Free Republic

For the first time in years, the issue of terrorism is again near forefront of the minds of voters most likely to head to the polls in November. The rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East and the statements of American officials who warn that the nation is less safe today than at any time since 9/11 have made for an anxious electorate. The party in power, however, will not benefit from this increased apprehension – polls indicate that Republicans are most trusted to handle matters relating to foreign affairs and national security. This is perhaps why...

(CNSNews.com) – “Christians must do everything within their powers to protect their lives from being snuffed off by Satanist-driven Islamic organizations,” Bishop Joseph Bagobiri, the Roman Catholic head of Nigeria’s Kafanchan Diocese, said Sunday, according to Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper. Bishop Bagobiri also noted, according to the Vanguard, that Christians have a "grave duty" to use “moderate and proportionate force” to defend their families against Islamic groups such as Boko Haram, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians since 2009. Boko Haram became internationally known after it staged a mass kidnapping of more than 250 Nigerian schoolgirls in...

After the recent ammo drought, it’s good to see relatively cheap bulk pistol ammo returning to store shelves. But ammo buyers need to be aware that not everything is as it seems and not all ammo is created equal. I found this Winchester “150 Round Value Pack” of 9mm NATO 124 gr ammo for sale at my local Gander Mountain for $49.99 recently. That works out to about $16.66 per 50, which is not bad for reloadable brass cased 9mm in the current market. That is, until you read the (very) fine print on the bottom of the box that...

Scarcely a week goes by without a story in the news about drones, whether it is a Senator finding a drone peering in her window, or a small town in Colorado discussing whether to offer drone-hunting licenses (in the end they voted not to). The fear that a drone may be watching you is far from unreasonable. Today’s news, for example, is that up to 20 percent of the Border Patrol predator-drone flight hours take place in the US; meanwhile, in Miami where we both live, the police department has a fleet of drones out on patrol. This week’s arrest...

MOORE, Okla. – Officials with the Moore Police Department say the FBI is now involved in the investigation related to a brutal attack of workers at a food distribution plant. Sgt. Jeremy Lewis says the alleged suspect, 30-year-old Alton Nolen had just been fired when he drove to the front of the business, hit a vehicle and walked inside. He walked into the front office area where he met 54-year-old Colleen Hufford and began attacking her with a knife. Sgt. Lewis confirms the type of knife used in the attack is the same kind used at the plant. Lewis confirms...

A fired Oklahoma food processing plant employee who proselytized for Islam beheaded one co-worker and seriously injured another before the owner of the plant shot him, police said Friday. Moments after Alton Nolen, 30, was let go from Vaughan Foods in Moore, he drove to another part of the facility and walked into a front office where he attacked 54-year-old Colleen Hufford, police said. He used a “standard” knife — similar to the ones found at the facility — to allegedly behead Hufford. Then, he used the same knife to repeatedly stab Tracy Johnson, 43, who suffered numerous wounds and...

Americans have a constitutional right to armed self-defense, but they have other choices as well. The University of Colorado, for example, last year offered the students it sought to disarm with statewide legislation other “crime prevention tactics.” Options for female students facing rapists included passive resistance,” biting, and self-degradation. According to one proponent of the bill to ban the lawful carrying of firearms on campuses, such threats are “why we have the whistles.” Along similar lines, NBC’s Today Show recently offered suggestions on how to deal with violent home invaders. Their basic advice: politely defer to the intruder, but if...

The mother of a teen slain at a Jacksonville gas station after he and his friends refused to turn down their music will be among the panelists at a seminar in Orlando about the controversial Stand Your Ground law. Jordan Davis' mother, Lucia McBath, will be among the experts examining whether there is racial disparity in the application or enforcement of Stand Your Ground laws. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is hosting the forum, which takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 17 in the grand ballroom of the Rosen Centre Hotel on International Drive. The forum...

A Mississippi coroner who advised residents to arm themselves and shoot home intruders said today that he had been angered about a recent spate of burglaries and wasn’t trying to drum up business. David Scott Gregory, 40, the coroner of largely rural Winston County in eastern Mississippi, went on social media during the weekend to urge residents to buy guns and be willing to use them on burglars. “I say shoot the idiots and call the Coroner!” Gregory wrote on Facebook. “I’d hate for any innocent people to get hurt, but at the same time, my stuff is my stuff;...

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...