Free Republic

-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...

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed a comprehensive bill, HF 517, to modernize Iowa's gun laws on Thursday, 14 April, 2017.The reforms had been bottled up for years by a few legislators, mostly Democrats, that were voted out of office last year. An archaic provision prevented children form receiving safety training for handguns.From wcfcourier.com: One of the provisions of the bill that took effect immediately allows children below the age of 14 to handle pistols or revolvers under the supervision of an adult parent, guardian or instructor — which directly affected the Gibson sisters ages 13 and 11.“I think the...

The Iowa Omnibus gun law reform bill is close to passing the legislature, and is likely to be signed by Governor Branstad.From the desmoinesregister.com:House File 517, which has already passed the Iowa House, was approved on a 33-17 vote. Because the bill was amended, it must return to the House. But House Republican leaders are expected to accept the changes, which means it will likely be headed soon to Gov. Terry Branstad, who is expected to sign it.House File 517 is a weapons law reform bill. The authors of the bill appear to have searched through various weapons laws...

The man went inside and confronted another man he found in his shower, deputies said. The homeowner left after the two exchanged words. "He returned home, retrieved a firearm, came back over to the residence and fired multiple rounds into the shower ... killing the intruder," said Mason County Sheriff's Lt. Travis Adams. The homeowner called 911 and told dispatchers that he had just shot and killed an intruder, Adams said.

House Study Bill 133 is an omnibus weapons law reform bill. The authors of the bill appear to have searched through various weapons laws enacted in the United States in the last several decades.  They looked for the best features of the laws that have worked elsewhere.  When they found them, they incorporated them into this omnibus bill.  There are a couple of twists unique to Iowa. HSB 133 was introduced on February 20th, 2017. The bill covers so many reforms that amendments and wording changes are almost certain. Here is an overview of most of the prominent features...

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-A “white paper“, written by the second highest ranking official of the ATF, has been obtained by the Washington Post. The date, official, and reforms mentioned, are all significant.  The paper was dated January 20th, 2017,  inauguration day.Ronald B. Turk is the author. The paper expresses “the ideas and opinions” of Mr. Turk. From the washingtonpost.com: The second-highest-ranking official at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has written a proposal to reduce gun regulations, including examining a possible end to the ban on importing assault weapons into the United States. The “white paper” by Ronald B....

My Colleague at Gun Watch, John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.),  has published extensively.  He has some insight into the recent “study” published in the Lancet: The major British medical journals are heavily politicized — both Lancet and BMJ. Lancet even criticized the Iraq intervention under George Bush II. When they stick to their knitting — medical research — they do publish some good studies and are prestigious because of that. But the people running the journals are obviously Left-leaning — like most academics — so they can’t help misusing the platform they have to hand in order to promote...

Multiple gun law reform bills are advancing in Iowa. Just before noon on 23 February, 2016, the House had accomplished the following: HF2279 Hearing Protection Act – Removes ban on gun mufflers. Approved in the Senate last year, did not clear the House. Today, passed the House 74-24.From iowafcorg:  Iowa is one of just nine states in the entire country that prohibits its citizens from owning a firearms suppressor. Despite how they’re portrayed by Hollywood and gun control advocates suppressors do not silence a firearm. In reality they cut the noise signature of a gunshot by approximately 20-25%. While...

AB13 is an incremental improvement that establishes a timeline for firearms owners to have their property returned.  From walker.wi.gov: Assembly Bill 13 - intends to return property to owners who have been cleared of charges relating to the seizure of a firearm or ammunition. The bill creates a timeline for this process to ensure individuals will no longer be subject to long wait times for the return of their property. Authored by Representative Daniel Knodl (R - Germantown) and Senator Stephen Nass (R - Whitewater), the bill passed the Assembly on a voice vote and was concurred by the...

Nearly all states have some sort of law preempting local gun laws.  Preemption means that the State preserves to itself certain areas of the law.  Firearms are a natural for this protection; most   Most are comprehensive; a few are minimal.   Massachusetts has very limited state pre-emption.  From dovekopel.com: Massachusetts preempts all gun licensing (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140 sect. 129B), and the state constitution forbids local laws inconsistent with state law; for this reason, Boston's Dec. 1989 ban on "assault weapons" was not allowed to go into effect until the state legislature later passed a bill authorizing...

Some needed reforms to Ohio gun law are finally moving in the Ohio Senate.  HB 203 passed the Ohio House 63-27 in November of 2013.  It has languished in the Senate since then.   Some claim that Governor Kasich has said that he will sign the bill.   First it needs to pass the Senate. Ohio is the only state where a person claiming self defense is considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent.   Unlike all other states, Ohio requires that a person who claims self defense must prove that they acted in self defense rather than the burden of proof...

Idaho, as with most states, has a preemption statute that guarantees uniform gun laws across the state.  The laws have proven to be popular in the United States.  All states have some form of preemption.   In New York, courts have ruled that the State handgun licensing law preempts local ordinances.  The laws vary in their application by state.  In the case of Twin Falls, an old ordinance prohibited the carrying of guns in county parks.  This was in violation of state law.  The County board understood the violation, and voted unanimously to repeal the offending language. From magicvalley.com: Commissioner...

The Latin means "He who transplants, sustains" In a controversial move, the leadership of the Connecticut Bar Association lobbied to pass the highly restrictive gun law pushed by Governor Malloy.   The move sparked opposition within the body.   From the courant.com, a paper that also pushed hard for the controversial gun laws: "Why is our bar association taking a position on a matter that has nothing to do with the practice of law?" Hartford lawyer and former Democratic state Chairman John Droney asked in an email typical of hundreds of others inspired by a debate that has continued now for...

The rifle pictured above is completely legal.  Take off the stock and the barrel, and replace them with the two inch shorter barrel  and the pistol grip, and it is completely legal.   Leave the stock on, and put on the shorter barrel, and you have just committed a Federal felony with a potential five year jail sentence.  The rifle pictured above is a single shot.   The two semiautomatic handguns and the revolver have more power, more capacity, and are easier to conceal, but their possession is constitutionally protected.   The National Firearms Act of 1934 might have made...

Behold, true leadership and effective governance:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO “I think a lot of people didn’t know how much emotion was gonna come out of the high-capacity magazines. [We] probably would have looked for something different or a different approach.One of my staff made the commitment that we would sign it it got passed. To be honest, no one in our office thought it would get through the legislature.If we’d known it was going to divide the state so intensely, I think we probably would have thought about it twice…In the end, how important really was it?After...

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signed into law Wednesday a pro-gun package that groups on both sides of the gun control debate describe as exceptional. The National Rifle Association calls it ”the most comprehensive pro-gun bill in state history.” Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun control group founded by shooting victim and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), calls it ”the most extreme gun bill in America.”

One of the reasons gun owners tend to be completely opposed to the passage of any new gun laws – no matter how innocuous or reasonable seeming – is the erratic history of interpretation and enforcement of the current gun laws. This is also why I cringe every time I hear someone who supposedly supports gun rights – from politicians to the head of the NRA – calling for the feds to “enforce the laws already on the books.” The fact is, the gun laws that are already on the books are a labyrinth of confusion and booby-traps full of...

Can you imagine what a tough uphill struggle the anti-gun-rights people would have if the “news” media wasn’t falling all over itself to support the anti-rights side? Connecticut just drafted 138 pages of gun law basically in secret, enacted it before it could be read and digested by those who signed it — and certainly not by the public it pretends to legitimately control — and in doing so ended up requiring federally licensed agents in the state to violate federal law, or flatly deny citizens their rights. Just on practical grounds this is a disaster. But that’s as if...

Already, there are signs that Governor Cuomo and his allies underestimated the pushback. As draconian, ill-advised, and possibly unconstitutional as the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (NY SAFE) anti-gun law was when it was hastily signed into law, it might have been far worse — this according to a New York legislator who fought against the bill.Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin has released documentation showing rejected Democratic proposals for the NY SAFE Act. They included these: Confiscation of all firearms arbitrarily redefined as “assault weapons”Labeling semi-automatic shotguns as “assault weapons” if they can hold more than five rounds or have...

A key New York Senate leader and the Assembly speaker said they expect the state Legislature to vote Monday to enact what would be the nation's first gun control measure following last month's Connecticut school shooting. "I think when all is said and done, we are going to pass a comprehensive gun bill today," Sen. Jeffrey Klein told reporters Monday morning. "I'm very excited about it. I am very confident we are going to vote on a comprehensive bill that will be agreed on by the governor, the Senate and Assembly." People familiar with closed-door negotiations told The Associated Press...