Free Republic

A liberal watchdog group’s attempt to nail Rudy Giuliani has backfired in spectacular fashion after their FOIA request resulted in the US State Department releasing detailed accusations of corruption against the Bidens – based on interviews with former Ukrainian officials who were in charge of the investigations. Responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the group American Oversight, the State Department on Friday night released almost 100 pages of records detailing efforts by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to investigate corruption, which include contacts with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) earlier this year. While...

In a dramatic reversal of numbers, the March 2019 National Instand background Check System (NICS) check numbers are the second highest March on record, only a few percent less than the record breaking numbers in March of 2018.  February numbers had shown a dramatic downturn for NICS checks. The Trump era NICS continue to be at historically high levels, but lower than during the rush to buy guns during the last two years of the Obama administration. These numbers do not translate directly into gun sales. A large part of the numbers are from NICS checks done for carry...

On  8 March, 2019, joint hearings were being held on SB1000, a bill that would effectively abolish the appeals process to the Maryland Handgun Permit Review Board (HPRB). The sponsors of SB1000 are all Democrats. A former member of the HPRB wished to testify about claimed inaccuracies about the Board that was printed in a Baltimore Sun editorial. The joint committee only allowed one minute for comments. It was not enough for Shari Judah to finish her comments. She refused to give up the microphone when asked to do so. From mdshooters.com: Today in the joint hearings in Annapolis, former...

The soggy spring and delays in obtaining the necessary environmental permits may push back the completion date of work to reconstruct Interstate 70 between Beau Street and the Route 519/Eighty Four interchanges. “We are behind schedule,” Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for the state Department of Transportation, said Tuesday. “We met last week with the contractor, and it may be necessary to push it back to summer of 2021. It was supposed to be done November 2020.” The contractor for the $117 million project is Lane Construction Co. The work includes widening the highway to three lanes in each direction...

Oklahoma's Republican Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday vetoed a bill supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that would have allowed state residents to carry a firearm without a permit or training. "I believe the firearms laws we currently have in place are effective, appropriate and minimal," Fallin said in announcing her veto of Senate Bill 1212, which would have removed the requirement for Oklahoma residents to complete a training course and demonstrate competency with a firearm before carrying in public. The governor argued that the bill would have taken away the ability of the state's law enforcement personnel to...

The cases we collected here are only of defensive gun uses in public places by people who were legally carrying.

President Trump promised on Friday to include “massive permit reform” in his $1 trillion infrastructure package as a way to speed up the lengthy construction approval process, which he blamed for getting in the way of efforts to repair the country’s infrastructure. Trump's goal is to bring the approval process from as long as 10 years down to two years, while providing “one point of contact to deliver ‘yes or no’ for the entire federal government,” Trump said during a speech at the Department of Transportation headquarters. The White House will try to achieve that target by setting up a...

Elon Musk announced plans to start digging a traffic-easing tunnel under Los Angeles “in a month or so”, but city planning bodies say he doesn’t yet have permission.The SpaceX and Tesla CEO has been mulling the idea since December, when he revealed his frustrations with congestion in the city. “Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging,” he said on Twitter.“It shall be called The Boring Company,” he added. “Boring, it’s what we do.”At the time it wasn’t clear whether he was joking, but today’s announcement suggested he was not. Elon...

Wisconsin topped 320,000 concealed carry permits by the end of December, 2016.  As of January 7th, 2017, there were 321,200 active permits. 3,218 new permits were added in December, according to a Wisconsin Department of Justice source. Some permits are expiring, so the rate of increase of active permits has slowed. There were 315,263 active permits at the end of September, 2016. Wisconsin has one of the best and most easily accessible shall issue concealed carry permit systems in the nation.  No fingerprints or picture is required. The permit fee is $40, and the training requirement is easily met...

South Dakota had a Total of 96,227 concealed carry permits active at the end of November, 2016. From kelo.com: PIERRE, SD (KELO AM) Permits issued for concealed carry firearms reached an all-time high in South Dakota in 2016. Secretary of State Shantel Krebs says there were 30,029 concealed carry permits issued, nearly 4,000 more than the previous record in 2013. The total regular, renewed, and enhanced permits issued up to at the end of November, in 2016, were 27,877.  That indicates that 2,848 permits were issued or renewed in December of 2016. The capjournal.com notes that  3,879 were issued...

<p>NDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Gun rights advocates view the upcoming legislative session as their best bet to get rid of an Indiana law that requires a license to carry handguns.</p> <p>The controversial legislation didn’t advance during the 2016 session, but supporters believe this time could be different after sweeping Republican wins on Election Day and the appointment of Republican state Rep. Ben Smaltz to the House Public Policy Committee, which acts as a gatekeeper on such bills.</p>

By Dean WeingartenArizona – -(Ammoland.com)-Carry permits do not have to be expensive and complex. The New Hampshire permit has been fairly easy to obtain for many years, if you already had a permit from your state of residence.During the last few months I have renewed a couple of carry permits.  It is not intensely difficult, but when you have better things to do, it can be irritating. Some of the requirements make no sense. Others were obviously put in as poison pills during the passage of the original bill. Many seem designed to discourage people from obtaining a permit.As John...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Wednesday finalized a rule that lets wind-energy companies operate high-speed turbines for up to 30 years — even if means killing or injuring thousands of federally protected bald and golden eagles. Under the new rule, wind companies and other power providers will not face a penalty if they kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles, nearly four times the current limit. Deaths of the more rare golden eagles would be allowed without penalty so long as companies minimize losses by taking steps such as retrofitting power poles to reduce the risk of...

Local farmers say a new proposed law in the Town of Sweden could cripple their businesses and potentially their livelihood. Best known for their U-Pick Pumpkin Patch and October events, McCracken Farms draws in people from all over the state every year. Now, the farm's owner, Paul McCracken tells us it might be more difficult to bring in all those visitors. "We've been doing this for over 30 years and now all of a sudden, here's a whole slew of zoning permits and special-use permits," says McCracken. "The list goes on and on, it's unnecessary." The newly required permits come...

Bill and Hillary Clinton failed to get required permits for a rushed renovation of the house and grounds they recently bought next to their original Westchester home, it was reported Friday. Records show that the Clintons’ contractors filled in an in-ground pool, covering it with gravel, and extensively remodeled the interior of the property — all without applying for permits and paying the required fees to the town of New Castle. The couple were apparently in a rush to get the work done and demanded that it be finished before Thanksgiving, a contractor told town officials. “He said they have...

Earlier this year the Clinton’s bought the house next door to their current home in Chappaqua, NY for just over a million dollars. According to the Journal News, the Clintons then started renovations on the property without taking out permits for any of the work. At some point, someone turned them in and an inspector came out to have a look at the property: [Building Inspector William] Maskiell, who said he visited the home Oct. 5, after the department received a complaint about excavation done there, said as he headed to the basement to talk to the contractor, he noticed...

A North Charleston homeowner is facing charges after officials say he was operating an illegal homeless shelter at the property. The Post and Courier of Charleston reports North Charleston officials say 51-year-old Cyrus Kamini was charged Monday with operating a business without a license, operating an unsafe dwelling and not having permits for work done on the site. Officials boarded up the 1,500-square-foot home owned by Kamini that was divided into as many as eight units.

The Ontario lottery corporation recently started advertising its newest scratch-and-win lottery: tickets cost $30 (the highest price among its lotteries), and the top prize is a cool $2.5 million. Now, if you want an indication of how bad traffic is in the GTA, consider that Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced a lottery of his own on Thursday: tickets cost $180 each, though you only pay if you win. The prize? One of 1,000 permits to drive in an uncongested highway lane for 16 kilometres between Burlington and Oakville. The ad copy writes itself: Imagine the freedom of cruising at...

Despite a recent court order, Washington, D.C., is still refusing to issue concealed-carry permits to its residents, according to Devin Watkins, who attempted to obtain a permit last week. Watkins, a columnist at the federalist.com, wrote that when he went to apply for the permit, police officers at the station told him they had been ordered by D.C.'s attorney general to ignore the court order and continue to deny applications.

A Bergen County man has lost his bid to fight the confiscation of his guns and ammunition following a domestic violence arrest and charges that he had high-capacity magazines and hollow-point ammunition. An appellate decision on Tuesday upheld a Superior Court judge’s earlier ruling that Arthur Vinogradsky was no longer qualified to be a gun owner even though the charges against him were eventually dropped. It’s the latest example of New Jersey’s gun-control laws, which are among the strictest in the nation. In New Jersey, residents must apply to their local police departments to obtain permits to buy, own or...