Gun Policy News, 14 January 2004
Pupil's Shooting of Teacher Leaves Netherlands in Shock
14 January 2004
Independent (UK)
A pupil shot a teacher in the forehead in a school cafeteria in The Hague yesterday in a rare outbreak of gun violence in the Netherlands.
Hans van Wieren, 49, an economics teacher, who was the deputy principal at the Stevincollege in the south-west of the city, was taken to hospital in a critical condition. The attacker, aged 17, fled the scene.
A witness said the boy had walked into the crowded cafeteria and shot the teacher with a single bullet. "I thought it was... (GunPolicy.org)
US Lets Scofflaw Gun Dealers Continue to Arm Criminals
14 January 2004
USA Today, Opinion
Convicted Washington, D.C.-area sniper John Muhammad awaits the death penalty, and his teenage accomplice, Lee Malvo, faces life in prison. But Bull's Eye Shooter Supply in Tacoma, Wash., where they picked up the carbine used to kill 16 people across five states in 2002 is still in business — in spite of hundreds of gun-law violations since 1997.
Multiple offenders make up only about 1% of the nation's 104,000 licensed gun dealers. But federal statistics indicate... (GunPolicy.org)
Facts Show US Gun Shop Vigilance
14 January 2004
USA Today, Opinion
Under President Bush's leadership of Project Safe Neighborhoods, gun-crime prosecutions have reached record levels. At the same time, the violent crime rate has plunged 21%. That's what makes some recent criticism surprising. Consider: Federal gun-crime prosecutions increased 68% in the past three years. Last year, the Justice Department set a new record by charging 23% more individuals for violating gun laws.
We're also shutting down and prosecuting corrupt gun... (GunPolicy.org)
Now, Really: What's a Little Handgun Between Friends?
14 January 2004
Toronto Star (Ontario)
Guns are such a bitch — can't even give them away, sometimes.
That's the problem Thanos Polyzos allegedly encountered when he tried to press a .45-calibre Tac-Four semi-automatic on Norm Gardner, then the chair of the Toronto Police Services Board. Just a little prezzie — no strings attached, no favours expected — from one firearms fancier to another; Polyzos the professional manufacturer, Gardner the lay enthusiast.
"It's not often you can offer one of your... (GunPolicy.org)
Utah Group's Bill Aims to Keep Children Gun-Free
14 January 2004
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
Armed with a study claiming most shootings of children by children happen in the victim's home or that of a friend or relative, a Utah anti-gun violence group is seeking legislation requiring gun owners to securely store guns if children are present.
"While some may characterize these incidents as 'accidents,' they are in fact preventable if adults act responsibly and ensure that guns are not accessible to children," the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah said... (GunPolicy.org)
Democrats Changing tune on the Second Amendment
14 January 2004
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nevada), Editorial
Republicans seized control of Congress in November 1994 in part by harping on the perception that the Democratic Party had abandoned gun owners and that the party's lawmakers were poised to enact a series of new restrictions on firearms possession, including a federal requirement to obtain a license before purchasing a gun, or a scheme to register all handguns currently in private hands.
Notwithstanding the political backlash such a trampling of the Bill of Rights had... (GunPolicy.org)
Group Sees Lax Oversight of 'High-Crime' Firearm Dealers
14 January 2004
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — About a fifth of the gun dealers that were the most frequent suppliers of firearms linked to crimes during the late 1990s are no longer in business, although enforcement efforts against dealers are lagging under the Bush administration, a gun-control group said in a study released Monday.
Using federal data, Americans for Gun Safety found that the vast majority of "high-crime dealers" continues to operate, with little federal oversight. The group found... (GunPolicy.org)
Court of Appeals Reverses Minnesota Decision in Church's Gun Lawsuit
14 January 2004
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — A state Court of Appeals panel reversed a lower court's ruling that denied an Edina church the right to ban firearms in its parking lots, breathing new life into the church's challenge to Minnesota's controversial handgun law.
Leaders at Edina Community Lutheran Church hailed Tuesday's ruling. Observers following the new law and the case called it an important turn in the battle over the issue of carrying handguns in public.
Hennepin County District... (GunPolicy.org)
Florida Family Pushes for Pellet Gun Petition
14 January 2004
First Coast News (Florida)
JACKSONVILLE, Florida — There is a new push to regulate a type of gun and a local family is leading the charge.
They sound like a firearm. They shoot like a firearm, and 20 year old Jasper Troup says his scars show how they feel like one too. "It's painful."
His pellet gun wound stretches 6 inches down his chest. The person who shot him, he says, was fifteen years old and playing around with the weapon. Child's play that turned into a serious situation.
"They gave... (GunPolicy.org)
Regulation and Guns vs. Teddy Bears
14 January 2004
National Review (USA), Opinion
Should unelected officials be allowed to order the confiscation of some or all guns and ammunition in the United States? This is the question posed by Sen. Jon Corzine (D., N.J.) and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D., R.I.), in their proposed Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act. As one might suspect, the bill is about neither firearm safety nor consumer protection, but is an especially clever stratagem by the gun-prohibition lobby. The Kennedy-Corzine bill would give the... (GunPolicy.org)
Virginia Assembly Could Start Talking Gun Control
14 January 2004
Hampton Roads Daily Press (Virginia)
RICHMOND — Gun-control advocates haven't had reason to cheer during recent General Assembly sessions, but they seem more excited about 2004.
Two groups pushing for stricter limits on firearms introduced a legislative agenda Tuesday, one day before the session convenes. Among its goals: a stronger ban on carrying guns into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and giving local school boards the authority to declare gun-free zones on school property.
"For too long... (GunPolicy.org)
Governor Denies He Backtracked in Backing Ban, Purchase Limits
14 January 2004
Chicago Tribune
SPRINGFIELD — Top gun rights advocates charged Tuesday that Gov. Rod Blagojevich is two-timing them now that he has renewed his strong support for gun-control measures, and they pledged to fight him if he pushes anti-gun legislation this session.
Senate Republican leader Frank Watson said the Democratic governor has backtracked since he campaigned Downstate, talking about the importance of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms and giving assurances that he would not... (GunPolicy.org)
Federal Court Upholds District of Columbia Gun Law Prohibiting Handguns
14 January 2004
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday upheld the District of Columbia's gun control law that prohibits ownership of handguns, rejecting a legal challenge by a group of citizens backed by the National Rifle Association.
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton dismissed the lawsuit in which the plaintiffs argued that the 28-year-old law violated their Second Amendment right to own guns. The D.C. law prohibits ownership or possession of handguns and requires that... (GunPolicy.org)
Advocates Outline Gun-Control Bills
14 January 2004
Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)
Gun-control advocates, buoyed by their success at the polls in November, outlined a series of proposals yesterday to tighten the state's firearms laws.
"For too long in the state of Virginia, we've had the gun lobby setting the agenda here in Richmond," said Jim Sollo of Virginians Against Handgun Violence. "This year … we're going to take a more aggressive and assertive stand on the issue of guns in Virginia and gun safety."
Proposed measures include preventing... (GunPolicy.org)
Local Paper Says That Gun Laws to Be Reviewed
14 January 2004
Airdrie Echo
Canada's new prime minister has announced that the country's firearms registry legislation will be revamped to be more cost-effective — but several opponents of the legislation are still calling for it to be scrapped.
"It amazes me that in an election year, the Liberals think that by ordering another review of the registry, that voters will simply overlook their incompetence on this issue," Wild Rose MP Myron Thompson said in response to Paul Martin's Jan. 7... (GunPolicy.org)
Alabama Panel Votes to Report Mental Commitments to Gun Database
14 January 2004
Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Following the killing of two police officers, a state commission decided Alabama should start giving information to a national gun database about Alabamians involuntarily committed to mental hospitals.
The Alabama Criminal Justice Information System Commission voted Tuesday to try to make Alabama one of the states that reports commitments and mental defect data to the database used by gun dealers to check whether customers are qualified to... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Lobby Sets Sights on Weapons Restrictions
14 January 2004
Newhouse News Service (USA)
WASHINGTON — The gun lobby is marshaling its forces for an all-out assault this year to weaken key gun-control laws and shield weapons makers from liability in lawsuits.
"Major advances for the NRA are within reach this year," said Robert Spitzer, a political science professor at the State University of New York and author of a book on the politics of gun control. "With the most sympathetic administration ever, the gun rights groups will have all their chips on the... (GunPolicy.org)
Two Indonesians Arrested for Firearms Possession: 14 Years Prison?
14 January 2004
Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Two Indonesians were arrested for firearms possession after they tried to sell a loaded pistol to an off-duty police officer on Borneo island, a news report said Wednesday.
The suspects, aged in their 20s, offered the gun to a group of people for RM1,000 at Bekenu town in eastern Sabah state, The Star daily reported. The officer was among the group.
The officer called for back up and then kept the suspects talking by pretending to be... (GunPolicy.org)
Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Keeping Mum on Guns
14 January 2004
Join Together Online gun violence web site (Boston)
The conventional wisdom within the Democratic Party is that gun control has become too risky an issue for candidates to include in their platforms. And as the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary draw near, it's clear that the party's nine Presidential aspirants, at least, are heeding that message.
On Jan. 12, Americans for Gun Safety (AGS) released the results of a survey showing that "the Democratic candidates are taking the gun issue to the political center." The... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Join Together Online gun violence web site (Boston)