Nine days ago, two kids were playing when they came across a gun in their older brother's bedroom. The kids were a boy named Michael James, age 6, and his sister, age 7. They began to fool around. The girl pointed the gun at Michael's face, and it went off. He was dead by the time he reached the hospital. The tragedy shocked Toronto. It also occurred in the backwash of a huge furor over the federal government's firearms registry, whose costs have run amok. The critics... (GunPolicy.org)

BIRMINGHAM, England — They called themselves the "Bombshell Laydeez" — four teenage girls of Jamaican origin who loved rap music, colorful clothes and one another's company. On New Year's Eve, decked out in fake white furs and halter tops, sunglasses and jaunty hats, they made their way to the Uniseven hair salon for an all-night dance party. They told their parents it would be safe — no drugs, no gangs, no trouble. But the Uniseven is located on Birchfield Road,... (GunPolicy.org)

Gun control advocates are accusing opponents of the federal firearms registry of doing everything in their power to make sure it didn't work. Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control, said provinces such as Ontario and Alberta, as well as other groups fighting the registry, have forced costs up by refusing to cooperate and by launching court battles. "There's no question that the same people who are saying 'Take it apart because it costs too much' did... (GunPolicy.org)

I was struck by a news photograph this week of a guy being arrested on Parliament Hill. He's 70 years old, owns 35 unregistered handguns that he uses to shoot "varmints," as he puts it, and is president of the eight-month-old "Unregistered Firearms Owners Association." Why do I use that bland newspaper word "struck"? I was puzzled, and then I laughed for the first time since I contracted the Norwalk virus on Christmas Day. (After Norwalk, you're as likely to laugh as... (GunPolicy.org)

MISSISSAUGA — Inside, sheltered from a bitter January cold yesterday morning, bouquets of paper flowers were placed near a casket for a dead boy. On one particular bunch — snipped from shades of pastels by the hands of children — sat a card, which read in part and in uneven, printed letters: "We miss you. From Class 6." You had to pass it to enter the funeral of the six-year-old boy, accidentally shot by his seven-year-old sister just over a week ago. The... (GunPolicy.org)

OTTAWA — Some BB-guns have to be registered in Canada's controversial firearms registry but cannons do not come under the law. That's good news for Adam Everingham, a 40-year-old businessman from Oakville, Ont., who is trying to sell his Pak 36 Second World War cannon. "It's perfectly legal," said Mr. Everingham, a military buff who is asking $5,000 for the deactivated one-tonne cannon. One selling point: Takers won't have to worry about pesky paperwork for... (GunPolicy.org)

The impression that Britain is drowning under a tidal wave of gun crime is a fiction promulgated by the government to create the illusion it is cracking down on crime, a former police superintendent claimed yesterday. Colin Greenwood, who has previously been consulted by the Commons home affairs select committee firearms sub-committee and acted as a firearms consultant to West Yorkshire Police, accused David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, of conning the public and... (GunPolicy.org)