Guns in America

The federal government is preparing to loosen a ban on bringing loaded guns into national parks, reports the Los Angeles Times . The NRA has been pushing for the ban to be eased, saying it violates the right to bear arms and puts citizens at risk of attack from savage wild animals—and humans. Others say letting guns in would spoil the park experience. More »

While many states have responded to recent college shootings by debating whether firearms should be allowed on campus, Utah is the only one with such a law on the books—and students at its public universities are taking advantage, CNN reports. Predictably, while some students say they feel safer with their guns on hand, others say it makes classrooms even scarier. More »

An online gun dealer who helped arm the Virginia Tech shooter also sold accessories to the killer in Thursday's Northern Illinois University rampage, the AP reports. "I'm still blown away by the coincidences," said Eric Thompson, whose company, TGSCOM, is based in Green Bay. He called a federal agency yesterday when he realized he had sold two magazines and a holster to Illinois shooter Stephen Kazmierczak.  More »

Twelve states are considering bills that would allow people to carry guns at public universities, USA Today reports, a response to last year's Virginia Tech massacre. "The only way to stop a person with a gun is another person with a gun," says a University of Cincinnati sophomore who has a license but is barred from having a weapon on campus. More »

Dick Cheney yesterday went against his own administration, signing a Congressional brief which urges the Supreme Court to uphold a ruling that found Washington DC's handgun ban to be unconstitutional. In so doing Cheney took a stronger Second Amendment stance than his boss, the Washington Post reports, adding that it's probably unprecedented for a Veep to go this far off the reservation. More »

An overnight siege northwest of Los Angeles ended this morning when a police sniper killed a gunman responsible for wounding one SWAT officer and killing another, the Los Angeles Times reports. The man called 911 last night to report shooting three of his family members dead; SWAT officer Randal Simmons was killed when police stormed the San Fernando Valley house. More »

Police in Washington arrested a man today who was carrying a loaded shotgun and had a samurai sword strapped to his back just blocks from the US Capitol building, WUSA-TV reports. Michael Gorbey also wore a combat-style bulletproof vest and had a tactical bow and arrow in his backpack when authorities spotted him after being alerted by a suspicious witness. More »

A Texas man died after his dog stepped on a loaded shotgun, the Houston Chronicle reports. The teacher, 46, shot down a goose, put the gun in back of the truck, and was about to let the dog out to retrieve it when the gun went off, blowing through the tailgate and hitting him in the thigh. "It's the strangest case that I've seen," commented the country sheriff. More »

The National Rifle Association has filed a federal lawsuit to recover hundreds of guns seized from New Orleans residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, AP reports. The suit claims that residents were left "at the mercy of roving gangs, home invaders and other criminals" because they lost their weapons. Police say they only confiscated stolen guns or those found in abandoned homes. More »

Images from surveillance videos showing Robert Hawkins, the 19-year-old who killed eight people, and then himself, at Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, Wednesday, were released by the authorities today, the AP reports. Three still images taken by mall security cameras show Hawkins walking into the mall seemingly unarmed, then with a concealed weapon beneath his clothes, and finally firing an AK-47. More »

The Omaha youth who went on a shooting rampage in a busy mall spent much of his later teen years in institutions and foster care because of behavioral and psychiatric problems, CNN reports. Robert Hawkins' trouble began five years ago, when he was sent to a treatment center after threatening to kill his stepmother, a state official said. More »

Spurred by April shootings at Virginia Tech, new reporting of mental health data has doubled the number of Americans banned from purchasing guns on such grounds, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said today. Nearly 220,000 names have been added to the FBI list, highlighting the data-sharing gap that allowed shooter Seung Hui Cho to buy guns though a court deemed him mentally defective. More »

Thousands of college students think they have a way to make their campuses safer: more guns. Students with a license to carry concealed weapons should be able to do it on campus, argues the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. “It’s the basic right of self defense,” said one student. “Here on campus, we don’t have that right.” More »

The Supreme Court agreed today to hear its first case on the meaning of the Second Amendment in 68 years. At question is the scope of the “right to bear arms”: A circuit court ruled last year that it applied to individuals' guns, but the city of Washington argued it guaranteed only a collective right for groups such as the National Guard, SCOTUSblog reports. More »

A Pennsylvania woman faces multiple criminal charges after buying guns and bomb-making materials for her emotionally disturbed 14-year old son. Michele Cossey is accused of purchasing a 9mm semiautomatic rifle, a .22 rifle and handgun, and black powder for use in making grenades, CNN reports. Her son, home-schooled after withdrawing in 2006, is being charged with solicitation to commit terror. More »

A 14-year-old student killed himself after opening fire at his Cleveland high school today, inflicting non-fatal gunshot wounds on two adults and two students, Reuters reports. The incident occurred in early afternoon at SuccessTech Academy. Various media reports suggested that the boy had been suspended prior to the shooting spree. The adults were reported to be in stable condition. More »

The son of aging messianic leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon is the frontrunner to take over the Unification Church. Meantime, he’s built Kahr Arms—which makes some of the smallest and most lethal guns. One of 13 children, young Justin Moon was encouraged to be violent, Portfolio reports, and parlayed a Harvard degree and family money into a successful weapons business. More »

Miami-Dade police are searching for a suspect who killed one officer and wounded three today, possibly with an AK-47, after his car was stopped while driving erratically. The pursuit was complicated when police misidentified a man whose wallet had been stolen as the gunman, before naming Shawn Sherwin Labeet as the correct suspect, the Herald reports.  More »

Americans form the biggest gun-toting posse on Earth, Reuters reports, boasting a high 90 firearms per 100 noncombatants. Other countries lag behind on a per capita basis: Yemen takes second with 61 per 100 and Finland places a surprising third with 56 for every 100 civilians. Many poor countries, like Nigeria, rank low on the list despite their reputation for gun violence. More »

The Micronesian community in a small Missouri town is struggling to come to grips with a brutal crime by one of its own. Eiken Elam Saimon ran into a Micronesian church service and opened fire, killing three and wounding five. About 300 Pacific Islanders live in the town of Neosho, where they migrated beginning in the 1990s. More »