The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) confiscated 281 handguns — 40% of them converted from model guns — last year, the highest number seized in five years, officials said Monday. The figure, which accounts for 20-30% of all handguns confiscated throughout the country, marked a big jump over the previous four years because of the large quantities of converted toy guns seized, MPD officials... (GunPolicy.org)

Replica guns are threatening the lives of innocent South Africans, a new report by Gun Free SA, a lobby group, says. The organisation says the sale of the toy guns has reached alarming proportions. It says most end up in the hands of criminals or lead to unfortunate deaths as they are mistaken for genuine weapons. Last week in Northern Province, for example, an 11-year-old boy was shot dead after allegedly pointing a toy gun at a security guard. The guard said he did... (GunPolicy.org)

NEW YORK — It hasn't been a happy holiday season for the gun industry, now threatened with potentially devastating lawsuits by dozens of cities trying to recover the costs of gun violence. So why are industry lawyers smiling about recent doings in federal court in Brooklyn? Comments by the federal judge presiding over a trailblazing case that helped inspire the municipal litigation have given handgun makers and distributors a modicum of hope. Jury selection in the... (GunPolicy.org)