The war over Montgomery County, Maryland’s “gun-free zones” continues, but opponents have won a key battle in their fight to exercise their Second Amendment rights. On Thursday a federal judge granted an injunction against the county’s ban on concealed carry in houses of worship, though for now his ruling applies only to the plaintiffs who sued over the prohibition.  The injunction means Rabbi J. Menashe Shapiro and other members of the Silver Spring Jewish Center can now lawfully carry on the premises of the synagogue, but U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow declined to extend…

Officer Candidate School (OCS), or Officer Training School (OTS) as it is known in the Air Force, is the commissioning route generally geared toward college graduates who are entering the U.S. military outside of the military service academies, the (ROTC), or direct commissioning programs. Each branch offers its own version of this program: the Navy, Army, Marine Corps, Air Force / Space Force and Coast Guard. These programs range from 8.5 to 13 weeks and prepare candidates to lead through military training, leadership development and physical conditioning. Graduates are commissioned as officers and continue specialized training in their respective fields,…

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Two incidents along Ukraine’s borders with Poland and Moldova this week are a preview of potential intensified Russian provocations at Ukraine’s border crossing points with Europe, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. Two people died when Russian drones hit the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday night while a “direct threat” to a Polish-Ukrainian crossing point on Wednesday night was only avoided thanks to cooperation between Warsaw and Kyiv, Tusk said on Thursday. He gave no further details of the incident, nor did he present evidence of Russian involvement. Tusk said he received…

Suppressors are now legal for some of us, not for others, and a whole confusing mess now exists that many people want no part of. Believe me, I get it. What we’ve needed is clarification from the ATF about what’s happening. And it seems the ATF has issued an open letter to FFLs… clarifying nothing about that.But it’s still good news. The rules deal with suppressors and the repair or changing of the caliber it can fire. As it has long stood, doing any of those things was pretty much the same as making a…

Three days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mark Olsen walked past cars piled on top of one another near the World Trade Center. Some were taxis. One of the most haunting images he recalls? Headlights still burning bright through the fog of rubble. The New Jersey Air National Guard technical sergeant had crossed the Hudson River on a state police boat that morning, carrying rolls of film and deciding for himself what to photograph. He wanted to reach Ground Zero, but he kept finding things along the way that needed to be recorded. Damaged taxis and other vehicles are piled…

A new survey of thousands of veterans finds overwhelming opposition to a controversial section of the comprehensive Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (TCAVA) that is currently stalled in Congress. Disabled American Veterans, or DAV, published a new survey on Thursday of more than 4,200 veterans, their family members, caregivers and survivors showing that while 93% indicate they want veterans’ earned benefits protected, another 71% vehemently oppose the omnibus TCAVA unless a provision known as Section 108 is rescinded. “The general finding was people were opposed to TCAVA once they learned more about it,” Jim Marszalek, executive director of DAV’s…