Free Republic

Gun retailers in the Capital Region have seen an uptick in firearm sales and interest in gun safety courses recently -- a common occurrence after mass shootings or alarm over gun control measures, they said. The phone at Upstate Guns and Ammo in Schenectady has been "ringing off the hook" with callers asking about the store's training classes, which include pistol and handgun safety courses required for permits, said owner Craig Serafini. They want to be prepared to protect themselves and others around them should anything happen, Serafini said. Class participants include a mix of men and women and range...

Donald Trump, a Manhattan real-estate mogul who had traveled with his own personal security for years, had never really been a “gun guy.” In his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, he wrote, “I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.” Even in his remarks accepting the (NRA) endorsement, Trump made comments that suggested he found owning a lot of guns . . . kind of worrisome. “My sons are members,” Trump declared. “They have so many rifles, so many guns, that...

1.Trump Told Sens. Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin They’re Scared of the NRA2. Trump: ‘Take the Guns First. Go Through Due Process Second’3. Trump Encourages Everyone To Throw Everything Into The Bill. . . everything except concealed carry reciprocity.4. Trump Blames ‘The Video Games. The Movies. The Internet Stuff’5. Old Man Yells At Cloud...Sen. Chuck Grassley ratcheted up Trump’s rant against violence in movies a notch, or twelve.6. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Face... Feinstein leapt for joy all throughout the meeting. At one point, she appears to have jumped several inches up from her seat and affectionately jabbed President Trump with...

In an hour-long meeting with Democrats and Republicans filled with newsworthy comments on gun control Wednesday, President Trump parted ways with members of his own party and accused them more than once of being "petrified" of the National Rifle Association. "They have great power over you people," the president said to his fellow Republicans. "They have less power over me." "Some of you are petrified of the NRA," he added. "You can't be petrified." **** The president -- who told his supporters Hillary Clinton wanted to take their guns away on the campaign trail -- suggested taking guns "early" from...

President Donald Trump embraced Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) gun control bill but rejected Rep. Steve Scalise’s (R-LA) push for national reciprocity during a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers Wednesday afternoon. After listening to Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT), Trump looked at toward the end of the table and asked Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) to detail their gun control bill. The Manchin/Toomey gun control bill is the same universal background check legislation supported by Barack Obama in the wake of the heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School. It the very bill that was defeated in the Democrat-controlled...

“President Trump on Wednesday voiced support for confiscating guns from certain individuals deemed to be dangerous, even if it violates due process rights,” thehill.com reports. ‘I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida … to go to court would have taken a long time,’ Trump said at a meeting with lawmakers on school safety and gun violence. ‘Take the guns first, go through due process second,'” This he said despite . . . Vice President Pence’s caution on gun confiscation. Trump was responding to comments from Vice President Pence that...

<p>President Trump on Wednesday voiced support for confiscating guns from certain individuals deemed to be dangerous, even if it violates due process rights.</p> <p>“I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida ... to go to court would have taken a long time,” Trump said at a meeting with lawmakers on school safety and gun violence.</p>

WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- Soon after becoming the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump said he would be open to raising the federal minimum wage in a notable reversal of GOP policy. During a debate in November, Trump said he would oppose raising the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 an hour. "I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is," Trump said at the time. Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, Trump was asked about Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders' desire to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. "You can't live...

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was open to raising the federal minimum wage, breaking with the prevailing view of his party. “I’m actually looking at that because I am very different from most Republicans,” Mr. Trump said in an interview on CNN’s. “You have to have something that you can live on.”

After a successful attack on corruption in New York’s state government, the hard-charging federal prosecutor in Manhattan appears to have set his sights on New York City. Over the past few weeks, a series of loosely related public corruption investigations coordinated by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara have spilled into public view, with targets including high-ranking New York Police Department officials, the union representing city jail guards, and the political fundraising activities of several people with ties to New York City’s mayor. Already an embarrassment to the nation’s largest police department, it remains unclear whether the widening probes could do damage...

As Donald Trump hurtles toward the Republican convention, he is on a collision course with the anti-abortion movement — a crucial conservative constituency that contends Republicans must own that issue to win a general election. Leaders of the movement are suspicious, if not outright opposed, to the three-time married billionaire who only recently came to oppose abortion and whose gaffes suggest he does not understand the issue. The latest flap exploded Thursday after Trump vowed he would "absolutely" change the Republican platform opposing abortion "for the three exceptions" — rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. The...

When Donald Trump’s political credentials as a Republican and/or conservative are challenged, he likes to remind people that Ronald Reagan was a Democrat once and managed to evolve over time. Except that Reagan’s conversion was real and he had two terms as governor of California to prove his bona fides before he ran for president as a conservative Republican. As Reagan campaign manager Stu Spencer and speechwriter Ken Khachiagin note in a Real Clear Politics piece: Yes, Ronald Reagan migrated from being a liberal Democrat to the gold standard for conservative Republicans. But Reagan’s views evolved over four decades’ worth...

... His history with the gay community is a long one. He donated to charities focused on the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s and early ’90s. In 2000, when he briefly considered running for president, he gave an interview to The Advocate, a gay magazine, in which he supported amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to “include a ban of discrimination based on sexual orientation.” “It would be simple. It would be straightforward,” Mr. Trump said in the interview, adding, “It’s only fair.” Sixteen years later, gay rights advocates are still trying to persuade Congress to pass a similar...

Here's what Trump said: “Leave it the way it is. North Carolina, what they’re going through with all the business that’s leaving, all of the strife — and this is on both sides. Leave it the way it is.” He continued, “There has been so little trouble. And the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife and the economic — I mean, the economic punishment that they’re taking.” (1) Where exactly, did Trump stand up for the rights of male perverts and trannies to take a whiz or go #2 alongside with or do worse things to...

GUTHRIE: Do you believe in raising taxes on the wealthy? TRUMP: I do. I do – including myself. I do. That was...this morning, in an interview that featured some other controversial statements.  In fairness to Trump, he's been using the "raise taxes on rich people like me" line for months, embracing Obama-style class warfare tax gimmicks like the 'Buffet Rule.'  But raising taxes on anyone, an outcome Trump just re-endorsed, is not what his formal policy agenda proposes.  Just the opposite.  As we've seen on issues such immigration, abortion and foreign policy, Trump routinely makes clear that he isn't familiar with his own positions.  His stances aren't...

Transgender people should be able to use whatever bathroom they want, Donald Trump said Thursday. "Oh, I had a feeling that question was going to come up, I will tell you. North Carolina did something that was very strong. And they're paying a big price. There's a lot of problems," the Republican presidential candidate said during a town hall event on NBC's "Today." Referring to comments from an unnamed commentator who on Wednesday said North Carolina should "leave it the way it is right now," Trump said he agreed. "Leave it the way it is. North Carolina, what they're going...

If the opinion polls are correct, Sen. Ted Cruz will be shown a thing or two on Tuesday by the New York voters he’s been insulting by going on about fellow Republican presidential contender Donald Trump’s “New York values.’’Everyone knows what values he meant, Cruz says. We sure do. Cruz meant freedom, respect, diversity and striving. But he disdains those values when it means gays are free, women are respected, and immigrants strive. Unfortunately for Cruz, those all-inclusive values help build prosperity — and win national elections.Here are some of our New York values:Hard work. If you can do the job,...

One America News Network and Gravis Marketing, a nonpartisan research firm, conducted a random survey of 857 likely Republican Primary voters and 1,134 likely Democratic Primary voters. The poll has a margin of error of ± 3.3% for Republicans and ± 2.9% for Democrats, all at the 95% confidence level. The poll was conducted on April 5th and 6th. The total may not round to 100% because of rounding. The polls were conducted using automated telephone calls (IVR technology), with the results weighted by relevant voting demographics. The poll was conducted for One America News Network.

Cruz spokesman Ron Nehring can't name one single district in New York where Cruz will win delegates.

Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz got the cold shoulder from a room of 800 Republicans at the New York City GOP gala Thursday night, receiving little interaction from the audience as he went through his usual stump speech. Cruz, who followed speeches from rivals Donald Trump and John Kasich, began by making a joke at Trump’s expense that fell flat. “I haven’t built any buildings in New York City, but I have spent my entire life fighting to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” the Texas senator said, taking a shot at the GOP front-runner who, just moments before,...