Effective marketing techniques pump a relentless flow of handguns into the District, shredding one of the country's strictest local gun bans. As reported by staff writers David B. Ottaway and Barbara Vobejda, thousands of illegal firearms are seized by District police every year. These weapons represent only a fraction of the weapons circulating in the city, where traffickers keep coming up with new ways to buy, sell, trade and retrade their guns. Their businesses have... (GunPolicy.org)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Vice President Al Gore said Tuesday that new penalties may be needed against the small percentage of renegade gun dealers who are the source of the overwhelming majority of guns used in violent crimes. Gore issued his warning during and after a two-hour meeting on school safety with students from three high schools here. The vice president cited a study released Monday by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) asserting that thousands of guns... (GunPolicy.org)

Despite a citywide ban on the sale of toy gun replicas, more than 100 stores in San Francisco are selling fake Magnums, revolvers and Uzis that look too much like the real thing, anti-violence advocates said yesterday. At a City Hall news conference timed for the gift-giving season, Supervisor Mark Leno, John Ricker of Peaceful Streets and several other peace activists made an emotional plea to merchants and parents to stop selling and buying toys that promote... (GunPolicy.org)