Handguns

When the smoke cleared away on the final night of the legislative session, the West Virginia Press Association held the winning hand in a duel over guns and the public's right to know who is toting concealed firearms.

Madison gun owner Auric Gold said he often carries a handgun in a holster while walking in his east side neighborhood, a right that attorney general J.B. Van Hollen affirmed in a memorandum to prosecutors on Monday.

Several of my colleagues are today observing the tenth anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. As we look back on that terrible day, many Americans try to sort out what led to the event, and what might be done in the future to prevent another such tragedy. The answer is alarmingly simple, and nobody is going to like it.

Openly carrying a gun on the street or in a store will attract plenty of attention, particularly from police, but is perfectly legal, according to an advisory issued Monday by Wisconsin state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.

The first-ever attempted robbery at a TacoMac restaurant didn't go as planned for a would-be robber when one of the managers on duty fired back.

I've always disliked the term Homeland Security, from the very first time I heard George Bush utter it in a national address. There's just something Motherland/Fatherland creepy about it, and the recent DHS reports on rightwing extremism and southbound weapons smuggling confirm the fascist touch that seems to accompany everything the federal government oversees.

Churches and Guns Must Mix: Author Charl Van Wyk, who shot back at terrorists attacking a church meeting, will be touring the U.S. with tales of his African ministry, including his first-hand experience with Christian churches that aren't prepared to defend themselves.

Philip Axelrod and Sara Adler say they don't want to be defenseless targets.

Obama has a new trick up his sleeve to ram gun control: Subvert the legislative process by ratifying an international treaty that would require anyone who reloads their own ammo to have a government license. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

The Obama administration says it will not appeal a federal court ruling that prohibits carrying loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges.

A local woman's act of self-defense might have saved her life and the lives of four family members, the Winter Haven Police Department reported. According to police, a Winter Haven man who threatened early Tuesday to shoot and kill members of his family instead was shot by his wife.

There's nothing like a justifiable homicide to bring out the bigotry resting in the heart of Old Media reporters. Last week, Demario Brown, on the run from police, held up two women at gunpoint and forced them into the house they were visiting, and then held two additional victims at gunpoint while demanding money he claimed was stolen from him.

A top National Rifle Association official said the Obama administration is using the increased publicity surrounding drug cartels in Mexico as an opportunity to push for reinstating the ban on semi-assault weapons.

President Obama and his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calder, are still blaming American gun owners for Mexico's crime problem, and outlined a common approach Thursday to combating drug violence, climate change and trade disputes but appeared to part ways over the urgency of reinstating a U.S. ban on assault weapons. Their disagreement: When to implement the ban on semi-automatics.

A retired Navy captain who now serves as an analyst says arming the civilians who run freight ships through the waters offshore from Somalia would allow them to defend themselves and fix much of the pirate problem.

Homeland Security Department apologizes to Veterans, not gun owners.