Inicio de la páginaGun Policy News, 14 January 2003
14 January 2003
BBC News
Action is needed to tackle the illegal trade in firearms, Clare Short is set to tell an international conference in London.
The international development secretary will say that the world's security and stability is threatened by illicit sales.
Ms Short is to urge representatives from 60 nations to implement tough new controls on small arms such as sub-machine guns and assault rifles.
The UK Government believes around 639m small arms are in... (GunPolicy.org)
14 January 2003
BBC News, Opinion
As gun crime leaps by 35% in a year, plans are afoot for a further crack down on firearms. Yet what we need is more guns, not fewer, says a US academic.
"If guns are outlawed," an American bumper sticker warns, "only outlaws will have guns." With gun crime in Britain soaring in the face of the strictest gun control laws of any democracy, the UK seems about to prove that warning prophetic.
For 80 years the safety of the British people has been staked on the premise... (GunPolicy.org)
GOP Lawmaker's Bill Would Override City Gun-Control Laws
14 January 2003
Associated Press
DENVER — A state senator is sponsoring a bill that would bar Denver and other cities from imposing tougher gun laws than the state does.
The bill has no House sponsor but opponents are already lining up against it.
"All this bill does is simply standardize firearm legislation throughout the state," said the sponsor, Sen. Jim Dyer, R-Arapahoe County.
Dyer criticized the state's current patchwork of laws and said urban and suburban areas don't need different gun... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Law 'Difficult, Confusing'
14 January 2003
Edmonton Sun (Alberta)
Edmonton police backtracked on plans to charge former sergeant-at-arms Oscar Lacombe under new firearms legislation yesterday, calling the law "difficult and confusing."
The 74-year-old was interviewed by investigators at downtown police headquarters around 4 p.m., but was released minutes later without charge.
Police spokesman Wes Bellmore said investigators will now defer a decision on whether to lay charges to provincial Crown prosecutors.
"The overall... (GunPolicy.org)
Police Question Man Hoping to Be Arrested Under Gun Control Law
14 January 2003
CBC News (Canada)
EDMONTON — It looks like Oscar Lacombe can't even get arrested in Edmonton, at least not under the new firearms registry laws.
The bodyguard for former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed walked up to the provincial legislature with an unregistered rifle on New Year's Day, after the new legislation came into effect.
On Monday, Lacombe went to police headquarters in Edmonton hoping to be the first person charged with owning an unregistered firearm. Lacombe wants to... (GunPolicy.org)
Secret Gun Finds Raise Gang Fears
14 January 2003
Guardian (UK)
Growing arsenals of hand grenades, machine guns and Semtex explosives have been seized at ports by customs and excise in a wave of smuggling that is arming criminal gangs, the Guardian can disclose. One of the most disturbing aspects of the arms finds, in a climate of growing public anxiety about gun crime, is that customs, which is under the control of the government, have kept quiet about the most recent discoveries.
The dramatic rise in gun crime has profoundly... (GunPolicy.org)
14 January 2003
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia), Opinion
I never knew my grandfather. My mother was only 3 when her 28-year-old father was shot and killed.
He was cleaning his gun and did not realize it was loaded. My grandfather had bought the gun for protection, since he owned a dry cleaning business.
Instead of protecting him and his family, this gun ruined the lives of his wife and three small children.
Guns destroy too many innocent men, women and children. We need strict gun control laws to reduce the number of guns... (GunPolicy.org)
Lea el artículo entero : Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia)
Pakistan Has 18 Million Illegal Firearms -Report
14 January 2003
Reuters
ISLAMABAD — About 18 million firearms are held illegally in Pakistan in addition to the two million weapons that are legally registered, a newspaper quoted interior ministry officials as saying.
Tuesday's edition of Dawn said a campaign launched in 2001 by military president General Pervez Musharraf to counter the country's "Kalashnikov culture" had led to the recovery of 210,000 illegal weapons in 18 months.
The paper said the Interior Ministry's Small Arms Survey... (GunPolicy.org)
Local Leaders Push for Gun Law
14 January 2003
Los Angeles Times
Local political leaders and Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton on Monday urged Congress to adopt a national gun fingerprinting system that would use each weapon's unique markings to identify those used in killings.
Appearing at a Boyle Heights street corner where a 19-year-old Marine was killed in February, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), Mayor James K. Hahn, Councilman Nick Pacheco and Bratton said police need more tools to go after criminals with guns,... (GunPolicy.org)
Canadian Police Association Backs Federal Gun Registry as Vital
14 January 2003
Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The Canadian Police Association endorsed the controversial federal gun registry program Tuesday, saying it's a key tool to reduce the misuse of guns.
Mike Niebudek, vice-president of the association, said the registry makes it easier for police to track down illegal guns and forces owners to be more accountable for their weapons. The association's endorsement comes amid renewed debate over the gun-control program. The auditor general has predicted that the... (GunPolicy.org)
Council Members Should Leave Guns Out of Chamber
14 January 2003
Modesto Bee (California)
People occasionally joke about one City Council member or another being "a loose cannon." It's not funny anymore, with at least one councilman sometimes carrying a concealed pistol.
Modesto Councilman Will O'Bryant, a retired Alameda County sheriff's deputy, does have a legal right to pack a firearm, according to state law. But what is legal isn't always wise. We don't think it shows good judgment to bring a gun to council meetings.
An armed police officer already is... (GunPolicy.org)
The Truth About the Gun Show 'Loophole'
14 January 2003
Virginian-Pilot, Opinion
Robert A. Ricker, of Ashburn, is a lawyer and lobbyist who has represented such groups as the National Rifle Association, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, The American Shooting Sports Council Inc., The Single Action Shooting Society, The National Alliance of Stocking Gun Dealers and many of the nation's best-known firearm manufacturers.
As the former chief lobbyist for the firearm industry and a past assistant general counsel for the National... (GunPolicy.org)
Britain's Misguided Gun Policy
14 January 2003
Times of Malta, Opinion
Britain has the toughest gun laws in the European Union.
Following the 1997 Dunblane massacre of 16 children and a teacher at a primary school, it banned handguns and other weapons with the aim of making the country a safer place to live in.
However, instead of focusing on the causes of such a tragedy and enacting laws ensuring appropriate safeguards, they opted for a knee-jerk reaction. Britain is now paying a dear price.
Two youngsters in Birmingham have just been... (GunPolicy.org)
Anti-Gun Meeting for Young People
14 January 2003
Daily Mirror (UK)
The dangers of gun culture are to be explored at a special conference for youngsters.
The day-long conference and workshop for schoolchildren has been set up in response to concern at the rise in gun violence in Southwark.
The event will feature hard-hitting presentations from the Met's shootings investigations unit — Operation Trident — Scotland Yard's firearms branch, and South-wark youth offending team.
The conference will be opened by Lucy Cope, who lost her... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Registry Alarm Raised in '94 Memo
14 January 2003
Ottawa Citizen (Ontario)
The Justice Department flagged major concerns about establishing a national gun registry in 1994 and warned then justice minister Allan Rock that "specific costs" of such a monumental task could not be calculated, government documents disclose.
The department also warned Mr. Rock to expect "strong opposition" from firearms owners, provincial governments and interest groups who feared that universal registration would eventually lead to confiscation or prohibition of... (GunPolicy.org)
18 Million Illegal Weapons in Country: Small Arms Survey 2002
14 January 2003
Dawn (Karachi)
There are nine illegal arms for every licensed weapon currently held by individuals in the country. According to officials at the Ministry of Interior there were approximately 18 million illegally-held weapons in Pakistan compared to some two million weapons that were in the hands of legally-licensed owners.
The figure of two million legally authorized weapons in Pakistan is quoted in the Small Arms Survey, 2002. In 2001, the Musharraf government launched a countrywide... (GunPolicy.org)
Combining the Scattered Data from Violent Deaths
14 January 2003
New York Times
What proportion of murders are related to drug trafficking? How often do suicide victims act immediately after a marital split, loss of a job or some other personal crisis? Where are teenagers who shoot others most likely to obtain the weapons they use?
No one, say public health and law enforcement authorities, has accurate answers to these and other critical questions about the 50,000 violent deaths that occur annually in the United States, even though the knowledge... (GunPolicy.org)