Free Republic

An Arizona jury convicted a Marine combat veteran who threatened to blow away President Donald Trump with an M16 rifle, saying he would do it with “rounds targeting the head, not the ear.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona tells Law & Crime that Rene Ortiz, of Casa Grande, was found guilty on Monday of threats against the president following a four-day trial in Phoenix. His sentencing has not been scheduled yet. Ortiz went on trial this week after being arrested in early 2025 for allegedly hurling assassination threats against Trump in November and December 2024 when...

Bear spray proponents claim bear spray can be deployed faster than handguns, rifles, or shotguns. This is not obvious or certain. The claim is simply made and assumed to be true.It is not true.The truth is all four systems can be reasonably fast *if* the users train and practice with the system.This correspondent believed handguns to be the fastest method. An experienced trainer in Canada showed bear spray could be practically as fast as holstered handguns.A reasonably fast response is to access and use a defense against bears system in under two seconds. Very fast is to effectively utilize the...

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - FOX 9 has learned the Department of Justice will not seek the death penalty against Vance Boelter, the man accused of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, after prosecutors determined the crimes he faced were not eligible under federal law. Vance Boelter will not face death penalty The backstory: Boelter is accused of shooting House Speaker Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman in their Brooklyn Park home, as well as shooting Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman in their Champlin home on June 14, 2025. Prosecutors also allege that same morning...

Johannesburg — Multiple attackers killed 12 people and wounded at least nine in a late-night mass shooting in Johannesburg, police said Wednesday, the latest in such attacks that have shaken the South African city. Police said they believe more than 10 suspects were dropped off in a minibus in an informal settlement in the Cleveland suburb of Johannesburg late Tuesday night and started shooting. The attackers "moved through the area, opening fire on residents and community members at multiple locations before fleeing the scene in the same vehicle," police said in a statement. The victims were nine men and three...

A father’s mission to save his teenage daughter from an alleged intruder who broke into their San Jacinto home prompted a gun battle Friday night that ended with the suspect dead. “His goal was to get his daughter out safely, regardless of what happened to him,” neighbor Robert Dorame said. “I’m shattered for them because they’re good people.” Police said they were called to a home on Herron Way around 10:23 p.m. on a report of assault with a deadly weapon. When they arrived, officers found the suspect had been shot dead at the scene. The family who lives at...

A violent Saturday morning home invasion in Chandler left an elderly man with a broken skull and his disabled adult daughter hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds. What we know: The incident occurred around 6 a.m. near Arizona Avenue and Elliot Road. Three people who looked to be in their 20s forced their way through the back door of the home and demanded car keys, according to a source with firsthand knowledge of the criminal case who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A third person inside the residence managed to hide from the intruders and call 911, said that source....

The Florida Legislature has passed a bill including tax holidays for firearms accessories, and hunting, fishing, and camping supplies. Firearms silencers/suppressors are included as firearms accessories. If Governor DeSantis signs the bill, most of the act will take effect on July 1, 2026. The sales tax holiday for firearms, ammunition, and listed firearm accessories would run from September 1 through December 31, 2026.The Florida Legislature passed HB 7031E, as amended by the Conference Committee Report, YEAS 29 to NAYS 6, on May 29, 2026. The bill passed the House a couple of hours earlier, 88 YEAS to 11 NAYS. The...

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.”...

he DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has long been an exclusive preserve of Democrats, trending toward contemporary Democrats who are also Marxists and Islamists. For decades, the CRD ignored rights that did not support Democrat policies and desires. With the second Trump Administration, the CRD’s new Second Amendment section is now suing government entities that are infringing on Americans’ Second Amendment liberties, and Democrats are apoplectic, as Jennifer Mascia at The Trace explains: The Civil Rights Division typically fights for the disempowered by enforcing federal anti-discrimination statutes. It was created in 1957 to ensure Black voting rights and school desegregation. Gun...

The May 2026 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) numbers are in. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) adjusted background check numbers show expanding firearm sales, even as the total number of background checks conducted through NICS continues to drop. In May, the drop was almost 11 percent from May 2025. From NSSF:The May 2026 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,105,758 is an increase of 3.2 percent compared to the May 2025 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,071,685. For comparison, the unadjusted May 2026 FBI NICS figure of 1,780,230 reflects a 10.9 percent decrease from...

The two men who were wounded in a shooting during then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's 2024 rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds are suing the United States. James Copenhaver and David Dutch were shot during the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13, 2024, in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Their attorneys filed federal lawsuits against the United States for their "life altering physical and emotional injuries," claiming those injuries were a direct result of negligence on the part of the United States Secret Service. Dutch was shot in the stomach, while Copenhaver was shot twice. The complaints said, "The assassination attempt...

Multiple people have been shot near the Old West End Festival in Toledo, Ohio, authorities say “Many victims” have been transported to nearby hospitals for treatment, Toledo police said on Facebook. No information was available on how many people were wounded or what their conditions were

A Maryland Marine veteran was forced to remember his training as four hooded teenagers quickly regretted pulling a gun on him during an attempted robbery. Jheyco Borda, 35, was working on his truck Wednesday afternoon in Oxon Hill when the teens approached him at around 4.30. Surveillance footage captured the moment one teen reached into his pocket just moments later and pulled out a gun, pointing it directly at Borda. 'I saw six kids come by playing around… and out of my corner of my eye, they stepped in front of my car,' Borda told Telemundo44. 'I saw them put...

People with concealed carry permits are among the most law-abiding groups in the United States. Police officers have crime rates far below the general population. People with concealed carry permits are more law-abiding than police officers.The arrest rate for the overall adult population in the USA is about 2,100 – 2,200 per 100k in recent years. The arrest rate for police officers has been about 170 per 100k. This may be low because no one officially tracks police arrests. Officials may be reluctant to charge police officers. The conviction rate for concealed permit holders is about 17.6 per 100k in...

Four violent D.C.-area youths had the tables turned on them after trying to rob a Marine veteran of his vehicle. As FOX 5 DC reported, an Oxen Hill, Maryland man named Jheyco Borda was operating on his vehicle near Oxon Hill High School around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday when four teenagers sauntered up to him on the sidewalk. Oxon Hill is a suburb in Maryland located just southeast of D.C. Video shared by FOX 5 DC next shows the youths cornering Borda at the bed of his truck. One youth wearing a red, white, and blue sweatshirt then pulls out...

We've got another update on the Arkansas man who shot his daughter's alleged rapist and then ran for sheriff. And it's a good update. Charges were dropped, the case dismissed, and Aaron Spencer is that much closer to becoming sheriff of Lonoke County. Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. dismissed the case against Aaron Spencer on Thursday afternoon — just a few weeks before his trial on the second-degree murder charge was expected to begin — because a dash camera memory card that may have captured the shooting was lost by law enforcement. Oh man, I can't believe they...

After putting pressure on a Florida HOA to change a new rule, Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Wednesday night that the group had finally relented, according to a report from our sister station in Orlando, WKMG. Last month, Uthmeier shared a notice that he sent to the HOA, identified as Tradition Community Association, Inc., in Port St. Lucie. In the initial notice, Uthmeier said the HOA had unanimously resolved that “no person shall carry or possess any firearm or other weapon, whether opened or concealed, on any Common Area owned or maintained by the Association.” “This is not New...

Glock Switches IMG ATF File Photo Murders committed with handguns patterned after the extremely successful Glock line of pistols, equipped with “Glock switches”, are extremely rare, according to research done by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC). The research was published on May 27, 2026.No database of cases where “Glock switches” are used to murder people is maintained by the federal government. The CPRC did what they characterize as “an exhaustive search” for incidents where such a “Glock switch” was used to murder people, from 2021 through most of May, 2026. They found 20 incidents where 43 people were killed...

Multiple people are dead and one officer is wounded after a shooting outside of Portland, Oregon, on Sunday, police said. One suspect has been arrested, and police don't believe any ongoing threat exists for the surrounding community. Three people were killed, CBS affiliate KOIN reported, citing court documents. The suspect, identified by law enforcement as Bryan Andrew Moore, faces charges including three counts of second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree kidnapping. The incident happened in the city of Sandy at around 4 p.m. PT, Sandy Police Chief Patrick Huskey said Sunday in a statement. Huskey said officers were called...

SAN DIEGO — A 21-year-old Arizona man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend in San Diego, prosecutors said. Trevon Williams faces charges including first-degree murder, attempted murder of a fetus, and possession of a machine gun with an extended magazine in connection with the May 29 killing of 17-year-old Jariah Edwards. Family members of the victim broke down in tears during the emotional court hearing at the Central Courthouse downtown. Prosecutors say Williams and Edwards had "an on and off relationship filled with domestic violence and threats of violence on...