United States
Florida Gun Show Clients, Dealers Divided Over Stories of Sales Rush
Tampa Tribune / Hernando Today
7 Dec 2008
BROOKSVILLE -- Frank Pickett had a lot to get off his chest. A lot of gun collectors and enthusiasts are having the same worries these days. They don't trust the president-elect. "They talk about getting these guns as a way to control crime," Pickett said. "Really, it's more about controlling people ... Taking guns away from lawful citizens doesn't reduce crime." There are few products being sold at a higher-than-normal rate nowadays due to the suffering economy, but the recent election of Barack Obama has done a lot for the gun industry. That trend is evident across the country as well as Florida. One glance inside the Hernando... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
High Demand for Guns, Much Debate Among US Pro Sport Stars, Clubs
Houston Chronicle (Texas)
7 Dec 2008
From a distance, be it one created by geography, lifestyle, fame or finances, it's easy to consider the plight of Plaxico Burress, the wideout who couldn't shoot straight, and pass it off as slapstick. In fact, one observer quickly compared Burress, the Giants wide receiver who accidentally shot himself in the leg with a handgun at a New York nightclub and now faces weapons charges, to the ultimate goof with a gun. "Plaxico Burress," said Adam Schefter of NFL Network, "has become the Barney Fife of hip-hop." And such is the enduring nature of Don Knotts' character from The Andy Griffith Show that even players of Burress' generation understand (and occasionally... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
'Increasingly Anxious' Americans Fear Attacks, Enact 'Shoot First' Laws
Associated Press
7 Dec 2008
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI -- A convenience store clerk chased down a man and shot him dead over a case of beer this summer and was charged with murder. A week later, a clerk at another Jackson convenience store followed and fatally shot a man he said tried to rob him, and authorities let him go without charges. Police say the robber in the second case was armed, while the man accused of stealing beer was not. Just the same, the legal plights of the two clerks highlight the uncertain impact of National Rifle Association-backed laws sweeping the nation that make it easier to justify shooting in self-defense. In 2006, Mississippi adopted its version... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Montreal Massacre Anniversary Highlights Gun Control, Family Violence
Montreal Gazette (Quebec)
7 Dec 2008
MONTREAL -- Every year on Dec. 6, a crowd huddles in the cold, flanked by barren trees in a solemn square to remember the 14 young women shot dead at the Ecole Polytechnique down the street. Saturday's event was the 19th commemoration of what is known worldwide as the Montreal Massacre -- the worst mass shooting in Canadian history. The mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers of those young engineering students were nowhere to be seen Saturday, choosing perhaps to mourn anonymously after so many years. But it was an opportunity for politicians, activists and bystanders alike to publicly take stock of what has changed since that tragic night... ( gunpolicy.org )
India
Mumbai Attacks Prompt 'Primal Fear,' Demand for Guns in Indian Cities
Sunday Economic Times (India)
7 Dec 2008
NEW DELHI -- The gruesome images of gunmen roaming the streets of Mumbai with submachine guns and spraying bullets on innocent people have evoked the most basic instinct in the people of our cities -- that of primal fear. Perhaps no wonder then that the doyen of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan is now sleeping with a gun under his pillow and created quite a stir at Mumbai airport yesterday when he tried to board a domestic flight with a gun in his hand baggage. And like Big B, many other urban dwellers in India, too, are either cleaning their guns and keeping them ready for use or trying to buy licensed revolvers after the terror trauma in Mumbai. Private arms retailers,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama: 'Gun Owners Have Nothing to Fear,' No Need to Buy More Guns
Chicago Sun-Times
7 Dec 2008
As gun sales shoot up around the country, President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that gun-owning Americans do not need to rush out and stock up before he is sworn in next month. "I believe in common-sense gun safety laws, and I believe in the second amendment," Obama said at a news conference. "Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear. I said that throughout the campaign. I haven't indicated anything different during the transition. I think people can take me at my word." But National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said it's not Obama's words -- but his legislative track record -- that has gun-buyers flocking to the stores. "Prior... ( gunpolicy.org )
Philippines
Philippine Senate Majority Leader Calls for Ban on Civilian Gun Carrying
Senate Office of Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr., Media release
7 Dec 2008
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today called on the government anew to tighten the rules for allowing civilians to carry firearms in the wake of the unfortunate killing of a man and his young daughter during a shootout between policemen and robbers in Paranaque City Friday night. Pimentel urged law enforcement authorities to study the possibility of prohibiting civilians, even those with the necessary permits, from carrying loaded firearms outside their residences. He said civilians should be required instead to put the ammunition in a box which they can put into their guns when it is extremely necessary to protect themselves from... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Registration, Microstamping, Assault Weapon Ban in New DC Gun Plan
Washington Post
7 Dec 2008
The D.C. Council voted unanimously to give preliminary approval to legislation that would require gun owners to renew their registrations every three years and to notify police annually whether they still own guns. The measure, which would also ban assault weapons, was described as building on legislation passed by the council in September to adhere to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the city's gun ban. It also would require firearms owners to take a safety course and undergo a background check every six years. Beginning in 2011, the city would require "microstamping" of some firearms to facilitate the identification of weapons used in crimes. ( gunpolicy.org )
United Kingdom, India
UK, Mumbai: If We All Carried Guns, We Could Help to Combat Terrorism
Sunday Times (UK), Opinion
7 Dec 2008
The firearms massacres that have periodically caused shock and horror around the world have been dwarfed by the Mumbai shootings, in which a handful of gunmen left some 500 people killed or wounded. For anybody who still believed in it, the Mumbai shootings exposed the myth of "gun control". India had some of the strictest firearms laws in the world, going back to the Indian Arms Act of 1878, by which Britain had sought to prevent a recurrence of the Indian Mutiny. The guns used in last week's Bombay massacre were all "prohibited weapons" under Indian law, just as they are in Britain. In this country we have seen the irrelevance of such bans (handgun... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Buyers Suffering 'Premature Panic Attack,' Says Virginia Dealer
Washington Post, Column
7 Dec 2008
For decades, partisans on both sides of the nation's gun-control debate looked to the Supreme Court as some believers await a sign from the messiah: Someday, the justices would rule, and then, like it or not, we would know. Finally, firearms would be freely available as a basic American right, or they'd be strictly regulated, restricted to limited purposes. But here we are, less than six months after the high court ruled 5 to 4 that the District's ban on handgun possession violated the Constitution's Second Amendment, and the partisans are at their battle stations, arrayed on either shore of the Potomac like the Hatfields and McCoys of yore. Sam Hatfield,... ( gunpolicy.org )
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