Free Republic

With good reason, AR-15 style rifles remain America’s most popular firearm. While most Americans probably remain unaware, that very popularity protects it against infringement under the Second Amendment. In welcome recent news, the United States Supreme Court now appears poised to do just that in its next term. By agreeing to review state and local prohibitions on AR-15 platform rifles, the Court possesses the perfect opportunity to reaffirm a Second Amendment principle that should’ve been clear all along: Government cannot ban an entire class of firearms that tens of millions of law-abiding Americans own for self-defense and other lawful purposes....

A Virginia judge informed state officials in a Tuesday letter that a newly passed ban on modern semiautomatic firearms was blocked across the state, citing the potential for a “treacherous patchwork” within Virginia. Shortly after Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” SB 749, into law on May 14, pro-Second Amendment organizations, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), Gun Owners of America (GOA), Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) filed lawsuits seeking to have the ban invalidated on Second Amendment grounds. The letter from Washington County...

Critics say the administration is weakening public safety. Proponents say regulations would be where they were before President Joseph R. Biden took office. The Trump administration is scrapping more than three dozen firearms regulations, abandoning a crackdown on illegal sales, restoring gun rights to some people with mental illness and loosening oversight of private weapons transactions. The drastic retrenchment at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the nation’s gun laws, was not entirely unexpected: President Trump campaigned as a champion of gun rights. In the view of critics and even some A.T.F....

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit Wednesday taking aim at California’s ban on Glock pistols the day it was slated to take effect.Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB1127 into law in October 2025, making California the first state to ban the popular pistol. The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California,

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Hawaii gun restriction that limits when people can carry firearms on certain private properties open to the public, saying it infringes on the right to bear arms. On a 6-3 vote, the court invalidated the measure that requires people with concealed carry permits to seek permission from a property owner before entering. It has been dubbed the "vampire rule" because, as in the classic novel "Dracula" and related tales, vampires can only enter someone's home if they are invited in. The court, often supportive of gun rights, concluded that the provision violates...

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a Texas man who challenged a federal law that bars certain drug users from having firearms. In a unanimous decision in the case U.S. v. Hemani, the justices found that Ali Hemani's prosecution for having a firearm while he was an unlawful drug user is inconsistent with the Second Amendment. Hemani allegedly was only an occasional user of marijuana when the FBI found a handgun at his Texas home in 2022. The ruling from the Supreme Court is narrow, since the justices did not strike down the law at the center...

OMAHA — Dan Osborn, an Independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska, at a town hall in Omaha last week, told attendees that he believed there should be mandatory five-year mental health checks for owners of AR-15s and similar “assault-style” rifles. One guest asked Osborn if he could offer anything “other than ‘thoughts and prayers’—which makes us all want to throw up” regarding gun violence. Osborn responded with notable candor.

During an appearance on the Unity Over Division podcast, U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D) echoed Joe Biden by saying the Second Amendment is “not absolute.” Talarico said, “I believe in the Second Amendment just as much as I believe in the First. We have a right to bear arms to protect ourselves, our families. We have a right to own weapons for sport or for hunting. But like any freedom in the Bill of Rights, it’s not absolute.”Breitbart News reported that on February 26, 2020, during a CNN Town Hall, Biden argued that the Second Amendment was not “absolute.”...

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A baby born during emergency surgery after his mother was shot in Buckeye has died, according to city police. The mother, identified by family as Abby, 17, is still recovering from her injuries. The triple shooting happened outside a home in the Buckeye Westpark neighborhood, near Broadway Road and Miller Road, around 8:15 p.m. May 14. Family members say Abby was shot in the back and forced to deliver her baby early. She named him Timmothy Rylee in honor of her friend, 16-year-old Rylee Montgomery, who was also killed in the shooting. Montgomery was pregnant at the...

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport is continuing the lawsuit against Glock that her predecessor Matthew Platkin filed last year, and her latest move in the litigation has Second Amendment groups crying foul. As part of the state's discovery process, Davenport has sent subpoenas to FFLs in the Garden State demanding they produce records related to every Glock handgun that's been purchased in their stores over the past decade. In an alert on the NRA-ILA website, the 2A group points out that Davenport already has access to this information, since New Jersey’s pistol permitting system operates as a de facto...

A federal appellate court ruled that New York’s law banning firearms carrying under a so-called “vampire rule” violated the Second Amendment. Shortly after the Supreme Court struck down New York’s discretionary system for issuing concealed carry permits, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation enacting numerous restrictions on carrying firearms after convening a special session of the state Legislature. A majority of the three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that a provision requiring private property owners to post signs allowing concealed carry was unconstitutional. FPC WIN! The Second Circuit has struck...

The National Rifle Association is suing Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger for her signing of a measure to make illegal the buying, selling, importing, manufacturing and/or the transfer of assault weapons in the state. The NRA filed lawsuits in both federal and state courts, arguing the law is unconstitutional. Supporters argue the legislation removes "weapons of war" from the streets, making Virginia safer from violence, but opponents argue the law punishes law-abiding citizens, WRIC reported. “As promised, we are taking Abigail Spanberger to court," the NRA, the Second Amendment rights group said in a statement. "Throughout the legislative session, the...

Capital One, the corporate banking giant, has an advertising tagline that asks, “What’s in your wallet?” For one Maryland gun shop, the answer to that question appears to be a banking giant that ignores a White House executive order and dismisses Treasury Department regulations that forbid banking discrimination. Capital One Financial Corporation has been in business since 1994 and the McLean, Va., international banking giant with over $475 billion in assets boasts that it offers credit cards, auto loans, checking and savings accounts and commercial banking services. That is, unless the customer happens to be a firearm retailer. Just ask...

A Utah man missed his connection at Newark Airport, went to retrieve his checked luggage, which contained a properly declared, unloaded firearm, and got arrested. He did everything right. New Jersey didn't care. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) cited that case in a proposed rule published earlier this week that would amend existing Gun Control Act regulations to protect gun owners during routine travel interruptions — a missed flight, a hotel stay, a fuel stop, a medical emergency. The Utah case isn't an outlier. New York and New Jersey have made a prosecution racket out of...

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — A marathon session of the State Senate that began Tuesday ended early Wednesday morning with a bill banning “convertible pistols” being passed.At the state Capitol, legislators voted largely by party lines, except for Republican Tomy Hwang, who joined the Democrats in support, and Democrat Cathy Osten, who joined Republicans in opposition.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit against the city of Denver, Colorado, "alleging that the City unconstitutionally bans certain constitutionally protected semi-automatic rifles." "These laws unconstitutionally infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms in common use for lawful purposes," according to the Justice Department. "The Constitution is not a suggestion and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. "Denver's ban on commonly owned semi-automatic rifles directly violates the right to bear arms. This Department of Justice will vigorously...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is releasing this week 34 notices of final and proposed rulemaking following a comprehensive review of existing regulations conducted in accordance with Executive Order 14206, Protecting Second Amendment Rights. Consistent with ATF's commitment in 2025 to rebuild trust with Federal Firearms and Explosives Licensees (FFLs/FELs) and industry stakeholders, this review included a consideration of industry and expert feedback and concerns. This landmark release is the first in a series of regulatory updates ATF plans to issue.The resulting rules are an effort to reduce unnecessary burdens...

WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Trump Administration took further action to protect Second Amendment rights on Wednesday.Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Acting Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Robert Cekada held a news conference to unveil a "landmark package" of proposed and final gun regulations for the DOJ and ATF.z,pz. They announced that the vote on the package passed on Wednesday afternoon, releasing 34 notices of final and proposed rulemaking following regulations.Blanche said the package "reduces unnecessary burdens on lawful gunowners and licensed businesses, it eliminates ambiguity and it helps prevent the kind of confusion that, in...

Gun owners have won a significant victory in Maryland, with the state Supreme Court tossing several gun control ordinances adopted by Montgomery County in the wake of the Bruen decision in 2022. Maryland legislators passed their own Bruen response bill after the state's "may issue" concealed carry permitting system was ruled unconstitutional by SCOTUS, but Montgomery County's measures were even more restrictive. The Maryland Supreme Court opinion is thick with legalese and citations to various sections of code that can make it a little difficult to understand the scope of its decision, but the 2A group Maryland Shall Issue provided...

President Trump’s decision not to attend the NRA’s 2026 Annual Meetings is bringing the group’s influence into question.The NRA’s Annual Meetings are currently underway in Houston, Texas.The Hill reported that Trump “[skipped the NRA’s] annual convention this weekend, his second snub in as many years of an organization long seen as a key political ally for Republicans.”NRA director of public affairs Justin Davis spoke on Trump’s absence, claiming the organization was not concerned by it. He said, “The president is obviously incredibly busy with worldwide affairs right now, and we’re incredibly close to the administration. We work hand-in-glove with them...