Canada, United States
Chicago Gun Dealer Faces Extradition to Canada for Smuggling Firearms
National Post (Toronto)
16 Nov 2008
TORONTO -- Canadian officials have told the United States they want to bring a Chicago gun dealer to Toronto to stand trial on charges of smuggling more than 200 handguns across the border. The case, which may be a first for Canada, appears to signal a harder line against gun smugglers as Toronto grapples with a rash of gang-related shootings that have claimed several innocent bystanders. Seventy per cent of the crime guns seized by Toronto police have been smuggled into the country from the United States. There have been 211 shooting incidents in the city so far this year, 35 of them homicides. The extradition case against "Mike" Yildiz began... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Existing Gun Owners, Not New Buyers Stocking Up in US Gun Fear Sale
Tulsa World (Oklahoma)
16 Nov 2008
COLLINSVILLE -- Parked on Main Street in the middle of a weekday morning, a Rogers County farmer reaches behind the seat of his F-150 pickup and pulls out a pair of loaded guns. One is a 9 mm automatic pistol with a shiny silver finish and a leather holster. The other is a .22-caliber rifle, painted bright pink with a flower decal on the barrel. John Humboldt keeps one for self-defense, although he's never had any need to use it. The other, he gave to his daughter for Christmas last year, right before she turned 9. "I thought she was getting pretty old for it, really," Humboldt says. "I learned to shoot right after I learned... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Fear of Obama 'Going British' On Guns Fuels US Weapon-Buying Spree
Sunday Paper (Atlanta)
16 Nov 2008
Last summer, not long after Democratic presidential primary candidate Hillary Clinton told the people of Scranton, Pa., about how she'd learned to shoot at her family's cottage, while her opponent Barack Obama was counting up his likely electoral college votes and Republican John McCain was talking about buying insurance across state lines, the U.S. Supreme Court quietly issued an interpretation of the Second Amendment that firmly protects the rights of individual citizens to own and bear arms. On June 26, the Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that the District of Colombia's 32-year-old ban on handguns and its accompanying unloaded-and-locked requirement for shotguns... ( gunpolicy.org )
Finland
Firearm Registry Full of Errors, Wrong Numbers Says Finnish Gun Dealer
Helsinki Times / Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)
16 Nov 2008
The national daily Helsingin Sanomat reports that the national weapons register is rife with mistakes and inaccuracies. "The Interior Ministry's weapons register is outdated and highly inaccurate. Many mistakes were made when the register's data was converted from file cards to an electronic registry in 1992. Already before this, White Guard rifles, for example, have been registered with a type number instead of a manufacture number. 'For God's sake, in Finland we have many Parabellums whose serial number has been marked as 1916, 1917 or 1918, for example, because it reads so on the side of the weapon. In reality that number is the year it was made,' says retired... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Illinois Gun Lobby Fears Conspiracy in Obama Staff Questionnaire
Chicago Tribune
16 Nov 2008
A 63-item questionnaire for prospective members of Barack Obama's White House team has upset the Illinois State Rifle Association because it includes a question on firearms that the organization reads as hostile to gun owners. "Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun?" asks Question 59. "If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage." Richard Pearson, executive director of the ISRA, said Friday that the question was "a pointer of where they want to go" with gun-control... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
I've Learned a Lot from Gun Nuts: Here's a Thing They Can Learn from Me
New West (Montana), Opinion
16 Nov 2008
I'm not a gun nut. I'm a regular nut who owns guns, but only to hunt, not to defend my home and family, join the militia or fight the forces of tyranny. Gun nuts don't scare or intimidate me. Instead, I'm learning a few things from them. You can, too. I don't use the word, "nut," lightly. I mean it as a sincere compliment -- no different than somebody calling me a "fishing nut" and making my chest swell. (It might even the best thing I've been called lately.) To me, a nut is a devotee, enthusiast, purist, the top dog in a cultural niche, a person with the level of passion most of us only see in our dreams and imagination. So, readers with guns,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama 'Salesman of the Month' as US Gun Industry Whips Up Fear Sales
San Diego Union-Tribune (California)
16 Nov 2008
The economy may be in the tank, but business has never been better at the El Cajon Gun Exchange. Semiautomatic rifles, handguns and short-barreled shotguns are moving off the shelves and into the hands of customers who share widespread fears that President-elect Barack Obama will restrict their right to own a gun. "Obama is the salesman of the month," said store owner Louis Baldridge. Bryan Watters, a Lakeside customer who followed the election rhetoric closely, figured it was a no-brainer to make his first gun purchase sooner rather than later. "I'm afraid of the revocation of my Second Amendment rights," Watters said Friday after... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
South Carolina Tax Holiday Aims to Grow Gun Sales - Why Not Tobacco?
Independent Mail (South Carolina)
16 Nov 2008
Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, South Carolina residents will have a 48-hour period when they can purchase guns, shotguns, and rifles tax-free. The first annual Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday in the state is set to begin at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 28 and continue through 11:59 p.m. Nov. 29. The sales tax holiday, approved by the South Carolina General Assembly in June, will permit the purchase of fixed-cartridge handguns, shotguns, and rifles without state and local sales and use taxes. According to the South Carolina Department of Revenue, only purchases of fixed-cartridge handguns, shotguns and rifle will be tax-free. Sales of... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Nations
UN Gun Trade Conference Report: Moving a Small Arms Agenda Forward
Disarmament Times (USA)
16 Nov 2008
A wave of optimism swept over the United Nations small arms process in July, when progress on implementing the 2001 Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms in All Its Aspects received new momentum. (1) On 18 July, after seven months of preparation and five days of face-to-face discussions at the Third Biennial Meeting of States, 134 states voted to adopt a final outcome document outlining actions needed to counter the global illicit trade in a variety of small and medium caliber weapons and explosive ordnance. (2) (See accompanying story, page 7, for details of the outcome document.) The vote provides new impetus to a process that began... ( gunpolicy.org )
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