Australia
Criminals Unlikely to Hand Over Many Illegal Guns in NSW Amnesty
Australian Associated Press
23 Dec 2008
The NSW government has announced a three-month amnesty for unregistered and unlicensed firearms in a crackdown on gun crime across the state. But the initiative has been criticised by the opposition and a gun control expert. Police Minister Tony Kelly said the amnesty would begin on March 1 next year to give those with unregistered guns an opportunity to hand them in to police. Under the amnesty, people without a gun licence will be able to surrender their firearms without penalty to any police station. And those who do have a licence, but have unregistered weapons, will be able to register them. "This amnesty will help us... ( gunpolicy.org )
West Africa
Eight West African States Fail to Ratify Regional Gun Control Convention
Ghana News Agency
23 Dec 2008
Eight out of the 15 member ECOWAS States have failed to ratify the sub-regional Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons proposed by civil society three years after a Draft was handed over to Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of ECOWAS in Abuja, Nigeria. The Convention is legally binding instrument which was pre-dated by the Declaration on the Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Light Weapons in ECOWAS Member States in 1998. The Moratorium "a non-legal document," would remain in force until the ninth ratification of the Convention by member states, Mr Baffour Dokyi Amoa, President of West Africa Action Network on... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Family Shootings Put Focus on Gun Control in New South Wales
Australian Associated Press
23 Dec 2008
SYDNEY -- Time goes very quickly when you're staring down the barrel of a gun. It ran out too fast for Melissa Cook, who was fatally shot by her ex-husband John Kudrytch last week while she stood behind the counter of a BP service station in Casula, in Sydney's south-west. In the following days, the NSW government announced it would hold a three-month gun amnesty next year to get illegal firearms off the streets. But time was not on the government's side either: Ms Cook was murdered just two weeks after it came under fire for passing laws allowing people subject to expired apprehended violence orders (AVOs) to apply to have gun licences renewed.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Five Pennsylvania Cities Beef Up Gun Control in US Mayors' Campaign
Reading Eagle (Pennsylvania)
23 Dec 2008
City Council voted 4-3 Monday to adopt an ordinance that requires Reading handgun owners to notify police within 24 hours of discovering that their weapon was lost or stolen. For several months council debated the measure, which some members questioned but Mayor Tom McMahon strongly supported. He has called the move a means of fighting trafficking in illegal guns. He also formed a coalition of nine Pennsylvania mayors who were trying to get local gun-theft ordinances in place because the state Legislature won't pass a similar law. Five of those cities -- Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Pottsville and York -- have passed the measure.... ( gunpolicy.org )
West Africa
Ghana Raises Alarm Over High Level of Gun Running in West Africa
African Press Agency / APA
23 Dec 2008
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Ghana's outgoing President, John Kufuor, has raised the alarm over the high circulation level of small arms and light weapons in the West Africa sub-region. Addressing the 35th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on Friday in Abuja, Kufuor also decried the drug menace and human trafficking, especially among women and girls in the sub-region. The Ghanaian leader, who was addressing the Summit for the last time as head of state, also expressed concern over the low level of development recorded by ECOWAS in spite of some efforts put in place over the years. "For these reasons, in spite of... ( gunpolicy.org )
Thailand, Russia, United States
Global Gun Runner, 'Merchant of Death' Viktor Bout Fronts Bangkok Court
Associated Press
23 Dec 2008
BANGKOK -- The alleged international arms smuggler Viktor Bout has taken the stand for the first time to fight his extradition to the US from Thailand, denying charges he conspired to arm Colombian rebels. The US is seeking the extradition of the Russian, 41, dubbed The Merchant of Death and purportedly the model for the arms dealer portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 film Lord of War. He was arrested in the Thai capital in March in a sting operation in which undercover US agents posed as Latin American rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. "I didn't do anything wrong in Thailand. I have never been to Colombia or the United... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
NSW Police 'Sick and Tired' of Licensed Owners Leaking Guns to Crims
Daily Telegraph (Sydney)
23 Dec 2008
The State Government has declared war on weapons, vowing to end the wave of gun and knife crime engulfing Sydney that has claimed three lives in just two weeks. The state-wide crackdown, including a three-month gun amnesty, comes as the father of a teenager stabbed to death begged youths not to carry knives. Etikailahi Motuliki wept yesterday as he pleaded for an end to the senseless violence that claimed the life of his eldest son Andrew, 17, during a brawl on board a train on Sunday. "I would like to appeal to kids everywhere not to carry knives," Mr Motuliki said. "They need to find out another way to solve their problems." His call... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Police Chief Pleads Not Guilty in Uzi Death of 8yr-old Boy at US Gun Club
Associated Press
23 Dec 2008
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts -- A police chief in western Massachusetts pleaded not guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter in the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself with an Uzi at a gun show. Pelham Chief Edward Fleury owns COPS Firearms & Training, which promoted the October show where Christopher Bizilj shot himself in the head. Fleury's lawyer, David Kuzmeski, also entered not guilty pleas on Fleury's behalf to four counts of furnishing a machine gun to a person under 18. Fleury did not appear at the arraignment in Hampden Superior Court. Fleury could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Show Dealer Lost 24 Firearms, Machine Guns from Parked Truck
Philadelphia Inquirer
23 Dec 2008
Federal authorities are expected to spend today combing through the inventory of a Western Pennsylvania gun dealer to determine exactly what was stolen from his truck while it was parked outside a restaurant in King of Prussia. According to Upper Merion Township police, at least 24 firearms, including machine guns and sniper rifles, valued at more than $200,000, were stolen from a Ford F-350 pickup around 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The weapons belonged to a dealer, Arms & Ordnance, in Warrendale, a suburb of Pittsburgh, said John Hageman, spokesman for the Philadelphia division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He said the ATF was working... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Weak Gun Laws Endanger All Americans: Close the Gun Show Loophole
New York Times, Editorial
23 Dec 2008
For years, the gun lobby has defeated new gun control laws partly by arguing that stronger laws do not deter crime. A study prepared by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group headed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, should finally put that myth to rest. The study analyzed trace data for guns used in connection with crimes during 2007. The data reveal a strong correlation between weak state gun laws and higher rates of in-state murders, police slayings and sales of guns used in crimes in other states. Many states have enacted strong gun laws to supplement inadequate federal ones, including mandatory background... ( gunpolicy.org )
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