Australia
Gun Ownership Booming in New South Wales: Premier Hints at Review
Sunday Telegraph (Sydney)
14 Dec 2008
Gun ownership is booming again in NSW, with 40,000 new firearms registered in the past four years. The rise coincides with a deal cut by the State Government and the Shooters Party to water down tough gun laws introduced in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre. Figures from the NSW Firearm Registry obtained by the National Coalition of Gun Control show gun ownership has risen at the rate of 10,000 a year since 2004 to 687,138 in October this year. Multiple gun ownership has also soared. The number of people receiving permits to obtain a second or subsequent firearm in 2006 was 32,616. In the first 10 months of this year, 43,095 such... ( gunpolicy.org )
Samoa, American Samoa
Inquiry Urged to Prosecute Samoa's Police Chief for Gun Smuggling
Radio New Zealand International (Shortwave)
14 Dec 2008
State lawyers assisting a commission of inquiry in Samoa into the illegal import of firearms has recommended a criminal investigation into the role of Police Commissioner, Papalii Lorenese Neru. The police patrol boat delivered the guns from American Samoa and the state lawyers say the boat's captain, Logoitino Filipo, should also be charged for breaches under the Police Service Act and the Arms Ordinance. The state lawyer, Rebecca Wendt, in her submission in the last day of the inquiry says there is strong evidence that the police commissioner is partly responsible for the importation of the firearms. But the lawyer for the police commissioner,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
New Jersey Trial Shows How Lax Gun Laws Make it Easy for Gunrunners
Star-Ledger (New Jersey)
14 Dec 2008
Donna Mack knew something was wrong when she heard a car roaring toward the Newark street corner where she had just left her younger sister. But there was no time to react. She saw a hand come out of the passenger's side window. A flash of gunfire, two pops. Then she watched from across the street as her sister, Cynthia Mack, fell to the sidewalk, a stray bullet in her head. The 39-year-old single mother of two died immediately, blood pooling around her body at dusk on a March 2005 night as the gunman sped away. "She never opened her eyes," Donna Mack said. Six days earlier, the 9 mm pistol that killed Cynthia Mack had been picked from the shelves... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Party Leaders Defend Weakening of New South Wales Gun Law
Australian Associated Press
14 Dec 2008
NSW laws that remove a waiting period to buy guns and allow people subject to apprehended violence orders to gain gun licences are being defended by both sides of government. The laws, introduced by the Shooters Party and supported by the government and opposition in the last sitting week of parliament, remove a 28-day waiting period for people trying to buy their second gun. The law was also changed to allow people previously subject to apprehended violence orders (AVOs) that have expired to have the orders revoked so they can regain gun licences. Premier Nathan Rees said the changes to the laws came about because some people were being unfairly... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Shooters Party, Labor Party Combine to Weaken Gun Control in Australia
Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), Editorial
14 Dec 2008
How quickly the NSW Government has forgotten the murder of 35 people at Port Arthur in Tasmania just over a decade ago. It is only 12 years since the horrific shooting spree in Tasmania that forever reshaped Australians' attitudes to gun ownership and control. In the wake of that tragedy, the NSW Government fell in behind then-Prime Minister John Howard's gun control measures, which included bans on semi-automatic weapons, strict licensing laws and a buyback of weapons. The gun lobby objected loudly, but the laws were passed in NSW and every other state and territory, with the support of the vast majority of voters. Ordinary people... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Texan Gun Dealers Deny Responsibility for Arming Mexico's Drug Cartels
Associated Press
14 Dec 2008
SAN ANTONIO -- Texas is serving as the armory of Mexico's bloody drug cartels that are ruthlessly killing the guilty and innocent in their battles for dominance of the drug trade routes from Mexico into the United States. In the first two installments of a three-pieces series of articles published Saturday and Sunday, the San Antonio Express-News reported that the cartels freely pay "straw buyers" -- Texans with clean criminal records who can skirt gun laws without notice. The newspaper reports the buyers provide the cartels' firepower from purchases from licensed retailers, gun shows and private sellers -- often leaving no documentation in their wake. After... ( gunpolicy.org )
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