We used the word epidemic today for a reason– gun violence is a disease in this country. And it won’t stop until we find the cure. CO: High school gunman left rambling letter AZ: Young woman dies from gunshot wounds suffered in drive-by CA: Couples drive themselves to help after shooting MI: One man dead, [...]
Finally, some sanity in our country’s legislature! Sen. Dianne Feinstein has frozen a bill that she says would gut federal agents’ ability to shut down or severely penalize reckless gun dealers. “This legislation would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the ATF to penalize gun dealers who have broken the law and to prevent [...]
John Grogan at the Philly Inquirer has an interesting story up about a guy who just couldn’t get rid of his firearm. Even when he wanted to do the right thing and trash his gun, our laws wouldn’t let him. Keith Shaw is just a suburban dad who wanted to do the right thing. He [...]
How many shootings in schools within a week do we need for this to be declared an epidemic? In Wisconsin, a student walked onto campus with a gun, and shot the principal. A student walked into a rural school with a gun and shot the principal several times Friday morning before he was taken into [...]
Our legislators aren’t just ignoring their constituents– they’re ignoring the violence that happens to them, too, every single day of the week. FL: Two deputies shot in Florida, police searching for suspect PA: Dusquesne University students accused in shooting are cleared, two other suspects brought into custody WV: Man charged with murder of ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend [...]
Politicans and advocates alike lashed into Congress yesterday for the passage of HR 5092, an NRA bill that proponents claim simply gives the ATF “more tools” to fight crime with, but actually makes it harder for the ATF to shut down gun dealers that have broken the rules. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is [...]
The standoff that started yesterday in Colorado is over– with tragic consequences. A gunman who killed a student hostage and then himself during a high school standoff “traumatized and assaulted” his hostages during an attack that “was of a sexual nature,” police said Thursday. Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said Duane Morrison, 53, killed Emily [...]
Well, for all the good those rallyers felt they did Tuesday in Pennsylvania, it looks like it had little to no effect on legislators there. Over 2,000 people turned up in support for stronger gun laws, but just one NRA lobbyist seems to hold more sway over the lawmakers in Harrisburg. And the Philadelphia Daily [...]
When you have 250 million guns in one country, as we do, it’s no surprised that the gun violence rings out every single day of the week. CO: Gunman has hostages, bomb in high school GA: Police looking for witnesses in drive-by shooting OH: Woman shows up at fire station with gunshot wound TX: Man [...]
Finally today, Pennsylvania news outlets are pouring out info about the rally and get-together in Harrisburg yesterday, as legislators felt the pressure of citizens to pass stronger gun laws in that state, including the necessary and effective one-gun-a-month. WFMZ-TV has pictures, while the York Dispatch has a good overview of what legislators saw and heard. [...]
Breaking news from Colorado: a hostage situation at a high school. An adult gunman took at least four people hostage at the high school in this tiny mountain town Wednesday and several shots were reported fired, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Adjoining Jefferson County sent a bomb squad and SWAT team [...]
We reported this yesterday on the tail end of our last article, but it’s worth looking at again: Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives proved yet again that it’s not citizens in charge of our legislation– it’s the gun lobby. The House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill to revamp federal enforcement rules for gun [...]
With 250 million guns in this country, it’s no surprise that gunshots ring out almost constantly. Here’s today’s noise– we’ll keep fighting for a little peace and quiet. OR: Home fire and shooting along the same street MI: Young boy finds cop’s gun and accidentally kills himself with it– cop charged TN: Police find car [...]
The New York Times speaks out today on the ATF bill currently working its way through Congress. We’ve talked about this bill many times before, but this editorial is a good last word on why this bill, which would weaken the power of those working on the front lines against gun violence, is such a [...]
The Houston Chronicle has written up an editorial about that gun store owner who put out a radio ad targeting evacuees of Hurrican Katrina– he called up Houstonians to come to his gun store so they could defend themselves against the “Katricians,” who he blamed for crime in the city. We’ve already told you what [...]
It’s a big day in Pennsylvania today– rally participants are heading from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to show their support for gun legislation proposed there– specifically a one-gun-a-month bill that is extremely necessary in a state that sells guns to criminals throughout the entire region. Lots of articles from Philly and elsewhere about this one. -First, [...]
The gun violence continues in America, every single day of the week. NC: Correctional officer shot while fighting with cops over assault rifle NY: Father and daughter found shot dead after he called wife and threatened his daughter’s life CA: Police arrest suspect in car-to-car shooting on 405 KA: Woman shot by police during weekend [...]
No sooner do we finishing talking about the last post (in which a concealed weapon permitholder used that weapon to gun down two family members), than we hear this latest terrible idea from the gun guys: a town in Idaho wants to make gun ownership mandatory. A small Canyon County town is considering a city [...]
The Governor of Indiana, standing next to the gun extremists at the NRA, is planning to announce a new law that will allow firearms into Indiana’s state parks. That’s a terrible idea, because firearms are unsafe no matter who’s holding them. The NRA wants people to believe that they need weapons in parks to “protect [...]
We’ve mentioned Professor Saul Cornell on the site before– he’s a historian with a new book out called “A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America.” The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has written up an editorial passing on Cornell’s message– that the Second Amendment doesn’t prohibit gun regulation, as many gun [...]
Summer’s almost over, and yet the gun violence continues on… CA: Victim in possibly gang-related shooting is 20-year-old woman MN: Two shot, killed in Washington County TX: Houston police officer fatally shot while sitting in patrol car NC: Police continue search for man who shot wife at domestic abuse shelter WI: 12-year-old girl accused of [...]
We should all know by now how the NRA does concealed carry. First, they suggest a CCW law with lots and lots of exceptions– no guns in schools, government buildings, or public parks, training required, sheriffs “may issue” the permits, a permit expiration of only a year or two. Then, once that’s passed, and all [...]
We wrote about this story last week, but the New York Times has discovered the Houston gun dealer who publicized his weapons by claiming Houstonians were in danger of a threat from “Katrinicians”– evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. A gun shop is running a radio commercial advising Houstonians to arm themselves against Katrina evacuees, contributing to [...]
Let’s say you’re a soldier in Iraq, and you decide to steal some foreign-made machine guns. Where would you sell them? How would you get rid of them? Robert James Clymore decided that Georgia was the place to do it. A former National Guard soldier is accused of bringing machine guns from Iraq to the [...]
When you have 250 million guns in this country, every day looks just like this. NC: Man shoots wife at domestic violence shelter, was TA at University CA: Man gunned down and killed near elementary school AL: $10,000 reward offered to find shooter of 2-year-old IL: Police don’t believe man killed at car wash was [...]
And one more story out of California today. Both Jerry Brown and Charles Poochigian are running for Attorney General there, and Poochigan’s Republican campaign recently raised an object with one of Brown’s campaign ads. The ad, seen here on YouTube, has to do with a subject we know plenty about: the .50 caliber sniper rifle. [...]
Yesterday we reported that New York City was rolling right along, remaining one of the safest cities in the country thanks to Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign against illegal firearms. And today, Philadelphia has announced they’re aspiring to the Big Apple. Philly “wants to be where New York is.” Tuesday is the day when the rising tide [...]
A “junk gun” manufacturer has been shut down by the Attorney General in California after some of their guns failed “safety tests.” We’re not exactly sure what “safety tests” entails– if a gun can fire, it’s unsafe. But apparently the AG tried their guns and didn’t like what they saw. The state attorney general’s office [...]
Gun violence happens every day in America– here’s today’s. KY: Man accused of killing two neighbors and wounding a third is arrested at home NJ: 9-year-old girl caught in the crossfire in Newark NC: Grand jury indicts four men in two seperate killings PA: A third suspect has been arrested in shooting of Duquesne University [...]
The VPC’s Josh Sugarmann has posted another blog entry over at the Huffington Post, this time about a gun bill that’s making headlines because it’s not controversial. The ‘guns for all’ mentality embraced–and repeatedly acted upon–by the U.S. House may have hit a snag earlier this month. It seems that Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) [...]
Great news from New York City– according to the FBI’s latest reports, they’re the safest city in the United States yet again. New York remains the safest among the country’s largest cities – posting a 4.5% drop in overall crime last year, FBI figures released yesterday show. But nationwide, violent crime was up 2.3%, the [...]
A few new wrinkles in the Regola case from yesterday– a young boy who’d been petsitting for Pennsylvania Senator Bob Regola was found dead two months ago in the woods behind the house, with Regola’s gun sitting next to him. Police haven’t made any charges or let on to exactly what happened yet, but now [...]
The violence continues in America. This is the kind of stuff that happens when the NRA is allowed to control our gun policy. PA: Two charged in shooting at Duquesne University– shooters were let into dance with firearms, were unhappy woman at dance talked to one of the players MO: 15-year-old accidentally kills 12-year-old while [...]
Another story today on Wyoming’s legal challenge against the federal government– they’re fighting, of all things, to make sure domestic abusers and those convicted of domestic violence. That’s right– they want to, for some reason, let domestic abusers own firearms. Wyoming’s legal challenge against the federal government could serve as a national test case on [...]
Still keeping an eye on the case involving Bob Regola, a Pennsylvania senator whose firearm was found next to a 14-year-old neighbor who’d been shot dead. Regola was out of town at the time the boy was petsitting at his house, but the firearm was left in the house, with tragic consequences. State Senator Bob [...]
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is sitting in the front seat of the argument between Mayor Tom Barrett, who spoke out against a law that would make it illegal for police to share information about crime guns, and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who actually supported the bill (because he’s an NRA congressman). They’ve posted a few letters on [...]
The gun violence continues… every single day in America. DC: Armed man invades Capitol after smashing car through security barrier PA: Five basketball players shot on Duquesne University campus WI: Death-obsessed teens planned school attack CA: Four dead, three wounded after “bloody weekend in Oakland” LA: Woman arrested, accused of shooting two on Interstate 20 [...]
A new study by our friend Phillip Alpers in Austrailia has a scary look at where most crime guns come from: legal gun dealers. Kimveer Gill in common has at least a point with the authors of the majority of worst the 40 last years slaughters: the weapons of which it was used for the [...]
The Birmingham News has a close look at how Alabama, and other states with loose gun laws, supplies firearms to criminals in states with much tighter gun laws. Guns, bought easily and legally in Alabama and other states, are landing in the hands of criminals elsewhere, drawing the ire of leaders who have sued to [...]
As we reported last Friday, this shooting in Montreal, Canada has sparked all sorts of new debate about gun laws there. While the specifics are different (this is a site about gun laws in the United States, not Canada), the general ideas, it seems, are the same. The NRA’s holy “law-abiding gun owners,” are only [...]
Another day in America means another day full of gun violence. NM: Police looking into shooting death that may have been an accidental suicide IN: Woman told police she shot someone, but… there’s no evidence of a victim? MO: Group of idiots takes a shotgun to semi trucks WI: Police catch two “depressed” and Columbine [...]
The campaign to pass a one-hangun-a-month law in Pennsylvania keeps picking up steam, as yesterday over 100 leaders from around Philadelphia joined together to create a new coalition against handgun violence. One hundred leaders – of government, religion, industry, labor, law enforcement – gathered yesterday to decry gun violence in Philadelphia, its suburbs, and across [...]
It’s a very sad but seemingly true fact in this gun debate that people often need to have the tragedy of gun violence right before their eyes before they start to work for change. Time and time again legislators and citizens alike will refuse to listen to warnings that loose gun laws lead to violence [...]
Yesterday we reported that Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who represents Milwaukee, WI and the areas around it, had personally lashed back at Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett when Barrett criticized him for voting to tie the ATF’s hands with the new gun info bill the NRA is pushing through Congress. Sensenbrenner called Barrett a “crybaby” and blamed [...]
Here’s a look at just some of the gun violence happening around the country. This will stop when we get laws that help us keep firearms away from the criminals that currently have them. One dead from yesterday’s attack at college in Montreal, 19 others injured before gunman shot down by police OH: Woman charged [...]
Things are getting personal in Milwaukee, according to the Journal-Sentinel Online. The city’s Representative, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, has voted for a bill that would actually keep the ATF from communicating with police departments about crime gun information and trends. But when Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called him out, Sensenbrenner struck back. The mayor of Milwaukee [...]
Our friends at .50 Caliber Terror have sent along a link to an article from the York, PA Dispatch about our country’s nuclear power plants and the threats that face them. They never really thought about it — about the nuclear power plant that is a stone’s throw from their home. Well, at least, not [...]
The Salt Lake Tribune has posted an editorial about the state Supreme Court there overturning the University of Utah’s gun ban, and they see eye to us with us: the Court’s opinion has to be legally respected, but it (and the concealed weapons law that caused the problem) is about as “wrong-headed” as they come. [...]
Today’s ASG contains one shooting not in America– tragedy struck this afternoon at a Montreal college. Our gun laws may not have helped prevent it, but when the United States is by far the majority exporter of firearms in the world, responsibility finds its way back to us. Gunman opens fire on college campus in [...]
You’ll remember that Vice President Dick Cheney has, err, a fondness for firearms. While hunting earlier this year, he used one to shoot at his friend Harry Whittington. And now he’s going to be hanging out with another gun buddy– but instead of aiming his guns at quail, Rep. Randy Kuhl from New York likes [...]
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