PALESTINIAN security forces should be the only group in the occupied territories allowed to carry weapons, Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Mahmud Abbas said today. "We want to control the Palestinian security scene so that we end the phenomenon of arms being carried around everywhere. This is the policy of the Palestinian government," he said. Mr Abbas, a former prime minister, was responding to a question over the Palestinian Authority's intention to... (GunPolicy.org)

On the morning of Nov. 18 my lawyer called with a message I've waited a long time to hear. "I'm sorry Steve, but I have bad news. The Illinois Supreme Court has rejected our claims in their entirety." My heart sank. The decision ended a six-year legal effort to hold the gun industry to its share of the responsibility for the 1996 shooting death of my son Andrew, and the deaths of many others from guns. But this isn't the end of the struggle; it's only the closing of a... (GunPolicy.org)

Ruling unanimously Nov. 18 on two lawsuits that had been filed against the firearms industry — one by the City of Chicago and Cook County, the other by five individual plaintiffs — the Illinois Supreme Court not only tossed out both cases, but dealt a serious blow to the gun control crowd. It cannot have been a worse month for hard-core disciples of gun control extremism, in Illinois and elsewhere. Their definition of sensible firearms law, short of repealing the... (GunPolicy.org)

"You're no g-damned good, John, and that's the truth about you." So wrote one of the many people who responded to my column last week in which I said some forms of gun control are needed. That man, who identified himself as Bill Emery, also included these lines in an e-mail: "Feel free to call 911 when you're confronted by one or more thugs on a public sidewalk who ostensibly want to rob you, but actually want to beat you bloody and rape your wife while you... (GunPolicy.org)

The gun allegedly used to kill six Wisconsin hunters is a type commonly used to hunt deer and should not be called an assault weapon, say local hunters and gun enthusiasts. Authorities say that Chai Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., shot eight people last Sunday, killing six, following a confrontation over a deer stand on private property in Sawyer County. Vang, who claims he shot the hunters after they made racial slurs and shot at him, remained in the Sawyer County Jail... (GunPolicy.org)

Bulgaria will be licensed for the production of AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle by the end of the first quarter of 2005, according to the defence minister. Minister Svinarov specified that agreement on granting a security license to Bulgaria has been reached during his recent meeting with Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov recently in... (GunPolicy.org)