United States
Workplace Shooting Lawsuits Best Left to Courts, Not State Legislatures
News Journal (Delaware), Editorial
28 Feb 2008
Some state legislatures are willing to step up to the defense of workers who want to carry weapons to work by passing laws that strike down employers' bans of guns on company property. This is sparking more than a constitutional debate between the National Rifle Association and its detractors. Employees are being threatened with loss of jobs if they refuse to honor their companies' ban on weapons at work. Additionally, companies are making a property rights argument, some even filing lawsuits against legislation that seeks to make these bans illegal. And both sides use self defense as their leading argument. The supporters of the right to bear... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Pressure Groups, Gays, Jews, Women Try to Sway Justices on Guns
Detroit Free Press (Michigan) / McClatchy Newspapers
28 Feb 2008
WASHINGTON -- Gay gun owners who call themselves Pink Pistols say they'll be safer if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Washington's strict handgun ban. Jewish gun owners, women and disabled veterans, among others, also say they're vulnerable and need the protection they contend only firearms can provide. More than 65 groups have filed friend of the court briefs in the gun case, surpassing the attention paid to such hot-button issues as affirmative action and abortion. The case, scheduled for oral arguments March 18, challenges a District of Columbia handgun ban imposed in 1976. Only retired district police officers can legally possess handguns.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Dealer Wants Stay in 'Criminal' Libel Case - To Defend Crime Rap
Associated Press
28 Feb 2008
NEW YORK -- A South Carolina gun dealer who sued New York's mayor for saying his shop engaged in "criminal behavior," has asked judges in two states to put his case on hold so he can fight an unrelated criminal charge. Licensed firearms dealer Larry Mickalis was indicted earlier this month on a charge that he illegally sold a rifle to an ex-convict two years ago at his pawn shop in Summerville, S.C. The charge was a surprise development in the merchant's ongoing legal battle with New York City, and his attorneys have now asked courts to freeze the civil litigation until the criminal case is resolved. One of the gun dealer's lawyers, Scott Allan,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Election Year Campaign to 'Bring Your Loaded Guns to National Parks'
Washington Post
28 Feb 2008
Visitors to some national parks would be able to start packing heat along with their tents and picnic baskets under a proposal being considered by the Interior Department that would ease restrictions on loaded firearms in the parks. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said last week that officials would review long-standing regulations that require firearms in most national parks to be unloaded and inoperable -- through the use of trigger locks, for example, or storage in a car trunk or a special case. The department intends to propose new rules by April 30. The review pits the National Rifle Association and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers against... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Proposed Fee Hike to Drive Some Australian Gun Dealers Out of Business
Advertiser (Adelaide)
28 Feb 2008
Eighty per cent of Central Victoria gun dealers will be driven out of business and attempts by farmers to control vermin will be undermined if recommendations of a licence fee increase are accepted, dealers claim. The Regulatory Impact Statement is part of a State Government draft proposal on changes to firearm regulations recommending lowering some licence fees including rifles by 11 per cent, professional hand guns by 17 per cent, increasing others such as sporting hand guns by 97 per cent and firearm dealer licences by up to 647 per cent. A & L Guns owner Rod Flower said his licence fee will increase from about $1380 to $7400 for a three-year period... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
New York Firearm Trafficking Slows, Fewer New Crime Guns in Evidence
Newsday (New York)
28 Feb 2008
The number of firearms recovered in the city dropped by more than 1,000 last year, and statistics suggest fewer new guns are turning up on the streets, a sign that trafficking may be on the decline, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The 5,913 firearms recovered represented a 16 percent drop from the 7,059 guns recovered in 2006, according to ATF. Nearly half those guns could not be traced, primarily because their serial numbers had been defaced. But ATF agents were able to trace 3,124 of them from when they were legally purchased to when they were recovered. This "time to crime" index rose to 13 years in 2007, up from... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Illinois House Committee Clears Assault Weapon Ban, 1-gun-a-month Bills
Daily American (Illinois) / GateHouse News Service
28 Feb 2008
SPRINGFIELD, Illinois -- Proposals that would ban semi-automatic assault weapons and outlaw the purchase of more than one handgun a month cleared an Illinois House committee today. But both measures have won committee approval in the past, only to stall later in the legislative process. It isn't clear how the bills will fare in the current session of the General Assembly. House Bill 4393, sponsored by Chicago Democratic Rep. Luis Arroyo, would limit handgun purchases to one every 30 days. "Let's get most of these handguns off the streets," Arroyo said, citing Chicago's gun violence. National Rifle Association lobbyist Todd Vandermyde... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Hiding Identity of US Pistol-packers Worsens Problem of Hidden Handguns
West Virginia Gazette, Editorial
28 Feb 2008
Another attempt to hide important government records from West Virginians is proceeding through the Legislature -- in this case, adding concealment to concealment. It would make secret the names of people who get permits to carry concealed weapons. Delegate Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, said some women victims of domestic violence asked him to introduce the bill, because they don't want anyone to know they're carrying hidden pistols. Maybe -- but we suspect that this is another dubious scheme by the right-to-bear-arms lobby. The National Rifle Association is backing similar secrecy efforts in other states. Since guns are extremely popular in rural West Virginia,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Eight Wounded in Two Simultaneous Los Angeles School, Street Shootings
CBS News (USA)
28 Feb 2008
LOS ANGELES, California -- At least eight people have been wounded in shootings outside a fast food restaurant and a school in south Los Angeles. LAPD Spokesman Jason Lee says the gunfire happened just after 3 p.m. pacific time outside a Jack in the Box restaurant. Another shooting happened at the same time at nearby Carver Middle School. Two of the injured in that shooting are believed to be students. The fire department says six people were hit outside the restaurant and two were wounded at the school. Three people are in critical condition. A spokesperson for the school district says school had already dismissed but the campus was put on... ( gunpolicy.org )
Congo (ROC)
Congolese Troops Collect, Destroy Surplus Guns, Ammunition, Explosives
IRIN (UN News)
28 Feb 2008
BRAZZAVILLE -- Armed forces in the Republic of Congo have begun to collect and destroy all weapons abandoned on battlegrounds in the country's civil war that began in 1997, as well as munitions that had expired but were still in armouries. The move follows President Denis Sassou Nguesso's declaration that 2008 would be "a year without illegal weapons in Congo". "Our duty is to collect and destroy all the equipment abandoned on the ground after the events of 1997, to preserve the lives of people," Jacques Yvon Ndolou, the minister in charge of defence and the welfare of veterans and disabled war veterans, said on 21 February. He was speaking... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
California Woman Dies After Being Struck by Stray Bullet in Street
KTVU-TV News (California)
28 Feb 2008
SAN PABLO -- The Contra Costa coroner's office Thursday identified Lisa Thayer, 47, as the woman who was fatally shot in San Pablo. At about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, officers were dispatched to the area of San Pablo Avenue and Road 20 where they located Thayer suffering from a gunshot wound, police said. The San Pablo resident was transported to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to the coroner's office. A preliminary investigation indicates that Thayer was the unintended victim of the shooting, police said. ( gunpolicy.org )
Brazil
Brazil Gun Deaths Outpaced Births: Gun Buyback Saw 8% Homicide Drop
ISN Security Watch (Switzerland), Web Page
28 Feb 2008
Results from a recently released study that measured population growth and homicides in Brazil between 1996 and 2006 revealed that homicides dropped by eight percent between 2003 and 2006, a time period that overlaps with a nationwide gun buy-back program during which nearly 500,000 firearms were removed from circulation. Gun buy-back programs have met with mixed success in Latin America, but according to the study, authored by Julio Jacobo Waiselfisz, Brazil's gun buy-back program played a significant role in reducing violence. The Brazilian Justice Ministry agrees and will restart the program this month. The buy-back program began in 2004 as part of... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Amid Gun Deaths, Why Are Political Candidates So Quiet on Gun Issues?
Chicago Tribune, Opinion
28 Feb 2008
Silence is in short supply this political season. The airwaves are filled with candidates talking about every issue under the sun. The other omnipresent feature in the news is mass murder and the mourning that follows. Interesting that these two circles do not overlap. Why aren't politicians even engaging in the debate about how to stop these shootings? On Feb. 14, Steven Kazmierczak, armed with three handguns and a shotgun, opened fire on students at Northern Illinois University, leaving five dead. On Feb. 2, five women were shot to death in a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park. It is unfair to say that our leaders in Washington did nothing between those... ( gunpolicy.org )
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