Free Republic

Firearm prohibitionists love to use tragedy to leverage their agenda. So, it’s important for gun rights advocates to stand their ground and fire back (proverbially) whenever this happens. Last week I posted a graphic on Facebook claiming the average number of people killed in mass shootings when stopped by police is 18.25, and the average number of people killed in a mass shooting when stopped by civilians is 2.2. I based it on 10 shootings I found listed on some timeline somewhere. I honestly don’t even remember where. I presented the case studies in a blog post on the Silver...

The self-described "progressive" Democracy Now! news program recently interviewed Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni, who taught a class in which VA Tech mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho was (briefly) a student, before she demanded that he leave the class. In the interview, Professor Giovanni advanced some rather startling notions about guns: "I think that guns are not one of our good ideas. I read the Constitution, and I didn’t see anything that said that any fool that wants a gun should have one. What did I miss?" Well, one thing she seems to have missed is that the Constitution does not...

Will it ever stop? Not at the rate we’re going. Will it stop with absolutist arguments from either side on the gun debate? Not with the ‘You’ll-only-pry-this-weapon-out-of-my-cold-dead-hands’ mentality nor with the ‘Make-all-guns-illegal' argument either. Why? Why does Aurora happen? What does it say about us as a culture, that this kind of thing happens here? That it happens here more than it happens any other place in the world? We’re not at war at home. We’re not in a place where suicide bombings happen, and we’re not currently engaged in a religious or territorial war within our own borders. Why...

The suspects drove away from the scene in a dark, regular-cab pickup truck. The last four digits of the truck’s license plate are 3330, according to witnesses at the scene. Police across the region are on the lookout following an attempted abduction on the Virginia Tech campus Friday morning in which two men tried to drag a woman into a pickup truck, according to the Virginia Tech Police. Maj. Kevin L. Foust said the woman, who has not been identified, was crossing Henderson Lawn from College Avenue to Alumni Mall about 2:15 a.m. when two men approached her. Police said...

Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver said Wednesday that he and Tom Gabbard, the school’s associate director of athletics for internal affairs, decided last week to terminate Coach Seth Greenberg’s tenure as Hokies men’s basketball coach.

In the April 9, 2012 edition of the Virginia Register, the final Virginia Tech ‘Weapons on Campus’ regulation was published and now has the force and effect of law. The regulation, which is codified at 8VAC105-20-10 through 8VAC105-20-40, addresses the “carrying, maintaining, or storing” of both “firearms” and “weapons.” The regulation specifically separates the two terms and defines them broadly. In 8VAC105-10, firearms are defined as: … any gun, rifle, pistol, or handgun designed to fire any projectile including but not limited to bullets, BBs, pellets, or shots, including paint balls, regardless of the propellant used. Weapons are defined in...

Michelle Obama will address Virginia Tech graduates at the 2012 commencement ceremony on May 11 at Lane Stadium. Mrs. Obama joins U.S. Sen. Mark Warner as commencement speaker. Both will deliver commencement addresses. This is the first time a first lady has addressed a Virginia Tech commencement, according to Tech's morning news release. Mrs. Obama will speak at three college graduation ceremonies this spring, including two in key general election battleground states. Her first commencement address will be at Tech. The White House says the first lady has been inspired by the school's resiliency following the deadly 2007 campus shootings....

Jury finds Va. Tech negligent in '07 shootings By STEVE SZKOTAK, Associated Press – 1 minute ago CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) — A jury has found Virginia Tech negligent for delaying a campus warning of the first shootings in a 2007 campus massacre that left 33 dead. Jurors returned the verdict Wednesday in a wrongful death civil suit brought by the parents of two students who were killed on April 16, 2007, in the most deadly mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Jurors deliberated for 3 ½ hours before awarding $4 million to each family, and the state immediately filed a...

DENVER — Courts are ruling in favor of allowing those with concealed-carry permits to bring their handguns on campus, but universities are figuring out ways to keep the guns out. Gun rights advocates recently notched major legal victories in Colorado and Oregon, with courts in both states agreeing that university policies banning firearms on campus must defer to state laws allowing permit holders to carry concealed handguns. In response, however, university officials in Oregon and Virginia have enacted policies allowing concealed carry on campus but not in buildings, including classrooms, dormitories, event centers and dining halls. The result is that...

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. — Attorneys at a trial seeking an accounting of the deadly 2007 rampage on the Virginia Tech campus are expected to question the chief of the university's police force Wednesday to explain his actions during the first two killings on campus. Police Chief Wendell Flinchum is among the witnesses scheduled to testify in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of two students who were among the 33 killed during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Flinchum's officers were the first to investigate the slayings at Ryan Clark and Emily Hilscher in a dormitory on...

WASHINGTON -- When Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell decided today to sign legislation that repeals Virginia’s 19-year-old restriction on selling more than one handgun a month, he ignored the pleas of the Virginia Tech families affected by the worst shooting massacre in the history of the Commonwealth and the United States. Colin Goddard, who survived being shot four times at Virginia Tech and now works as an advocate with the Brady Campaign, was outraged. "When the Virginia Tech families spoke to the governor on Saturday, he offered sympathy, not solutions. Sympathy alone will not save lives. The governor had a chance...

WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday are expected to publish a report on the disputed gun trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, concluding that agents in Arizona — not Obama administration officials — were responsible for the tactics used in the inquiry and for providing misleading information relayed to Congress. In an 89-page report, titled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gun-walking in Arizona,” the Democratic staff portrays Fast and Furious as the fourth investigation, dating back to 2006, in which Arizona-based agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives employed...

Before I say anything else, let me make it clear: any liberal (or person) who calls himself an American should believe in the Constitution. I see, too often, in blogs and on television people who selectively promote their favorite parts of our governing document. Conservatives seem as if they want to tattoo the 10th Amendment (states’ rights) on their chest, but often questionably cut corners around the Fourth Amendment (protection against unwarranted searches) for the sake of “national security.” Liberals talk endlessly of First Amendment rights to free speech, while trying to ignore the Second Amendment. I try not to...

"Journell, a 20-year-old who graduated from Giles High School, Matthew D. Dunton, 23, and Matthew I. Brady, 21, are charged with entering the house of Dorenzo Hudson and Sean Allen with a weapon, with the intent to commit larceny, assault and battery, or other felony, according to warrants. " ... "Prosecution and defense lawyers acknowledged that Hudson and Allen later went looking for the three and a physical altercation took place, but no charges have been filed in that incident. "

ovington VA --(Ammoland.com)- The Radford University protest on Wednesday was a success, even if the weather didn’t really cooperate. Despite the rain and the fact that we could not hand out our brochures and stickers unsolicited, we still handed out 500 brochures and even more stickers. Eryn Bartholomew (Vice-President of the Radford College Republicans), VCDL EM Dave Knight, and I spoke at the event. We met with the police and student event staff early so they could go over the rules with us for our protest. We also paid for our tables, which we were required to stay near during...

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The man who authorities say killed a Virginia Tech police officer was described as a typical college student in many ways, making it difficult to understand why he would commit an armed robbery and then, apparently at random, target the patrolman before killing himself. The gunman was identified Friday as Ross Truett Ashley, a 22-year-old part-time business student at Radford University, about 10 miles from the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg. He first drew authorities'attention Wednesday when, they say, he walked into his landlord's office with a handgun and demanded the keys to a Mercedes-Benz SUV.

URGENT: Virginia Tech lifts lockdown amid reports gunman has been found dead,

http://www.vt.edu/

BLACKSBURG, Va. – DEVELOPING: A police officer was reportedly shot to death Thursday on Virginia Tech's campus. The university's Collegiate Times newspaper reported the fatality at about 1:30 p.m. A potential second victim has been reported at a campus parking lot, the university announced on its website. The suspect, according to the posting, is described as a white male wearing gray sweatpants and a gray hat with a neon green brim. He was believed to traveling on foot near McComas Hall, a campus gym. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/08/shots-fired-at-virginia-techs-campus-gunman-sought/?test=latestnews#ixzz1fyIBeaLv

BCS Selection: NCG: LSU v Alabama Orange: WVU v Clemson Fiesta: Okie St v Stanford Rose: Oregon v Wisconisn Sugar: Michigan v Va Tech??????????????/