Free Republic

Yesterday I wrote of yet another vicious deadly-force gang attack: “Caught on video: Another black-on-white racially motivated gang attack.” In that post, I cautioned that gang attacks of this kind were likely to end very badly for the attackers once they stumbled upon a victim who was lawfully armed and prepared to defend himself. It wasn’t long before I received an example of this type of attack happening in Milwaukee, four days prior to the September 7 attack described in yesterday’s post. As reported by the Daily Caller (video embedded below), on September 3 a gang of teens attempted to...

Yesterday Panera Bread became another restaurant establishment asking customers to leave their guns at home, joining eateries like Chilis, Starbucks and stores like Target after pressure from anti-gun groups. Like other restaurant chains, Panera's official policy hasn't changed to an outright ban, but they've made clear customers carrying firearms for self-defense aren't welcome. This "please leave your guns at home" policy is catching on, but as more restaurants join Panera and others like it, it's important to remind them of the horrifying Luby's Cafeteria massacre. In 1991 Texas residents were banned by law from bringing firearms into restaurants. That same...

WICHITA Police are still looking for the men who threatened a youth football league coach with a gun and then began beating him before the coach’s wife pulled out a gun and fired it in the air to scare the attackers away. The incident occurred at about 7:45 p.m. Monday at Linwood Park in south Wichita, Lt. James Espinoza said. A man watching the practice at the park at 1901 S. Kansas confronted the coach about his son’s lack of playing time, lifting his shirt to display a handgun tucked into the waist of his pants. Moments later, five or...

QAA, Lebanon (AP) — Every day around sunset, dozens of residents of this small Lebanese Christian village on the border carry their automatic rifles and deploy on surrounding hills, taking up positions and laying ambushes in case Muslim extremists from neighboring Syria attack.

A man who admitted killing a knife-wielding robber who took his son's iPhone has been jailed for six years. Derek Grant, 38, confronted Patrick Bradley after the 29-year-old had held up his son Jordan in Greenock on 30 August last year. During the confrontation, Bradley stabbed Grant in the eye, after which Grant then fatally stabbed him. Grant was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of culpable homicide. At the High Court in Livingston judge Lord Boyd noted that Bradley "was a man of violence" and had "10 convictions for assault" prior to his death....

It is beyond refute that the United States is a world leader, and exceptional, in several categories, although not in those that portray the richest nation in the world in a favorable light. Oh, it is true that America’s military is without peer, American corporations pay some of the lowest tax rates in the world, and the wealthy elite holding most of the nation’s wealth pay minimal taxes compared to most other countries. However, the United States also leads the world in the number of citizens incarcerated, number of guns in the population, number of gun-related homicides, lowest median income...

<p>These truths will reshape how you think about the Michael Brown shooting.</p> <p>I admit that in a cropped photo it’s hard to distinguish the Gaza Strip from Ferguson, Mo. But the violence that occurred in the St. Louis suburb this month following the shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer isn’t the authoritarian injustice that it has been portrayed to be. It may be hard to hear, but we live quite safely in the United States thanks in large part to our law enforcement system. We experience civil unrest and cruel conflict vicariously, not personally. And our exposure to deadly violence largely comes from the news and entertainment world.</p>

One of the lessons from Ferguson, Missouri, ignored by the 24/7 media frenzy, was that store owners who stood and defended their shops with guns did not get looted or vandalized. At County Guns and the adjacent St. Louis Ink Tattoo Studio, peace and calm reigned. Adam Weinstein, owner of County Guns, shares a storefront with his business partner on Florissant Avenue less than 10 minutes from where rioters started looting and burning businesses after a peaceful prayer vigil Sunday night, Aug. 10. The protest of slain teenager Michael Brown had suddenly turned violent.

Jim Hoft and Fox News say he did, CNN says he didn’t, and now here’s WaPo saying yep, he did. Your move, New York Times. The signs of easing tensions came as a family friend of the officer who fatally shot Brown came forward to offer a version of the incident with new details, saying that the officer suffered a fracture to his eye socket in a scuffle with the unarmed teenager before opening fire. Hospital X-rays of the injury have been taken and will be shared with a grand jury that is weighing evidence to determine whether Officer Darren...

“Children are being beheaded, mothers are being raped and killed, and fathers are being hung and crucified. Entire Christian and non-Muslim communities are being decimated by the radical Muslim group, ISIS.” These are the words from reporters out of Iraq. What is our obligation to those under fire from Islamic terrorists? Prayer is good, but not enough. Words of support are welcome, but not enough. What can one do when terrorists are not moved by our prayers or words of support for the hunted? Our religious obligation is to fight. We fight because self-defense is a mandate from the Bible...

Dear Race Hustlers, Media Activists, and Gainfully Unemployed Anarchists... If Trayvon Martin or Mike Brown never attacked George Zimmerman or Darren Wilson they would be alive today. End of story, good night, Good Morning America! That’s the real tragedy. Why is this concept so difficult to understand? If a black cop shot a white man charging him with the intent to do bodily harm, no one in the black community, the White House or the leftist media would have a problem with it. So why do you now? Excuse my English but that’s called racism where I come from. Self-defense...

A violent crime can occur anywhere at any given moment. However, it should not be a surprise to anyone that violent crime occurs more often in urban environments than in suburban or rural communities. A person venturing into a well-populated city for business or recreation would be well advised to conduct some pre-trip planning to ensure a safe stay. Accordingly, persons who are concerned about big city crime may wish to legally carry their firearms for personal protection during their visit. Appropriate arrangements should be made to ensure a hassle-free and safe experience.

Incompetence and evil sometimes prevail. Even in America. We can’t control stupid and evil. We can buy firearms and learn how to safely use them in order to protect ourselves, our property, and our families. Stupid and evil will tear apart a society whenever given the chance. You have an obligation to prepare yourself.

HOLMES BEACH, Fla. – An 80-year-old Florida woman grabbed her gun and called 911 during a home invasion. While the burglars were breaking a window to her residence, the police dispatcher told her to “put the gun down.” Huh? Logan was all alone — her husband was playing bridge at a friend’s house. That’s when she took matters into her own hands. She grabbed her gun and dialed the police emergency number as she headed downstairs. “When I called 911 she kept saying put the gun down, put the gun down, and I said I’ll put the gun down when...

Just when I thought the District of Columbia government couldn’t stoop to new lows of incompetence and non-sensical behavior, it does. Apparently, self-defense spray is defined as a firearm in DC and must be registered by its owner with the Metropolitan Police Department. I kid you not! You heard me correctly. The DC Police wants to make it even more difficult for people, especially women, in a town where it’s tortuous to purchase a gun to use in self-defense. Recently, US District Judge Frederick J. Schulling Jr. ruled DC’s ban on people carrying guns in public was unconstitutional. Yet, DC...

Chesapeake, Va. – Two people have been arrested following a robbery attempt Monday night in Chesapeake. Calls came in at around 7:15 p.m. in reference to the incident at the Exxon in the 1100 block of S. Military Highway. Police say a man walked into the gas station and pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded money. Further information revealed that the clerk then fired a gun at the man. Then man then ran away from the scene and disappeared behind the building. Police searched but were unable to find the suspect. Shortly afterwards, a man walked into Maryview...

A Twin Cities man, already bloodied from one home invasion in far northern Minnesota, repeated the crime down the highway minutes later and attacked a 72-year-old woman before the victim’s son stepped in — saying he “did what had to be done” — and fatally shot the suspect, authorities said Monday. The shooting occurred about 6 a.m. Saturday outside the house along Hwy. 53, roughly 4 miles east of Ray, Minn., according to the Koochiching County Sheriff’s Office. “I’m the son who did what had to be done,” said Brad Himes, 48, who came to the rescue of his mother,...

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...

CARRICK, Pa. — A deadly home invasion was reported in Carrick early Tuesday morning near the set of a Hollywood movie being filmed in the area. Police said the invasion happened around 2:20 a.m. on Merritt Avenue. Channel 11’s Brandon Hudson reported that the victim opened fire on the two men accused of breaking into his home, killing one and critically injuring the other. Detectives said the men demanded the victim’s belongings, but instead he pulled out a shotgun and opened fire. Investigators said one of the men tried to run away after he was shot, but fell as he...

What may have started out as an ordinary evening in February 2012, ended with a dead teen-ager and a national controversy that is still unresolved. The fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and the subsequent not-guilty verdict of the shooter, George Zimmerman, on July 13, 2013, prompted citizens across the nation to question the "stand-your-ground" laws. Such laws, often criticized as being "shoot first" laws, make it hard to prosecute cases against people who shoot others and then claim self-defense. Kentucky, as well as the other states with such laws, should revise them so that the one who initiates a...