United States
US Passes New Rule to Allow Hidden Handguns in National Parks
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Column
8 Dec 2008
WASHINGTON -- As a parting shot from the Bush administration, courtesy of the gun lobby, those who seek the solitude and beauty of some national parks and wildlife refuges will face the fact that the visitor standing next to them just may be packing heat and is ready to use it at the first sign of any unfriendliness, such as an argument over a camping space. Overturning the Reagan-era ban on loaded weapons in these national treasures, the Interior Department has decided it would be all right to carry a concealed firearm into those parks located in states where undercover guns are permitted. So much for finding a moment's break from the threat someone... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US-Mexico Gun Trafficking Threatens Texans' Safety: Ban Assault Rifles
Houston Chronicle (Texas), Editorial
8 Dec 2008
Guns don't kill people. Gangsters kill people. But Mexican narcotraffickers buy Texas guns, and thousands of people die as a result. No turn of phrase can hide the link between gun sales in Texas and the violence just over the border. If we want Mexico's cartels under control for our own security, we need to halt their incredibly easy access to military-grade weapons on this side of the border. Last year alone, Mexican authorities confiscated 1,131 Texas guns from drug cartels or their killing fields. Houston was the No. 1 source of these arms. Using "straw buyers" -- U.S. citizens without criminal records -- narcotraffickers buy weapons, often in bulk,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Health Authority Decides Gun for Disabled Is 'Not a Medical Device'
Associated Press
8 Dec 2008
WASHINGTON -- It could have been the world's first prescription pistol. The single-bullet Palm Pistol set the Internet abuzz with speculation that Medicare might even pay for the elderly and disabled to pack heat. But Monday the Food and Drug Administration said the Palm Pistol doesn't have a shot of being listed as a medical device, and revoked the registration issued to its inventor only last week. "The FDA has determined the product is not a medical device," the agency said in a statement. The inventor is crying foul. "I would assume it's due to political pressure," said Matthew M. Carmel, from Maplewood, N.J. He said he's researching a possible... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US FDA Backs Off 'Medicare Subsidised' Handgun for Disabled, Elderly
Sydney Morning Herald / AAP
8 Dec 2008
A US gun company will market a pistol to elderly Americans that will be subsidised by the government in the same way as a wheelchair or walking frame. The company, Constitution Arms, claims its gun, called a Palm Pistol, has won approval as a medical device for people with arthritis or other disabling conditions who have trouble squeezing the trigger on a normal firearm. Under the deal, seniors who buy the $US300 ($A465) 9mm handgun will be reimbursed by the federal government in the US, magazine New Scientist reported on Monday. Matthew Carmel, president of Constitution Arms in Maplewood, New Jersey, said the gun was "something that they need... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US FDA Approves 9mm Handgun as 'Medical Device' for the Handicapped
MSNBC / Discovery Channel
8 Dec 2008
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted a conceptual, ergonomic 9mm handgun -- designed for people crippled by arthritis, muscular dystrophy, or similar conditions that render them too weak to operate normal handguns -- as a Class 1 Medical Device. The single-shot gun, dubbed the Palm Pistol, is "an adaptive tool that allows someone otherwise incapable of handling a revolver or semiautomatic weapon to operate one," said Matthew Carmel of Constitution Arms, the New Jersey-based company developing the gun. Thanks to the gun's designation as a medical device, doctors could eventually write prescriptions for it and then be reimbursed by Medicare.... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Sydney 14yr-old Kills Mate, 14, in 'Bad Joke Gone Wrong' with a Shotgun
Sydney Morning Herald / AAP
8 Dec 2008
Relatives of a 14-year-old boy allegedly killed by his best mate say the shooting was "a bad joke gone wrong" and murder charges must be dropped. Josef Cruickshank's aunt Rita Ferraro said the family considered his death, from gunshot wounds during a weekend sleepover, to be an accident. The Sydney family hoped police would drop a murder charge against Josef's best mate, who is also 14 and cannot be named. "He's hurting. He didn't even mean to do it," Ms Ferraro said. "It was just an accident, a bad joke gone wrong. I don't know, I wasn't there, [but] we know the love that these boys had for each other. They were best friends since... ( gunpolicy.org )
Germany
Peak Church Group Alarmed at Huge German Gun Trade (Deutsch)
Sueddeutsche (Munich)
8 Dec 2008
[Translated summary: Germany is the third largest exporter of armaments in the world -- and it is almost unnoticed that the export of small and light arms has increased. The churches are alarmed.] Die Bilder zeigen eine georgische Spezialeinheit in Südossetien -- bewaffnet mit dem Sturmgewehr G36 des deutschen Rüstungskonzerns Heckler & Koch. Wie die Waffen, die eigentlich nur in Nato-Staaten verkauft werden dürfen, in den Kaukasus kommen, ist bislang unklar. Für die Autoren des jährlichen Rüstungsexportberichts der "Gemeinsamen Konferenz Kirche und Entwicklung" (GKKE) ist dies jedoch ein Zeichen: Kleine und leichte Waffen made in Germany, legal oder illegal... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
One Blackwater Defendant Can Keep Gun for Work: Others Lose Theirs
Associated Press
8 Dec 2008
SALT LAKE CITY -- Donald Ball, a 26-year-old decorated former Marine, was the only Blackwater Worldwide defendant allowed to keep a gun after his arrest on Monday. Ball packs a .40-caliber Glock as a justice-court bailiff. "I'm not interested in unduly burdening Mr. Ball," said federal Magistrate Paul Warner. Warner said he was making an exception for Ball, one of five men charged with manslaughter in the 2007 shooting on a busy Baghdad street that left 17 Iraqis dead. Assistant Attorney General Patrick Rowan said evidence in the case, however, could only prove the guards fatally shot 14, although he left open the possibility of future charges. ... ( gunpolicy.org )
Nigeria
Nigerian Soldiers Stole Army Guns, Sold to Rebels: Sentenced to Life
This Day (Lagos)
8 Dec 2008
LAGOS -- Eight soldiers entrusted with the responsibility of safe-keeping the military arms at the Command and Staff College arms depot, Jaji and the One Base Army Ordnance, Kaduna were found guilty by a General Court Martial that sat in Kaduna to have stealthily sold those arms to River State-based Movement for the Defence of the Niger Delta (MEND) for use to wage war against the Nigerian State. As an army major, if you add his salary and all his military entitles, at best his monthly take home pay squares up with that of an Assistant Director in the Federal Civil Service, which is in an way below N100,000.00 (One hundred thousand naira). But when the burble... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Los Angeles Weapon Buyback Swaps 965 Guns for Food, Gift Cards
Associated Press
8 Dec 2008
LOS ANGELES -- A program to exchange guns for gifts brought in a record number of weapons this year as residents hit hard by the economy look under the bed and in closets to find items to trade for groceries. The annual Gifts for Guns program ended Sunday in Compton, a working class city south of Los Angeles that has long struggled with gun and gang violence. In a program similar to ones in New York and San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores. Turning in assault rifles yields... ( gunpolicy.org )
Tanzania
Government Must Stem Tide of Gun Trafficking, Armed Crime in Tanzania
This Day (Dar es Salaam), Editorial
8 Dec 2008
DAR ES SALAAM -- The recent police force announcement that it will carry out a two-year exercise to check the importation and circulation of small arms and light weapons in the country is significant. Coming at a time when the country experiences increased incidents of armed robbery, the initiative is long overdue. Our country boasts of having a broad-based security network including the Police, Customs and Excise, Immigration and State Security Services. Invariably, what we are dealing with is perhaps the perceived failure of these agencies, especially their inability to gather required intelligence to initiate a practical and sustainable mechanism to stem the... ( gunpolicy.org )
Germany
German Gun Trade Rises Again: Many Exports to Conflict Areas (Deutsch)
Zeit (Hamburg)
8 Dec 2008
[Translated summary: German arms exports are up again, many to areas of crisis, with small arms and ammunition more and more popular.] Zum zwölften Mal hat die Gemeinsame Konferenz Kirche und Entwicklung (GKKE) ihren Rüstungsexportbericht in Berlin präsentiert. "Wir hatten gehofft, das nicht mehr machen zu müssen, aber einer muss ja Opposition betreiben", sagte der evangelische Prälat Stephan Reimers. Eins stünde dabei fest: "Die Welt wird nicht sicherer durch noch mehr Waffen." Laut GKKE beliefen sich die deutschen Ausfuhrgenehmigungen im Jahr 2007 auf 8,7 Milliarden Euro, eine Milliarde mehr als noch im Vorjahr. Nach den Erhebungen des Stockholmer... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Child Shooting Brings Call to Stop Australian 12yr-olds Using Guns
Age (Melbourne) / AAP
8 Dec 2008
NSW Premier Nathan Rees says he's prepared to make changes to gun laws but only if it is proven that stricter measures are required. A 14-year-old died from gunshot wounds to the face and neck during a sleepover at a rural property in Sydney's south-west on Saturday night. His 14-year-old friend, who cannot be identified, has been charged with murder after he allegedly accidentally shot him and made a frantic triple-0 call to save his life. Meanwhile, a Sydney man is in a stable condition in hospital after being injured in a drive-by shooting in the city's north-west. It was the first of three drive-by shootings reported by police within... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
American Gun Lobby Ramps Up to Fight 'Anti-gun' President-elect
The Hill (Washington DC)
8 Dec 2008
Gun groups say they are "prepared to fight" the incoming administration on the issues dear to them despite President-elect Obama's insistence that lawful gun owners "have nothing to fear" from him. Obama, appearing on at a Sunday press conference, said he believes "in common-sense gun safety laws, and I believe in the Second Amendment." But Chris W. Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association's (NRA) political arm, said membership in his organization is growing at record levels, and a number of reports show that gun sales are up by as much as 50 percent nationally since Obama won the presidency on Nov. 4. "He says gun owners shouldn't... ( gunpolicy.org )
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