Gun Policy News, 18 April 2007
Gun Control Back on Agenda in Australia After US Shootings
18 April 2007
Sydney Morning Herald
The Virginia massacre has prompted fresh calls for more controls to reduce the estimated 250,000 handguns in Australia.
State and federal governments have played down the need for tougher gun laws, pointing to a series of tighter controls after Martin Bryant killed 35 people in the Port Arthur shooting massacre.
Curbs were again strengthened after a shooting in 2002 at Monash University in which two students were killed.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, expressed... (GunPolicy.org)
US Killer Bought Guns Locally, Got Receipt for Glock, Blamed 'Rich Kids'
18 April 2007
Sydney Morning Herald
The South Korean student behind the bloodiest school shooting in US history railed against "rich kids", "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" in a note he left behind, US media has reported.
The 23-year-old student wrote: "You caused me to do this," in a several-page-long note that he left in his dorm room, ABC News reported.
The note began in the present tense and then shifted to the past tense as Cho Seung-Hui explained his actions amid a rambling list of... (GunPolicy.org)
Jealous Lover Gunned Down Girlfriend, Fellow Student - Then Class of 30
18 April 2007
Sydney Morning Herald
He started with his former girlfriend, gunning her down in a dormitory in a jealous rage. Less than 2½ hours later, the 23-year-old gunman had killed a further 31 students, staff and himself at the Virginia Tech campus, the worst massacre in America's bloody firearms history.
At least 28 others were in hospital with gunshot wounds and injuries sustained from jumping out of windows in desperate attempts to escape.
Police believe the gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, a Korean... (GunPolicy.org)
US Secret Service Officer Accidentally Shoots Two Agents in White House
18 April 2007
Reuters
Two Secret Service officers were injured after a gun held by another Secret Service officer accidentally fired inside the White House gate, according to a spokesman, Darrin Blackford.
Their injuries are non-life threatening, the spokesman said.
One officer suffered a shrapnel wound to the face, and the other was wounded in the leg.
They were taken to George Washington Hospital.
At the time, President George W Bush was on a trip to Blacksburg, Virginia, to attend a... (GunPolicy.org)
Bush Defends the Right to Bear Arms, White House Cuts Off Gun Debate
18 April 2007
Sydney Morning Herald / AAP / AFP
The deadliest school shooting in the United States has revived calls for tighter gun controls and spread shock waves.
President George Bush led expressions of dismay saying he was shocked and saddened by the rampage.
"Schools should be places of safety, and sanctuary, and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community," he said.
As renewed calls for tighter gun controls spread, the White House... (GunPolicy.org)
America, a Society Armed and Dangerous, With No Change Expected
18 April 2007
Sydney Morning Herald, Editorial
With the Virginia Tech massacre setting a sickeningly high American record for gun rampages, will anything be changed in that country's debate on gun control? Not immediately: its politicians are dodging the issue, running scared at the influence of a particular voice over a sizeable tranche of voters as a presidential election looms.
The voice is that of the National Rifle Association, which bills its 3 million members as the "front-line defenders of the Second... (GunPolicy.org)
Canadian Tories Under Fire Over Moves to Cripple Long Gun Registry
18 April 2007
Canadian Press, Opinion
OTTAWA — The Conservative government's latest move to cripple the long-gun registry is being blasted by a national police group and all federal opposition parties.
The decision to waive penalties for people who fail to register their firearms was enacted without fanfare during Parliament's Easter break — and extends for another year a similar amnesty granted in 2006.
The Tories have essentially killed the gun registry by decree because they have no political... (GunPolicy.org)
American Gun Violence Eats Away at Most Basic Freedom to Feel Safe
18 April 2007
Age (Melbourne), Editorial
The members of the National Rifle Association did not pull the trigger. Nor did the members of the Gun Owners of America. The authors of the United States constitution's Second Amendment (ratified 1791), enshrining "the right of the people to keep and bear arms", did not pull the trigger.
It was just a lone gunman with a deadly arsenal who committed the worst shooting massacre in US history. It was he who made the guns come alive.
Beyond the immediate grief, the... (GunPolicy.org)
No Rush on Gun Control After US School Massacre
18 April 2007
Agence France Presse
NEW YORK — The deadliest school shooting in US history may have pushed gun control to the forefront of national debate, but there was no sign that politicians were ready to rush into calls for action.
With an estimated 40 percent of American households owning a gun and some 200 million weapons in private hands, according to surveys, challenging the constitutional right to bear arms is potentially a hugely unpopular move.
President George W. Bush said that while the... (GunPolicy.org)
Drug-related Gun Battles in Rio de Janeiro Leave 19 Dead
18 April 2007
BBC News
Nineteen people have been killed in gun battles between rival drug gangs and in a separate incident involving police in Brazil's city of Rio de Janeiro.
The battles are said to have involved drug dealers trying to gain control in the Morro da Mineira shantytown.
The shootings caused chaos in the central district of the city.
They happened as the government considers a request from Rio's governor for troops to be sent to the city to help police.
Earlier this... (GunPolicy.org)
The Virginia Gun Dealer and How He Sold a Glock to the Campus Killer
18 April 2007
Independent (UK)
If Cho Seung-Hui wanted to start a war, he could not have gone to a better place than Roanoke Firearms.
Five weeks ago, the 23-year-old foreign student entered the shop and paid $570 (£284) with a credit card for a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a box of 50 cartridges. He provided three different forms of identification and passed an additional security check carried out by the state police. The checks threw up no red flags. The entire transaction took no more... (GunPolicy.org)
What Is It About this American Fetish With Firearms?
18 April 2007
Herald (UK), Opinion
You will be hearing a lot over the next few days about the second amendment to the constitution of the United States. It says this: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
The amendment, one of 12 forming the bill of rights, was added to the constitution of a frontier society in 1791, some few years before the advent of 9mm automatics, when the word "spree" was... (GunPolicy.org)
Fear is the Reason Americans Harbour Weapons of Their Own Destruction
18 April 2007
New Zealand Herald, Editorial
The left-wing American movie-maker Michael Moore may not be to every taste, but his study of the Colorado school massacre eight years ago was a powerful indictment of the forces that have infested so many American households with firearms. The movie is resonating now in the coverage of yet another student massacre, this time with many more victims at a Virginia university.
It was not confirmed that the young gunman who died with 32 others at Virginia Tech had acquired... (GunPolicy.org)
This Time, US Gun Control Response is Mostly One-Sided
18 April 2007
Seattle Times
WASHINGTON — Monday's deadly rampage at Virginia Tech might have lit the fuse for another round in the long-running debate over gun control, but this time the response was largely one-sided. Gun-control advocates pointed to the shootings as dramatic evidence of the need for tougher laws, while supporters of gun rights generally kept their heads down.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence put a political spin on the day's disaster. "All children have the right to... (GunPolicy.org)
US Presidential Candidate John McCain Says He Backs 'No Gun Control'
18 April 2007
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate John McCain declared Wednesday he believes in "no gun control," making the strongest affirmation of support for gun rights in the GOP field since the Virginia Tech massacre.
The Arizona senator said in Summerville, S.C., that the country needs better ways to identify dangerous people like the gunman who killed 32 people and himself in the Blacksburg, Va., rampage. But he opposed weakening gun rights and, when asked... (GunPolicy.org)
NRA Cartoon of New York's Mayor Bloomberg is Called 'Anti Semitic'
18 April 2007
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A National Rifle Association magazine cover depicting New York mayor and gun control campaigner Michael Bloomberg as an octopus is raising questions because the imagery has a history as an anti-Semitic symbol.
The cover of this month's issue of the NRA publication America's 1st Freedom features an evil-looking cartoon of the Jewish mayor, with a headline warning: "Tentacles!"
The eight-armed sea animal has been used as the Nazi representation of Jewish... (GunPolicy.org)
Canadian Police Will Now Only Interview 'Random' First Time Gun Owners
18 April 2007
CanWest News Service
OTTAWA — The Conservative government — under attack Wednesday from critics who charged that eliminating the gun registry will endanger Canadians — touted a new $14-million plan to require applicants seeking firearms licences to undergo one-on-one interviews to determine if they are fit to own guns.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day fleshed out a bit of detail on the program, announced in last month's budget "in recognition of the tragic events at Dawson... (GunPolicy.org)
Positions of the American Presidential Candidates on Gun Control - AP List
18 April 2007
Associated Press
Gun-control efforts in recent years have focused on renewing a federal ban on assault-type weapons that expired in 2004 and requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows. Those efforts have fallen short. Gun-rights advocates prevailed with a law shielding gun-makers and dealers from civil lawsuits brought by victims of gun violence.
A look at positions and records of the presidential candidates on gun control:
DEMOCRATS:
Delaware Sen. Joe Biden: Voted for ban... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Control Returns as an Election Campaign Issue in America
18 April 2007
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Gun control has been treated with a mix of silence and discomfort in the presidential campaign, a response that may become insupportable once the nation finds its voice in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech mass murder.
Democrats have been deliberately muted for months on an issue that, by their own reckoning, contributed to and perhaps sealed their defeat in the 2000 presidential election. That's when Al Gore's call for gun registration cost him votes... (GunPolicy.org)
Despite Shootings, Gun Control Still Faces Uphill Struggle in US Congress
18 April 2007
Reuters
WASHINGTON — The massacre at Virginia Tech has ignited fresh talk in the Democratic-led U.S. Congress about tightening America's gun laws but it is doubtful enough lawmakers will tackle the politically charged issue.
With so many Americans in love with their guns and defensive of their right under the Constitution to keep and bear arms, politicians are reluctant to take on gun owners or the powerful gun lobby.
"It'd be foolish politically for Democrats to do it,"... (GunPolicy.org)
US Gun Control Advocates Stir Again on Capitol Hill
18 April 2007
US News & World Report / CBS News
After years in the political wilderness, Capitol Hill's most vocal advocates for intensified gun control are expressing hope that — in the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 dead, including the gunman — their cause will have increasing urgency.
"I believe this will reignite the dormant effort to pass common-sense gun regulation in this nation," Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in a statement.
But it has been a long time since gun... (GunPolicy.org)
US Gun Massacre Could Raise Key Issue in 2008 Presidential Campaign
18 April 2007
Baltimore Sun
WASHINGTON — Ten years ago, when a man armed with a pistol shot seven tourists on the observation deck at the Empire State Building, New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani responded with an unequivocal call for more federal gun control.
"The United States Congress needs to pass uniform licensing for everyone carrying a gun. Congress must do more," said Giuliani, then a leading proponent of gun control.
This week, presidential candidate Giuliani reacted to the Virginia... (GunPolicy.org)
American Politicians Revisit Gun Control: Democrats Wary of Tighter Laws
18 April 2007
Washington Post
The largest mass shooting in U.S. history forced reluctant Democratic leaders in Congress yesterday to confront an issue that divides their party and holds considerable political peril: gun control.
Advocates of stricter gun laws, such as Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), met with Democratic leaders, determined to resurrect an issue that has been dormant since the shootings at Columbine High School near Denver in 1999. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) elicited a pledge from... (GunPolicy.org)
Canadian Policeman Touts Utility of Gun Registry at College Shooting Event
18 April 2007
National Post (Toronto)
The arguments for it are old and still full of holes. But the timing, being everything in politics, couldn't have been worse.
Two days following the Virginia Tech slaughter, at a ceremony honouring five police at the Dawson College shooting in Montreal, a cop who had guarded a classroom after the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre led a police chorus condemning the Harper government for going soft on gun control.
Ouch.
Given that deregistering gun ownership was a... (GunPolicy.org)
Campus Killer's Gun Purchases Were Done by the Book, Within US Law
18 April 2007
Los Angeles Times
ROANOKE, Virginia — Seung-hui Cho's recent purchase of the two semiautomatic handguns used in the Virginia Tech rampage was done by the book and in accordance with Virginia's firearms laws.
Cho bought one of the guns, a .22-caliber Walther P22, at JND Pawnbrokers in Blacksburg in February, a federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said. Cho then bought a 9-millimeter Glock Model 19 at Roanoke Firearms on March 12, said the official, who spoke... (GunPolicy.org)
Virginia Tech Killer's Gun Choices Facilitated Shootings
18 April 2007
Washington Post
On February 9, Cho Seung-Hui walked into a pawnshop on Main Street in Blacksburg, Va., directly across the street from the Virginia Tech campus, and picked up one of the guns he would use in his deadly rampage Monday: a Walther 22-caliber pistol, a relatively inexpensive firearm most commonly used for target shooting or plinking cans.
One month later, on March 16, Cho stepped into Roanoke Firearms, a 3,000-square-foot, full-service gun dealer where more than 350 guns... (GunPolicy.org)
Virginia Tech Mass Shooting Energizes US Debate on Gun Rights
18 April 2007
International Herald Tribune
Five weeks ago, a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute walked into a nondescript gun store next to a pawn shop in Roanoke, Virginia, and paid $571 for a Glock 9-millimeter handgun and a box of ammunition.
On Monday, the student, Cho Seung Hui, made a horrible kind of history by using that gun and another pistol to go on a murderous rampage at the university, in Blacksburg, Virginia, before taking his own life.
As described by John Markell, who owns the gun store,... (GunPolicy.org)
Student Wrote About Death and Spoke in Whispers, But Nobody Imagined …
18 April 2007
Washington Post
BLACKSBURG, Virginia — They met across the professor's desk. One on one. The chairman of the English department and the silent, brooding student who never took his sunglasses off.
He had so upset other instructors that Virginia Tech officials asked whether the professor wanted protection. Lucinda Roy declined. She thought Cho Seung Hui exuded loneliness, and she volunteered to teach him by herself, to spare her colleagues. The subject of the class was poetry.
Roy,... (GunPolicy.org)
US Gun Fanatics Bend the Will of Even Rudy Giuliani, Once Pro Gun Control
18 April 2007
New York Daily News, Editorial
The thing is, they're out there, just heartbeats away from going to pieces and pulling the trigger, again and again and again and again until there is bloodshed and death beyond imagining.
Here are Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, on their way to school one Colorado morning. Here is Colin Ferguson, boarding the evening LIRR after a bad day at his job. Here is Cho Sueng-hui, lost in psychotic fantasies and still able to buy ammo and a Glock 9-mm. pistol from a Virginia... (GunPolicy.org)
Wanted: A Culture of Self-Defence. Americans Should be Armed. Fight Back!
18 April 2007
National Review (USA), Column
There's no polite way or time to say it: American colleges and universities have become coddle industries. Big Nanny administrators oversee speech codes, segregated dorms, politically correct academic departments, and designated "safe spaces" to protect students selectively from hurtful (conservative) opinions — while allowing mob rule for approved leftist positions (textbook case: Columbia University's anti-Minuteman Project protesters).
Instead of teaching... (GunPolicy.org)
Most Americans Want Stronger Gun Laws, Says IANSA [IT]
18 April 2007
Il Manifesto (Italy)
[Translated Summary: Most Americans want stronger gun controls, while states like Virginia with lax gun laws undermine the efforts of cities whose controls are more stringent].
New York — Rapporto dell'International action network on small arms: centinaia I morti. I produttori: difendere il diritto alle armi.
Anche solo a guardarlo distrattamente, il rapporto compilato dalla Iansa (International action network on small arms) e pubblicato ieri sul numero dei bambini... (GunPolicy.org)
Repeal the Second Amendment to the US Constitution
18 April 2007
Salon (USA), Opinion
WASHINGTON — Fifteen unambiguous words are all that would be required to quell the American-as-apple-pie cycle of gun violence that has now tearfully enshrined Virginia Tech in the record book of mass murder. Here are the 15 words that would deliver a mortal wound to our bang-bang culture of death: "The second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed."
Even Pollyanna on Prozac would acknowledge the daunting odds against... (GunPolicy.org)
Southern US Town of Kennesaw, Georgia Proud of its Mandatory Gun Law
18 April 2007
Reuters
KENNESAW, Georgia — The Virginia Tech killings have set off calls for tighter U.S. gun laws but anyone wanting to know why those demands likely will make little headway should visit Kennesaw, a town where owning a gun is both popular and mandatory.
The town north of Atlanta had little prominence until it passed a gun ordinance in 1982 that required all heads of a household to own a firearm and ammunition.
Kennesaw's law was a response to Morton Grove, Illinois,... (GunPolicy.org)
To Mass Gun Killers, Weapons Are an Obsession Central to Their Lives
18 April 2007
ABC News (Australia) / The World Today, Transcript
EMMA ALBERICI: The mass shooting at Virginia Tech University conforms to an all too familiar pattern — the lone gunman, usually young, opens fire without warning — he doesn't stop until he himself is overpowered or dead.
Australia has produced more than its share of these killers in Martin Bryant, Frank Vitkovic, Julian Knight and Wade Frankum.
Until 25 years ago such attacks were virtually unheard of in Australia.
Paul Mullen is the forensic psychiatrist who... (GunPolicy.org)