United States
74yr-old Florida Motorist Hit in Head by Stray Bullet While Driving Home
WPTV News (Florida)
17 Dec 2008
RIVIERA BEACH, Florida -- He survived his second heart attack two and a half weeks ago, and turned 74 on Sunday. E.T. Strickland already thought he was lucky to be alive. Now, he knows he is. Strickland and his wife Pam were driving home from dinner on Broadway in Riviera Beach around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night when a stray bullet pierced the drivers side window of their white Mercedes Benz. Pam Strickland tells NewsChannel 5, "I knew immediately what it was: you know, a shot through the window and as I looked at the window shattered my husband said 'I've been shot' and pulled in to the gas station." E.T. Strickland, a local real-estate... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Australian Man Got a Gun, Killed His Ex-wife Despite Restraining Order
Sydney Morning Herald / AAP
17 Dec 2008
Police investigating the murder of a woman gunned down by her estranged husband will investigate how he got hold of a gun when an apprehended violence order (AVO) had been taken out against him. Just after 4pm yesterday, John Kudrytch, 39, walked into the BP service station on the Hume Highway at Casula and shot his 29-year-old ex-wife, Melissa Cook, in the chest. She died in Liverpool Hospital. Four hours later police found Kudrytch dead inside the couple's former home on Pine Road, just one kilometre down the road from the service station, where he lived. Shot himself Police say it appears that he shot himself. Assistant... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Iraq
Blackwater 'On Probation' Over Illegal Gun, Ammo Exports from US to Iraq
Associated Press
17 Dec 2008
RALEIGH, North Carolina -- The State Department has issued new regulations to closely monitor how Blackwater Worldwide exports sensitive equipment, such as guns and ammunition, putting the security contractor on probation amid probes into how the company handled arms shipments to Iraq. The so-called "policy of denial" was posted Wednesday. It requires the North Carolina company and its affiliates to file extra paperwork and progress reports, which the State Department said are needed to ensure Blackwater "is both capable and willing" to comply with the country's export laws. The new rules took effect earlier this month. Blackwater has acknowledged it... ( gunpolicy.org )
Myanmar, China
Ethnic Army, Drug Traffickers 'Manufacturing AK-47s' in Myanmar
Irrawaddy (Thailand)
17 Dec 2008
The United Wa State Army (UWSA), an armed ethnic ceasefire group based in Shan State, northern Burma, is manufacturing arms and ammunition for use by its own battalions and to sell to other armed groups in the region, according to sources close to armed groups in Shan State. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Sai Sheng Murng, the deputy spokesman of the rival Shan State Army-South (SSA) said, "For more than one year now, the UWSA has been manufacturing AK-47 rifles similar to those made in China." Another source close to the UWSA said, "They (the UWSA) learned how to make arms from the Chinese. "The arms and bullets the Wa produce are not... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Glock from QLD Police Safe Traded to Drug Dealer, Pistol Club Member
Courier-Mail (Brisbane)
17 Dec 2008
A NSW drug dealer traded a Gold Coast policeman two surfboards for a stolen police gun so he could go pig shooting, a court has been told. Convicted drug dealer and surfboard maker Brian Kellway gave evidence yesterday at the committal hearing into charges against Senior Constable Christopher Curtin. Curtin has been charged with stealing the Glock handgun from a gun safe at the Surfers Paradise police station in March 2001, and with receiving tainted property -- allegedly the surfboards. He was arrested during an undercover NSW police investigation into an alleged gun-dealing racket, the hearing was previously told. The gun allegedly... ( gunpolicy.org )
New Zealand
Licensed Gun Collector Jailed for Selling 30 Firearms to NZ Criminals
TVNZ One News / NZPA
17 Dec 2008
A Coromandel man who illegally sold off his gun collection has been jailed for 21 months. In Hamilton District Court, Judge Phillip Connell said the actions of John Mabey had long reaching implications for public safety and posed a grave risk to the community, One News reported. Mabey was jailed after he sold his gun collection, including military-style weapons, to criminals. Police have found some of the firearms in the hands of dangerous offenders. The judge said the 44-year-old unemployed sickness beneficiary was motivated simply by greed. Mabey had collected 121 guns but police said when the interest on a half million dollar... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Seattle Mayor on Track to Ban Hidden Handguns in City Buildings
Seattle Times
17 Dec 2008
If Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' proposed firearms policy is on track to become law by executive order, little short of a successful legal challenge is likely to derail it. The proposal has its supporters. And sidetracking it may be an uphill battle. Still, that didn't stop Keli Carender from trying at a public hearing Monday night. "Any sort of ban is gun control," she said, after speaking for her allotted 90 seconds against the measure. Moments later she told a newspaper reporter: "It's the same old argument going around and around." Carender said she is among those "trying to protect their right to keep and bear arms." Earlier this... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Washington Council Tightens Gun Rules After Landmark Court Ruling
Associated Press
17 Dec 2008
WASHINGTON -- The District of Columbia Council passed more regulations for gun owners Tuesday, months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the city's 32-year-old handgun ban. Among other things, the bill requires gun owners to register their weapons every three years and receive training by a certified firearms instructor. "This bill will be, I think, one of the most progressive registration laws in the country," Council member Phil Mendelson said. The National Rifle Association accused the city of forcing residents to jump through unnecessary hurdles, thereby undermining the intent of the Supreme Court's ruling in June that affirmed the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Washington DC Enacts Tough New Gun Control, Gun Marking Measures
New York Times
17 Dec 2008
WASHINGTON -- Nearly six months after the Supreme Court put an end to the District of Columbia's decades-old ban on handgun possession, the City Council here passed a sweeping new ordinance on Tuesday to regulate gun ownership. The legislation would require all gun owners to receive five hours of safety training and to register their firearms every three years. In addition, they would have to undergo a criminal background check every six years. Councilman Phil Mendelson, who helped draft the bill and shepherd it through the Council, called it a "very significant piece of legislation that borrows best practices from other states." Opponents said... ( gunpolicy.org )
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