Free Republic

It would be awful if the Democrats decide that the latest massacre by a non-Tea Partier means it’s time for yet another high-profile Congressional push for gun control. Awful awesome. You should never interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake, so those of us who don’t think the Bill of Rights is optional need to keep this on the down low. Gun control destroys Democrat politicians. While I’m against gun control ever being enacted, I’m always delighted to see the Democrats push it. Though they probably won’t get the red statey analogy, go ahead and throw us in...

Let’s be clear: I’m not a real Starbucks fan in the first place. The coffee is horribly expensive and, frankly, you can get a better cup for a quarter of the price at a Quick Trip. Interestingly enough, even McDonald’s has stepped up their coffee quality lately. Dunkin’ Donuts is good also, but I prefer to sweeten my own coffee, thank you, so don’t ask me how many Sweet ‘n Lows I want. Another thing …. I stopped going to Starbucks when they came out and openly supported Obama for a second term. I guess it goes with the territory...

If American citizens did not own firearms, the United States would not have been born in 1776. Likely, it would have eventually become an independent nation, but not for many more years – perhaps not for another hundred or more years. This fact is at the heart of the debate over whether or not private citizens have the right to own firearms: All governments eventually become uneasy with the idea that armed citizens have the power to control their own destiny. It need not even be a majority of the populace; only a small fraction of the population of...

Man becomes online celebrity after fatally shooting young robberA jeweler in the southern French city of Nice who has been charged with murder for killing a robber has become a hero on social networking sites. Nearly 1 million people have “liked” a Facebook page set up in solidarity with Stephan Turk, 67, who opened fire on two youths who held up his store Wednesday, fatally shooting one of them as they attempted to flee by scooter. The jeweler said he was acting in self-defense, but prosecutor Eric Bedos told reporters Friday he suspected the jeweler had aimed to kill the...

Sri Lanka: When the two armed men entered a young mother's home in Sri Lanka to steal valuables, the lady who was feeding her baby, rose and fought tooth and nail to save her jewellery. Two armed robbers had entered a house in Pamburana, Matara. They held the mother at gunpoint and relieved her of her gold jewellery. The intruders were about to take off with the valuables when the unexpected happened. The intrepid victim pounced on them. They tried to overpower her but she courageously fought back, beating them and holding on to their pistol, which broke into two...

I write this letter intending no disrespect concerning other comments about the Zimmerman trial or self-defense laws including Stand Your Ground. But, as Mr. Grossman correctly noted to his credit, these issues are being hotly debated and he invited further discussion. Other Longboat Key News readers seem to agree. The merit of such discussion, however, requires some correction of misunderstandings or inaccuracies. With all due respect, it cannot reasonably be claimed or implied that the man with the gun has all the rights and no responsibilities; that self-defense rights are not subject to restraints; that Zimmerman’s self-defense right was altered...

Kari Bird works full-time, goes to law school and raises her children. Late Wednesday evening she was exiting her vehicle when a group of young boys approached her. She didn’t think much about it because they were smiling and seemed happy, until one of them pulled out a gun. The teenagers demanded that the mom turn over her keys when she realized she had all of her (expensive) law books in the car. That’s when she decided to grab her gun, instead of her keys.

Verene Shepherd, chief of the UN Working Group of Experts of People of African Descent, expressed alarm at “the irresponsible proliferation of weapons fostered by misguided, so-called state governments” and demanded that “President Obama use his powers as Commander-in-Chief to nullify these affronts to civilized rule.” “It is unconscionable that the US President should sit idle while these subordinate governmental units commit such atrocities,” Shepherd complained. “In some states, any adult can qualify to carry a weapon. In others, people are allowed to ‘stand their ground’ and provoke a confrontation rather than comply with a simple request to hand over...

Angry at state legislation authorizing citizens to carry concealed firearms, Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy says he will authorize his officers “to issue on-the-spot vetoes against this dangerous law.” “We maintain that the police are the only ones who ought to be allowed to arm themselves,” McCarthy argued. “They are the only people properly trained in the use of firearms. A law encouraging people to arm and defend themselves disrespects the job the police do. It also potentially complicates every confrontation.” “When police arrive at a scene where shooting has taken place how are they to know whether the person...

The recall elections in Colorado are heating up as the Colorado Woman’s Alliance released a radio ad in which a rape victim excoriates the 2 anti-gun senators for voting in gun control. In the ad Kimberly Weeks condemns Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo and Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs for stripping women of their rights to defend themselves, accusing Giron of being “arrogant”. “We have a right to choose how we protect ourselves and our families — but Senators Morse and Giron didn’t think twice about taking that right away,” Weeks says.

According to The News Leader, the would-be robber pulled a gun on Jon Lewis Alexander who was working at Beer 30, a liquor store in Marionville, Missouri. Alexander, who served 30 years in the military including four tours in Iraq, was armed and pushed the would-be robber’s hand down and pulled out his Walther PPX 9 mm handgun.

Wildly overstepping its bounds while revealing a profound ignorance or disdain for America’s constitutional system of government, the United Nations demanded on September 3 that the Obama administration “nullify” Florida’s popular “stand your ground” law. Of course, the president cannot “nullify” anything, let alone state law — and especially not on meaningless orders from the UN. However, the increasingly out-of-control global bureaucracy claimed in a press release that the U.S. government was “required” to obey its mandates.

<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An early morning home invasion ended with the suspected intruder shot and killed.</p> <p>Police said a home owner in the 9000 block of N. Garfield in Kansas City, Mo., shot a man who broke into his home just after 5:30 Wednesday morning. The shooting victim suffered life-threatening injuries and died inside the residence. He was 20 years old. Police have not released his identity.</p>

I have a question for all the martial arts types here. Is Krav Maga all it's cracked to be? As far as I can research it is about horrific and deadly force against an attacker without years of training in Karate, Kung-Fu, Ju-jitsu and other disciplines.

Many advise people involved in shootings to say nothing to the police. I’m not among them. I’ve seen too many cases where declining to speak is heard as “I ain’t sayin’ nuttin’ ‘til my mouthpiece gets here,” and only the bad guy’s side of the story gets told or assumed. I do recommend that people caught up in these things tell the responding officers the nature of the attack on them which forced them to fire, and indicate that they’ll sign a complaint on the perpetrator. I also recommend pointing out evidence and witnesses, because both tend to disappear otherwise....

BEDFORD, Iowa – Authorities say an escaped inmate suspected of shooting a southwest Iowa sheriff's deputy has been killed by a homeowner who said the armed man broke into his house. Rodney Long was shot to death after he broke into a retired farm couple's home in Bedford about 10:15 p.m. Monday, awakening them. Long, who was armed with a handgun, cut their telephone lines and used their cell phone, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Mitch Mortvedt said. After about four hours, Jerome Mauderly, 71, shot Long with a shotgun in the kitchen of the home he shares...

Authorities say an escaped inmate suspected of shooting a southwest Iowa sheriff's deputy has been killed by a homeowner who said the armed man broke into his house. Rodney Long was shot to death after he broke into a retired farm couple's home in Bedford about 10:15 p.m. Monday, awakening them. Long, who was armed with a handgun, cut their telephone lines and used their cell phone, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Mitch Mortvedt said. After about four hours, Jerome Mauderly, 71, shot Long with a shotgun in the kitchen of the home he shares with his wife,...

The mother of Trayvon Martin lent her spoken vocals to a new released hip hop single that she hopes will offer solace to families affected by gun violence.... "My name is Sybrina Fulton, and I'm Trayvon Martin's mother," begins her brief audio monologue in the single. "I want you to know that we serve a God with no boundaries and no limits." The collaboration between Fulton and T.D.O.G.G., whose real name is Travis Gammage and whose stage moniker stands for The Deliverer of God's Gospel, came about after Martin's death. Rallies and marches that followed the shooting death of the...

As a resident of Florida, I had the strange experience of hearing fairly accurate, or at least un-embellished, reports of the Trayvon Martin incident for a day or two before the national media B.S. steamroller got moving – transforming George Zimmerman into a white (later “white Hispanic”) gun nut from a posh “gated community” who hunted down an apple-cheeked 12-year-old black boy and murdered him for sport. There’s no big mystery behind why the national media got so much of this story wrong. They tend to reflexively believe stories that fit into their pre-fabricated narratives, and they accept reports from...

Weeks have passed since George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin in mid-July, but a group of young activists known as the Dream Defenders only recently ended their occupation of the state capitol building in Tallahassee, where they called for a special session of the legislature to repeal Florida's so-called "stand your ground" (SYG) law, confront racial profiling, and end the school-to-prison pipeline. They were right to do so for four main reasons: •the "stand your ground" law is badly flawed, and the evidence is overwhelming; •it was directly implicated in Zimmerman's acquittal, even though Zimmerman's lawyers did not...