WASHINGTON — Gun control will be on top of the agenda today when President Clinton meets with Democratic congressional leaders to plan legislative strategy for the next year. But the president's proposal to budget $10 million next year to help underwrite "smart-gun technology" has already come under attack from one of the nation's leading gun-control advocacy groups. "It's a complete waste of money," said Kristen Rand, director of federal policy for the anti-gun... (GunPolicy.org)

PATERSON — Hoping to stem the violence caused by handguns, City Council members voted Tuesday to join other cities who are suing gun manufacturers over easy access to the weapons. "Tomorrow I'll have to go to a young man's funeral," said Councilwoman Vera Ames, explaining why she voted for a resolution to join the class action suit. The funeral is for Anthony King, 32, a city resident shot to death Thursday on East Main Street. Another city man, Quashic Colvin, 22,... (GunPolicy.org)

LOS ANGELES — Following criticism of a sheriff's department fund-raising raffle that included a 9 mm handgun, the Los Angeles County sheriff said he'll replace the weapon with $500 cash. "We will not now or ever raffle off guns in the Sheriff's Department," Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday. The Feb. 16 raffle is intended to raise money for deputies who want to participate in an annual law enforcement relay race. Gun control advocates criticized the gun prize. Baca,... (GunPolicy.org)

Although the powerful National Rifle Association is not officially opposing any of Gov. Bill Owens' gun-control proposals, it is warning members to prepare for a big fight over gun laws in the legislative session that begins today. "With their allies in the media, the gungrabbers won't be pulling any punches, nor wasting any time in pulling out their antigun propaganda machine," said a letter inviting Colorado NRA members to legislative workshops this week and next.... (GunPolicy.org)

DENVER — With a succession of mass shootings as a backdrop and the November elections ahead, political wrangling over gun control has emerged in many states as lawmakers gather this week for the start of the 2000 legislative sessions. In the wake of killings at Columbine High School and elsewhere, polls show that a growing number of Americans want their state representatives to do something to reduce gun violence. Last year, state legislatures considered more than... (GunPolicy.org)

SEATTLE — Seattle police said on Tuesday that they had arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with execution-style shootings at a local shipyard that left two dead and two injured in November. Police gave few details and declined to release the man's name but one Seattle television station reported that the arrested man had been fired from the shipyard. Seattle police Capt. John Diaz acknowledged that the suspect had ties to the shipyard but declined to... (GunPolicy.org)