United States
Barack Obama Lists the Tighter Gun Control Measures He Supports
Chicago Sun-Times
25 Apr 2008
In a sit-down interview with the Sun-Times, White House hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday he has been following with great concern the gun violence that has plagued the city in recent weeks. "The news has just been heart-breaking," Obama said after a speech to union members at McCormick Place. "I've asked my staff to contact the Chicago Police Department, and I'm going to put in a call to the mayor just to find out just what is accounting for this huge uptick." Obama said elected officials can help by restoring federal funding to put more police on the street and passing more gun-control legislation, such as better background checks for gun purchasers.... ( gunpolicy.org )
Zimbabwe, China
Beijing Recalls Zimbabwe Arms Cargo: Speculation on Gun Airlift to Mugabe
Associated Press
25 Apr 2008
BEIJING -- A shipment of Chinese weapons headed for troubled Zimbabwe will be returned to China because there is no way to deliver it to the landlocked country in southern Africa, China said Thursday. Countries neighboring Zimbabwe refused to allow the Chinese freighter An Yue Jiang to dock at their ports. That followed heavy pressure from African unions, churches and human rights groups, bolstered by behind-the-scenes pressure from the United States. Critics argue that providing Zimbabwe's security forces with the weapons could worsen attacks reportedly being made on opponents of President Robert Mugabe amid a political standoff over a contested election.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Chicago 'Doesn't Dare Stop Trying' to Confront Carnage, Curb Gun Violence
Chicago Sun-Times, Editorial
25 Apr 2008
We can't stop trying. The problem is guns. No, it's not about guns. The problem is bad parents. No, we can't make bad parents good. The problem is drugs. No, we can't stop the drugs. The problem is jobs. No, we can't bring back the good jobs. The problem is our schools. No, we can't ask our schools to solve all the problems that flow from broken families and broken neighborhoods. But we can't stop trying. In a dramatic gesture, Mayor Daley has called for a summit at City Hall today to search for solutions to the bloodbath of violence -- almost all of it involving guns -- that has swept across Chicago's neighborhoods... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Georgia Bill to Allow Hidden Handguns on Trains, Buses and in Restaurants
Los Angeles Times
25 Apr 2008
ATLANTA -- Scores of Atlanta's law enforcement, transit and business leaders joined Mayor Shirley Franklin on Thursday to urge Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto a bill that would allow Georgians to carry concealed handguns onto trains and buses and into restaurants that serve alcohol. "This is not about the right to bear arms," Franklin, a Democrat, said at a news conference at City Hall. "This is about public safety ... There is a direct public safety risk to all of us if guns are permitted on public transit [and in] restaurants and parks." The controversial bill, which passed Georgia's General Assembly on the last day of the 2007-08 session, has created a... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Georgians Wake up to Law Encouraging Guns in Eateries, Public Transport
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia)
25 Apr 2008
Three weeks after is slipped through the legislature, a bill to permit licensed owners to carry concealed firearms in parks, on public transportation and in booze-serving restaurants has resulted in a delayed storm of protest urging Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto the measure. MARTA bus drivers already have 1,000 signatures on a petition demanding bulletproof shields, should HB 89 be signed into law. The Georgia Restaurant Association, wondering how waiters and waitresses are to keep patrons from both drinking and packing, is prepared to go to court. And on Thursday, led by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, a group of two dozen political, business and community... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Kingdom, Iraq, Afghanistan, Europe
Guns 'Commonly' Smuggled in UK Army Vehicles Crossing Europe from Iraq
BBC News
25 Apr 2008
Two former soldiers who were jailed for their involvement in a gun smuggling ring have said the practice is common in the British army. Shane Pleasant and Ben Whitfield were in the Third Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment, when they helped to smuggle weapons from Iraq into Europe. They said if soldiers had the right contacts it was easy to smuggle weapons out of countries. The MoD said there was no evidence such guns were used in crimes in the UK. The two soldiers told BBC Radio 5 Live that weapons could be obtained in Iraq or Afghanistan, either by buying or stealing from locals and foreign police. Both soldiers said that with... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
More and More US States Pass Laws to Conceal Hidden Handgun Permits
USA Today
25 Apr 2008
South Carolina last week became the latest in a growing number of states to make the names of people who have a license to carry a concealed weapon a state secret. Five other states might not be far behind in a battle that pits a public policy of open government against the right of people to keep their gun ownership records private. Bills that would make concealed gun permit records confidential have been introduced in eight other states this year -- Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia -- according to Janna Goodwin of the National Conference of State Legislatures. The Tennessee bill was... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
No Criminal Record for Canadian Politician Caught with Illegal Handgun
Mississauga News (Ontario)
25 Apr 2008
Despite admitting to owning a restricted and unlicensed handgun, John Snobelen will not have a criminal record. Noting that the former Mississauga MPP and Ontario cabinet minister made a "foolish mistake" by continuing to possess the weapon and not disposing of it, Justice Steve Brown granted Snobelen, 53, an absolute discharge today in Oakville court. Last summer, Snobelen, who served as both Education Minister and Natural Resources Minister during his time at Queen's Park from the mid-1990s to 2002, pleaded guilty to careless storage of a firearm and possession of a restricted weapon. The absolute discharge means Snobelen won't have a criminal... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Pennsylvania Needs Handgun Owner Licensing, Better Background Checks
Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania), Opinion
25 Apr 2008
Recent efforts to pass gun-control legislation in Pennsylvania have fallen flat -- to no one's surprise, probably. Laws that have passed either will have little effect on reducing gun violence (setting up a registry for lost or stolen handguns) or will likely be declared unconstitutional by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (the bills passed by Philadelphia City Council). What can a legislator from the Philadelphia suburbs, one who has come around to embrace reasonable restrictions on handgun ownership and possession, do to push a bill that would both be meaningful and get through the legislature, while recognizing the stranglehold the National Rifle Association... ( gunpolicy.org )
Kenya
Shootings, Gun Crime Bring Calls for Urgent Firearm Seizures in Kenya
Nation (Nairobi)
25 Apr 2008
NAIROBI -- Residents and leaders in the larger Laikipia district have appealed to the Government to mop up illegal firearms in the area following a fresh wave of killings by bandits. The call follows increased cases of murder, robbery and stock theft. Residents have been killed by bandits and cattle rustlers and hundreds of cattle, sheep and goats stolen. Laikipia West district commissioner, Fredrick Shisia estimates the number of illegal firearms in the area at between 3,000 and 5,000. Buying guns "There's no community that is not arming itself. Pastoralists have always had firearms to protect their animals from rustlers and now farmers are... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Corporations Have No Right to Keep Guns Away From the Workplace
Tampa Tribune (Florida), Opinion
25 Apr 2008
While clowning around with my grandchildren one day, I suddenly shouted, "Look at the sky, it has turned from blue to green." Try as I might, I could never convince them that it was true, because they could see and couldn't be fooled. So it is with Robert Levy's column ("Employers Must Pull The Trigger," Our Opinion, April 22). Levy claims that our right to have firearms locked in our cars in a parking lot is not about the Second Amendment but about the mythical right of corporations to usurp the Constitution and ban guns. But Levy didn't pull it off because we can see the truth. And the price he's asking us to pay for permission to do business with... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Dealer Sold to Campus Killers, Now Touts Guns at Virginia Tech
Associated Press
25 Apr 2008
BLACKSBURG, Virginia -- The online weapons dealer who sold one of the guns used in the Virginia Tech shootings visited the campus, a decision the school's spokesman called "terribly offensive." Dealer Eric Thompson spoke at the school Thursday night as part of a weeklong demonstration in favor of allowing people to carry concealed weapons at colleges. "For people who want to arm themselves, there shouldn't be policies in place to stop them," Thompson told about 60 students who attended his talk. There were only a few anti-gun questions posed to Thompson, and none of the protests school officials prepared for. Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Virginia Gun Shop Thefts Fuel Armed Crime in New York, New Jersey
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia)
25 Apr 2008
Three years after a gang of robbers took 66 guns in a brazen, day-time holdup of a Chesterfield County gun shop, more than a half dozen of the weapons have turned up on the streets of seven Northeastern cities. The passage of time hasn't diminished law-enforcement efforts to recover the guns, taken by four masked men who stormed Bob Moates Gun Shop in a stickup that surprised even officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for its daring and speed. Eight of the 15 guns recovered so far have been found in cities in New Jersey and New York, where authorities had predicted they would end up. Most of the recovered guns... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Virginia State Crime Panel 'May Study' Gun Show Loophole, But No New Law
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia)
25 Apr 2008
A limited look at Virginia's so-called "gun-show loophole" will be among a dozen issues the Virginia State Crime Commission will study this year. The commission agreed yesterday to study the applicable state and federal firearms laws so that General Assembly members will have a clear understanding of the law in any future legislative debates. But recognizing the political divisiveness of the issue, the commission decided it will not recommend any proposed laws of its own as it has on other subjects, such as illegal immigration last year. Legislation requiring criminal-background checks on all firearms transactions at gun shows was defeated at... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Virginia Tech Slams Visit by Gun Dealer Who Armed Campus Shooters
New York Times / The Lede, Blog
25 Apr 2008
Many news accounts have accurately described Eric Thompson as the owner of an online firearms store linked to two mass shootings -- Seung-Hui Cho bought a gun there, Steve Kazmierczak bought ammunition. In attacks less than a year apart, they killed 37 people at two universities. But his company tells a more complicated story, explaining that an "unfortunate twist of fate is spurring him to take a more active role in protecting the public." The role, as Mr. Thompson sees it, is to spread the word that more people need to carry guns, provided they are trained and licensed. As part of his campaign, he accepted an invitation to speak at an event organized... ( gunpolicy.org )
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