Free Republic

There are six states with constitutions that don’t explicitly protect the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The last state to add such a protection was Wisconsin, in 1998. The last stage of the process to amend the Badger State’s founding document was via a referendum and it passed with an overwhelming 74% of the vote. The sorry six that still lack enshrinement of the RKBA are listed below. And it won’t surprise you that these states are some of the least supportive of gun ownership and Second Amendment rights . . .

U.S. Conference of Mayors had a 4-day conference that ended on Monday. More than 200 mayors participated in this gathering that took place in Dallas. The result of this was U.S. Conference of Mayors urging federal courts up to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow same-sex couples nationwide to marry. The same conference was held back in 2009, that time too it endorsed the freedom of same-sex couples to marry. The same thing it reaffirmed in this current resolution. The major noting of the group was that that 19 states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex couples to marry....

The Republican majority of the Wisconsin State Senate has at hand the tools to end its stalemate now. The Wisconsin Constitution requires that to vote on a law dealing with taxing or spending or borrowing, a "quorum" is needed, and the minimum number to constitute a "quorum" is sixty percent of the elected members of the legislature: ARTICLE VIII FINANCE Vote on fiscal bills; quorum. SECTION 8. On the passage in either house of the legislature of any law which imposes, continues or renews a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues or renews an appropriation of...

Meg Whitman embraced the call for a constitutional convention by an influential business group Wednesday, while Republican gubernatorial rival Steve Poizner scoffed at the idea as “one more excuse” for Sacramento politicians. ... One day after California voters (well, about a quarter of them who bothered to participate) delivered a deafening roar of disapproval to Capitol electeds by overwhelmingly rejecting a propositional package of alleged budget reforms, the political atmosphere crackled with the lexicon of political change, as vows to “overhaul” and “restructure” a “failed system” and a “broken government” echoed throughout the state. In Sacramento, the corporate good government...

Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said he would advise his officers to question anyone out in public with a gun. He went on to say that "If my officers see someone walking around the City of Milwaukee with a firearm openly displayed, it borders on irresponsible if I were to communicate to members of my community that they can carry that firearm with impunity."

SALEM — The Oregon Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional Thursday a state law against conducting live sex shows and a local ordinance regulating conduct of nude dancers. Both restrictions violate the Oregon Constitution's guarantees of free speech and free expression, the court said in a pair of 5-1 decisions. The free expression rulings continued the court's modern pattern of broadly interpreting state constitutional rights as forbidding virtually all regulation of obscenity. The court's decisions have given Oregon "one of the most protective approaches to the interests of freedom of expression," of any state, said Steven Green, a Willamette University...

A federal judge Thursday struck down Nebraska's ban on gay marriage, saying the measure interferes not only with the rights of gay couples but also with those of foster parents, adopted children and people in a host of other living arrangements. The constitutional amendment, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, was passed overwhelmingly by the voters in November 2000. U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon said the ban "imposes significant burdens on both the expressive and intimate associational rights" of gays "and creates a significant barrier to the plaintiffs' right to petition or to participate...

Efforts to add a ban on gay marriage to the state constitution advanced Monday when the Texas House of Representatives approved the measure with a necessary two-thirds vote. [ . . . ] In Texas, same-sex marriages are forbidden, and civil unions are not recognized. The 101 members who voted in favor of the resolution . . . would let Texas voters decide whether the constitution should be amended to say that marriage should be between a man and a woman. "The Texas Legislature continues to push policies that hurt real Texas families by denying children of placement in loving...

One of the more divisive issues of last year's legislative session will return this week with the reintroduction of a proposal to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage and civil unions. Critics and supporters staked out familiar positions on Tuesday after the chief sponsor, Sen. Michele Bachmann, said she would resurrect the plan because Minnesotans want the chance to vote on whether to amend the constitution to bar same-sex unions. "The momentum is with us, the people are with us," said Bachmann, R-Stillwater. "We're hoping to get this taken care of and get it over with."

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PORTLAND - In 21st Century Oregon it might have seemed a no-brainer: Should voters remove racially offensive language from the state constitution, where it had lurked forgotten for nearly 150 years? The measure passed, but in a state awash in liberal tradition 29 percent - nearly one-third of voters - on Tuesday still voted "no." One passage wiped out by Tuesday's election reads, ``No free negro, or mulatto, not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall come, reside, or be within this State, or hold any real estate.'' Over the decades, racist provisions...

A Wilmington newspaper is reporting that a top aide to Governor Mike Easley threatened loss of "...local projects dear to the New Hanover County Commissioners..." if "...they [the commissioners] were to win a lawsuit against the administration over money Gov. Mike Easley..." withheld from local governments to balance the budget. The Wilmington Star says that John Merritt, a Senior Advisor for Policy and Communications for Easley, went on to say, "They [commissioners] are like a son getting mad at his father, who's lost his job, for not paying his allowance. Now, they're saying they'll sue the dad. There's a likelihood...