Free Republic

NRA has often reported on failed “gun buyback” programs in cities across the country as being worse than useless. Unfortunately, for some, these programs have led to even more dangerous and life-threatening consequences. While the Chicago Police “gun turn-in program” website states that “all guns are destroyed and never returned to the streets,” that was not the case for Twanda Willingham. Ms. Willingham recently filed suit against the City of Chicago and others after she was shot with a Glock 21 .45 caliber handgun that had been relinquished to Chicago police at a gun turn-in event in December 2023. The...

In Atlanta, during coverage of the NRA Annual Meeting in 2025, this correspondent had an interesting conversation with the manager of my motel. The motel was chosen for a low price and a reasonably close location to the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta.This correspondent has always pursued frugality as a virtue. Frugality can be taken too far. This correspondent may have been close to the edge in choosing a cut-rate motel a few miles from the city center in Atlanta. After registering with the NRA Annual Meeting and picking up press credentials for the event, it was a...

The Maude family has maintained a grazing allotment with the U.S. Forest Service Buffalo Gap National Grasslands since the inception of the agency. Charles and Heather Maude have carried on the practices implemented by generations before them, including irrigating the river bottom to grow a feed crop. After the USFS alerted them that a small segment of land might be fenced incorrectly for ownership, they were indicted for theft of federal property. Those charges have been dropped, but a solution to the original issue has not yet been determined. ... Charles and Heather Maude no longer face the threat of...

CWBChicago has obtained surveillance footage of a shooting that left one teenager dead and another gravely wounded near the Douglass Park swimming pool on Thursday evening. Marjay Dotson, 15, died from a gunshot wound to his back, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. A 14-year-old boy, identified to the media by family members as Jeremy Herred, has undergone surgery for a gunshot wound to his neck. On Saturday evening, Chicago police announced that murder charges had been filed against 55-year-old Charles Leto of Lakeview. CPD and fire department personnel responded to the park at 1401 South Sacramento at...

It’s been an interesting week for the Ninth-Circus. First they slapped down a former Supreme Court Justice’s brother’s attempt to take control of the California National Guard away from the President of the United states. Today, in another 3-0 panel opinion, the court has ruled that limiting Californians to purchasing only one gun a month is a violation of their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.The case, Nguyen v.Bonta, was brought by the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation and others. In the court’s opinion: Affirming the district court’s summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs, the panel...

Who would have thought a corrupt and racist New York Attorney General would have been the agent used by divine providence to effect the reform of the National Rifle Association? Neal Knox and his reformers nearly succeeded in taking over the NRA in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War is a collection of writings by Neal, edited by his son Chris. The goal of Neal Knox and his organization was to make the NRA management and finances more transparent and to focus the NRA on being more effective politically. Those efforts were stymied by...

Gunfire erupted in a Jackson, Tennessee, park Saturday night leaving seven people, including juveniles, injured and police seeking the perpetrators of the shooting, authorities said. The shooting occurred at the Kate Campbell Park northeast of downtown Jackson, according to the Jackson Police Department. One of the gunshot victim was hospitalized in critical condition, two were in stable condition and four others were treated and released, police said in an updated statement Sunday morning. Police officers responded to the park after receiving reports at around 8:41 p.m. of a shooting incident involving juveniles, authorities said in an earlier statement.

In 1984, the National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meeting was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was the first Annual Meeting this correspondent attended. It was characterized by manipulation, lies, and betrayal.In 1984, this correspondent was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. A masters degree in mining engineering was nearing completion. A life membership in the National Rifle Association had been paid off in installments. When informed the annual meeting would be held in Milwaukee, this correspondent, his brother, and a mutual friend, Jim Blair, made plans to attend.Neal Knox had been booted as head of the Institute for...

U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) is introducing legislation that would mandate triggers, barrels, and other gun parts be tracked after being sold. Island News reported that Tokuda’s bill, the Gun Hardware Oversight and Shipment Tracking Act (Ghost Act), is designed to track gun parts as a way of helping law enforcement find so-called “ghost guns.” Hawaii News Now noted the legislation “will allow law enforcement to track gun parts coming into the state and who ordered them.” Tokuda said, “Let’s not make it easy for people to buy the parts that they need to make weapons of destruction, endangering law...

A Texas mother has been arrested and charged for allegedly buying ammunition and tactical gear for her son's planned "mass targeted violence" at his middle school, officials said. Ashley Pardo, 33, was arrested on Monday and charged with aiding in commission of terrorism after she allegedly provided ammunition and tactical gear to her son, whose behavior demonstrated plans for a "mass targeted violence" aimed at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News.

Gun lobbyists are expressing dismay with a compromise on silencers included in the fast-tracked budget bill and the GOP’s slow-walking of another demand to stop the taxing and registration of commonly owned AR-15 style pistols. On Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee released its plan, and while it stripped a $200 tax on the sale of silencers, it still required registration and sale approval by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. That angered some gun groups who have been calling for an end to the tax and ATF registration of suppressors, which many consider a hearing safety...

The Hearing Protection Act (HPA) might be in trouble in the House Ways and Means Committee, and anti-gun lobbyists are NOT the ones holding it up. David Kustoff (R-TN) has been actively pushing to lower the tax stamp to $5 from $200, which would be a welcome change, but the better alternative is to remove suppressors completely from the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA). That would eliminate the tax stamp fee and remove all other NFA requirements. This option is the best option for gun owners, yet he is pushing the latter and is against the elimination of suppressors...

The seminars and workshops offered at the NRA Annual Meetings are an often overlooked and valuable resource. The seminars and workshops are held in smaller spaces in the same venue as the annual meeting. The seminars and workshops are usually held in meeting rooms. The rooms typically hold a couple of hundred people. They fill up at popular times and have plenty of extra space when people are leaving the event.This correspondent attended a seminar conducted by Major John L. Plaster, the well-known author and expert on Vietnam and the SOG secret wars in Laos and Cambodia. Behind Enemy Lines:...

Open carry was observed and uncontroversial at the NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta in 2025. It was a bit more common at the NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta in 2017, as documented in AmmoLand News then. Georgia passed Constitutional Carry (permitless carry) in 2022. Permitless carry applies to all lawful weapons carriers, as defined in Georgia code 16-11-125.1.(2.1) “Lawful weapons carrier” means any person who is licensed or eligible for a license pursuant to Code Section 16-11-129 and who is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing a weapon or long gun, any resident of any other state who would...

News 12 has obtained exclusive video showing the moments before a lost DoorDash driver was allegedly shot by an elected official in Orange County. The 24-year-old victim is seen on surveillance camera at a residence in Chester holding a plastic bag and his cellphone at approximately 9 p.m. on Friday, while state police say he attempted to find the correct delivery address. “I have DoorDash. My phone is broken. I need some help,” the unidentified DoorDash employee is heard saying during the recording. News 12 traced the dasher’s steps to one of the houses he tried in the Valerie Drive...

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - A suspect is facing charges after a shooting at a market in Jennings. According to police, the victim was at the counter of a market in the 5200 block of Hamilton Avenue when Tayvion Baker approached him around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Police said Baker was armed with a pistol and approached the victim, who had a gun in a holster on his hip underneath his shirt. Baker reportedly grabbed the victim’s gun and stated, “give it to me, I’m finnin to pop you.” Baker, 23, struggled with the victim, shooting him twice,...

If you watched Donald Trump's cabinet meeting on Wednesday, you may have seen Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins hold up a photo of the Maude family of South Dakota. I'd heard a little bit about the fifth-generation ranching family before that, but I decided to learn more because I couldn't believe the story Rollins told about how the Joe Biden administration treated them. It's unbelievable. Or maybe it's not, given all we're learning about the last four years. ... Trump Admin is reversing Biden-era failures in 100 days! The U.S. Gov has dropped charges against the Maude family, victims of...

As this correspondent sits in the Press Office at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the NRA in Atlanta, Georgia, there is time to reflect on the enormous progress which has been made in restoring rights protected by the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights.The first time I was in Atlanta for more than a plane exchange was within a month or two of 51 years ago, while on active duty in the United States Army, in 1974. This correspondent attended the NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta in 2017.In 1974, traveling across state lines with firearms was a...

Three people have been killed in a shooting in the Swedish city of Uppsala, police have confirmed. The shooting took place at a hair salon close to Vaksala Square in the centre of the city, local media reported. The shooter, who fled on a scooter, is still on the run, according to the reports. Officers have cordoned off a large area and a murder investigation is under way. The incident happened on the eve of the Walpurgis spring festival, which brings large crowds onto the streets of Uppsala, a city located north of the capital Stockholm, and known for its...

Professional sports are all about mom, apple pie and the flag, right? Baseball is our “national pastime,” football is our national religion, basketball is…well…marketing for athletic shoes? And hockey is an advertisement for restorative dentistry? Anyway, these leagues are supposed to be red, white and blue. Apart, that is, from some knee taking and refusing to stand for the National Anthem, buying into the whole “America is systemically racist” thing, supporting trans this and that, and OK, the Budweiser debacle, which is at least sort of associated with them. Sigh. Sports used to be so simple. Players were expected to...