Nouvelles sur les armes à feu
Motorist Shot in 'Road Rage' Confrontation
11 February 1998
Telegraph (UK)
A motorist was shot and seriously injured yesterday after a so-called road rage incident between two drivers.
The victim, aged 46, struggled to a nearby office for help after the gunman drove away from the scene in Croydon, south London. The injured man was shot at least once in the lower body during an argument with the driver of a silver R-registration Ford Escort.
Det Insp Andrew Claiden said: "It seemed that they were basically going to have it out verbally. Then... (GunPolicy.org)
Firearms Charges Against Convicted Murderer Withdrawn
11 February 1998
Radio New Zealand
Seven long-standing unresolved fire-arms charges against convicted double murderer John Barlow, have been withdrawn at the request of the Police.
The charges included unlawful possession of guns, stealing a gun and supplying a firearm.
Barlow, who's now serving a life sentence for the February 1994 murders of Wellington father and son businessmen, Eugene and Gene Thomas, denied the charges and intended fighting them through the Court.
But Detective Inspector Brett... (GunPolicy.org)
Law on Arms to Come Into Force in Chechnya
10 February 1998
Itar-Tass
GROZNY — The law on arms, adopted by the Chechen parliament late in December 1997, comes into force on Tuesday. The law will make it possible to the law-enforcement agencies of the Chechnya to take under firm control a major part of the armaments in the republic and to improve the crime situation, Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya Kazbek Makhashev, who is in charge of the army, the police and the security service, told Tass.
According to Makhashev, a special service... (GunPolicy.org)
Heston's Criticism of Gun Laws Angers Dunblane Parents
9 February 1998
Scotsman (Edinburgh)
Dunblane parents yesterday condemned the Hollywood actor Charlton Heston after he attacked Britain's tough new gun laws.
The movie star sparked controversy in a leading US gun magazine by saying UK gun laws were introduced only because of public hysteria after the shootings.
Then Heston launched a scathing attack on Britain for introducing the firearm legislation.
The actor is pictured holding a shotgun for the article in Guns & Ammo magazine.
But yesterday parents... (GunPolicy.org)
El Salvador Weapons Collection Slowed by Soccer
8 February 1998
Reuters
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — An attempt to swap weapons for consumer goods in the Central American country of El Salvador faced a daunting foe on Sunday — soccer.
An official with the private Patriotic Movement against Crime (MPCD) said collection of weapons over the weekend was going slowly because many people were staying home to watch the Gold Cup international soccer tournament and matches in the hotly-contested local league.
Funded by the Organization of... (GunPolicy.org)
PC Injured and His Dog Killed by Gunman
7 February 1998
Guardian (UK)
A police dog handler and a woman have been shot and wounded and a police dog killed, following a domestic incident in Northamptonshire. The gun used was a legally held .22 rifle which has raised issues of gun ownership in the wake of the banning of handguns.
PC Ian Churms, aged 33, was called out with his dog, Bryn, to an incident in Irthlingborough, near Wellingborough, at about 11.30 on Thursday night. Shortly after his arrival with a uniformed colleague, a man... (GunPolicy.org)
Reducing Firearm Injury and Death: A Public Health Sourcebook on Guns
5 February 1998
New England Journal of Medicine; Vol. 338, No. 6, Book review
Trudy Karlson is an injury epidemiologist and Stephen Hargarten an emergency medicine physician, both public health professionals who have turned their attention to firearms in the belief that the science of injury control could be usefully applied to reducing the number and severity of gunshot injuries. They offer this work as "the book we wished we had had when we were starting out — a primer on how guns work, how they cause injury, and on strategies based on the... (GunPolicy.org)
Lire l'article complet : New England Journal of Medicine; Vol. 338, No. 6
Disarming News: Why Bobbies Have No Guns
3 February 1998
US News & World Report
LONDON — A total ban on private ownership of handguns went into effect in Britain last week, the result of a public outcry over the 1996 massacre of 16 schoolchildren and their teacher by a crazed loner in Dunblane, Scotland. But it is not just the citizenry that wants a gun-free zone here. The police are equally anxious to keep firearms off the streets and, for the most part, see no way to do it except by leaving their guns at the station.
According to a survey by... (GunPolicy.org)
New Law on Arms and Munitions to Go Before Guatemalan Congress
3 February 1998
Prensa Libre Online
Guatemalan legislator Anabella Leon and other members of a multi-lateral commission in charge of verifying the progress of the UN sponsored Peace Accords sent a new bill on arms and munitions before the executive and legislative branches of the Central American nation. If passed into law it would require that:
1) All arms must be registered with a new department (DIGECAM) under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. This includes military, police and other... (GunPolicy.org)
Arms and the Man - Who Should Have Them
3 February 1998
Cape Argus (Cape Town), Editorial
CAPE TOWN — Capetonians under threat of gang violence are arming themselves, and in some areas licence applications are doubling each month
Licensed guns for use in self-defence in the "old South Africa" were predominantly a luxury few people of colour were allowed — or could afford.
They lived in communities where guns were forbidden to the law-abiding citizen and they proved the argument advanced by many pro-gun lobbyists around the world, namely: "If guns are... (GunPolicy.org)
Dunblane Parents Say They Will Not Sue Police
2 February 1998
Scotsman (Edinburgh)
Families of children killed in the Dunblane massacre have angrily denied that they are planning to sue the police.
A small group of the parents of the 16 murdered children were reported yesterday to be planning to take legal action against the Central Scotland force for negligently granting and renewing a firearms licence to the killer, Thomas Hamilton.
According to the Sunday Mail, the action will be raised after the second anniversary of the killings, which happened... (GunPolicy.org)
Japanese Laws Separate Biathletes from Their Best Friends - Their Rifles
2 February 1998
Associated Press
NAGANO — Sometimes, Stacey Wooley says, a biathlete just needs to be with her .22.
To pick it up. To put it to her cheek. To squeeze off a few dry rounds.
"You are better," Wooley said, "when you are one with your rifle."
But for Wooley, from Newberry, N.H., and other Olympic biathlon competitors, Japan has turned into the land of the locked-up gun.
Severe restrictions on all firearms in this country mean biathletes — whose sport is a mixture of cross-country... (GunPolicy.org)
2 February 1998
Los Angeles Times
Look around your kitchen, your office or your child's room: It's a safe bet that most of the appliances, furnishings, toys and office equipment came with labels or pamphlets warning of the hazards these products may pose to life and limb. Some may strike responsible adults as silly or self-evident — labels that caution against immersing an electric blow dryer in water, for instance. But the federal consumer protection laws that require these warnings are credited with... (GunPolicy.org)
Knife-Wielding Schoolboy Attacks Tokyo Policeman
2 February 1998
Kyodo News
A 15-year-old schoolboy was arrested Monday for attacking a police officer with a knife while attempting to steal the officer's gun in yet another act of teenage violence, police said.
At around 12:15 a.m., the boy, a third-year junior high school student, attacked Yoshinari Yasuda, 54, a police officer who was patrolling Tokyo's Koto Ward on... (GunPolicy.org)
Hunt Ban Protest Draws 250,000 to London
1 February 1998
Reuters
LONDON — An estimated 250,000 country folk marched peacefully through central London Sunday to protest against issues ranging from a proposed ban on foxhunting to rules prohibiting the sale of beef on the bone.
Hunters in full riding gear and gentlemen clasping walking sticks joined butchers, farmers, villagers and landowners from the far corners of the nation to show the 10-month-old Labor Party government that the rural lobby is strong and vocal.
Police estimated... (GunPolicy.org)
More Women Are Packing Pistols
1 February 1998
Chicago Sun-Times
Some women shoot for sport. Others own guns to feel safe. While the reasons vary, more women in the Chicago area are opting to own firearms.
The number of firearm ownership identification cards held by women in the six-county Chicago area has increased 43 percent since 1991, according to figures from the Illinois State Police.
Increasingly, there are women at shooting ranges, gun shops and gun sporting events.
"We do firearm safety courses and notice a lot more women... (GunPolicy.org)
Surgeons Say Firearm Injuries Should Be Public Health Threat, Like AIDS
1 February 1998
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — William Schwab hasn't ever gone to war, but the 51-year-old surgeon says he sometimes thinks he's in one.
"We average about 500 gunshot wounds a year," said Schwab, chief of critical care and trauma for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
"I trained in the U.S. Navy during Vietnam, and it's similar," he said. "Think of the phrase 'incoming wounded.' That's what it's like."
A survey published in Sunday's issue of the Annals of Internal... (GunPolicy.org)
Federal Safety Law Targets 15,000 Items, But Not Guns
1 February 1998
Los Angeles Times
Before the wildly popular Tickle Me Elmo doll hit the market, testers at Tyco Toys subjected it to a battery of grueling exams. They scratched its eyes to check for lead in the paint. They pummeled, yanked, contorted and poked, all to ensure that the doll met government safety standards for children.
Four-slice toasters, bean bag chairs and thousands of other consumer products must comply with government safety requirements before ever landing on a shelf.
But there... (GunPolicy.org)
Clinton to Propose $76 Bln in Four New Funds
31 January 1998
Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Clinton's budget proposal will include four new funds totaling about $76 billion to attract investment to inner-city neighborhoods, health and science research, environmental programs and transportation, according to White House documents.
Clinton said his budget plan for the next fiscal year would include a $400 million "community empowerment fund" to help local governments attract more businesses and jobs to poor neighborhoods.
"This is the... (GunPolicy.org)
Rifle Storage Facility Opens in Nozawa Onsen
31 January 1998
Kyodo News
NOZAWA ONSEN, Japan — An alternative rifle storage facility, that will be used by the athletes participating in the biathlon event at the Nagano Olympic Winter Games, opened Friday in the ski resort village of Nozawa Onsen.
The facility was opened after several of the participants in the biathlon event decided to stay at hotels and inns at the hot springs resort in order avoid the commute to the Olympic Village in Nagano, located over 50 kilometers away.
The... (GunPolicy.org)