Free Republic

Inadvertently, President Joe Biden just made one of the most convincing arguments for gun rights. In fact, he was quite possibly more convincing than any other president in U.S. history.... ...The president began by saying “most responsible gun owners” agree that “no possible justification for having 100 rounds in a magazine.” ... ...“If you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.”... ...Biden’s claim that these weapons aren’t powerful enough to take on the U.S. government isn’t quite making the case he hopes. In fact, that sort of argument...

“This isn’t the first time Biden’s warned the gov’t would use every weapon in its arsenal against Americans,” quipped Tom Elliott, remembering how Biden said something like this at a rally early last year. Maybe the Second Amendment should be extended to include F-15s. Seriously, though, this dumb gun-control talking point is deathless even though it’s never been clearer how untrue it is. There are many lessons to be learned from America’s adventure in Afghanistan but an easy one is that a crudely equipped force using guerrilla tactics is fully capable of prevailing over one with superior firepower. That lesson...

Bill Troyanos was working his normal shift at the Army Navy Surplus Store in Olde Town Arvada on Monday when he heard a pop. Then another. And another. He moved to the door, peered outside, and saw a gunman across the town plaza. Then a customer, a 40-year-old man Troyanos had never met, put his hand on his hip, drew a pistol and quickly rushed toward the plaza.

Almost a year ago, on 28 June 2020, a mob of loud, screaming BLM protestors in St. Louis, Missouri, followed the agitators/leaders into private property through a locked gate. Reacting to the threats, Mark and Patricia McCloskey grabbed two firearms, an AR-15 type rifle, and an inoperable Bryco semi-automatic pistol. The McCloskeys seemed fully justified under Missouri law. The state Attorney General defended them in public. The Governor said he would pardon them if they were prosecuted.This did not deter radical St. Louis Circuit Attorney (prosecutor) Kim Gardner. She insisted on prosecuting the McCloskeys. Eventually, she was removed from the...

When state and local officials decline to help enforce federal firearm rules they view as unconstitutional, The New York Times says they are adopting "a legally shaky but politically potent strategy" with racist roots. But when state and local officials decline to help enforce federal immigration rules they view as "unjust, self-defeating and harmful to public safety," the Times says, they should be proud of choosing "not to participate in deportation crackdowns." That blatant double standard illustrates how policy preferences and partisan allegiances color people's views of federalism, which they tend to endorse when it serves their purposes and reject...

The 9th Circuit, acting on a June 10 appeal filed by Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, put Benitez’s ruling on hold pending a full-blown decision. “This leaves our assault weapons laws in effect while appellate proceedings continue,” Bonta said said in a tweet. “We won’t stop defending these life-saving laws.” The 9th Circuit judges on the panel issuing the stay were Barry G. Silverman, a Clinton appointee, Jacqueline Nguyen, an Obama appointee and Ryan D. Nelson, a Trump appointee. Benitez, appointed by former President George W. Bush, said the weapons ban unconstitutionally infringed on the rights of California gun owners and...

Despite having their weapons seized and pleading guilty to charges in connection with pointing guns at Black Lives Matter rioters on their private property during the summer of 2020, Mark and Patricia McCloskey appeared defiant Saturday, posting a picture of a new AR-15 the St. Louis couple intends to buy. Twtter Link"Checking out my new AR!" Mark McCloskey tweeted along with two pictures: one with McCloskey at a gun store with the owner, and another with him and his wife, Patricia. In both, he is holding an AR-15 rifle. The picture came just two days after the McCloskeys pleaded guilty...

Every sheriff in Utah has signed a letter vowing to protect Second Amendment rights and advising citizens that they are working to “prevent and prepare for potential violence.” While talk of gun control on Capitol Hill has temporarily taken a backseat to other initiatives, such as “infrastructure,” the men and women of law enforcement are staying ahead of the game in the event that any anti-gun legislation makes it through Congress. Every single Utah sheriff signed a letter released this week by the president of the Utah Sheriffs’ Association, Cache County Sheriff Chad Jensen. Jensen had promised to fight for...

Mark and Patricia McCloskey agreed to give up the guns used in the 28 June confrontation in St Louis, Missouri. Mr McCloskey, 63, pleaded guilty to misdemeanour fourth-degree assault and was fined $750 (£538). His wife, 61, pleaded guilty to misdemeanour harassment and was fined $2,000. Because the charges are misdemeanours, the personal injury lawyers can keep their law licences and continue to own firearms. Judge David Mason accepted their guilty pleas, but rejected their request to donate Mr McCloskey's rifle in a fundraiser, US media said. A grand jury had indicted the couple on felony charges, which would have...

President Joe Biden might be facing a major amount of resistance from law enforcement if he begins cracking down on gun rights with far-left policies. 29 sheriffs in Utah have signed a statement in which they promise to protect their residents’ Second Amendment rights. The statement also warns Utah to be somewhat skeptical of any legislation that could infringe on their constitutional rights, as reported. The 29 Utah sheriffs say they will do everything in their power to protect the constitutional rights of their residents both as a collective and as individuals.

To highlight the Prometheus Awards’ four-decade-plus history and make clear why each winner deserves recognition as a pro-freedom and/or anti-authoritarian work, the Libertarian Futurist Society has been publishing since 2019 a series of Appreciations of past award-winners. Here is an Appreciation of Harlan Ellison’s “Repent Harlequin!’, Said the Ticktockman,” the 2015 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner for Best Classic Fiction.

Now it seems that lawmakers in New York State have given final approval to legislation that could allow civil lawsuits to be brought against gun makers and dealers. The measure, if signed by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would make the Empire State the first to allow civil suits against firearms companies. It would circumvent the federal law that offers legal immunity to the firearms industry by amending state nuisance law.

The New York Times is defending their editorial board member who called American flags “disturbing.” Their staff member, Mara Gay, caused a firestorm after her appearance on MSNBC Tuesday. “I was on Long Island this weekend visiting a really dear friend, and I was really disturbed. I saw, you know, dozens and dozens of pickup trucks with explicatives [sic] against Joe Biden on the back of them, Trump flags, and in some cases just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing … Essentially the message was clear: This is my country. This is not your country. I own...

Regular CNN viewers will have noticed that since Tuesday, CNN's New Day and a number of other CNN shows have been displaying an on screen tabulation of the number of mass shootings and deaths from mass shootings so far this year, in much the same style the network had been using to keep track of COVID death statistics.This latest wave of liberal activism on the gun issue may have been the result of the liberal network's law enforcement analyst, retired police chief Charles Ramsey, who recommended such media activism to pressure politicians on the issue, as he appeared on CNN,...

Breitbart News met up with Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX-13) for some range time Saturday and the congressman expressed his hope that constitutional carry will sweep across this country state by state until all 50 states have adopted it. Jackson made this point as part of his larger desire to see more legislation that reinforces the Second Amendment instead of undercutting it. Breitbart News: “President Biden and his fellow Democrats have unleashed a seemingly relentless push for gun control in this country. As a result, many Americans have begun to look at the Second Amendment with greater seriousness. Why does the...

Anyone looking to “load up” or even to replenish their supply of ammunition will likely have to remain patient – at least for a while longer. The “great ammo shortage” that began last year isn’t going to end anytime soon, and according to market research conducted by Southwick Associates shortages of ammunition will continue throughout the rest of 2021. Why an Ammo Shortage? If you’re finding it hard to purchase ammunition right now, you’re not alone and that is a reminder of the basic supply and demand problem. Demand simply continues to outpace supply – even as some of the...

Judge Roger Benitez’s opinion provides a perfect primer for Americans seeking to understand the law and the gun fallacies leftists push.On Friday, a federal judge struck down California’s assault weapon ban in Miller v. Bonta. In the nearly 100-page opinion, District Court Judge Roger Benitez dissected post-Heller Second Amendment jurisdiction, while scrutinizing the state’s claimed justification for banning ownership of so-called “assault weapons,” before enjoining enforcement of several sections of California’s Assault Weapons Control Act (AWCA). Yet for 30 days Judge Benitez also stayed the execution of the declaratory judgment and permanent injunction to allow the named defendant, California Attorney...

The Louisiana legislature passed SB 118 with veto-proof majorities. The House sent the bill, with amendments to the Senate, after voting for it 73 to 27 on 27 May 2021. Constitutional Carry is a reasonable facsimile of the state of law when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. At that time, no state, nor the federal government required any governmental permission to carry arms openly or concealed.The Senate passed the amended bill on 1 June 2021, 27 ayes to 9 nays. SB118 will be sent to Governor Bel Edwards. It was enrolled on 3 June. Governor Edwards has 20...

California officials are vowing to fight back after a federal judge overturned the state’s 30-year-old ban on assault weapons. In ruling the ban unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez compared the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to a Swiss Army knife, calling it “good for both home and battle.”Benitez, of the Southern District of California, issued a permanent injunction against the law’s enforcement but stayed it for 30 days to give the state a chance to appeal. California is one of seven states, plus Washington, D.C, that ban assault weapons, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

A federal judge overturned California's 32-year-old ban on so-called assault-style weapons on Friday, describing it as a "failed experiment" and prompting scathing criticism from the state's governor and attorney general. California has prohibited the sale of the weapons since 1989. The ban was challenged in a 2019 lawsuit against California's attorney general by plaintiffs including James Miller, a state resident, and the San Diego County Gun Owners, a political action committee. "This case is about what should be a muscular constitutional right and whether a state can force a gun policy choice that impinges on that right with a 30-year-old...