State Rep. Karla Rose Hanson, D-Fargo, promotes her "red flag" bill while police chiefs and Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, listen at the state Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. Forum News Service file photo

North Dakota May Have Dodged a Bullet Because the Way Florida Is Using Its “Red Flag Law” Sure Looks Like Mass Confiscation

Rob Port - February 17, 2020 - Featured, National

North Dakota May Have Dodged a Bullet Because the Way Florida Is Using Its “Red Flag Law” Sure Looks Like Mass Confiscation

Rob Port - February 17, 2020 - Featured, National

When I interviewed Rep. Hanson about her proposed bill last year, she gave the strong impression that this process was designed to be used in extraordinary circumstances. She stressed that orders to remove guns would be sought in emergencies. Yet that doesn’t seem to be what’s happening in Florida. “The law, supported by legislators of…

Flags fly at half-staff at Hector International Airport in Fargo in honor of the Colorado shooting victims. David Samson / The Forum

Stop Lowering the Flags

Rob Port - August 5, 2019 - Featured, National

“It’s never just guns. It’s never just mental health. It’s never just radical ideology. It’s never just sad manhood. It’s almost always a toxic combination.” That’s what New York Daily News opinion editor Josh Greenman wrote on Twitter in the time after the mass shooting in El Paso, but before the one in Dayton. His statement…

Antifa activists in Washington D.C. on August 13, 2018 Flickr

Stop Creating False Equivalency Between Lawful Speakers and Those Who Try to Silence Them

Rob Port - August 20, 2018 - Featured, National

Over the weekend there was a demonstration organized by 2nd amendment supporters in opposition to a proposed ballot measure instituting new gun control laws. They held what they branded as a “Liberty or Death” rally outside of Seattle’s city hall. They were targeted by left-wind demonstrators who showed up and tried to disrupt the rally.…

Student panelists, from left, Liz Schneider, Katie Winbauer, Taylor Toso, Tokata Iron Eyes, Bria Smith, David Hogg and Matt Deitsch speak to a crowd of more than 150 people Thursday during the March for Our Lives, Road to Change national speaking tour at the Bismarck Event Center. MIKE MCCLEARY, BISMARCK TRIBUNE

Podcast: Bismarck Mayor Says Parkland Student Activists Are “Being Used as Pawns”

Rob Port - June 29, 2018 - Featured, This And That

On the radio show today newly-elected Bismarck Mayor Steve Bakken joined me to discuss the recent visit to his community by the anti-gun student activists from Parkland High School, including David Hogg. Bakken spoke at a pro-2nd Amendment rally outside of the Parkland event and then was invited inside to listen to the presentation. He…

Protesters demonstrate in the Not One More rally for gun legislation, held at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Feb. 17, 2018. Since Wednesday, when a gunman killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., teenage voices have resonated where those of longtime politicians have largely fallen flat. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times)

What if Our Schools Are Actually Safer, and School Shootings Aren’t Actually More Common?

Rob Port - February 27, 2018 - Featured, National

One point I’ve been trying to make in the debate which erupted after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, is that America is actually a far less violent country than it was a generation ago. The public perception driven by myopic and sensationalist media coverage is that violent crime, and gun violence specifically, is on…

President Donald Trump participates in a discussion that included survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, at the White House in Washington, Feb. 21, 2018. “We’re going to do something about this horrible situation,” Trump said at the event's outset, adding that his administration would be “very strong on background checks.” (Tom Brenner/Copyright 2018 The New York Times)

Trump’s Call to Arm Teachers Is Kind of Dumb

Rob Port - February 22, 2018 - Featured, National

Pressed for a solution to mass shootings, President Donald Trump has said he’d like to see armed teachers in our schools. Which is kind of dumb. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against guns in schools. Making our nation’s K-12 schools and campuses “gun free zones” don’t make them safer. They make them targets. I’d…

Podcast: Congressman Cramer Says “I Love the NRA”

Rob Port - February 21, 2018 - Featured, This And That

The podcast for today’s radio show is available. If you’d like the audio delivered to your devices daily, click here and subscribe. Congressman Kevin Cramer joined me for his weekly open phones segment. Not surprisingly, he got some questions about gun control and the NRA. “Yeah I actually am,” he said in response to one…

Protesters demonstrate in the Not One More rally for gun legislation, held at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Feb. 17, 2018. Since Wednesday, when a gunman killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., teenage voices have resonated where those of longtime politicians have largely fallen flat. (Saul Martinez/Copyright 2018 The New York Times)

The Argument for Gun Control Is Myopic and Shallow

Rob Port - February 19, 2018 - Featured, North Dakota

Over the weekend the Fargo Forum published an editorial calling for the reinstatement of an assault weapons ban that was as shallow as it was myopic. “There is no legitimate civilian use for guns like the AR-15,” the paper writes. There are millions upon millions of Americans who own AR-15 rifles, and equivalent firearms, who might…

Lavinia Zapata embraces her son, Jorge, after a mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Feb. 14, 2018. At least 17 people were killed Wednesday at this school about an hour northwest of Miami, law enforcement officials said. A suspect, a former student, is in custody. (Saul Martinez/Copyright 2018 The New York Times)

The Mass Shooting as a Medium for Extremists and the Disaffected

Rob Port - February 15, 2018 - Featured, North Dakota

Yesterday all too familiar news broke about another mass shooting. This time at a high school in Florida. This morning the alleged shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. We may learn more in the coming weeks about why Cruz did this. It’s unlikely, given that he’s still alive,…

A wall of Bushmaster AR-15 223's is seen Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017, at Bill’s Gun Shop & Range in north Fargo. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor

Blaming Guns for Suicides Does a Disservice to Suicide Prevention Efforts

Rob Port - October 11, 2017 - Featured, National

My last Sunday print column suggested that we could save more lives in America with better suicide prevention efforts than with tougher gun control policy. To support this contention, I pointed out that most deaths in America resulting from a gun shot wound are self inflicted. In any given year, about 60 percent to 70…