United States
Nurse Shot 4 Times by 85yr-old Heart Patient in Connecticut Hospital
Associated Press
3 March 2010
HARTFORD, Connecticut - Investigators are looking into an elderly heart patient's possible "psychiatric issues" after he allegedly tucked a revolver into the folds of his hospital gown and shot a nursing supervisor who tried to wrest the gun away. The 85-year-old patient, Stanley Lupienski, shot himself once in the leg during the scuffle in Danbury Hospital's cardiac unit Tuesday, police said. He remained under guard Wednesday in... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
85yr-old Patient Pulls Gun, Shoots Nurse, Himself in Connecticut Hospital
Associated Press
2 March 2010
DANBURRY, Connecticut - Police say an 85-year-old patient shot and wounded a nursing supervisor in a Connecticut hospital. They say the nurse suffered non-life-threatening wounds while trying to subdue the patient Tuesday afternoon. They say he was rushed to the emergency unit for treatment. Police say the man pulled a gun after the nurse went in to treat him and shot the victim three times after he tried to grab the weapon.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Shame on Maine Lawmakers Who Condone Gun Trafficking Loopholes
Bangor Daily News (Maine), Opinion
10 February 2010
The Brady law requires a criminal background check to find out if a prospective gun buyer is prohibited from purchasing a gun. It is a critical law enforcement tool that prevents felons, domestic abusers and other prohibited people from buying guns. The law works. Since it was passed in 1994, almost 2 million criminals and other prohibited people have been stopped from purchasing a gun. In 2007, 297 people in Maine where prevented... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Domestic Violence, Family Gun Homicide Continues to Increase in Iowa
Des Moines Register (Iowa)
28 January 2010
DES MOINES, Iowa - A new report released Thursday by the Iowa Department of Public Health shows that domestic violence cases are continuing to increase across Iowa. Officials said the number of people who are killed in domestic incidents is also rising. The IDPH's Domestic Abuse Death Review Team's report for 2007-2008 shows about 15 deaths per year between 2005 and 2009 from domestic violence, compared to about 12 per... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Brady Campaign Accuses Obama of 'Running Away from Gun Control'
The Hill (Washington DC)
19 January 2010
President Barack Obama on Monday received a failing grade from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence for running away from gun control. The group, which endorsed Obama in 2008, gave him an "F" on every issue it scored, including background checks, gun trafficking, guns in public, the federal assault weapons ban, standing up to the gun lobby and leadership. "It's been a very disappointing year for us, especially considering... ( gunpolicy.org )
El Salvador
Ban Guns to Curb Injury, Death in El Salvador - Health Minister [Espanol]
Noticias (El Salvador)
16 December 2009
[Translated summary: Deputy Minister of Health asks Congress to ban civilian gun ownership, says 80% of El Salvador's homicides, external-injury hospital admissions involve firearms.] El Ministerio de Salud dio a conocer el plan preventivo para las fiestas de fin de año, y la mayor preocupación de las autoridades son los casos de niños quemados, los accidentes de tránsito provocados por personas ebrias, y el incremento de heridos por... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama's 'Anti-gun' Health Care Bill Targeted by 'Far-right Extremists'
Mother Jones (USA)
8 December 2009
Right-wingers have long viewed health care reform as a cover for various dastardly liberal plots -- from killing off grannies [1] and unborn babies [2] to ushering in a socialist state [3]. Now, pro-gun activists see yet another hidden agenda: Health care legislation, they say, threatens their right to bear arms. The accusation comes from Gun Owners of America [4], a 300,000 member group that proudly advertises itself with a quotation... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Battle Over Firearm Registry, Gun Control Reveal a Changing Canada
New York Times
7 December 2009
OTTAWA -- Like public health care, Canada's tight gun-control laws help distinguish the country from its powerful neighbor to the south. But as Canadians commemorated the 20th anniversary of one of the country's most notorious shooting sprees on Sunday, their Parliament was on course to eliminate one of its most significant gun-control measures. A long-gun registry, which requires the registration of rifles and shotguns, emerged... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Gun Lobby Less of a Problem than Silence of the Canadian Majority
Toronto Star (Ontario), Opinion
6 December 2009
Twenty years ago today, an angry man walked into l'École Polytechnique in Montreal, separated the men from the women and screaming, "You are all a bunch of feminists!" killed 14 young female engineering students and injured 13 others. Many of us remember exactly where we were when we got the news. And exactly how we felt when we realized it could have been us or our daughters or our sisters. And we remember the outrage when we... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Gun Registry, Gun Laws Save Lives, 'Uphold Social Order' in Canada
Peterborough Examiner (Ontario), Letter
5 December 2009
Recently, MPs voted 164 to 137 to repeal the registry of long guns and shotguns. This despicable, shameless, politically driven action flies in the face of public health, safety, and crime prevention. The issue of gun registration must not and cannot be limited to its impact on criminals. There are compelling reasons and widespread consensus in favor of compulsory gun registration. Gun registration provides vital safety information... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Scrapping Canada's Long Gun Registry Is Pandering to Vocal Minority
Vancouver Sun
9 November 2009
Will Canadians ignore the irony of Parliament scrapping the long-gun registry the day before two more mass shootings in the United States and just before the 20th anniversary of the massacre of 14 women by a man with a rifle at a Montreal university? Prime Minister Stephen Harper had better hope so because the stratagem of using a private member's bill is a transparent attempt to subvert what Canadians clearly want while evading... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Texas Army Doctor Gave Signals Before His Pistol Shooting Rampage
New York Times
8 November 2009
KILLEEN, Texas -- It was still dark on Thursday when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan left his aging apartment complex to attend 6 a.m. prayers at the brick mosque near Fort Hood. Afterward, he said goodbye to his friends there and asked forgiveness from one man for any past offenses. "I'm going traveling," he told a fellow worshiper, giving him a hug."I won't be here tomorrow." Six hours later, Major Hasan walked into a processing... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Army Killer a Muslim Psychiatrist, No Known Links to Jihadists, Others
New York Times
7 November 2009
KILLEEN, Texas -- On Wednesday and Thursday, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan seemed in a hurry to give his worldly belongings to a neighbor. First a Koran. Then bags of vegetables. Finally a mattress, clothing and odds and ends from his bare one-room flat. "I'm not going to need them," he told the neighbor, Patricia Villa. He was going to Iraq, he said, or maybe to Afghanistan. That was just one of many small and enigmatic details... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Liberals Soften on Canadian Gun Law, May 'Decriminalise' Lawbreaking
Toronto Star (Ontario)
5 November 2009
OTTAWA -- In a surprising softening of Liberal policy, party leader Michael Ignatieff says penalties for violating requirements of the long-gun registry could be "decriminalized" as part of an effort to broaden its legitimacy in the eyes of rural Canadians. Ignatieff's statement set the stage for a vote hours later in the House of Commons in which a majority of MPs voted, for the first time in 14 years, to give "approval in principle"... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Canadian Gun Registry Ads Target, Annoy Opposition MPs [Francais]
Presse Canadienne
29 October 2009
[Translated Summary: A Conservative Party advertising campaign is targeting opposition MPs in an attempt to get them to vote for a bill to repeal the long gun registry. The minority Conservative government is nine votes short of the required majority in the House of Commons. Opposition MPs supportive of the Bill feel insulted by the ads and some are reconsidering their support for the government's initiative. The Coalition for Gun Control... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Redefines US Gun Control Research to Fit Liberal Conclusions
Washington Times
22 October 2009
For a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been forbidden by Congress from doing research on gun-control issues. Such piddling hurdles as federal law don't matter to the Obama administration. With a wave of a hand, the CDC has simply redefined gun-control research so the ban no longer applies. They're not researching guns; they're researching alcohol sales and their impact on gun violence, or researching how... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Politicians Cower, Too Frightened By Gun Lobby to Protect Americans
Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), Editorial
22 October 2009
CHARLESTON, West Virgiunia -- Since 2000, Kanawha County has issued 13,272 five-year permits to carry concealed pistols, according to Lt. Rick Rose in the sheriff's department. Cabell County has issued perhaps 4,000 in that period. Statewide, the grand total probably is over 100,000. Presumably, all those West Virginia pistol-packers carry hidden guns because they think it makes them safer. But a new federal study concludes that... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Republicans Try to Shut Down Slowly Emerging US Gun Safety Research
Washington Times
19 October 2009
More than a decade after Congress cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), another federal health agency has been spending millions of dollars to study such topics as whether teenagers who carry firearms run a different risk of getting shot compared with suffering other sorts of injuries. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also has been financing research to investigate whether... ( gunpolicy.org )
Nigeria
Nigeria May Lift 1980s Police Ban, Allow Gunshot Wounds to Be Treated
Associated Press
15 October 2009
ABUJA, Nigeria -- A Nigerian lawmaker says parliament is considering a bill that will make it a criminal offense for hospitals and medical workers to delay or deny treatment of gunshot wounds. House of Representatives member Mayor Eze said Thursday that failure to treat a victim in both private and public hospitals could result in at least five years in prison. Nigerian hospitals now must wait to treat victims of gunshot... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Public Health Study Shows Carrying Gun Raises Risk of Getting Shot
Philadelphia Inquirer
12 October 2009
Meleanie Hain of Lebanon used to tell the news media that she carried a Glock 26 pistol everywhere she went to protect herself and her children. Then last week she was shot to death by her husband in what police called a murder-suicide. For years, researchers have been trying to investigate whether carrying a gun is protective or risky. But getting the answer through science has proved elusive. Now, University of Pennsylvania researcher... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Carrying a Gun Increases Risk of Getting Shot and Killed, Says US Study
New Scientist (USA)
8 October 2009
Packing heat may backfire. People who carry guns are far likelier to get shot -- and killed -- than those who are unarmed, a study of shooting victims in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has found. It would be impractical -- not to say unethical -- to randomly assign volunteers to carry a gun or not and see what happens. So Charles Branas's team at the University of Pennsylvania analysed 677 shootings over two-and-a-half years to discover... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun-toting Soccer Mom's Death Reignites America's Gun Rights Debate
Patriot-News (Pennsylvania)
8 October 2009
A gun has apparently killed a woman who had come to symbolize a person's right to openly carry a gun. It's difficult to resist this obvious and heartbreaking angle in the death of Meleanie Hain. One year ago in Lebanon County, Hain came to be known as the "gun-toting soccer mom" whose carry permit was revoked by a sheriff then restored by court order, reigniting a national debate about gun rights. Now, in her death,... ( gunpolicy.org )
India
Indian Women Face Increasing Risk from Guns and Domestic Violence
Morung Express (Manipur), Opinion
8 October 2009
Gun violence can be part of the cycle of intimidation and aggression that many women experience from an intimate partner. Domestic violence is a feature of every nation, irrespective of social, economic, religious or cultural preferences and settings. At least one in every three women is physically abused at least once, usually by an intimate partner, with most experiencing multiple instances of abuse. For every woman killed or... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Guns Used in 55 Mexican Drug Cartel Shootings Traced to Texas Dealers
Houston Chronicle (Texas)
1 October 2009
High-powered guns purchased at Houston-area stores by a Gulf Cartel cell and smuggled across the border for the syndicate's bloody warfare have been traced to at least 55 killings in Mexico, including the deaths of police officers, civilians and gangsters, federal agents said Thursday. The recent tracking of firearms is the result of a four-month anti-cartel operation focused largely on Houston, which the federal government contends... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Kentucky Revenge Shooting Puts Target on Violent Offenders' Gun Rights
Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky)
17 September 2009
Amy Davis, 29. Dorene Seidl, 69. Adrianne Radford, 25. Patricia Searcy, 35. All these Kentucky women were shot and killed since 2001 allegedly by men against whom they had filed domestic violence orders, men who weren't supposed to have guns. On Sept. 11, Amanda Ross, 29, was shot to death, allegedly by her ex-fiancé, former state Rep. Steve Nunn, whose domestic violence order specifically prohibited him from having a... ( gunpolicy.org )
Thailand
Theft of 300 Army Guns Began 5-year Killing Spree in Southern Thailand
Bangkok Post
6 September 2009
There isn't a single shop in the South of Thailand where a gun can be bought legally, but statistics revealing the number of people killed or injured by small arms point to the rise of a gun culture, especially in the three southernmost provinces, driven in part by the basic instinct of self protection. The prevalence of small arms -- weapons which can be easily carried by an individual -- has been the trigger point of so much chaos... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Kingdom
UK Doctors to Revise Guidelines for Reporting Disturbed Gun Owners
BBC News
26 August 2009
The coroner who conducted the inquest into the deaths of Christopher Foster, his wife Jill and their daughter Kirstie in Shropshire called for changes in the way shotgun and firearms licences are issued and renewed. The British Medical Association (BMA) and Association of Chief Police Officers have discussed ways in which doctors can be made aware of patients who own firearms. The BMA's plan to "tag" -- or highlight --... ( gunpolicy.org )
Papua New Guinea
Report Finally Tabled: Gun Culture 'Almost Cripples' Papua New Guinea
Islands Business (Suva)
12 August 2009
Three years and 10 months after a government committee looked into the gun issue in Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare's government has finally tabled the committee's report in Parliament. Internal Security Minister Sani Rambi when tabling the report with its 244 recommendations admitted the country has a very serious gun problem that needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency. The widespread use of illegal guns throughout PNG... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Australian Terror Group 'Planned' to Find Automatic Weapons, Say Police
ABC Radio News (Australia), Transcript
7 August 2009
ASHLEY HALL -- When police released the details of the alleged terrorism plot they foiled this week in Melbourne, they claimed that the would-be attackers were planning to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Long-barrelled semi-automatic weapons were outlawed by John Howard after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 and there was a crackdown on semi-automatic handguns after the Monash University shooting seven years ago. ... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands
US Guns Fuel Canada and Mexico Crimes, UK Gun Crime Remains Rare
SAGE Publications UK
29 July 2009
Guns smuggled from the US arm criminals in Canada and Mexico, contributing to a higher murder rate in Canada and more intense drug crime conflict near the Mexican border, according to a study published today in a special issue of Criminology and Criminal Justice, published by SAGE. However, authors Philip J. Cook, of Duke University Durham, NC, US, Wendy Cukier Ryerson of the University of Toronto, Canada and Keith Krause from the... ( gunpolicy.org )
Oceania, Mexico, Australia, United Nations
Even Small Numbers of Guns Can Turn a Pacific Community to Chaos
PacNews / Pacific Islands News Association
25 June 2009
Guns in the Pacific region have the potential to create chaos, economic damage and social disruption, a just-completed conference has been told, reports Radio Australia. The meeting of Pacific Island officials in Sydney, Australia, was sponsored by the United Nations Disarmament Office and the Australian Government. It looked at the scale of the problem and initiatives to tackle it. It was chaired by Mexico's Pueblo... ( gunpolicy.org )
Oceania, Australia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, United Nations
Guns Threaten Pacific Stability, Ammunition Controls on Way, UN Told
ABC Radio Australia (Shortwave)
24 June 2009
Guns in the Pacific region have the potential to create chaos, economic damage and social disruption, a conference has been told. The meeting of Pacific Island officials in Sydney was sponsored by the United Nations Disarmament Office and the Australian Government. The two-day event, which has just wound up, looked at the scale of the problem and initiatives to tackle it. It was chaired by Mexico's Pablo Macedo,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Oceania, United Nations
UN Meeting Tackles Gun Culture, Crime, Ammunition Curbs in the Pacific
ABC Radio Australia (Shortwave) / Pacific Beat, Audio
24 June 2009
Guns have the potential to create chaos, economic damage and social disruption in the Pacific. That is the message heard at a 2-day meeting of Pacific Island officials that has just wound up in Sydney. The meeting, jointly sponsored by Australia and the United Nations Disarmament Office, looked at the scale of the problem and initiatives to tackle it. Speakers: Ambassador Pablo Macedo, Chair-Designate, UN small arms... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
In America the Gun Guys Have Won the Debate, But Not on Facts
Baltimore Sun, Column
26 April 2009
Gun enthusiasts feel a need to keep arguing for their right to bear as many firearms as possible when, as noted in this column recently, the battle is over, with the all-guns-at-all-costs crowd victorious. Their achievement is an estimated 280 million firearms in a nation of about 307 million people, a stunning ratio that guarantees continued gun violence well beyond the bloody spring we're having this year. That connection is what... ( 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 )
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
Permitting Hidden Handguns Drives Up Crime Rather Than Decreasing It
New York Times, Editorial
3 April 2009
In December, ignoring proper procedure and the risk to public safety, the Bush administration rushed through regulations allowing people to carry concealed, loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. Fortunately, a federal judge has blocked this last-minute mischief, giving the Obama administration a fresh chance to do the right thing and withdraw the rule. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the United States District Court... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Even the Gun Lobby Can't See Hidden Handguns in Chicago This Year
Chicago Tribune
11 March 2009
SPRINGFIELD, Illinois -- Not even gun-rights advocates think they can pull the trigger on a "concealed carry" law this year. Excited by an important Supreme Court ruling and new support from law enforcement, thousands of gun owners gathered at the state Capitol Wednesday to rally for a law letting them carry concealed weapons. But their leaders say it will take time to build the support necessary to pass such divisive legislation.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Supreme Court Refusal Ends New York City's Suit Against Gun Industry
New York Times
10 March 2009
WASHINGTON -- New York City's nine-year lawsuit accusing gun makers of flooding illicit markets with their firearms came to an end on Monday, when the United States Supreme Court refused to consider a lower court's dismissal of the case. Without comment, the justices decided not to review a ruling by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which declared on April 30 that federal law protected... ( gunpolicy.org )
Congo (DRC)
Guns Empower Rapists, Drive HIV/Aids, Rob Congo Families of Future
Daily Nation (Nairobi), Opinion
5 March 2009
The horror of sexual violence that has blighted the lives of women and girls in DR Congo is nowhere more apparent than at Panzi Hospital, in Bukavu. The first thing that strikes you is the long queue of women. In some parts of East Congo, three out of four women have been raped during the 14 years of conflict. Panzi is East Congo's leading referral hospital for rape survivors, who constitute over two thirds of its patients.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Gun Violence Costs Each Household $2,500 a Year - Chicago Crime Lab
University of Chicago Chronicle, Vol 28 No 11, Report
5 March 2009
In addition to the human cost of gun violence, felt so wrenchingly on Chicago's streets and in its homes, a new report from the University's Crime Lab examines the social costs that amount to $2.5 billion per year, or roughly $2,500 for every household in the city. The report sets the stage for a new Crime Lab initiative to find and support innovative ideas for preventing gun violence among young people, then rigorously evaluate... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Chicago Gun Violence Costs $2.5 Billion a Year: Report
Chicago Tribune
3 March 2009
The social costs of gun violence in Chicago total about $2.5 billion each year, according to a report released Tuesday by an academic group formed to research effective ways to reduce violent crime. "Gun Violence among School-Age Youth in Chicago," the first report from the University of Chicago Crime Lab, used interviews, focus groups, police data and social research to characterize factors underlying Chicago's escalating murder... ( gunpolicy.org )
New Zealand
Australian Experience Makes Case for Gun Law Reform in New Zealand
Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand; Vol. 15 No. 2, p. 24
1 March 2009
The gun death rates in New Zealand from suicide and homicide are considerably higher than in Australia. In 2005, these gun death rates per 100,000 people were .91 in Australia (1,2,3) and 1.3 in New Zealand. (4) Are the higher death rates in New Zealand a result of your country's relatively relaxed taws in relation to gun ownership? Apart from exceptions such as pistols, military-style semi automatic firearms and restricted weapons, New... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Has Two Early Tests on Gun Control, Must Not Back Down
New York Times, Editorial
20 February 2009
The Obama administration has chosen to defend a bad rule rushed through during former President George W. Bush's final days in office that allows concealed, loaded firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. The rule is a gift to the gun lobby. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has asked for a 90-day internal assessment of the rule's environmental impacts, offering some hope that the administration might later reverse an unwise... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama's Justice Dept. Defends Bush-NRA Rule Allowing Guns in Parks
Washington Post
17 February 2009
The Obama administration is legally defending a last-minute rule enacted by President George W. Bush that allows concealed firearms in national parks, even as it is internally reviewing whether the measure meets environmental muster. In a response Friday to a lawsuit by gun-control and environmental groups, the Justice Department sought to block a preliminary injunction of the controversial rule. The regulation, which took effect... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Mayor Touts Gun Offender Registry, Firearm Carry Penalties in Tennessee
Commercial Appeal (Memphis)
11 February 2009
Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, in a push to increase public safety, has called for a statewide gun-offender registry and tougher penalties for people who carry handguns without permits. In his annual State of the County address to the Rotary Club on Tuesday, Wharton unveiled a flurry of ideas to reduce violent gun crimes, including state legislation that would make it a felony instead of a misdemeanor for first-time offenders... ( gunpolicy.org )
Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Caribbean
Gun Running, Rising Firearm Homicide Rates a Worry in the Caribbean
Jamaica Observer / CMC
6 February 2009
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- The figures are staggering. About half a billion small arms are in use around the world and nearly half a million people are killed by them annually. For Caribbean countries like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, where more than 100 people have so far been murdered this year, the illicit trade in small arms is especially worrying. "It is not unusual for one gun to be used in one member state or... ( gunpolicy.org )
Jamaica
Researchers Pour Cold Water on Call for More Private Guns in Jamaica
Jamaica Observer
3 February 2009
Three social scientists have weighed in on the gun debate, arguing that allowing Jamaicans to arm themselves could open the way to more murders and mayhem. According to Sociologist Clement Branch, who heads the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica is "close to having a culture of violence and more guns, more opportunities to arm oneself is likely to reinforce that... ( gunpolicy.org )
Caribbean, Central America, South America
Caribbean Nations Report Alarming Rates of Gun Running, Gun Crime
Inter Press Service News Agency
26 January 2009
PORT OF SPAIN -- The figures are staggering. About half a billion small arms are in use around the world and nearly half a million people are killed by them annually. For Caribbean countries like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, where more than 100 people have so far been murdered this year, the illicit trade in small arms is especially worrying. "It is not unusual for one gun to be used in one member state or territory... ( gunpolicy.org )
Caribbean, Trinidad & Tobago
Gun Crime 'Makes Up 70% of Criminal Activity' in Caribbean Region
Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday
17 January 2009
National Security Minister Martin Joseph yesterday announced that there is a troubling significant increase in gun related crimes in the region, especially between the illegal narcotics trade and that of the illegal trade in small arms and light weapons. Joseph, Chair of the Council of Ministers responsible for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) was speaking at the First Seminar of Firearms Examiners and Ballistics Experts... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Albany, New York Struggles to Establish Gun Violence Task Force
Albany Times-Union (New York)
28 December 2008
ALBANY -- The Common Council is being asked to create a team to help implement the recommendations of the Gun Violence Task Force. With the task force's work just completed, Council member Dominick Calsolaro does not want their recommendations to get lost. Among other steps, the task force recommended the city hire a full-time violence prevention coordinator; start a crisis team to respond to shootings to prevent further violence;... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Criminals Unlikely to Hand Over Many Illegal Guns in NSW Amnesty
Australian Associated Press
23 December 2008
The NSW government has announced a three-month amnesty for unregistered and unlicensed firearms in a crackdown on gun crime across the state. But the initiative has been criticised by the opposition and a gun control expert. Police Minister Tony Kelly said the amnesty would begin on March 1 next year to give those with unregistered guns an opportunity to hand them in to police. Under the amnesty, people without... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Family Shootings Put Focus on Gun Control in New South Wales
Australian Associated Press
23 December 2008
SYDNEY -- Time goes very quickly when you're staring down the barrel of a gun. It ran out too fast for Melissa Cook, who was fatally shot by her ex-husband John Kudrytch last week while she stood behind the counter of a BP service station in Casula, in Sydney's south-west. In the following days, the NSW government announced it would hold a three-month gun amnesty next year to get illegal firearms off the streets. But... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Australian Shooting Advocate Defends Women's Rights to Bear Arms
Sun-Herald (Sydney)
21 December 2008
At work, Samara McPhedran is a mild-mannered researcher who busies herself with facts and figures. At play, she's a dedicated hunter, committed to shooting rabbit and deer to eat. For a former vegetarian, it's quite a change of pace and one not without risk. She flatly refuses to say exactly where she works, mindful of the fact that people she calls animal rights extremists -- with whom she has had some run-ins... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Seattle Mayor on Track to Ban Hidden Handguns in City Buildings
Seattle Times
17 December 2008
If Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' proposed firearms policy is on track to become law by executive order, little short of a successful legal challenge is likely to derail it. The proposal has its supporters. And sidetracking it may be an uphill battle. Still, that didn't stop Keli Carender from trying at a public hearing Monday night. "Any sort of ban is gun control," she said, after speaking for her allotted 90 seconds... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US FDA Approves 9mm Handgun as 'Medical Device' for the Handicapped
MSNBC / Discovery Channel
8 December 2008
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted a conceptual, ergonomic 9mm handgun -- designed for people crippled by arthritis, muscular dystrophy, or similar conditions that render them too weak to operate normal handguns -- as a Class 1 Medical Device. The single-shot gun, dubbed the Palm Pistol, is "an adaptive tool that allows someone otherwise incapable of handling a revolver or semiautomatic weapon to operate one," said... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US FDA Backs Off 'Medicare Subsidised' Handgun for Disabled, Elderly
Sydney Morning Herald / AAP
8 December 2008
A US gun company will market a pistol to elderly Americans that will be subsidised by the government in the same way as a wheelchair or walking frame. The company, Constitution Arms, claims its gun, called a Palm Pistol, has won approval as a medical device for people with arthritis or other disabling conditions who have trouble squeezing the trigger on a normal firearm. Under the deal, seniors who buy the $US300 ($A465)... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Health Authority Decides Gun for Disabled Is 'Not a Medical Device'
Associated Press
8 December 2008
WASHINGTON -- It could have been the world's first prescription pistol. The single-bullet Palm Pistol set the Internet abuzz with speculation that Medicare might even pay for the elderly and disabled to pack heat. But Monday the Food and Drug Administration said the Palm Pistol doesn't have a shot of being listed as a medical device, and revoked the registration issued to its inventor only last week. "The FDA has determined... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Medical Authority Mulls Pistol as Prescription Device for Old, Disabled
New Scientist
5 December 2008
A US company claims to have received federal approval to market a 9-mm handgun as a medical device and hopes the US government will reimburse seniors who buy the $300 firearm. But the US Food and Drug Administration says there are currently no formal designations of the gun as a medical device. Called the Palm Pistol, the weapon is designed for people who have trouble firing a normal handgun due to arthritis and other debilitating... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Ohio Man Says He Accidentally Shot, Injured Estranged Wife During Sex
Live Science
4 December 2008
A 38-year-old man in Springfield, Ohio, told police he was reaching for something on the nightstand during sex when his pistol went off and shot his estranged wife in the chest, according to a local news report. Timothy Havens previously served 60 days in jail for assaulting Carolyn Havens, 42, who is now in the hospital. The shooting comes just a handful of days after NFL player Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Licensed US Gun Owner and Wife Clean Guns: Daughter, 6, Shot Dead
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
18 November 2008
MARYSVILLE -- A 42-year-old man told police that he accidentally shot and killed his 6-year- old daughter Sunday after drinking double vodkas while cleaning guns. Stormy Peters was shot in the head and died after being flown to Seattle Children's hospital. Her father, Richard D. Peters, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree manslaughter, a felony. Monday afternoon, a judge ordered him... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Brawl, Gun Use Puts North Carolina's Hidden Handgun Law in Spotlight
Citizen-Times (North Carolina)
19 October 2008
ASHEVILLE -- Some just stood and stared. But dozens of other parents and children who saw a gun come out during a fight at a crowded family amusement center couldn't find cover fast enough amid the lines of video and arcade games. The off-duty law enforcement officer who pulled out the handgun had every legal right to be carrying a concealed weapon, even on a recreational trip to Fun Depot with his family. The same would... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
No Need for Guns in Georgia Bars, Churches, Schools, Mental Hospitals
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia), Editorial
2 October 2008
The most telling -- and troubling -- moment of a recent daylong state Senate hearing on Georgia gun laws came when state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) insisted that the right to possess firearms is absolute and any restriction on gun ownership is unconstitutional. In other words, it would be unconstitutional to ban possession of rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and M-1 tanks. That extreme position startled many... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Strident, Dismissive US Supreme Court Sides With Foes of Gun Control
Journal of the American Medical Association / JAMA. 2008;300(13):1575-1577, Editorial
30 September 2008
In District of Columbia v Heller, The Supreme Court held, for the first time in its history, that the Second Amendment grants an individual right to possess and use firearms for personal use, which encompasses the right to keep a loaded handgun at home for self-defense. Justice Scalia, writing for a bitterly divided court that split 5 to 4 along ideological lines, said that the Second Amendment "surely elevates above all other interests... ( gunpolicy.org )
Iraq
After Killings and Kidnappings, Iraq Govt Says Doctors Can Carry Guns
Reuters
29 September 2008
BAGDHAD -- Doctors in Iraq will have the right to carry guns to protect themselves, the government said on Monday, in a bid to address the security concerns of a profession that has been targeted by gangsters and militants. Thousands of Iraqi doctors have fled over the past five years, leaving the country desperately short of qualified medical personnel. Doctors held a conference in Baghdad in June to ask for better protection.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
California Shooters Bristle at Move to Reduce Toxic Effects of Lead Shot
San Francisco Chronicle
29 September 2008
For 40 years on clear mornings, avid shooters have turned out at the Petaluma Trap and Skeet Club for the sport of popping away at clay pigeons hurled into the air. The western Sonoma County range looks idyllic with hawks and golden eagles diving over grazing sheep. But in a year's time, the rural outdoor range is strewn with seven tons of lead, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, which owns the land. Health officials worry... ( gunpolicy.org )
Finland
Finland Bewildered at Deadly School Shootings, Easy Access to Guns
Associated Press
24 September 2008
KAUHAJOKI, Finland -- This sparsely populated nation near the Arctic Circle has long clung to an ethos of rugged individualism where, unlike in most of Western Europe, the right to bear arms is deeply ingrained in the culture. Stunned by the second school massacre in a year, however, Finns are questioning their gun laws and other social problems such as rampant alcoholism and high suicide rates. Leading newspapers splashed... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada, United Nations
Canadian Conservatives Shooting Holes in Global Gun Control Efforts
Now Magazine (Ontario)
17 September 2008
If you're wondering whether you've missed any gun talk thus far in the federal election, don't worry. Not a single rhetorical shot's been fired -- yet. One reason the issue is taking its time is that the Tories have put a muzzle on their gun-loving supporters in hopes of wooing urban voters with a piano-playing, cardiganed teddy bear. But in rural areas, these Reformers in Tory blue continue to play the gun card, fanning... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Toronto's Mayor Unloads on His 'Personal' Campaign to Ban Handguns
Now Magazine (Ontario)
17 September 2008
Mayor David Miller tells NOW why he's launched a campaign for a federal ban on handguns. It's Personal I'm doing this for the families of those killed by gun violence. Every single time I go to the visitations, a mom asks me to do everything in my power to stop it. I've looked a lot of moms in the eye, and I take this very seriously. When I heard deputations from families at City Hall hearings, I just couldn't keep the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, Australia
What Australia's Gun Laws Could Teach Americans About Gun Control
Crikey (Australia), Blog
9 September 2008
The US National Rifle Association has been a tad suspicious of John McCain after he voted to support a mandatory 72-hour waiting period for background checks on gun purchasers at gun fairs and when he championed campaign-finance legislation that the gun lobby saw as an attack on their rights to expression. The Columbine High School killers obtained their guns from such a fair. With the NRA having the largest grass roots vote delivery... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
More Permissive Hidden Handgun Laws Worry US Security Industry
Security Management (USA)
8 September 2008
The rising trend of liberalizing state gun laws to allow people to carry concealed weapons worries security practitioners, according to a new report from the ASIS International Foundation. More than 30 states have passed legislation liberalizing the ability of individuals to carry concealed weapons. Five states have pushed further, specifically barring property owners and employers from banning concealed weapons in their parking... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Better Law Could Have Kept Guns from Montreal School Killer - Coroner
Canadian Press
4 September 2008
MONTREAL -- If not for a delay in the delivery of his third gun, Kimveer Gill's deadly assault on Dawson College may have come months earlier as a commemoration of the anniversary of the Columbine massacre, a Quebec coroner has revealed. Instead, the 25-year-old, who killed one teenage student and wounded 16 others at the Montreal college, stalled his attack for several months until his arsenal was sufficiently stocked, coroner... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Partners, Children of US Gun Owners Face Higher Risk of Suicide - Study
New England Journal of Medicine 359:10:989-991
4 September 2008
This past June, in a 5-to-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court struck down a ban on handgun ownership in the nation's capital and ruled that the District's law requiring all firearms in the home to be locked violated the Second Amendment. But the Supreme Court's finding of a Second Amendment right to have a handgun in the home does not mean that it is a wise decision to own a gun or to keep it easily accessible.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Family Suicide Risk Appears 2-10 Times Higher in US Homes with Guns
New Scientist (USA)
3 September 2008
Are gun owners more likely to kill themselves? Two doctors who think so are asking lawmakers and psychologists to take a new look at the risks of firearms. Matthew Miller of the Harvard School of Public Health studied four years of data in the US and found higher rates of suicides involving firearms in states with more gun owners -- up to four times higher for men and eight times higher for women. The numbers of suicides not involving... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Guns Kept at Home Raise Risk of Suicide, Injury for Whole Family - Study
Health Day News (USA)
3 September 2008
Physicians could dramatically reduce the number of suicides by restricting at-risk patients' access to guns and other highly lethal ways of killing themselves, say Harvard School of Public Health researchers. "The temporary nature and fleeting sway of many suicidal crises is evident by the fact that more than 90 percent of people who survive a suicide attempt do not go on to die by suicide. A suicide attempt with a firearm rarely affords... ( gunpolicy.org )
New Zealand
Gun Seller Banned After Unrecorded Rifle Sale to New Zealand Reporter
Sunday Star-Times (New Zealand)
17 August 2008
A TradeMe user has been banned from the site in the fallout from last weekend's Sunday Star-Times investigation into the ease of buying a gun online. Last week the paper bought a .22 rifle from a private seller through online auction site TradeMe with less than $100 cash, no licence and on the first attempt. The privately listed Remington bolt action rifle, similar to the one used to kill South Auckland liquor store owner Navtej... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Unintentional Shootings Kill 500 American Kids a Year: Advice for Parents
AOL / MomLogic, Web Page
1 August 2008
This week, a toddler fatally shot himself after finding a gun in his parent's car. According to Jackson, Miss., authorities, the 3-year-old was sitting in the car at a gas station when he found the gun in the front seat and shot himself in the face. Police questioned the boy's parents, but no charges have been filed. But these aren't freak accidents. More than 500 children die annually from accidental gunshots. Some shoot themselves,... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Most Readers Find Gun Control Outside Realm of Public Health - MedPage
MedPage Today, Poll
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 )
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 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
School Shooter Killed 6 in Illinois: Here's the Real Story [Part 2 of 3]
Esquire (USA)
16 July 2008
[Continued from Part 1] The following February, Thresholds, the agency that runs Mary Hill, decides to transition Steve out of the residential program into an SRO, a single-room occupancy. He has his own room now in a broke-down building, and they all share a bathroom. This is an even worse neighborhood. "His first night in the SRO was rough," says Jessica. "I remember him telling me about how he heard gunshots and someone was pounding... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Nations
Annual Report Launched at UN: Global Gun Theft, Trafficking, Gun Violence
United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), New York, Media release
14 July 2008
As delegates gathered in New York to consider the implementation of the Programme of Action on the illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons, the Small Arms Survey 2008: Risks and Resilience, was launched at a Headquarters press conference this morning. The book is the eighth annual review of global small arms issues, which is produced by a team of researchers based in Geneva, Switzerland, and a worldwide network of local... ( 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
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
'Evidence is Overwhelming' - Guns in the Home Increase Risk to Family
Washington Post
7 July 2008
Seventeen years ago, a couple of criminologists at the University of Maryland published an interesting paper about the 1976 District ban on handguns -- a ban that was recently overturned by the Supreme Court on the grounds it was inimical to the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms to protect themselves. The researchers employed a simple procedure: They tabulated all the suicides that had taken place in Washington between... ( 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 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 )
United States, United Nations
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, United Nations
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
Proposal to Enlist Gun Makers to Work Out How to Reduce Shootings
Los Angeles Times, Opinion
29 June 2008
This year, about 12,000 Americans will be shot to death. It's a staggering figure, and even though lawmakers have continued to pass gun-control laws to try to bring the number down, they have not significantly reduced the murder rate. Indeed, for the last decade, guns have steadily remained the cause of about two-thirds of all homicides. Gun manufacturers insist that these deaths are not their fault, preferring to pin the blame... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Guns for Safety? Dream On, Conservative Justices of the Supreme Court
Washington Post
28 June 2008
The Supreme Court has spoken: Thanks to the court's blockbuster 5 to 4 decision Thursday, Washingtonians now have the right to own a gun for self-defense. I leave the law to lawyers, but the public health lesson is crystal clear: The legal ruling that the District's citizens can keep loaded handguns in their homes doesn't mean that they should. In his majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia explicitly endorsed the wisdom of keeping... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Obama Joins Wide Range of Reaction to American Gun Law Decision
Bloomberg (USA)
26 June 2008
A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the Constitution protects individual gun rights, striking down the District of Columbia's handgun ban and raising questions about weapons restrictions elsewhere. The 5-4 ruling resolves a constitutional question that had lurked for two centuries: whether the Second Amendment covers people who aren't affiliated with a state-run militia. "The enshrinement of constitutional... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Sharp Rise in Gun Homicide Among Young US Black Men - New Study
Baltimore Sun
26 June 2008
Gun-related murder among young men has risen sharply in the United States even as the overall homicide rate remained flat, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Between 1999 and 2005, homicide involving firearms increased 31 percent among black men ages 25 to 44 and 12 percent among white men of the same age. The study appears in the Journal of Urban Health. "The... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
More US Preschoolers Shot than Police Officers; US Leads in Gun Death
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia), Editorial
15 June 2008
Who dies in greater numbers from firearms, police in the line of duty or preschoolers? The answer -- contained in a searing new report by the Children's Defense Fund -- is surprising and disturbing. In 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, guns killed 69 preschoolers, compared with 53 law enforcement officers. That's just one of the alarming facts in the Washington-based child advocacy group's "Protect... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Gun Group Targets Young Australian Shooters, Uses 'Sexualised Photos'
ABC News, Wide Bay (Bundaberg), Transcript
11 June 2008
David Dowsett: Well, Roland Brown is Chair of the National Coalition for Gun Control, so what does he make of the magazine? Roland, good morning. Roland Brown: Good morning, David, how are you? David Dowsett: Good thanks, Roland, what are your thoughts on this magazine for junior shooters, is it a bit of a concern for you? Roland Brown: It's a concern for me for a couple of reasons. I want to talk about some of... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Report Shows New Increase in Child, Teen Gun Deaths in America
Huffington Post (USA), Blog
9 June 2008
Imagine a bullet fired from a semiautomatic pistol, moving through the night darkness faster than the speed of sound -- more than 1,200 feet per second or four football fields end to end. Now imagine that bullet slamming into the body of a child like a brick through a picture window. Hold that image in your mind as you consider some of the leads of recent news articles of child firearm victims: -Chicago, May 3 -Cortney... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Licensed Shooter Prompts Seattle to Clamp Down on Hidden Handguns
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
6 June 2008
Two weeks after a shooting at Seattle's Northwest Folklife Festival, Mayor Greg Nickels reportedly plans to announce restrictions Monday on concealed weapons on city property. Nickels' office declined to offer any details about the executive order. A news conference was scheduled at the Police Department with Nickels, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske and state legislators. In a news release, the initiative was described as... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Florida Must Reject Bill to Allow Guns in Restaurants, on Public Transport
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia), Opinion
2 May 2008
In a letter to Gov. Sonny Perdue, Woodstock Mayor Donnie Henriques opposes House Bill 89, which would allow permitted gun holders to take their weapons in public parks, restaurants and on public transit. Here are excerpts: In this legislative session our elected delegates addressed many issues with typical spirit and competency and I am again honored to be associated with the men and women who dedicate their lives to public office.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
US Corporations Have No Right to Keep Guns Away From the Workplace
Tampa Tribune (Florida), Opinion
25 April 2008
While clowning around with my grandchildren one day, I suddenly shouted, "Look at the sky, it has turned from blue to green." Try as I might, I could never convince them that it was true, because they could see and couldn't be fooled. So it is with Robert Levy's column ("Employers Must Pull The Trigger," Our Opinion, April 22). Levy claims that our right to have firearms locked in our cars in a parking lot is not about... ( gunpolicy.org )
Australia
Australian Gun Control Laws Did, Did Not Reduce Firearm Homicide, Suicide
ABC News (Australia) / PM, Transcript
21 April 2008
LISA MILLAR: The former prime minister, John Howard, recently told an American audience that one of his proudest achievements in office was introducing tougher gun laws after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. But a new study by researchers from the University of Sydney claims the previous federal government's gun control laws have done nothing to reduce firearm deaths in Australia. Gun control advocates though, disagree. Michael... ( gunpolicy.org )
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