Free Republic

Missouri has had a "shall issue" concealed carry law (meaning that qualified applicants for a permit to carry a defensive firearm cannot be rejected on some government functionary's arbitrary whim or bias against armed self-defense) since 2003, although St. Louis residents had to wait another year-and-a-half, due to the anti-self-defense mindset of St. Louis officialdom (but hey--at least we're #1 at something!) As for across the river, Illinois bans defensive handgun carry for private citizens, although efforts are being made to correct that, with two bills already filed in this legislative session. California, unlike Illinois, does not ban defensive firearm...

The massacre in Arizona should make every forward-thinking person in America angry. And this anger should give thoughtful people the backbone to tell the NRA that the Wild West show that they sponsor is over. The NRA and its disciples believe that they deserve to own guns at all costs. The costs are very high; people are literally killing us, their fellow Americans, because of their gun obsession. The massacres that happen on a fairly regular basis in our schools, work places, and now at a public gathering of an elected official are almost all committed by a person who...