Gun Rights

Judge Blocks Philadelphia From Enforcing New Gun Laws

…The Associated Press reported last week that a judge had temporarily blocked Philadelphia from enforcing five gun-control ordinances pending a challenge from the National Rifle Association.

Obama Linked To Gun Control Efforts

…Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns.

Lead Shot Ban Proposal Now Dead

A report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune said a proposal to ban the use of lead shot by small-game hunters on public lands in Minnesota's agricultural region has been shot down by the bill's chief author.

Can Candidates Dance Around State Guarantees of Gun Rights?

Volokh's compilation of state constitutional guarantees of gun rights is interesting reading – particularly Pennsylvania’s very clear language dating from 1776 and 1790.

The Democrats and Gun Control

…Are the two Democrat candidates misrepresenting their positions on gun rights to gain an edge in the Pennsylvania Democrat primary?

Wal-Mart Agrees To Gun-Retailing Restrictions

Wal-Mart has agreed to adopt a 10-point retailing system pushed by the anti-gun group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Wal-Mart, the largest seller of firearms in the nation, cooperated in the drafting of and adopted what the Mayors Against Illegal Guns group calls the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership. …

Virginia Permit To Carry Applications Jump 60 Percent

The number of Virginians who obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon jumped 60 percent last year over 2006, an increase that many gun experts say was a reaction to the fatal shootings of 32 students and professors at Virginia Tech.

Heston’s Political Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Abridge Gun Rights

WASHINGTON -- As Moses, Charlton Heston thunderously rallied his people with the Ten Commandments in hand. The tablet of his political life was carved with something else - the Second Amendment.Heston was not just the public face of the gun-rights movement but a good deal of the fire in its belly during a transformational time in the decades-old debate. He lived to see Democrats running away from a cause they once embraced, scared…

Gallup Poll: Public Believes Americans Have Right to Own Guns

The often fierce debate over the Second Amendment has centered on whether it was intended to protect the rights of all Americans to own guns, or only those who are members of state militia groups. The poll makes it clear which side Americans come down on. Gun owners (roughly one-third of the U.S. adult population) are nearly universal in endorsing the view that the Second Amendment guarantees their right to own guns. Non-owners are less likely to view the amendment this way, but a majority still do.

Supreme Court Gun-Ban Case Heard

Here are some different views of the Heller arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court:

John Lott Interview with Glenn Beck re: “Heller” Supreme Court Case

If the Supreme Court were to say that the D.C. gun ban doesn't infringe on people's right to be able to own a gun, essentially there would be no gun regulation that could ever be struck down and so a lot's at stake at this.

Castle doctrine puts power in victims’ hands

Kathy Adkins moved from target to target, using a .38 revolver and a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol with deadly efficiency, putting holes in the dead center of paper targets meant to look like people. Adkins, 48, owns a real estate firm in Jackson and has been taking firearms training since March. Instructor Cliff Cargill said he has had many new students since the Legislature passed a bill last year giving residents expanded legal rights to protect…

Rebellion In The Lower Courts

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act in January 2023, and it is among the nation’s worst gun-control laws. It bans...