Toledo city council adopted a law yesterday aimed at eliminating the resale or trade of certain semiautomatic weapons in the city. After more than two years of debate, the measure passed council by a 9-3 vote after some last-minute amendments. Council members Rob Ludeman, Betty Shultz, and Bob McCloskey voted against the ordinance. The law, often referred to as the assault weapon ban, makes it illegal for anyone to knowingly "sell, deliver, rent, lease, display for... (GunPolicy.org)

TORONTO — Gordon McGowan is in the business of selling firearms. But on the Friday and Saturday before New Year's, dozens of customers were bringing in guns, not carrying them out. "We got between 75 and 100 handguns and long guns-that's an exceptional number in a two-day period," says McGowan, general manager of MilArm Co. in Edmonton, Alberta. "People were saying, "Do something with this, get it out of my hair.' " Like McGowan's customers, hundreds of gun owners... (GunPolicy.org)

Several defendants in the Columbine lawsuits have denied responsibility for the 1999 deaths and injuries at the south Jefferson County school. They include Jefferson County sheriff's officials, educators and two friends of the two young gunmen who helped them obtain guns. Seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people and wounded more than 20 others before taking their own lives at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Eleven families of those who were... (GunPolicy.org)

Many California gun owners may become outlaws Wednesday morning. If they don't register certain "assault-type" weapons by Tuesday at midnight, they'll be breaking the law. Some say that the deadline will pass without thousands of people realizing it. Michael Heindl owned a Chinese-made SKS rifle for years. So when he heard that Nevada County investigators referred to one they had confiscated as an assault rifle, his ears perked up. Heindl was assured by the State... (GunPolicy.org)

BOSTON — It's about two miles along Route 1 from Bob's Tactical Indoor Shooting Range in Massachusetts, with its near-empty cabinets and forlorn rifle displays, to Big Al's Gun and Sport Shop in southern New Hampshire, where wooden gun racks teem with firearms and shelves display stacks of ammunition. Not that the profusion of shooting supplies on that side of the border means much to Dave Morill, a Massachusetts gunsmith whose residency binds him to the toughest gun... (GunPolicy.org)

A San Bruno father is set to begin serving a 90-day jail sentence soon for allowing his teen-age son access to weapons at home, but the man's attorney said today he plans to fight for lighter terms. "I'm not happy," defense attorney Stuart Hanlon said today, arguing that his client Kam Yu had no criminal intent despite keeping unlocked weapons in the home that his then 17-year-old son could use. In May, Millbrae police swooped into the home, after students at Mills High... (GunPolicy.org)

CALGARY — The head of Canada's pro-gun lobby will plead guilty to unsafe handling of a firearm after a jammed handgun he was cleaning went off in his apartment. Jim Hinter's trial was to have gone ahead Wednesday, but the case was adjourned until Feb. 21 after Crown prosecutor Danny Elliott received a request from Hinter's lawyer asking to postpone it for a guilty plea. Hinter, president of the National Firearms Association, did not appear in provincial court and... (GunPolicy.org)

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island- Handgun manufacturers would be required to give the state a shell casing and bullet fired from each new weapon sold in Rhode Island under legislation proposed Wednesday. The unique markings left on the casing and bullet like fingerprints would be screened and the images entered into a database that police would use to track the gun and owner if the weapon is used in a crime. Maryland and New York have recently enacted similar laws. Lt. Gov.... (GunPolicy.org)

Two weeks into an ambitious petition drive, 80,000 signatures have been gathered in a bid to block a law enabling more people to carry concealed handguns. That's more than half the signatures petition drive participants say they need to head off the law's July 1 effective date and to instead put the controversial issue on the ballot in 2002. Last month, the Legislature approved a law requiring county gun boards to award permits to most applicants age 21 and older... (GunPolicy.org)