Free Republic

Dexter Taylor, of NY, took up gunsmithing as a hobby. He never committed a crime, never hurt anyone. But following a trial in which the presiding judge said the second amendment didn't exist in her courtroom or the state of New York, Dexter was found guilty of multiple gun-related charges.

A New York county executive plans to "deputize" legal gun owners to help law enforcement officers during emergencies, but the move is facing pushback from critics who say it will lead to acts of vigilantism. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said the deputies must be over 21 years old, be U.S. citizens and Nassau County residents, undergo a full background check, take a drug test and have a valid firearm license. They would be paid $150 a day for their service, according to the plan. "They will have to be trained on the law and use of force," Blakeman, a...

Many readers are interested in how various handgun calibers have performed in defense against bears. This is a complicated subject. Sometimes, any caliber will do. Sometimes a level of power may be required. Sometimes, a level of accuracy or speed may be required. Many permutations exist. The most important aspect, if a confrontation occurs, is to have a firearm available, easily and quickly accessible. The specific caliber is less important. These updates include all the incidents we have been able to document to the date of the update, after several years of intense searches. We always appreciate readers who help...

UPDATE (4:33 p.m.): News 5 has learned more about a deadly shooting that happened at a May Day celebration in the quiet community of Stockton. About 1,000 people attended a May Day event Saturday night in an open field on Upper Bryant’s Landing Road, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office. “According to witnesses, the event was peaceful until an argument took place, which led to at least one subject shooting multiple rounds into the large crowd,” a BCSO spokesperson said. Eighteen people were shot, three of whom died from their injuries, according to the BCSO. “We do believe that...

A First Communion service in Louisiana erupted in panic when a 16-year-old armed with a rifle attempted to storm the church through a back door. But parishioners spotted the teen and swarmed him — holding him outside until police arrived and arrested him. The terrifying scene unfolded at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Abbeville — which was full of parents with young children who were there for the rite of passage in the church. The incident was streamed live on the church’s website Saturday morning as Fr. Nicholas G. Dupré led the faithful in prayer from the altar. In...

The use of handguns as a defense against bears has been shown to be effective 98% of the time. In this study, all cases that can be documented, where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear, are included. This is done by design to guard against selection bias. All cases cite the source for the case information. Unlike other attempts to put a number on how effective handguns, long guns, or bear spray are in defending against bears, every case is described to readers so they can come to their own conclusions. Readers may disregard any incidents at...

News 5 has learned more about a deadly shooting that happened at a May Day celebration in the quiet community of Stockton. About 1,000 people attended a May Day event Saturday night in an open field on Upper Bryant’s Landing Road, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office. “According to witnesses, the event was peaceful until an argument took place, which led to at least one subject shooting multiple rounds into the large crowd,” a BCSO spokesperson said. Eighteen people were shot, three of whom died from their injuries, according to the BCSO. “We do believe that there may have...

On Monday, a 63-year-old female mail carrier was robbed at gunpoint by two thugs while delivering mail in Dublin, California. Surveillance video of the incident shows the carrier, who has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 33 years, delivering mail in a quiet residential neighborhood around 4:30 p.m. when suddenly a masked man emerges behind her. A second masked individual follows closely behind. Suddenly, a masked man comes up behind the mail carrier, followed by a second person who is also masked and the two masked men pull a gun. KTVC reports: “Somebody came up behind me and ‘boom,’...

ATLANTA — Three Atlanta police officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after an altercation that left a suspect dead Saturday evening, authorities said. Officers responded at 5:15 p.m. to a report of an armed man in a commercial area on Fairbanks Street and encountered a man with a handgun and a knife on Desoto Avenue, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during a news conference. “During that encounter there was a struggle, there was gunfire that resulted in three of our officers being injured. It also resulted in the death of the individual that was armed with the handgun,” Schierbaum...

The fatal shooting of a male at 1415 West Gulf Bank Road about 12:30 a.m. today (May 9) will be referred to a Harris County grand jury. The identity of the deceased male is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The male shooter, 53, was not injured in the incident. HPD Homicide Division Detectives M. Perez and S. Overstreet reported: HPD patrol officers responded to a shooting at an apartment complex at the above address and were directed to an unresponsive male near a dumpster across the parking lot from one of the apartment buildings. Houston...

Chicago police say a 13-year-old girl was shot by a car owner Tuesday morning while allegedly trying to steal the car. Police updated information on the incident, saying that the owner shot at the 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy who was allegedly with her, according to ABC 7. A bullet hit the girl “in the right side of her body” and she was taken to the hospital, where she was “in stable condition.”

David Pugiliese, the reporter on Canadian Forces and military issues, has been following the saga of replacing and destroying the Browning Hi-Power pistols, which have been used by the Canadian military since WWII. Most of the pistols were part of a production run done at the end of the war. The Canadian military has been working on the project for many years. From David Pugiliese, Ottowa Citizen October 13, 2022: At this time the Canadian Forces has 11,896 Browning handguns in its inventory, National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier told this newspaper. Of those, 1,323 are non-functioning.As the Browning 9mm...

Generally, it’s best to go about one’s business as unobtrusively as possible, relying on situational awareness and solid knowledge of use of force law to avoid ever having to draw or fire one’s handgun. Among the perennial controversies in the firearm world is whether concealed or open carry is best. Circa 2024, open carry is widely allowed: State laws regarding open carry fall into several categories: permissive, permissive with restrictions, licensed open carry states, and those in which open carry is prohibited. Permissive states allow non-prohibited citizens to open carry without requiring a permit or license. Most states fall into...

A 24-year-old man was shot and killed while walking to work on Chicago's Northwest Side Friday morning. The victim was walking in the 3900 block of North Pittsburgh Avenue around 7 a.m. when an unknown offender shot him in the chest, Chicago police said. He was taken to Loyola Hospital in critical condition and later died. In surveillance video posted on social media, a person in dark clothing was seen running southbound on Pittsburgh Avenue. A woman, who asked she not be identified, told CBS 2 she heard a gunshot and ran to help the man who was on the...

OAKLAND — A 47-year-old man was shot and killed while using a sledgehammer to break up concrete chunks and hurl them at cars and property, and now the suspect is behind bars facing a murder charges. The strange sequence of events started around 4 p.m. March 28, when Greer was seen using a sledgehammer to break up chunks of concrete outside the abandoned home, then began hurling them at the property and cars parked nearby, police said. At some point while Greer was doing this, Dorn allegedly exited the abandoned residence, got on a green bicycle, rode a short distance...

WELLINGTON, Fla. — A suspect accused of fatally shooting a Wellington couple on Saturday confessed to killing them over a dispute related to a basketball hoop, deputies said. ... As they were conversing, "at no point during this encounter" was Taylor Jones recorded being aggressive or threatening, detectives said. However, investigators said the video showed Scott "was clearly upset and appeared to be yelling at Taylor Jones" while both appeared to be looking and pointing toward the basketball hoop that rested between both homes. A short time later the affidavit said Scott reached into his right side and retrieved a...

On Thursday a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided that Steven Duarte, a felon, has a “right to possess a firearm for self-defense.” Courthouse News Service noted Duarte has five felony convictions and was a member of a street gang in Los Angeles. The decision upholding Duarte’s gun rights was split, with George W. Bush appointee Carlos Bea and Donald Trump appointee Lawrence VanDyke deciding in the majority. Bea wrote the majority opinion, noted the panel tested the prohibition against felons possessing guns in light of Bruen (2022) and found the government...

CNN — Hunter Biden’s latest attempts to throw out his federal gun case were rejected in back-to-back rulings Thursday, teeing up a high-stakes criminal trial next month in Delaware. The president’s son had asked the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the charges by overturning prior decisions from the trial judge that let the case move forward. But the appellate panel instead rejected Hunter Biden’s appeals, which related to his defunct plea deal and his claims that the case was tainted by political bias. Hours later, the trial judge, Maryellen Noreika, rejected Hunter Biden’s remaining motion to dismiss...

Five shot in Northeast Side home At around 7:40 p.m. Wednesday evening, May 8, Bexar County deputies were called to home on the Northeast Side of San Antonio after reports of shots fired. Investigators would arrive to a grisly scene where some 30 rounds of ammunition were fired into the home of a family, including two adults and five children under the age of 10. All five of the family members were transported to a local hospital in critical condition, and Bexar County Sheriff Salazar said the shooters – two men donning balaclavas spotted from security cameras on neighboring homes...

Yesterday, anti-gun New York legislators introduced a bill designed to COMPLETELY ban the sale of Glock handguns and other semi-automatic pistols.Their bill, S. 9225, comes under the guise that Glocks, and other semi-automatic “convertible pistols,” can be easily turned into machine-guns through the installation or attachment of a “pistol converter,” more commonly known as a “Glock switch.”New York state lawmakers are intentionally targeting a major firearms manufacturer and banning the sale of their product because criminals, who don’t obey the law in the first place, could illegally acquire handguns and then illegally alter them further.Under federal law, machine guns are...