The swelling popularity among domestic gun buyers of an extremely powerful and accurate sniper rifle that was used extensively in the Gulf War is renewing calls to regulate firearms as consumer products. The weapon, a semiautomatic .50-caliber sniper rifle used by American forces to penetrate armored vehicles more than a mile away, has become readily available to domestic buyers and with minimal legal restrictions. As U.S. representatives Rod R. Blagojevich, D-Ill.,... (GunPolicy.org)

Saying gunfire kills more American children than all natural causes combined, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital helped launch yesterday a national campaign to save youngsters from bullets. ASK (Asking Saves Kids) encourages pediatricians to tell parents during routine checkups that they need to ask other parents whether a gun is kept in the home where their children play or stay. More than 40 percent of homes with children have guns, said Hopkins pediatrician Janet... (GunPolicy.org)

Sen. Emmett Hansen II says he is willing to let Gov. Charles W. Turnbull make certain changes in his get-tough-on-guns bill, which the governor vetoed earlier this month, in order to get the legislation signed into law. Hansen was off island on vacation when he learned of Turnbull's veto on Aug. 13. At the time, the senator declared that the Legislature would override the veto. But he has since sought Turnbull's counsel on the issue. On Monday, in a letter to the... (GunPolicy.org)

Not surprisingly, the first major discussion at the Seventh Generation Elder's Gathering at Lesser Slave Lake on Monday goes to the heart of what native people have done to feed themselves — hunting for food. But now they'll be arrested and fined if they don't follow new rules under the Canadian Firearms Act. "You need to start questioning, where did they get the authority to enforce this act?" said Sykes Powderface, bringing news from the Assembly of First Nations... (GunPolicy.org)

One of the more amusing examples of political infighting is going on in Utah this week. GOP activists are mad enough to spit bullets because the U.S. Secret Service has decreed that delegates are not allowed to pack heat when Vice President Dick Cheney addresses their state convention. Perhaps these people missed the Kennedy assassinations and the assassination attempts on Presidents Reagan and Ford. Perhaps they've never heard the adage that says those who fail to... (GunPolicy.org)

PARIS — A 27-year-old immigrant from Chad walked into a bank outside Paris from which he had been laid off. He was disguised as a woman, with a long black dress and a fuzzy wig, and carried two pistols. After herding employees and customers into a basement room, he hunted down the bank's financial counselor and shot him in the throat, then shot the bank manager in the head. He took several hostages to secure his getaway, and shot and killed a motorist who refused to... (GunPolicy.org)

In what was described as a scene from the TV show COPS, several provincial police officers forced two men out of a pickup truck at gunpoint, halting traffic on Highway 401, said a London resident. "It was kind of scary. You don't see things like that around here," said Larry McKenzie, who saw the scene Saturday as he travelled eastbound to Toronto. "There had to be about 20 officers out there." The takedown was part of a search for a handgun spotted in Ingersoll. But... (GunPolicy.org)

A 57 year-old Niue prison warder, Joe McCoy, has been formally charged with murder following the fatal shooting of an inmate last Tuesday. Michael Pioiva, 41, who was serving nine years' imprisonment for sexual and violent offences, is reported to have died after being shot twice within the prison compound. McCoy, a former seaman who had been employed as a prison warder for several years, was in addition charged with five firearm offences. From his office in New... (GunPolicy.org)

The Legislature seems poised to pass a handgun safety measure that deserves to be signed into law. But supporters fear Gov. Gray Davis will veto the bipartisan bill because he's deep in his re-election mode and doesn't want to cross the politically potent gun lobby. Identical measures by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, and Assemblyman Kevin Shelley, D-San Francisco, would help ensure that prospective gun buyers handle firearms safely. The bills also would require handgun... (GunPolicy.org)