The full weight of Palau's ban on all hand guns and rifles has been enforced with the sentenced of a man to 12-and-a-half years in jail for possession of a firearm. Inis Remoket pleaded guilty to possessing the weapon and ammunition after being arrested in July last year. The court heard there was an incident at a bar where it's alleged Remoket taunted another customer with a hand gun, which he later threw away when police arrived. The ban on hand guns and rifles... (GunPolicy.org)

Hunting accidents spiked in Georgia during the 2007-08 season, and four of the five fatal incidents involved children or teenagers. "This has been an unusual year," said Wildlife Resources Division Capt. James Bell, who is the coordinator of the state's Hunter Safety Program. "We've never had that many kids in accidents in the last 10 years." The season's five casualties included an 8-year-old boy killed by a shotgun blast; a 12-year-old boy who shot and killed his... (GunPolicy.org)

Police say many illegal firearms are being rented or borrowed from secret stockpiles but they believe the black market for guns is miniscule and not a problem. Two men have been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm following Tuesday night's gun fight which broke out when a gang of armed youths turned up to a tinny house on Othello Drive, in the Auckland suburb of Flat Bush. Another two men are recovering in hospital from shotgun wounds. Inspector Joe Green,... (GunPolicy.org)

During 2007, nine young people lost their lives in shootings, including the killing of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool. According to Home Office figures, there were 59 firearms-related homicides in 2006-07 compared with 49 in the previous year. That is an increase of 18% in just one year. There were 507 serious injuries from firearms — more than one incident a day. But at the same time, the trend in gun crime overall has been going down. Overall firearms... (GunPolicy.org)

Philadelphia's new police commissioner promised to decrease gun violence in the city sharply by putting 200 more officers on the street, using "stop and frisk" searches in tough neighborhoods and installing 200 more surveillance cameras. The commissioner, Charles Ramsey, who spent eight years as police chief in Washington, set a goal of reducing killings by 25 percent this year, in large part by allocating more officers to the most violent neighborhoods. There were... (GunPolicy.org)

CHARLESTON, West Virginia — A significant drop in the number of hunters in West Virginia has left a hole in the state's budget, and one lawmaker thinks he has a solution: Allow children to receive hunter training in school. Children as young as 10 years old are already eligible for hunting licenses in the state, but training courses are typically offered outside of school. Proponents of the plan hope embedding training during school hours boosts interest. Seventh-... (GunPolicy.org)

Deputy Minister of the Interior, Hon Kweku Agyeman Manu, has called on all citizens of ECOWAS countries to join in the efforts to curb the misuse of small arms and light weapons in the sub-region. Hon Agyeman Manu made the appeal in a speech read on his behalf by Dr K.K. Marfo, deputy Inspector-General of Police at the Training of Trainers' Workshop on Lobbying, Campaigning, Planning and Congress of the West Africa Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA) in... (GunPolicy.org)

An innocent bystander was shot inside the lobby of a Central Business District hotel by a stray bullet from a fight going on outside Wednesday at about 9:30 p.m., said Sgt. Joe Narcisse, a New Orleans Police Department spokesman. A fight broke out outside the hotel in the 200 block of Carondelet Street and gunshots rang out, Narcisse said. After the gunfire stopped, it was discovered that a bullet shattered the window of the Holiday Inn Express lobby and struck a... (GunPolicy.org)

Life in Moscow can be as dangerous as in any large city — and while street crime may be not as rife as in Rio, Moscow remains far from Oslo in terms of security. Russian law allows citizens and residents to defend themselves from aggressors, while shops in the capital offer a wide range of means of self-defense. For those interested in defending themselves, the legal limits and guidelines on purchasing weapons may look daunting. While other publications can assess the... (GunPolicy.org)