Free Republic

In a surprising comment, Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier is encouraging ordinary citizens to subdue or even kill active gunmen if they can as the "best option for saving lives before police can get there." During an interview Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Chief Lanier was asked what should people do if they are in the vicinity of an active shooter like the ones who terrorized Paris on Nov. 13, The Washington Examiner reported. "Your options are run, hide, or fight," the D.C. police chief said. "If you're in a position to try and take the gunman down, to...

Army First Lt. Augustine Kim’s finally got the Washington Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to return his guns after two years -- only to find them permanently damaged. The department violated its own regulations on handling firearms in evidence by engraving marks on the sides of the guns, and the city should reimburse the soldier for the loss. The Afghanistan war veteran was wrongly arrested while lawfully transporting his firearms from New Jersey to his home in South Carolina. All charges were later dismissed, but the city refused to respond to repeated requests from the national guardsman to return the $10,000...

Seven years of drought: Conservation for fast-growing city, but that won't be enough. LAS VEGAS — Outside the Bellagio casino, tourists stare at fountains thrusting water into the sky as Elvis sings "Viva Las Vegas." Meanwhile, off the Strip, residents dig up their lawns to save water — and get paid for it. That's the paradox in this desert town where water lured people thousands of years before casino-constructed wonders such as the canals of the Venetian, the shark reef of Mandalay Bay and the fountains of the Bellagio. By the 1800s, a life-sustaining spring on the Old Spanish Trail...

...Forget the jury's whopping quarter-billion-dollar verdict in Ernst v. Merck, because it's cut 90% by the caps that Texas law places on punitive damages.... But in truth, we should be grateful to any firm that speeds its product to market when its anticipated use promises many more benefits than adverse side-effects. Merck should not apologize for pushing hard to win quick market acceptance; before Vioxx was withdrawn, countless people with chronic pain were able to get on with their lives. Now these folks are left far worse off because of a double whammy: a Food and Drug Administration that yanks...

In the liberal state of California, more of us are giving less attention to our party affiliation, and more attention to fixing our problems. Our new Governor has done a great job in the short time he's been in office. Many will argue this, but the bottom line is fiscal responsibility, and we can now see some light at the end of the tunnel. However, there are some governmental and minority programs in California that need to be scrutinized very closely. That's probably true at the federal level, as well, but California is not a bad place to start, right...

3 resign from U.S. art panel to protest Iraq museum looting Friday, April 18, 2003 Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Three members of the White House Cultural Property Advisory Committee have resigned to protest U.S. military unresponsiveness as Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities was looted, even though reports suggest the thefts may have been carried out by professional thieves. FBI Director Robert Mueller, meanwhile, said his agency was in on the hunt for looted Iraqi treasures. Martin E. Sullivan, Richard S. Lanier and Gary Vikan, each appointed by former President Clinton, said they were disappointed by the military's failure to protect...