Top of PageGun Policy News, 22 August 2001
Having Gun Pointed at Your Head is Chilling Experience
22 August 2001
Evansville Courier & Press (Indiana)
This is the second of four columns about people who have faced loaded guns.
? "It happened at 11 p.m. on April 27, 1994. I'll never forget that date. I live Downtown and was coming home. I walked to the front door and could see my husband grilling in the back yard. All of a sudden I felt my skirt lift up like from a gust of wind. I turned around and there was a chrome pistol one inch from my nose.
"I was half inside the door and half outside. He just stared at me.... (GunPolicy.org)
RTV6 Participates in Gun Buyback Program
22 August 2001
RTV6
Ryan Williams' life was taken in 1994 when he went to a friend's house to play. He and his friend found a gun and because of an accident, Ryan's life ended.
Ryan's story is just one of the reasons that RTV6 is participating in a gun buyback program this weekend.
Ryan's mother, Patty Williams, supports the idea of gun buybacks, but never intended to be an advocate until her son died.
"My son Ryan, who was 13, went to a friends house to play on Mar. 28, 1994,"
That... (GunPolicy.org)
131 Firearms Seized, 1,921 Held in Pabna
22 August 2001
Independent (Dhaka)
PABNA — Pabna district police seized a total of 131 firearms and 2,051 explosives on the 30th day of the countrywide combing operation ending on August 15. Police also arrested 1,921 persons during the drive.
The arrested persons included 98 activists of an outlawed political party, 18 listed terrorists and seven terrorists with firearms. The recovered firearms included one rifle, nine pistols, seven revolvers, 15 guns, 28 shutter guns, 67 pipeguns and four other... (GunPolicy.org)
Board Clears 100 for Hidden Handguns
22 August 2001
Detroit News
HOWELL — In two business days, Livingston County added about 100 more names to the lists of county residents legally allowed to carry a hidden handgun.
The three-person county gun board met for two marathon sessions on Monday and Tuesday to deal with the influx of people applying for concealed weapons permits, putting the final questions to about 100 people over the two days.
Most of the applicants were like Paul Chapoff. Chapoff had the necessary paperwork back in... (GunPolicy.org)
Indonesia, Philippine Leaders Agree to Fight Gun-Running
22 August 2001
Agence France Presse
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Philippine President Gloria Arroyo agreed in talks here to stem gun-running along their common sea border, officials said Wednesday.
The problem would be tackled under a joint panel being set up to handle bilateral defence and security concerns.
It can "help a lot in minimizing or even eliminating the trafficking of firearms in the border-crossing area," Arroyo's national security adviser Roilo Golez said.
He was... (GunPolicy.org)
Columbine Parent's Charges Dropped
22 August 2001
Associated Press
FAIRFAX — Prosecutors dropped charges that the father of a victim of the Columbine High School shootings trespassed during a demonstration at National Rifle Association headquarters.
During the June demonstration by about a dozen people, Thomas R. Mauser refused repeated requests that he and the others leave.
He was the only one arrested.
Fairfax County prosecutors dropped the trespassing charge because no one from the NRA showed up to testify at a hearing... (GunPolicy.org)
New Law Stiffens Gun Penalties for Felons
22 August 2001
Bergen Record (New Jersey)
EAST RUTHERFORD — Convicted murderers, drug dealers, and other violent offenders who are caught with a gun face a mandatory five-year prison term under legislation signed Tuesday by acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco.
"This puts violent offenders on notice that they can't purchase, own, or possess a firearm," DiFrancesco said at a bill-signing ceremony before a clutch of reporters, police, and elected officials in East Rutherford's Borough Hall.
Mayor James Cassella... (GunPolicy.org)
Hopes Rise for Trentham Reopening
22 August 2001
Evening Post (Wellington)
A report which Wellington shooters hope will result in the reopening of Trentham Rifle Range was presented to the New Zealand Army this week.
The Army closed the range last year in a decision based on recommendations from a British ballistics report. It suggested ricochets were more common than first thought, resulting in the closure of several ranges under Army control.
However, the National Rifle Association study, which took six months to compile, suggests the... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Talk in School Was Just Bad Joke, Court Says
22 August 2001
Toronto Sun (Ontario)
A Toronto school janitor who said he'd "shoot everyone" with an Uzi submachinegun was acquitted of criminal charges yesterday by a judge who said it was just a bad joke.
John Jesionaczak, 35, was found not guilty on two charges of threatening death to three teachers at Howard Junior Public School on Nov. 15, 1999 and March 3, 2000.
Jesionaczak left the Old City Hall courthouse without comment, but two of the teachers said they were disappointed with the ruling, given... (GunPolicy.org)
She'll Beat Up Aliens, But She Won't Feel Good About It
22 August 2001
National Post (Toronto)
Alberta actress Natasha Henstridge is in one of the summer's most violent movies, Ghosts of Mars, portraying a tough, no-nonsense Martian cop who ends up waging battle with a mob of ghoulish aliens. But that doesn't mean she's totally comfortable with violence.
"You know what? I've gone through a lot of inner turmoil about things like that. I've gone back and forth and said: 'No, that's it. I'm never doing another movie with more violence. I don't want to shoot any... (GunPolicy.org)
Guns N' Girls Ad Under Fire
22 August 2001
Advertiser (Adelaide) / AAP
AN Australian surfwear company has landed in hot water for its violent advertising booklet which contains pictures of models carrying guns.
The pamphlet promoting Rusty surf clothing includes a photograph of a woman whose hands are bound behind her back and her mouth taped with thick adhesive tape.
The booklet also includes characters called Chipper Read and Alotta Babushka.
The NSW government tonight said it had referred the 32-page booklet, entitled The Great... (GunPolicy.org)
Up-In-Arms Venezuelan State Bans Toy Guns
22 August 2001
Agence France Presse
CARACAS — Frustrated by spiraling violent crime and robbers who frequently use plastic pistols in holdups, Venezuela's Miranda state has banned the sale of toy guns.
Authorities in the state just next to the crime-plagued capital, Caracas, banned the "production, sale, distribution and use" of such toys, "given that the high technology used by makers of toy weapons to achieve their similarity to genuine firearms has been taken advantage of by common criminals to... (GunPolicy.org)
