Free Republic

In an emotional statement, the father of a victim of the mass murder in Isla Vista on Friday night addressed reporters Saturday and warned families that it can happen to them too. "Our family has a message for every parent out there: You don’t think it’ll happen to your child until it does.” According to the Los Angeles Times, Richard Martinez, the father of Chris Martinez, who was killed in the premeditated attack near the campus of UC Santa Barbara, spoke for 45 minutes, extolled the virtues of his son, and expressed his disdain for the National Rifle Association for...

In an emotional statement, the father of a victim of the mass murder in Isla Vista on Friday night addressed reporters Saturday and warned families that it can happen to them too. "Our family has a message for every parent out there: You don’t think it’ll happen to your child until it does.”

DETROIT (WWJ) – Detroit’s police chief is interviewed in the most recent issue of “America’s First Freedom” — an NRA magazine — voicing his support for the right to bear arms. The article titled, “A Show of Courage In Detroit,” comes following at least five fatal shootings in two months involving homeowners protecting themselves from intruders. The sub-headline reads, “Motor City Police Chief James Craig Encourages Citizens to Arm Themselves.” Craig, whose photo appears on the cover, says being featured in the magazine does not mean he advocates violence; he just strongly believes in the right to protect one’s self....

Speaking to the National Rifle Association’s recent annual conference, NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre, in describing America, said, “Almost everywhere you look, something has gone wrong. You feel it in your heart, you know it in your gut. Something has gone wrong. The core values we believe in, the things we care about most, are changing. Eroding. Our right to speak. Our right to gather. Our right to privacy. The freedom to work, and practice our religion, and raise and protect our families the way we see fit.” He went on to say this: "There are terrorists...

Gun control supporters appear poised to force New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, often discussed as a potential presidential candidate in 2016, to show where he stands on the Second Amendment. On Monday, the state's Senate passed A2006, legislation to lower the state's magazine-capacity limit from 15 rounds to 10 rounds, by a vote of 22-17, mostly along party lines. The bill will be sent to Christie for signature or veto after the Assembly, which previously approved it by a vote of 46-31, approves technical changes made to the bill by the Senate. Once the bill reaches Christie's desk, he...

For the past three decades, the American Academy of Pediatrics—some 62,000 members strong—has been an outspoken voice on the issue of gun control, a position that has landed it on the NRA’s (admittedly very long) list of enemies. In 1992, the AAP issued its first policy statement supporting a handgun and assault weapons ban, making it the first public health organization to do so, and it has long recommended that doctors talk about gun safety with parents. Since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, the AAP has stepped up attempts to educate parents about gun safety...

The National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Jodi Ernst for U.S. Senate in Iowa on Tuesday, USA TODAY reported. "Joni Ernst has consistently opposed all attempts to restrict gun rights and has been a true friend of the Second Amendment," said Chris W. Cox, chairman of the NRA's Political Victory Fund. Ernst, an Iowa state senator and lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard, initially made headlines for her first TV advertisement where she touts her experience castrating pigs. "I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm, so when I come to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork," Ernst...

In a closed-door meeting of wealthy contributors in Las Vegas, House Speaker John Boehner said he was “hell-bent on getting [anti-gun immigration amnesty] done this year.” And earlier this week, the Speaker viciously mocked conservative Republicans for opposing him on this issue. The wily Boehner had led his conservative Republican members to believe the issue was shelved for the year. Now it appears that Boehner is simply planting a trap for Republicans and gun owners -- springing this Obama-backed proposal when it’s too late to primary anti-gun Republican amnesty supporters.

Editors note: This is part two of a two part series. You can read part one here. During the NRA Annual Meetings in Indianapolis two weekends ago, I had the pleasure of meeting the founder and president of The Right to Bear Arms, a pro-gun rights organization in Russia. After finally being approved for a visa just days before the meetings started, Maria Butina attended the annual NRA Women's Leadership Luncheon as a guest of former NRA President Sandy Froman and participated in general meetings over the weekend as a guest of former NRA President David Keene. I had to...

Second Amendment absolutists complain that gun control advocates are an out-of-touch elite seeking to destroy the way of life of real men who pack heat. At the National Rifle Association's convention in Indianapolis last weekend, Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre warned his members that their lifestyle was under assault. "I have never seen it on edge the way it is now," he said. "If it's going to be saved, it's in our hands. It's in your hands." There's no better venue than this gathering to experience the pain and joy of gun owners. To those not steeped in guns, the...

After more than twenty years of trying, there’s no way to avoid the following conclusion: The gun manufacturers of America cannot be swayed by reason. This past week alone, we saw just how true this statement has become. On Tuesday morning, a gunman opened fire at a FedEx facility in Kennesaw, Georgia wounding six people before being shot and killed himself. Kennesaw is famous for being the Georgia town where every household is mandated to own at least one gun. Although the law is not officially enforced, it is estimated that roughly 50% of town residents do, in fact, own...

It's generally a waste of space to reference Sarah Palin, which is why she so rarely appears here. She long ago devolved into a cartoon, and her clout (such as it was) continues to wane. She's like the incoherently choleric aunt you see once a year at Thanksgiving. She's like the real-life version of Kristin Wiig's brain-addled Aunt Linda. But... (You knew there'd be a But.) But every great once in a while, John McCain's Hail Mary gift to America says something so scintillating that we'd be remiss to ignore it. Her remark earlier this week about the religious virtues...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Last Sunday, Sarah Palin stood before the huge crowd at the 2014 National Rifle Association annual meeting and condemned liberals for coddling terrorists. She loaded her speech with religious metaphors, claiming that true leaders would put "the fear of God in our enemies." She said, "They obviously have information on plots to carry out jihad. Oh, but you can't offend them, can't make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists." Palin's invocation of forced baptism shocked both conservatives and liberals, inspiring few defenders....

The Guardian, a far left British paper, has written an article entitled: NRA lecture details ways to circumvent restrictions on buying guns.   After that bit of hyperbole, admittedly not uncommon for headlines, the writer starts to explain what the lecture was about.  It was about how to legally protect and restore the rights to own and use firearms.   The lecturer took care to be relatively mild in his approach.  From the Guardian: Ciyou took care to stress that those convicted of the most serious felonies and those with the most dangerous mental health problems should not be allowed to...

Sean Hannity has come to Sarah Palin’s defense after the former Alaska governor told an NRA rally over the weekend that if she were president, America’s enemies “would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” Hannity agreed with Palin on his radio show, saying, “That’s the way America rolls.” “Well what do you want to do with terrorists?” Hannity asked any critics out there who disagreed with Palin’s sentiments. He laid out a hypothetical scenario where someone kidnapped his three children and he had the chance to interrogate them into telling him where they were. “Would you want to...

Have we gone stark raving mad? The question is brought to mind by the gun law signed last week in Georgia by Gov. Nathan Deal. You might have thought that since the United States couldn’t possibly have more permissive firearms laws than it does now, nothing more could be done to coddle the gun lobby and tip the balance of our statutes away from law enforcement. Alas, you would be wrong. -snip- Oh yes, and while conservatives claim to hate the centralization of power, this law wipes out a series of local gun regulations. The gun supremacists just don’t trust...

Religious freedom, life, education, reining in Big Government — are these the proper focus of the NRA?In Indianapolis this weekend, tens of thousands of members of the National Rifle Association came, saw, and — well, in truth, they had already conquered. Last year, in Houston, Texas, the outfit was still running its victory lap after the defeat of the Schumer-Toomey-Manchin gun-control bill, celebrating not only the defeat of that proposal but also President Obama’s failure to to reinstate a federal ban on cosmetically interesting weapons and to establish a national limit on the size of magazines. This time, there was...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) defended the controversial enhanced interrogation technique of waterboarding this weekend, and implied that the practice would still be commonplace “if I were in charge.” “They obviously have information on plots to carry out Jihad,” she said at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting on Saturday evening, referring to prisoners. “Oh, but you can’t offend them, can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.”

Wisconsin Sheriff David Clarke will surely have a target on his back now after his superb comments at the annual NRA convention in Indianapolis. As reported by The Blaze, Clarke revealed the seven words he would add to the Second Amendment: “Keep your hands off our guns, dammit.” What Sheriff Clarke again demonstrates is for conservatives it’s nothing to do with race — it’s all about individual character. His comments about amending the Constitution were aimed at former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who said in his recent book that he would change the Second Amendment by adding five...

INDIANAPOLIS — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired up a crowd of thousands inside Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday night to kick off the National Rifle Association’s “Stand and Fight Rally,” saying Americans’ constitutional rights as envisioned by the founding fathers are under attack and policies like gun-free zones constitute “stupid on steroids.” “They knew that if the Second Amendment goes, the rest of the constitution is not far behind,” she said of the country’s founders. In her approximately 12-minute address, Mrs. Palin also derided what she argued is akin to a ‘blame the messenger’ attitude on gun violence many Americans...