Canada, United States
Canadian Border Agents Seize 330 Guns, Gun Parts Arriving in Mail
Vancouver Province / Canwest News Service
13 Mar 2008
Canada Border Services Agency has seized 330 guns and gun parts from mail at Canada Post's international mail centre in Vancouver since April. Mike Hrysiuk, the agency's chief of operations at the centre, said the items included machine guns, prohibited handguns, replicas and silencers -- but some of them may be legit. He said people such as movie prop masters and gun-store owners can obtain permits to import guns through the mail. ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Canadian Hunting Club, Roadside Turkey Decoy Nab 'Bad, Stupid' Shooters
Orangeville Citizen (Ontario)
13 Mar 2008
Dufferin Northern Peel Anglers and Hunters Association has made an investment of about $1,500 in a form of decoy to be used for targeting "illegal and stupid" gun toters, such as to eradicate them. "We hope to get the bad guys out of the field," said club Vice-President Bob Clarence as the club presented a mechanical "wild turkey" to representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) last week. The turkey, he said, will make an attractive target for shooters who drive along roadways looking for prey, and shoot from their cars at whatever comes in sight. "Those are not hunters," said club treasurer Murray Johnston. "They are people who... ( gunpolicy.org )
China, Sudan
China Sold $55 Million Worth of Guns to Sudan, Says Human Rights Group
Agence France Presse
13 Mar 2008
BEIJING -- China is the biggest supplier of small arms to Sudan following three years of increased sales that helped fuel violence in the African nation's Darfur region, a US-based rights group has said. From 2004 to 2006, China sold over 55 million dollars worth of small arms to the Sudanese government, which then armed the Arab militias accused of genocide in Darfur, Human Rights First said in a report released on Thursday. "While other countries were decreasing their arms sales to Khartoum, China stepped in to fill the void by providing Sudan with some 90 percent of its small arms during 2004-2006," Human Rights First said. "This makes China... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Florida OKs 'Take Your Gun to Work' Bill for Hidden Handgun Permit Holders
St Petersburg Times (Florida)
13 Mar 2008
TALLAHASSEE -- The National Rifle Association isn't giving up. After failing for two years to pass a law allowing employees to carry guns to work, the NRA won an early victory in the Florida House on Wednesday. Last year the measure died before a House committee -- just days after the Virginia Tech shootings and in the face of intense business opposition. But Wednesday the same committee voted, 11-6, on a revised bill limiting the right to people with concealed weapons permits. "The Constitution begins, 'We the people,' not we the Chamber, not we the Retail Federation, not we the Disney. It's 'we the people,'" said the National Rifle Association's... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada, United Nations
Global Gun Trade Treaty Eludes Student Consensus in Canada's Model UN
South Asian Focus (Ontario)
13 Mar 2008
Leave it to our kids to make the rules, and the world could well become a better place. Resolutions they recently undertook as simulated United Nations members included far more rigorous regulation of the arms trade -- and in some instances an effective ban on arms transfer to potential global hot spots. The Sri Lankan delegation suggested a non-partisan body composed of 15 neutral third-party diplomats have to power to conduct such trade. The U.S. delegation went one better and proposed a 'licence raj', whereby arms production companies would be annually scrutinized, and only if they consistently met all conditions would they be granted a licence... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Glock Pistols Under Fire for Explosions, Police Injuries in Florida, Oregon
Ledger (Florida)
13 Mar 2008
WINTER HAVEN -- The Police Department is ditching $38,000 worth of guns after two .45-caliber GAP Glock Model 37 pistols exploded in separate training incidents a year a part, causing minor injuries to an officer and a cadet. "I've been around 34 years in law enforcement, and we've seen malfunctioning with guns, but never seen it explode," Police Chief Mark LeVine said. "When I've got two guns out of 90 mess up, something's wrong." The department has not had any problems with the guns during use in the line of duty. The force of the explosions came down through the bottom of the guns and blew the triggers off, LeVine said. Police... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Guns and God: Half US Hunters, Anglers Identify as Evangelical Christians
Reuters
13 Mar 2008
FORT WORTH -- The life-sized stuffed animals at the massive Cabela's store in Fort Worth can give the impression of being in a natural history museum. But the elephant, bear, mule deer and other creatures on display are all trophies that were shot in the wild by the hunters who come to America's largest outdoor retailer to buy their guns. "I already have a rifle but I'm thinking of getting a .308," said Darry Ayers, a strapping 19-year-old business student and deer hunter, as he peered at the long rows of rifles and shotguns on display. The percentage of Americans who hunt is slowly declining but it remains popular and helps explain a national... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, China
Guns in US 'Serious Threat to Life, Security' - China's Human Rights Report
China View (Beijing)
13 Mar 2008
BEIJING -- The Information Office of China's State Council issued "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007" on Thursday, revealing about 30,000 people die from gun wounds every year in the United States. The United States has an estimated 250 million privately-owned firearms, the largest number in the world, according to the Chinese report. "Frequent gun violence poses a serious threat to people's life and property security," said the report. On April 16, 2007, the Virginia Tech University witnessed the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history with 33 killed and more than 30 others injured. The report also cited... ( gunpolicy.org )
Trinidad & Tobago, Caribbean
Handguns the 'Number One Driver of Crime' in Trinidad, the Caribbean
Trinidad and Tobago Express
13 Mar 2008
The Government was officially absent from a forum in Port of Spain last week, organised by the international campaign against the proliferation of handguns, singled out as unmistakably the number one driver of crime in this country. And by extension, the Caribbean region and other parts of the world. Most of the nearly 400 murders committed in this country last year, and the 2,000 which have taken place over the last six years, have been committed via the use of handguns. The authorities have demonstrated no ability to address the cancer, even as police rush to publicise small finds here and there, petty seizures now and then. A firearms Interdiction Unit in... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Illinois Rejects Handgun Ammunition Microstamping as Crime Busting Tool
Southtown Star (Illinois) / AP
13 Mar 2008
SPRINGFIELD -- An Illinois House committee on Wednesday rejected the idea of requiring gun owners to use special ammunition imprinted with codes to help police track bullets found at crime scenes. Two other gun-control measures won approval from the executive committee. One allows revocation of gun permits for owners who fail to keep their weapons away from children or people with a serious mental illness. The other tightens rules on providing trigger locks as part of gun sales. The ammunition measure would require all bullets made or sold in Illinois to have a laser coding by 2010. The bill also says any ammunition used in the state would need... ( gunpolicy.org )
Namibia
Licensed, Unlicensed Firearms Involved in Surge of Gun Crime in Namibia
New Era (Windhoek)
13 Mar 2008
WINDHOEK -- Namibia is amending its firearms and ammunition legislation to curb the proliferation of firearms, some of which are being used to commit serious crimes. Statistics from the Ministry of Safety and Security show that over a period of eight years (1998-2006), more than 32600 firearms cases, ranging from murder and attempted murder to pointing firearms were reported. During the same period, 117204 firearms licences were issued to private owners, businesses, security companies and embassies. Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Safety and Security, Gabes Shihepo, said Namibia is experiencing an upsurge in passion killings, murders, carjackings... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Louisiana Police Dredge Assault Weapons, 50-round Magazines from Bayou
Monroe News-Star (Louisiana)
13 Mar 2008
Ouachita Parish sheriff's deputies found seven barrel assemblies for an AK-47, three gun receivers, three 50-round magazine drums, eight banana clips and one bayonet in a smelly, overgrown bayou Wednesday. Deputies took turns donning chest waders and arming themselves with a hay fork, hoes and a magnetic stick to fish through Young's Bayou, off Prairie Road in the southern region of the parish. Lt. Larry Knight said the team spent more than six hours fishing for the weapons after receiving an anonymous tip that someone dumped them over the side of a bridge on Crawford Road. "We are still investigating where the guns have come from," Knight said.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Nebraskans Cave to NRA, Agree to Trash Local Handgun Licensing Law
Papillon Times (Nebraska) / Midlands News Service
13 Mar 2008
LINCOLN -- Under pressure from the National Rifle Association, State Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha has rewritten his guncontrol proposal for the second time. In the version he brought to lawmakers Wednesday, Ashford no longer calls for a new commission to identify "inherently dangerous" guns that ought to be banned in Nebraska. "No bill to ban any weapons will pass this Legislature," Ashford said, explaining his aboutface. Instead, Legislative Bill 958 proposes that the Nebraska Crime Commission study gun violence and illegal firearms trafficking in Nebraska. The bill also calls for repeal of a 1991 law requiring people to obtain a permit... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Officials in 'Killadelphia' Battle Their Own State to Allow Gun Control Laws
Associated Press
13 Mar 2008
City Council members asked a court Wednesday to let them adopt local gun control measures because they say loose state firearms laws are wreaking havoc on Philadelphia streets. They accuse state lawmakers -- who were given the sole power to regulate Pennsylvania gun sales in a 1974 law -- of abdicating their responsibility to protect the public. Philadelphia's 400 annual homicides have spawned the notorious nickname "Killadelphia." "It's clear that they are not going to pass any laws," Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller said of state lawmakers. "We have been elected to protect the City of Philadelphia and we are prepared to do that. Every day, we... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Philadelphia Sues Pennsylvania State for Right to Enact City's Own Gun Law
Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania)
13 Mar 2008
The state's Supreme Court will have to reverse itself on a 12-year-old gun-control decision if Philadelphia is going to adopt and enforce its own gun laws, the chief judge of Commonwealth Court told the city yesterday. President Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter made her statement during a preliminary hearing on a lawsuit filed by City Council members Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller. They want the court to recognize Philadelphia's authority to enact stricter gun laws regarding gun purchases and ownership. Leadbetter, however, suggested that Commonwealth Court was just a stop on the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1996 upheld a state law forbidding... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Tennessee Man Took Stray Bullet to the Brain Watching TV in Memphis
CW30-TV News (Tennessee)
13 Mar 2008
MEMPHIS, Tennessee -- Police say they may never find the gunman who nearly left a Raleigh man brain dead. Back in January we told you about Dan Hall. Hall was shot by a stray bullet while sitting on his couch, watching television. Since then, he has not been able to work, his bills are piling up and police have made no arrests. It's been 54 days since Dan Hall was shot in the head. But instead of counting the days, he tries his best to make the days count. "I don't look at the future as what I'm going to do next year, I look at what I'm going to do next hour," says Hall as he reflects on how his life changed January 18th. Since Hall was shot he's not been able... ( gunpolicy.org )
World
Viktor Bout, Notorious Arms Dealer Arrested in Thailand. Why?
Economist / Reuters
13 Mar 2008
A former Soviet military-intelligence officer, stranded in Africa by the collapse of his country, turns to gun-running and builds a lucrative international business. It is the sort of outfit that thrives on pointless wars in failed, dirt-poor places. But it also plays a part in some bigger conflicts. Its list of past customers includes the world's best-known terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda and Colombia's FARC -- and Western governments too. Efforts to round up the man at the centre of this web are frustrated, sometimes by bad luck, and sometimes apparently by squabbles in the rich world between those who want to prosecute and those who protect him. That, broadly,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Washington Police Go Door-to-door, Asking to Search Kids' Rooms for Guns
Washington Post
13 Mar 2008
D.C. police are so eager to get guns out of the city that they're offering amnesty to people who allow officers to come into their homes and get the weapons. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced yesterday the Safe Homes Initiative, aimed at parents and guardians who know or suspect that their children or other relatives have guns. Under the deal, police target areas hit by violence and seek adults who let them search their homes for guns, with no risk of arrest. The offer also applies to drugs that turn up during the searches, police said. The program is scheduled to start March 24 in the Washington Highlands area of Southeast... ( gunpolicy.org )
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