With his friend at the wheel, Charles Fantroy crawled into the back seat, lowered the passenger-side window, aimed the revolver and sent a stream of bullets toward the silver Ford and its passengers. One slug penetrated the windshield with such force it tunneled through a front-seat headrest, brushing past its target. It was that bullet that pierced the forehead of Dennis Ashton Jr. Dennis, who was 7 years old, died two hours later. "I punished [him] with a... (GunPolicy.org)

WASHINGTON — Even its fiercest foes acknowledge that the National Rifle Association won the biggest political victory of the year, steamrolling gun-control advocates with a powerful mix of political acumen and cold cash. Proposed gun-control restrictions, a top priority for Democrats, remain in legislative limbo. And it's not certain whether those measures — including three-day background checks on gun-show sales — will be seriously addressed soon. But the NRA's... (GunPolicy.org)

The US leans heavily on the law. It relies on its civil justice system to define relations between man and man, man and woman, man and corporation, more than any society on earth. It depends on civil law to shape and bind society: to defend individual rights, tame the excesses of capitalism, and compensate citizens for the modern and ancient adversities of living. Litigiousness is not just a perverse US character flaw; it is something closer to a core national... (GunPolicy.org)

Over the past year, 28 cities have filed suits against firearms manufacturers seeking monetary damages and changes in the ways guns are sold in the United States. Two states, New York and Connecticut, have threatened to sue, and last week federal officials announced that they would help public housing authorities nationwide file suit to force gun makers to sell safer firearms and do more to keep them out of criminal hands. To many, it appears the fight against guns is... (GunPolicy.org)

Anne Coakley can never have another daughter. But Forrest Leigh can buy another handgun to replace the one he misfired, killing Coakley's only daughter. That's because Leigh, 65, received a deferred judgment and sentence after pleading no contest to criminally negligent homicide in the death of 27-year-old Tara Coakley, a clerk in the Boulder District Attorney's office. He had been preparing to clean his .45-caliber handgun when it misfired, and a bullet hit Coakley... (GunPolicy.org)

WASHINGTON — Having failed to get Congress to pass legislation on tobacco or guns, the Clinton administration has pinned its hopes on the courthouse. To critics, the landmark lawsuits against tobacco companies and gun makers smacks of an end run around Congress, or a blatant effort to use the threat of a costly lawsuit to force two unpopular industries to do what the administration wants. They say zealous federal prosecutors could next take aim at liquor companies,... (GunPolicy.org)