WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court waded Monday into a gun case mindful that it could affect the prison sentences of thousands of inmates. Justices are reviewing the seven-year prison sentence given a former pawn shop operator to decide if sentencings in federal weapons cases have been handled properly. Prosecutors in two dozen states are worried that the eventual ruling could strike down their sentencing arrangements. The issue for the court is whether prosecutors have... (GunPolicy.org)

Super-powered rifles that can kill at up to a mile away should be banned, the committee which advises on firearms legislation has said. The recommendation comes after the Home Office asked the Firearms Consultative Committee to consider if the high calibre, ultra-long range sniper's rifle should be prohibited. The weapons are able to pierce and destroy military equipment, including lightly-armoured vehicles. The report said: There was little support for the idea that... (GunPolicy.org)

Child soldiers in Sierra Leone are to be offered the chance to hand in their guns for computers. A Sierra Leonean entrepreneur, Francis Steven George, is planning to set up a vocational training centre to teach computer and programming skills to the former rebels. There are thousands of young people who were taken away from school during the war years and now that the fighting is finished, the question of what to do with them has to be addressed, said Mr George. He... (GunPolicy.org)

Doctors are calling for stricter controls on the use of air guns in a bid to reduce the number of injuries they cause. Too many people wrongly believe the weapons are harmless toys, say the specialists in children's surgery and emergency medicine at St James' University Hospital in Leeds. Writing in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, they set out a series of measures to stem the continuing rise in accidents and injuries involving air guns. Under UK law,... (GunPolicy.org)

Any parent with a teenager could relate to Nancy Aydelotte as she talked about the death of her oldest child. What it was was a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old who should have known better, she said, speaking in front of her Grand Island home Sunday as friends gathered inside to console the family following the shooting death of 16-year-old Cole W. Aydelotte on Saturday night. State troopers have charged Cole Aydelotte's friend 17-year-old Jack L. Lewis of Wheatfield,... (GunPolicy.org)

Anti-mutiny soldiers sprang a surprise attack on ringleaders of the Moem Barracks mutiny at the weekend, capturing 10 men and securing weapons and ammunition. The rest of the mutineers — between 20 to 25 men — have been contained and are being watched by loyal soldiers of the Second Battalion. Full details of events were still unknown yesterday. But reports from Moem Barracks confirmed that 10 of the rebel soldiers were arrested and are now in the Wewak police... (GunPolicy.org)