Free Republic

Joe Scarborough and the rest of the Morning Joe crew actually had my sympathy this morning. Amidst all the infighting at MSNBC, including demands for Joe's head in Olbermann-friendly circles, one could sense that the panel was on its best behavior. During the opening hour, a subdued David Shuster—who had openly fought with Joe just two days ago—was there, but just barely. Scarborough himself could not have been more enthusiastic in his praise for yesterday's DNC proceedings, from Bill's speech to the historic fact of the nomination of an African-American. But if my impulse is to cut the Morning Joe...

Anti-gun hysterics have a new spokesman: Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. I had barely finished writing about anxiety disorders over guns, and "His Honor" opens his mouth and makes my case. Mayor Daley was reacting to the Supreme Court decision striking down the D.C. gun ban, and the likelihood that a similar challenge will soon come against the Chicago ban. Now, some of his rhetoric is the same tired old stuff we've heard before; he called the high court's ruling a "frightening decision" and predicted a "return to the days of the Wild West." The Mayor should be so lucky...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, whose name has been said to be on the short list for the GOP vice presidential nomination, made a swing through Pennsylvania this weekend, including a stop at Westgate Mall in Bethlehem. Meanwhile, speculation swirled about how Democrat Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his vice presidential pick might influence the choice made by John McCain. Pennsylvania Avenue got to ask him a few questions in a phone interview...Q: You're here, in part to promote Sen. McCain's sportsmen group. How important an issue will gun rights be in PA? A: In Minnesota and Pennsylvania our...

A Wyoming hunter who accidentally caused a security concern at the Grand Hyatt hotel Saturday said he’s sorry for the problems he caused and didn’t know the Democratic National Convention was in town. When Joseph Calanchini walked into the Grand Hyatt hotel with 2 rifles and 2 pistols Saturday around 4:00 pm, Denver Police evacuated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) from the hotel until they arrested Calanchini and made sure it was safe for Pelosi to return. “I didn’t even know the DNC was in town. I don’t watch the news,” said Joseph Calanchini from the Denver City Jail where...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefly evacuated from her downtown Denver hotel on Saturday when a man carrying two hunting rifles and two pistols tried to check in to the hotel.

Breaking on MSNBC now.........

When an 85-year-old woman interrupted a robbery in progress at her home, she didn't back down from confrontation. Instead, Leda Smith confronted the 17-year-old thief with her handgun and forced him to call police. Smith returned home from church Sunday afternoon to find a burglar had broken her door. Realizing someone was still inside her home, Smith entered to find her .22-caliber revolver, Pittsburgh's WPXI-TV reported. "I saw him move by my keyboard near the wall, but I just walked right on past him to the bedroom and got my gun," she said...

In one of the first lower court rulings since the Supreme Court handed down the weakly-worded Heller Decision, a government restriction on firearms has been upheld. Steven Mullenix, a federal firearms licensee (FFL), was denied permission to import German WWII replica rifles by the notoriously anti-gun Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). The BATFE used arguments from the 1968 Gun Control Act to argue that the replica BD-44 held no "sporting purpose" and therefore Mr. Mullenix could not legally import them. In return Mullenix sued the BATFE for infringing upon his right to keep and bear arms, calling...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The man whose lawsuit overturned Washington's handgun ban has successfully registered his revolver, ending a more than 30-year wait to keep the weapon in his home. Dick Heller walked out of D.C. police headquarters Monday, clutching a yellow firearms registration certificate stamped "approved." He gave the thumbs-up sign, grinned and said, "Victory!" Heller was among the first people to seek a gun permit under new rules adopted after the Supreme Court struck down the city's 32-year-old handgun ban in June. Heller was the plaintiff in that case.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 You may not have been watching the battle that is brewing over concealed carry in the Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta, Georgia, but it may end up affecting you where you live. Because of what's happening in Atlanta, the Transportation Security Agency could decide to allow airports across the country to ban firearms in areas that currently allow for self-defense. It all began when Georgia passed a new law allowing permit holders to carry guns onto state parks, into restaurants that serve alcohol, and onto mass transit (such as the non-surveillance areas in airports). The Hartsfield-Jackson airport...

Democrats ‘Still Don’t Get It’ on Guns Wednesday, August 13, 2008 By Susan Jones, Senior Editor (CNSNews.com) - Beware of what the Democrats are saying about guns in their party platform, a Second Amendment group says. The draft 2008 Democratic National Platform includes the “Utopian fantasy that gun control laws will somehow make neighborhoods safer,” said the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “While promising to preserve our Second Amendment rights, the party platform demonizes semiautomatic sport utility rifles and wants them banned, calls for anti-gun show legislation and proposes so-called ‘common-sense’ gun laws,” said CCRKBA...

Like a lot of people down here in Texas, I keep a gun close at hand. This usually means one in my vehicle and one on my person. I’ve kept one in my vehicle for nearly two decades and one on my person since 1998, when I got my first concealed carry permit. It’s hard to beat the protection that my concealed carry permit affords my family and friends, even if they aren’t armed. The fact that I am armed means they are safer when with me whether they realize it or not; and everything from annual FBI crime numbers...

A New Jersey judge recently confronted an issue that courts have been avoiding for years: are restraining orders constitutional? Accused criminals have "due process" and many other constitutional rights, but the feminists have persuaded many judges to issue orders that restrain actions of non-criminals and punish them based on flimsy, unproved accusations. These restraining orders are issued without the due process required for criminal prosecutions, yet they carry the threat of a prison sentence for anyone who violates them. Mr. and Mrs. Crespo were divorced and rearing their children in the same household when they had a fight, and Mrs....

In this clip Ron Suskind explains why the 2nd Amendment is second, at least he thinks he does. The fact of the matter is Suskind, that you can't load your weapons to protect the 1st amendment if you can't hold any weapons.

Second Amendment Lake County Board Illinois

Dan Zanoza, Executive Director of RFFM.org, interviews Warren Drake, GunEnews editor about issues involving Americans' right to bear arms. Drake gives a history of the organization and where it is headed in the future. Warren Drake of Mahomet, Illinois is an active member of GunsSaveLife, Inc., and currently serves as GunEnews editor, GunNews Magazine Distribution Chairman, July 4th Parade Chairman, and helps with other interesting activities as they come along. Warren Drake -- "In His Own Words" Q. I believe GunsSaveLife.com (Champaign County Rifle Association) is one of the most influential grassroots organizations in Illinois. RFFM.org's readers would be interested...

District of Columbia continues to violate civil rights By Charles Bloomer web posted August 4, 2008 In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision shooting down the District of Columbia's total handgun ban, the D.C. government passed emergency legislation to regulate handguns owned by its subjects – I mean, citizens. The new gun registration law was developed to be as difficult and inconvenient as possible with no regard for its effectiveness. In fact, the new law retains much of the previous gun ban, including provisions that the Supreme Court called unconstitutional. Despite the Supreme Court ruling, the new law outlaws...

RICHMOND, Va. -- The National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence rarely agree on anything related to gun laws. But both support a law-enforcement program in Richmond that targets gun crimes. The Supreme Court's Second Amendment decision in June that struck down restrictions on individual gun ownership caused city officials nationwide to worry that they could see an increase in gun violence. It also renewed interest in Richmond's efforts to combat it. The city has already reduced firearm-related violence dramatically. It has done so not by making gun purchases more difficult -- Virginia is one of...

It is fair to say that one or two cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court stand out each term. I think it is evident that this term’s most salient case is District of Columbia v. Heller. In that 5-4 decision, the Court struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on the possession of privately owned handguns within District limits. In so doing, the Court clarified the meaning of the Second Amendment for the first time in almost 70 years by endorsing an individual right to keep and bear arms. Aside from its significance in partially resolving the meaning of...

D.C. liberals refuse to follow the Supreme Court's ruling and are so lawless and out of control that the Democrats in Congress have decided that that District officials may be unfit to make their own gun laws.

The first convention of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) featured at least one speaker who said college students bearing arms on campus would not make anyone safer. Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign, a gun control advocacy group, said studies show that college students are more likely to engage in risky behavior than the general population. “When I look back on my college days, maybe it was a different era in the late ‘60s, but most of my fraternity brothers didn’t have criminal records – not yet, most of them, even those who were in ROTC and...

If there is a chief spokesman for the far left, it has to be MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. It is difficult to think of a talking head that is more fawned over by liberals. On his nightly cable television show, the #1 show on MSNBC, he "analyzes" the news and adds his own angry, leftist flavor. One of his segments is to name a "Worst Person in the World." People such as George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly and Robert Novak have made the list. Recently, he named Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia the "Worst Person" for his role in...

HARTFORD -- Using a unique state law, police in Connecticut have disarmed dozens of gun owners based on suspicions that they might harm themselves or others. The state's gun seizure law is considered the first and only law in the country that allows the confiscation of a gun before the owner commits an act of violence. Police and state prosecutors can obtain seizure warrants based on concerns about someone's intentions. State police and 53 police departments have seized more than 1,700 guns since the law took effect in October 1999, according to a new report to the legislature. There are...

A Virginia Tech employee shot himself in a room off the Cassell Coliseum arena on Saturday afternoon, officials said. Tech police responded to the incident at 2:15 p.m., and the man was flown to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, police Chief Wendell Flinchum said. Officials declined to identify the man, and his condition is unknown. Although officials said the shooting posed no threat to the campus community, Flinchum said police notified the public by e-mail using part of an alert system put in place after the April 16, 2007, shootings.

New Supreme Court Ruling Is Cited Repeatedly in City Gun Cases If New York's strict antigun laws are overturned in the near future, it may be the work of a hot dog vendor. The vendor, Daniel Vargas, is due next month in court to fight misdemeanor charges that he kept an unlicensed revolver loaded on a basement shelf in his apartment. The case, which has generated 23 hearings and been heard by no fewer than 10 different judges as it winds through Brooklyn's lowest criminal court, would be of little general interest, except for the fact that the U.S. Supreme...

I'm standing while typing this, so consider it a writer's rendition of a standing ovation. Presumably, this standing "O” is for Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops. Perhaps it should be directed at OU president David Boren, or to Stoops and Boren. Maybe athletic director Joe Castiglione is in there somewhere. Whoever is responsible for dismissing freshman wide receiver Josh Jarboe, bravo. Jarboe was allowed to keep his scholarship after felony gun charges were lowered to misdemeanors in Superior Court at DeKalb County, Ga. Jarboe pleaded guilty to bringing a gun to school and carrying a pistol without a license last...

The First and Second Amendments of the Constitution are twin pillars of America’s unique form of self-government. Having spent two decades defending one of those pillars, I am grateful to Rush Limbaugh for defending the other on a scale few can equal. The First Amendment protects freedom of conscience. It guarantees we can worship according to the dictates of our conscience. It gives us the right to speak our mind on any issue, to freely declare ideas for our fellow citizens to hear and judge. When our leaders have done wrong, the First Amendment says we can petition our government...

If New York's strict antigun laws are overturned in the near future, it may be the work of a hot dog vendor. The vendor, Daniel Vargas, is due next month in court to fight misdemeanor charges that he kept an unlicensed revolver loaded on a basement shelf in his apartment. The case, which has generated 23 hearings and been heard by no fewer than 10 different judges as it winds through Brooklyn's lowest criminal court, would be of little general interest, except for the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Second Amendment protects a right to...

For the Brady Campaign, Violence Policy Center, Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, U.N. gun-ban extremist Rebecca Peters and her globalist billionaire sugar-daddy George Soros, for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his horde of big-city politicians—in fact, for all those individuals and organizations who would harm or destroy our Second Amendment rights—Barack Obama’s mantra of “change” means their agenda will be harnessed to the total power of an aggressive, activist and radical federal government. “Change” means gun owners will be under siege like never before. Especially for NRA members who fought through the never-ending threats of the Clinton-Gore administration, the...

D.C. officials are trying to beat back an effort by some lawmakers to send a bill to the House floor that would dramatically weaken the city's gun laws. The gun bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and Mark Souder (R-Ind.), was introduced previously and stalled. The measure now stands a good chance of gaining approval by the House of Representatives because of an unusual legislative maneuver, congressional staff members and observers said. Souder said he acted because the D.C. government has made only limited changes to its 32-year-old handgun ban since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that...

Considering the Supreme Court's broad decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, I'm surprised that The Post would continue to raise the tired old canard of home rule ["Trigger-Happy on the Hill," editorial, July 25]. Last month, the Supreme Court affirmed that Americans have an individual right under the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms. Just as with the First Amendment, it matters not a whit whether we reside in the state of Indiana or the District of Columbia. We are protected by the same Bill of Rights. Sadly, since the announcement of the Heller decision, we have seen...

In open defiance of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the Washington D.C. gun control law, the City Council passed an “emergency” law that keeps in place almost all of the law that was ruled unconstitutional. For example, though the Court ruled specifically that the city’s ban on handguns violated the Second Amendment, most handguns still cannot be registered because D.C. bureaucrats classify semi-automatic pistols as “machine guns.” Even Dick Heller, who brought the case against Washington’s gun ban, was rejected when he tried to register his handgun because any “bottom loading” firearm is a “machine gun” according to the...

After denying residents rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States, the Village of Morton Grove, Illinois, finally repealed their unconstitutional ban on handguns this week. The village board seemed unrepentent for their past crimes. One board trustee called the outrage " a noble experiment". The Chicago Tribune reported that: Peggy Friewer, 56, who said her father was mayor when the ban was enacted, told the board that she was "very saddened that you would even consider amending the ordinance."

The man who successfully challenged the D.C. handgun ban before the U.S. Supreme Court filed a second federal lawsuit yesterday, alleging that the District's new gun-registration system is burdensome and continues to unlawfully outlaw most semiautomatic pistols. Dick A. Heller, a 66-year-old security guard who lives on Capitol Hill, and two other plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit that the D.C. government violated the letter and the spirit of the landmark Supreme Court decision, issued June 26, that struck down the District's decades-old handgun ban. The 5 to 4 ruling concluded that the Second Amendment grants individuals the right to possess...

Southern U.S. town proud of its mandatory gun law KENNESAW, Georgia (Reuters) - The Virginia Tech killings have set off calls for tighter U.S. gun laws but anyone wanting to know why those demands likely will make little headway should visit Kennesaw, a town where owning a gun is both popular and mandatory. The town north of Atlanta had little prominence until it passed a gun ordinance in 1982 that required all heads of a household to own a firearm and ammunition. Kennesaw's law was a response to Morton Grove, Illinois, which had passed a gun ban earlier that year...

Back on July 18, I followed 2nd Amendment case plaintiff Dick Heller to the D.C. courts and watched him begin the laborious process of registering an old revolver. The chatter in the crowd, and among reporters, was how onerous D.C.'s laws still were, even after the city's gun ban was overturned. Ten days later, Heller has a solution. Dick Heller, et al., filed a complaint (For Declaratory Judgment, Injunctive Relief, and Writ of Mandamus) against the city today to force them to comply with the US Supreme Court ruling in the District of Columbia v. Heller and to protect our...

A pro-Second Amendment group is taking the unusual step of asking for financial help for the family of a gun owner caught up in a bizarre prosecution for a malfunctioning firearm. David Olofson is a U.S. Army veteran, Army Reservist and a gun enthusiast who loaned his personal 20-year-old AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to a neighbor who had expressed an interest in learning to shoot. A semi-automatic weapon fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled. But – as Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, explains – when the neighbor took the gun to a range, it...

Washington, D.C., defies the Supreme Court's Second Amendment ruling.Last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia had violated the Second Amendment by making armed self-defense in the home impractical and banning the most popular weapons used for that purpose. Last week the D.C. Council responded by unanimously approving a law that makes armed self-defense in the home impractical and bans the most popular weapons used for that purpose.D.C.'s political leaders know they are inviting another Second Amendment lawsuit, but they are determined to defy the Supreme Court and the Constitution for as long as possible.The new...

ATLANTA—Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a ban on handguns, gun opponents are fighting to preserve or expand gun-free zones, igniting battles over whether civilians should be allowed to carry loaded weapons to places such as airports, public parks and even the Magic Kingdom. The same day a new law went into effect in Georgia allowing people who have obtained a legal license to carry loaded weapons into restaurants that sell liquor, state parks and public transit systems, Atlanta officials declared Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport off-limits, citing security concerns. Gun proponents immediately filed a lawsuit in federal court...

Notwithstanding the adverse ruling the District of Columbia received from the U. S. Supreme Court for its unconstitutional ordinance restricting the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms, bureaucrats in the Federal City continue their efforts to gnaw away at the Second Amendment. That amendment is elegant in its simplicity: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Nevertheless, it took over 150 pages for the Court to expound upon its meaning. (Surely the justices have too much time on...

onatan Stern, the "Sgan Mefaked Hakita" (deputy squad commander) of Kitat Konenut New York, insists his "paramilitary emergency armed response team" is no "group of vigilantes or a JDL [Jewish Defense League]." Members of Kitat Konenut New... Members of Kitat Konenut New York pose in a photo posted on the group's Facebook page. Photo: Courtesy Slideshow: Pictures of the week "The goal of the organization is to have a competent and professional group of armed volunteers ready to respond to a threat at a moment's notice in any area where Jews reside," explains the Israeli combat veteran. "We do not...

Imagine walking down the street and next to someone with a gun strapped to their hip. It's an image a group of Texans are hoping to turn into reality and they're gaining support by the thousands every day. KVUE's Jessica Vess reports 07/24/2008 “This is a basic right,” said former state Legislator, Suzanna Hupp. In Texas you can fire a gun, you can buy a gun, and you can walk around with a gun, but only if you have a concealed carry permit and the gun is out of sight. “I feel safer. My home should it be breached, I...

The senator's bill says a 'mentally defective' vet can buy a gun unless a judge finds him dangerous. WASHINGTON - Since a severely mentally ill student went on a shooting spree at Virginia Tech last year, killing 32 people before turning a gun on himself, Congress and several states have worked to tighten rules on who can legally purchase a firearm. But a push by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina would prevent the federal veterans agency from adding the names of veterans declared "mentally defective" to a background check database unless the agency goes through the judicial system....

Civil rights organization fights elitists and racists By John Bender With the Heller decision only hours old, the National rifle Association, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, filed suit against Chicago and San Francisco seeking to overturn obviously unconstitutional laws those cities have on the books. In the case of Chicago, their anti-civil right law mirrors the Washington, D.C. law the court struck down. In San Francisco the anti-civil rights law being challenged is different, but also absolutely unconstitutional on its face. In fact the San Francisco law is elitist and racist and the federal government should have insisted it...

The National Rifle Association is putting the election-year squeeze on conservative Democrats, demanding that they buck their leadership to support a bill to erase more of the District of Columbia’s gun laws. Democratic gun rights supporters will risk losing their A-plus rating if they don’t sign a discharge petition to be filed Wednesday bringing the gun-rights bill directly to the floor. It will be the first time in more than 20 years that the NRA has “scored” a discharge petition in determining the grades it gives lawmakers before the November election, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. “We’re making this a priority....

Republicans on Thursday filed a discharge petition to bring a gun bill to the House floor, putting pressure on conservative Democrats to buck their leadership on the issue. Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) filed the petition to bring to a vote a bill by Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) that would erase many of the District of Columbia’s gun laws. Sounder’s move is a follow-up to the recent Supreme Court ruling rejecting the District’s gun ban. The National Rifle Association plans to use House members’ willingness to sign the discharge petition in their scoring for this year’s election. Conservative Democrats who don't...

Last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia had violated the Second Amendment by making armed self-defense in the home impractical and banning the most popular weapons used for that purpose. Last week the D.C. Council responded by unanimously approving a law that makes armed self-defense in the home impractical and bans the most popular weapons used for that purpose.

Sen. Barack Obama claims there has been only a "shift in emphasis," not "wild shifts," in his political positions. Many already know the list: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, NAFTA, public financing of campaigns, abortion, gay marriage, Social Security taxes, the death penalty and negotiating with rogue nations.Possibly one of the more remarkable changes has been his position on guns. But despite Obama's recent concession on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" that there has been a "shift in emphasis" on various issues, on guns he held firm: "You mentioned the gun position. I've been talking about the Second Amendment being an...

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Chicago’s gun laws have been challenged in federal court since the Supreme Court’s decision on the D.C. ban. But, City Corporation Counsel Mara Georges has told two City Council committees she’s confident Chicago’s law will stand. Georges tells Aldermen the Supreme Court’s decision on Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban shouldn’t apply to Chicago, because previous Supreme Court rulings have said Second Amendment "right to bear arms" doesn’t apply to local governments, like Cities. She says D.C. is a federal jurisdiction. And Georges is confident that, and other arguments, will prevail, at least in the lower courts. But, she...

THE Supreme Court last month voided Washington, DC's extreme gun ban as a violation of the Second Amendment. Now, across America, public defenders and other lawyers for rapists, robbers and murderers are filing motions contending that their vicious clients have a Second Amendment right to have guns. If this were correct, the Second Amendment would be a very bad thing. Happily, it's not so. The high-court opinion vindicated the constitutional right of ordinary, responsible law-abiding adults to have a handgun to protect their families, homes and themselves. It also flatly stated that this right does not apply to criminals. Federal...