Despite repeated defeats in Springfield in the past, Mayor Richard Daley on Wednesday unveiled his annual package of gun control proposals, adding two measures stemming from what he called recent Illinois Supreme Court guidance. One of the new bills would make it a crime to sell guns without taking reasonable precautions that the weapons would not be used to break the law. "This would give the courts the power to fine and close gun dealers who help customers avoid... (GunPolicy.org)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay $14.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the California attorney general that accuses the nation's largest retailer of a host of gun law violations, state officials said Wednesday. The settlement, the largest of its kind since Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer's office established a firearms division in 1999, requires Wal-Mart to pay $5 million in fines. Lockyer said the deal also called for Wal-Mart, which agreed last year to halt gun sales... (GunPolicy.org)

A military rifle capable of piercing armor from over a mile away is too readily available to civilians, and could end up in terrorists' hands, say critics of the .50-caliber weapon that is for sale in 49 states. Correspondent Ed Bradley reports on the big gun that was recently banned in California for 60 Minutes, Sunday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. "I think it's a great thing on the battlefield," says one of the weapon's chief critics, Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy... (GunPolicy.org)

The computer circuits that control hand-held music players, cellphones and organizers may soon be in a new location: inside electronically controlled guns. Researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark are building a handgun designed to fire only when its circuitry and software recognize the grip of an authorized shooter. Sensors in the handle measure the pressure the hand exerts as it squeezes the trigger. Then algorithms check the shooter's grip... (GunPolicy.org)

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's licensed gun owners are furious about a new law which could force millions to hand over their weapons — removing what some consider their only defence against rampant crime. All legal guns must be re-licensed over a five-year period starting this week, and thousands of applications have already been rejected or snagged in red tape. Critics of the firearms control act say it is an attempt to disarm law-abiding citizens while leaving... (GunPolicy.org)