisconsin, particularly Milwaukee, has experienced a deadly amount of gun violence that claimed the lives of 250 people from 2015 to 2016, according to the Journal Sentinel. These aren’t just statistics, these numbers represent the pain that nearly 600 families have endured, families that now join the loneliest club. When you see these numbers and then you meet the families behind the statistics, you understand that the deadly epidemic of gun violence is more...

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt has insisted that his opposition to last November’s ballot question calling for expanded background checks on firearms purchases was based not on the Second Amendment but rather on his opinion that the measure was legally flawed. But unless you were born with an extra gullibility gene or two, you had to wonder whether Laxalt was actually motivated by politics instead of the law. A conservative Republican who has all but announced he’ll run for governor in 2018, Laxalt has had plenty to gain among the NRA crowd and other deep-red voters by trying to torpedo...

DURHAM, N.C. — The driver of a large pickup truck who ignored protesters in a Durham street on Monday afternoon and drove through the crowd will not be cited, police confirmed. No one was hurt, but several protesters outside the Durham County Jail tried to stop the truck from driving through their rally. The protesters said they did not have a permit to close the road.

Rhonda Ezell was really sick. Suffering from kidney failure, lung disease and other ailments, she didn’t like to venture very far from her South Side home. But to obtain a new Chicago firearms permit to keep a gun in her home in 2010, she had to go through hours of training — and Chicago didn’t have any public shooting ranges within the city limits. So Ezell, a longtime gun-rights supporter, drove to a northwest suburban range more than 50 miles away in Dundee to practice on targets. On July 12, 2010, the city of Chicago’s new handgun ordinance took effect,...

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Chris, for that kind introduction and for your tremendous work on behalf of our Second Amendment. Thank you very much. (Applause.) I want to also thank Wayne LaPierre for his unflinching leadership in the fight for freedom. Wayne, thank you very much. Great. (Applause.) I'd also like to congratulate Karen Handel on her incredible fight in Georgia 6. (Applause.) The election takes place on June 20th. And, by the way, on primaries, let's not have 11 Republicans running for the same position, okay? (Laughter.) It's too nerve-shattering. She's totally for the NRA and she's totally for...

ATF Clarifies Legality of AR Pistol Arm Brace UsePosted on April 25, 2017 by Dean Weingarten Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- Late in 2012, the ATF approved of a device that fit on the buffer tube of AR-15 style pistols. It made one handed shooting of these firearms much easier, and hence more accurate. The SB15 was invented by a disabled veteran, Alex Bosco. He quickly sold the rights to produce the arm brace to Sig Sauer. As you can see, the device can also be used as a very short stock for the AR-15 pistol, even though that is not what...

A retired NYPD lieutenant, two retired NYPD officers and a former Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney were arrested early Tuesday by FBI agents in connection with the issuance of gun licenses by the NYPD's licensing division, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the case. The federal charges include bribery, extortion, making false statements and conspiracy, court papers say. The four men were arrested at their respective residences in Manhattan and Long Island, law enforcement sources said. Authorities allege they fast-tracked gun licenses and investigations. Read More...