Free Republic

Twice failed presidential candidate, Secretary Hillary Clinton, received a consolation prize in San Francisco on Thursday, 14 June, 2018. The award was given by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence at its 25th-anniversary dinner. The 25th Anniversary dinner seemed premature, as Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was a self-proclaimed strong Second Amendment supporter before her shooting in 2011, only seven years ago.  From nbcbayarea.com: The former U.S. Secretary of State under President Barack Obama spoke at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence 25th anniversary dinner, where former Rep. Gabby Giffords awarded Clinton the Courageous Leadership Award for her...

During a courtesy call before her confirmation, Justice Elena Kagan responded to a remark by Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, about gun rights. Risch told Kagan she may not realize how important the issue was to most Americans... Kagan said she had never owned or fired a gun. "But I told the senator if I was fortunate enough to be confirmed, I would go hunting with Justice Scalia." Kagan lived up to her word. She has accompanied Scalia to a shooting range and on several hunting trips, she said. “It turns out, it's kind of fun," she added.

In People vs Green, an Illinois appelate court struck down a state law banning  guns within 1,000 feet of a school.  The court relied on a previous decision that struck down a ban on guns within 1,000 feet of a park. Quovadis Green was observed across the street from a school. He was wearing his security guard uniform and had a holstered pistol on his belt. He moved into and out of a van. A teacher, Dan Svoboda, noticed him and notified an assistant principle. The principle approached green and and asked if he was a police officer. Green...

"Left, right, populism....all are meaningless concepts. Unintelligible for the new generations. Artificial intelligence is destroying the traditional world of work. Old nation-states have been emptied from within, and we are going back to the age of city-states" Beppe Grillo-founder and first leader of Italy's Five Star Movement, partner party of Italy's new government with the League-"Newsweek" interview 5/14/2018 "I was lost in a fantasy that blinded me....." "Your Love Broke Through"-as sung by Phil Keaggy To see Rachel Maddow resort to tears on television this week reminded me of why she's there shedding the tears. The purpose of MSNBC is...

A wild rampage at a Walmart in Tumwater, Washington was stopped when three concealed handgun permit holders confronted and killed the attacker.

Guns have been made by individuals as long as there have been guns. In the United States, it has always been legal to own the means of production to make your own guns. It has always been legal to make your own. Hobbyists have been making firearms as long as the United States has existed. The national war on the Second Amendment started in the 1930's. Passed in 1934, the National Firearms Act required a license to make some guns for commercial sale. A federal tax stamp was required to own short barreled rifles and shotguns, and guns that can...

Image by Troy Nemitz On May 31, 2018, about two o'clock in the afternoon, 23-year-old Noah Kolis was guiding three friends from Chicago. They started at his boyhood home near Cora, Wyoming. His dog, a Chesapeake-Lab mix, was with them. They were heading to some rock formations. Noah was carrying his 460V Smith & Wesson revolver. Two other men in the party were carrying bear spray.  The two men with bear spray had fallen 50 yards behind. The dog alerted on something. Noah thought it was some sort of big animal. Then he saw the bears, a grizzly sow...

Knoxville City-County Building On July 1, 2018, HB 1939, now Pu.. Ch. 880, will go into effect. The law creates a special exemption for county commissioners so they may legally exercise their Second Amendment rights in public buildings that contain courthouses. From wbir.com: A new Tennessee state law will go into effect at the beginning of July that will allow county commissioners to bring their handguns into buildings where meetings are held. Anderson County Commissioner Steven Mead is one commissioner saying he looks forward to July 1. "I won't have to leave my gun out where it can be...

A political action committee backing former state Sen. Michael Johnston of Denver for the Democratic nod for governor has received another $1 million dollars from Michael Bloomberg, bringing the wealthy former New York mayor’s total donations to the committee to $2 million. ... The $1 million contribution was the largest that any campaign committee received in the most recent reporting period from May 31 to June 13, according to the secretary of state’s office’s TRACER campaign finance system. Second on the list: another $750,000 from fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Jared Polis of Boulder to his gubernatorial campaign, bringing his total...

The Payne County Oklahoma Budget Board voted to restore county employee's Second Amendment rights on May 14, 2018. Oklahoma requires a state issued carry permit to carry a handgun outside the home, except for certain, limited exceptions. The Payne County Budget Board made clear that county employees can exercise Second Amendment rights inside of county buildings, if they have  a valid carry permit and sign a waiver. The waiver states they understand some limitations, and they are not to draw the firearm except in valid defense of self or others. From stwnewspress.com: Reding said the Budget Board, a body...

Two up-and-coming U.S. rappers, XXXTentacion and Jimmy Wopo, were killed on Monday in separate shootings near Miami and in Pittsburgh, police and local media reported. In Florida, the Broward County sheriff's office said that XXXTentacion, 20, was shot while leaving a motor sports dealership in Deerfield Beach, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Miami. The rapper, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was later pronounced dead, the sheriff's department said. "The adult male victim has been confirmed as 20 year old Jahseh Onfroy, aka rapper #XXXTentacion," the sheriff's department said in a posting on Twitter....

The weekend began with seven people shot in just an hour on the South Side. It ended with 10 people shot in two attacks on the West Side. By Monday morning, at least 56 people had been hit by gunfire in Chicago over the weekend. At least nine of them died(snip) "Most of Chicago celebrated and enjoyed this weekend," Chicago police First Deputy Superintendent Anthony Riccio told reporters,(snip) "However, we saw an unacceptable and frustrating level of gun violence in several communities. “There’s too many illegal guns on the street,” he added, echoing a constant theme of his boss, Superintendent...

Gun control advocates can now boast of a new group of allies joining their dubious coalition: witches. It kind of makes sense. We all know that gun control is based mainly on magical thinking. Its advocates, after all, ask us to believe we’re just a few more “commonsense safety measures” away from a world in which evil people who are otherwise determined to kill others refrain from doing so for fear they might violate a gun control law somewhere along the way. A related premise is that gun control advocates hold the keys to ending violent behavior once and for...

Delta Airlines and Bank of America pulled out of their sponsorship of New York’s Public Theater on Sunday over a production of “Julius Caesar” that re imagines the main character as President Trump. Shortly after Delta, who was a four-year sponsor, made its announcement, Bank of America yanked its support as well. The Shakespeare in the Park play tells the story of the leader assassinated by Roman senators over the fear that he’s becoming too tyrannical, but rather than the original setting, the production stages Caesar (Gregg Henry) and his wife, Calpurnia, (Tina Benko) with Donald and Melania Trump lookalikes....

When gun control advocates can’t win on guns, they have tried to either silence those who support self-defense from having their views covered in the media, youtube banning videos intending to sell firearms or accessories or how to use guns or build them, or prevent firearms companies from getting financing. On financing, the first strategy was to use government pressure. With that ended, individual finance companies are making life difficult for those in the firearms industry.

People who talk and write about the Second Amendment focus on firearms. There is nothing wrong with that. Some people go off into the weeds on nuclear weapons, but the cost of obtaining one for non-state actors is prohibitive and covered in minute detail by thousands of pages of regulations. Consider the other end of the spectrum. That end is clearly covered by the Second Amendment. Consider how much protection the Second Amendment gives to items other than firearms. Items which are used and carried every day by tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of Americans. This was driven home...

Image from reddit.com Governor Gregg Abbott has been a friend to Second Amendment supporters in Texas. After the tragic shooting at the Santa Fe High School, he held several meetings to come up with suggestions to improve school safety. In the Longview News-Journal, former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson writes that these firearm related measures are what Governor Abbot will send to the legislature as part of his plan. Patterson contends that none of these measures will infringe on Second Amendment rights. From Longview newsjournal.com: â–  1. Closing reporting gaps for federal background checks by creating a case management system...

On Wednesday, the governor is expected to sign a package of bills approved by the Democrat-controlled Legislature — a few of which received wide support from Republicans. The following bills are sitting on Murphy’s desk: * A1217, which will create restraining orders in the state allowing family members and others to ask a judge to have a person’s guns seized and ban them from buying weapons for up to a year. * A1181, which will mandate law enforcement in the state to seize a person’s guns if a mental health professional determines they pose a threat to themselves. * A2758, which will strictly define that state residents need...

On Tuesday the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) secured an injunction blocking Deerfield, Illinois, pending “assault weapons” ban. On April 3, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Deerfield was not only banning said weapons but empowering its chief of police to confiscate them and destroy them. He would also be empowered to confiscate and destroy “high capacity” magazines. On April 5, 2018, Breitbart News reported that SAF filed suit against Deerfield, claiming the village’s “assault weapons” ban violated Illinois’ preemption law. SAF’s lawsuit was joined by the Illinois State Rifle Association and Deerfield resident Daniel Easterday.

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal sent letters to a number of gun parts manufacturers threatening legal action unless they halt future sales in New Jersey. Grewal’s action targets unnamed “ghost gun makers” who he argues advertises build and kits to New Jersey residents with possible civil action under New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, with as much as a $10,000 penalty for initial offenses. He holds that fraud is committed because the makers do not disclose that possessing a firearm classified under state law as an unregistered “assault weapon” in New Jersey is a crime. “As the chief law enforcement officer...