United States
Firearm Sales Slow as US 'Paranoia' Over Obama, Gun Control Subside
Globe & Mail (Toronto)
29 June 2009
A gun-buying boom in the United States, prompted by worries that the new administration might move to restrict firearms purchases, could be coming to an end. There has been a surge in firearm sales since Barack Obama was elected last fall, apparently buoyed by fears that the new President's administration would launch restrictive gun laws -- unthinkable to millions of citizens in a country whose Constitution preserves the right... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
'Post Election Fear Mongering' Doubled, Trebled US Gun Industry Stocks
San Jose Mercury News (California), Column
23 June 2009
Since the beginning of the year, the country's largest publicly traded gunmakers have seen their shares take incredible upward trajectories, thanks to a rush of post-election fear mongering. The stock of Smith & Wesson, the 157-year-old gunmaker, has nearly tripled, from $2 to more than $6 before trading Monday, while stock of Sturm, Ruger & Co., maker of the "Ruger," has doubled, from just over $6 to $12.35 in the same six-month... ( gunpolicy.org )
Jamaica, Mexico, United States
80 Percent of Jamaica's Traceable Crime Guns Are Smuggled from US
Associated Press
23 June 2009
KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Ships from Miami steam into Jamaica's main harbor loaded with TV sets and blue jeans. But some of the most popular U.S. imports never appear on the manifests: handguns, rifles and bullets that stoke one of the world's highest murder rates. The volume is much less than the flow of U.S. guns into Mexico that end up in the hands of drug cartels -- Jamaican authorities recover fewer than 1,000 firearms a year. But... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Maker Shares Fall as Post-Obama US Firearm Sales Surge Wanes
Associated Press
22 June 2009
NEW YORK -- Shares of the nation's major firearms makers fell Monday on analyst concerns that the postelection surge in hand gun sales may be coming to an end. Both Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. declined following an article in the business publication Barron's, which suggested that the companies could see slowing consumer demand for their firearms. The news dragged stocks lower, but it wasn't... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Fear and Fury Drive Gun Sales: US Gun Owners Will Shoot Gun Grabbers
New York Times
21 June 2009
BELLEVILLE, New Jersey -- At the Bullet Hole, an Essex County gun store, and at Gun for Hire,across the street, where Anthony Colandro offers courses in firearm use, martial arts and personal safety, it's the best of times and the worst of times. Worst of times? Just ask Manny Cerca, who for the past 27 years has run the Bullet Hole, a family-owned shop and firing range about five miles from Newark. Inside, there are deer heads... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Disappointment in Obama's Unwillingness to Even Discuss Gun Control
New York Times, Column
19 June 2009
Even with the murders that have already occurred, Americans are not paying enough attention to the frightening connection between the right-wing hate-mongers who continue to slither among us and the gun crazies who believe a well-aimed bullet is the ticket to all their dreams. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't help feeling as if the murder at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the assassination of the abortion... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Lobby Groups 'Essentially Have Won' Battle Against US Gun Control
Dallas Morning News (Texas), Opinion
17 June 2009
Three deaths in widely separated parts of the country: Each the work of a single person, each stemming from a different grievance. They did have one thing in common: All three victims were killed by a gun (although each by a different type). In Wichita, Kan., a single bullet from a handgun took the life of Dr. George Tiller, who ran a clinic that performed late-term abortions. The man charged with Tiller's murder was an... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Even More Now in the Age of Obama, Guns Control America's Ballot Box
Independent (UK), Opinion
14 June 2009
These are baffling times on the front lines of America's great culture wars. Half a dozen states have now approved gay marriage, the very mention of which is anathema to social conservatives. In contrast, another great cause of conservatives -- to make abortion illegal -- seems to be making headway. In May, Gallup found that more Americans considered themselves pro-life than pro-choice, the first time this has happened since the polling... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Haters' Gun-empowered White Rage Spiralling Out of Control?
New York Times, Column
13 June 2009
When a Fox News anchor, reacting to his own network's surging e-mail traffic, warns urgently on-camera of a rise in hate-filled, "amped up" Americans who are "taking the extra step and getting the gun out," maybe we should listen. He has better sources in that underground than most. The anchor was Shepard Smith, speaking after Wednesday's mayhem at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Unlike the bloviators... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Racist Gun Owners' Movement Shows White US Males' Growing Fear
Washington Post
11 June 2009
Crazies. Lone nut jobs. Isolated loonies. Those are frequent descriptions of people like James von Brunn, the 88-year-old white supremacist accused of opening fire at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and killing a black guard. Others believe he represents something more dangerous: a growing racist movement motivated by a number of converging factors, including the first black president. The potential for an increase in... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Holocaust Museum Gun Killer a White Supremacist, Holocaust Denier
Associated Press
11 June 2009
WASHINGTON -- An 88-year-old white supremacist has been charged with murder for killing the security guard who had opened the door to let him into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum, officials said Thursday. Security Guard Stephen T. Johns was shot to death Wednesday by Holocaust denier James von Brunn, who had left his car in a lane of traffic outside an entrance to the museum before walking in with a concealed rifle, District... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Guns 'Clearly Not Fundamental Right' - Obama's Supreme Court Pick
Washington Times, Opinion
10 June 2009
During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama went to great lengths to convince everyone he was a strong defender of the Second Amendment. He disowned or denied a long list of anti-gun positions and told us time and time again to trust him, that he really did believe the Second Amendment protected an individual right. Was he simply catering to public opinion? The latest poll from Opinion Research found last month that 77 percent... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Hidden Handgun Permits, Gun Sales Rise at Record Clip in Virginia
Virginian-Pilot (Virginia)
8 June 2009
Erin King squeezed into a packed classroom at Bob's Gun Shop with a new pistol and a mission. She sat through two hours of instruction and fired off several dozen rounds at the range with her Guardian .32-caliber. The 26-year-old from Suffolk bought her first gun a few weeks ago and plans to get a concealed-carry permit next month. She'll slip her pistol into a hidden holster and protect herself commuting to her part-time... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Unlikely Allies Blunt Gun Lobby Attack on Obama's Supreme Court Pick
Bloomberg (USA)
2 June 2009
Judge Sonia Sotomayor's best defense against firearms owners mobilizing to oppose her U.S. Supreme Court nomination may come from an unlikely source: two top conservatives on the federal bench. Sotomayor was labeled "anti-gun" by Gun Owners of America for refusing to extend to the states the U.S. Supreme Court's 2008 decision overturning a Washington, D.C., handgun ban. The group said a January ruling by a three-judge panel that... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Advocates See Reason to Be Wary of US Supreme Court Nominee
Wall Street Journal
30 May 2009
WASHINGTON -- Gun-rights advocates are using Judge Sonia Sotomayor's involvement in two Second Amendment cases as ammunition to challenge her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, threatening to draw the Obama administration into a debate over firearms laws that it has tried hard to avoid. The Gun Owners of America, an organization based in Springfield, Va., is telling its 300,000 members to let senators know they oppose Judge Sotomayor's... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Florida Governor Gives $6m Handgun Fund Back to 'Paranoid Gun Lobby'
Orlando Sentinel (Florida), Column
28 May 2009
Even in this time of budgetary sacrifice, Gov. Charlie Crist understands certain priorities. The biggest one is not to offend the NRA when running for the U.S. Senate. And so with a stroke of his veto pen, Charlie gave the very grateful gun lobby the $6 million it so loudly demanded. The Legislature provided Charlie with this golden opportunity. Lawmakers played the anti-gun saps so he could play the pro-gun hero.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Allowing Guns in US National Parks 'Solves Problem that Didn't Exist'
Denver Post (Colorado), Editorial
28 May 2009
A sorry set of circumstances has led to allowing guns in our national parks and wildlife refuges, and our country is the poorer for it. Senate Republicans cynically hijacked the credit card reform legislation that Democrats had championed and attached a rider that would allow holders of concealed-carry permits to tote their firearms within national parks in states that allow such permits. The new law effectively opens all... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Will Probably Pass More Pro-Gun Bills Than Bush, Says Democrat
Associated Press
24 May 2009
WASHINGTON -- Frustrated liberals are asking why a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House can't manage to close the Guantanamo prison or keep new gun-rights laws from passing. After all, President Barack Obama pledged to shut down the military detention center on Cuba for suspected terrorists. And Democratic control of the government would suggest that any gun legislation leads to tighter controls on weapons, not expanded... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
'Stinging Defeat for Gun-control' as US Allows Guns in National Parks
Associated Press
20 May 2009
WASHINGTON -- In a stinging defeat for gun-control advocates, Congress has voted to allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. The House approved the measure, 279-147, on Wednesday, one day after the Senate acted. A total of 105 Democrats in the House joined 174 Republicans in supporting the gun measure, which essentially restores a Bush administration policy that briefly allowed loaded guns... ( gunpolicy.org )
Mexico, United States
Mexican Drug War Guns Came from Licensed Gun Dealers in Houston
Houston Chronicle (Texas)
20 May 2009
Ten Houston men, including three brothers, were charged Monday in a conspiracy to ship 151 military-style weapons south of the border. It's the region's biggest arms-trafficking case since the Obama administration vowed to do more to stem the flow of U.S. guns to Mexican drug cartel soldiers. Many of the weapons, which court papers indicate were bought by deceiving Houston firearms dealers, were civilian variants of M-16 assault... ( gunpolicy.org )
Trinidad & Tobago, United States
Caribbean Gun Smuggling 'Enormous': Trinidad Signs Gun Tracing Deal
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian
20 May 2009
PORT-of-SPAIN -- Describing the influx of illegal firearms into T&T as "enormous", acting Police Commissioner James Philbert yesterday signed an agreement with the US to combat arms trafficking. Philbert and John Ries, charge d'affaires at the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain, signed a policy agreement with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of the US Justice Department to provide access and utilisation of e-Trace services.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Democrats' Transformation No More Evident Than in Gun Control
Politico / Capital News (Washington DC)
19 May 2009
Last week, 27 Senate Democrats joined Republicans to pass an amendment that allows concealed weapons in national parks. This week, the Senate could take the first step toward overturning a gun control bill passed by their own Democratic brethren more than a decade ago. After a soul-searching exile, the Democratic Party that regained control of both Congress and the White House in the past two election cycles is proving... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Budget Raid on Florida's Hidden Handgun Licensing Fund Stirs Fight
Miami Herald
19 May 2009
TALLAHASSEE -- As more people in Florida seek concealed weapons permits, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson wants Gov. Charlie Crist to veto a $6 million raid on a fund that pays for the program. Bronson's request presents a timely opportunity for Crist to score political points with gun owners just as he's embarking on a race for the U.S. Senate. In a letter to Crist, Bronson cited "unprecedented growth" in applications... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
New York's Gun Battle: Bloomberg Leads 340 US Mayors for Gun Control
Gotham Gazette (New York)
18 May 2009
Ten-year-old Naiesha Pearson was happily playing with other children at a Bronx playground during a Labor Day picnic on the day a bullet meant for someone else tore into her chest. Two men in their early 20s had gotten into an argument earlier in the day, and one of them decided to resolve it with gunfire. Naiesha was struck by one of the bullets. Her grandmother fainted, and fights broke out as onlookers tried to attack the shooter. Naiesha... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama's 'Crazy Theory:' Mexican Wars Might Slow Without US Gun Flood
Arizona Republic
16 May 2009
Arizona's Sen. John McCain, who once proposed cracking down on gun-show sales, told the National Rifle Association on Friday that he will oppose any "separate agenda" to rein in gun owners' rights as part of an effort to stop illegal gun-running to violent Mexican drug cartels. "We can and should do more to crack down on the illegal transfer to Mexico of weapons acquired in the United States, which is a violation of both U.S. and... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Owners Wary of Obama; NRA Influence Either Gaining or Waning
Reuters
15 May 2009
PHOENIX -- Thousands of U.S. gun owners gathering in Phoenix for the National Rifle Association's convention have one target firmly in their sights: any attempt to curb gun rights by the new guys in Washington. "We as an association, but more importantly America's 80 million gun owners, are very concerned about what may be coming down the pike through the Obama administration," Glen Caroline, grassroots director for the NRA's lobbying... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
After Nearly 4 Months of Obama, Great US Gun Grab Hasn't Begun Yet
Daily Sentinel (Colorado), Column
15 May 2009
During last year's presidential campaign, gun-owners' groups like the National Rifle Association said Barack Obama, if he were elected, would be the most anti-gun president in the history of the United States. That claim and similar statements sparked a buying spree on guns and ammunition immediately following the election, which continued well into this year. I bought some shells last week, and told I was limited to two boxes.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Mexico Data Overstates US Share of Guns Smuggled to Fuel Drug War
El Paso Times (Texas)
14 May 2009
EL PASO -- More than 90 percent of about 11,000 guns tied to violence in Mexico's drug wars came from the United States, but those weapons were handpicked for tracing by Mexican authorities. The Mexican federal attorney general's staff recently acknowledged that Mexican authorities had seized 35,943 arms, including 2,800 grenades, since the crackdown against the drug cartels began in December 2006. That means Mexico provided... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Sales Climb as 'Scared' Americans Cite Obama Gun Ban, Economy
Boston Globe
10 May 2009
The firearms industry appears to be riding out the recession in fine form, with sales across the country flourishing. And the enthusiasm for purchasing such weaponry has spread to communities south of Boston, according to area gun dealers. Firearms of all types are in demand as well as the ammunition to feed them. Customers run the gamut from the seasoned hunter and skilled marksman to the novice. Training classes for new gun owners... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Lobby Victory Myth Inflates 'Democrat Cowardice' on Gun Control
New York Times, Opinion
9 May 2009
In politics, conventional wisdom can be slow to die, even when the so-called wisdom is neither true nor wise. So I was reminded on a recent visit to Capitol Hill, when I asked several lawmakers and senior members of their staffs to explain the Democrats' timidity about standing up to the National Rifle Association by pressing needed measures to curb gun violence. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama tossed cold... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
NY Senator, Ex-NRA Favourite Veers to Gun Control, Faces New Test
Newsday (New York)
6 May 2009
WASHINGTON -- Since her appointment to the Senate, one-time NRA favorite Kirsten Gillibrand has passed just about every test on guns set by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy - but that might change next week. As the junior senator from New York, the upstate Democrat has undergone a transformation, moving quickly in the past three months away from her House record that won the NRA's top rating while remaining a supporter of Second Amendment... ( gunpolicy.org )
Mexico, United States
100 Federal Agents Deploy to Texas to Catch US-Mexico Gun Traffickers
Associated Press
28 April 2009
HOUSTON -- One-hundred federal agents and other personnel have been deployed to Houston in an effort to stop the flow of firearms to Mexican drug cartels from one of the major sources of guns seized south of the border, officials announced Tuesday. They'll spend the next four months in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Houston field division, developing cases against people and groups trafficking firearms... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Arms Industry Hails Obama as Unofficial Gun Salesman of the Year
Economic Times (India) / AFP
27 April 2009
CALIFORNIA -- The rest of the US economy may be in the grip of a crippling recession but in the booming firearms industry, President Barack Obama is being toasted as unofficial salesman of the year. Fearful that Obama's administration is quietly planning to introduce tough new restrictions on gun ownership and worried that the recession will trigger a crime wave, Americans are scrambling to stock up on guns and ammunition. ... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Distrust of Obama, Fearful Americans Drive Record Spree of Gun Buying
Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh)
27 April 2009
On the gun counter at Ace Sporting Goods in Washington County, customers are greeted with a picture of President Barack Obama next to the caption, "Salesman of the Year." The "Salesman of the Month" honor goes to Gov. Ed Rendell, whose picture is next to the president's. "Obviously it's a little bit of humor," said owner George Romanoff. "But any time our politicians start discussing gun control, it has the adverse effect... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Chicago Allies Chafe as Obama Slides Gun Control Onto Back Burner
Chicago Tribune
27 April 2009
In July 2007, when the presidency was still a long-shot proposition, Barack Obama stopped at Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago to deliver a fiery sermon challenging the government, the gun lobby and the public to do more to stop gun violence. "Our playgrounds have become battlegrounds. Our streets have become cemeteries. Our schools have become places to mourn the ones we've lost," he told a standing-room-only congregation at... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
8yrs in Prison: US-Mexico Gun Runners, Gun-rights Abusers Take Heed
Dallas Morning News (Texas), Editorial
22 April 2009
Hours after President Barack Obama's trip to Mexico, a Houston court sent a much-needed message to U.S.-based arms buyers that they will pay a heavy price if their weapons wind up south of the border. U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced defendant John Phillip Hernandez to eight years in prison Friday for his involvement in a gun-smuggling ring that purchased 339 weapons during a 15-month period. Dozens of those military-style... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Law-abiding Americans Deeply Affected by Gun Laws - The Lack of Them
Baltimore Sun, Column
21 April 2009
Don't be absurd," a reader of this column, E. Bruce Volensky of Alabama, wrote recently when I suggested in an e-mail exchange that he and other all-guns-at-all-costs advocates seem unfazed by the mass killings that have marked another American spring. "Those of us that support Second Amendment RIGHTS hate gun deaths, perhaps more than you, for it gives you what you seem to think is ammunition (no pun intended) for your cause." Thanks... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Lobby Paranoia Is Silly, Dangerous; No Need to Outlaw Firearms
US News & World Report, Opinion
20 April 2009
We make it too easy for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons in this country. As a result of our weak, nearly nonexistent laws restricting access to guns, every year we end up with approximately 12,000 gun homicides, 18,000 gun suicides or fatal accidents, and another 70,000 gun injuries. In the last month, two different shooters used military-style assault rifles to kill police officers in Oakland and Pittsburgh because... ( gunpolicy.org )
Mexico, United States
Gun Control Group Study Analyses US-Mexico Gun Smuggling Cases
KPBS-TV News (San Diego)
20 April 2009
A Washington DC gun control group says President Barack Obama should ban the import of assault weapons and make public a database that traces guns. Analysts with the Violence Policy Center say doing so would help crackdown on gun smuggling to Mexico. Violence Policy Center analysts looked at all federal firearms cases tied to Mexican gun traffickers they could find in California and three other states from 2006 to 2009. The... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Mexican Arms Race: Ever-bigger US and Other Guns Reach Drug Cartels
Associated Press
19 April 2009
MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- An escalating arms race among Mexico's drug cartels casts doubt on whether Mexico or the U.S. can stop the flow of weaponry, despite renewed vows last week from presidents of both countries. Stockpiles captured by Mexican soldiers show that warring traffickers are now obtaining military-grade weaponry such as grenades, launchers, machine guns, mortars and anti-tank rockets. Some drug gangs have even... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
America Remembers Columbine: Gun Control Efforts 'Largely Fizzled'
Agence France Presse
19 April 2009
DENVER, Colorado -- Flags will fly at half-mast across Colorado on Monday as the region remembers the Columbine High School massacre, 10 years after the tragedy that left 13 people dead and 23 others wounded. Relatives of victims and community leaders will gather to reflect on the horrors of April 20, 1999, when heavily-armed teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a bloody rampage through the halls of their high school.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico, Americas
Obama Signals Assault Weapon Ban: US Gun Buying Frenzy Reinforced
Sydney Morning Herald
18 April 2009
WASHINGTON -- Sales of military-style assault weapons should be banned in the US, Barack Obama said as he met his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, to discuss measures to curb the violence among Mexican drug cartels. But the US President set no timetable for pushing for legislative change -- a move that would be highly controversial in the US. Instead he said he would seek Senate ratification of an inter-American arms trafficking... ( gunpolicy.org )
Jamaica, United States, Caibbean
Jamaica Urges US to Impose Stronger Laws to Curb Gun Trafficking
Caribbean NetNews / JIS
18 April 2009
WASHINGTON -- Jamaica's Ambassador to Washington Anthony Johnson has called on the American government to put strong legislation in place to stem the trafficking of small arms to Jamaica and other Caribbean territories. The Ambassador, who is Jamaica's Permanent Representative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), was speaking to JIS News on Thursday prior to his departure for Trinidad and Tobago to attend the Fifth Summit... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada, United States
Crackdown on Gun Smuggling Could Help Canada's War on Drugs
Vancouver Sun / Canwest News Service / AFP
18 April 2009
VANCOUVER -- U.S. President Barack Obama's push to crack down on weapons smuggling is an encouraging move that could help British Columbia's war on drugs, according to a political science professor. But others aren't so sure and say Obama's announcement is nothing more than "smoke and mirrors." Last week, Obama backed Mexico's war on its violent drug cartels, calling for a crackdown on weapons trafficking and admitting shared responsibility.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Apocalypse Fear Fuels Record Utah Gun Sales, Hidden Handgun Permits
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
18 April 2009
There's been a record-breaking run on concealed weapons permits in the state in what gun store owners and activists say is fueled by political and economic uncertainty. Utah issued 15,389 concealed weapons permits in the first three months of the year, shattering the previous record of 11,996, which was set in the second quarter of 2008. Traditionally, slightly more permits have gone out of state than to Utah residents.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
US Pledges to Improve Abysmal Record, Stem Flow of Guns to Mexico
Wall Street Journal
17 April 2009
President Barack Obama on Thursday told Mexican President Felipe Calderón that the U.S. would stem a flow of weapons across the border into Mexico. But while Washington has spent more than $30 billion since the early 1990s to keep illicit goods and illegal immigrants from entering the U.S., it has had virtually nothing in place to check -- let alone stop -- what is flowing out. Mexican authorities have long pressed the U.S. to... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Obama Insists He Hasn't Backed Off On Plan to Ban Assault Weapons
Reuters
17 April 2009
MEXICO CITY -- President Barack Obama stood alongside Mexico's Felipe Calderon on Thursday and promised to help his "courageous" fight against ruthless drug cartels waging turf wars along the joint border. In his first trip to Latin America as U.S. president and fresh from his first big foray onto the global stage in Europe last month, Obama said Mexico and the United States both needed to strengthen and coordinate their drug war... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Houston Man Gets 8 Years for Selling 103 Guns to Mexican Drug Lords
Houston Chronicle (Texas)
17 April 2009
A Houston man, who authorities contend supplied a Mexican drug cartel with 103 military-grade weapons, including some used in the "Acapulco Massacre" of police officers, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison Friday. While John Hernandez, a 26-year-old unemployed machinist who lived with his parents, didn't know precisely that the guns would be used to kill police and gangsters, he knew well that he was arming cartel hit... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Fear and Greed Have American Sales of Guns and Ammo Shooting Up
Wall Street Journal
17 April 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, Georgia -- The way Jay Chambers sees it, the semiautomatic weapons in his firearm collection might be the most promising investment in his financial portfolio. Like many gun enthusiasts, Mr. Chambers, a manager for a door wholesaler here, believes President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress soon will reimpose a version of an expired federal ban on the sale of so-called assault weapons. If such a law passes,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Armed Insurrectionism, Gun Lobby Dream Goes Mainstream in America
Huffington Post (USA), Blog
16 April 2009
For years, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) has warned Americans about the dangers of insurrectionist ideology: the idea that individuals have the "right," in the words of National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre, "to take whatever measures necessary, including force, to abolish oppressive government." CSGV has argued that not only does insurrectionism degrade the democratic values and institutions that protect the freedoms... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Ending Flows of Drugs, Guns Tops President Obama's Mexico Visit
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
15 April 2009
WASHINGTON - As the death toll in Mexico's drug wars soars into the thousands, the United States government and public have focussed more attention not just on drugs flowing north but also on the easy supply of weapons flowing south. "There's no doubt that the vast majority of weapons seized in Mexico come from the United States," Attorney General Eric Holder said on a trip to Mexico earlier this month. "This is a reality we have... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico, Americas
UN Official Calls for US to Sign, Ratify Global Gun Control Protocol
New York Times, Opinion
14 April 2009
Mexican drug cartels are spreading fear and death on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Over 1,000 people have been killed already this year, while 6,000 died in 2008. Some critics point to the current crisis as another failed campaign against drugs. They regard legalization as a way of removing drug cartels from the supply chain. But the solution lies in a tougher stance on guns, not a softer control of drugs. Otherwise a threat to public... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Lobby Campaign 'Foments Paranoia,' Drives Rush in Gun Sales
Guardian (UK)
13 April 2009
At the Guns and Ammo Warehouse they are reluctant to admit Barack Obama is right about very much. But customers enjoy the thought that his controversial campaign comment, that "bitter" small-town Americans are clinging to their guns, has proved more true than the president could have imagined. Firearms sales have surged in the six months since Obama's election as millions of Americans have gone on a buying spree that has stripped... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Mexican Ambassador Says US Guns, Assault Weapons Fuel Drug War
Associated Press
13 April 2009
WASHINGTON -- Stopping the flow of money and weapons from the United States into Mexico is critical to dealing with the violent drug cartels creating havoc on the border, the Mexican ambassador to the U.S. said Sunday. Mexican officials believe that 90 percent of the weapons seized there can be traced to the U.S., Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan said. "The key issue right now is how can the United States help to shut down those... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Mexico Says US Fuels Gun Crime, Asks Obama for Assault Weapon Ban
BBC News
12 April 2009
Mexico's ambassador to the US has urged America to stop the flow of guns and cash that pass into his country, fuelling the country's drug wars. Arturo Sarukhan said US money and weapons provided the drug cartels with the means to "corrupt, bribe and kill". President Barack Obama is due to visit Mexico later this week. More than 6,000 people died last year in Mexico in drug-related violence and Mexico believes 90%... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Fear of Crime Surge Drives US Gun Sales, Cynicism Kills Gun Control
Baltimore Sun, Column
12 April 2009
Americans have been killing each other for a long time -- thousands upon thousands of men, women and children lying in the cold, cold ground from decades of homicidal violence, the bulk of it inflicted with guns. There are street killings here, bedroom killings there -- single victims scattered across the daily news. (I saw my first victim 33 years ago this month, a woman shot to death by her estranged husband as she walked across a parking... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Gets Gun-Shy: Dems Join NRA, Gun Lobby Strongest in Decades
Newsweek (USA) Vol. 153 No. 16
11 April 2009
On the morning of April 4, Richard Poplawski had a quarrel with his mother. It was over a dog urinating on a carpet. Mom called the police to have her 22-year-old son evicted from her house, a brick ranch with a dirty aluminum awning in the Stanton Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Two officers responded to the call, figuring it was a typical domestic dispute. Margaret Poplawski greeted them by saying, "Come and take his ass." But the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Ban Assault Rifles, AR-15: Members of US Congress Cower from NRA
St Petersburg Times (Florida), Editorial
11 April 2009
St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon is right when he says that AR-15 semiautomatic rifles "don't belong on any city street in America." So why are they so easily available? Maybe because they are legal. These military-style assault weapons are the kind that police say killed 8-year-old Paris Whitehead-Hamilton after more than 50 bullets pierced her Bartlett Park home early Sunday. These guns have no practical use for hunting,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Democrats Join Gun Lobby to Ensure Gun Control Laws Go Nowhere
Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh)
9 April 2009
The fatal shootings in Binghamton, N.Y., and Stanton Heights prompted renewed calls for stricter gun control from traditional advocates such as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. But such calls haven't echoed in the halls of Congress or in statehouses across the country. "The silence has been deafening," Dennis Goldford, a Drake University political scientist, said of federal lawmakers' response... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
More Guns, More Killing Sprees as Fear, Unemployment Sweep America
Guardian (UK)
9 April 2009
Even by America's own record of bloody mayhem -- whereby barely a month passes without there being yet another multiple murder-suicide -- the past four weeks have been exceptional. Forty-two lives have been claimed in five separate incidents whose common denominator has been men venting their frustration and anger through the barrel of a gun. The first was on 10 March in southern Alabama when a gunman drove around randomly shooting... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Boom in American Gun, Ammo Sales Fueled by Fear, Politics, Economy
Time (USA)
8 April 2009
Americans are afraid of this economy. As a result, they're getting locked and loaded. To wit: Jacquita Baker, a soft-spoken single mother from Kentwood, Mich., near Grand Rapids. She works as an administrative assistant at the Grand Rapids Urban League and is studying criminal justice at a local university. As of Monday, she's the proud owner of a shotgun. Why bear arms now? "The economy played a large part in my decision," says Baker, 27.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Fear, Nazism, Racism, Obama Paranoia at Famous US Gun Club Event
Washington Independent (Washington, DC)
7 April 2009
WEST POINT, Kentucky -- The sound of gunfire rumbles and echoes from half a mile away, long before anyone can see the entrance. The walk up to the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot starts on the country road outside the range, lined with cars from Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Georgia. Their occupants scramble for space before grabbing their ammo and starting uphill. They trudge through dirt that mostly, mercifully, has not yet turned into mud,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
57 Dead in Recent US Shootings: Most Killers Licensed, Guns Legal
Associated Press
7 April 2009
They had more in common than unleashing carnage -- nearly every gunman in this monthlong series of mass killings was legally entitled to fire his weapons. So what does that say about the state of gun control laws in this country? One thing appears certain: the regulations aren't getting stricter. Many recent efforts to change weapons laws have been about easing them. Despite eight rampages that have claimed 57 lives since... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Mass Shootings: 47 Dead In Past Month, But Put Aside the Gun Debate
Associated Press
5 April 2009
PITTSBURGH -- Does the name Byran Uyesugi ring a bell? Odds are not. What about Robert A. Hawkins? Or Mark Barton? Terry Ratzmann? Robert Stewart? Each entered the national consciousness when he picked up a gun and ended multiple lives. Uyesugi, 1999, Hawaii office building, seven dead. Hawkins, 2007, Nebraska shopping mall, nine dead. Barton, Ratzmann and Stewart -- 24 dead among them in 1999 (Atlanta brokerage offices), 2005 (Wisconsin... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
US Faces Gun Rights, Gun Smuggling Debate as Weapons Flood Mexico
Chicago Tribune
5 April 2009
NOGALES, Mexico -- A steady flow of Americans used to come down Interstate 19 to this city on the Arizona border: those looking for cheap prescription drugs, kitschy souvenirs or less wholesome pursuits. That flow of visitors has largely dried up, and city leaders blame another southward stream. Guns from the U.S. are fueling an outbreak of violence in Nogales and all over Mexico, according to officials from both countries. ... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
In Fear of Obama, US Man Hoards Guns, AK-47, Ambushes, Kills 3 Police
Associated Press
5 April 2009
PITTSBURGH -- A 911 call that brought two police officers to a home where they were ambushed, and where a third was also later killed during a four-hour siege, was precipitated by a fight between the gunman and his mother over a dog urinating in the house. The Saturday argument between Margaret and Richard Poplawski escalated to the point that she threatened to kick him out and she called police to do it, according to a 12-page... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Makers, Lobbyists Plot to Exempt Montana from Federal Firearm Law
Associated Press
5 April 2009
HELENA -- Montana-made guns may form the basis for a court showdown over states' rights if the governor signs a bill to release some firearms in the state from federal regulation. The proposed law aims to exempt firearms, weapons components and ammunition made in Montana and kept in Montana from federal gun laws. Since the state has few gun laws of its own, the legislation would allow some gunowners and sellers in the state to skirt... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gunman 'Lay in Wait' at Domestic Dispute, Killed 3 Pittsburgh Cops
Associated Press
4 April 2009
PITTSBURGH -- A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest and "lying in wait" opened fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call Saturday, killing three of them and turning a quiet Pittsburgh street into a battlefield, police said. Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn't clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Backdrop to NY Shooting: Lax Gun Laws, Democrats Joining Gun Lobby
Guardian (UK)
3 April 2009
A gunman killed 13 people and wounded four at an upstate New York immigrant counselling centre this morning before turning the gun on himself, in a brazen attack that shocked a nation already reeling from several mass shootings this year. The violence that rocked the small university city of Binghamton, three hours from New York City, began about 10am today when a gunman entered the American Civic Association after barricading a... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
US 'Finally Paying Attention' to Flood of American Guns to Mexican Cartels
Economist
2 April 2009
EL PASO and MEXICO CITY -- Arizona's attorney-general, Terry Goddard, says he started to worry about American guns ending up in the hands of Mexican drug traffickers two years ago. That was after a meeting in Cuernavaca with Mexico's attorney-general, Eduardo Medina Mora, who urged him and several of his counterparts from other American states to enforce the law banning the export of assault weapons that can be legally bought north of the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Lobby Wins a Round: Hidden Handguns OK in US National Parks
Globe & Mail (Toronto)
2 April 2009
Congress gave final approval Wednesday to legislation that will limit abusive practices by credit-card companies. That bill contains an astonishing add-on. It will permit people visiting national parks to carry loaded, concealed weapons. The National Rifle Association (NRA) and other elements of the gun lobby have been pushing for years for the right of gun owners to visit the Grand Canyon loaded for bear. Republicans and... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Mexico Trying Harder to Catch Smuggled US Guns at Porous Border
Associated Press
1 April 2009
MEXICO CITY -- Try to bring a refrigerator into Mexico in the back of your pickup, and you are almost certain to get stopped by Mexican customs officials. Stick a couple of AK-47 rifles in your trunk, and chances are you'll whiz right through. Now Mexico is owning up to its leaky border as it launches a new program to monitor vehicles entering the country. The goal is to weigh and photograph southbound cars and trucks,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Mexico Gun Seizure: Licensed Texas Dealers Supplied 383 of 540 Guns
San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
31 March 2009
Most of the weapons found in the largest gun seizure in Mexican history have been traced by federal ATF agents to Texas retailers. The Mexican army's raid on a Reynosa stash house in November found a trove of drug cartel weapons that included 540 rifles, 165 hand grenades, 500,000 rounds of ammunition, TNT and other munitions. Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they were able... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Huge Influence in US Politics: NRA Gun Clout Shapes DC Policy Agenda
Associated Press
30 March 2009
WASHINGTON -- When Democrats acted last month to give the District of Columbia long-denied voting rights in Congress, the powerful gun lobby saw a target too good not to take a shot at. The National Rifle Association's lobbyists made it clear to lawmakers that they believed the bill should include a measure to overturn the capital's gun control laws. Left mostly unsaid, but well understood by all 535 members of the House and Senate,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
US Begins Serious Searches for Guns, Drugs, Money at Mexico Border
Reuters
28 March 2009
LAREDO, Texas -- Ending years of lax controls, the United States is stepping up checks of vehicles heading into Mexico to stop weapons and cash fueling a drug war south of the border. But local U.S. officials on the border are clamoring for even more help. At Laredo, Texas, one of the busiest points for cross-border truck traffic between the two countries, U.S. customs agents have seized at least $5.5 million in suspected drug cash... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Americans 'Afraid and Armed' As Gun Sales Soar in Wake of Obama Win
Free Lance-Star (Virginia)
28 March 2009
President Barack Obama has stimulated at least one part of the economy: gun sales. Fears that he and Democratic congressional leaders will outlaw or restrict guns and ammunition, along with worries about the economy, have helped spur a hefty increase in sales of guns and ammunition. Sturm, Ruger and Co. reported a $48 million backlog in orders as of Dec. 31, and a 42 percent increase in sales in 2008. Smith and... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Clinton Pushes US Assault Weapon, Curb on Gun Smuggling to Mexico
BBC News
26 March 2009
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is pledging further effort to help Mexico in its anti-drugs campaign. Mrs Clinton said the use of military-style assault weapons was a particular concern, and she would discuss reimposing a ban on their sale. A previous US decision to lift a ban on such sales had been a mistake, she told the NBC television network. Earlier on her visit she admitted that America's appetite for... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama, American Crisis Spark Anger, Fear, Rush to Buy More Guns
Reuters / Great Debate, Opinion
19 March 2009
In the first two months of this year, around 2.5 million Americans bought guns, a 26 percent increase over the same period in 2008. It was great news for gun makers and a sign of a dark mood in the country. Gun sales shot up almost immediately after Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential elections on November 4 and firearm enthusiasts rushed to stores, fearing he would tighten gun controls despite campaign pledges to the contrary.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Assault Weapon Ban One Way to Fight Back Against Violent Crime
Orlando Sentinel (Florida), Editorial
18 March 2009
Quite expectedly, gun zealots are on the defensive following the recent shooting rampages in Alabama and Germany. "The enemies of Liberty will use anything as an excuse to rape our civil rights," read a recent blog post by a gun activist. Please, spare us the righteous indignation. Most sensible people understand the difference between the legitimate, constitutional right to bear arms and the rat-a-tat chaos inflicted... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Industry Shares Explode as Weapon Owners Feel Obama Panic
Daily Finance / AOL (USA), Web page
17 March 2009
Wall Street pundits often talk about the resiliency of stocks such as McDonald's Corp. (MCD) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT). Shares of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC) and Sturm, Ruger & Co. (RGR), the two publicly traded gunmakers, have vastly outperformed them both. Smith & Wesson, one of the iconic names in American weapons making, is up more than 112 percent this year in the wake of its recent strong earnings report. Strum,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Delights Gun Makers: S&W Handgun, Assault Rifle Sales up 62%
Reuters
16 March 2009
BANGALORE -- Barack Obama hasn't made any noticeable moves to restrict firearms during his first two months in the White House, but America's gun owners, historically distrustful of Democratic presidents, aren't taking any chances. Gun sales have boomed in the past four months, boosting profits at gun-maker Smith & Wesson Corp (SWHC.O), whose stock price has more than tripled from a low hit just before last November's election.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Fuels America's Gun Buying Boom with Pledge to Tighten Laws
Telegraph (UK)
14 March 2009
MIAMI -- A pledge by US President Barack Obama to tighten gun control laws has led to firearms sales soaring across America. Manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand, and many gun shops running low on stock as the US public buys weapons in anticipation of tighter controls. On the campaign trail last year Mr Obama proposed restoring a Clinton-era ban on several types of military-style semi-automatic rifles and... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Tighter Gun Control, Crackdown Needed to Curb US-Mexico Gun Runners
Associated Press
13 March 2009
WASHINGTON -- Tighter gun control and stronger law enforcement in Southwestern states were recommended Thursday by lawmakers concerned about drug violence in Mexico possibly spilling across the border. The escalating violence -- which has killed thousands, mostly south of the border -- has been blamed on Mexican drug cartels which one Homeland Security official described as the biggest organized crime threat facing the United States.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Germany
Stuttgart, Alabama Shooting Massacres Restart Debate on Gun Control
Financial Times (UK)
12 March 2009
Two shooting massacres in Germany and America this week have reignited the debate about gun control, but while Europe has in the past been ready to tighten its tough restrictions, the US remains more resistant to change. Germany was in shock on Wednesday after a teenage gunman shot 15 people near Stuttgart, in one of the worst incidents of its kind in the country. In the US on Tuesday, a man went on a shooting spree in... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
NRA 'Poison Bill' Aims to Repeal Most of Washington's Gun Control Laws
McClatchy Newspapers (USA)
10 March 2009
WASHINGTON -- A law to grant the District of Columbia voting membership in the House of Representatives , which seemed like a certainty two weeks ago, was stuck in the House on Tuesday, mired down by arguments over guns, school vouchers and other issues. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer , D- Md. , who'd boldly predicted that the House would follow the Senate quickly in passing a bill to give the District of Columbia a voting House... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama in No Rush to Reverse Bush Rule, Ban Guns in National Parks
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
6 March 2009
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has rolled back eleventh-hour Bush administration rules on oil and gas leases, oil-shale development and offshore drilling, but the new White House hasn't budged on one policy: allowing guns in national parks. And, given Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's comments Friday, Obama might not reverse that policy any time soon -- if ever. Salazar, a former Colorado senator and state attorney... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Nowadays US Democrats Show Little Appetite for 'Big Hassle' of Gun Control
Associated Press
3 March 2009
WASHINGTON -- The National Rifle Association warned in a campaign ad that if Barack Obama were elected president he would try to take away hunters' guns and ammo. But with pro-gun Democrats a powerful force in Congress, it's already pretty clear there will be no messing with Americans' right to bear arms. Twenty-two Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, joined Republicans last week in a Senate vote to negate... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Mexico
Mexico Blames Americans for Arming World's Most Powerful Drug Cartels
Associated Press
1 March 2009
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico blames Americans for arming the world's most powerful drug cartels, a complaint supported Friday by a U.S. government report that found nearly all of Mexico's escalating drug killings involved weapons from north of the border. President Felipe Calderon said his police and soldiers are dangerously outgunned because U.S. authorities are failing to stop the smuggling of high-powered weapons into Mexico. His attorney... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Innocent Chilean Students Killed, Injured in Florida 'Hate Crime' Shooting
Miami Herald
28 February 2009
With long, frosted hair and a sweet smile, Racine Balbontín-Aragondona was a natural cover girl. The 22-year-old college student studied hotel management and also worked as a model in her native Chile. She planned to marry in April. Nicolás Pablo Corp Torres was studying engineering and had been a star basketball player. His coach and friends described the 23-year-old as a "good student and a gentleman." Their lives were... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Only US Gun Lobby Now Prevents DC Residents Getting a Vote in Congress
Washington Post
27 February 2009
The Senate passed a bill yesterday that would give the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives, but lawmakers attached language strongly opposed by city leaders that strips most local gun-control laws. The gun amendment complicates the D.C. vote bill's passage into law, because the legislation will have to be reconciled with a companion bill in the House with no gun provisions that is expected to be approved next... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
86 Percent of World Gun Deaths Among Children Under 15 Occur in America
International Herald Tribune / AP
26 February 2009
NEW YORK -- An 11-year-old boy in Pennsylvania is accused of killing his father's pregnant fiancee with the shotgun he got as a Christmas present. In Arizona, an 8-year-old boy fatally shoots his father and his father's roommate. An 8-year-old boy accidentally shoots himself with an Uzi at a gun show in Massachusetts. All of those stories sparked shocked headlines, but on a national level, the American public's response to the recent... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Owners' Fear of Obama Breeds Gun Sales, Gun Sales Breed Death
Philadelphia Daily News, Column
18 February 2009
A cold-hearted savage has murdered another Philadelphia police officer, and the city buckles, once again, in horror and disbelief. It's an unrelenting plague, and its agent of death is -- guns. And the horrifying fact is that more guns than ever are being purchased in this country as uneasy people arm themselves in fear: Fear of a reversal of gun rights under President Obama. Fear for their safety in an economy that drives... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Florida Hires 61 to Process Backlog of 95,000 Hidden Handgun Permits
Miami Herald
18 February 2009
TALLAHASSEE -- Floridians in record numbers want to carry concealed weapons, a trend linked to a surge in crime, economic anxiety and fears of stricter gun laws. The state is buried under a backlog of 95,000 applications for concealed-weapons permits and it needs to hire a lot more people to handle the paperwork. A legislative panel Wednesday gave Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson the OK to spend $3.9 million more so he can... ( gunpolicy.org )
Mexico, United States
50 Lawmakers Urge Obama to Enforce Assault Weapon Import Ban
Associated Press
18 February 2009
MEXICO CITY -- More than 50 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to enforce a ban on importing assault weapons, saying many such guns are later smuggled south to arm Mexico's ruthless drug cartels. "They come to the United States from Europe and other places, and they make their way down to Mexico," Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, told reporters in Mexico City on Wednesday. The ban was... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Montana Moves to Exempt Itself from US Federal Gun Laws, Licensing
Missoulian (Montana) / AP
14 February 2009
HELENA -- Montana lawmakers fired another shot in battles for states' rights as they supported letting some Montana gun owners and dealers skip reporting their transactions to the federal government. Under House Bill 246, firearms made in Montana and used in Montana would be exempt from federal regulation. The same would be true for firearm accessories and ammunition made and sold in the state. "What we need here is for... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Lobby's Anti-Obama Panic Triggers Short-lived US Gun Sale Spike
Huffington Post (USA), Blog
12 February 2009
According to National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, gun owners are uniting in "political spontaneous combustion." Ouch. In the most recent edition of the NRA's America's 1st Freedom magazine, LaPierre cites a "tsunami of Second Amendment consumerism" in the wake of the election of Barack Obama and his appointment of Eric Holder as Attorney General. Says LaPierre, "Americans are speaking... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Panic Buying, Shortages Set in as US Gun Owners Rush to Buy Ammo
Orlando Sentinel (Florida)
10 February 2009
Selling bullets may be the most secure job in Florida as long as supplies last. After months of heavy buying, gun dealers across the state are experiencing shortages. Some say it began with the election of President Barack Obama. Others say it's about the economic downturn or fear of crime. Whatever the reasons, ammunition has been selling like plywood and bottled water in the days before a hurricane. "The survivalist... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US 'Orgy of Gun, Ammo Sales' Is Down to Fear of Obama - Ted Nugent
Waco Tribune (Texas), Opinion
8 February 2009
One sector of the American economy that is booming with the new administration is the absolute orgy of guns and ammunition sales, although I am certain President Barack Obama won't say anything about this positive economic news. I read more than one report of the surge of civilian firepower sales when it appeared that Obama would be elected. Reason: Freedom lovers do not trust Obama. His choice of Eric Holder to... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Virginia Rejects Bill to Close Gun Show Loophole for Private Sales
New York Times
5 February 2009
The Virginia Senate rejected a bill on Wednesday requiring background checks for private sales at gun shows, dealing another in a series of blows to the legislative agenda of Gov. Tim Kaine. The defeat, by a vote of 19 to 21, came a day after the Senate voted to repeal a law that Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, had supported that prohibits anyone from carrying concealed weapons into a club or restaurant where alcohol is served. On... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Afghanistan
Despite Years of Bad Results, US Pours More AK-47s Into Afghan Villages
Associated Press
4 February 2009
MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan -- A U.S.-backed plan to create militias and give them guns to fight the Taliban is drawing criticism from local authorities in areas where the first units are being rolled out, raising questions as to whether the effort can succeed in Afghanistan. The militias have been compared to the U.S.-fostered Awakening Councils in Iraq, which have often been credited with reducing violence there, and are similar... ( gunpolicy.org )
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