Free Republic

The nation’s capital is home to some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. Washington city leaders intentionally crafted convoluted regulations to make it difficult for citizens to own firearms legally. Now that these obstructionist rules are in the spotlight, the D.C. Council realizes it needs to clean up its act. The Washington Times’ Emily Miller has been closely documenting each step required in the process of exercising her Second Amendment right to keep arms. One of these is the mandatory gun “safety” course consisting of four hours of classroom instruction and one hour on the shooting range....

Dan Zanoza, Executive Director of RFFM.org, interviews Warren Drake, GunEnews editor about issues involving Americans' right to bear arms. Drake gives a history of the organization and where it is headed in the future. Warren Drake of Mahomet, Illinois is an active member of GunsSaveLife, Inc., and currently serves as GunEnews editor, GunNews Magazine Distribution Chairman, July 4th Parade Chairman, and helps with other interesting activities as they come along. Warren Drake -- "In His Own Words" Q. I believe GunsSaveLife.com (Champaign County Rifle Association) is one of the most influential grassroots organizations in Illinois. RFFM.org's readers would be interested...

In open defiance of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the Washington D.C. gun control law, the City Council passed an “emergency” law that keeps in place almost all of the law that was ruled unconstitutional. For example, though the Court ruled specifically that the city’s ban on handguns violated the Second Amendment, most handguns still cannot be registered because D.C. bureaucrats classify semi-automatic pistols as “machine guns.” Even Dick Heller, who brought the case against Washington’s gun ban, was rejected when he tried to register his handgun because any “bottom loading” firearm is a “machine gun” according to the...

WASHINGTON -- A 13-year-old boy was killed, seven people shot and a person stabbed within minutes of each other in a spate of violence in the Trinidad section of NE shortly after midnight Saturday. Police said between midnight and four in the morning a person was also stabbed and another shot citywide. DC Police Inspector Rodney Parks says the shootings appear to have taken place in connection with three attempted robberies. Police are looking for a gold or metallic colored car, possibly a Dodge Intrepid, spotted at each crime scene. The police have no suspects in custody at this time....

District Gun Registration Starts Tomorrow D.C. police will start the gun registration process at 7 a.m. tomorrow, when it opens an office at police headquarters at 300 Indiana Ave. NW. It is the start of the 180-day amnesty period in which residents may register handguns they have had illegally, or guns from other states. An officer from the gun unit will meet the applicant at the door and take temporary possession of the gun to ensure safety at headquarters. Officers will tag the gun and run ballistics tests before returning it to the owner. Paperwork indicating that registration is in...

The District's gun ban had prohibited residents from registering handguns and keeping them in the city. Immediately after the ban was imposed in 1976, the homicide rate dropped and it has leveled off in recent years, after peaking in 1991. The District government appears to be headed for disaster as it prepares to craft policies to regulate handgun registration and licensing in response to the Supreme Court's decision declaring unconstitutional the city's absolute ban. A hearing last week clearly showed that most members on the D.C. City Council want regulations tailored to discourage, to the point of infringement, the ownership...

Afghanis Get It, Too Bad Anti-Gun Elitists Don’t: NRA To Target Chicago + Neighboring Suburban Hand Gun Bans, After Supreme Court Ruling Commentary by Bill Zettler * According to the Associated Press, June 27, 2008, "The number of civilians killed in fighting between insurgents and security forces in Afghanistan has soared by two-thirds in the first half of this year, to almost 700 people, a senior U.N. official said Sunday." We have all seen pictures on TV of Afghan citizens walking the streets with AK-47's draped over their shoulders. And who can forget the Afghan weddings where hundreds of shots...

Go to minute 2:40 through 4:59 on the link above. She also said that thugs "will have a jump on you". D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's comments are absurd and idiotic. Actually, "idiotic" is putting it mildly. This is an interview she did last evening with 630 WMAL, Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon rule on whether Washington, D.C.'s decades-old handgun ban is constitutional. It's been nearly 70 years since the high court has heard a firearms case that tests the scope of the Second Amendment. The outcome of this one, D.C. v. Heller, will have extraordinary implications —- not just for the District, but for the ability of cities to respond effectively to gun violence. If more evidence is needed that the stakes could not be higher, a steady drumbeat of headlines is supplying it. In the first few days of March alone, just before the justices...

The Court has announced that it will release opinions against (sic) at 10am Wednesday.

In one of the most absolutely cocked-over ideas I've seen in all my born days, the City of Washington D.C. has decided to set up "Neighborhood Safety Zones" in certain areas of the District of Columbia. Once a neighborhood is declared a "Neighborhood Safety Zone" DeeCee Police will stop all vehicles entering these zones and demand identification proving that the driver lives in the neighborhood, or provide a -- and let me be accurate here -- "legitimate reason to enter the neighborhood". Anyone not providing papers identification or a "legitimate reason to enter the neighborhood" will be -- and I...

Like everyone, I’m on pins and needles to see the decision, all the speculation is fun but meaningless, but fun. Yes, the Court seemed favorable to an individual right and overturning the D.C. total gun ban, even the lamestream media picked that up. But then you have to think about the Kelo decision (eminent domain) and McCain-Feingold (free-speech ban before an election), and it’s got to worry you. There’s no crystal ball. The biggest problem I see is difficulty the Court faces in recognizing Second Amendment rights to invalidate the D.C. law, and somehow limiting that decision so laws don’t...

WASHINGTON -- A crackdown on guns is meeting some resistance in the District. Police are asking residents to submit to voluntary searches in exchange for amnesty under the District's gun ban. They passed out fliers requesting cooperation on Monday. The program will begin in a couple of weeks in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of southeast Washington and will later expand to other neighborhoods. Officers will go door to door asking residents for permission to search their homes. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the "safe homes initiative" is aimed at residents who want to cooperate with police. She gave the...

WASHINGTON -- A crackdown on guns is under way in the District. Police are asking residents to submit to voluntary searches in exchange for amnesty under the District's gun ban. The program is starting in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Southeast Washington on Monday and will later expand to other neighborhoods. Officers will go door to door asking residents for permission to search their homes. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the "safe homes initiative" is aimed at residents who want to cooperate with police. She gave the example of parents or grandparents who know or suspect their children have...

Washington, D.C. – Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement: "Today, the Justices of the Supreme Court thoroughly discussed the Second Amendment of the Constitution for the first time in nearly 70 years, in the District of Columbia v. Heller case. Their probing questions, and the lawyers' responses, highlighted the complex history and competing approaches to gun regulation in our country. I am hopeful that their ruling will uphold the right of people in communities like the District to enact common sense gun measures they feel are needed to protect themselves and...

Supreme Court Hears “The Threshold Question” EDITOR's NOTE: Outdoor & Shooting Wire editor Jim Shepherd is in Washington for the Supreme Court's hearings on the Constitutionality of the District of Columbia's long-standing firearms ban. Due to the significance of this story, Jim's feature appears in both the Outdoor and Shooting Wires. Additionally, you can hear the actual Supreme Court arguments on the case, a variety of constitutional experts and Jim discussing the case with Michael Bane on Down Range TV (http://www.downrange.tv/rkba/dc-v-heller.htm). There is extremely heavy traffic on the site, but you can hear one of the most important Supreme Court...

The bottom line is, I think we’re going to be OK. When Justice Kennedy flat out said he believes in an individual right under the Second Amendment, there were no gasps in the hush of the High Court, but you could tell the greatest stellar array of gun-rights experts ever assembled, all there in that one room, breathed a sigh of relief -- we had five votes to affirm the human and civil right to arms. The transcript will be a key for analysis going forward until June, when the decision is expected, and I’m working without the benefit of...

As most of you will know, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument in District of Columbia v. Heller, the D.C. gun ban case. An extremely important Second Amendment case; in fact, the first of its kind in generations (about 70 years). The transcript of the argument is available here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1987832/posts But what is truly interesting, is to see the listing of amicus: that is, third parties who have submitted "friend of the court" briefs, advocating one side or the other of the issue. Following is the list. It is arranged first according to those who support the ban -...

The campaign's release speaks for itself: ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement on District of Columbia v. Heller:"Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on District of Columbia v. Heller, a landmark case for all Americans who believe as I do that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. I am proud to have joined in an amicus brief to the Court calling for a ruling in keeping with the clear intent of our Founding Fathers, which ensures the Second Amendment rights of the residents of District of...

Could this photo be a first? It shows a card-carrying member of the MSM shooting a handgun. That's Jan Crawford Greenburg, an ABC News legal correspondent. The clip, pun intended, of Greenburg on the firing range was part of a segment she narrated on today's Good Morning America on a case to be argued before the Supreme Court today. At issue is the District of Columbia's law banning handguns. The case comes before the Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. invalidated the law. The decision is anticipated to be a landmark one since it could be...