The Australian Defence Force has declared it is not bound by civilian court and police orders banning soldiers from access to guns in cases of domestic violence. The military's position was exposed when it dismissed complaints by two ex-partners of an army cook, subject to domestic violence orders taken out separately by the women, that the soldier was receiving intensive weapons training associated with his deployment overseas. The army had been served with the... (GunPolicy.org)

FRANKLIN — Stephanie Rhodes heard about New York City's undercover investigation of gun shows, including some in Tennessee, and wants Mayor Michael Bloomberg to know how she feels. "He needs to keep his business in New York and let Tennessee deal with Tennessee," said Rhodes, a Smithville resident who attended a gun show on Sunday in Franklin. Rhodes and her friend Rick Foster, who purchased a rifle at the show, said they've been going to gun shows for years and... (GunPolicy.org)

Saskatchewan's top court has shot down arguments that Canadians have a constitutional right to bear arms for self-defence — but the court didn't blow away the case completely. Instead, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal implied it might reconsider Edward Hudson's constitutional challenge if the gun rights activist can muster expert and other evidence to bolster his contention that the right to bear arms for self-defence is an inalienable natural right, which supersedes... (GunPolicy.org)

Meleanie Hain of Lebanon used to tell the news media that she carried a Glock 26 pistol everywhere she went to protect herself and her children. Then last week she was shot to death by her husband in what police called a murder-suicide. For years, researchers have been trying to investigate whether carrying a gun is protective or risky. But getting the answer through science has proved elusive. Now, University of Pennsylvania researcher Charles Branas has tried a new... (GunPolicy.org)

KUALA LUMPUR — Representatives of 28 Asia-Pacific countries will begin a two-day seminar here tomorrow to discuss global transfers of conventional arms as well as controls, according to a statement. The seminar will be officially opened by officials from the European Union and the United Nations, and will be attended by high-level representatives of the relevant ministries of the participating states, international and regional organisations, and civil society, said... (GunPolicy.org)

SACRAMENTO — People buying ammunition in California will soon have to be thumb-printed and dealers will have to keep records of sales, under legislation that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law. After vetoing similar bills three times since 2004, Schwarzenegger signed AB962 by Assemblyman Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, on Sunday, saying he now believes it will promote public safety. The measure is California's first statewide regulation of ammunition sales.... (GunPolicy.org)

NAIROBI — Mid-last week, the British Broadcasting Corporation broke a story pointing to the possibility of arming, with conventional weapons, of both the Kalenjin and the Gikuyu communities in the Rift Valley. The story was picked up the next day by local media houses — with key quotations to back up the BBC claims being given by Ken Wafula, who works with a human rights organisation in Eldoret. The government, predictably, came out to deny the possibility —... (GunPolicy.org)

A new organization has urged President Barack Obama to confront firearms violence, particularly by strengthening the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Here's hoping that he doesn't take up the challenge set out by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Obama's plate already is heaped. But here's also hoping the president keeps the pitch floating near the top of his to-do pile, to be taken up as soon as time allows. The appeal to the president from some 450 mayors was... (GunPolicy.org)

Police in Florida are continuing their investigation of a 62-year-old man who fatally shot his fiancée the day before the wedding after allegedly mistaking her for an intruder. "We're still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together," Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle told CBS' "The Early Show" Monday. John Tabutt, 62, told investigators he got his gun when he thought he heard an intruder, then fired at a figure in the hallway, according to Brunelle. It... (GunPolicy.org)

PUTRAJAYA — Describing it as an unusual case, the Court of Appeal on Monday ordered a fresh trial for a former security guard who was sentenced to life imprisonment and given six strokes of the rotan in a firearms case in Johor Baharu, 16 years ago. The court quashed the conviction on Abdul Rahim Itap after hearing that there were no grounds of judgment from the Sessions Court and the High Court involved in his case, as both judges had passed away. Defence counsel... (GunPolicy.org)

US troops boarded a German-owned freighter in early October and found eight containers full of ammunition, allegedly headed to Syria from Iran. The shipment is in violation of a UN weapons embargo and has become a source of chagrin in Berlin. An "embarrassing affair," is how one German diplomat described it. The official could also have added: potentially damaging to trans-Atlantic relations. In an operation reported on by SPIEGEL over the weekend, US soldiers entered... (GunPolicy.org)