Free Republic

(Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command)We often say, "if only a gun could talk," but in this case, the voyage through history that the above .45 ACP took is well-documented.Also joining the fleet in 1941 was Ensign Victor Antoine Moitoret, a Californian who was admitted to the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1937 and graduated with the Class of '41. Moitoret's first ship was the brand-new aircraft carrier USS Hornet, which he joined three months prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that ushered America into World War II.Moitoret served as an assistant navigator on Hornet during the flattop's...

On this day in 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen killed four students and wounded nine others, one of whom was left paralyzed. The 13-second burst of gunfire started about 20 minutes after the guardsmen broke up a rally on the commons of Kent State University with tear gas, which they lobbed at a crowd of about 1,000 students. Some of the students who were shot had been protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon had announced in a nationally televised address on April 30. Others had been walking nearby or watching the protesting students from a distance. In...

The No More Black Targets campaign argues that shooting ranges and instructors should not use “menacing” black targets, and is petitioning to end the practice, citing trigger bias. “Young black men are 3X more likely to be shot by trained shooters than their white peers,” notes the site for the campaign. “A disturbing potential correlation: The most popular target for shooters to learn to use their firearm is a black silhouette. Unconscious bias can be deadly.” A Change.org petition by the group intends to call upon the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors to end the use of...

President Obama undoubtedly didn’t intend it, but he deserves some credit for the recent report that all violent crime rates dropped in 2009, murder rates by 7.4 percent, robbery rates by 9 percent: His election caused gun sales to skyrocket, and crime rates to plummet. Gun sales started notably rising in October 2008, and sale really took off immediately after Obama won the presidential race: 450,000 more people bought guns in November 2008 than bought them in November 2007. That’s over a 40 percent increase in sales. By comparison, the change from November 2006 to November 2007 was only about...

A Delta Air Lines flight attendant preparing to board a plane bound for Atlanta was arrested after authorities found a handgun in her purse. Amber Robillard, who lives in Atlanta, was stopped at the Transportation Security Administration security screening checkpoint at the Indianapolis airport and arrested after they discovered the gun, Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said. Robillard, 39, did not fly to Atlanta with the rest of the crew on the 6 a.m. flight. Elliott did not name the woman but said she will be returning to Atlanta at some point. Authorities and Marion County jail records confirmed the Robillard’s...

TWO eight-year-old boys uncovered a cache of weapons hidden at a Gold Coast school before firing one of the high-powered rifles into the playground. Furious parents of students from Musgrave Hills State School claim the school was told of the discovery two days earlier but did nothing. Year 4 student Talison Thomson said staff did not believe him when he first reported finding a firearm on the school grounds, but they changed their minds when he later went back with a bullet and complained of pain from ringing in his ears after a mate fired one of the weapons. He...

By STEPHEN MANNING Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON -- On Sept. 24, 1976, one of the toughest gun laws in the nation took effect in the District of Columbia, essentially outlawing the private ownership of new handguns in a city struggling with violence. Over the next few weeks, a man with a .32-caliber pistol held up workers at a downtown federal office at midday, a cab driver was shot in the head, and a senator was mugged by three youths, one carrying a revolver, near the U.S. Capitol. Since the ban was passed, more than 8,400 people have been murdered in...

Summary About 150 state police officers in Mexico's northern Nuevo Leon state went on strike May 21, demanding higher salaries and more resources to fight organized crime, which has claimed the lives of six state police officers in the past four days. Given that drug cartels have increasingly targeted police, army and government personnel in response to a federal campaign to combat organized crime -- and are showing no signs of stopping -- the security situation in Mexico likely will continue deteriorating.

One of the MANY staged photos the media uses to manipulate the public. The National Media engine of the Democratic Party knows absolutely no limits on its attacks of America. Speaking out of both sides of their treacherous mouths, these Democratic Party surrogates say they support the troops while attacking them at the same time. They will give days or weeks of airtime to fruitcakes like Murtha to spout their anti-American propaganda just to distract from the real issue that Democratic politicians are criminally collecting bribes. It now appears that the national media water boys for the Democratic Party...