Free Republic

In 1970, the State of Florida passed sweeping emergency measures laws which conferred enormous powers to Sheriffs and Municipal officials (Mayors and Chiefs of Police). The law was meant to contain and prevent riots and the widespread breakdown of the rule of law. The officials could declare an emergency under the “imminent threat of violence”, which gave broad discretion. The emergency could only be in effect for 72 hours, after which time the county commission or the city council would be required to approve any extension of the emergency.There were many riots during the Vietnam era, particularly at universities.Part of...

📍 Where & When: Announced on June 3, 2025, with plans to go public soon.GrabAGun will allow customers to purchase firearms online, though federal law requires the weapons to be picked up from authorized and licensed dealers, where standard background checks will be conducted. However, accessories such as scopes and ammunition can be shipped directly to consumers’

The Missouri Legislature had once again killed a bill to restore the ability to legally exercise rights protected by the Second Amendment on public transportation. Senator Schnelting has been promoting these bills for years. They make progress, then they are killed by inaction. From mo.gov: On April 10, HB328 passed the House, 106 to 45. HB328 was sent to the Senate. On April 22, the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety committee held a hearing on the bill. On April 24, an “SCS” (Senate Committee Substitute) was passed. No other action was taken on the bill before the Senate adjourned...

Cultural myths have always held that the left is better at comedy than the right, at least according to the left. But circular logic aside, the results of the past few years speak for themselves. The left can’t meme, and it’s falling behind in comedic talent. Case in point would be a comparison of the sheer genius of the folks of the Babylon Bee and the hapless, out-of-touch, and unfunny skits of Saturday Night Live. The first video from the Babylon Bee is of a leftist (we’re using that term instead of the other “L” word) going back in time...

So what’s happening to the bill in the Ways and Means committee? We’d guess it’s realpolitik. It sounds like Cox and Rep. Kustoff have recognized that they have a snowball’s chance in Hell of passing the bill delisting suppressors and rather than throwing their hands up and saying, ‘Oh well, we gave it the old college try,’ they’ve decided to take a big step in the right direction.A tax stamp has cost $200 since it was enacted as part of the NFA in 1934. While inflation has whittled the real value of that away over the decades, it’s still not...

Does the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms apply to fully automatic machine guns? The US District Court for the Western District of Tennessee is poised to rule on the matter. Jaquan Bridges pleaded guilty to possessing a machine gun after engaging in a 2023 shootout with police officers on a Tennessee highway. Courthouse News reported that Bridges “was arrested with a Glock .40 caliber pistol with an attachment that converted the handgun into a machine gun, but fought to dismiss the charge on constitutional grounds.” He claimed the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in New York State...

The Biden administration authorized federal law enforcement four years ago to target Americans engaged in "concerning non-criminal behavior" in the name of fighting domestic terrorism, with a specific eye on those serving in the military, owning firearms, or spreading what officials considered to be "xenophobic" disinformation, according to newly declassified documents. The stunning breadth of the mandate was disclosed when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently released a fully unredacted version of the prior administration’s "Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism." The June 2021 memo exposed for the first time the law enforcement and intelligence framework that led...

The Trump administration removed a memorial from the main atrium of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) for victims of gun violence that was put in place under the Biden administration. As you can imagine, the move has tightened the jaws of folks on the anti-gunner left, which praised how the prior administration weaponized the agency against responsible gun owners. From The Washington Post:

Gun control groups don't like it when life is peaceful. They may say they want a reduction in so-called gun violence, but they also can't raise money when people aren't freaking out about that so-called gun violence. With that in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that they're willing to misrepresent the facts.

Saying that U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has “betrayed the trust” of Lone Star State gun owners, a Texas gun rights group is asking President Donald Trump not to endorse the longtime senator for re-election. The organization Texas Gun Rights (TGR) last week penned a letter to President Trump in which it aired its grievances over what it believes to be Sen. Cornyn’s lack of support for the Second Amendment. “Dear President Trump, We, the members and supporters of Texas Gun Rights, write to you as dedicated defenders of the Second Amendment,” the letter stated. “We urge you in the strongest...

California Democrats are pushing legislation to require background checks for gun barrel purchases, effectively taking the “ghost gun” regulatory push to its logical conclusion. The bill, Senate Bill 704, is sponsored by state Sen. Jesse Arreguín (D). SB 704 singles out firearm barrels among the many other parts of firearm, requiring a background check for any replacement barrel or aftermarket barrel upgrade purchase. […] Moreover, SB 704 specifically outlines how the costs of performing background checks for barrels must be handled, making clear that the legislation literally creates “a new crime,” albeit a misdemeanor, in the state California. …

The Arkansas legislature is making an improvement to the state constitution’s right to keep and bear arms language to the ballot for the next election. Here is the current Arkansas Constitution Article 2, § 5: Right to Bear ArmsThe citizens of this State shall have the right to keep and bear arms, for their common defense.The current language is problematic because it only mentions “common defense” and does not specifically mention individual rights, although individual rights are implied. Arkansas became a Constitutional Carry state on April 4th, 2013. On April 12, 2023, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee signed SB480 into law,...

On April 10, 2025, the Missouri House of Representatives passed gun law reform bill HB 328. The bill is essentially the same as Senate Bill SB 77, put forward by Senator Schnelting. The bills remove the ban on carrying weapons aboard most public transportation for people with concealed carry permits. Similar bills were filed in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.In 2022, the Senate leadership killed the bill due to a lack of attention. The 2024 version of the bill, HB 1708, did not pass the House. The bill has an excellent chance of passing if it can be brought to...

Florida is a state known for sunny beaches and red state politics. I've actually heard a state lawmaker describe it as the freest state in the nation. Of course, this was at a Second Amendment gathering where people know how restrictive the state can be on guns. They're not anti-gun, but not the most pro-gun, either. But they're good enough that people can defend themselves if need be. However, that doesn't mean someone won't make you move. It seems a Florida woman defended herself from a home invader. She shot the intruder and killed him. But rather than just be...

Besides being an unspeakable crime, Thursday’s shootings at Florida State University in Tallahassee reinforced one invaluable lesson: Supposedly well-meaning laws aimed at stopping what leftists prefer to call “gun violence” are about as useful against criminals as cloth masks are against an infinitesimally small and potentially deadly virus. They don’t do the job, but they make ideologues feel good about themselves. ... In the wake of the 2018 Parkland high school shooting that killed 17 (and gifted the nation the perpetually irritating David Hogg), Sunshine State lawmakers passed a measure limiting gun purchases to those 21 years of age or...

On March 1, 2023, Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia signed SB 10, the Campus Carry Act into law. The law goes into effect on July 1, 2024. Governor Justice was enthusiastic about signing the new law. He proudly described his growing up in West Virginia and told a story about hunting grouse with a 20 gauge shotgun, which was repaired by one of the people in attendance at the ceremony. West Virginia is the 12 state to remove bans on the carry of weapons at institutes of post-secondary education. Numerous members of the West Virginia Citizens Defense League (WVCDL)...

Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday signed into law one of the most restrictive gun regulations ever adopted in Colorado. Senate Bill 3 bans the manufacture and drastically restricts the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms in Colorado. It’s aimed at reducing the carnage that can be inflicted during a mass shooting. “I really think this will make Colorado safer,” Polis said before signing the bill in his office at the Colorado Capitol. Here’s how the measure will work. What it would do Starting in August 2026, the manufacture, sale and purchase of certain semiautomatic firearms that can accept detachable ammunition magazines...

For decades, this correspondent has considered the possibility of presidential pardons for persons convicted of non-violent offenses which are infringements on the rights protected by the Second Amendment.In his recent YouTube video, Mark Smith explains his idea for pardons with some details about what was politically possible during the second Trump administration. Smith persuasively argues the Trump administration would be open to pardons for people who have been victimized in prosecutions, which are persecutions of people peacefully exercising their rights.An individual or organization will be needed who can act as an organizational hub to verify cases and present a list...

The Supreme Court declined Monday to decide whether a New York law that requires residents to have “good moral character” to carry a handgun is constitutional, leaving in place most of the state’s ban on carrying weapons in “sensitive places,” such as schools, parks and theaters. The decision is a victory for New York officials and gun control groups, who have been attempting to approve or defend gun prohibitions in the wake of a blockbuster 2022 Supreme Court precedent that widely expanded the ability of Americans to carry guns in public. The New York law in question in the case...

In the early republic, the right to keep and bear arms consisted of the right to own arms without a government registration of arms. No registration of arms was known in law until the late 19th century. Much of the conflict over the right to keep and bear arms has become a conflict over privacy. The most successful playbook in eliminating the right to own weapons in functioning democracies has been to create the power of governments to know what people have what weapons. The strategy has been this:Claim governments can control crime by controlling who has access to weapons.Claim...