Free Republic

If you’re a man. I don’t mean a guy. I don’t mean a male. I mean, if you’re a man, your top priority, obligation, and, yes, privilege, are the safety and well-being of your family. That’s it. That’s the only responsibility that matters. And anyone who puts anything — including what’s best for society — ahead of that responsibility, who neglects his family or who sacrifices his family’s safety and well-being on the altar of some greater good, is not a man. I own nine firearms, all of them loaded, all of them spread throughout my house. If you were...

During the Gold Rush era it celebrates, the owners of Columbia Booksellers & Variety Store might settle their disputes with dueling pistols at dawn. But today, non-firing replicas of the very kinds of guns that would have been brandished during that time period appear to be at the center of a dispute between the small locally owned Tuolumne County shop and major San Francisco tech company Square, Inc. The store had to close both its physical location in Columbia State Historic Park and its online website sales due to the tech giant abruptly canceling its contract earlier this week. Now...

The Montana House of Representatives has passed major gun law legislation, HB102, by more than a 2-1 margin, 66 for, 31 against. The bill is the accumulation of a decade and a half of struggle against Democrat Governors, who have repeatedly vetoed reform legislation passed with large majorities in the legislature. Numerous sections in the bill show the Montana legislature has learned the lesson from other states as they restore the right to keep and bear arms.Link to the text of Montana bill HB102 at mt.gov.HB102 is a general revision of Montana gun law. Numerous Montana statutes are revised, and...

Are ammunition companies hoarding their supplies? Have they stopped making ammo altogether? In short, no. Here’s what’s really going onLast week I was riding around South Texas with Jason Vanderbrink, the president of ammunition for Vista Outdoor. In other words, he’s the big boss for Federal Premium Ammunition, CCI, Speer, and now Remington ammunition. This is a pretty wild time to be running an ammo company: There are an estimated 7 million new gun owners in the U.S. this year, consumers have been panic-buying rounds in everything from .22LR to .300 Win. Mag., and retailers are backordered for months; plus,...

A few weeks ago, Jason Vanderbrink, who’s the president of multiple ammunition brands including Federal and Remington, released a short video explaining the current spike in demand and what the companies (and broader industry) are doing in response.That video has received more than 2-million views to date, and on Thursday Vanderbrink released a follow up to answer some of the 13,000 comments that his last video received.One question that came up quite a bit, according to Vanderbrink, is what the companies are doing for the health of the workforce? Obviously we want everyone to be as safe as possible, but...

    It is certainly a sign of the times. In 2020, the FBI processed a record 39.7 million firearm background checks, the most recorded since the agency began keeping tabs in 1998. On top of that, checks exclusively related to the sale of firearms also reached a record high last year, totaling 21 million, according to firearm trade organization National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). The gun and ammo craze, which is being pinned on the COVID-19 crisis, the violent rioting that gripped major cities in recent months, and the new Biden administration, has anyone looking to get...

Against the surreal backdrop of sometimes violent nationwide protests, one alarming story as reported by The New York Times seems to have slipped under the radar. Law enforcement arrested a 21-year-old Idaho man on suspicion of firing a semi-automatic rifle at the White House. Several days prior to the arrest, the Secret Service had responded to reports of shots fired near the National Mall and pursued a vehicle departing the area on Constitution Avenue. They found the vehicle abandoned with an AK-47 and spent casings inside, and soon afterward extracted several bullets that had struck the White House. The suspect’s...

Since the 87th Legislative Session began last week, Texas legislators have filed three important pieces of legislation to help restore our right to keep and bear arms and to keep Texans safe. All three of these are priority legislation for Gun Owners of America.SJR 24 by Senator Bob Hall: Constitutional Carry through Constitutional Amendment This piece of legislation proposes to amend the Texas Constitution by adding that the Legislature “may not require a citizen of this state to obtain a license or permit to wear arms.” It would nullify the current statutory requirement to have an LTC to carry a...

The Tromix Micro-12 resembles the iconic AK-47 in a slimmed-down profile while the shotgun certainly has a general look and characteristic of a modern Kalashnikov firearm. That of course is by design – literally, as in this is an AK design rebuilt and improved in the USA. The compact 12 gauge shotguns are essentially modified by Tromix from those based on the Saiga shotguns manufactured in Russia by Izhmash/Kalashnikov. However, here is where things get a bit tricky.

America knew, within a couple of hours, the names of Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley, Marc Chapman, Shirhan Shirhan, James Earl Ray, and James Hodgkinson. (Or did you already forget that James Hodgkinson shot House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and three others on a softball field, in an attempted mass assassination of members of the House GOP caucus?) But after searching the Internet for a few hours, there only remain questions, and no answers about Ashli’s shooting. My only assumption can be that the hard facts concerning the shooting are so egregious, and so threatening to the incoming Democratic Congress...

All while the Dems continue their attack on the Second Amendment. Progressives are consistently clueless. Taxes go up and productivity goes down. What’s that about? Give illegal aliens welfare benefits and more come. Don’t see the connection. Cities burn and gun sales are at an all-time high. Can’t figure it out? A January 14 story in The Boston Globe was headlined, “A more general anxiety: Gun Sales have soared in the past year.” The paper discloses that, “demand for firearms skyrocketed in Massachusetts in 2020,” which it attributes to “the pandemic, coupled with racial equity protests and a divisive presidential...

Widely Spaced Capitol Police. Picture taken about 11:14 a.m. on 6 January, 2021. Courtesy Dean Weingarten The barriers put up to keep the crowds of protestors away from the Capitol building on 6 January 2021, were minimal and easily overcome. They were primarily psychological. An ordinary 10-year-old child could push their way through them, with minimal effort.Physical barriers must be backed up by manpower if they are to be effective. This is especially true for such minimalist barriers as were placed between the massive crowds which came to the Capitol on 6 January 2021.In the photograph, there are three widely...

In its final days, the Trump administration is seeking to disrupt the way progressive activists increasingly impose their will on big business: through banks controlling the loan lifelines to the economy. A regulation just finalized (update) aims to prevent lenders from blackballing businesses in industries opposed by the left by requiring banks to demonstrate that their loan decisions are “based on quantitative, impartial risk-based standards,” rather than political or reputational concerns. The proposed Fair Access to Financial Services Rule (FAFSR) is a response to successful pressure campaigns waged by environmental groups and congressional Democrats, which culminated in every major American...

The right to keep and bear arms could get extra protection in the state of Iowa if a proposal to amend the state constitution passes and is placed before voters on the 2022 ballot.The proposed amendment is simple and clear, stating that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” but adding that “any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny,” which is the highest level of judicial review. On Tuesday, the issue received its (first subcommittee hearing), and passed on a 2-1 vote." Republicans, who control both the...

One of the most iconic scenes in the over-the-top Rambo: First Blood Part II involves the shirtless Sylvester Stallone wielding the M60E3 while firing from the hip. Even those who don’t know guns would recognize it as “Rambo’s gun.” While Stallone’s handling was cinematic, to say the least, it was still a very real weapon that saw use with the U.S. military around the world.

John Browning was one of the most prolific firearms designers in history, producing a number of great guns in his career. Here are nine of his best.

Ashli Babbitt was an unarmed Trump supporter who entered the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021. She was gunned down that day by a Capitol policeman who to date has remained unnamed. Why is that? ..... Snip..... What we know about the shooter was that he appears to be a black police officer. (Some on the Internet have speculated about the Capitol Police Officer’s name and his affiliations.) Why is this man’s identity protected? What is the Democrat-Media Complex hiding?

The Virginia House Committee on Privileges and Elections approved legislation Wednesday to mandate polling places throughout the state be gun-free zones. The NRA-ILA reports the legislation, House Bill 2081, “prohibits firearms within 40 feet of a polling place,” whether that polling place is on public property or private. NRA-ILA notes:

Though not all the wartime military equipment made by Italy was top-notch, the Beretta Model 38 submachine gun was highly regarded by both the Axis and Allies. The Back Story Students of military history are no doubt familiar with the wide range of weaponry that made their combat debut during that conflict. Not only were new firearms seen for the first time, but new classes of firearms also proved their worth on austere, far-flung battlefields.

Grizzly BearKen Ledeau is a semi-retired trucker who rented a cabin near Dupuyer, Montana. He loved the area, the views, and the wildlife he would see while walking for exercise. He would walk up and down a finger ridge on one side of Dupuyer Creek drainage. The land was mostly open on the ridge, while the creek had dense stands of willow trees and other vegetation.Ken was 59 years old when the bear attacked him.Neighbors in the Dupuyer area had warned him about the dangers of grizzly bears in the area. He had taken their advice and was carrying a...