Gun Policy News, 29 April 2004
United Kingdom
Gun Crime: Has Anything Changed?
29 April 2004
BBC News
If you want to stop gun culture in urban areas — how young do you need to start to keep the kids on the right track? Fifteen? Twelve? Or 10? Try five years old says Bill Brown, chairman of the Disarm Trust.
Gun crime was once something that seemed to be mostly far away — more New York than Birmingham.
But with the report into the September 2003 shooting of seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield revealing she was an innocent victim in the middle of an apparent drugs... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: BBC News
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United States
Gun Control Measures Beaten Back in Louisiana House Committee
29 April 2004
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Gun control took a beating in the Louisiana House of Representatives Wednesday, as measures to limit free access to guns were killed in a House committee with little dissent.
The bills were pushed by a New Orleans representative, Democrat Cedric Richmond, who decried the rising toll of gun deaths in his city and across Louisiana.
But he found few allies in a committee room crowded with gun owners, whose views were championed by the National... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
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United States
AK-47s Headed to US Had Legal Permits
29 April 2004
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A U.S.-bound shipment of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles and other combat-type weapons, seized by Italian authorities who suspected they were being smuggled, actually have legal permits to be imported, American officials said Wednesday.
About 7,500 AK-47s, AKM rifles and other weapons worth an estimated $6 million were seized April 20 aboard a Turkish-flagged ship in the port of Gioia Tauro. They were bound for New York from Romania.
At the time,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
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United Kingdom
Grassroots Groups Unite in Fight Against Shootings
29 April 2004
Daily Post (UK)
Community groups from Liverpool travelled to Westminster yesterday to help launch a nationwide charity to fight gun crime.
Around 15 people working with the victims of shootings heard Home Secretary David Blunkett pay tribute to grassroots efforts to drive firearms out of neighbourhoods.
And they said they hoped the launch of DISARM would co-ordinate efforts to drive home the message that there is "a better life", back in Liverpool.
DISARM was set up after... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Daily Post (UK)
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United States
Massachusetts' Lawmakers Mull State Assault Weapons Ban
29 April 2004
Associated Press
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Senate is weighing whether to extend the state's assault weapons ban in case a federal ban ends later this year.
It appears unlikely that the federal ban will be renewed. That means the gun industry would be able to resume making, importing and selling military-style semiautomatic weapons that were outlawed a decade ago.
Anti-gun advocates say they want to clarify the state law to make sure Massachusetts' assault weapon ban stays in... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
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United States
Pentagon Seeks to Bar Contractors from Carrying Guns in Iraq
29 April 2004
Knight Ridder / Tribune (USA)
ORLANDO, Florida — As the insurgency and violence in Iraq intensify, the Department of Defense has proposed a new rule for most of the estimated 70,000 civilian contractors working in the war-torn region: They can't carry guns.
At the same time, a top Defense Department official this week acknowledged publicly for the first time that the war effort was suffering a "brain drain" of civilian workers who were fleeing Iraq because they didn't feel safe.
Truck convoys... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Knight Ridder / Tribune (USA)
14953
United States
Gun Control Bills Face Unwelcoming Committee
29 April 2004
Baton Rouge Advocate (Louisiana)
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, left, testifies Wednesday to the House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice as Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-New Orleans, and Assistant Superintendent Warren Riley of the New Orleans Police Department listen.
Rep. Cedric Richmond marched into the House Criminal Justice Committee on Monday with an armful of gun-control bills and limped out with all but one dead for the rest of this session.
Richmond, D-New Orleans, hoped to... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Baton Rouge Advocate (Louisiana)
14954
United States
Minnesota Gun Law Sparks Rallies
29 April 2004
Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul)
One year after the passage of Minnesota's new handgun law, the deep divisions that remain over it were on display in dueling rallies Wednesday on the State Capitol steps. As about 200 mostly male gun-rights enthusiasts enjoyed birthday cake on the upper steps and 75 of their largely female opponents gathered a short distance below, the only potshots were verbal. But, in a controversy rich in sloganeering, they came at a rapid-fire pace.
"The Sky Didn't Fall" read a... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul)
14955
United States
Arizona House Votes to OK Guns in Bars, Restaurants
29 April 2004
Associated Press
PHOENIX — The House approved a bill Wednesday to make it legal to take guns in bars and restaurants if the bearers aren't drinking alcohol and if the establishments don't opt out.
Arizona now bans possession of firearms in bars and restaurants that sell alcohol.
Under the bill (SB1210), bars and other liquor-license holders still could exclude guns from their premises but only if they post notices at entrances.
The bill is a high priority on the National Rifle... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
14956
United States
Republican Members Create Caucus on Gun Ownership
29 April 2004
Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)
WASHINGTON — Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. of Virginia has teamed with Rep. Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado to create a caucus aimed at defending against threats to legal gun ownership.
Members of the new "Second Amendment Caucus," which was announced this week, oppose banning firearms or their accessories, their manufacture or their importation.
"Furthermore, we support recognizing the right of lawful citizens to carry a weapon both at home and while traveling the nation,"... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)
14957
Iraq,United States
No Guns for Contractors
29 April 2004
Philadelphia Inquirer
ORLANDO, Florida — As the insurgency in Iraq remains strong, the Department of Defense has proposed a new rule for most of the estimated 70,000 civilian contractors working in the region: They cannot carry guns.
Deidre Lee, the Pentagon's director of procurement and acquisition policy, whose office proposed the rule, said it was designed to settle one of the biggest questions facing contractors: "to arm or not to arm."
It is a life-or-death issue because "we don't... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Philadelphia Inquirer
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