Free Republic

Oct 1, 2019 - Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is carrying out an unconstitutional effort to undo the 2016 election.

Florida school shooting reignites the debate over background checks and mental health and guns. When a mass murder happens in our country, like so many Americans I wring my hands and look for answers – for anything that will stop these monsters. I don’t like to speak out at these times, because as Ecclesiastes correctly tells us there is “a time to every purpose under the heaven,” including “a time to mourn.” But then someone kicks me in the shin. This time it was CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, saying on CNN’s “New Day” program Wednesday that the National Rifle...

David Dunstan, a farmer in Victoria, about 10 miles outside the Australian town of Albury, found himself confronting a teen armed with a knife and a large club at 3 a.m. on the 14th of September, 2017. He slammed shut the door, and called for his wife to get the key to the gun cupboard.He retrieved an unloaded .22 rifle, and used it to convince the thug that he should get in a car and drive to the police station. The offender is in jail without bail.  He is suspected of invading another house just hours previously.From weeklytimesnow.com.au: A...

When I came to Australia, I had read of the weapons laws regarding the carry of knives. I had read that knives could only be carried if you had a “good reason” to do so.I knew how much the “good reason” limitation had been abused in the United States to stop people from exercising their Second Amendment rights.States like New Jersey, New York, and California are notorious for the abuse of that limitation. I was apprehensive about carrying a pocket knife in Australia.On arrival, I wrote: As I talked to the manager, I mentioned that I understood it was...

Extremely restrictive firearms laws were imposed on the Australian population in 1996, after the Port Arthur Massacre.The Australian gun culture is fighting to restore some sanity to firearm law down under. One of the clampdowns put in place in 1996, was to make ownership of .22 rimfire semi-auto rifles so restricted as to be an effective ban. The combined firearms council of Victoria is calling for the return of their bunny guns. From firearmscouncil.org.au: The state’s peak political body for Victoria’s shooting organisations is calling on the state government to allow shooters to use 22 self-loading rifles after a 20...

Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- When the Australian government passed its restrictive gun law scheme in 1996, it did not anticipate the technological innovations that would be promoted.Some, like the straight pull FN/Browning Maral, above, are not much different from previous rifles. The British Lee-Enfield had 10 round detachable magazines a hundred and twenty years ago. The Canadian Ross and Swiss K31 rifles both used straight pull bolt actions with five shot magazines. The Maral has small improvements over all three previous rifles.From browning.eu: With all its undeniable experience in making hunting rifles, BROWNING has innovated yet again in the field of straight-pull...

-One of my hosts in Australia gave me a lead for a story.  They knew someone with an extensive gun collection. Directions were given; the collector had been called and was waiting.  A local who was known to the collector would drive me there and make introductions.The directions were complex, typical rural directions: follow this road; go up this hill; make a right, then go a ways and make a left. Look for the long drive with such and such a fence.. My driver understood them perfectly, and we arrived at the correct place.  The collector had a nice...

America is being held hostage by a tiny minority of absolute lunatics for whom owning two, three, eight or even 10 guns is simply not enough. That’s the main finding of the first comprehensive study of gun owners in two decades. Among the many findings — that handgun purchases are soaring, that Americans wrongly believe they need more guns for personal safety, and that there are more privately held guns in this country than cars — is a bit of news so shocking, it should embolden our spineless lawmakers in Washington: -snip So if gun owners represent a smaller portion...

The FDA is stockpiling military weapons — and it’s not alone AMERICA’S GUN CULTURE has been a subject of intense interest and controversy for years, with concerns frequently raised about shadowy militias, paramilitary extremists, and unstable zealots in possession of alarming quantities of explosives and firearms. Amid the current din over assault weapons and body armor, consider one domestic organization’s fearsome arsenal of military-style equipment. In the space of eight years, the group amassed a stockpile of pistols, shotguns, and semiautomatic rifles, along with ample supplies of ammunition, liquid explosives, gun scopes, and suppressors. In its cache as well are...

Eight years ago, I met the pastor of my brother's church in Northern Wisconsin.  Pastor Phil and his wife, Kathy, had answered the call when the church had entered some hard times.  His career had started in Chicago.  His parents were called to the ministry; his father had been a Marine.  The streets that he grew up on in Chicago had an international flavor.  There were Greek, Polish, and Germans, and they generally got along.  His family did not have any guns, and his lone experience with firearms was an informal couple of shots with a .22  at twilight,...

Over the last 15 years, Brazil has instituted more and more gun control, including gun registration and criminal and mental background checks for gun ownership. Today they have “restrictive” gun control, and one more thing—a 35-year high for gun deaths in the country.

Last April, right after the horrific bombing in Boston, I wrote about how I “evolved” on guns the night of the manhunt for the two men thought to be responsible for the bombings. Here’s what I wrote last year: First, a confession: I’ve never owned a gun. I never wanted one in my home and, like a lot of moms, I wanted to raise non-violent children and thought keeping guns out of our home was one way to do that … Then came the day of the Boston Marathon, where bombs set off by baby-faced terrorists killed 3 individuals and...

The Wayside Inn is a sports bar in Northern Wisconsin.  It has been around as long as I can remember, and is in the neighborhood where I grew up, on Highway 63 a few miles North of Hayward.   I had dinner there recently with relatives.   They have a traditional fish fry on Friday (it was very good).  While there, I noticed a new semi-automatic shotgun on the wall.   I have often seen wall hangers elsewhere, but there are nearly always non-functioning items of art rather than modern firearms.   I went back to determine what the...

" only the large scale here is exceptional. This is the traditional celebratory gunfire at a wedding celebration. Note that the arms being fired are fully-automatic sub-machine guns. And you thought the United States had a "gun culture!" We're pikers compared to most of the Middle East...."

A high schooler in Colorado hunts for food, carrying on a family tradition. A father devotes his life to sparing others from his son’s fate. An elementary school student in Michigan takes careful aim, making his mother proud. A mother in California grieves a son gunned down. These are the stories of young people across America whose lives have been shaped, for better or worse, by guns. A great rift divides Americans over gun laws, ownership and restrictions. A year ago 20 elementary students and six adults were killed during a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.,...

The other day in our local newspaper, there were three political columns on the editorial page, all three of them one-sidedly calling for gun control and moaning about America’s “Gun Culture.” As a law-abiding gun owner, I must say that I am a part of America’s gun culture. I am proud of it. In addition, I often thank God for it.

…when you’re in one, stop digging.Last night on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell”, Bob Costas continued to make a fool of himself on the issue of firearm ownership, lamenting America’s supposed “Wild West, Dirty Harry” gun culture. Costas claimed that young men in their twenties and thirties are incapable of being responsible gun owners. Here’s a clip:http://www.youtube.com/embed/aVbJT4r33MgTell me, Mr. Costas, do you believe the tens of thousands of young men serving in our armed forces to be incapable of handling firearms responsibly? Moreover, do you believe civilians like me – 37 years old and the holder of a...

In 2005, my husband and I started the process to adopt a little girl from China. It was a brand new scary process that we knew nothing about. All we knew was that we wanted a child. When I am passionate about something, I want to know everything I can about it. So, I did a lot of reading about China and adoption. One of the people I read about was a woman named Gladys Aylward. She was a poor woman from London who wanted to go to China in the 1930's to be a missionary. but she had no...

Guns are deeply rooted within Swiss culture - but the gun crime rate is so low that statistics are not even kept. The country has a population of six million, but there are estimated to be at least two million publicly-owned firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols. This is in a very large part due to Switzerland's unique system of national defence, developed over the centuries. Instead of a standing, full-time army, the country requires every man to undergo some form of military training for a few days or weeks a year throughout most of their lives....

LONDON (Reuters) - Three in 10 people questioned in a six-nation survey have been the victim of gun crime or know someone who has been in the last five years, gun control campaigners said on Monday. The survey of about 1,000 people in each of Brazil, Britain, Canada, Guatemala, India and South Africa found widespread support for tighter international restrictions on trade in firearms, the Control Arms campaign said in a statement. Control Arms is a joint initiative by human rights group Amnesty International, charity Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms, made up of hundreds of...