Top of PageGun Policy News, 12 November 2007
US Supreme Court Mulls Unprecedented 'Culture War' Gun Case This Week
12 November 2007
International Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON — Both sides in a closely watched legal battle over the District of Columbia's strict gun-control law are urging the Supreme Court to hear the case. If the justices agree — a step they may announce as early as Tuesday — the Roberts court is very likely to find itself back on the front lines of the culture wars with an intensity unmatched even by the cases on abortion and race that defined the court's last term.
The question is whether the Second... (GunPolicy.org)
Britain's Changing Firearm Laws - A Guide to UK Gun Laws, Past & Present
12 November 2007
BBC News
In the wake of a series of high-profile shootings, an observer might assume that guns are suddenly pouring into the UK for the first time.
But gun control is a relatively recent phenomenon in Britain, where ownership of firearms was relatively common a century ago.
The contrast between UK legislation on gun ownership — among the strictest in the world, and that in the United States — among the most relaxed, might appear stark.
But in fact both countries'... (GunPolicy.org)
With Gun Crime Still at Low Levels, UK Remains a Relatively 'Safe Haven'
12 November 2007
BBC News
The death of several young people in recent months has led to a great deal of soul-searching about Britain's gun culture. So what can be done to end gun crime in the UK?
Drugs, urban decay, racism, "gangsta" rap and an absence of positive role models have all been blamed for the recent spate of gun deaths, with Tory leader David Cameron going so far as to blame a "broken society".
But are things really that bad, and what can be done to stop gun crime?
'Focus of... (GunPolicy.org)
Carry a Gun and You'll Either Shoot, or Get Shot - London Trauma Surgeon
12 November 2007
BBC News
Mike Walsh is a consultant who heads up one of the country's top trauma teams, based at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. He has dealt with dozens of gun crime injuries.
"It is not for me to judge if they are a 'goodie' or a 'baddie'," he said.
He is the consummate professional who avoids making judgements when a patient comes in, and gets on with the job of trying to save a life.
Because it is the home of London's Air Ambulance Service, the Royal London... (GunPolicy.org)
Young UK Men Now Carrying Guns, Real or Imitation, at Much Younger Ages
12 November 2007
BBC News
Simply carrying a gun now carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years — so who does it and why?
Guns can provide an intoxicating and almost pornographic attraction to young men who often feel powerless, according to academics in the field.
Last year Gavin Hales, a criminologist from Portsmouth University, researched gun crime in a project funded by the Home Office.
He interviewed 80 men in prison who had become involved in gun crime.
'Power'
Asked... (GunPolicy.org)
Brief Guide to the World's Best Known Guns and Major Gun Makers - BBC
12 November 2007
BBC News
The global trade in small arms is big business — 1,250 companies in at least 92 countries produce weapons, parts or ammunition. But who are the big players?
ARMALITE
Makers of the M4 and M16 assault rifles, which are popular with the US armed forces and soldiers from many other nations. The design was quickly bought by Colt.
Armalite weapons were also popular with the IRA, hence the republicans' long-time policy of the "Armalite and the ballot box", meaning... (GunPolicy.org)
Brief Layman's Glossary of Firearm and Ammunition Terminology - BBC
12 November 2007
BBC News
Most people in the UK will have never come across a real gun and the terms used, while they are readily recognisable, need some explanation.
BALLISTICS
Ballistics is the science concerned with the functioning of firearms and the dynamics of projectiles, from bullets through artillery and right up to rockets.
Forensic ballistics experts are able to determine various characteristics which can link bullets and guns with crime scenes. Different guns will leave... (GunPolicy.org)
Who Supplies Guns to UK Criminals? Summary of Trafficking Routes - BBC
12 November 2007
BBC News
Britain has some of the toughest gun laws in the world, and has done a great deal to choke off the supply — but as long as there is a demand for guns there will always be someone willing to find a way to provide them, at a price.
Since a ban on handguns was introduced after Thomas Hamilton murdered 16 children and their teacher at Dunblane in 1996, criminals have found it harder and harder to find guns.
'Guns are rare'
"The suggestion that Britain is awash with... (GunPolicy.org)
How Guns Get Into the Hands of UK Crooks: Gas Gun Conversions in Britain
12 November 2007
BBC News
In November 2006 three men were jailed in connection with one of the biggest gun importation rackets in Britain. But how did it work and what can be done to stop such operations?
In the spring of 2005 Manchester gangster Desmond "Dessy" Noonan was interviewed for a television documentary and bragged about having "more guns than the police".
A few days later he was shot dead on a street in south Manchester.
Noonan's brother Dominic was arrested in May of that year... (GunPolicy.org)
Internet Link Alleged Between Finland and Philadelphia School Shooting Plots
12 November 2007
CNN
LONDON, England — Police in Finland are examining Internet material after claims a disturbed teenager who killed eight people in a school shooting may have been in contact with a Philadelphia boy accused of planning a similar shooting spree.
Students in Finland returned to school Monday for the first time since the massacre.
Around a dozen police officers stood guard as younger students returned to class at a nearby primary school following the massacre at Tuusula... (GunPolicy.org)
US Supreme Court Mulls Explosive 'Gun Rights' Ruling in an Election Year
12 November 2007
USA Today
WASHINGTON — A U.S. appeals court decision defying precedent on gun rights has reached the steps of the Supreme Court, carrying with it the potential for a seismic shift in laws across the nation. Since 1939, the nation's judges had generally regarded the Second Amendment right "to keep and bear arms" as belonging to state militias, such as National Guard units, not to individual gun owners. But on March 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia... (GunPolicy.org)
Virginia Tech School Massacre Inquiry Head Urges End to Gun Proliferation
12 November 2007
Hampton Roads Daily Press (Virginia) / AP
RICHMOND, Virginia — The chairman of the independent panel that investigated the Virginia Tech shootings said Monday the nation must stop the spread of guns.
W. Gerald Massengill spoke at a meeting of the Virginia Center for Public Safety, a gun control advocacy group, in which he gave an overview of the panel's report on the April 16 shootings that left dead 33 people on the Blacksburg campus, including the mentally ill gunman.
The former Virginia State Police... (GunPolicy.org)
California: Five Family Members Dead in Apparent Murder-suicide Shooting
12 November 2007
San Diego Union-Tribune (California)
TEMECULA — Authorities were continuing to investigate the horrific deaths of five people in a house in Temecula as an apparent multiple murder and suicide, a sheriff's sergeant said Monday.
"We're not looking for an outstanding suspect," Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said. "It still appears to be murder-suicide — a total of five victims."
Investigators were searching for evidence early Monday inside the home, Gutierrez said. They had been... (GunPolicy.org)
Europe,United Kingdom,Lithuania,Germany
EU May 'Fast Track' Convertible Gun Ban, Background Checks, Registration
12 November 2007
BBC News
A British MEP is hoping to "fast track" a new EU deal on gun control and says last week's school massacre in Finland should act as a wake up call.
Last week, the BBC reported that police in Britain, faced with a flood of easily convertible replica guns, want changes to European laws.
Labour MEP Arlene McCarthy, who chairs a key committee, said a new deal could be in place by the end of the year.
The new directive would make it harder to buy guns across the EU.... (GunPolicy.org)
Michigan Student Group Runs Handgun Giveaway to Promote Guns in Class
12 November 2007
Michigan Daily (Ann Arbor)
According to LSA sophomore Eric Plourde, the right to own guns is "the most attacked civil liberty." That's why his group, the University chapter of the College Libertarians, is holding a raffle tonight for a $200 gift certificate toward the purchase of a gun at the Mill Creek Sports Center in Dexter, Mich.
Gun control on college campuses became a national issue after the April Virginia Tech shootings, which left 33 people dead.
"There's a lot of controversy because... (GunPolicy.org)
Finland Changes Course on EU Gun Rule: Teen Shooters To Be Supervised
12 November 2007
Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)
The Finnish government decided on Friday to propose a change in the law on firearms, restricting the acquisition of guns by those under the age of 18. Until now guns have been available to children 15 and above with a parent's permission.
The decision came on Friday when the government's ministerial committee on European Union affairs discussed the upcoming EU firearms directive. The aim of the directive is to restrict access to guns by those below the legal age.
It... (GunPolicy.org)
California Crime Control, Condor Bills Earn Schwarzenegger 'Anti-gun' Label
12 November 2007
Sacramento Bee (California)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a quick-trigger, guns-a-blazing action hero in Hollywood, is being blasted by firearms groups as a Second Amendment wimp in the Capitol.
Schwarzenegger's signing of bills to require microstamping of semiautomatic pistols and to ban lead bullets in condor country has prompted gun groups to paint him as one of the state's most anti-gun Republican governors.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might as well change his last name to Kennedy because he... (GunPolicy.org)
American Tries Loosening Wheel Nut with a Shotgun Blast, Shoots Himself
12 November 2007
BBC News
A US man has injured himself in both legs after attempting to loosen a stiff wheel-nut by blasting it with his gun.
The 66-year-old man from Washington state was repairing his car outside his home when the accident took place.
Shooting at the wheel from arm's length with his 12-gauge shotgun, he was peppered with buckshot and debris.
The man - whom police say was on his own and not intoxicated — was taken to hospital with severe, but not life-threatening,... (GunPolicy.org)
Air Rifle Death of 17yr-old British Boy a 'Tragic Accident' - 2 Teens Arrested
12 November 2007
BBC News
Police say the death of a 17-year-old boy who was shot with an air rifle seems to have been a "tragic accident".
Two teenagers, aged 18 and 16, who were arrested after the death of Danny Marsh in Newport, have been released on bail, pending further inquiries.
Gwent Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting in Maesglas on Sunday evening.
Danny's relatives called him an "adored son and brother" who was "loved by all his family".... (GunPolicy.org)
US High Court Refusal of Gun Rights Case Would Doom DC's Handgun Ban
12 November 2007
Baltimore Sun
The U.S. Supreme Court could announce as early as tomorrow whether it's going to take up the challenge to Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban.
If it does, it will be the first meaningful Second Amendment case in the court's modern history. And the case will instantly become the largest lightning rod of the term, even more than the Guantanamo detainee cases to be heard in December.
The District of Columbia bans ownership of handguns, but allows unassembled rifles and... (GunPolicy.org)
Finnish School Killer's Web Chats with Jailed Philadelphia Shooting Plotter
12 November 2007
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — A teenager who admitted plotting a school attack near Philadelphia had communicated online about the Columbine massacre with a teenage outcast who killed eight people and himself in a high school shooting in Finland, the Pennsylvania boy's attorney said Monday.
But the teen was "horrified" when he found out about the Finnish attack and said he never would have suspected him of following through with a violent act, the attorney said.
Finnish police... (GunPolicy.org)
Struggling California Teen Rebuilding Her Life After Stray Bullet to the Head
12 November 2007
Daily News (Los Angeles)
SYLMAR — Robbie Marie Jones walked proudly across the stage at North Valley Charter Academy on the last day of school this past June.
At one time barely passing her classes, Robbie had turned her life around after being diagnosed with a learning disability. Eventually excelling at the Granada Hills school, Robbie eagerly talked about going to college to become a nurse.
It was a dream the girl once sent to a boot camp for troubled youths never thought possible.... (GunPolicy.org)
Poor Border Management Turns Bangladesh Into Gun Trafficking Route
12 November 2007
Daily Star (Dhaka)
Geographical location, poor border management failing to tackle different criminal syndicates and separatist groups have turned Bangladesh as one of the main transit routes for arms trafficking in South Asia, said the experts at a workshop yesterday.
They said easy availability of firearms has given rise to different outlawed and criminal groups in the country while a few corrupt officials of law enforcement agencies have indulged in nurturing this evil culture.
The... (GunPolicy.org)
