In a judgment yesterday, a Cape High Court judge said he did not believe private individuals should be allowed to own guns and that the country should make an effort to decrease the number of firearm owners. But he said that by law, people were entitled to own firearms and to use them in self defence. Judge Dennis Davis made the comments in a judgment he delivered in a damages case in which a Parow woman sued a Durbanville man for R1.5 million after he shot and... (GunPolicy.org)

Cinema goers in the UK are to be shown a shocking spoof shopping channel ad offering AK-47 machine guns for sale. Amnesty International says it aims to highlight the ease with which weapons can be bought and sold due to lax controls on the international market. It is part of the charity's campaign to get one million people to sign its petition calling on the United Nations to introduce tougher regulations. In the spoof ad presenters praise the gun's firepower and... (GunPolicy.org)

LONDON — A young boy will demonstrate how a Kalashnikov assault rifle works in an advert due to hit British cinema screens as part of a campaign against the arms trade. The hard-hitting advert is an initiative by human rights organisation Amnesty International. The spoof-shopping channel commercial shows presenters talking up the firepower and reliability of the AK-47, as the boy demonstrates how it is so easy to use even a child can fire it. Viewers are also... (GunPolicy.org)

Getting rid of the gun registry is still within the sights of Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz. Breitkreuz, who was re-elected Monday after capturing 63 per cent of the vote in the Yorkton-Melville riding, has been a leading critic of the registry on rifles and shotguns for many years. He says there should be action on the federal gun registry in just a few months. Breitkreuz believes the program that resulted from the gun legislation, Bill C-68, has been wasteful... (GunPolicy.org)

WASHINGTON — Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said Wednesday he plans to team up with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to end gun violence in major cities. "Mayor Bloomberg and I come from rival cities and different political parties, but the critical issue of gun violence that plagues our cities has united us in this fight," Menino told the annual winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Menino, a Democrat who began his fourth term earlier this month, said he... (GunPolicy.org)

ROCKVILLE — The father of an 8-year-old boy charged with shooting and wounding a 7-year-old girl in a Germantown day care center showed his son "in great detail" how to handle, load and fire a .38-caliber revolver the night before the child smuggled the gun into the day care center, the Montgomery County state's attorney said Wednesday. The father, John Linwood Hall Sr., was arraigned Wednesday on charges of illegal possession of a firearm, storing a firearm in a... (GunPolicy.org)

A senior Conservative MP from northern B.C. says the new Stephen Harper government will move quickly to kill Canada's controversial rifle registry. Prince George-Peace River MP Jay Hill says the Conservatives plan to make good their promise to end what he calls the "financial fiasco" of the long-gun registry. Hill says he's not sure just what legislation is needed to kill the registry. But he says it will be history, when MPs return for the next session of... (GunPolicy.org)

We have a number of problems with the Legislature's so-called concealed carry bill that Gov. Jim Doyle saw fit to once more veto last week. There's the provision that allows citizens who get concealed carry permits to carry not only guns, but also knives, billy clubs and electric shock weapons in most public places except for schools, taverns and police stations. Yes, we understand that 46 other states allow their citizens to carry concealed weapons, but there's a... (GunPolicy.org)

WEYMOUTH — A thief crawled through the ventilation shaft of a firearms dealer over the weekend and made off with a small arsenal of guns that probably will soon be sold on the black market, authorities said. Weymouth Police Lieutenant George Greenwood said the thief, still at large, stole "numerous" guns, including Glock, Beretta, and Ruger handguns as well as one shotgun, and 10 boxes of ammunition from Hunter's Trading Post on Winter Street. "You worry when... (GunPolicy.org)

FREETOWN — More than 25 000 guns believed to have been used in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war were turned in to security agencies by rival sides during a disarmament process that ended in 2002, said an action group on Wednesday. A respected non-governmental organisation, the Sierra Leone Action Network on Small Arms (Slansa), said most of the weapons originated from China, the former Soviet Union, Germany, Belgium and some eastern European countries. The reports... (GunPolicy.org)

Cinema-goers will be shocked this week to see an advert selling them AK-47 machine guns, alongside the ads for cars and soft drinks. It's a spoof by Amnesty International, sending up TV shopping channels to draw attention to the appalling ease with which weapons are bought and sold around the world. But the reality is far more shocking. As a human rights campaigner, I've visited countless countries where people suffer terrible abuses. Women raped at gunpoint during... (GunPolicy.org)

The Conservative Party, finally in power after a dozen years, didn't get the majority it wanted but that won't prevent it from aggressively pursuing its agenda, vows the successful Yorkton-Melville incumbent. Garry Breitkreuz, who thrashed his opponents by an enormous amount on his way to a fifth term as MP, says Stephen Harper's Conservative government will push the Federal Accountability Act, tax cuts and justice reforms — major planks in its central five-point... (GunPolicy.org)