Former Ireland president Mary Robinson said yesterday development and human rights groups had launched an international campaign for a treaty to control small arms, along the lines of the Landmine Convention. "Really, small arms are the weapons of mass destruction. There are more than 600 million in circulation," said Robinson, a former UN Commissioner for Human Rights. "There are incredible deaths which I had witnessed personally in East Timor, in Africa, Columbia.... (GunPolicy.org)

Man Accidentally Shot In Stomach At Flea Market 45-Year-Old Remains In Critical Condition MOUNT DORA, Florida — A Kentucky man was critically injured Saturday when his friend accidentally shot him as they were passing around a gun in a busy flea market, police said. Danny Payton, 45, from Somerset, Ky., was handing 70-year-old Roy Williams a .22 Freedom Arms Derringer with the barrel facing toward himself when Williams accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting... (GunPolicy.org)

In recent weeks, a policeman has been shot dead in Leeds; a retired colonel, living in a tiny village, blasted to death on his doorstep and a couple murdered by gunman or men at their Cornish petrol station. Just a few months ago a jeweller was shot dead at her family-owned shop in Nottingham and a former bodyguard cut down by bullets as he left his gym. Guns, it seems, are everywhere. A friend of mine, who owns a shop in west London — a family man with three... (GunPolicy.org)