JOHANNESBURG — Up to 100 000 people in the professional hunting and weapons industry stand to lose their jobs because of the "catastrophic" consequences of the new Firearms Control Act, introduced on July 1. Industry experts said not one legal firearm had been sold in South Africa in the past two months and proficiency certificates (which are called for under the new law) have been issued to only eight people in this time. Meanwhile, the head of the firearm... (GunPolicy.org)

Local lawmakers pledged yesterday to work to reinstate the recently expired ban on assault weapons. U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said he hasn't given up trying to renew the ban, which fell by the wayside two weeks ago. "Not continuing the ban on assault weapons is one of the great disgraces this year," Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, promising that members of Congress will take up the cause during its next session. A story in yesterday's Daily News showed how the once-banned... (GunPolicy.org)

Senator John Kerry's campaign said yesterday that Mr. Kerry did not own a Chinese assault rifle, as he was quoted as saying in Outdoor Life magazine, but a single-bolt-action military rifle, blaming aides who filled out the magazine's questionnaire on his behalf for the error. Michael Meehan, a spokesman for the campaign, said Mr. Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, owns two guns, a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun and the rifle, which Mr. Meehan said Mr. Kerry... (GunPolicy.org)

People living in small towns are statistically as likely to die from gunfire as those in urban areas, according to a new study, but the shots are much more likely to be self-inflicted in rural areas. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, looking at all deaths from firearms over a 10-year period in the United States, found that the risk of being murdered with a gun in large cities and the risk of suicide by gun in rural areas was almost... (GunPolicy.org)

It's a classic cautionary cliché, one that rings true more often than not. It's one that came to mind when I read of the trials and tribulations of Dryden gun registry opponent Bruce Montague. Montague, a gunsmith and vocal advocate against Bill C-68, Canada's gun registration legislation, was arrested at a Dryden gun show Sept. 11, charged with failing to register firearms, and unsafe storage of them, advised of his rights, handcuffed and led away from his sales... (GunPolicy.org)