Free Republic

No one will ever mistake the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for a gun-friendly bunch of jurists. So that should be a good indicator of just how over the line the violation of one man’s rights was that they have slapped down a cop for conducting a warrantless search of his car simply because he had a concealed carry permit and a gun.A three-judge panel also ruled that the cop in question isn’t entitled to qualified immunity because he so egregiously chose to violate the civil rights of someone without any discernible probable cause.Waterbury, Connecticut Officer Nicholas Andrzejewski conducted a...

Campus carry for self-defense will become illegal in Colorado when SB24-131 takes effect on July 1, 2024. On April 20, 2015, Breitbart News noted that campus carry had been the law of the land in Colorado since 2003. There had been no mass shootings, and, apart from one incident in which a Colorado University employee accidentally discharged a gun, there were zero crimes by permit holders during those first 12 years. A Google search conducted on June 24, 2024, found the story had not changed — there have still been no mass shootings on a Colorado college/university campus, and no...

More good news out of the Northern District of Texas. Judge Reed O’Connor has issued a rulling in Mock v. Garland vacating the ATF’s byzantine rule that effectively bans pistol braces. You know…the same pistol braces the ATF had previously said were perfectly fine. Back before the Biden administration waged a war on gun owners, their rights, and companies that make legal products those people want to buy. This comes the same week the decrepit but still rabidly anti-gun president was trundled out of the White House and propped up behind a podium at Everytown’s “Gun Sense University” meeting of...

Generally, it’s best to go about one’s business as unobtrusively as possible, relying on situational awareness and solid knowledge of use of force law to avoid ever having to draw or fire one’s handgun. Among the perennial controversies in the firearm world is whether concealed or open carry is best. Circa 2024, open carry is widely allowed: State laws regarding open carry fall into several categories: permissive, permissive with restrictions, licensed open carry states, and those in which open carry is prohibited. Permissive states allow non-prohibited citizens to open carry without requiring a permit or license. Most states fall into...

Colorado Democrats are pushing an 11 percent excise tax on gun and ammunition sales, as well as numerous other California-style gun controls. There is a public hearing on the excise tax proposal today, and Colorado Springs firearms instructor Ana Flanell is urging the public to rally against the tax. On Easter Sunday she posted to X: “Join me at the Capitol tomorrow to testify against this “sin” tax. Self-defense is our right and we should not be taxed an outrageous 11% to exercise our Second Amendment rights. I’ve included a screenshot below of what to select when signing up. Let’s...

CHICAGO — Prosecutors say two Chicago men robbed a construction crew, exchanged gunfire with an off-duty sheriff’s deputy at the scene, fled, then returned to fire another shot, only to have one of the victims pull out a gun and open fire on them, too. No injuries were reported. And, according to court records, one of the men was eyed as a suspect in a series of robberies last fall but ended up being charged only with a misdemeanor. He’s also on “first-time weapon offender probation” for a 2022 gun case. The robbery occurred on March 1 in the 11500...

There's only so much outrage left in the tank on a sunny Friday afternoon, but wow this is just insane in the membrane. An independent investigation into the school shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas was commissioned by the city of Uvalde in 2022. Yesterday, the results of the investigation were released to the public during a city council meeting. The gist of the new report is that police on the scene did nothing wrong. Former Austin Police Department detective Jesse Prado examined the actions of each Uvalde police officer as they responded to the deadliest school shooting...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A would-be robbery victim with a concealed carry license got into a shootout with a suspect on the Far North Side early Tuesday morning. The 23-year-old man was walking in the 5400-block of North Winthrop Avenue in the city's Edgewater neighborhood just after 4:20 a.m., when a white sedan and dark-colored SUV approached, CPD said. A male suspect got out of one of the cars, pulled out a gun and demanded the man give him his belongings, police said. The victim, who has a Firearm Owners Identification card and CCL, also pulled out a gun, and there...

Almost two years after a shooter murdered 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the Department of Justice released a 575-page report on Thursday. The document confirmed what we already knew from Texas’ report last July. The police made serious mistakes and shouldn’t have waited outside the classroom. There is one big difference between the two reports. The Justice Department report starts its executive summary by emphasizing that the attack used “an AR-15 style assault rifle.”

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A deadly shooting Monday in South Peoria appears to have been the result of a botched robbery, Peoria police said. According to Semone Roth of the Peoria Police Department, the shooting occurred amid a potential Facebook Marketplace transaction where two people came to Peoria to meet someone about buying a vehicle. The shooting occurred at about 5 p.m. in a nearby alley in the 2100 block of West Lincoln Avenue where the would-be buyers were led by the purported sellers. “The investigation has determined that this was an attempted robbery setup and there was no intention...

When another shooting happens at a place such as a school or a mall, politicians and the media are apt to claim that many hundreds of mass shootings occur each year. “Over the last year since Uvalde, our country has experienced a staggering 650 mass shootings,” President Joe Biden claimed last year. After a mass murder in Lewiston, Maine in late October, CNN said that there had already been “586 mass shootings” that year.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Contrary to concerns from some local leaders, a new study shows a decrease in gun crimes across six of Ohio’s eight largest cities following the implementation of the state’s “constitutional carry” law. The research, conducted by the Center for Justice Research (CJR) in partnership with Bowling Green State University, analyzed data from June 2021 to June 2023, covering a year before and after the law went into effect in June 2022. It focused on crimes involving firearms, verified gunshot-detection alerts, and the number of officers struck by gunfire. The findings revealed: Overall Decline: Across all eight cities,...

To Whom It May Concern; The California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proposed “emergency regulations” regarding the issuance of concealed carry weapons (CCW) licenses smack of complete political hypocrisy and demagoguery, as well as political retaliation against Californians who may disagree with the current policies and leadership within the California State government. The California DOJ’s “emergency regulations” conspicuously leave out a large number of certified firearms instructors, who are affiliated with such gun groups as the National Rifle Association (NRA), the California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA), among others. Most, if not all, of these firearms instructors have excellent records in...

CHICAGO - One person was killed and two others were wounded in an exchange of gunfire in Humboldt Park on Saturday morning. A 31-year-old man was outside in the 1600 block of North Hamlin Avenue at approximately 1:17 a.m. when two men approached him in a vehicle. The men in the vehicle began shooting. The 31-year-old man, who is a CCL holder, returned fire, hitting both the men inside the vehicle. He was shot in the torso and transported to Stroger Hospital in fair condition. A 44-year-old man who was inside the vehicle was shot in the chest and pronounced...

The proportion of registered Democrats who have a firearm in their home has jumped significantly over the past few years.. rising crime in urban areas could be behind the increase. In November 2023 the survey found 41 percent of Democrats said they live in a household with a gun, up from 33 percent in a similar survey .. in August 2019. Notably, 33 percent of Democrats also said they lived with a gun in a similar NBC survey conducted in March 2004, indicating the sharp rise has been concentrated over the past four years. ... The data also showed a...

By banning firearms from a long list of "sensitive places," the state is copying a policy that federal judges have repeatedly rejected. A California law that is scheduled to take effect on January 1 will impose a host of new restrictions on public possession of firearms. That may seem counterintuitive, since Senate Bill 2 is the state legislature's response to the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which upheld the Second Amendment right to carry guns for self-defense outside the home. But California, like several other states with discretionary carry-permit...

In July of 2022, the Supreme Court, in a landmark 6-3 decision, ruled that the EPA overstepped its authority by creating rules and regulations regarding forcing power plants to transition to clean or renewable energy sources. SCOTUS ruled that the EPA, in effect, created rules that carry the same weight as laws passed by Congress, thus violating Article I of the Constitution, which states that all legislative powers shall be granted to Congress only. Thus making Congress the only body that can introduce and pass legislation, not a state or federal agency. The court says it [the EPA] is protecting...

On September 28, a woman found herself in a domestic violence situation and was forced to take drastic measures to defend her life. The incident, which occurred at her apartment in Wilmington, North Carolina, further illustrates how important it is for women to be armed – especially when it comes to situations involving domestic violence. ... Anthony Parker, the woman’s estranged husband, physically assaulted her, but lost his life when she used her gun to stop him. Wilmington police continue to investigate a suspected domestic violence-related shooting that claimed the life of Anthony Parker on the night of Sept. 28....

The state of Arkansas has created a law to protect the ability of medical marijuana users in the state to obtain a concealed carry handgun license. HB1784 was introduced on March 29, 2023. On April 4th, 2023, the House voted for bill HB1784, 82 to 5, with eight not voting and five not present. On April 7, 2023, the Senate voted for the bill HB1784, 26 to 3, with two not voting and two not present. HB1724 was signed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) into law on April 12, 2023. Here are relevant excerpts. From the Arkansas State Legislature:(B)...

From video description: HPD patrol officers responded to a shooting at a gas station and found a male and a female holding a suspect at gunpoint. The suspect, later identified as Mario Duque, had sustained several gunshot wounds.