Free Republic

The Orlando attack was horrifying. A sick individual who pledged allegiance to ISIS over the phone and on social media senselessly gunned down 49 people inside Pulse nightclub in what has become the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. He used a Sig Sauer MCX semiautomatic rifle, which is an AR-15-style rifle that has similar features, but uses a different operating system. It was not an AR-15 rifle as originally reported. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop members of the media from bashing the AR-15 because that’s the firearm liberal want to ban. More importantly, it’s the firearm that President Obama wants to ban, despite...

The United States Navy, trying to sidetrack an investigation into the September Navy Yard shooting by an NBC reporter, mistakenly sent him a copy of a memo delineating how the Navy would deter his requests for information using the Freedom of Information Act. Scott MacFarlane, a reporter for NBC 4 in Washington, D.C., received a copy of the memo and tweeted a screenshot of part of it showing the name of Robin Patterson, the Navy's FOIA Public Liaison. MacFarlane's information requests were mentioned in the memo. The Navy FOIA office confirmed that MacFarlane had, in fact, made the FOIA requests mentioned in...

The company that employed the Washington Navy Yard shooter pulled his access to classified material for two days in August when mental health problems became evident, but restored it quickly and never told Navy officials about the withdrawal, The Associated Press has learned. An initial Navy review revealed that the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company, The Experts, ordered computer contractor Aaron Alexis back to Washington, D.C., after a police incident in Rhode Island in August, according to senior U.S. officials. The company then withdrew his ability to access secret-level data for two days, said the officials, who spoke on condition of...

The federal agency charged with screening employees for security clearance offered hints about how to cut corners,..could have led to the clearance the Navy Yard shooter needed to access the base, the House’s top investigator said. Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said his staffers have come across verbal and written policies from the Office of Personnel Management that indicate the security clearance process was short-circuited in the case of Aaron Alexis, the Navy Yard shooter. But Mr. Issa says OPM is refusing to turn over those documents and allowing them...

Within hours of the Navy Yard shootings, the FBI had traced the gunman's recent shotgun purchase and sent agents to the shop in northern Virginia where he bought it. Left out of the loop was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a surprising snub between top U.S. law enforcement agencies that comes as the ATF struggles to show its relevance in Washington. The ATF is the federal agency in charge of tracing guns used in crimes, including the military-style semi-automatic rifle used in rampage at a Connecticut school last year, a similar rifle used in the deadly shooting...

"Tomorrow night I'll be meeting in mourning with families in this city who now know the same unspeakable grief of families in Newtown and Aurora and Tucson and Chicago and New Orleans and all across the country, people whose loved ones were torn from them without headlines sometimes or public outcry," Obama said. "But it's happening every single day," he said. "We fought a good fight earlier this year, but we came up short and that means we've got to get back up and go back at it because as long as there are those who fight to make it...

Newsmax Obama Renews Push for Gun Control Legislation Sunday, September 22, 2013 07:13 AM Days after mass shootings in both of his hometowns, President Barack Obama urged his most ardent supporters Saturday "to get back up and go back at it" and help push stalled legislation out of Congress so "dangerous people" won't get their hands on guns." "We can't rest until all of our children can go to school or walk down the street free from the fear that they will be struck down by a stray bullet," Obama said in a keynote speech to the Congressional Black Caucus...

Is anyone else ticked that we’ve all been forced to know the now-dead-and-in-hell piece of shiitake named Aaron Alexis? However livid we may be, I’m sure it can’t compare to the rage the family members and friends of the ones he mowed down must feel. For those who only watch MTV and have no clue who Aaron Alexis is, well, he’s the dude that shot and killed twelve innocent people at the Navy Yard military base in D.C. last Monday. That would be as in Washington, D.C. It’s the same D.C. that has uberstrict, leftist guns laws in place that,...

Rollie Chance was home in Stafford, about 40 miles south of Washington, when he began watching the news about the shootings at the Washington Navy Yard Monday morning. A retired Navy lieutenant, he had worked in Building 197 on the fourth floor and was worried that some of his friends and former colleagues might have been killed. Then shortly after noon, he got a phone call from someone who said they were with ABC News. “They asked me if I knew Rollie Chance,” Rollie Chance said. “Then they said, ‘Did you know Rollie Chance was the perpetrator of the Washington...

Gov. Martin O'Malley's political action committee sounded the call Friday for Congress to renew efforts to pass gun control. His O'Say Can You See political action committee urged supporters to sign on to O'Malley's petition to Congress. In a message to supporters, the governor wrote that "in the coming months, I'm going to continue to fight for those who stand with us on legislation to reduce gun violence." O'Malley spokeswoman Lis Smith said that meant "elected like-minded Democrats," a task to which O'Malley has devoted a travel-heavy itinerary this fall.

The White House is rushing to organize a Sunday memorial service for victims of the Navy Yard shooting, leaving top defense officials worried that it will not properly honor the 12 people shot dead on Monday. The White House gave Navy Yard brass less than 12 hours to assemble a 2,500-person guest list composed of service members and contractors affected by Monday’s mass shooting, according to exclusive emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. “Urgent tasking in support of Sunday’s Memorial Ceremony. By 0730 tomorrow we need an estimate of how many employees want to attend the NAVSEA Memorial Ceremony,”...

After naming the wrong man and the shooter, and getting the weapons used completely wrong, here’s yet one more thing the corrupt media is not telling you: From Pamela Geller [Atlas Shrugs] Law enforcement officials told NBC News that Alexis created a webpage with the name “Mohammed Salem.” This is the first I am hearing of this, and have seen no media mention of it (although the fact that he had been a Buddhist has been headlined and recounted numerous times, despite the fact is that there is no compulsion to violence, oppression and ethnic cleansing in the teachings of...

NORFOLK, Va. – The Navy has evacuated two buildings at a Virginia base that serves as the headquarters for the Atlantic fleet because of a security issue. The move Wednesday comes two days after 12 people were gunned down at the Washington Navy Yard. A Navy spokeswoman says the issue at the Virginia base involved a suspicious person who was questioned by authorities....

<p>WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — The gunman in the mass shootings at the Washington Navy Yard, Aaron Alexis, had a history of violent outbursts, was at least twice accused of firing guns in anger and was in the early stages of treatment for serious mental problems, according to court records and U.S. law enforcement officials.</p>

Meanwhile, the department has installed a new leader of the elite unit. No reason has been given for the decision. Gunman Aaron Alexis killed 12 people. The BBC has also learned that four members of the highly trained team have applied for temporary leave, as they "grapple" with the aftermath of the incident. The Capitol Police department has not yet granted the request, nor given approval for them to use their own paid time off.

Here's a mass shooting that probably won't elicit calls for more gun control. Chicago Sun Times: Thirteen people were shot - including a 3-year-old boy - Thursday night at a South Side park when two gunmen opened fire on a group gathered at a basketball court in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.As bullets began to fly about 10:15 p.m., the group scattered, taking cover wherever they could at Cornell Square Park, police and witnesses said.Julian Harris, 22, said his 3-year-old nephew, Deonta "Tay-man" Howard, was shot in the face.Deonta was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital,...

Semecha Nunn tried hard to talk about her 3-year-old grandson, one of 13 people shot as neighbors played basketball in Cornell Square Park in the Back of the Yards Thursday night. "They need to stop, they need to stop," Nunn said, the last word coming out as almost a shreik as she closed her eyes and collapsed crying. Witnesses told police a gray sedan pulled up to the park around 10:15 p.m. and two men started firing in the 1800 block of West 51st Street. Related Photos: 3-year-old Deonta' Howard More New City crime » Raw video: 13 shot in...

Washington DC's Capitol Police have ordered a review into a BBC report that an armed police team was ordered not to respond to Monday's mass shooting. A tactical response team from the force was told by a supervisor to leave the scene instead of aiding municipal officers, police sources told the BBC. The Capitol Police sources suggest they could have saved lives had they been allowed to go in. Aaron Alexis, 34, killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard. In a statement on Wednesday, the US Capitol Police Board said the force's Chief Kim Dine had asked it to...

Attorney General Eric Holder pushed Congress on Thursday to take up gun control legislation in the wake of the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard shooting earlier this week that killed 13 people, including the gunman. “My colleagues and I remain committed to combating all forms of gun violence, preventing future tragedies, and working with Congress to fulfill the desire of the American people to take common-sense steps to keep guns from falling into the wrong hands,” said Holder in a speech before the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual criminal justice forum in downtown D.C. “It is past time for us to...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urged GOP leaders on Wednesday to consider tougher gun laws in the wake of Monday's fatal shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Flanked by victims of gun violence from across the country, the California Democrat called on Republicans to stage a vote on a bipartisan proposal expanding background checks on potential gun buyers. By ignoring the issue, she said, Congress is "unworthy" of the ritual moments of silence that have followed the many mass shootings of recent years. "We don't need a moment of silence; we need a day of action," she said...