India
Religious, Peace Groups Hail Landslide UN Vote for Global Gun Control
Indian Catholic (New Delhi)
23 July 2008
NEW YORK -- Religious and peace groups heralded a nonbinding U.N. agreement on small arms that they said helps incremental efforts to curb the trade of illicit weapons. But disarmament advocates also said the action is part of a wider effort to curtail a serious international problem that is being fought by faith communities, such as parishes in Brazil. "The parish priest in the Rio (de Janeiro) favelas (slums) is part... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Most Readers Find Gun Control Outside Realm of Public Health - MedPage
MedPage Today, Web Page
22 July 2008
Gun regulation is not a public health issue, according to more than 80% of some 2,000 respondents to a MedPage Today poll. When the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine decried the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the District of Columbia's handgun law, they did so claiming the issue is a matter of public health. Now doctors in the trenches have weighed in with their own views. The responses from physicians... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
More Than More Laws Needed to End Gun Violence in Canada
Daily News (Nanaimo), Editorial
21 July 2008
At opposite ends of the country on the same weekend, four young men die after gunfire breaks out. The first incident was in Victoria, just 90 minutes south of here, when a 20-year-old man was fatally shot, and two men with him wounded in the early hours of Saturday. The next incident was in Toronto in the early hours of Sunday, when three men -- also in their 20s -- were found shot to death in a vehicle. Victoria may be closer than... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Nations, World
UN Small Arms Process 'Back on Track' - 134 Votes to Nil for Gun Control
Disarmament Insight (Geneva), Blog
21 July 2008
NEW YORK -- UN Member States met in New York all last week to examine, as they do every two years, how the 2001 Programme of Action to curb the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons is being implemented. A lot was at stake in this meeting. Guns are used to take the lives of about 300,000 people every year. They injure and disable about three times that number and commit millions more to living in perpetual poverty and fear. As some... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Philadelphia's Moms Against Guns Raises 27 Free Billboards for Election
Philadelphia Daily News (Pennsylvania)
19 July 2008
In April, Moms Against Guns had a humble request: one affordable billboard advertising its petition for stricter gun laws. Flash forward three months, and the Philadelphia-based advocacy group now has 27 billboards citywide, with at least six more on the way. The billboards will stay up through November's elections -- just long enough, the group says, for voters to elect candidates willing to crack down on illegal guns.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, United Nations, World
US Position Complicates Global UN Effort to Curb Illicit Gun Trafficking
New York Times
19 July 2008
UNITED NATIONS -- Diplomats from the world's governments met throughout this week on agreements to cut the global illicit trade in small arms, but their work was curtailed in part by the near-boycott of the meetings by the United States. The tone of the meetings underscored the political complexities of gaining full support for international small-arms agreements from the United States. The American view has balanced recognition... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
For Suicidal Youth, Easy Access to a Gun Can Make a Big Difference
Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul), Opinion
18 July 2008
After the recent Supreme Court decision stating that gun ownership is an individual right, you'd think that those representing the gun lobby's extreme stance would finally stop attempting to raise the fear in gun owners that common-sense measures to prevent gun injury and death are really just a means to ban all guns. Steve Chapman's column in the July 15 Star Tribune about firearm suicide does not represent the facts. When it comes to suicide,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Having Toppled Washington Handgun Ban, Plaintiff Registers His Revolver
Washington Post
18 July 2008
Relishing a moment of triumph after a successful, long-running legal battle to end the District's handgun ban, Dick A. Heller strode into D.C. police headquarters yesterday with an unloaded revolver and began registering the weapon so he can keep it in his Capitol Hill home for self-defense. "It's a great day," declared Heller, 66, a hero to gun rights advocates nationwide for his role in District of Columbia v. Heller, the landmark... ( gunpolicy.org )
World, United Nations
Landslide UN Vote Sets Global Gun Control Process Back on Track - IANSA
International Action Network on Small Arms / IANSA, Media release
18 July 2008
UNITED NATIONS -- Campaigners welcomed the resurrection of the UN small arms process today, as states strengthened their commitment to work together to curb the illicit trade in small arms. 134 states voted for the agreement of the Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms. No state voted against it. Iran and Zimbabwe abstained. The agreement provides guidance on several key areas of small arms control, including arms brokering... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
New York Gun Laws Untouched by US High Court Decision - District Attorney
Queens Tribune (New York)
18 July 2008
The debate is over. No more arguing over the meaning of commas or engaging in semantic minutiae over the definition of militia. The June 26 Supreme Court decision to strike down the Washington D.C. handgun ban in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller clearly established the right to bear arms as an individual right guaranteed by the Constitution's Second Amendment. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Felons Now 'Have the Right' to Own Guns for Self Defence - Court Cases
Associated Press
18 July 2008
WASHINGTON -- Twice convicted of felonies, James Francis Barton Jr. faces charges of violating a federal law barring felons from owning guns after police found seven pistols, three shotguns, and five rifles at his home south of Pittsburgh. As a defense, Barton and several other defendants in federal gun cases argue that last month's Supreme Court ruling allows them to keep loaded handguns at home for self-defense. "Felons,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Do Idahoans Believe the Answer to Deranged Gun Violence is More Guns?
Boise Weekly (Idaho)
16 July 2008
A few months after Jason Hamilton killed his wife and then took two military rifles from his ample collection and opened fire on the Latah County Courthouse, killing a cop, a church caretaker and then himself, Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney floated the idea of a gun ban. It would have only applied to city property and it was not a direct reaction to the shooting, Chaney said. The city never actually passed anything, after the Idaho attorney... ( gunpolicy.org )
Pakistan
Gun Control: Pakistan Has 20 Million Firearms
Post (Lahore), Opinion
16 July 2008
LAHORE -- Pakistan, according to anti-arms campaigners, has one of the greatest per capita rates of gun ownership in the world. Though there are no official figures, rough estimates put the total number of small arms at large in the country at more than 20 million, with about half of them illegal. NWFP alone is believed to have nearly half a million illegal small arms and light weapons. How many more wake up calls do we need until... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Opponents of Washington DC's Tough New Gun Law Vow Court Challenge
USA Today
16 July 2008
WASHINGTON -- The doors opened Thursday to post-handgun ban era here, with gun rights advocates vowing another legal challenge to the city's newly approved gun control law. Less than a month after the Supreme Court overturned the city's 32-year-old handgun ban -- the most restrictive in the nation -- the same litigant in the landmark case appeared at police headquarters and said he likely would wage a new fight. Dick Heller,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Nations, World
Global Gun Trade Aids, Abets Rise of Child Soldiers, Say UN Experts
Hindu (India) / PTI
15 July 2008
UNITED NATIONS -- The large scale trade in small arms is a major factor behind the growing worldwide phenomenon of child soldiers, top UN officials said on wednesday. "It is argued by many that it is the proliferation of small arms contributing to their ready availability in the period 1970 2000, which has led to the phenomenon of child soldiers as we know it today," the United Nations envoy on children and armed conflict, Radhika... ( gunpolicy.org )
World, United Nations
Strong Link Between Child Soldiers and Global Gun Trade, Say UN Experts
United Nations (New York), Media release
15 July 2008
NEW YORK -- The trade in small arms is a major factor behind the worldwide phenomenon of child soldiers, according to United Nations experts who gathered today in New York to discuss the impact of the weapons trade on society. "It is argued by many that it is the proliferation of small arms that has actually contributed to this rise -- the ready availability of small arms in the period 1970 -- 2000 led to the rise and the phenomenon... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Washington DC Imposes 'Strictest Controls Possible' in Revised Gun Law
Washington Post
15 July 2008
Within weeks, District residents could legally keep handguns in their homes under emergency legislation that goes to the D.C. Council today, as officials try to comply with the Supreme Court ruling rejecting the city's handgun ban. But District officials said yesterday that they are braced for the possibility of more legal wrangling as they try to respect the high court while maintaining the strictest controls possible. Residents... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
DC Votes to Retain Stringent Gun Control Despite Supreme Court Ruling
Associated Press
14 July 2008
WASHINGTON -- The District of Columbia Council planned to vote Tuesday on emergency legislation to allow handguns if they are used only for self-defense in the home and carry fewer than 12 rounds of ammunition. The legislation announced Monday comes as officials scramble to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month striking down the city's 32-year-old ban. The proposal, which maintains some of the city's strict... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Easily Bought Assault Weapons Kill More Americans, Cops Than Ever Before
Mother Jones (USA) / Jul-Aug Issue
14 July 2008
In a warehouse on the outskirts of the rural Shenandoah Valley town of Fishersville, Virginia, it didn't take long to spot what I was looking for. There were plenty of guns lined up neatly on display tables, everything from Civil War-style muskets to handguns to hunting rifles, but I was in the market for something with a bit more firepower. At a table near the entrance, I found it: a Chinese-made MAK-90 semiautomatic rifle, a variation... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Judge Rules Supreme Court Gun Decision Has ' No Impact' on NY State Law
Post-Standard (New York)
14 July 2008
The recent historic handgun ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court should have no impact on gun control and licensing provisions in New York state, a local judge has concluded. Onondaga County Judge William Walsh ruled the June 26 Supreme Court ruling striking down the District of Columbia's strict handgun ban has no effect on the rights of individual states to establish their own firearm laws. Walsh made that finding in a written... ( gunpolicy.org )
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea Tells UN of 'Radical Action Plan' to Curb Illegal Guns
Pacific Magazine
14 July 2008
PORT MORESBY -- Papua New Guinea Internal Security Minister Sani Rambi will announce an executable plan to deal with illegal guns when he returns from a four-day international forum on gun control in New York. Rambi told Pacific Magazine said his delegation is comprised of PNG Police Commissioner Gari Baki and other government officials. They left Port Moresby yesterday morning to attend the Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations, World
Rap Star, Ex-Child Soldier Urges UN to Curb Guns, 'The Real WMDs'
International Action Network on Small Arms (London), Media release
14 July 2008
Emmanuel Jal, former child soldier and international rap star, will address the United Nations on Tuesday to urge them to regulate the gun trade. Emmanuel is an involuntary expert in gun violence. He was born in war-torn Sudan, and forced to fight at the age of six or seven with the rebel army in the civil war. Put into battle as a child soldier, he was made to shoot with an AK-47 that was taller than he was. He fought for five... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Claims That Guns Raise Suicide Risk in US Don't Stand Up Well to Scrutiny
Chicago Tribune, Opinion
13 July 2008
Americans often buy guns for self-defense, a purpose that now has Supreme Court validation. But according to advocates of gun control, those purchasers overlook the people who pose the greatest threat: themselves. Anyone who acquires a firearm, we are told, is inviting a bloody death by suicide. So says Matthew Miller, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. "If you bought a gun today, I could tell you the risk of suicide... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Control in America Is Probably a Lost Cause: 'Country Is Nuts on Guns'
News-Leader (Missouri), Opinion
13 July 2008
I had given the speech and was taking questions from the audience (always easier than giving a speech). A man asked me if I had any ideas about how to achieve a rational system of gun control in this country. My answer surprised me. "No," I told him. "I've given up on gun control. That battle is over. We've lost. I no longer think it's an achievable goal and if I were a politician I wouldn't lose an election over it." ... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Hundreds Gather in Chicago Gun Death Protest, Families Mourn in Private
Chicago Tribune
13 July 2008
South Side pastor Larry Trotter stood on a street corner Sunday and sang soulfully for all swept up in Chicago's street violence: "Trouble in my way, I have to cry sometimes." Hundreds joined him to protest the gun violence that has plagued parts of the Southeast Side, and the melodic call and response briefly overpowered the sputter and hum of traffic at 79th Street and Yates Avenue. But in two other parts of the city,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
It's Tough to Celebrate the Idea of More Guns in More Americans' Hands
South Florida Times, Column
11 July 2008
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." -- Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution "Yo I'm livin' in this time behind enemy lines, so I got mine, I hope you ("got yourself a gun"). You from the hood, I hope you ("got yourself a gun") ...you want beef I hope ya ("got yourself a gun")..." -- Nas, lyrics from "Got Yourself a Gun"... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Only in Nevada: American Civil Liberties Union Flips, Opposes Gun Control
Las Vegas Sun (Nevada)
11 July 2008
CARSON CITY, Nevada -- Everyone loves guns in Nevada. Ducks Unlimited, the National Rifle Association, Republicans, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ... Wait. The ACLU? The Nevada ACLU has declared its support for an individual's right to bear arms, apparently making it the first state affiliate in the nation to buck the national organization's position on the Second Amendment. The state board of directors... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Philadelphia Forges Ahead with New Gun Law, High Court Ruling 'Irrelevant'
Daily Pennsylvanian (Philadelphia)
10 July 2008
With all the attention that gun control has garnered in recent months, it's no wonder that Philadelphia is renewing its efforts to reform and enforce its gun policies. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey announced the start of a 30-day moratorium on reporting lost or stolen guns yesterday in an effort to begin enforcing one of the gun control measures passed in April. The law states... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Jewish Lobby Deplores High Court Decision, Strongly Backs Gun Control
Jewish Light (St Louis)
10 July 2008
Local Jewish organizations have stressed their continued support for gun control measures in light of the Supreme Court's decision in late June on the case District of Columbia v. Heller. In the 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in late June that the District of Columbia could not ban owning handguns for self-defense. Sydell Shayer, advocacy chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, stressed that the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Chicago Mayor's 'Rant' Neglects His City's Long-failing Handgun Ban
Examiner (Washington DC), Column
9 July 2008
The ballyhoo over the Supreme Court's recent decision that declared Washington DC's handgun ban unconstitutional, and therefore implied the same for Chicago, didn't last through the holiday. Unfortunately, neither did five poor souls who fell victim to gun violence in downtown Chicago during the long weekend. "Why should our streets be open to someone carrying a gun?" Daley remarked after the Supreme Court handed down the ruling.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Court Ruling 'Will Lead to More Deaths,' Say US Doctors, Major Med Journal
Reuters
9 July 2008
WASHINGTON -- Last month's Supreme Court ruling striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital will lead to more deaths and accidental injuries, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said on Wednesday. They joined a growing clamor from medical doctors, especially emergency room physicians, who fear a surge of accidental deaths, murders and suicides if handguns become more easily available than they already... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Killer Ideas For Selling Newly Encouraged Handguns in Washington, DC
Washington Post, Column
9 July 2008
Now that District residents can legally keep handguns, prospective gun dealers will need creative ways to target them. Based on my survey of gun shops nationwide, I suggest they start with a catchy name. A name can reflect a state of mind or an ideology. Take, for instance, Gunslinger in Oak Lawn, Ill., or Ready On The Right in Kailua, Hawaii. Or you might choose to convey the threat implicit in the merchandise, with a name such... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
New Jersey Husband/Wife Shooting Brings Call for Handgun Sales Limit
Star-Ledger (New Jersey)
9 July 2008
Gun control advocates at a gathering in Montclair today used the recent fatal shooting of a mother at a local YMCA to urge lawmakers to pass legislation limiting the number of handguns sold to individuals. While law enforcement authorities have not said where Kenneth Duckett obtained a handgun they allege he used to kill his wife, Monica Paul, on June 26, the advocates argued that it had to have been obtained illegally. Duckett... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
California Bill Would Restrict, Licence the Sale of Handgun Ammunition
Mercury News (California), Editorial
8 July 2008
Guns don't kill people; bullets do. Mainly bullets from handguns, the source of 60 percent of murders in California. And yet the sale of handgun ammunition is unregulated in the state. Felons, gang members and others who are banned from possessing handguns can buy as many rounds of bullets as they want, no questions asked. And they apparently do, obtaining tens of thousands of rounds each year, according to a RAND Corporation study.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Most US Gun Deaths Nothing to Do with Crime: Owners Kill Selves and Kin
Wilmington News Journal (Delaware), Editorial
7 July 2008
News last week that suicides accounted for most of the firearm deaths in homes is no reason for handgun ban activists to feel vindicated in their opposition to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment. The decision focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from home intruders in Washington, D.C. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves. Suicides accounted... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Supreme Court Gun Decision Ignores Precedent, Common Sense
San Francisco Chronicle, Opinion
7 July 2008
Christmas came early for the NRA this year. The big gift: the Supreme Court's June 26 ruling in the case of District of Columbia vs. Heller, which struck down the District's decades-old handgun ban and held that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to possess a handgun in the home for self-defense. The court did just what the gun lobby wanted -- it disregarded long-standing judicial precedent (including a 1939 Supreme Court... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Chicago Mayor Says High Court Gun Ruling 'Detached from Urban Reality'
Washington Post
6 July 2008
CHICAGO -- One small reflection of Chicago's bloody year is a sign outside a South Side school that says, "Congratulations Class of 2008. Stop the Violence." The school is not a college or a high school, but Carnegie Elementary in Woodlawn. In a city where homicide rates have risen by 13 percent over the same period last year and 26 students were killed by gunfire in the past school year, Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) thinks the Supreme... ( gunpolicy.org )
Jamaica, Haiti, United States
Haitians, Americans Held Responsible for Gun Smuggling to Jamaica
Jamaica Gleaner, Opinion
6 July 2008
On June 17, Prime Minister Bruce Golding stood before Parliament, making a contribution to the sectoral debate in lieu of the Minister of National Security, who does not sit in the lower House. In that speech, he painted a forbidding picture of Haiti, as a lawless land raging with "battles", and awash with guns, which were finding their way on to the streets of Jamaica. He also expounded on the establishment of Haitian communities in Jamaica,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada, United States
US Should Tighten Gun Control, Stop Fueling Violence, Says Toronto Mayor
CITY-TV News (Toronto)
6 July 2008
Violence in Toronto has not gone unnoticed. With each death caused by firearms, the contentious gun control debate gets more attention. Mayor David Miller has come down heavily on the subject, suggesting an all-out handgun ban and trying to refuse lease renewal of public land to gun clubs, all in the name of curbing trouble on the streets. Now he's calling on Canada's southern neighbour to do its part. He wants more action... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Does Gun Ruling Hurt the NRA? US Gun Control Battle Sees New Beginning
Baltimore Sun (Maryland) / The Swamp, Blog
5 July 2008
WASHINGTON -- Here, on the weekend that we celebrate the successful armed rebellion by America's founders, is the thought question of the day. For years, anti-gun activists and others have whispered that the National Rifle Association, the most powerful gun lobby in the nation and one of the most powerful Washington lobbies on any issue, has really never wanted the Supreme Court to define the Second Amendment. Why? Well,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Supreme Court Ruling Enshrines Most Gun Control as Legal Doctrine
Bangor Daily News (Maine), Opinion
5 July 2008
In the recent ruling District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court found that gun regulation is constitutional. While affirming the right of an individual to own a gun, the court ruled that "like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose." The decision went on to give examples of constitutional gun regulations... ( gunpolicy.org )
India
Global Gun Trade Treaty Should be Actively Supported by India
My News Network (India)
3 July 2008
NEW DELHI -- India should become an active member the International Arms Trade Treaty to put a check on the illegal trade of weapons which is helping in fuelling armed violence that takes around 3,50,000 lives across the world, an International Affairs expert said today. "India should sign the "United Nations global Arms Trade Treaty' and become its active member to create a legally binding agreement to regularise arms trade," said... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
High Court Ruling Revives Gun Control as a Political Issue - George Will
Star-Telegram (Dallas-Forth Worth), Column
3 July 2008
WASHINGTON -- By striking down the District of Columbia's extraordinarily strict gun control law, which essentially bans guns, a federal appeals court may have revived gun control as a political issue. It has been mostly dormant since autumn 2000, when Al Gore decided he was less interested in it than in carrying states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania: "Gore Tables Gun Issue As He Courts Midwest" (The New York Times, Sept. 20,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Mother Behind a Movement: Abby Spangler Leads US Gun Control Push
Washington Post
3 July 2008
Old Town Alexandria's Abby Spangler didn't set out to start a national movement for tighter gun controls. But she took note when two students shot their classmates at Columbine High School in Colorado. She watched moms keep their kids inside when the D.C. snipers terrorized the Washington region. Then five Amish girls were shot in their Pennsylvania schoolhouse. Finally, on the morning of April 16, 2007, when Seung Hui Cho opened... ( gunpolicy.org )
Senegal
Oxfam America Pulls Out of Global Gun Trade Campaign in West Africa
Afrique en ligne (France) / PANA
3 July 2008
DAKAR, Senegal -- Less than two weeks to the third edition of the United Nations Biennial on small arms 14-18 July in New York, Oxfam America has ended its collaboration with the West African movement against small arms in the fight against the circulation of the small arms and light weapons (SALWs) in West Africa. The announcement was made by the executive director of the movement, Georges Ndiaye, at a workshop on the June2007/June... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Gun Rights Ruling Will Cost Lives, Both in America and Canada
Red Deer Advocate (Alberta), Opinion
3 July 2008
It's amazing how well-educated, intelligent people can so often do stupid things. Consider, for instance, the United States Supreme Court's decision to shoot down the 32-year-old ban on handguns in Washington, D.C. last week -- declaring it unconstitutional. By a 5-4 margin, the nine justices effectively ruled every American has the right to own guns for self-defence and for hunting. Not surprisingly, supporters... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
4 New Gun Laws Would Make Americans Safer, Still Fit High Court Ruling
Chicago Sun-Times, Editorial
2 July 2008
If Charlton Heston were alive, he'd be beaming. The man who filled the silver screen with chariot races and a parting of the sea played another prominent role in later years -- president of the National Rifle Association. Heston treasured his constitutional right to own a gun and was fond of intoning at NRA conventions, with his rifle held aloft, that his weapon would be taken only "from my cold dead hands." Now, thousands... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Violence Spurred Two Wisconsin Mothers to Lead Local Campaigns
Capital Times (Wisconsin)
2 July 2008
Wanda Lavendel Bincer and Jeri Bonavia got caught up in criminal justice issues by way of their respective daughters, though the circumstances were quite different. Bincer, who died last Thursday, co-founded the local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children in the mid-1980s after her 25-year-old daughter, Yvonne, was murdered in 1983 in Atlanta. Bonavia founded the Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort in 1995... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
NYPD Fails to Find Most Seized Firearms, Lacks Gun Control, Says Audit
Newsday (New York)
2 July 2008
The New York City Police Department can't keep track of the guns it seizes, according to a report issued yesterday. New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. referred to the NYPD's current system of holding surrendered and confiscated firearms as unacceptable and demanded immediate improvements after announcing yesterday the results of his audit in lower Manhattan. In June of last year, Thompson's audit gauged whether... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Courts Across America 'Opening Pandora's Box of New Gun Litigation'
Indianapolis Star (Indiana), Column
1 July 2008
The gun lobby at last holds its Holy Grail: a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that the oddly worded Second Amendment, which speaks of a "well regulated militia" in the same sentence as "the right of the people to keep and bear arms," does, in fact, bestow upon individuals a constitutional right to own weapons. Yet it seems that the most extreme crusaders of the right were not sufficiently careful in what they wished for. Even... ( gunpolicy.org )
Gambia, West Africa, Europe
Legal Gun Trade is 'Source of All Weapons' as Europe Profits from Africa
The Point (Banjul), Editorial
1 July 2008
Many of our readers will be shocked by the announcement made by the Secretary of State for Interior, Honourable Ousman Sonko, that there are an estimated ten million (10,000,000) firearms in the West African sub-region. This is an extraordinary number and has the potential to wreak havoc and mayhem in our sub-region. It is very heartening however to see that the government is taking the issue so seriously. We must be very alert... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
'At Last, Gun Rules We Can All Agree On,' Says Group of 300 US Mayors
Wall Street Journal, Opinion
30 June 2008
Finally. After decades of ideological debates over the meaning of every word and comma contained in the U.S. Constitution's one-sentence Second Amendment, the Supreme Court has issued a ruling that should largely settle the matter. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the court found that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms, while also affirming the constitutionality of reasonable restrictions aimed at... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
DC Ruling Highlights Failure of US Congress to Control Gun Trafficking
Sacramento Bee (California), Editorial
30 June 2008
A sharply divided Supreme Court has settled the issue for now. The Second Amendment to the Constitution does confer upon individuals the right to bear arms. In the wake of the ruling, big-city mayors across the country are expressing alarm that their gun-control ordinances will be set aside, unleashing a new wave of urban gun violence. That may be an exaggeration. Local gun ordinances have had limited impact. As crime statistics... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Disintegration of US Democrats' Gun Control Push 'Pretty Much Complete'
New York Times / Campaign Stops, Blog
30 June 2008
The Obama campaign Web site's "In the News" section, which chronicles Barack Obama's recent statements on the 36th anniversary of the passage of Title IX and the Juneteenth holiday celebration, does not include his reaction to the United States Supreme Court decision last week to strike down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns. Though I couldn't find it on the Web site, the campaign did issue a statement -- albeit a fairly tepid one... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Ban on Seattle City Property Goes Up for Challenge - by Democrats
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Washington)
30 June 2008
OLYMPIA -- A U.S. Supreme Court decision on a Washington, D.C., gun ban combined with Seattle's attempt to restrict guns on city property has sparked a legislative discussion about an issue Washington Democrats have consistently avoided. On Monday, six Democrats from rural state legislative districts called on Attorney General Rob McKenna to issue an opinion on a city's authority to ban people who legally possess firearms from city... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Ruling Should Have No Effect on Connecticut's Gun Control Laws
Hartford Courant (Connecticut), Editorial
30 June 2008
Count us among those who believe the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution means what it plainly says. A common-sense reading of that famous single sentence -- "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" -- construes it as creating a collective, not individual, right to possess firearms. But a 5-4 majority of the Supreme... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, World
Homicide, Suicide, Gun Death Much More Likely in Homes with Firearms
Associated Press
30 June 2008
ATLANTA -- The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves. Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
NRA Plans to Spend $15m Opposing Barack Obama in US Election
Politico (Washington), Web Page
30 June 2008
The National Rifle Association plans to spend about $40 million on this year's presidential campaign, with $15 million of that devoted to portraying Barack Obama as a threat to the Second Amendment rights upheld last week by the Supreme Court. "Our members understand that if Barack Obama is elected president, and he has support in the Senate to confirm anti-gun Supreme Court nominees, [the District of Columbia v. Heller decision]... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Dodged Voicing an Opinion on DC Gun Ban, Then Applauded It
Washington Post, Column
30 June 2008
After months of claiming he had insufficient information to express an opinion on the District of Columbia's gun law, Barack Obama noted with apparent approval Thursday that the Supreme Court ruled that the 32-year ban on handguns "went too far." But what would he have said had the high court's 5 to 4 majority gone the other way and affirmed the law? Obama's strategists can only thank swing Justice Anthony Kennedy for enabling Justice Antonin... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US High Court Ruling Really a 'Breakthrough to Sensible Gun Control?'
Cox Newspapers (USA), Column
30 June 2008
The gun lobby has finally won its dream ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, but could it be that this is just the breakthrough which can finally lead to sensible gun control? Going beyond even what the Bush administration had asked of it, a 5-4 majority of the justices has held that "the right to bear arms" is a personal right and not, as federal courts have largely ruled since 1939, a provisional right pegged to maintaining public... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
When US Lawmakers 'Rubber-stamp Whatever the NRA Sends Up'
Palm Beach Post (Florida), Editorial
30 June 2008
Last week, the Supreme Court gave the National Rifle Association a split decision. By a vote of 5-4, the court ruled that firearm ownership is an individual right, even though the Second Amendment links that right to service in a militia. But beyond that rewriting of the Constitution's clear "original intent" that most of the justices in the majority usually stress, the ruling does not mean that anyone can carry a Glock wherever... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Advocates Say Illinois Handgun Bans Won't Survive New Law Suits
Associated Press
29 June 2008
CHICAGO -- Mayor Richard Daley and gun control advocates have lined up predicting more innocent lives lost if the city's handgun ban is overturned, but David Sigale isn't buying it. "I don't know for whom the gun ban has made the city safer," said Sigale, one of the attorneys who filed a lawsuit to overturn Chicago's 26-year-old handgun ban just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Washington, D.C.'s gun ban. "It doesn't... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Buybacks May Fail in One Aim, But They Remain Vital in Phoenix
Arizona Republic, Editorial
29 June 2008
Look, a new gun-buyback program Phoenix will probably not result in any perceptible reduction in violent crime in the four south Phoenix neighborhoods where it's being held.If the buyback goes anything like the others across the country over the past decade, middle-age, law-abiding residents will turn in older guns, mostly revolvers, in return for $100 gift cards that can be used in any Bashas' or Food City stores. The AK-47 rifles... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, World
Impact of Gun Control Laws is Tough to Determine: Some Say Few Work
New York Times
29 June 2008
Lurking behind the Supreme Court's ruling last week that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms were a series of fascinating, disputed and now in many ways irrelevant questions. Do gun control laws reduce crime? Do they save lives? Is it possible they even cost lives? Justice Stephen G. Breyer, one of the dissenters in the 5-to-4 decision, surveyed a quite substantial body of empirical research on... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama May Prove Biggest Winner in Wake of US Gun Rights Decision
Boston Globe, Column
29 June 2008
When it comes to gun control, the Democratic Party is a house divided against itself. That helps explain Barack Obama's dizzyingly inconsistent positions on District of Columbia v. Heller, the landmark Second Amendment case decided by the Supreme Court last week. As a candidate for the Illinois Legislature in the 1990s, Obama had supported legislation to "ban the manufacture, sale, and possession of handguns," so it wasn't surprising... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Supreme Court Decision 'Stunning Defeat for Advocates of Gun Control'
Town Hall (USA), Column
29 June 2008
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, pessimistically, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." He would probably not have been surprised to see the proliferation of gun control laws in our time. But he might not have anticipated that the water would run back uphill. Thursday's Supreme Court decision affirming that the Second Amendment recognizes an individual right to own firearms for self-defense... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US High Court's Ruling Doesn't Endanger Sensible Gun Control
Capital (Maryland), Editorial
29 June 2008
We have long supported reasonable gun control. There's nothing wrong in principle with licensing and registration. Government has an obligation to keep guns out of the grasp of felons and the mentally ill. And just as the Constitution's First Amendment free speech protection doesn't confer a right to commit libel or sell pornography, the Second Amendment doesn't confer a right to own an assault weapon -- or a howitzer. For all that,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Court Decision Retains Wide Latitude for Restricting Gun Use in America
Press-Telegram (California), Editorial
28 June 2008
Some of the reaction to the Supreme Court's historic decision on gun control has been extreme, even to the point of laying thousands of future deaths directly at the court's door. More likely, in most places, it will make no immediate difference at all. Long Beach's police chief, Anthony Batts, had it mostly right last week when he said the court's decision wouldn't change much in California. (Actually, it will matter in places... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
DC Handgun Ban Decision 'Offered Something for Both Sides'
Sydney Morning Herald
28 June 2008
NEW YORK, WASHINGTON -- A fortnight ago the Mayor of Washington, Adrian Fenty, instructed his police to set up roadblocks and search everyone entering the suburb of Trinidad, three kilometres from the White House. There had been 22 murders in Trinidad in the first five months of this year. Most were drive-by shootings associated with the drug trade. On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia's ban... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Right to Own Guns in America 'Should Not Extend to Assault Weapons'
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia)
28 June 2008
'Today I didn't even have to use my AK / I got to say it was a good day' -- Ice Cube No one would mistake the Flat Rock area of Powhatan County for South Central Los Angeles. Homicides are a shocking rarity in this slice of rural Virginia, much less those involving an assault rifle. But Powhatan Sheriff Gregory A. Neal said an AK-47 is what killed 18-year-old Tahliek Taliaferro. The AK-47 and its imitators have... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
80 Americans Die Every Day by Gunshot: 'This Ruling Won't Change That'
Boston Globe, Editorial
27 June 2008
The US Supreme Court has ended 69 years of speculation and ruled that the Second Amendment to the Constitution confers an individual right of Americans to own and use guns. To arrive at this decision, the court performed a grammatical parsing that would confound the best English teacher, deciding that the first 13 words are merely "prefatory" to the "operative clause" of the one-sentence amendment, thus conveniently tossing aside the importance... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
America's Gun Control Advocates Aren't Done by a Long Shot
Los Angeles Times, Opinion
27 June 2008
The Supreme Court's decision in the District of Columbia vs. Heller case settles a long, heated debate, finding the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to own weapons for self-defense -- not merely a right related to membership in a "well-regulated militia." But the ruling doesn't end the struggle over gun control, nor does it mean gun regulations have been eliminated. The court lists a number of laws the decision does not... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Close US Gun Show Loophole, Tighten Background Checks - Obama
Sydney Morning Herald
27 June 2008
American mayors and legislators are closely studying today's Supreme Court ruling which clarifies the constitutional right of an individual to have a gun and may make many cities' gun control efforts invalid.. The 5-4 landmark ruling is the first time the Supreme Court has clarified what the second amendment means. The majority concluded that the "right to bear arms" extends to the individual, not just the rights of states to maintain... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Conservatives Could Now Find it Harder to Whip Up US Election Gun Fear
Salon (USA), Web Page
27 June 2008
WASHINGTON -- "God, gays and guns" have been pretty good to Republicans over the last few campaigns. The Karl Rove playbook says not to worry if the war in Iraq has been a disaster or the economy is tanking -- just fire away at your opponent's liberal views on a few wedge issues and then waltz your way into Washington. To listen to John McCain's campaign, Thursday's 5-to-4 landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning a law banning... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
DC Gun Ban Majority and Dissent Both Clearly Wrong: Nothing Is Clear
FindLaw (USA)
27 June 2008
Before adjourning for the summer yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that the Second Amendment protects a personal right to possess firearms for, among other purposes, self-defense. Accordingly, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court invalidated a D.C. law that bans private handgun possession and requires long guns (rifles and shotguns) to be stored either disassembled or under trigger lock. The majority opinion by Justice... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
DC Prepares Licensing, Registration: 'Strictest Handgun Laws Allowed'
Washington Post
27 June 2008
Thirty-two years after enacting the nation's toughest restrictions on firearms ownership, the D.C. government suddenly faces a new reality, forced by the U.S. Supreme Court to draft regulations that will permit city residents to keep weapons, including handguns, readily available in their homes. "I am disappointed in the court's ruling and believe that more handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence,"... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Despite High Court's 'Misguided Ruling,' DC May Have Some Gun Options
Washington Post, Editorial
27 June 2008
It is deeply disappointing, though not surprising, that the Supreme Court yesterday struck down the District's gun laws after finding that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. Writing for the four justices in dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens offered a persuasive case that the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms only in relation to service in a state militia. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, World
Gun Control in Most Countries More Stringent than in America
Washington Times
27 June 2008
Few countries go as far as the District of Columbia government did in effectively banning handgun ownership, but gun control abroad tends to be far stricter and more intrusive than in the United States. In Britain, it is a crime to manufacture or import even realistic-looking imitation guns, while in Canada, handguns must be registered and potential buyers must undergo training, a personal-risk assessment and a criminal background... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Debate Pushed Back to the Forefront of America's Political Agenda
Washington Post
27 June 2008
With yesterday's decision, the Supreme Court pushed the gun issue back to the forefront of the nation's agenda, opening a new chapter in what has been one of the most contentious and divisive debates in American politics for the past four decades. Advocacy groups braced for new skirmishes, both in courts and in legislatures. Gun rights advocates, hailing what they called a historic milestone, immediately targeted other jurisdictions... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Law Decision 'Frightening,' Chicago Mayor Braces for NRA Attack
New York Times
27 June 2008
WASHINGTON -- Gun-control advocates across the country reacted with shock and outrage at the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns today, saying the ruling would threaten gun-control measures in other states. If there was any doubt that other bans would be in peril, the National Rifle Association quickly put those questions to rest when it announced shortly after the ruling that it would... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Licensing, Registration, Background Checks OK - US High Court
USA Today, Editorial
27 June 2008
On hot-button cultural issues, the Supreme Court typically doesn't stray far from public opinion. So that's where the court found itself Thursday with its landmark Second Amendment ruling, right where the majority of Americans are on the issue: for gun ownership, but with limits. The court straddled that line. It said for the first time that the Constitution bars "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Ruling Reverberates in Presidential Campaign - McCain, Obama
Chicago Tribune
27 June 2008
WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama offered a guarded response Thursday to the Supreme Court ruling striking down the District of Columbia's prohibition on handguns and sidestepped providing a view on the 32-year-old local gun ban, leading Republican rival John McCain's campaign to accuse him of an "incredible flip-flop" on gun control. Obama issued a carefully worded written statement that applauded the court for providing "much-needed... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Historic 5 to 4 Supreme Court Decision Enshrines American Gun Rights
Christian Science Monitor
27 June 2008
WASHINGTON -- Americans have an individual right to possess and use firearms, even when the guns are not related to service in a government militia. In a historic ruling, the US Supreme Court on Thursday declared 5 to 4 that the Second Amendment's guarantee of a right to "keep and bear arms" means that the government cannot enact an outright ban on certain commonly held weapons or otherwise prevent citizens from having a gun at... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
NRA Sues to Overturn Ban on Guns in San Francisco City Housing
Associated Press
27 June 2008
SAN FRANCISCO -- The National Rifle Association sued the city of San Francisco on Friday to overturn its ban on handguns in public housing, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the nation's capital. The legal action follows a similar lawsuit against the city of Chicago over its handgun ban, filed within hours of Thursday's high court ruling. In San Francisco, the NRA was joined by the Washington... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Political Impact of Gun Ruling on US Election Politics 'Has Been Immediate'
BBC News
27 June 2008
The Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Washington DC handgun ban is likely to have legal and political consequences. The legal ones are not yet clear. Much depends on whether this federal ruling is seen as applying to other states or cities, which have similarly tough gun laws. In his majority brief, Justice Antonin Scalia predicted future, complex legal arguments about some of the restrictions, which the court had... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Pundits Say US Supreme Court Made Gun Control an Election Non-issue
New York Magazine
27 June 2008
What were the candidates' reactions to yesterday's landmark decision on gun rights by the Supreme Court? John McCain supported it, and Barack Obama... kind of supported it. There's a paper trail suggesting Obama was for the D.C. ban, but yesterday he claimed to have "always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms" -- while also seeing the need for "common-sense, effective safety measures"... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Repeal the 2nd Amendment - for Chicago, it's an Anachronism
Chicago Tribune, Editorial
27 June 2008
No, we don't suppose that's going to happen any time soon. But it should. The 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is evidence that, while the founding fathers were brilliant men, they could have used an editor. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." If the founders had limited themselves to the final... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Residents of Washington DC Hate, Love Supreme Court Ruling
Washington Post
27 June 2008
Gun control, for many D.C. residents, has always been more personal than ideological, regardless of where they stand on the issue. Take Maurice Benton, who hates yesterday's Supreme Court decision, and Sandra Seegars, who loves it. Each lives in a Southeast Washington community -- he in Barry Farm, she in Congress Park -- where it's difficult to find someone who doesn't know someone who has been shot or robbed at gunpoint. ... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Supreme Court Decision Shows Way to Stronger Controls on Handguns
Baltimore Sun (Maryland), Editorial
27 June 2008
Thousands of citizens in Baltimore and other American cities have died in recent years in an epidemic of gun violence. The contagion is carried by a flood of weapons, legal and illegal, that presents a frustrating challenge to police, prosecutors and politicians attempting to calm the cities. Yesterday, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court significantly complicated that effort to control violence with a 5-4 decision that struck... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Supreme Court Gun Ban Veto Triggers Review of Massachusetts Law
Boston Herald
27 June 2008
Yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns will force Massachusetts officials to review the state's gun laws, long considered among the toughest in the nation. In the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights, the court ruled 5-4 that Washington's ban was incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US 2nd Amendment 'Came Within Single Vote of Becoming Dead Letter'
Wall Street Journal, Editorial
27 June 2008
The 2008 Supreme Court term ended with a bang yesterday as the Justices issued their most important ruling ever in upholding an individual right to bear arms. The dismaying surprise is that the Second Amendment came within a single vote of becoming a dead Constitutional letter. That's the larger meaning of yesterday's landmark 5-4 ruling in D.C. v. Heller, the first gun control case to come before the Court in 70 years. Richard... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Court 'Unwisely Opens Door to Legal Attacks on Effective Gun Control'
Los Angeles Times, Column
27 June 2008
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for the first time that the 2nd Amendment explicitly protects Americans' right to own guns for self-defense -- resolving one of the Constitution's oldest disputes and reviving the debate over gun rights, crime and violence. The landmark decision struck down a District of Columbia ordinance, the strictest in the nation, that barred homeowners from keeping handguns. The ruling brought... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US High Court Decision Means 'Rethinking Local Gun Control Laws'
Daily American (Illinois) / Gatehouse News
27 June 2008
SPRINGFIELD, Illinois -- A U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the District of Columbia's handgun ban won't have a direct, immediate effect on existing gun-control laws in Illinois, according to legal experts. But the high court's ruling could affect what happens here in the future when state and local officials grapple with restrictions on guns. "When you see the gnashing of teeth by the anti-gun types, there's a good... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Justice Fears 'Unknown Number of Dominoes' to Fall in Gun Control
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia), Editorial
27 June 2008
Few sentences in the English language have been parsed more intently than "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court settled the argument over the definition of the Second Amendment, ruling that the right to bear arms extends beyond states to individual gun owners. Written by the Founding... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Supreme Court Ensures Even More Americans Will Die by Gunshot
New York Times, Editorial
27 June 2008
Thirty-thousand Americans are killed by guns every year -- on the job, walking to school, at the shopping mall. The Supreme Court on Thursday all but ensured that even more Americans will die senselessly with its wrongheaded and dangerous ruling striking down key parts of the District of Columbia's gun-control law. In a radical break from 70 years of Supreme Court precedent, Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, declared... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Supreme Court Ideology 'Wiped Away Years of Lower Court Decisions'
Washington Post
27 June 2008
The Supreme Court struck down the District of Columbia's ban on handgun possession yesterday and decided for the first time in the nation's history that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual's right to own a gun for self-defense. The court's landmark 5 to 4 decision split along ideological grounds and wiped away years of lower court decisions that had held that the intent of the amendment, ratified more than 200 years ago,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Americans Brace for Supreme Court Ruling on Right to Bear Arms
Washington Post
26 June 2008
With its term coming to an end, the U.S. Supreme Court this morning is expected to issue its ruling on the District's handgun-ownership ban in a case that could result in a landmark interpretation of the Second Amendment. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the city is challenging an appellate ruling that its 32-year-old handgun ban is unconstitutional. Advocates on both sides of the gun control debate have been bracing for the decision... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
DC Handgun Ruling Could Spark Challenges to Gun Control Across US
BBC News
26 June 2008
The US Supreme Court is expected to deliver a ruling shortly that could have a far-reaching effect on gun control laws in the United States. The nine justices have been considering whether a 32-year-old ban on handguns in Washington DC is unconstitutional. It is the first time in nearly 70 years that Americans' right to keep and bear arms, set out in the US Constitution, has been considered by the court. Debate... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Supreme Court Handgun Ruling Could Weaken Chicago's Gun Ban
CBS2 TV News (Chicago) / AP
26 June 2008
CHICAGO -- Chicago officials will be watching the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday as the justices issue their ruling on a Second Amendment challenge to the gun ban in Washington, D.C. As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, the decision Thursday could yield the first concrete definition of the meaning of the Second Amendment in the Supreme Court's 216 years. The decision Thursday could have effects across the country, including in... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Washington DC's Handgun Ban Prevents Training of Security Guards
Washington Post, Column
26 June 2008
Allan Lucas discovered his passion nearly four decades ago, in the Marine Corps. Assigned to target practice at the range, he suddenly realized that everyone else had stopped shooting their M-14s. "It gets real quiet and I'm the only one shooting, and the general and the corporal are watching me," Lucas remembers. "I'm building a little circle of holes around the bull's-eye." During a 30-plus-year career with D.C. police, the U.S.... ( gunpolicy.org )
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