Free Republic

“The sanctification of the rights of individuals and their liberties today by libertarians and Tea Party conservatives is contrary to our evolved human nature as social animals. . . . The thought that it is both rational and natural for each of us to care only for ourselves, our own preservation, and our own achievements is a treacherous fabrication.” The above quotation is taken from an article written by John Edward Terrell for the opinion section of The New York Times. The author knows very little about the conservative movement. He is mostly describing Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Philosophy where the...

“Obama’s alleged support of the Second Amendment is utterly cynical and false.”April 13th, 2008 by Bruno Behrend So says the NRA, and they are 100% correct. The above headline is from one of their recent blast e-mails, and I must say that I endorse their view in this situation. _____ To understand Barack Obama on the Second Amendment, you have to know about the clash of character between the then-Chicago state senator and an ordinary citizen who exercised his right to armed self-defense in violation of a local gun ban. That citizen was a 52-year-old resident of Wilmette, Illinois, who,...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Illinois lawmakers ignored the governor's objections and voted to give more legal protection to homeowners who use a banned gun to shoot burglars. The House today voted 85-to-30 to override Governor Rod Blagojevich's (blah-GOY'-uh-vitch) veto. The Senate had approved the bill earlier, so it now becomes law. It was passed in response to the case of Hale DeMar, a Wilmette restaurant owner who shot a burglar. Cook County prosecutors declined to press charges for the shooting, but Wilmette officials charged DeMar with breaking the city's ban on handguns. Under the bill, someone who shoots an intruder can't be...

Hale DeMar, the Wilmette homeowner who shot and wounded a burglar inside his home last December, was celebrated as a hero by gun-rights groups nationwide. But a look at recently opened police files in the case suggests that DeMar acted more like a vigilante than a hero--that it wasn't necessary for him to shoot the unarmed intruder to defend himself or his children, as he has claimed, and that he all but welcomed the confrontation in his home.

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed a bill Friday meant to provide legal protection for homeowners who violate local gun ordinances by shooting intruders. The legislation was a response to the heavily publicized case of Hale DeMar, a Wilmette restaurant owner who in December shot a burglar who had broken into his home twice. Cook County prosecutors declined to press criminal charges against DeMar, but Wilmette officials charged him with violating the suburb's ban on handguns. DeMar is challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance. The bill the governor vetoed Friday would have allowed people in situations like DeMar's to argue...