Free Republic

The Louisiana legislature is in the process of strengthening the current state preemption law regarding weapons and the right to keep and bear arms. Local governments seeking to push gun control have been clever about finding ways to restrict people’s right to keep and bear arms in ways not foreseen by previous preemption laws. For example, in Iowa, the Dubuque City Council voted to create a zoning ordinance to prohibit otherwise legitimate gun sales. In Montana, the city government of Missoula, dominated by the University of Montana, voted to require government approval of all firearm sales in the city. In...

A teenage boy was killed in a shooting that took place during a massive brawl involving nearly 50 teens. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) confirmed the fatal shooting occurred just before 4 p.m. “Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide detectives are responding to the 10800 block of Western Avenue, in the unincorporated city of Los Angeles regarding a shooting death investigation. The incident occurred on Monday, April 15, 2024, at 3:49 p.m.,” LASPD said in a statement. As deputies arrived in response to the chaos, they found the victim, a teenage male, lying on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds....

The Biden administration announced Thursday morning that the Department of Justice has finalized a new rule that requires many gun sellers offering firearms at gun shows or online to obtain a license and conduct background checks. The new rule is set to be enforceable in 30 days. Current rules require licensed gun dealers to perform criminal background checks on purchasers, but private sales have long been exempted. The new rule intends to require those who sell guns to earn a profit to obtain a license and register. The White House said that if a person is repetitively selling guns of...

During an interview with Univision that took place last Wednesday and aired on Tuesday, President Joe Biden stated that he would consider taking further executive action on guns and criticized 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump because Trump “famously told the NRA that, don’t worry, no one’s going to touch your guns” if Trump won. “[Trump] famously told the NRA that, don’t worry, no one’s going to touch your guns if I — from the very beginning, I used to teach the Second Amendment in law school, from the very beginning, there were limitations. … And — but...

Over the course of a decade filled with political drama and dire predictions, Ohio legislators introduced seven separate bills in an attempt to bring concealed carry to Ohio.Finally, on Jan. 8, 2004, House Bill 12 made it to the desk of Gov. Bob Taft, who signed the bill, and made Ohio the 46th state to legalize concealed carry. The new law went into effect 20 years ago today, on April 8, 2004.Buckeye Firearms Association volunteers played a key role in this battle for constitutional rights, and stood beside the governor as he signed the bill into law.However, the battle over...

Report Highlights: • There are 26 states with permitless concealed carry freedoms • Washington, D.C., has the highest rate of firearm-related homicides even though it has strict carry laws • 83% of states with permitless concealed carry have a homicide rate at or below the national average • 45% of states with no permitless concealed carry laws have homicide rates above the national average • 3 out of 5 of the safest five states in the U.S. have permitless concealed carry • 2 out of 5 of the top five most dangerous states in the U.S. have permitless concealed carry,...

DALLAS – Thousands of guns sent off by North Texas local law enforcement agencies to be destroyed were first stripped of parts that were then sold online by a private company. Several police departments told the CBS News Texas I-Team they were unaware of this practice, even though it was stated in the contracts they signed with the company While the federal government does not regulate or require a license for businesses involved in firearm destruction, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recommends disposing firearms by destroying the entire weapon including all unregulated parts. An investigation by...

On March 29, 2024, United States District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas, ordered a preliminary injunction, stopping the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from enforcing the final rule as it applies to pistol braces and NRA members. Once Joe Biden was elected President, the ATF radically changed course, reversed a dozen years of previous administrative measures, and declared once legal pistol braces as re-defined “short-barreled rifles. The “final rule” claimed to be implementing measures approved by Congress in the 1934 National Firearms Act. The court found the ATF had gone to...

A federal judge has blocked the ATF from enforcing its pistol brace rule for millions of members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) as the appeals process plays out. It came after the NRA filed a lawsuit against the ATF, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, arguing that the agency’s rule to reclassify the brace-equipped pistols as short-barreled rifles is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay sided with the gun rights group, arguing that the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals already concluded that the ATF pistol-brace rule “fails the logical outgrowth test and violates” the Administrative...

The ATF can’t go after NRA members over guns with pistol braces on them. That’s the outcome of a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge on Friday. US District Judge Sam A. Lindsay sided with the gun-rights group and enjoined the federal agency from enforcing its rule reclassifying pistol-brace-equipped guns as short barrel rifles (SBRs) under the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA). The decision keeps any NRA member who owns a braced gun from facing six-figure fines or imprisonment if they didn’t register their gun by last year’s deadline–something most owners didn’t do. “[C]ompliance with the Final Rule is...

Office of Public Affairs The Justice Department launched the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center (the Center) which will provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement officials, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service and social service providers, community organizations, and behavioral health professionals responsible for implementing laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others.

The executive director of the Little Rock airport who was shot by federal agents serving a search warrant at his home earlier this week has died. A statement from the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport announced the death of Bryan Malinowski at noon Thursday. The statement from Bill Walker, chair of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission, noted that under Malinowski’s leadership the airport saw “significant growth and success” and offered condolences to Malinowski’s family. “With a heavy heart, we announce the passing of our executive director Bryan Malinowski. Bryan was a 16-year employee of the airport. Under his...

Bryan Malinowski, who was involved in a shootout with federal agents Tuesday, was also involved in a legal fight with a neighbor over the placement of a mailbox, claiming it was placed illegally on his property. A judge would go on to side with Malinowski’s neighbor, years before the 53-year-old director of Little Rock's Clinton National Airport was involved in the Tuesday shooting with agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In August 2018, Malinowski sued Eric and Victoria Pinter, who lived next to a property he owned. He said the year before they “without consultation or...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The affidavit detailing the ATF case against the Little Rock airport executive who was shot and killed by federal agents serving a search warrant at his home was released Thursday. In the heavily redacted warrant affidavit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claims that Bryan Malinowski purchased numerous firearms that he resold without a firearm dealer’s license. Bryan Malinowski, the Little Rock airport executive shot by ATF agents, dies from injuries According to the warrant, Malinowski purchased more than 150 guns between May 2021 and Feb. 27, 2024, which he then resold.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) gave us another amusing demonstration of his ability to humiliate Joe Biden’s unqualified judicial nominees during Wednesday's confirmation hearing. United States District Judge Nancy Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois, who has been nominated by Joe Biden for a spot on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, had previously signed a brief supporting a ban on "assault weapons" in Illinois state courts in the 2010s, yet, when he asked her to define "assault weapons,” she couldn’t. “You said, ‘assault weapons may be banned because they’re extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate...

For good reason, much attention was devoted to the Supreme Court's oral arguments on Monday, over government pressure on social media companies to suppress speech that officialdom doesn't like. The same day, though, justices heard arguments in another important case involving free speech principles violated when New York officials leaned on financial institutions to deny services to the National Rifle Association. Importantly, both cases involved "jawboning," the use by government of threats to improperly coerce compliance. When Communication Becomes CoercionAs Reason's Jacob Sullum ably summarizes, arguments in Murthy v. Missouri involve "dueling interpretations of the Biden administration's interactions with social...

There was a bit of good news about the future of public discourse this week. The United States Supreme Court, even though stacked with right-wingers, sounded like it was ready to give the Biden administration the go-ahead to try to persuade social-media platforms not to put out content promoting nonsense about the presidential election, conspiracy theories about the pandemic and other assorted bilge and crackpottery... When other communications revolutions like the printing press, radio, and television came along, they were still largely controlled by the elites. But when the internet came along, regulatory bodies like Canada’s CRTC backed off. It...

The executive director of an Arkansas airport bearing the names of former President Bill Clinton and former first lady and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was shot Tuesday, when federal agents attempted to serve a search warrant. Arkansas State Police said the shooting occurred at 6 a.m. local time at a home on Durance Court in Little Rock, while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was serving a search warrant at the home of airport Executive Director Bryan Malinowski.

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday in a case brought forth by the National Rifle Association against former New York Department of Financial Services superintendent Maria Vullo, who the NRA said used her regulatory powers to punish the organization for its pro-gun stance in violation of the First Amendment. According to ABC News, the NRA is represented in the case by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said that despite opposing the group’s views, the case could be a "playbook" for government officials to target other groups such as pro-abortion ones. "Government officials are free to urge people not...

Federal courts in blue states seem to be upholding the majority of gun control laws, even after landmark Supreme Court decisions upholding the fundamental right to keep and bear arms. We recently posted about the New York Second Amendment case challenging New York’s concealed carry permit law that requires that a permit applicant prove to a local official that he or she is of “good moral character.” Not only is this an absurd requirement (how exactly are you supposed to prove that you have “good moral character”), but even after doing so, said local official then has complete discretion on...