NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — The most popular instruments of robbery, torture, homicide and assassination in this violence-racked border city are imported from the United States. "Warning," reads the sign greeting motorists on the U.S. side as they approach the Rio Grande that separates the two countries here. "Illegal to carry firearms/ammunition into Mexico. Penalty, prison." The signs have done little to stop what U.S. and Mexican officials say is a steady and growing... (GunPolicy.org)

Gang members are actively gathering intelligence on legitimate gun collectors who have been targeted in recent years, leading police to warn owners to be careful about who they confide in about their weapons. No amount of security is going to stop determined thieves from breaking into gun safes, says Inspector Dave McLeod, head of the Toronto police's urban organized crime squad. "We know they are gathering intelligence on gun owners, but we don't yet know exactly how... (GunPolicy.org)

The calls come in from around the nation and the world. They come from mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters of those who have died by gunfire. "They're calling from everywhere," said Elizabeth Bishop-Goldsmith. "The stories I hear are heart-rending. It's a global epidemic." Bishop-Goldsmith, 56, of Rosedale, has stories of her own. She founded Mothers Against Guns in March 1994 after writing an obituary for her godson, Purnell Williams. Williams was shot and... (GunPolicy.org)

If the gun used to kill Dallas, the Labrador retriever, had been registered, within hours that gun could have been traced to its owner. ("Griswold family grieving after dog is shot and killed," Dec. 27.) It was not registered because the National Rifle Association has prevented, through its lobby, every attempt to make that provision and others into a law. Besides making it possible to trace a gun, a registered firearms law could make an imbecile think twice before... (GunPolicy.org)

NEW YORK — Existing small arms trade controls have failed to protect innocent civilians and must be drastically tightened, according to three surveys on the human cost of arms transfers to Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone. The reports were issued by the Control Arms Campaign as the United Nations was set to kick off its first major review of small arms controls in five years. The Campaign, which brings together Amnesty International,... (GunPolicy.org)

BANJA LUKA — Fearing a new conflict, many Bosnians are doggedly holding on to weapons left over from the country's 1992-1995 war, despite efforts by foreign and local authorities to seize them. "Yes, I have a Kalashnikov and it's illegal, but every time they take one of them, I find another one," said Bosnian Serb Pajo, who has already had three of the assault rifles confiscated on different occasions. "In this region having a weapon means having security, because... (GunPolicy.org)

My first real memory of a gun is from when I was 8, standing in a Nevada salt flat with my mother leaning over my right shoulder, folding my hand around the oh-so-smooth butt of a .22-caliber revolver. It was the gun she always kept under the car seat. I squeezed off a shot at a rusty soda can 30 feet away, and the explosion in my ear and puff of sand alongside the can sent a shiver right to my toes. "You'll get it, don't worry. You need to learn how to shoot this,"... (GunPolicy.org)

Rebecca took out a life insurance policy on herself four years ago. She made her daughter the beneficiary. She was 51. She believed that her husband was going to kill her. It was just a matter of time. She believes it still, even though she left him in 2001 and went underground through the California Confidential Address Program. She uses a phony address in Sacramento provided by the program (and is not using her real name for this column) to remain hidden. Last... (GunPolicy.org)

LONDON — The United Nations must this week pave the way for a treaty to control the sale of small arms that were behind the deaths of one million people since member states last discussed the issue in 2001, campaigners said on Monday. Delegates from U.N. member states hold a preparatory meeting in New York on Monday ahead of a June conference on small arms. "In 2006, the world has a choice. Either it continues to ignore the massive human cost of arms proliferation... (GunPolicy.org)

Rochester's homicide rate in 2005 saw the city reclaim the unwanted title of murder capital of New York state. Last year's 54 killings are below the record 68 in 1993 but still 54 percent higher than those of the previous year. Even more disturbing to those who track this data — and to the community — is who was being killed. The year's homicides included eight victims younger than 18. The slain children include: a 13-year-old girl who was shot by her 21-year-old... (GunPolicy.org)

On several occasions last year, weapons were stolen from military warehouses in B-H [Bosnia-Hercegovina] and then disappeared without a trace. Many of the cases of military weapons being stolen were never cleared up, and no one knows where they have ended up and when they will be used. According to figures from the B-H Ministry of Defence, warehouses of the B-H Federation Army were robbed twice last year, and those of the RS [Serb Republic] Army were robbed once. In... (GunPolicy.org)