Free Republic

Jan 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday struck down a rule the Trump administration had adopted following a 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that banned "bump stocks," devices that allow people to rapidly fire multiple rounds from semi-automatic guns. In a 13-3 decision, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that despite "tremendous" public pressure to impose a ban, it was up to the U.S. Congress rather than the president to take action.... "The resulting circuit split should bring this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court's attention promptly and supply a suitable vehicle for...

A 6-year-old first-grader at an elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, shot a teacher on Friday afternoon during an altercation in a classroom, authorities said, leaving her with "life-threatening" injuries and renewing calls from parent's for greater classroom safety and oversight. The 6-year-old boy shot 30-year-old Abigail Zwerner, a first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School. She was rushed to Riverside Regional Medical Center with life-threatening injuries following the incident.

Legislation enshrining “constitutional carry” — that is, the legal right to carry a firearm without a government permit — is spreading quickly across the country. Many states have adopted constitutional carry in the past decade, and more are expected to do so in the coming years. Gun control groups unsurprisingly oppose constitutional carry. More surprisingly, so do some police chiefs associations and police unions. They argue that permitless carry increases the danger faced by law enforcement officers. Yet, officer fatalities have trended downward slightly over the past four decades (excepting COVID-19 deaths), despite a growing number of law enforcement officers,...

In Alabama, people are now allowed to carry guns without a state permit requiring background checks. The law took effect on January 1, making Alabama the 25th state to push thru with this kind of legislation. Proponents of the legislation have been unsuccessful for many years in Montgomery, but this year, they won approval. The regulation was advocated by gun rights advocates who call it “constitutional carry,” with reference to the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Despite the win, detractors including state sheriffs and other law enforcers continue to maintain that gun permits help fight crime and...

When checking firearm availability and firearm prices on the Internet, this correspondent frequently comes across websites that claim to have highly sought-after models at extremely attractive prices. They are almost always scams. The purpose of these scams is twofold: First, collect your personal information and credit card information, so it can be sold and or used to defraud you. Second, collect money via an untraceable payment system. Surprisingly, Paypal seems one way; another is one of the digital currencies; another is through the use of gift cards, and another is a direct bank transfer.There is an old saying which applies:...

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - A Gainesville man's attempt to rob the employees of a local business became than he bargained after it turned into what police described "like a scene from Home Alone." The Gainesville police say that 30-year-old Luis Sajbocho-Ordonez had hid himself behind a business on the 400 block of Atlanta Highway in the early morning hours of Christmas Day. When an employee exited the store, police say Sajbocho-Ordonez pulled a gun on them and demanded cash, leading to a struggle. Investigators say Sajbocho-Ordonez became startled when another employee left the building and fired a shot, which didn't hit...

Gun Owners of America Labels 18 Republican Senators ‘Turncoats’ Lobby group slams members who voted to pass Omnibus spending bill that it says funds Biden gun-control programs' Gun Owners of America (GOA), the Virginia-based Second Amendment rights advocacy group, issued a scathing rebuke of the 18 Republican senators who voted for the 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Act. In a Dec. 22 press release, GOA accused the group of advancing the Biden administration’s anti-gun agenda. “Unfortunately, 12 gun-control items just passed the Senate with the help of these 18 Republican turncoats,” the press release states. The Republicans who voted for the bill...

At least 39 people have died from the wintry weather wreaking havoc across the U.S. over Christmas weekend. The highest number of fatalities is in New York state, where 17 people have died in the wake of a massive snowstorm, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. In the middle of this wintery devastation, certain individuals decided this was an opportunity to destroy local businesses by looting them. At approximately 1730 EST, reports began to emerge in local media of looting incidents in Buffalo, NY, where residents are becoming desperate after three days of intense snowfall and cold temperatures. New...

As more and more people have been exercising their right to bear arms in the United States, the number of people who forget they have a firearm in their carry-on luggage has been steadily increasing. The number of firearms caught at TSA checkpoints is shown in the chart below. The number of people with carry permits has multiplied in the last decade, as has the number of states which do not require a permit to carry a concealed firearm. The legal system is known as Constitutional Carry or permitless carry.In 2011, there were 6.06 thousand permit holders for every firearm...

BALNEÁRIO CAMBORIÚ, Brazil — Take away the açaí smoothies and the skewers of barbecued Brazilian meat and the four-day Texas ExpoTiro here could be a gun show anywhere in the United States. Firearms dealers from all over the world have rented booths to market Glock pistols and AR-15s, and gun rights advocates are offering lectures on how to confront violent urban crime. “This is a triumph of liberty!” said retired military police chief Marcelo Venera, the executive director of the two-year-old expo, the largest gun show in the country and the first open to civilians. “We are here to show...

In certain U.S. cities, young men are over three times more likely to be shot dead than American soldiers deployed to war zones in the Middle East, new research reveals. Compared to the risk of combat death U.S. soldiers face in Afghanistan, the findings show that young men living in the most violent zip code of Chicago have a 3.23 times higher average risk of firearm-related homicide. Scientists say their shocking findings put the risk of firearm-related death in perspective. They’re calling for urgent policy action to reduce violence. In 2020, firearms became the leading cause of death among children,...

The Second Amendment protects the right to people to "keep and bear arms," and at its core the right to self-defense, [judge] McConnell observed. [Reporter]The ban was a reasonable and measured approach to restricting large-capacity magazines, which in practice easily convert handguns into semi-automatic weapons capable of rapid fire, he said.

Blue states are pursuing new gun control measures in the wake of a Supreme Court decision this year that upended the way courts may look at gun laws in the future. In New Jersey, lawmakers in the state are advancing a bill that would severely restrict where lawful gun owners could carry their firearms with a permit that, under the new law, would cost significantly more money to obtain. In Illinois, lawmakers on Monday debated a proposal that would ban assault-style weapons, outlaw higher capacity magazines, and raise the minimum age for gun ownership from 18 to 21 years old....

I would like to buy a gun safe for my son for Christmas. It needs to hold both long guns and semi-autos. I'm on Social Security, so I don't have an infinite amount of money. He does a lot of target shooting, so it needs to hold boxes of bulk ammo. My son served four years in the Marines, so he knows what he' doing. We live in Central Texas, so if you know of places near, say, Waco, that would be helpful. If you've upgraded and have one for sale, that would be okay, too.

HARRISBURG, PA — Future sales of assault weapons and any multi-burst trigger activator would be prohibited in Pennsylvania under legislation poised to be introduced in the state House. Two Democratic representatives, Benjamin Sanchez of Montgomery County Aerion Abney of Allegheny County, are co-sponsoring the assault weapons bill. Sanchez is sponsoring separate legislation that would prohibit the trigger activators. In a memo to colleagues, Sanchez and Abney noted that high-capacity semi-automatic rifles in the style of or similar to an AR-15 were found at the mass shooting sites of an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas; an Orlando nightclub; an elementary school...

On Monday afternoon, just before 3:30 p.m., the couple heard their animals making the kind of noises that might warrant an inspection. According to Lieutenant Michael Arens of the San Diego County Sheriff's San Marcos Station, the couple went outside for peace of mind, but instead saw 36-year-old Alexander Belinksy attempting to abscond with one their goats. The couple attempted to intervene, but Belinsky allegedly threw them to the ground. The 79-year-old may have regarded goat theft to be a matter suited to remedy by bare hands, but an assault on his wife was apparently cause for a constitutionally-protected riposte....

Bout is alleged to have fueled multiple conflicts across the globe through arms dealing, sometimes to both sides ... A senior defense official is concerned that convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, the "Merchant of Death" .. could go back to illegally trafficking weapons, thereby fueling deadly conflicts around the world. "I think there is a concern that he would return to doing the same kind of work that he's done in the past.. Bout was in the middle of serving a 25-year prison sentence in a U.S. prison for several offenses, including conspiring to kill Americans ... Bout, a...

Last month, a Wisconsin jury convicted Darrell Brooks of first-degree intentional homicide while using a dangerous weapon for driving an SUV into the crowd gathered at a Christmas parade last year in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He was found guilty of 70 other counts. He was sentenced to life in prison, as mandated under under Wisconsin law.So a court of law has determined that a car or SUV is a dangerous weapon. It certainly can be, and this is not the first incident of a vehicle being used as a weapon.Earlier this year, a German man drove a car into a group...

House Democrats vetoed a resolution demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland turn over records related to the FBI's usage of previously secret forms that waived away the gun rights of Americans. In October, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and over a dozen GOP members of Congress urged Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray to provide evidence that the FBI has stopped stripping people's gun rights with the forms. However, a further attempt to obtain evidence by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) was quashed on Wednesday afternoon by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. The resolution states that Garland would be asked to...

“If a firearm is in common use today, it cannot be banned,” a group of Marylanders and national gun rights groups said in a filing before oral argument Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. “The rifles banned by Maryland are among the most popular firearms in the country.” Maryland’s prohibition on “assault weapons” was passed in the wake of the 2012 massacre of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. The state banned less-common semiautomatic “assault pistols” in 1994. The laws cover some but not all semiautomatic rifles, including any...