United States
San Francisco Voters Owe Gun Lobby $380,000 for Killing Their Gun Ban
San Francisco Chronicle
18 Oct 2008
Earlier this year, the courts slapped down San Francisco's voter-approved initiative to ban the sale and possession of firearms, calling the proposition unlawful. Gun-owning residents, the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups, cheered. Now, it looks like those plaintiffs -- well, technically their attorneys -- are getting paid by city taxpayers. The city has tentatively agreed to a $380,000 settlement for lawyers' fees and other costs the plaintiffs incurred in fighting the ban. The Board of Supervisors still must approve the agreement, but it's likely they will. And who knows? Perhaps the NRA won't cash the check but instead... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Pennsylvania Raises Gun Crime Penalties, Rejects Gun Theft Reporting
Philadelphia Inquirer
18 Oct 2008
Surrounded by the relatives of recently slain Philadelphia police officers, Gov. Rendell yesterday signed into law tougher gun penalties, including a mandatory 20-year sentence for anyone convicted of shooting -- or shooting at -- law enforcement officers. House Bill 1845 also increases penalties for other gun-related crimes and closes a loophole that allowed some mentally ill individuals to buy guns. But the General Assembly failed to support a provision that would have required the reporting of lost or stolen handguns. Rendell said the law was "not a panacea," but could save lives by serving as a deterrent. He noted that in the last... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Boston Airport Twice Missed Handguns, Shotguns in Luggage to Lebanon
Boston Globe
18 Oct 2008
At a time when airport security is so tight that even hand lotion can become the object of suspicion, one traveler managed twice to get pistols and shotguns through a phalanx of security personnel and on a plane from Logan Airport to the Middle East, the US attorney's office said. Munir Alani, a gas station attendant from Rhode Island, said he transported weapons in his checked luggage twice in the last three years, most recently in March. He was not caught, security officials said, because Logan Airport screened his luggage only for explosives. He tried it again in September, according to court documents. But this time, customs agents checked his luggage... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Biden, Obama on Gun Registration, Assault Weapons, Hidden Handguns
Nevada Appeal
18 Oct 2008
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware said Friday that Nevadans shouldn't listen to claims he and Barack Obama would take away the right to bear arms. "I get a kick out of, sometimes, the NRA saying we're going to take your shotguns away," he said in a telephone interview with the Nevada Appeal. "I've got three shotguns, although my son thinks one of them, the over-under, is his." "Both of us believe strongly in the Second Amendment," Biden said. "We do not believe in registration. We do believe in limits on some of the weapons. You can't have your own flame-thrower or bazooka. And legislation in relation to assault weapons doesn't... ( gunpolicy.org )
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