Free Republic

On February 15, 2024, a plea agreement was reached in the silencer case in the Western District of Louisiana. In the case, Brennan James Comeaux had been charged with possession of five homemade silencers, two silver-colored and three black-colored. A warrant had been issued to search Comeax’s home to find the silencers, based on probable cause. A motion to dismiss had been filed in the case, contending the portions of the National Firearms Act (NFA) and later statutes violated the Second Amendment of the Constitution based on the guidance of the Bruen decision published by the Supreme Court on June...

Over the course of a decade filled with political drama and dire predictions, Ohio legislators introduced seven separate bills in an attempt to bring concealed carry to Ohio.Finally, on Jan. 8, 2004, House Bill 12 made it to the desk of Gov. Bob Taft, who signed the bill, and made Ohio the 46th state to legalize concealed carry. The new law went into effect 20 years ago today, on April 8, 2004.Buckeye Firearms Association volunteers played a key role in this battle for constitutional rights, and stood beside the governor as he signed the bill into law.However, the battle over...

On March 29, 2024, United States District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas, ordered a preliminary injunction, stopping the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from enforcing the final rule as it applies to pistol braces and NRA members. Once Joe Biden was elected President, the ATF radically changed course, reversed a dozen years of previous administrative measures, and declared once legal pistol braces as re-defined “short-barreled rifles. The “final rule” claimed to be implementing measures approved by Congress in the 1934 National Firearms Act. The court found the ATF had gone to...

On March 11, 2024, Dr. John Lott debated the eminent law professor Sanford Levinson on the subject: Was the Second Amendment a Mistake? The debate lasted about an hour. It was held at the University of Wisconsin and started at 6:30 p.m. The debate was sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). The moderator was Professor Ryan Owens.Unlike much of what we see in politics, the debate was cordial and civilized. There was no student protest to prevent Dr. Lott from being able to debate Professor Levinson. Dr. Lott is an eminent scholar on gun control issues. Dr. Levison is...

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — UPDATE: Two Kroger customers are being charged with battery after a disagreement led to a shooting inside the grocery store on Wednesday evening. According to a report by the Little Rock Police Department, the incident began at 9 p.m when 48-year-old Yusuf Muhammad began harassing 43-year-old Shearee Jones in the checkout aisle. Witnesses stated that Muhammad was visibly aggressive towards Jones and that she asked him to stop. The report says that he continued after this and assaulted her, leaving an abrasion. In response, Jones brandished a firearm and struck Muhammad with multiple rounds. The report...

On October 16, 2020, a number of plaintiffs, including Madison Lara, the Second Amendment Foundation, and others, filed a lawsuit claiming Pennsylvania law, which forbids 18-20-year-olds from obtaining a concealed carry permit or from openly carrying outside of the home during an emergency was an infringement of the rights protected by the Second Amendment. This was nearly two years before the Supreme Court decision of Bruen. On April 16, 2021, the District Court ruled against them. On April 21, 2021, the plaintiffs appealed the decision by the Pennsylvania District Court to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The...

On January 14, 2023, David J. Nastri, Esq. filed suit against Katie Dykes as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. Nastri challenged the constitutionality of Connecticut’s ban on the carrying of handguns in Connecticut state parks for the purpose of self-defense. From the complaint: This is an action for declaratory and injunctive relief that challenges the constitutionality of Connecticut’s state regulation that bans the carrying of handguns in Connecticut state parks for the purpose of self-defense. Connecticut’s ban on handguns in state parks cannot pass constitutional muster under the historical standard that the Supreme Court announced...

Carrying a gun for defensive purposes, with an empty chamber, is a controversial measure which proponents claim enhances safety. It is one of the reasons handguns appear to work better for self defense against bears than long guns. Long guns are more commonly carried with an empty chamber than are handguns. Handguns are more commonly carried for self defense than long guns. A recent bear attack illustrates the problem of carrying a long gun with an empty chamber. From Alaskapublic.org 2021: “I remember looking over my shoulder, and I was saying something to them when I kind of heard the...

On March 22, 2024, Governor Mark Gordon vetoed Wyoming House Bill 125 ( House Enrolled Act 49), which would have eliminated many of the gun free zones which exist in Wyoming.Governor Gordon (R), in his veto letter to the Wyoming Secretary of State, said: “The bill exceeds the separation of powers embodied in Article 2 of our Wyoming Constitution. I must, therefore, veto it.”HB 125 passed with veto-proof margins in both the House and Senate. In the House, the vote was 57-7-1. In the Senate the vote was 22-8-1. Wyoming requires a 2/3 vote of both chambers of the legislature...

MELROSE, Fla. (WCJB) - A man from Gainesville was shot multiple times in the chest, through a Bible, in a Stand Your Ground shooting after sheriff’s deputies say he harmed his baby and attacked bystanders. Putnam County Sheriff’s Office officials say Jason Kaercher, 26, of Gainesville, began behaving erratically earlier this week. On Thursday, relatives took his 3-month-old baby to a home in Melrose off State Road 21 near the elementary school. Kaercher met with the family and a Department of Children and Families (DCF) case manager. Kaercher took his wife and baby outside to get some air and moments...

James Albert Maierle was a well-known educator and sportsman born in 1942 in Calumet, Michigan. He was an enthusiastic hunter, fisherman, and woodsman. He is well known in his local area and published a few stories in hunting magazines. He died in 2022. His son related the circumstances of his father’s shooting of a black bear in self-defense in the early 1960s on the Montreal River in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The location is only a few miles from where Maierle grew up. The area was pretty wild in the early 1960s. After the major copper mine shut down...

HARRISON, Tenn. — UPDATE: 2 suspects involved in a deadly home invasion in Harrison are still on the loose, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. HCSO says there were 3 armed suspects involved in the invasion. The preliminary investigation reveals the three suspects broke into the home around 1a.m. and were confronted by the homeowner, according to HCSO. Gunfire was exchanged between the homeowner and suspects. HCSO says one of the suspects was shot during the exchange and died at the scene. Two other suspects jumped through a window to escape and fled the scene, according to HCSO. Members...

Gabriel Metcalf of Billings, Montana, has accepted a plea deal in the Gun Free School Zone (GFSZ) case, which has been extensively covered by AmmoLand. The plea deal appears to be for probation only, with forfeiture of the single-shot Rossi shotgun and six rounds of ammunition. There is no mention of a fine in the plea agreement. The right to appeal is preserved on page 7 of the agreement. The plea deal specifically preserves the right to appeal the conviction based on the motion to dismiss entered on October 10, 2023. The motion to dismiss made two arguments. First, the...

One of the persistent myths about shooting bears in self-defense is a bear’s skull is nearly bulletproof. Bears skulls are not bulletproof. However, bear heads are big. It is easy to miss the brain or spine if you aim at the wrong spot or aim away from the brain because you are afraid the bullet will “bounce off.” This is exacerbated by trophy hunters’ hesitancy to shoot a bear in the head. A powerful shot to the brain cavity will fracture the skull, making measurement for the record books impossible.It is difficult to hit the brain of a bear if...

Nine states show up again and again as the most repressive states in the union of the United States of America. With the occasional exception, these states refuse to honor the Constitution; they have extremely restrictive policies on who may bear arms, they ban common rifles, they ban the ownership of suppressors, and they tend to have high taxes. They are all controlled by the Democratic Party.The nine most repressive states are California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.Of those nine states, all but Rhode Island have enacted bans on some semi-automatic firearms, usually...

The Idaho Attorney General has joined with the Attorney General of Indiana and 26 other state AGs or Legislatures to file an amicus brief in the case of Bevis v City of Naperville. On November 22, 2023, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denied the petition for an injunction pending appeal to en banc review or for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court. On December 20, the request for an en banc hearing is denied. On March 8, 2024, a petition asking for a stay of proceedings pending a Supreme Court appeal is granted.The case focuses...

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. (WBOY) — One man is in critical condition and facing criminal charges after the second shooting that happened in Upshur County on Wednesday. Austin Arbogast, 24, of Buckhannon went to a home on Bailey Ridge Road in Buckhannon on Wednesday, March 20 “to forcibly take” a five-month-old child, according to a press release from the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office. Arbogast was reportedly saying that “he was coming to the residence to cause bodily harm to [the victim’s] family, and kill the entire family,” the release said. Deputies said a shoe print on the outside of the front door,...

Violent left-wing extremists on Wednesday hijacked a Turning Points USA event at the University of Memphis featuring Kyle Rittenhouse — and they did so with the full backing of the Democrat Party.Video footage from outside the university showed the extremists chasing down attendees as they tried to leave the event.The drama started days ahead of the event, with “students and community members” expressing fury after Rittenhouse was invited to speak at the school by Turning Points USA, according to The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis paper.The school released a statement shortly thereafter saying it wasn’t sponsoring the event but lacked the...

Wyoming House Bill 125 is on the way to Governor Mark Gordon. Two Wyoming State Senators (Bouchard and Biteman) were instrumental in passing a ban on Red Flag gun seizures (SF – 109) and the removal of gun free zones (HB 125). They give an explanation of how they passed the bills in an 8-minute video. Senator Biteman reports the last time a similar bill passed, in 2017, the former governor, Matthew Hansen Mead (R), vetoed the bill. Wyoming is on the way to removing nearly all “gun free zones”. Anyone who is not prohibited from owning a firearm will...

YouTube video combines the original 1-minute comedy skit with the arrival of the police to confiscate the airgun/prop gun. Turn on captions with English translation. On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, Dutch absurdist comedian Hans Teeuwen uploaded a video mocking Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema. On the table to Teeuwen’s right was an object looking somewhat similar to a pistol. The item may have been included as a jab at the past trouble the Mayor found herself in. Her teenage son was arrested with a deactivated revolver owned by her husband and said to be used as a prop in movie sets.Three...