Free Republic

The coronavirus cannot kill the spirit of American defiance in the face of government orders Americans believe to be unjust, as shown by Scott Nichols, the sheriff of Franklin County, Maine. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills on Friday issued an executive order that requires all out-of-state travelers to self-quarantine for 14 days to lessen the chance of transmitting coronavirus, according to the Portland Press-Herald. The order also tells would-be visitors not to come to Maine if they have symptoms of the virus. Violators could face up to six months in jail and $1,000 fine. "We will not be setting up a...

A parody in the voice of Sen. Chuck Schumer: Gun owners, do you struggle with an addictive urge to buy firearms on the fly while goose-stepping through gun shows and pawn shops? If so, my fellow Democrats will happily relieve you of all your guilt … and your guns. Forget wasting time plugging silhouettes of bad guys with bullets – blast your addiction publicly on social media by plugging these two pending Track 'n Grab gun bills: The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Data Integrity Act would amend my original Brady Bill. Sponsored by my partner in crime,...

The most important man in President Trump’s life right now is William Barr, the Attorney General of the United States. Yet, Mr. Trump may not understand that. However, the hate-Trump media brigades certainly do. If Mr. Barr were to turn against the President, his re-election chances would be damaged. Significantly. That’s because William Barr is a tough, honest prosecutor who is trying to uphold the crucial constitutional mandate of “equal justice for all.” That means a corrupt media is not the dispenser of justice, nor is a sitting President who may have a personal agenda. The latest controversy over Roger...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) pushed her gun control agenda in an interview Wednesday with CNN's Wolf Blitzer during the Philadelphia police shooting. Harris, speaking of the El Paso shooting, said President Trump may not have pulled the trigger but he did supply the ammunition with "racist rhetoric." Harris said law enforcement should be allowed to seize guns from those "suspected to be involved" in domestic terrorism. "I'm prepared to say that law enforcement should be allowed to seize the guns of those who are suspected to be involved in domestic terrorism," Harris said. "I agree with Harry...

There are two competing theories being debated today about American individuals’ “right” to gun ownership. The original theory is that Americans enjoy a fundamental right to self-defense, in order to preserve one’s person and property against any neighbors or government agents who might act against one’s individual liberty. This is a natural right that predates our government’s formation, and was therefore enshrined in the Constitution by some very forward-thinking liberals of their time. In the words of the Second Amendment: A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and...

In the aftermath of two horrific shootings over the weekend, Vox is quite comfortable calling for what the anti-gun left has wanted in this country since the late 1960’s — full-on gun confiscation. But let’s be clear about precisely what kind of decision is letting events like this recur, most recently in Dayton and El Paso. Congress’s decision not to pass background checks is not what’s keeping the US from European gun violence levels. The expiration of the assault weapons ban is not behind the gap. What’s behind the gap, plenty of research indicates, is that Americans have more guns....

As expected, Democrats immediately began politicizing the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Quite a few of them even blamed Trump. Like clockwork, calls for more gun control have commenced. Democrats are even trying to pressure Mitch McConnell to cancel the Senate recess so they can vote on gun control. A common myth you can expect to hear a lot in the coming days and weeks is that the United States “leads the world in mass shootings” and therefore we must pass some law that will do nothing to stop future mass shootings, but will infringe on the...

Founding Father Patrick Henry famously proclaimed "I smell a rat!" What did it smell like? What was that rat's name? What was the rat's color: brown or grey? What was the rat's purpose? The rat's purpose really is the only important question here. I asked the other questions mainly in jest. Welcome to the 6th and final posting in this series examining the claims that progressives make in regard to Marbury vs Madison. In parts 1 through 5, I mainly examined some of the inconsistencies relating to the progressives' claims. Here in part 6 I highlight where the problem actually...

In parts 1 through 4 of this series (Scroll to the bottom for more detail about the parts) I have been examining progressivism and its relation (or lack therof) to the 1803 court ruling Marbury vs Madison. Here in part 5, I just want to ask two questions. First, what is the purpose of a bill of rights? We could be talking about the Bill of Rights of the Federal Constitution, or the Bill of Rights that exists in your State constitution. It doesn't matter really, where that bill of rights happens to exist. What is it for: Is it...

When Alabama Republicans made the epic mistake of nominating a surreally-flawed crackpot for US Senate last year, a man named Doug Jones was the beneficiary of that self-inflicted wound. Jones, a Democrat, narrowly won the election to replace Jeff Sessions in one of America's reddest states. After his improbable victory, political observers began to speculate whether Jones would let his liberal flag fly and vote as if he's on borrowed time -- or whether he'd try to cultivate a record that he could conceivably defend in a 2020 re-election push. Early on, the signals have been mixed. He's sided with...

The Bill of Rights Institute provides an excellent brief background on the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Simply put and stated eloquently, "[t]he Bill of Rights is a list of limits on government power." Unfortunately, not only are there those in favor of surrendering their Second Amendment right, but these same people believe that government forces are incapable of oppression, subversion, coercion, or any number of other forms of tyranny. My advice to this particular group of naïve, nattering nabobs? Pick up any American history book and revisit why America's Founding Fathers were familiar with government oppression –...

President Trump said the Second Amendment will never be repealed, despite a call for this by liberal activists and most recently, former United States Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. “THE SECOND AMENDMENT WILL NEVER BE REPEALED! As much as Democrats would like to see this happen, and despite the words yesterday of former Supreme Court Justice Stevens, NO WAY. We need more Republicans in 2018 and must ALWAYS hold the Supreme Court!” the president wrote on Twitter early Monday morning. Stevens penned an op-ed in The New York Times arguing that the level of civic engagement by young people...

The rallies were mass events, attended by hundreds of thousands. Children – the Hitler Youth – were prominently featured, along with stagecraft and pageantry. The purpose of the rallies was to whip the masses into an emotional fervor while Hitler denounced the Jews. It worked. And something similar is happening in the recent spate of children's anti-gun marches, typified by the "March for Our Lives" just concluded in Washington, D.C. The probability of getting struck by lightning is about the same as getting murdered by someone wielding a rifle. But you wouldn't know that by listening to the demagogic (and...

Regardless, the whole crux of their argument is that banning so-called assault weapons, expanded background checks, waiting period etc. will save lives. It won’t do that, and the anti-gun Left knows it. So, thanks to Vox for actually showing the end game of the Democratic agenda on firearms, which is that they really just want to ban guns. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have cited the Australian model on gun control. Clinton even went so far as to say the Supreme Court got the Second Amendment wrong in 2016. The level of violence in Europe, which is often cited by...

An analysis of thousands of gun control studies claims that just 63 of those studies found connections between more stringent gun control laws violent crime and suicide reductions. The non-profit RAND corporation spent two years and $1 million on the analysis, searching for evidence of benefit from gun control policies. RAND’s analysis looked to establish connections between gun policies and rates of homicide, suicide, self-defense gun use, hunting, and other categories. The vast majority of those categories went unaffected by legislation, however, according to NPR. “Most of the effects that we were looking for evidence on, we didn’t find any...

The litany of major American companies severing their ties to the NRA continues to expand. They are succumbing to the drumbeat of false accusations and hysteria ginned up by the left and its political arm, the Democratic Party, as well as the left's cohorts in the media. The NRA has been in leftists' crosshairs for the past two decades. However, the actual purpose of this targeting is far deeper than what the left proclaims to be its objective: the passage of "commonsense" gun laws and restrictions on gun ownership as an antidote to gun violence. Beginning in the first part...

On last Friday’s edition of the Glenn Beck’s radio program, former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly doubled down on claims about the existence of an audio recording of an anti-Trump individual offering “$200,000 to file sexual harassment charges against then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.” "Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is predicting a huge onslaught against President Trump in January based around fake accusations of sexual assault as Democrats panic that Trump’s chances of re-election are surging. Warning, “There’s going to be a tremendous assault on President Trump” beginning in January, O’Reilly says Democrats now feel they must go all...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told a news conference on Tuesday he's sent a letter to President Trump, asking for a meeting to discuss gun control. "I have requested of the President to call us together, Democrats and Republicans, to come up with a reasonable solution. Before he was a candidate and marched in lockstep to the NRA, Donald Trump expressed a very reasonable position on gun control," Schumer said. Schumer described the National Rifle Association, a group that supports Americans' constitutional right to keep and bear arms, as a swamp: "Look, this is, I mean, this is the...

The original definition of tragedy, dating from the classical Greeks, depends upon a fatal flaw. That is why Bill O’Reilly’s departure from Fox News qualifies as “tragic,” even though there are many collateral victims as well, starting with conservatives who are losing a gutsy interrogator unafraid of the stature or political correctness of his interview subjects. As I read the complaints against O’Reilly, it sounds as if he was alleged to have been behaving like a character out Mad Men, the soap opera about a Madison Avenue ad agency in the 1960s. Bill seems to have been old school in...

Navajo Nation Tribal Council officials are reviewing a proposal that would require tribal land residents to register their firearms. The Daily Times reports the proposed bill would require residents to register firearms such as automatic guns, rifles and shotguns to the Navajo Nation Police Department. The bill would allow the police department to maintain a registry which would include the firearm's serial number, registration date and the owner's name and address. If measure is passed, current gun owners would have 180 days from the bill's approval to register their guns with police. New gun owners would have 180 days from...