Australia
Australian Shooters Party Deal Gives Guns Back to Domestic Abusers
Sydney Morning Herald
6 Dec 2008
Men who have previously been the subject of apprehended violence orders will be given the right to have the orders revoked so they can regain gun licences. The deal was cut by the Shooters Party with the Government and Opposition on the last parliamentary sitting day of the year. Under NSW law, anyone who was the subject of an apprehended violence order lost the right to a gun licence for 10 years. But under an amendment successfully moved by the Shooters MP Roy Smith to the Domestic Violence Act on Thursday, it will now be possible for those who have been subject of an apprehended violence order that has expired to have the order revoked. The... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Devastatingly Destructive .50cal Sniper Rifles, Pistols Should be Banned
Philadelphia Inquirer, Editorial
6 Dec 2008
A densely populated and industry-rich state like New Jersey doesn't need more people carrying .50-caliber rifles capable of hitting a target from miles away. These devastatingly destructive weapons should be banned. In the coming weeks, state Assembly members can take the first step toward doing just that -- by approving a measure that would halt the sale of the rifles, now legal even under New Jersey's restrictive gun laws. The measure is expected to come up for a vote by next month. If passed, New Jersey would be only the second state to institute such a ban, following California, where these weapons were banned in 2004. The risks... ( gunpolicy.org )
New Zealand
Licensed Collector 'Lost' 121 Guns, Armed NZ Gangs for Years to Come
New Zealand Herald
6 Dec 2008
Guns from a missing Coromandel collection have fallen into the wrong hands and created a black market legacy that will last for decades, say police and a gun control advocate. One of the guns among Hot Water Beach collector John Mabey's missing pistols, submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles has been identified as the weapon used in a fatal shooting. Mabey's guns disappeared in July last year, and police say eight of the 10 that have been recovered were found in the hands of gang members and people involved with illicit drugs. Mabey says 121 guns were stolen from his home, but has pleaded guilty to charges of illegally selling or supplying... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
'Outgunned' Philadelphia Police to Be Permitted Larger-caliber Handguns
Philadelphia Inquirer
6 Dec 2008
Philadelphia police officers will be permitted to carry larger-caliber handguns next year, part of a wide-ranging effort that Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey is making to upgrade the department's weaponry to match adversaries carrying bigger guns. Ramsey announced yesterday that officers will have the option to replace their 9mm pistols with more powerful .40- and .45-caliber semiautomatic handguns. The sidearms are produced by Austrian gunmaker Glock. Though two of four Philadelphia officers killed in the line of duty this year were shot by fugitives carrying powerful guns -- one fired an assault rifle -- Ramsey was careful not to characterize... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Texan Straw Purchasers, Dealers Profit from Smuggling, Murder in Mexico
San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
6 Dec 2008
The young Mexican national looked over the table at a San Antonio taquería and nonchalantly described the firepower that passed through his hands as if he were describing the trowel he now uses to lay bricks. Heckler & Koch MP5s. Colt AR-15s. M16s. Berettas. Barrett sniper rifles. "To kill people, hurt people, we use them as a tool for kidnap and for escort drugs," the former Mexican drug cartel foot soldier, who previously served in the Mexican army, said in broken English. "That was the use ... that we gave to the weapons." To arm themselves, Mexican cartels pick guns like they would choose toys from a catalog and tap the plentiful supply... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Texas Gun Shops Fuel Drug Wars, 'Caught Between Profit & Conscience'
San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
6 Dec 2008
LAREDO -- 2003 was a very bad year across the Rio Grande in Nuevo Laredo. But it was a very good one for Mando's Guns and Ammo in this border city north of the river. As open warfare between rival drug cartels were filling the streets of Nuevo Laredo with bodies, Diana and Armando Villarreal Jr., who owned Mando's, noticed a spike in demand for AK-47 semi-automatic rifles. "We were selling in quantity," recalled Diana Villarreal, who took over the store after her husband died. "We weren't getting rich, but it was nice to have money to buy extra things." Among those things was a 51-acre ranch outside of town. The rise in sales also caught the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Texas is Gunrunners' Land of Plenty and Source of Mexico's Crime Guns
San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
6 Dec 2008
AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico -- In the vivid dreams that now comfort 17-year-old Angelica Navarro Calderon, her father often comes to visit, dressed in his police uniform. The bullet hole between his eyes has vanished. Nine other bullet wounds in his chest, arms, leg and back are healing beneath white bandages. Father and daughter banter about life, just like they did before narcotics traffickers killed him and three other police officers at noon on a busy street last year on a day now known as "Black Thursday." She recounted her dreams in the cluttered three-room family home, where a photo of José Juan Navarro Rincón adorns a living room wall and his desk. He looks... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Must Close Gun Show Loophole to Curb Texas-Mexico Gun Running
San Antonio Express-News (Texas), Editorial
6 Dec 2008
When most Texans think of border security, they think of it as a one-way street -- unauthorized immigrants crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas. Mexicans -- especially those engaged in a bloody battle with drug cartels -- consider it a two-way avenue. While a porous border allows the United States to receive a stream of unskilled laborers for low-paying jobs, it also permits a flood of weapons and ammunition to flow into Mexico, arming the drug lords for their reign of terror. In the first of a three-part series, "Texas' Deadliest Export," Express-News reporter Todd Bensman has begun to put the cross-border gun trade into focus. According to... ( gunpolicy.org )
|
|
