Free Republic

Ali Salous, the owner of the Circle A convenience store, told us Drejka has caused problems at his store before. "This guy -- he did this before," Salous said. "He always hangs out in the parking lot and if he sees someone parking, he just wants to start trouble with people." Gualtieri, however, maintained that Drejka's history didn't matter when it comes to making an arrest. All that matters, according to the sheriff, are the facts of this brief confrontation caught on tape. "He might well be a thorn in people's side. He might be a jerk," Gualtieri explained. "He...

The History Channel’s fictional drama Six provides a darker, more nuanced look into the personal and professional lives of SEAL Team Six operators. Although the show clearly displays the SEALs expertly using weapons in the field, there seems to be one place the show won’t accept them: in the home. In the dangerous world the show paints for us, the fact that they don’t want homeowners armed is even scarier. After former SEAL Team leader Rip was murdered by a terrorist on American soil in the season 2 premiere, Jackie (Nadine Velazquez) fears that her their family could be targeted...

The federal government has finally recognized the obvious – that sharing instructions on how to make guns with 3D printers counts as constitutionally protected speech. Despite little fanfare, this is an important victory for First Amendment rights. It also represents a real blow to the increasingly futile cause of gun control. The U.S. Justice Department announced a legal settlement and its surrender to the First Amendment arguments July 10 made in a case brought by Cody Wilson, founder of Defense Distributed. Wilson, 25, created a ruckus in May 2013 when he announced his successful design of a plastic gun. In...

Elections have consequences. One of the levers of power in the executive branch is the ability to settle lawsuits. Trump era officials in the Department of Justice have agreed to settle a lawsuit meant to stop an egregious violation of First and Second Amendment rights. Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed published computer code that enabled people with 3D printers to print a crude single shot pistol and parts of semi-automatic rifles. The Federal government ordered Defense Distributed to stop distribution of the computer code. Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed complied, and filed a lawsuit, with the help of the...

The campaign manager for Democrat Tedra Cobb, who is running to unseat Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), left the campaign on Tuesday in the wake of a video where Cobb says she won't publicly state what she actually believes about banning certain guns. Mike Szustak, who has been running Cobb's campaign since April, told the Watertown Daily Times that he was no longer working on the campaign. It is not clear if he quit or if he was fired. The move comes in the aftermath of a Washington Free Beacon report on a video showing Cobb telling a group of...

Police in New Jersey have officially crossed the [thin blue] line and literally attempted to confiscate guns from an army veteran without a warrant. But it didn’t go as planned, because Leonard Cottrell Jr. refused to comply with the orders of the cops. Eventually, all gun confiscation will be carried out by the police; who of “don’t make the laws, they just enforce them,” and Cottrell found this out the hard way. After serving two tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom overseas, Cottrell found himself at end of the state’s tyrannical oppression and gun elimination scheme.

Sec'y of State GOVERNOR Republicans Patrick Colbeck, Canton Brian Calley, Portland Jim Hines, Saginaw Township Bill Schuette, Midland Democrats Gretchen Whitmer, East Lansing Abdul El-Sayed, Shelby Township Shri Thanedar, Ann Arbor Libertarian Bill Gelineau, Grand Rapids John Tatar, Livonia U.S. SENATOR John James, R- Farmington Hills Sandy Pensler, R-Grosse Pointe *Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing U.S. House of Representatives 1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT *Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet Matthew Morgan, D-Traverse City 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT *Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland Rob Davidson, D-Spring Lake Nick Schiller, D-Grand Rapids 3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT *Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township Joe Farrington, R-Lyons Cathy Albro, D-Middleville Fred Wooden, D-Grand Rapids, 4TH...

All of the major television networks use their primetime entertainment shows to push a pro-gun control agenda. Liberal television executives apparently think that they have the power to change Americans’ attitudes. Not liking guns has been portrayed as cool for a long time. It is an old theme that dates back to the original 1980s MacGyver series, in which the titular character avoids using guns and expresses his aversion to them. This theme has continued with the current remake. But the push to sway public opinion really seems to have picked up. This spring on ABC’s “The Crossing,” the sheriff’s...

Italians are questioning the reasonableness and effectiveness of their complex and strict gun control laws. From thelocal.com: While 26 percent of people questioned in 2015 said they supported looser laws on owning a gun for self-defence, the latest research carried out by social studies institute Censis and private security sector organization Federsicurezza found that 39 percent were in favour. The percentage was highest among people with a low level of education and the elderly, rising to 51 percent among respondents who hadn't completed high school and 41 percent for the over-65s. The study also found that the number of...

Can you believe it? After 365 days of careful, around-the-clock scrutiny, our 2ndVote GunCam experiment has not produced any observable evidence that a watched gun will move, load, fire, or harm anyone on its own. See for yourself! Last week, we reminded you to watch closely as we counted the final days to the 1-year mark of our groundbreaking study. We know everyone was nervous, and watching with baited breath. But we can now proudly celebrate! And what a relief! We are grateful to our supporters for being part of this harrowing journey. As researchers, we know it will take...

Three Democrat Maine legislators are using their position to demand the biggest gun store in Maine, stop selling rifles the lawmakers disapprove of.  Kittery Trading Post has been a successful business since 1938.  From nh1.com: The Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to Kittery Trading Post, asking the store to restrict gun sales and to discontinue sales of what the lawmakers said are assault-style rifles. The letter was written by Deane Rykerson, Lydia Blume, and Patty Hymanson — who represent York and Kittery — alongside others from Maine and New Hampshire. "Your store to us has been a symbol of...

Shannon Watts gets a little unhinged when it comes to guns. We all know that. She sees an individual’s right to keep and bear arms as something that should pretty much be abolished, and anyone who disagrees with her is a target of her scorn…when they’re not being blocked on Twitter, at least. With the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, she has yet another excuse to spew her bile all over social media. In the process, she may have made a bit of a slip-up.

Cody Wilson’s Defense Distributed and Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) reached a settlement with the Department of Justice allowing unfettered publication of 3D gun files and other information in a case centered on free speech. Breitbart News reported that SAF filed a suit on behalf of Defense Distributed on May 6, 2015, seeking to free Wilson from a federal mandate that he not post blueprints for The Liberator pistol online. Over three years later, the announcement comes that Wilson and SAF won.

'Why do teachers have to die protecting their students? Why can't we live protecting our students?' In the weeks and months since the school shootings in Parkland, Florida, and Santa Fe, Texas, the debate over whether teachers should be able to carry firearms in schools has received a great deal of attention. A number of states have allowed teachers to carry firearms in schools for years and provide some insight into how such programs work in practice and what motivates teachers who want to be armed. In Colorado, local school districts have the authority to but are not required to...

A Wyoming Republican Party delegate is challenging a University of Wyoming ban on the carry of firearms in its facilities. The ban is enforced through trespass law. The circuit court has issued a stay on the criminal trespass proceedings, to allow the issue of the legality of the ban to be determined before the trespass case goes forward. From kpvi.com: LARAMIE — A criminal case in Albany County Circuit Court involving the University of Wyoming’s campus gun ban has received a stay, pending a separate civil action against UW seeking to challenge the legality of that ban.During the Wyoming...

Milwaukee police are looking for a man involved in an attack at a Milwaukee restaurant. The man punched the manager in the face and went after a waitress until she pulled a gun on him. The incident was caught on surveillance video. Everything happened pretty fast at a George Webb restaurant. The manager at the grill that night said the customer was shouting at the waitress. She told him to get out, and surveillance video shows the man viciously punch her in the face. He then he goes after the waitress. The woman pulled out a handgun from her apron and only...

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump headed into the weekend still undecided about whom he will pick for the Supreme Court, but people familiar with the process said they believe he is moving toward selecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh ahead of a Monday announcement. Mr. Trump was to discuss the pick Friday night at dinner with Vice President Mike Pence, who personally met this week with Judges Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Raymond Kethledge.

n the wake of mass shootings that have divided the country on the issue of gun control, President Trump is considering nominating to the Supreme Court an appellate judge who has argued that Americans have a constitutional right not only to keep guns at home — as the high court has ruled — but also to carry them in public. U.S. Appeals Court Judge Thomas M. Hardiman has also written that convicted criminals, including some felons, should be able to recover their right to own and carry guns, as long as their crimes were not violent. Constitutional-law scholars and advocates...

The FBI has obtained secret wiretaps collected by Spanish police of conversations involving Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of Russia’s Central Bank who has forged close ties with U.S. lawmakers and the National Rifle Association that led to a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. during the gun lobby’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., in May 2016, a top Spanish prosecutor said Friday.

FASTER Colorado's active shooter training for teachers. Last week I went through the training many of the teachers who are authorized to carry a gun in Colorado schools go through. In the wake of the devastating school shootings in Parkland, Fla., and Santa Fe, Tex., many different solutions have been proposed for how to stop or at least curb the violence inflicted by active shooters. Among the most prominent solutions—thanks in large part to President Trump's advocacy—is arming teachers. Most, however, don't understand how arming teachers works in person or that a number of states already allow certain teachers to...