Free Republic

In a remarkable move, 26 states have launched a legal counterattack against the Biden administration’s assault on the Second Amendment. The states filed lawsuits against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Justice Department on Wednesday. At the heart of the matter is a new ATF rule finalized on April 19, 2023, that requires thousands of law-abiding gun owners to register as firearms dealers. The rule derives from the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a federal anti-gunner law passed in the aftermath of one of several high-profile mass shootings: [snip] The Texas coalition includes Louisiana, Missouri,...

Seventy-nine people were arrested in connection to the pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas on Monday, according to the Travis County sheriff’s office. Seventy-eight of those arrested were charged with criminal trespass, and one person received an additional charge of obstructing a highway or passageway, said Kristen Dark, sheriff's office public information officer. One person was also charged with interfering with public duties, Dark said. Unlike last week, the University of Texas Police Department was not the lone arresting agency. Dark said the Austin Police Department is listed as the arresting agency for four protesters. The 57 people arrested...

The lawsuit by the State of Texas, challenging the federal requirement to pay taxes and register homemade silencers, is moving forward in the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Oral arguments are scheduled for April 29, 2024. The case is now known as Paxton v Dettelbach. On February 24, 2022, Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General, filed suit against the acting head of the ATF, then Marvin Richardson. The lawsuit was required by Texas law. HB 957 became law in Texas on September 1, 2021. On July 15, 2022, Paxton, acting for the State of Texas, amended the lawsuit...

The North Carolina man who shot and killed three U.S Marshal Task Force officers and one Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officer was a felon barred from firearm possession. One of the three deceased task force officers was a Deputy U.S. Marshal, according to CNN. Breitbart News reported the incident unfolded Monday around 1:30 p.m. when the task force and the CMPD officer attempted to serve a warrant for a felon in possession of a firearm. The US Marshals Task Force, which is comprised of officers from multiple agencies, was conducting an investigation in the area of the 5000 block of...

The oral arguments in the Paxton v Dettelbach case, will be heard at the Fifth Circuit Courthouse in New Orleans on Wednesday morning at 9:00. Texas AG Ken Paxton is challenging the power of the federal government to tax and require serial numbers on homemade silencers which are made and stay in Texas. The case is bolstered by the Bruen decision at the Supreme Court. Paxton says silencers are protected under the Second Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, and the Fourteenth Amendment, and there is no historical tradition requireing American citizens to serialize and pay a $200 tax to exercise their...

A fight involving several students at Miami Norland Senior High School in Miami Gardens Monday afternoon escalated to shots fired and 5 people injured, including 2 teenagers. Miami Gardens Police said they responded to an

Firearms felon Terry Clark Hughes has been revealed as the suspect who opened fire at cops at a North Carolina home as they came to arrest him, after he set off a gun fight that left four officers dead and four more wounded. The suspect had a lengthy criminal history and was wanted for possession of a firearm by felon, and felony flee to elude out of Lincoln County, before he was shot dead on Monday, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.

Video footage showed the dramatic moment a SWAT team rammed its way into a North Carolina house after three officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant were killed. The officers were serving a felon wanted for possessing a firearm Monday at the home, police said. The officers were first shot at by the wanted suspect as they approached the suburban home in Charlotte. Three officers were killed and five more were hurt. The cops were able to shoot dead the felon in the front yard, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said. A second person then fired on...

A sniper from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office SWAT team ended a violent standoff when he shot and killed a gunman suspected of shooting six people this week, including three Kenner Police officers earlier Sunday (April 28). The deceased suspect was identified as 31-year-old Matthew Lathers, who was wanted for an armed robbery committed last Tuesday in Kenner in which a 56-year-old victim was shot, and for shooting and wounding two men who made the mistake Sunday of stopping in front of the residence in which Lathers was hiding, in the 700 block of Farm Avenue, authorities said. The home...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Four law enforcement officers, including a deputy U.S. marshal, were killed Monday afternoon while serving a warrant in North Carolina. A total of eight officers were shot after the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force attempted to serve a warrant in east Charlotte. According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Johnny Jennings, three of the slain officers were part of the task force. One was the deputy marshal. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday evening that the other two officers killed at the scene were with North Carolina’s Department of Adult Correction. A fourth officer, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Joshua...

Terry Clark Hughes Jr. is the 39-year-old suspect who opened fire at the scene where four law enforcement officers in Charlotte, North Carolina, were shot and killed on April 29, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. Hughes was not the only shooter, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said in a news conference. “When they approached Hughes,” officers “were met by gunfire and returned the gunfire, striking” Hughes, who was found deceased in a yard, Jennings said. Officers then received “additional gunfire from inside of the residence,” he said. It was not immediately clear whose bullets struck which officers. Police have not...

81 years ago this week, in the Polish capital Warsaw, desperate Jewish fighters fought a long and bloody battle against Himmler's SS, the Germans determined to crush the Jewish Ghetto revolt with the utmost brutality. This is an omnibus edition of the story of the uprising, nicknamed 'Ghettograd' by the Germans as the fighting resembled that at Stalingrad.

At least one US Marshal is dead and “numerous” other law enforcement officials have been wounded after gunfire erupted Monday in a suburban neighborhood outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, according to reports. The shooting broke out just before 2 p.m. when the US Marshals Task Force was working an investigation in the area and one of the subjects opened fire on them, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD). “Multiple” officers were hit and taken to the hospital in unknown conditions, CMPD said.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Numerous law enforcement officers carrying out a task force operation were shot Monday afternoon as they came under fire in Charlotte, North Carolina, police said. Officers from several agencies in the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out the investigation in a suburban neighborhood when “a subject” began firing at them, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

George Alan Kelly, the Arizona rancher charged with murder in the shooting of a Mexican national on his border property, will not be retried, prosecutors with the Santa Cruz County Attorney's office said. The state charged Kelly with second degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed a migrant, Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, on his land in January 2023. The decision not to retry Kelly comes a week after a mistrial was declared following a deadlocked jury. Kelly’s defense confirmed to Fox News Digital that there was "one, lone holdout" juror who wanted to convict, while the remaining jurors sought an acquittal.

Two Polk County deputy sheriffs were shot and are in intensive care following a confrontation early Saturday with a man parked in Hunt Fountain Park in northwest Lakeland after it had closed. The gunman, who has not been named, was killed by other deputies who returned fire. Sheriff Grady Judd said at an early morning news conference that the gunman was aligned with the anti-government “Moorish sovereign citizen” movement that emerged in the 1990s and rejects federal, state and local authority. Lt. Chad Anderson, 46, was shot once with a bullet that went through his arm and into his chest....

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — NFL star and Houston Texans’ wide receiver Tank Dell was among the 10 victims injured in a shooting after an argument turned violent at a Florida nightclub Saturday night. Seminole County deputies responded to the Cabana Live in Sanford just after midnight to observe a crowd that formed outside the bar, according to NBC affiliate WESH. Deputies then heard shots ring out as the crowd dispersed. Officials said 10 people were hurt, suffering non-life-threatening injuries, with most of the victims being shot in the lower body. ‘ The Texans confirmed Dell was one of the victims...

A suspected squatter fatally shot two workers Saturday on Zenner Street, and police are seeking information on a subject in connection with the shooting, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said Sunday. Police said they responded around 12:30 p.m. to a residence on the 100 block of Zenner Street, where two males had been shot. Both men were later declared deceased. Crime Stoppers WNY identified the victims Sunday as Buffalo residents Babul Meah and Abu Yousuf. Gramaglia said that the two men were there to work on the house, as it was for sale and due to close soon. One of...

Attempting to quantify the effectiveness of defensive methods for use against bears suffers from significant selection bias. It is impractical to enlist large numbers of volunteers, randomly select half, give half a method of protection, leave the others as a control group, and place both in equal chances of being attacked. Instead, we rely on gathering data from people who were attacked and who had various types of defensive weapons. Obtaining a valid sample is nearly impossible because successful defenses have a strong bias of not being reported. The more spectacularly a defense fails, the more likely it is to...

Two people were killed and four others wounded after two men opened fire on each other just after midnight Sunday in San Antonio. ABC 7 Amarillo reported that police heard gunshots during Fiesta San Antonio at Market Square and ran toward the sound. They soon found two armed men, one of whom was 18 years old and the other is 20 years old. The men began to flee and, while so doing, the 18-year-old allegedly shot the 20-year-old. Police then shot the 18-year-old, killing him.