Free Republic

A new poll revealed that a stunning number of Democrats believe the 2024 assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, was staged. Among respondents who identified as Democrats, 42% said they believed that the Butler attempt by would-be assassin Thomas Crooks was fake, according to a YouGov poll. Thirty-four percent believed the recent attempt by suspect Cole Allen at the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner was also staged. Twenty-six percent said the same of Ryan Routh’s attempt at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach in September 2024. Notably, the poll found that nearly a quarter...

Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), now under the leadership of newly confirmed Director Robert Cekada, rolled out a lengthy list of final and proposed rule changes to a wide range of federal firearms regulations. They contain some noteworthy developments for Second Amendment advocates. The Trump administration’s rule changes are a welcome announcement – particularly since there has been a bit of a gap in Second Amendment action since the President’s February 2025 executive order on “Protecting Second Amendment Rights.” As of this week, several of both the final...

In 1934, the National Firearms Act (NFA) was passed by Congress. The bill, which became law, was a consolation prize for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) administration. The primary purpose of licensing and registration of all handguns had been stripped from the bill because of lobbying by the NRA and Second Amendment supporters. One item left on the bill was an absurdly high tax on silencers/suppressors.The $200 tax was punishingly high. Using the first federal minimum wage adopted a few years later in 1938, it equaled roughly four to five months of full-time wages.Silencers had never been involved much in...

Memorial Drive in Cambridge is closed amid a large emergency incident involving a reported shooting outside an apartment building near the River Street Bridge. A 911 call received at approximately 1:30 p.m. reported the gunshots, according to Cambridge spokesperson Jeremy Warnick. "There remains an active scene, however, there is no ongoing danger to the public. Units are on-scene along with the State Police," Warnick said. Massachusetts State Police confirmed that at least one person was treated for a gunshot wound. Flying overhead, Sky5 saw two people being loaded into waiting ambulances by paramedics. A rifle was seen on the grass...

Remarkable footage captured some of the recent gang battles that unleashed 182 bullets in the middle of Brooklyn streets — with one brazen thug firing minutes after a court-ordered meeting, officials said Monday. “It’s unnerving,” admitted borough District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who picked up a gun used in one of the crimes to show reporters at the briefing but said he wouldn’t handle another — because it still had blood on it. The chilling videos “give you a sense of the brutal war that is being waged on some of our streets,” he said. The horrific caught-on-camera gun violence included...

Car prowler Desaver Brian Hollis pays a fatal price after trying to kill police officers in Minnesota. Credit: Richfield Police Department, MN bodycam footage The family of a hardened criminal killed by police in Richfield, Minnesota, lashed out at police after bodycam footage showed exactly what happened. As KMSP reported, Richfield police said that they responded to a report of a car prowler named Desaver Brian Hollis along the 7500 block of Morgan Avenue shortly before 3:30 a.m. on April 29. Officers later located Hollis a block away from the original scene on Oliver Avenue South. The police attempted to...

A gunman who opened fire at cars on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Monday afternoon was shot by a responding State Police trooper and a civilian. Two men in separate cars were shot and have life-threatening injuries. The suspect, 46-year-old Tyler Brown, is in custody and is being treated for gunshot wounds at a hospital. It happened around 1:30 p.m. near the intersection of River Street. Videos from witnesses show the gunman walking down the middle of the street firing and waving a rifle. According to I-Team sources, a photo of Brown was included in an officer safety bulletin that...

WASHINGTON — Accused White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter Cole Allen pleaded not guilty at a Monday hearing in DC federal court to charges including attempting to assassinate President Trump. Allen, 31, is also charged with assault on law enforcement, transporting a firearm across state lines to commit a felony and discharging a weapon during a crime of violence. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. Allen’s attorneys have argued that the attack’s occurrence during the annual black-tie gala — which hosted several Trump cabinet officials in addition to the president — should force the recusal of Acting Attorney...

Sources: books, articles, papers, interviews, FOIA requests In the ongoing study of how effective handguns are when used as a defense against bears, this correspondent posted an article on AmmoLand showing the distribution of the number of shots fired vs the number of cases. The most common case was one shot fired, with the least common cases having the most shots fired. On examining the data, there is a significant difference noted among bear species.In cases involving brown bears, grizzly bears, Kodiak bears, (ursus arctos) more shots are fired per case.There are 109 total handgun-only cases involving Ursus arctos, of...

MCDONOUGH, Ga. — A woman in Georgia is questioning her son’s three-day suspension after school officials said the 8-year-old brought a small LEGO creation resembling a gun to class, sparking debate over zero-tolerance discipline policies for young students. “This is the weapon they say my child had,” the boy’s mother said while holding the LEGO creation. “This is clarified as a weapon to the school district.” The mother said her son, who has autism and ADHD, did not threaten anyone or behave aggressively. “My child did not go to school and say anything harmful or bad,” she said. “They could...

A committee comprising three senior Iraqi figures is close to finalizing an "executive plan" to disarm factions within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) that enjoy support from Iran, Asharq Al-Awsat reported on 8 May.Development of the plan, which will be presented to US officials in the next few days, comes amid expected changes to the leadership of key security agencies under the incoming government of Ali al-Zaidi.Trump congratulates Iraq PM nominee Ali al-Zaidi, eyes stronger tiesZaidi was nominated by the Shia-majority Coordination Framework (CF) political bloc on April 27 as the consensus candidate to succeed Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani....

Judge Tony Graf on Friday rejected a request from Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin to ban cameras in the courtroom during the duration of the trial. The judge also pushed Kirk’s assassin Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing to July 6. Judge Tony Graf Jr. pushed accused Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing into July and rejected a bid to ban cameras from the courtroom, marking significant pretrial developments in the high-profile case. Graf moved the preliminary hearing to July 6 through July 10, and denied Robinson’s motion to ban cameras and electronic media from the courtroom, allowing continued media coverage as...

Kyle Rittenhouse, who gained fame for opening fire at a 2020 civil rights rally in Wisconsin, was hospitalized after a venomous spider bit him, the noted firearms enthusiast said Wednesday. Rittenhouse, 23, told his 100,000 followers on X that he fell victim to a brown recluse, posting pictures of himself in a hospital bed strapped to monitors with one close-up shot of the bite mark. “The spider, like the commies, also thought it was a good idea to come after me while I was armed,” Rittenhouse posted. “He did not survive.” Rittenhouse appeared to be in good spirits, joking that...

Months after allowing customers to openly carry guns, Publix has changed its open carry firearm policy at all Florida stores. Publix changes its open carry firearm policy in Florida stores, permitting only law enforcement officers to openly carry guns while shopping. Photo by Nicole Lopez-AlvarPublix, the Florida-born grocer with locations across Miami-Dade and Broward counties, appears to have quietly reversed its open-carry policy. No announcement, no press release. Just a new stance rolling out Tuesday through customer service reps and its own chatbot. The news arrives one day after Publix dropped to fourth on America’s most trusted grocer ranking, behind...

President Donald Trump on Thursday linked violent rhetoric flowing from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to political violence, including the most recent assassination attempt on him. “This lunatic, Hakeem ‘Low IQ’ Jeffries, should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE!” Trump posted on Truth Social. Trump posted an image of Jeffries standing by a photo of Trump that had the words “maximum warfare, everywhere all the time” upon it. Next to that was an image from a video that showed accused gunman Cory Tomas Allen as he arrived at the White House Correspondents Association dinner In the least surprising moment since Katie...

Enhanced video footage of the attempted assassination at the White House Correspondents Dinner released over the past week has revealed quite a lot that we didn’t know before. None of it is good. First thing, we’ll acknowledge that this was accomplished using AI, which means that it will be flawed and contain errors. That said, the errors will be in small details -- a hand raised at a slightly different angle, a mustache made to look too much like Hitler’s and so forth. The substantial imagery will remain the same. We’re not going to see people suddenly walking across ceilings...

...By the way, they have three people in custody but still haven’t released the names. You probably know why… The rumor on the street is that this shooting was part of an ongoing Somali clan war. If you look online, countless MN-based accounts are saying this “war” has been going on for a while and it’s tearing apart St. Paul. Maybe not so “atypical” after all, eh? This X post is from Phillip C. Parrish, a candidate for MN governor in 2026 discusses the clan wars.... .

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...

Washington — Accused White House Correspondents' Dinner attacker Cole Allen is now facing charges of assaulting a federal officer. Allen was formally indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on four charges, including three counts that he was charged with through a criminal complaint last week — attempting to assassinate President Trump and two firearm charges — and a new count of assault on a federal law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon. Federal prosecutors charged Allen in the hours after the attempted attack at the annual press gala in Washington, D.C., but had not presented the charges to a...

A suspect in a mass shooting at Arcadia Lake on Sunday night has been taken into custody, according to an arrest warrant. EDMOND, Okla. — A suspect in a mass shooting at Arcadia Lake on Sunday night was arrested Wednesday and is now facing a murder charge. What we know At about 9 p.m. Sunday, May 3, a mass shooting happened during a party at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Oklahoma 18-year-old Jaylan Davis was arrested in connection to the shooting. At least one other suspect is believed to be outstanding One person died, and 22 others were injured by gunfire...