Canada
Toronto Mayor Joins 11yr-old Gun Victim's Family in Handgun Ban Petition
Grand Falls-Windsor Advertiser (Newfoundland)
17 Apr 2008
Verdon Brown, the uncle of 11-year-old Ephraim Brown, has found a new ally in his struggle to have handguns banned in Canada. The Peterview resident, like his brother Gerald and wife Lorna, the parents of Ephraim, was devastated when the little boy was shot to death at a neighbourhood birthday party for a relative, having the misfortune of being caught in the crossfire of a gang shoot out. Ephraim had been looking forward to moving from Toronto back with his parents to a new home in Peterview. But another person saddened by the death of Ephraim and other victims of handguns was the mayor of Toronto, David Miller. He called for a ban... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
There's Way Too Much Shooting Going On: Minnesota Gun Control Lie-in
Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul), Column
17 Apr 2008
I went to a die-in at the State Capitol on Wednesday, marking the anniversary of last year's slaughter at Virginia Tech, where a deranged kid killed 32. I brought my Glock. I didn't really. It would have been weird and crazy to take a gun to an event marking a massacre, especially the very kind of gun used in the massacre. But then again, this country is weird and crazy about guns. I went to a local gun store Wednesday (I have a permit) and found I could get a nifty Glock 19 -- the 9-millimeter semiautomatic model that Cho Seung-Hui used on April 16, 2007 -- for less than what Cho spent. He bought his Glock for $571 at a Roanoke, Va.,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Finland
Report on Finland's Campus Mass Shooting Sees Little Hope of Prevention
International Herald Tribune
17 Apr 2008
TUUSULA, Finland -- Five months after an 18-year-old student killed eight people at a Finnish school before turning the gun on himself, authorities say they can do little to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. A police investigation that wrapped up on Thursday concluded 18-year-old gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen acted alone in the November 7 shooting. In the days and hours before the massacre the teenager posted messages detailing his intentions on the Internet, including a YouTube video clip. Police said Auvinen's online relationship with a foreign girl ended days before the rampage, Finland's deadliest school shooting. The killer chose his victims... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
On NRA Request, Judge Blocks Philadelphia from Enforcing New Gun Laws
Associated Press
17 Apr 2008
PHILADELPHIA -- A judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the city from enforcing five gun-control ordinances pending a challenge from the National Rifle Association. The NRA argues that state law prevents Pennsylvania municipalities from regulating guns, a view that even the city's crime-weary district attorney shares. "The city has no basis to pass any of these gun-control ordinances and they know it," lawyer C. Scott Shields argued on the NRA's behalf. City lawyers contend that Philadelphia can pass gun-control ordinances if the laws are outside the scope of state measures. As an example, lawyer Mark Zecca told the judge that one Pennsylvania... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Ohio Law Now Allows Gun Owners to Shoot First, Avoid Prosecution Later
Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
17 Apr 2008
If a man's home is his castle, then that man has every right to shoot an intruder who would dare to break in. That's the gist of Senate Bill 184, the so-called Castle Doctrine. It presumes that a resident acted in self-defense if he or she used force against someone who unlawfully enters the person's home or occupied vehicle. Pushed by the National Rifle Association, the bill passed the Senate unanimously yesterday and now moves to the House. Sen. Stephen Buehrer, R-Delta, said his bill is "affirming a fundamental exercise of Ohioans' Second Amendment rights." Though common law generally allows people to defend themselves or others from an intruder... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Michigan Students Rally to Oppose 'Guns on Campus' Policy Change
Grand Rapids Press (Michigan)
17 Apr 2008
GRAND RAPIDS -- About 65 Calvin College students are marching on campus this afternoon to protest a plan to have campus safety supervisors carry handguns. Students carried "no guns" signs and chanted "No more weaponry. We want community," as they walked peacefully from the campus green to the president's home. School leaders plan to begin the gun policy this fall. The board is expected to approve the plan next month, making the 132-year-old school the first private college in West Michigan to allow safety personnel to carry handguns on campus. Of the Calvin safety department's 43 employees, only three are supervisors who could carry a gun by... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Control Group Says 80 'Lie-ins' Protested Lax Gun Control Across US
Courier News (New Jersey)
17 Apr 2008
Teresa and Michael Pohle Sr. listened Wednesday as a gun-control activist describes each of the 32 victims of the shooting massacre at Virginia Tech -- including their 23-year-old son, Michael Steven Pohle Jr. -- during a demonstration at The College of New Jersey campus in Ewing on the one-year anniversary of the rampage. Thirty-two volunteers, the Pohles among them, wore ribbons in Virginia Tech maroon and burnt orange as they lay on the floor as the names were read. The protest was among about 80 nationwide that ProtestEasyGuns.com organized to call for tighter control on gun sales. The Pohles were expected to join friends Wednesday night for a candlelight... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Free After Gun Killing, Canadian Gangster Quickly Caught with New Arsenal
Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
17 Apr 2008
VANCOUVER -- Months after finishing a two-year sentence for manslaughter, a Vancouver gangster is facing five weapons charges after allegedly being found in an apartment full of guns, including one with a silencer. Barry Gene Espadilla, 23, pleaded guilty in 2005 to a role in the slaying of Don Hill Tong Wong, 23, whose bullet-riddled body was found in the trunk of his own Lexus in Vancouver's West End in May 2003. Espadilla, who was initially charged with first-degree murder, later confessed to an undercover police officer planted in his cell, but his admission of guilt was thrown out after a judge ruled his Charter rights were violated. He... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Foreign Media Notice Breadth of Anti-gun, Pro-gun Campaigns in America
Sydney Morning Herald
17 Apr 2008
In groups of 32, protesters around the United States were to lie on the ground for three minutes yesterday in an attempt to bring light to gun laws they say are too lax. The protests were to occur at least 80 times in 33 states one year after a mentally ill gunman on a murderous rampage killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus. At each event, the 32 protesters were to symbolise the 32 Virginia Tech victims and did not include the shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, whose suicide ended the carnage a year ago. Protesters were to lay prone for three minutes because that is about how long a licensed gun seller takes to conduct a background check on a customer. Gun... ( gunpolicy.org )
Kenya, East Africa
Development Money to East Africa Fails to End Gun Trade Among Herders
Nation (Nairobi)
17 Apr 2008
LONDON -- Donors have been asked to stop funding NGOs working for peace in northern Kenya because the money has failed to do anything to reduce conflicts between pastoralist communities. Moreover, governments in East Africa have been challenged to do more to stop the proliferation of arms in the region. They have also been urged to work jointly to disarm all militia groups to improve security in the region. These are the conclusions of two new studies on the escalating conflicts across northern Kenya and Uganda which have claimed the lives of thousands of people in recent years. In his book, Guns and Governance in the Rift Valley, published... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Democrat Hopefuls in 'Silly Spectacle' as They Compete for US Gun Vote
Wall Street Journal, Opinion
17 Apr 2008
Imagine an election race of Pat Robertson versus James Dobson, each of them appearing at organic grocery stores and Starbucks throughout Massachusetts, with each candidate insisting that he alone deserves the vote of gay-marriage advocates. An equally silly spectacle is taking place these days in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky, as Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama compete for the pro-gun vote. Mr. Obama supports the Second Amendment -- or so his surrogates have been claiming all over Pennsylvania, the state with the highest per-capita membership in the National Rifle Association. The effort was set back last weekend with... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Chicago Mayor's Attempts to Close Gun Show Loophole Defeated Yet Again
Chicago Tribune
17 Apr 2008
SPRINGFIELD -- Despite a series of shooting deaths of Chicago public school students, a key piece of Mayor Richard Daley's gun package failed Wednesday in a House largely influenced by pro-gun lawmakers. The high-profile proposal, aimed at closing what Daley sees as a loophole on private handgun sales, fell only two votes short. The measure would have required people who sell guns privately to first get background checks of potential buyers through licensed dealers. "Until you close these loopholes, we don't have a chance because the streets are flooded with new firepower," said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago). Rep. Ron... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Best Opportunities for Gun Control Reform Remain in US State Capitals
Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania), Editorial
17 Apr 2008
As expected, the National Rifle Association sprinted into court and got a temporary hold yesterday on the five gun-control laws enacted in Philadelphia. Unexpected, however, was District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's announcing that she wouldn't prosecute anyone charged under the new ordinances. Call it selective prosecution. Fed up with the daily shootings in Philadelphia, the City Council passed -- and Mayor Nutter promptly signed -- ordinances last week that limit handgun purchases, target gun trafficking, and subject gun ownership to much-needed greater oversight by the Police Department. Kudos to Council and the mayor for their strong... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
At Request of NRA, Philadelphia Judge Blocks City's 5 New Gun Laws
Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania)
17 Apr 2008
A Philadelphia judge this morning temporarily blocked enforcement of a package of five gun-control laws enacted last week by City Council. Common Pleas Court Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan also said that the order would remain in effect pending a further hearing April 28. C. Scott Shields, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit for the National Rifle Association, said an emergency order was needed to allow city gun shops to know which guns they can sell. The lawsuit was filed late Tuesday, just hours after District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham told City Council members that she believed the gun-control package was unconstitutional and that she would not... ( gunpolicy.org )
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