Ministers are under growing pressure to relax a ban on handguns to allow Britain's champion shooters to train for the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. At present about 100 competitors spend up to £10,000 a year travelling to Switzerland, where their guns are kept locked in an armoury at a shooting range in Zurich. Members of the national squad are being handicapped by the ban, because it means that they can train for only 30 days a year. The ban also makes... (GunPolicy.org)

The day after Christmas, 15-year-old Jane Creba was shopping on Toronto's high-fashion Yonge Street when a hail of bullets shattered the happy holiday mood. Creba was killed and six others wounded, all caught in a shootout between rival gangs. The death of the star student and athlete was Toronto's 52nd gun-related homicide of 2005, a record for Canada's largest city. It and other high-profile shootings have made violent crime — especially gun-related crime — a... (GunPolicy.org)

With pitifully little notice paid, another rash of year-end homicide statistics points up the madness of this country's fascination with handguns. The domestic arms race continues full tilt. More kids are taking handguns to school in Maryland and Virginia, according to a report by The Post's Daniel de Vise, and one big, sorry reason is that more than a few of them are responding to a perceived threat of violence in their midst. Murders by handguns continue to rock... (GunPolicy.org)

A large collection of firearms has been stolen in a burglary at a Teralba property. Lake Macquarie detectives are working to recover the weapons taken from a private residence between 5pm Saturday and 10am yesterday morning. The thieves took a gun safe holding the firearms as well as two other safes containing personal... (GunPolicy.org)

TORONTO — A Conservative proposal to dismantle the gun registry would be a "grave error" for Canada, relatives of shooting victims said Monday in calling on federal leaders to ignore partisanship and work together to get guns off streets and murderers in prison. In an impassioned news conference one week before Canadians head to the polls, four mothers who lost their sons and a man who lost his cousin challenged all parties to outlaw handguns, deny bail to anyone... (GunPolicy.org)

The Johannesburg metro police on Monday condemned the alleged involvement of one of their officers in the hijacking of a car in Berea at the weekend. Spokesperson Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said the 25-year-old officer allegedly hired out his service pistol for R150 to three hijackers. A Tracker recovery team traced the hijacked white Golf to Senaoane in Soweto, and then called the police. Minnaar said a hijacker has since identified his accomplices and told... (GunPolicy.org)

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators say it's a simple matter of supply and demand. Warring Mexican gangs need weapons and are reaching into the bountiful and legal supply just across the border to build their arsenals. Because of rigid firearms restrictions in their country, authorities say, Mexican criminals are increasingly dispatching operatives to sporting goods stores, gun shows and flea markets in Texas and other states to load up on assault weapons, pistols,... (GunPolicy.org)

Americans cherish their Second Amendment rights, so not many eyebrows may be lifted by a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature that would allow superintendents and principals to carry guns on school property. But at the risk of sounding like Yoda, lift them we should. According to Rep. Bud Smithson, D-Sallisaw, a retired state trooper and a firearms safety instructor, administrators need to be able to protect themselves "when violence erupts in the schools." Since Smithson... (GunPolicy.org)

More than two years after the official end of Liberia's civil war, its weapons are still fuelling instability. The new Liberian national police, often aided by peacekeepers from the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), sweep through Monrovia neighbourhoods or descend on villages to seize arms. So far, there is no serious threat of armed criminal activity or a resumption of political violence, given the "overwhelming dominance" of the peacekeeping mission, acknowledges... (GunPolicy.org)

NEW DELHI — At least two people were injured in yet another case of road rage in the Preet Vihar area of West Delhi. According to a case registered at the local police station, three unidentified people shot Mr Kapila Arora after his car accidentally bumped into the car of an unidentified man. Mr Arora was hit by a bullet on his neck, while Mr Bhupender Singh, a security guard was also injured in the firing. The incident happened on Sunday noon, when Mr Arora was... (GunPolicy.org)