WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has backed away from the government's landmark deal in which Smith & Wesson Corp. last year agreed to step up gun-safety efforts in exchange for relief from costly lawsuits. According to company executives and officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency assigned to oversee the deal, there has been no contact between the parties on whether its provisions are being followed, and the company... (GunPolicy.org)

The Ministry of Public Security has called for nationwide efforts to cut down cases involving guns and explosives. At a teleconference Tuesday, Vice Minister Luo Feng said various localities should learn a lesson from last month's explosion in Shaanxi Province which killed 47 people and injured another 85. Tough measures should be taken to curb gun- and explosive-related cases from occurring according to law, he said. Chinese police have launched a nationwide... (GunPolicy.org)

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis waived a cautionary finger at gun-control backers Tuesday, saying he is not yet convinced the state needs any new restrictions on firearms. The governor's warning was tucked conspicuously into a message issued as he signed a new gun law that was rushed through the process in response to shootings earlier this year at two San Diego County high schools. The measure, by Sen. Neil Soto, D-Pomona, broadens an existing law that holds adults... (GunPolicy.org)

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill yesterday making minor changes in California's gun-control laws, but signaled he wasn't willing to venture much further until police and sheriffs "advise us" about gun laws already on the books. Democratic lawmakers were hoping that Davis would move forward this year with significant gun-control measures. After signing several major bills in 1999, the governor said he would take a year off to see whether the new laws —... (GunPolicy.org)

CAPE TOWN — Claims by the Democratic Alliance regarding the integrity of the firearms licensing process were yesterday rejected as "blatant lies" by Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete. Earlier yesterday, the DA called for an immediate investigation into the firearm licensing process, currently handled by the Central Firearms Registry (CFR) — the licensing authority in Pretoria. At the same time, the party said it was referring a number of cases in which... (GunPolicy.org)

Attorney General John Ashcroft, in a recent letter to the National Rifle Association, stated that the "text and original intent of the Second Amendment clearly protect the right of individuals to keep and bear firearms." The amendment, in his view, protects this individual right "just as the First and Fourth Amendments secure individual rights of speech and security respectively." Mr. Ashcroft's remarkable statement has delighted the NRA, which put his face on the cover... (GunPolicy.org)

CHICAGO — The 1994 Brady law, which required handgun sellers to make background checks and institute waiting periods for buyers, has had little impact on U.S. homicide and suicide rates, researchers said on Tuesday. However, the waiting period that has since been phased out did play a role in reducing the suicide rate for older Americans, a segment of the adult population more prone to suicide but less likely to own guns, their report said. The Brady Handgun... (GunPolicy.org)

The movie's producers were afraid Heston would refuse to do the scene. Heston, who pays an ape in the new version of the 1968 film he made famous, has a dying scene in which his character discusses the human race's use of handguns. After this column ran a short note on the irony of the scene, The Scoop was inundated with calls and e-mails from viewers. "Heston's character does not 'rail' against guns," a reader e-mailed. "He merely informs his son, as a warning, that... (GunPolicy.org)