KINGSTON, Jamaica – Prime Minister Bruce Golding has said the importation of illegal guns from the united States is contributing significantly to the country's worsening crime situation. "The security forces recover, on average, 600 guns each year. We suspect that a greater number enter the island each year, creating an ever increasing arsenal of illegal weapons snuffing out lives with callous brutality," Golding told Parliament as he made his contribution to the... (GunPolicy.org)

OTTAWA, Ontario — A political staffer has resigned after the office of Tory backbencher Garry Breitkreuz issued a scathing news release denouncing Canadian police chiefs as a "cult" and suggesting that Liberals who oppose the gun registry should beat up their party leader for forcing them to vote against a bill to scrap the database. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons on Wednesday that the Breitkreuz aide quit and that Breitkreuz regrets the news... (GunPolicy.org)

SACRAMENTO - California lawmakers are pushing ahead with legislation to ban carrying unloaded firearms in public, even as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a complex case that could eventually override the rights of states to regulate guns. The Democrat-controlled Assembly Public Safety Committee passed the measure 4-2 on Tuesday, over the objections of onlookers who are part of an "open carry" movement frustrated by what they see as government infringement of their... (GunPolicy.org)

RICHMOND, Virginia - The Virginia General Assembly has directed the state's Board of Education to develop course materials for teaching gun safety to elementary school children that incorporate the guidelines of a National Rifle Association program. The measure, approved during the legislature's recently concluded annual session, allows local school boards to choose whether to implement the program. A leading Democrat in the state Senate had amended the bill to allow... (GunPolicy.org)

RALEIGH, North Carolina - Federal prosecutors launched a scathing assessment of Blackwater Worldwide's former president Wednesday, declaring in an initial court appearance that he operated the security firm with "sheer arrogance" and a "scofflaw attitude." Gary Jackson and four past colleagues indicted last week appeared Wednesday morning before a judge who allowed them to go free as they await trial. A magistrate judge denied a government request to place a bond on... (GunPolicy.org)

Tokyo wants to relax its self-imposed ban on arms exports, a Financial Times report published Monday quoted a Japanese defense official as saying. Akihisa Nagashima, a parliamentary vice minister of defense, told the Financial Times that the move reflected concern about the competitiveness of the country's defense industry and the high prices its military must pay for arms that are often less than cutting edge. Tokyo in 1967 announced the Three Principles on Arms... (GunPolicy.org)