United States
California Lawmaker Aims to Clear the Way for City-by-city Handgun Bans
Mercury News (California)
8 Apr 2008
An East Bay lawmaker's bill to clear the way for local handgun bans has a committee hearing today, delving into issues now pending before the state and nation's highest courts. Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, authored Assembly Bill 2566 in reaction to a state Court of Appeal ruling in January which upheld the voiding of San Francisco's Measure H of 2005, approved by voters to bar city residents from owning handguns or from making or selling firearms or ammunition in the city. The California Supreme Court is mulling whether to review this ruling, which found state law leaves no room for cities and counties to ban handgun ownership; Hancock's bill,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Canadian Tories Refunded $21m in Firearm Licensing Fees to Gun Owners
CBC News (Canada)
8 Apr 2008
Ottawa refunded nearly $21 million to long-gun owners for their licensing fees in 2006 following the Conservative government's decision to waive registration for the weapons, according to a report released Tuesday. Back in May 2006, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced several major changes to the controversial gun registry brought in by the previous Liberals that effectively gutted the program. Among the changes was a two-year waiver of fees for the renewal or upgrade of firearms licences for individuals. Licence holders who had already paid a fee to renew their licence were issued a refund. Tuesday's report by the commissioner of... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, United Kingdom
Charlton Heston's Pro-gun Views Were Liberal, Supported Human Freedom
Times (UK), Column
8 Apr 2008
Charlton Heston's obituarists worry that his acting career might be "overshadowed" by his controversial stance against gun control. Let's hope so. Most of Heston's movie roles were as stiff as his chiselled jaw. But his rock-like defence of the right to bear arms was worthy of an award. I say this not as a right-wing Republican, but as a Brit of the Left. Hollywood liberals demonised the man who was Moses for his pro-gun views. But that only shows how illiberal they have become. Anybody who retains enough liberal spirit to believe in individual freedom as the basis for a civilised society ought to have stood at Heston's right hand on this issue. Yesterday's... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Tracing Led US Feds to Licensed Gun Dealer's 'Falsified Documents'
Springfield News-Leader (Missouri)
8 Apr 2008
A federal grand jury recently returned an indictment against an Ozark man for federal firearms violations, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The 11-count indictment was handed down against Rodger Sutherland on April 3, the ATF said. Sutherland is being charged with making false statements regarding records of a federal firearms licensee. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. The ATF and the Nixa Police Department became aware of falsified firearms records at R & S Sporting Arms, a federal firearms licensee in Nixa. Agents were led to Sutherland, the store manager,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Tracing, Registries Enable Philadelphia Cops to Nab 25 Gun Traffickers
Philadelphia Daily News (Pennsylvania)
8 Apr 2008
District Attorney Lynne Abraham and other law-enforcement officials announced yesterday that through the efforts of the city's Gun Violence Task Force, 25 more people have been charged with the illegal transfer of guns. Task-force agents last month snatched Lewis Ford, 25, a convicted felon, and Daaiyah Powell, 26, in their home on Ashley Street near 19th, West Oak Lane. There, they found a .45-caliber submachine gun in Ford's 8-year-old son's bedroom, authorities said in a news release. They also found a loaded 9 mm handgun under the mattress in the bedroom where Ford's 3-year-old daughter was sleeping and a loaded .45-caliber handgun in that room.... ( gunpolicy.org )
Yemen
Heavily Armed Yemeni Society 'Reaping Benefits from National Gun Ban'
Yemen Observer
8 Apr 2008
The Taiz Governor has confirmed in a debate at Taiz University that the government's weapons carrying ban is universal, from which no citizens are exempt. The governor confirmed that the campaign will continue because it is in the best interests of people who respect the law, and he called on all officials to set a model for the public. Brigadier general Yahiya al-Hisami, the Taiz security commander, disclosed that the government campaign has corresponded with official procedures such as the closing down of weapon retail stores, and building a database on national gun ownership. Governor Mohammed al-Himiari confirmed in his speech that the weapon... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Pennsylvania Gun Owners, Politicians, Lobbyists Rally to Decry Gun Control
Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh)
8 Apr 2008
HARRISBURG -- When the subject of handguns arises at the state Capitol, most of the recent attention has focused on Gov. Ed Rendell and other gun-control Democrats from Philadelphia who are trying to reduce the plague of deaths from gun violence in their streets. They'd like to limit gun purchases to just one per month, and require gun owners to report to police within 72 hours after they discover one of their guns lost or stolen. But supporters of the Second Amendment's guarantee of the right to have weapons struck back forcefully yesterday, organizing the third annual Right to Keep and Bear Arms rally at the Capitol. Several hundred sportsmen,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Pennsylvania Gun Owners Raffle Handgun in Protest Against Anti-theft Law
Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh)
8 Apr 2008
HARRISBURG -- Gun owners vowed to continue fighting to protect their Second Amendment rights during a rally Monday, but a gun control advocate criticized their raffle of a pistol in the state Capitol Rotunda as "unfortunate" and "insensitive" to victims of gun violence. Daniel Plovic, 72, of Washington, Pa., won a Smith & Wesson semiautomatic handgun at the conclusion of the third annual pro-gun rally, where advocates urged the defeat of gun control measures and an expansion of firearm owners' rights. "It's a real surprise," said Plovic, who wasn't actually handed a gun in the Rotunda. He'll pick it up at a sporting goods store, but said he didn't know... ( gunpolicy.org )
Jamaica
Police Seize Guns, Licences from Political Activists, Entertainers in Jamaica
Jamaica Gleaner
8 Apr 2008
Amid an internal audit of the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA), there are reports that the permits of several licensed firearm holders have been seized. Among the licensed firearm holders are prominent political activists and popular entertainers. "I understand that instructions were handed down for a number of these licensed firearms to be seized," a member of the police officer Corps disclosed yesterday. But speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, chairman of the FLA, Errol Strong, made it clear the authority had nothing to do with the seizure of the firearms. He said the police were carrying out the seizures. "Last Friday, we heard... ( gunpolicy.org )
Slovakia, United States, Afghanistan, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary
Slovakia Sold Ammunition to Miami Gun Dealer, Pentagon for Afghan War
SME (Bratislava) / BBC Monitoring Service, Transcript
8 Apr 2008
Slovakia has traded in arms with the AEY company, which is being investigated over fraud in the United States. The daily New York Times found out that the company had been selling old Chinese ammunition from Albania to the Afghanis for decades, claiming that it was from Hungary. It purchased other weapons and munitions for the Afghanis in Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. It is not clear what exactly happened to the munitions and under what circumstances the US firm purchased them. The scandal caused a serious embarrassment abroad. [passage omitted on the New York Times article on the contract received by AEY from the US Army] When... ( gunpolicy.org )
India
Street Shootings, Gun Culture Spread Rapidly in Indian Capital New Delhi
NDTV-News (New Delhi)
8 Apr 2008
NEW DELHI -- Three recent separate incidents of shootings in New Delhi underline the rapidly-spreading gun culture. At around 9 pm, four men in a Maruti Zen were stopped by three others in a Honda CRV at the Ashok Vihar market in North West Delhi. Five bullets were fired and two of them were in the air. Two men in the Zen ended up with bullet injuries. Police say personal differences triggered the violence. But both groups are claiming they were shot at first. "They had threatened us in the evening. We went to the D block. They came to the temple and parked their car in front of ours. When we came out, they abused us. They first fired five to... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Police Kill Themselves '2-3 Times More Often' Than Are Shot on Duty
New York Times
8 Apr 2008
NORWALK, Connecticut -- When Matthew Morelli, a 38-year-old police officer, was found slumped in a secluded parking lot with an AK-47 rifle on March 21, state and local authorities spent two days looking for a suspect, with helicopters and police dogs scouring the neighborhood, where witnesses reported hearing multiple shots. The culprit turned out to be a stealthy if surprisingly familiar cop killer: suicide. "We're all numb," said William Curwen, the president of Norwalk's police union, speaking for many at Officer Morelli's wake almost a week later. Within one recent week, a 35-year-old New York State trooper fatally shot himself with his service... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Virginia Tech, Gun Control Groups Discuss Campus Remembrance 'Lie-In'
Roanoke Times (Virginia)
8 Apr 2008
BLACKSBURG -- Gun-control advocates planning to protest April 16 on Virginia Tech's Drillfield said Tuesday that they hope to reach a compromise with the university that will allow them to protest without interfering with remembrance events. Peter Hamm, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence, said the group has been working with Tech students on the protest. It would involve a 32-person "lie-in" at noon April 16, the one-year anniversary of campus shootings that left 32 people dead plus the shooter. The Brady Campaign sent out a media advisory Thursday announcing the event, planned in conjunction with the gun-control group ProtestEasyGuns.com.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Virginia Tech Refuses Campus Rally Permit for National Gun Control Group
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia)
8 Apr 2008
Virginia Tech said yesterday that it will not allow a national gun-control advocacy group to hold a campus demonstration on April 16 while the school commemorates last year's massacre. Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said neither the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence nor the co-sponsor of the planned demonstration, ProtestEasyGuns.com, had applied for an assembly permit, and even if they had, Tech only issues permits to student groups. Tech's position threw the Brady Campaign's plans into disarray yesterday: The noon demonstration at Tech was supposed to be the centerpiece of a nationwide series of events on April 16 in more than 70 cities and towns.... ( gunpolicy.org )
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