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US Begins to Notice Scandal of Federal Ban on Gun Control Research
23 March 2013
Los Angeles Times, Opinion
Like a lot of people who follow the gun debate, I was surprised to learn earlier this year that for more than a decade, Congress has made it nearly impossible for our premier federal health research institutions to study gun violence.
That became evident when President Obama announced his series of executive orders in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
In one of those orders, he directed the Centers for Disease Control and... (GunPolicy.org)
What America Doesn't Know About Gun Violence is Killing Them
26 January 2013
New York Times, Editorial
In one of the 23 executive actions on gun control signed this month, President Obama instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal science agencies to conduct research into the causes and prevention of gun violence. He called on Congress to aid that effort by providing $10 million for the C.D.C. in the next budget round and $20 million to expand the federal reporting system on violent deaths to all 50 states, from the current 18.
That Mr.... (GunPolicy.org)
US Scientists Urge Authorities to End Limits on Gun Safety Research
10 January 2013
Reuters
Research restrictions pushed by the National Rifle Association have stopped the United States from finding solutions to firearms violence, more than a hundred scientists from virtually every major U.S. university told Vice President Joe Biden's task force on gun violence in a letter on Thursday.
In the wake of the December school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, and other mass homicides, the group of economists, health researchers, educators, doctors and... (GunPolicy.org)
Curbing Gun Violence in America: Lessons From Public Health Successes
7 January 2013
Journal of the American Medical Association
The tragic slaughter of innocents in Newtown, Connecticut, has horrified and refocused the nation on the burden of gun violence. Each year in the United States, more than 30 000 individuals are killed by guns (homicides, suicides, and unintentional fatalities) — 85 deaths per day plus many hundreds of nonfatal injuries. Gun homicide alone causes 11,000 deaths each year, more than all US troops killed throughout the last decade in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remarkably, the... (GunPolicy.org)
One Leader of a Democracy Reversed His Nation's Gun Laws in 12 Days
17 December 2012
CNN, Opinion
Editor's note: Philip Alpers is Adjunct Associate Professor at the Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney. A policy analyst in the public health effects of gun violence and small arms proliferation, his web site GunPolicy.org compares armed violence and gun laws, country by country.
SYDNEY, Australia - Could the leader of a democracy reverse his nation's slide toward the ever more permissive use of firearms and mandate stringent new gun control laws in... (GunPolicy.org)
GPNHeader: Guns Where Tobacco Was in 1950s: Death Toll Amenable to Science
25 November 2012
Denver Post (Colorado)
Gun violence must be treated as a public-health issue — such as alcohol, smoking and traffic — say people concerned about gun-related death rates from mass shootings and random shots nationwide.
"Guns are where tobacco was in the 1950s," said Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program, who practices emergency medicine at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine. "There's a little bit of science and a great deal of... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Lobby War on Research into Effects of Gun Violence Continues
26 July 2012
Salon (USA)
As the tragic shooting in Colorado last week has reignited the debate over guns, one key public policy question — does gun control save lives? — is almost impossible to answer thanks to a dearth of research on the subject. That lack of research is no accident. It's the product of a concerted campaign by the gun lobby and its allies on Capitol Hill to stymie and even explicitly outlaw scientific research into gun violence in what critics charge is an attempt to... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Violence: The Public Health Issue Politicians Want to Ignore
24 July 2012
Forbes (USA)
On the morning a 24-year old man armed with two Glock automatic handguns, a shotgun, an AR-15 assault rifle and chemical gas went on a shooting rampage at a midnight screening of a Batman movie, the National Rifle Association sent out a tweet to its 6,000 followers: "Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?"
Perhaps we can excuse the horrible timing and chalk up the insensitivity of the tweet to a clueless social media coordinator who didn't quite notice... (GunPolicy.org)
Harvard Researchers Warn of 'Harmful' Law to Gag Doctors on Gun Risk
10 November 2011
Boston Globe
Florida lawmakers caused a stir among the medical community this summer when they passed a law prohibiting doctors from asking most patients about whether they have a gun at home. Many pediatricians in particular were outraged, saying proper storage of firearms is a critical child safety issue.
The National Rifle Association supported the law, saying such questioning invades people's privacy.
The law hit a roadblock in September, when a federal judge granted an... (GunPolicy.org)
US Psychiatric Nurses Need Training to Reduce Gun Suicides, Homicides
1 November 2011
Medical Xpress (USA)
"Graduate Psychiatric Nurses' Training on Firearm Injury Prevention" found that in spite of the concrete recommendations from American Psychiatric Nursing Association, only 9.4 percent of psychiatric nursing programs in the U.S. reported training their students to look for signs that patients might shoot themselves or someone else, said study co-author Jagdish Khubchandani, a community health education professor in the university's Global Health Institute and Department... (GunPolicy.org)
85% of Gun Suicides Committed with Hunting Rifle in Quebec [Francais]
28 September 2011
La Seigneurie (Canada)
[Translated summary: With automn's arrival, many Quebecers take out their hunting equipment. The Director of Public Health would like to take this opportunity to remind hunters to be vigilant when handling their firearms to ensure their safety and that of their loved ones. Indeed, no less than 85% of suicides and 17% of homicides with firearms in Quebec are committed with a hunting carbine or shotgun.]
Avec l'arrivée de l'automne, de nombreux Montérégiens sortent... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Query Off Limits for Florida Doctors, Gun Injuries a Health Issue?
8 August 2011
New York Times, Letter
As a primary care physician, I regularly ask patients questions that many people would consider rude, inappropriately nosy or just irrelevant in polite conversation.
Do you wear your seat belt? How much alcohol do you usually drink? Do you use recreational drugs? Have you ever injected yourself with anything? Do you have sexual relations, and if so, with men, women or both?
Questions like these have long been a standard part of medical interviewing, and for good... (GunPolicy.org)
US Doctors Call Gun Safety 'Preventive', Gun Lobby Labels It 'Invasive'
13 June 2011
Boston Globe
Pediatricians regularly give parents advice about how to keep their children safe at home: Stash toxic cleaners where young children cannot get to them, fence the backyard swimming pool, require bike helmets, and keep any firearms unloaded and locked away.
Physicians call this kind of preventive care "anticipatory guidance". When it comes to guns, the National Rifle Association calls it an invasion of privacy.
Governor Rick Scott this month signed a law making Florida... (GunPolicy.org)
Florida Law that Bans Doctors from Asking about Guns Will Be Challenged
3 June 2011
ABC News (USA) / AP
Doctors and gun control groups say they will challenge a Florida law, signed Thursday by Gov. Rick Scott, that bans physicians from asking patients about gun ownership.
"Gov. Rick Scott should realize the risks to public health and safety that he would be sanctioning by giving into the gun lobby's agenda," the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence said in a joint statement with the Florida chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family... (GunPolicy.org)
Doctors Sue Florida Governor Over Public Health and Guns Gagging Law
2 June 2011
Miami Herald / AP
TALLAHASSEE, Florida - Physician and gun control groups say they will sue to block a new Florida law signed Thursday by Gov. Rick Scott that prevents doctors from asking patients about gun ownership.
It was one of 48 bills Scott signed into law, including two historic Medicaid measures. Subject to federal waivers, they will put the health care of nearly 3 million low-income and disabled Floridian into the hands of for-profit companies and hospital networks.
Other... (GunPolicy.org)
Ohio Police Shift Crime-reduction Focus from Guns to Jailing Repeat Offenders
31 May 2011
Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
Columbus police take guns off the streets at a pace of about eight a day, 250 a month, 3,000 a year.
In the police property room on Fairwood Avenue are derringers and AK-47s, ancient Colts and slick new Glocks. There are Hi-Points that cost less than $200 and Les Baer custom pistols that likely set back the original buyer a few grand.
Columbus Police Officer Ky H. Reed started work in the property room last summer after an injury took him off the streets. It has been... (GunPolicy.org)
US Gun Homicide Dwarfed by 'The Other' Gun-Violence Problem: Suicide
14 April 2011
Atlantic (USA), Opinion
The Newark Star-Ledger reports on the disturbing number of suicides among police officers in New Jersey -- sadly a national phenomenon as well. The unusual stress of police work and its effect on family life plays a large part, but so does availability of firearms. An opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine observed a few years ago:
In 2005, the most recent year for which mortality data are available, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among... (GunPolicy.org)
Should Australian Police be Contributing to the Gun Death Toll in the USA?
14 April 2011
Croakey / Crikey (Australia), Blog
Should Australia be contributing to the gun toll in the USA?
It's a timely question for the Defence Export Control Office in the Department of Defence in Canberra, says Adjunct Associate Professor Philip Alpers, of GunPolicy.org at the Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney.
Philip Alpers writes:
If Canberra follows precedent, around 10,000 surplus Australian police firearms will soon be for sale in pawn shops and gun shops across the United States.
To... (GunPolicy.org)
Oscar Winner Launches 'Gun Fight' Documentary on US Armed Violence
13 April 2011
Daily Democrat (California), TV preview
Garen Wintemute, an emergency room physician and public health epidemiologist at UC Davis Medical Center, is among the featured experts in the documentary "Gun Fight," which premieres on HBO Wednesday.
The documentary, directed by two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple, looks at the complex issues surrounding firearms and debate over how best to reduce gun violence in the U.S.
Kopple and her film team shadowed Wintemute and emergency department physicians and... (GunPolicy.org)
The Truth About Switzerland - Gun Laws Americans Would Call 'Tyrannical'
28 March 2011
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (USA), Web page
In Switzerland — a nation in which a "well regulated Militia" still plays a leading role in national defense — guns are a hot issue. A February referendum on new gun policy proposals quickly turned into a national debate on Switzerland's gun culture and citizen/soldier tradition. The resulting dialogue in this landlocked nation of mountains and lakes has been fascinating and shed light on some long-perpetuated myths about Switzerland's gun laws.
Responding to... (GunPolicy.org)
Children, Guns Not a Good Mix: Australian Gun Lobby Push to Lower Age
27 March 2011
Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne), Opinion
Few topics divide like guns. I don't like guns, and I definitely don't think children and guns should be allowed to mix.
Did you know that in Victoria, a child can carry and shoot a gun provided they are in the company of a licensed adult?
We should all be appalled by that.
We have tough gun control laws - have done since Port Arthur when John Howard bulldozed the National Firearm Agreement through - but there is a loophole that needs to be addressed because children... (GunPolicy.org)
Infatuated with Guns, Americans Can't Think Straight on Public Health Risk
30 January 2011
New York Times, Opinion
Americans are infatuated with guns. And when you're infatuated, you sometimes can't think straight. Maybe that's why, three weeks after the Tucson shootings that shook the nation, we're still no closer to banning oversize magazines like the 33-bullet model allegedly used there. Maybe it will help clarify issues if we imagine an alternate universe — one in which Americans exhibit their toughness not with assault weapons but with assault vehicles, a world in which our... (GunPolicy.org)
Why Does US Gun Lobby Prohibit Public Health Research on Gun Injury?
29 January 2011
Philadelphia Inquirer, Editorial
Just because Americans have the right to bear arms shouldn't mean that public-health experts stop studying ways to reduce the risk of deadly gun violence.
That, however, effectively has been U.S. policy since the mid-1990s. That's when the National Rifle Association went ballistic over a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that having a gun in the house for protection actually made a family less safe.
As spelled out in a front-page... (GunPolicy.org)
Philanthropy Must Challenge Idea That US Gun Violence Can't Be Stopped
14 January 2011
Chronicle of Philanthropy (USA), Opinion
"We see this latest tragedy and ask, How could this happen? How could it not happen, when we systematically make it easier for angry and troubled people to get ever-more-powerful guns, and harder for the police and public-health people to stop the mayhem?"
Those words appeared in The Chronicle of Philanthropy 2007, in the days after the Virginia Tech massacre. Three and a half years later, our nation's gun laws have gotten weaker, the gun lobby has become emboldened,... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Regulation for Public Health: A Better Memorial for Tucson Victims
13 January 2011
Los Angeles Times, Editorial
Thursday's "Morning Edition" reported an increased interest in the same high-capacity ammunition magazine used in last Saturday's massacre, which allowed 31 bullets to be shot in rapid succession. Sales have gone up dramatically at the Arizona gun shop Glockmeister. And at Don's Guns and Galleries in Indianapolis, owner Don Davis has seen an influx of young people at his shooting range experimenting with how fast they can change those same ammunition magazines in their... (GunPolicy.org)
It's Time: Use Public Health as Rallying Point to Curb Toll of Gun Violence
11 January 2011
Montreal Gazette (Québec), Editorial
A blast from a handgun ended the life of 9-year-old Christina Green, a sunny little girl who had gone to meet Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords because she wanted to learn more about politics.
Christina was one of six people to die in the attack Saturday that included the attempted assassination of Giffords. Jared Loughner, a 22-year-old man believed to be mentally unstable, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.
There is a particular horror about... (GunPolicy.org)
To Save Lives, Swiss Doctors Back Ban on Army Machine Guns at Home
9 January 2011
SwissInfo
Swiss doctors consider it their professional duty to back an initiative aimed at restricting access to firearms to be voted on in a nationwide ballot on February 13.
The Swiss Medical Association, which represents the overwhelming majority of practising doctors, considers the initiative an important part of suicide prevention.
"It is about public health and suicide prevention. This is our core business, to save lives," said the association's president, Jacques de... (GunPolicy.org)
NRA-led Gun Lobby Wields Powerful Influence Over Feds, US Politics
15 December 2010
Washington Post
Behind the scenes, federal agents in charge of stopping gun trafficking to Mexico have quietly advanced a plan to help stem the smuggling of high-powered AK-47s and AR-15s to the bloody drug war south of the border.
The controversial proposal by officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives calls for a measure strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association: requiring gun dealers to report multiple sales of rifles and shotguns to ATF.
The gun... (GunPolicy.org)
Kingston, Ontario Police Unanimous in Their Support of Gun Registry
23 September 2010
Kingston This Week (Ontario)
The vote among those in Kingston who wear a gun to work is unamimous: Keep the national gun registry going.
From the top cop to the uniform officers, the concensus among Kingston police officers is to keep the much-debated gun registry in place.
The Kingston Police Services Board hosted a press conference September 15 as part of the National Day in Support of the Long-Gun Registry.
"We believe the national firearms registry is a valuable asset and system that assist... (GunPolicy.org)
Illegal Guns Impossible to Quantify, Most in Australia Come from Theft
24 August 2010
Sydney Morning Herald
Three separate shootings in just seven hours in which two people died have reignited questions about how people get their hands on guns.
Official statistics from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research indicate gun crime is at a lower level than it was two years ago.
However, a violent Sunday night in Sydney included a home invasion in Werrington in which Devril Leuthwaite, 17, was fatally shot in front of his family.
It came just three weeks after senior... (GunPolicy.org)
Public Health Claims Are 'Red Herring,' Canada Firearm Registry Futile
5 August 2010
The Western Producer (Canada), Opinion
Many public health advocates believe that scrapping the long-gun registry would open the door to increases in suicides, domestic violence and murders against women.
As chair of the standing committee on Public Safety and National Security, I have received letters from doctors, nurses, and women's rights groups that suggest passing Bill C-391 to eliminate the registry would increase crime. This short-sighted conclusion is not supported by either statistical analysis or... (GunPolicy.org)
Progressive California Can Expect Many Challenges to Gun Control Law
4 July 2010
Sacramento Bee (California), Column
The list is tragically long.
Five children dead at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, 1989. Nine dead at 101 California St. in San Francisco, 1993. Nineteen wounded in the North Hollywood shootout, 1997. Four Oakland police officers shot dead, 2009.
Thousands of others have died needlessly but attracted little attention. No state has shed more blood because of gun violence than California.
And no state has done more to combat the carnage. In the past 20 years,... (GunPolicy.org)
Losing Canada's Gun Registry will Increase Suicides - Health Professionals
28 April 2010
Toronto Sun (Ontario)
OTTAWA, Ontario — Scrapping Canada's long-gun registry would undermine significant gains in suicide prevention since the registry was put in place, emergency doctors and public health organizations say.
In an open letter to MPs Wednesday, 28 medical and health organizations said most firearms deaths in Canada are suicides, and the guns most frequently used are rifles and shotguns. They argued gun-related deaths and suicides in particular have diminished since the... (GunPolicy.org)
Obama Redefines US Gun Control Research to Fit Liberal Conclusions
22 October 2009
Washington Times
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 teens carrying guns affect the rates... (GunPolicy.org)
Republicans Try to Shut Down Slowly Emerging US Gun Safety Research
19 October 2009
Washington Times
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 having many liquor stores in a... (GunPolicy.org)
Strident, Dismissive US Supreme Court Sides With Foes of Gun Control
30 September 2008
Journal of the American Medical Association / JAMA. 2008;300(13):1575-1577, Editorial
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 the right of law-abiding,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Journal of the American Medical Association / JAMA. 2008;300(13):1575-1577
Partners, Children of US Gun Owners Face Higher Risk of Suicide - Study
4 September 2008
New England Journal of Medicine 359:10:989-991
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. Deciding whether to own a gun... (GunPolicy.org)
Family Suicide Risk Appears 2-10 Times Higher in US Homes with Guns
3 September 2008
New Scientist (USA)
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 firearms, on the other hand, were... (GunPolicy.org)
Most Readers Find Gun Control Outside Realm of Public Health - MedPage
22 July 2008
MedPage Today, Poll
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 who are registered members of the site... (GunPolicy.org)
Annual Report Launched at UN: Global Gun Theft, Trafficking, Gun Violence
14 July 2008
United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), New York, Media release
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 researchers. The publication was... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), New York
Court Ruling 'Will Lead to More Deaths,' Say US Doctors, Major Med Journal
9 July 2008
Reuters
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 are.
The ruling struck down a law in... (GunPolicy.org)
Most US Gun Deaths Nothing to Do with Crime: Owners Kill Selves and Kin
7 July 2008
Wilmington News Journal (Delaware), Editorial
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 for 55 percent of the nation's nearly... (GunPolicy.org)
Guns for Safety? Dream On, Conservative Justices of the Supreme Court
28 June 2008
Washington Post
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 a handgun in the home for... (GunPolicy.org)
Guns, Fear, the Constitution, and the Public's Health in America - NEJM
3 April 2008
New England Journal of Medicine (USA), 358:14:1421-1424, Opinion
It is 1992, and schoolmates Yoshihiro Hattori and Webb Haymaker have been invited to a Halloween party. Yoshi, a 16-year-old exchange student and avid dancer, wears a white tuxedo like John Travolta's in Saturday Night Fever. By mistake, they stop at a house up the block from their destination. No one answers the doorbell.
Inside are Rodney and Bonnie Peairs. She opens a side door momentarily, sees the boys, and yells to her husband, "Get the gun." He does (it is a... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New England Journal of Medicine (USA), 358:14:1421-1424
NY Mayor Receives Harvard Award for Gun Control, Public Health Efforts
21 October 2007
Newsday (New York) / AP
NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg was named the recipient of an award from the Harvard School of Public Health for his administration's efforts to improve the health of New Yorkers, the school announced Sunday.
Bloomberg will receive the 2007 Julius B. Richmond Award, the school's highest honor, Oct. 29 at a private ceremony and lecture at Harvard.
The Bloomberg administration has mounted successful campaigns to improve millions of residents' health and safety,... (GunPolicy.org)
US Police Chiefs Blast Gun Show Loophole, Urge Public Health Approach
19 September 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The International Association of Chiefs of Police issued a report Wednesday that calls for stronger gun laws and urges law enforcement agencies to better educate the public about gun violence and to form more partnerships with public health officials in preventing firearms-related deaths.
The organization, which includes police executives from around the country, made 39 recommendations in the report, intended as a guide in countering a rise nationwide in gun violence... (GunPolicy.org)
US Gun Lobby 'Fear Mongering,' Siding with Thugs in Weapon Trafficking
17 July 2007
Deseret Morning News (Utah), Editorial
It's one of the oldest debates in the book — public health and safety versus personal freedom. Smokers and non-smokers went the rounds over that issue, as have people concerned about the Patriot Act.
Now the National Rifle Association is reading from the same books.
This debate comes down to how much information is too much information for the government. If law enforcement officials can curb violent acts against innocent people by gaining more access to the who,... (GunPolicy.org)
Melbourne Shooting Prompts Calls for Illegal Gun Crackdown in Australia
4 July 2007
ABC News (Australia) / 7.30 Report, Transcript
ALI MOORE: Last month, Melbourne's CBD came to a chilling standstill when a triple shooting claimed the life of a father of three and injured two others. The violent act has ignited calls by the anti-gun lobby to push for tougher laws to deal with handguns. While police have confirmed a handgun was used, they won't give details of the brand or whether it had a serial number. But that hasn't stopped a growing debate over the illegal gun trade in Australia and whether... (GunPolicy.org)
Estimated 20,000 Handguns Still Available on Australian Black Market
18 June 2007
Sydney Morning Herald
Despite the crackdown on handguns prompted by earlier massacres, an estimated 20,000 are held illegally in Australia.
Also, more than half the perpetrators of multiple gun killings were licensed gun owners, said Philip Alpers, a gun-control researcher at the University of Sydney's School of Public Health.
He said there was no easy solution to stop handgun killings, given blackmarket supplies to criminals and the potential of the tightly regulated sporting shooting... (GunPolicy.org)
Plane Reported Shot Down by Wedding Celebratory Gunfire
12 October 2003
BBC News
Guests at a wedding in central Serbia have apparently shot down a small aircraft by mistake.
They were celebrating in the traditional way — firing off shot after shot into the air above the wedding party.
Unfortunately, there was a two-seater aircraft flying overhead.
One eye-witness told reporters the plane was shot in the left wing.
He saw flames coming from the aircraft which a few moments later it flew into overhead power-cables.
Two men on board are... (GunPolicy.org)
Science of Violence: Guns, Politics and Public Health [Part 2 of 2]
29 March 1998
Washington Post Magazine
[Continued from Part 1 of 2]
The Best Defense
None of the numbers about the risks of keeping a gun in the home was irrefutable. No scientist involved was arguing that the question was firmly settled or that gun research should stop. But in the political trenches, the trend seemed clear.
Here's our proof! The gun controllers chorused happily. And they sent spokesmen like Paul Newman out to trumpet it.
It's a conspiracy to ban guns! The anti-controllers howled. And in... (GunPolicy.org)
Science of Violence: Guns, Politics and Public Health [Part 1 of 2]
29 March 1998
Washington Post Magazine
The evangelists of "injury control" believe that scientific knowledge and public health activism can break America's cycle of firearms mayhem. But can they survive the treacherous politics of gun control?
Trigger Points
It's a gray winter morning and Brian Wiersema is steering his Mazda Navajo east on Landover Road en route to Prince George's County police headquarters. He drives past Jimmy's Crab House and some other places familiar from the local crime reports ("A... (GunPolicy.org)
