Free Republic

Way back in 2015, when the rumors began to circulate about Donald Trump running for president, rumors we had heard for decades, I was shocked at how many “smart people” — those snobs I enjoy heckling as “#GOPSmartSet” — underestimated The Donald. Shrugging off the idea Trump would actually run was fair enough. Like I said, he’d been flirting with the idea for decades. Even I would have bet it was a publicity stunt. No, what surprised me was how #GOPSmartSet and the elite media laughed off Trump as a clown, a huckster, a carnival barker, and bankrupt loser. That,...

On January 17, 2020, President Donald Trump pointed to the gun control situation in Virginia, noting that it proves once more the Democrats “will take your guns” if voted into office. He made this point amid the all-out war on guns by Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and the newly elected Democrat majority in the state legislature. Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia. That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away. Republicans will win Virginia in 2020. Thank you Dems!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2020...

West Virginia has a strong preemption statute to ensure the state has reasonably uniform laws about the carry and use of firearms by individuals, throughout the state. It is §8-12-5a: Limitations upon municipalities' power to restrict the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, transport, sale and storage of certain weapons and ammunition.§8-12-5a does a pretty good job of limiting the power of local governments to infringe on the right to keep and bear firearms. But the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution is not limited to firearms. As affirmed in the Heller decision, the Second Amendment covers all bearable arms....

President Trump trashed 2020 Democrat Mike Bloomberg, calling the septuagenarian a "terrible speaker" and mocking the billionaire's height at 5 feet, 8 inches. "Mini Mike Bloomberg doesn’t get on the Democrat Debate Stage because he doesn’t want to - he is a terrible debater and speaker," tweeted Trump on Friday. "If he did, he would go down in the polls even more (if that is possible!)." The president further slammed Bloomberg in a follow-up tweet soon after, saying, "Mini Mike Bloomberg ads are purposely wrong - A vanity project for him to get into the game. Nobody in many years...

The Senate overwhelmingly passed President Trump's proposed replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Thursday, sending the deal to the president’s desk for his approval. Passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) represents a rare moment of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress. The deal cleared the Senate by a vote of 89 to 10 on Thursday, close to a month after passing the House by a vote of 385-41. Republicans were eager to help Trump accomplish a major pillar of his economic agenda despite their preferences for a deal with looser restrictions. Democrats, who broadly shared Trump’s...

In response to anti-Second Amendment measures, that are increasingly likely to be passed by the democrat led Legislature in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell is “pretty sure” he will call for civil disobedience if said legislation is passed and signed by the governor. Mr. Falwell has served as President of Liberty University since 2007, succeeding to the Presidency after the passing of his father, Jerry Falwell, Sr. President Falwell’s comments are welcome by many in the Christian and Conservative communities and may answer the larger question of when individuals on the political center and right will...

Legislation pre-filed in New York by State Senator James Sanders (D-10th Senate District) will require anyone wishing to purchase a firearm to first pass a mental health evaluation. Senate Bill 7065 has been referred to the New York Senate Consumer Protection Committee where it awaits a hearing.Current New York law requires the use of a licensed firearms dealer and passage of a federal background (NICS) check to transfer any firearm. SB 7065 would require the mental health check prior to initiating the background check. The implementation of a mental health evaluation for firearm transfers constitutes unprecedented government regulation and overreach....

Federal authorities arrested three men allegedly linked to a violent white-supremacist group who had discussed traveling to a pro-gun rally Monday in Richmond, Va., and preparing for a possible race war, according to a law-enforcement official. Two of the men, one a former Canadian Army reservist in the U.S. illegally, face charges including transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland. One was also charged with transporting a machine gun, and the third man was charged with transporting and harboring an illegal alien. Online court records didn’t list attorneys...

When Democrats took the majority in Virginia the last election, they quickly put on the table a package of radical laws that were set to limit Virginians’ Second Amendment rights, including closing down every shooting range not owned by the government, hindering their ability to form militias, severely limiting gun sale transfers, as well as fresh registration bills. Within the first 48 hours of taking over the Virginia legislature in 2020, Democrats passed their first of many proposed gun laws and banned the carry of firearms on the property of the state capitol and other government offices. The people of...

Welcome back to the scuttlebutt, Have a cup of coffee and pull up a chair, this is not a booze moment, this is dead serious stuff. See that map up there? The counties or cities that have county like status in the Commonwealth of Virginia in various shades of green have passed "second amendment sanctuary status" laws. Those in yellow are in the process of passing them. The four spots in grey are where they failed. Yes, there are four, but you gotta look real close to see two of them. Oh, and the little spots in red are where...

Fearing a repeat of the deadly march by white nationalists in Charlottesville in 2017, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday declared a state of emergency and temporarily banned people from carrying guns and other weapons on the grounds of the state Capitol, where thousands of gun rights activists are expected to rally next week against stricter gun control laws. Northam said he made the call after hearing "credible intelligence" from law enforcement that armed militias and hate groups, some from outside Virginia, planned to disrupt the event. He said the threats of violence, picked up on the internet and on...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam issued a state of emergency on Wednesday that bars any weapons from the Richmond’s Capitol Square from Friday to Tuesday, after he received credible intelligence that hate groups and armed militias are planning violence at next Monday’s Lobby Day against gun control legislation. Northam, who discussed the threats at a news conference, said the state’s law enforcement analysis found that the chatter on the internet and other venues mirrored similar messages seen around the time of the 2017 Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally, which left three dead and more than 30 injured The governor declined to give exact...

Twelve years after the Supreme Court ruled that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right "unconnected with service in a militia," the Second Amendment is in worse shape than ever. New York; California; Massachusetts; Connecticut; and Washington, D.C., with a combined population of 70 million, have outlawed the sale of most semi-automatic rifles and all gun magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds to the public. Colorado, New Jersey, Vermont, Maryland, and Hawaii also have restrictions on magazine capacity. Seventeen states have so-called "red flag" laws, allowing the summary confiscation of a person's firearms on...

California activist Jim Steyer is following his billionaire little brother into national politics — he’s launching a political advocacy group, and a super PAC may follow. Steyer, 57, a children’s advocate with close ties to Hillary Clinton, hasn’t quite figured out how to stage his debut as a major player. But he promises it will be memorable. “You don’t bring a squirt gun to a fight where the other guys have AK-47s,” he said in a telephone interview. “I will tell you this: We’re fearless.” Younger brother Tom Steyer, 56, splashed onto the national radar last fall with huge investments...

Hypocrisy in politics is typical, but every so often it reaches a new low. Such is the case with a recent political ad attacking dark money’s influence in politics, an ad funded by dark money. The group Future Majority did exactly that as part of their 2018 efforts to elect Democrats to Congress. Now groups like Future Majority are focused on denying President Trump reelection in 2020.  Democrats have no good response to the president’s popularity and his accomplished record, so they turn to dark money funded smear campaigns to try and discredit him and his supporters. Politico reports one...

Vermont’s progressive, gun-fearing state legislature commenced its 2020 session on Jan. 7, using its large Democrat majorities in both houses to ramrod a host of ambitious bills down the throats of the citizenry, beginning with an ill-considered “gun bill” which hit the House Judiciary Committee the morning of Jan. 9. The arrogance of this overwrought (and overconfident) cabal is evident to all but themselves. The “Firearms and Domestic Violence Bill” (H 610) is the first of a phalanx of intended assaults on the Bill of Rights. But its proponents forgot something -- the pretense of constitutionality. This bill seeks to...

That doesn’t sound accurate… You should be laughing after reading that headline. Hollywood goofball Alec Baldwin knows very little of which he speaks, but he honestly believes what he says is on-point. What more do you need to know about the Democrat Party? They are cool with killing unborn babies, ripping up the Constitution, tossing Christianity out of America and forcing more and more government regulation down the throats of each and every Americans, but Republicans are responsible for the nation’s “moral collapse?” Head scratcher. From Breitbart: https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/01/13/alec-baldwin-trump-supporters-responsible-for-near-moral-collapse-of-this-country/

Note: Virginia 2nd Amendment “Sanctuaries”… Just yesterday I was kidding about this… no kidding! Introduced by West Virginia Sen. Trump... oh the #RustyIrony! WDVM (CHARLESTON) – The West Virginia Senate will consider today a resolution drafted and introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles S. Trump, IV, R-Morgan, which reminds the citizens of Frederick County, Virginia, that Frederick County, Va. has a standing invitation to become part of the State of West Virginia. “Even though it has been more than 150 years, I wanted to make sure that the people of Frederick County know that our affection for them remains...

Gun permit applications surged nearly 1,000 percent in New York’s Jewish community since the December 28, 2019, attack on Hasidic Jews in a rabbi’s home. The Washington Examiner reports that the surge is clear in Rockland County, the very county in which the rabbi’s home was attacked. The Rockland County Clerk’s office reported the “nearly 1,000 percent increase in gun permit applications in the week following the Dec. 28 attack.” Erik Melanson, owner of Rockland County’s Precision Gunsmiths, said, “A lot of people are worried, especially the large Hasidic and Jewish community in Rockland County. I have had rabbis come...

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Bordering Hampshire, Morgan and Berkeley counties is Frederick County, Virginia. On Monday, the West Virginia Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 2, drafted by Judiciary Committee Chairman Charlie Trump IV (R-Morgan). The resolution provides a “standing invitation” to Frederick County, Virginia to join West Virginia.