Ronald Reagan carried a concealed handgun with him for 14 years

From the Daily Caller:

One of President Ronald Reagan’s leading biographers says that Reagan carried a concealed handgun for about 14 years following his attempted assassination at the hands of John Hinckley Jr., confirming a recent claim made by author Brad Meltzer. 

Meltzer, a best-selling thriller writer, wrote in the New York Daily News over the weekend that he was told about Reagan’s heat-packing ways while researching an upcoming novel. While touring the headquarters of the Secret Service, Meltzer says one of the agents there mentioned that Reagan carried a revolver in his briefcase during his years as president. 

“Whatever you think of Reagan, you have to admit, he had a black belt in badassery,” Meltzer wrote. 

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Craig Shirley, a notable Reagan biographer, who said that Meltzer’s claim is completely true and independently confirmed by his own research. . . .

What do you think?

What do you think?

What do you think?

On George Will claiming that Newt isn't a conservative

George Will consistently supported Gerald Ford over Ronald Reagan during the 1976 Republican Presidential primaries. Here are some examples of his writing and the discussions it engendered.

From the St. Petersburg Times January 21, 1976

Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Feb 1, 1976
Here is another piece by Will available here (Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Jan 23, 1976).

In 1979, Will was still critical of Reagan and happily taking Ford's statements about Reagan as accurate (Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Sep 4, 1979). Here is a piece where Will was relatively positive about Howard Baker as the 1980 Republican presidential candidate (Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Mar 10, 1979).

Will likes Romney, and (correctly) attacked Newt for going after Romney's business decisions to lay off workers. But I might also add that Mitt Romney attacking Newt over his wealth hardly seems like a conservative line of attack. From CBS News:

In the wake of his attempt to make a $10,000 bet with Rick Perry during Saturday's Republican presidential debate - a move that put a spotlight on Romney's $190 million-plus net worth and prompted critics to cast him as out of touch - the former Massachusetts governor told CBS News on Wednesday that his chief rival for the nomination is a "very wealthy man."

"Newt Gingrich has wealth from having worked in government," Romney told CBS News political correspondent Jan Crawford in an interview in New York. "He's a wealthy man, a very wealthy man. If you have a half a million dollar purchase from Tiffany's, you're not a middle class American." . . .

Reagan's excellent memory at age 75

With all the talk about Reagan and Alzheimer’s, this piece here and the audio here from when Reagan was 75 years of age is astounding.

Reagan on why people should be able to run their own lives

The Reagan Library

Last week when I traveled to California to give some talks, I briefly had the chance to visit the Reagan Library. The picture above is a Mustang that Reagan used while campaigning for governor in 1966. The library was a very beautiful place. It would be nice to have a chance to spend more time there in the future.












Here is another picture of one of the many guns that Reagan owned.