Free Republic

At the 145th National Rifle Association annual meetings and exhibits, you could see and purchase replica flintlock muskets like the kind Daniel Boone used, “wardrobe” handguns the size of a cellphone, a carriage-mounted 1883 Gatling gun, historic firearms from the Renaissance down through the latest Surge, bullet-splat jewelry, deep-concealment holsters, triple barrel shotguns, and camo everything – coolers, flasks, four-wheelers, deer blinds, infant-wear and sexy-time lingerie. Mingling with a crowd striking for its nearly uniform whiteness, I did lapse into a kind of fugue state from time to time, a retail trance brought on by sheer sensory overload, but with...

THE BODIES of the San Bernardino victims were still warm, and President Obama conceded that officials didn't "know that much yet" about the circumstances or motives of the killers. But that didn't stop him from exploiting the moment to call for more gun control. There was the usual shopworn pitch for "stronger background checks." There was also a demand that anyone on the "no-fly" list be prohibited from buying guns. "We have a no-fly list where people can't get on planes," Obama told CBS News, "but those same people who we don't allow to fly could go into a store...

I’ve spent the last two days attempting to understand the logic of 2nd U.S. Circuit Judge Jose A. Cabranes in his decision (PDF) to uphold so-called “assault weapon” bans rammed through the legislatures of New York and Connecticut in a headlong rush to disarm the citizens of those states. The problem I was having is that I was looking for logic in his decision, when his decision was clearly based on ideology, not constitutionality. Jimmy Carter appointee Cabranes clearly understands that the U.S. Supreme court held in Heller that firearms “in common use” by citizens “for lawful purposes like self‐defense”...

Piers Morgan, CNN's most-outspoken and impolite gun control advocate, got a much-needed education about the Second Amendment and firearms Tuesday. In the middle of a lengthy and uncharacteristically civil interview on Piers Morgan Tonight, former Marine Joshua Boston said, "The American people aren't as gun-happy and trigger-happy as they're being painted out to be by the media. They are smarter than that. They know when to hold their fire. They know when to fire" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In 1976, Washington, D.C. instituted the strictest handgun ban in the nation. On Wednesday, the House voted 250-171 to repeal that ban. The prevailing side included 52 Democrats, and 22 Republicans cast no votes. Last week's vote, however, was not about congressional intervention, the young blood being spilled on the streets or even the gun lobby, as opponents of the D.C. Personnel Protection Act would have you believe. Whether people will exercise the right to own a handgun is not at issue either. I even disagree with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who said repealing the ban means "homes of...