Australia
Wife, Police Wonder If Australian Hiker Was Shot, Hidden by Deer Hunter
Age (Melbourne)
20 Apr 2008
The wife of missing hiker Warren Meyer fears he may have been accidentally shot by a deer hunter in the Yarra Ranges National Park and his death covered up. Zee Meyer said local residents had told her deer hunters were active in the remote bushland where her husband disappeared a month ago and there was evidence shots had been fired in the national park on the Easter weekend when her husband vanished. Alexandra CIU Detective Senior Constable Stuart Walls said the deer hunter theory was a possibility. "Until we have a body, we don't know how he died so we can't eliminate anything," Senior Constable Walls said. "We all know a stray bullet... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Army M4 Combat Rifle Faces Stiff Competition from European Designs
Associated Press
20 Apr 2008
One of the biggest differences between Colt's M4 carbine and its competitors is the way the bullets are fed through the rifles. The HK416, XM8 and SCAR use a gas piston system to cycle the bullets automatically. The M4 uses "gas impingement," a method that uses a tube to push hot gas through key parts of the gun. This leaves residue behind, detractors say, and makes the M4 more prone to jamming. But Army officials and Colt executives say they've received no significant complaints from troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. M4: Colt Defense's M4 carbine is a direct descendant of the company's M16 first used during the Vietnam War. At 33.6 inches long and weighing 7½... ( gunpolicy.org )
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Angola, China
South African Court, Unions, NGOs Block Guns, Ammo Cargo to Zimbabwe
Scotland on Sunday
20 Apr 2008
Dockyard workers in Africa are refusing to unload a Chinese ship laden with weapons for Zimbabwe. The whereabouts of the vessel, the An Yue Jiang, were not known last night, although it was believed to be heading to Angola. Sources say the ship is carrying three million rounds of AK-47 ammunition along with 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and several thousand mortar rounds. Dock workers in the region are expected to refuse to have any dealings with the deadly cargo, which many fear will be used by President Robert Mugabe to crack down on opponents in his landlocked country. Zimbabwe is still in a state of chaos over the outcome of recent elections, which... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Spent 9 Years as Board Member on US Charity Funding Gun Control
United Press International
20 Apr 2008
CHICAGO -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's time on the board of a gun-control group doesn't mean he wants to eradicate handguns, a spokesman said. Sen. Obama, D-Ill., served nine years on the board of directors of the Joyce Foundation in Chicago that claimed the Second Amendment protects state militias, but not the individual right to bear arms, the Politico reports. The Joyce Foundation supported grants totaling $21 million for anti-handgun measures and funded publication of a book "Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns" while Obama served on the board, the Politico said. Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
M4 Assault Rifle Does Poorly in US Army's Own 'Iraq Dust Storm' Test
Associated Press
20 Apr 2008
HARTFORD, Connecticut -- When the dust finally settled, Army officials sought to put the best face on a sandstorm test that humbled Colt Defense's vaunted M4 carbine. The tests were conducted at an Army laboratory in Maryland last fall. Ten M4s and 10 copies each of three other carbines -- the SCAR from Belgium's FN Herstal, and the HK416 and the XM8 from Germany's Heckler & Koch -- were coated in heavy layers of talcum-fine dust to simulate a sandstorm. Tens of thousands of rounds were fired through the rifles. The M4s malfunctioned 882 times. Bullets that didn't feed through the rifles properly or became lodged in the firing chamber were the biggest... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
In Year After Virginia Tech Campus Killings, US Gun Laws Were Relaxed
Sunday Mirror (UK)
20 Apr 2008
A year ago this week I stood at a candlelight vigil at Virginia Tech University in America and watched a campus mourn. A day earlier Seung-hui Cho, a mentally disturbed undergraduate, armed himself to the teeth, walked calmly into the university building and shot dead 32 students and five members of staff. He then blasted himself in the head. It was the worst college massacre in American history and for days afterwards the nation was in shock. So what has happened in the 12 months since? Has Congress rushed through tougher gun laws? Has America's powerful gun lobby come under pressure to soften its stance? Have... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Colt's Exclusive Grip on US Military M4 Assault Rifle Under Fire from Critics
Associated Press
20 Apr 2008
HARTFORD, Connecticut -- No weapon is more important to tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan than the carbine rifle. And for well over a decade, the military has relied on one company, Colt Defense of Hartford, Conn., to make the M4s they trust with their lives. Now, as Congress considers spending millions more on the guns, this exclusive arrangement is being criticized as a bad deal for American forces as well as taxpayers, according to interviews and research conducted by The Associated Press. "What we have is a fat contractor in Colt who's gotten very rich off our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," says Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. ... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Canadian Tories Give Gun Owners More Cash Than the Gun Registry Costs
Canadian Press
20 Apr 2008
OTTAWA -- The federal Conservatives, who once denounced Liberal cost overruns at the national gun registry, have been passing up more potential revenue from gun owners than they've spent to run the registry since they took power. Statistics provided to The Canadian Press by the RCMP list actual and projected operating costs for gun registration programs at $35.9 million over three fiscal years starting in 2006. During the same period, under new policies instituted by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, the government has refunded or is waiving an estimated $56.5 million in licensing fees from gun owners. The Mounties maintain that registration... ( gunpolicy.org )
Malaysia
Assault Rifle, Handguns Seized in Malaysian Robbery, Drug Gang Sweep
New Straits Times (Malaysia)
20 Apr 2008
KUALA LUMPUR -- Police scored two major successes over the past 48 hours, including solving the RM3.5 million robbery outside the main terminal building of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport earlier this month. Five men were arrested in Johor on Friday in connection with the April 9 heist which saw five people wounded in a shoot-out with the robbers. Sources said firearms were seized from the five men. However, it is not known if any of the money, some S$1.5 million (RM3.5 million), had been recovered. "We believe we have solved the case with the arrests of the five suspects," said a source. Efforts to get an official confirmation... ( gunpolicy.org )
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