The state senator who campaigned against the citizen initiative that mandated background checks at Colorado gun shows probably wishes he had been more successful. Sen. Jim Dyer, shopping at the Tanner Gun Show over the weekend, was told he could not buy a weapon because he failed a background check. Apparently, the Littleton Republican has an outstanding warrant in Denver for driving without insurance. Here's the problem: Dyer was issued the ticket only because he... (GunPolicy.org)

SUQ AL-TALH, Yemen — Want to buy a submachine gun? This little market town in the wild, wild north of Yemen has more than 50 shops selling all kinds of toys for boys. A used Uzi goes for $170, a machine pistol with silencer is $350, and a brand-new AK-47 assault rifle goes for nearly $400. Grenades are $4 each. An antitank mine is $22. A rocket-propelled grenade launcher is $500. An arms merchant I met here might even be able to find you an antiaircraft gun or a... (GunPolicy.org)

SACRAMENTO — California gun sales surged briefly after September's terrorist attacks, but handgun sales for the year dropped to an all-time low, the California Department of Justice said Monday. Weapons sales spiked by about 2,700 guns a week for about six weeks after Sept. 11, said spokesman Mike Van Winkle, to about 9,200 a week from an average 6,500 per week earlier in the year. Then sales leveled off once more, resulting in total sales last year of 354,202... (GunPolicy.org)

SACRAMENTO — Despite a dramatic surge after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, sales of pistols in California dropped to a record low last year while sales of shotguns and rifles increased, officials announced yesterday. Although buying whims are difficult to measure, gun-control advocates said the dramatic 23 percent decrease in pistol sales can be attributed to a greater public perception about the danger of guns and a new immigrant population that puts less emphasis... (GunPolicy.org)

Ottawa has identified more than 280 air guns that need to be registered as firearms, making innocent people criminals, claims a Canadian Alliance MP. The Liberals are going after people who are not a danger to society, Garry Breitkreuz, the party's gun-control critic, said yesterday. Breitkreuz said in February the RCMP identified 286 air gun models that are classified as firearms under the Criminal Code — up from the 237 identified in May 2000. That means, like... (GunPolicy.org)

It just seemed like a lot of kids were getting killed with guns, mused Andrew McKelvey, recalling the days after the Columbine school shootings in 1999. I said to myself, someone should do something about it. So McKelvey a multimillionaire business executive and political neophyte did. In the three years after Columbine, McKelvey poured millions of dollars into advertising, legal action, and groups like the Million Mom March and Handgun Control, Inc., giving gun-control... (GunPolicy.org)

It's just a rifle. You can go to any gun shop and see a dozen like it. You can go to any gun show and see a hundred like it. It's an old Winchester Model 92. Lever action, very state-of-the-art 19th century, when that clever mechanism, with its intricate springs and cams and pins, represented the apex of American industrial design. But this one looks as if it's been dragged from Yuma to Tombstone and back behind a pickup truck. If you like guns, you wouldn't look... (GunPolicy.org)

JERUSALEM — Israel's rabbis have agreed to allow several worshippers to be armed in every synagogue during upcoming holidays, making an exception to Jewish laws because of fears of terror attacks, officials said Tuesday. The Religious Affairs ministry agreed to a request by security officials that four people in each synagogue be given weapons and cell phones. Orthodox Jews are banned from even touching such items on holidays and the Sabbath, except in... (GunPolicy.org)

LAGOS — The Lagos State shooting Association (LSSA) is leading a campaign aimed at promoting amateur sport shooting by preaching to all and sundry that the game, contrary to widespread belief, is not dangerous. Secretary-General of LSSA, Kunle Akintimehin, who stated that often times sport shooting is misconceived to be a dangerous sport, disclosed that the game is meant for athletes of high integrity. Akintimehin intoned that though the sport involves the use of... (GunPolicy.org)

Citing the public's interest in self-defense after the attacks on America, gun rights supporters say they notice a more welcoming environment for their bills in statehouses and among the electorate. Post 9-11, we've seen an increase in interest in firearms particularly for personal protection, said National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. It's a natural feeling that after 9-11, people want to be proactive and take necessary actions to protect themselves... (GunPolicy.org)

ANNAPOLIS — Gun-control advocates will try to turn a gun-rights bill into new gun-control measures when the legislation is debated in the House floor of the Maryland General Assembly this week. The bill was intended to restore gun rights to law-abiding Marylanders — such as former Citizen of the Year Donald G. Arnold of Baltimore — who lost them when Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. told state police that the law requires the seizure of guns from people on... (GunPolicy.org)

How will I know if I'm OK to shoot someone? Deiter Schallen, the firearms instructor teaching me to handle the Smith & Wesson .38 Special I'd bought a few weeks earlier, replied: If ever you're in a situation that calls for you to shoot, you'll never have to ask yourself that question. Eight months later I had good cause to remember him telling me that. My husband and I had been living in Johannesburg for six years, but, despite the statistics relating to violent... (GunPolicy.org)

Security staff at Jackson's airport in Port Moresby on Saturday confiscated ammunition from a government minister. They also questioned associates of another minister before letting them board an aircraft with two guns at the weekend. A civil aviation insider told the Post-Courier yesterday that Air Niugini security staff conducted a "manual check" of luggage belonging to the first minister and found 39 rounds of live ammunition which included a magazine box. He said... (GunPolicy.org)