Gun Policy News, 24 January 2011
New York Mayor Bloomberg Urges Obama to Enforce US Federal Gun Law
24 January 2011
CBS News (USA)
It goes without saying that law enforcement is dangerous work. But in the past two days at least 10 officers and one U.S. Marshal were shot in five states. In St. Petersburg, Florida: two officers were killed today in a firefight with a fugitive who was also killed. In Detroit yesterday, a man opened fire inside a police station, wounding four officers before he was shot dead.
These incidents and the tragedy in Tucson have focused new attention on the need to keep guns... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Shows, Dealers Sold 45 Assault Weapons to Texas-Mexico Smugglers
24 January 2011
San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
Five people have been indicted as part of an investigation into a group accused of trying to smuggle at least 45 assault rifles from San Antonio to Mexico last summer.
In a joint operation that began Friday, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took three of the five suspects into custody on indictments handed up by a federal grand jury in Del Rio. More arrests are expected.
The indictments... (GunPolicy.org)
NRA Wants Indiana Lawmakers to Prevent Employers Asking About Guns
24 January 2011
Herald Bulletin (Indiana)
INDIANAPOLIS — The National Rifle Association has targeted Indiana's "parking lot" gun law, saying employers are willfully violating the 6-month-old law that prohibits them from banning weapons on company-owned parking lots.
The NRA has asked its members to contact Indiana lawmakers to urge them to support new legislation that would allow employers to be sued if they require applicants to disclose information about gun ownership or require employees to reveal if they... (GunPolicy.org)
Congress with Courage Would Restore Balance and Sanity to US Gun Law
24 January 2011
Cleveland Plain Dealer (Ohio), Editorial
The shooting of a Cleveland police officer early Thursday -- like the deadly rampage that killed a federal judge and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., two weeks ago -- speaks to the need to restore balance and sanity to gun laws.
In its 2008 and 2010 rulings delineating a Second Amendment right for individual citizens to own firearms, the Supreme Court specified that its decision did not jeopardize "longstanding regulatory measures." Congress and the... (GunPolicy.org)
Clamp Down on US Gun-clip Overkill: 33 Rounds in One Pistol is Too Many
24 January 2011
Denver Post (Colorado), Editorial
Let's agree, for argument's sake, that most of us wish Jared Loughner did not have a 33-round ammunition clip for his Glock semiautomatic pistol that tragic day in Tucson.
If so, it should be just as easy to agree — with six dead and 19 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — that it's time to address, at the very least, the high-capacity clips.
It wasn't so long ago that Loughner couldn't have bought a gun magazine of that size. The restriction was part of... (GunPolicy.org)
Every Day in America 34 People Are Murdered with Guns, Says NY Mayor
24 January 2011
Guardian (UK)
The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, today called for the imposition of universal background checks on anyone buying a gun in America, in an attempt to reduce the daily bloodletting that he said amounted to a national calamity.
Bloomberg invited a group of 34 gun victims or relatives of victims to New York's City Hall in a symbolic representation of the 34 people shot dead on a typical day in the US. He said that since 1968, when Martin Luther King and Robert... (GunPolicy.org)
Can US Mayors Make Arizona Mass Killer the Poster Boy for Gun Control?
24 January 2011
Christian Science Monitor
NEW YORK - As Congress begins its new session, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants it to add one more piece of legislation: a bill to tighten up the nation's background checks on people buying a gun.
Mayor Bloomberg, who is co-head of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, says the no-buy registry is not up-to-date, and there are still loopholes that allow guns to be purchased without a background check.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which is made up of 550 mayors around the... (GunPolicy.org)
New York Mayor, Martin Luther King III Call for Urgent US Gun Control Fix
24 January 2011
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Invoking the memories of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday urged Congress to make sure the system for background checks on firearms purchases includes the names of everyone prohibited from buying weapons and closes loopholes that allow some sales to take place without checks.
"We cannot wait any longer," said Bloomberg, an advocate for stronger gun control who helped create Mayors Against Illegal Guns. "We cannot... (GunPolicy.org)
Knuckleheads Say if We All Had Guns, Everyone Would Behave. Hogwash
24 January 2011
Tucson Citizen (Arizona), Opinion
Every time some psycho goes on a shooting rampage Second Amendment proponents go on the offensive to defend their gun rights against the inevitable public backlash.
Reasonable gun rights advocates are sensitive to the situation and genuinely empathize or sympathize with the victims of the shooting, which as we've seen all too often in Tucson includes more people than just those hit with a bullet.
They offer reasoned arguments for why gun ownership should be protected... (GunPolicy.org)
Why Gun Control Always Misfires in America: Electoral Imbalance to Blame
24 January 2011
Guardian (UK), Opinion
For all the national outrage over the Tucson massacre, and renewed appeals by well-meaning politicians like Michael Bloomberg, everyone knows that sentiment will not translate into commonsense gun control laws.
As after the Columbine massacre in 1999, national polls show a majority of Americans favouring stricter gun control laws, yet as with so many other issues, majority support does not necessarily lead to congressional action. How can there be such an ongoing... (GunPolicy.org)
Gun Owner Walks Into Detroit Police Station, Shoots 4 Police Officers
24 January 2011
Detroit Free Press
It was just before 4:30 p.m. Sunday when the gunman walked into the police station.
Sgt. Carrie Schulz was shot first. Cmdr. Brian Davis raced out of an office and exchanged fire with the gunman. Davis took a bullet in the back.
Then the gunman rushed the horseshoe-shaped front desk with his weapon drawn. Sgt. Ray Saati and Officer David Anderson were hit before police killed the 38-year-old shooter.
That's how terror unfolded in the Detroit Police Department's... (GunPolicy.org)
New Law Encourages Guns in Iowa Public Libraries, Government Buildings
24 January 2011
Press-Citizen (Iowa City), Editorial
"Don't take your guns to town, son.
Leave your guns at home, Bill.
Don't take your guns to town."
-- Johnny Cash.
Because of recently enacted changes in Iowa law, gun owners no longer are required to conceal their firearms in public. The changes also mean that county sheriffs have much less discretion when denying permits.
The new legal reality has led to the utterly bizarre question: "Should the library ban firearms?"
It's hard to imagine a simpler question to... (GunPolicy.org)