To hear Al Gore tell it, George W. Bush is better qualified to be head of the Dalton gang than president of the United States. Democrats think the governor is vulnerable on the issue of guns, mainly because he supported a law allowing trigger-happy Texans to keep their six-shooters close at hand wherever they go. This record, Gore assumes, will not be appealing to suburban women who have reservations about letting their children play with water pistols. "He overturned... (GunPolicy.org)

Seven gun manufacturers sued Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo and a group of state and local governments yesterday, accusing them of an illegal conspiracy to force police to buy guns that comply with safety requirements opposed by most gunmakers. The federal court lawsuit is an attempt to "end an illegal attempt by a number of self-appointed and self-important elected officials to violate the basic rights of a legitimate and responsible... (GunPolicy.org)

Like today's parents, gun owners in the Old West didn't want their kids shooting off Daddy's revolver by accident. Doting frontier parents helped make a 19th-century best seller out of a hard-to-shoot Colt .32 that was nicknamed the "lemon squeezer." Alarmed by a child's death in 1880, Colt's Manufacturing Co. developed the safer shooting iron and sold 400,000 of them. On the handle was a "grip safety," a lever that had to be depressed forcefully before the trigger... (GunPolicy.org)

In a move that shocked gun-control supporters, the state Legislature last night abandoned plans to require gun owners to re-register their weapons. Legislators said the plan was not workable, adding that the police told them it would be a "strain on their manpower." It pleased pro-gun supporters who had said the plan to have gun owners register their arms on a regular basis was impractical and wouldn't work. The action last night is a blow to Gov. Ben Cayetano, who... (GunPolicy.org)

WASHINGTON — The Clinton administration said on Thursday it would call child survivors of gun rampages as opening witnesses in a looming court showdown with most gun makers. Included would be survivors of the April 20, 1999, massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School, where two students killed 12 schoolmates, and a shooting on Monday outside the National Zoo in Washington that wounded seven, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo said. Cuomo was... (GunPolicy.org)

WASHINGTON — Unbowed by a gun industry lawsuit aimed at overturning a key provision of a national gun safety plan, 190 communities have signed on Smith & Wesson's pledge to adopt new safety and responsibility standards. "We have turned a page in the book on gun violence in this nation," said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo, who was joined by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., at a news conference today to announce that 190 local governments have... (GunPolicy.org)

Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Mekere Morauta says that most members of the nation's Parliament carry guns. His 26 April 2000 statements were designed to end media controversy regarding revelations that National Capital District Commission Administrator Jamie Maxtone-Graham and Telikom Papua New Guinea chairman Pila Niningi carried firearms paid for by taxpayers. The news drew an angry public response, as firearms laws in the country are very strict, with only a... (GunPolicy.org)