Boulder Daily Camera Apr 3, 2010
CU-Boulder Students Await Gun Ban Decision
Valerie Stoyva cringes at the idea of allowing concealed carry permit holders to bring guns on her University of Colorado campus. "I would like to feel safe -- and know that people are not carrying guns on campus," said Stoyva, who is earning her teaching certificate at the Boulder campus. "It's impossible to know the psychology of others." On the flip side, Susan Wiersma, an incoming freshman from Laramie, said she believes students have Second Amendment rights and should be able to carry guns on campus if they've passed appropriate background checks. "I think that if they have a permit, they have the ...read the full article


Shreveport Times Apr 3, 2010
Editorial: Keep Churches Gun-Free Zones
A proposal to let church members arm themselves is another sad commentary on American society and one of the predictable bits of legislation that can distract Louisiana lawmakers from more critical issues. State Rep. Henry Burns acknowledges his House Bill 68 could be misunderstood, but what is clear is that some houses of worship could become less sanctuary and more fortress. From a public safety standpoint, HB 68 could create more hazard than safety. Burns' bill would permit congregations, whether a synagogue or mosque, to authorize certain members with concealed weapon permits to carry their guns into places of worship. Burns doesn't ...read the full article


St Petersburg Times Apr 3, 2010
Crimes With Guns All Too Frequent
ST. PETERSBURG -- Fifty bullets blasted into a house one year ago Monday. It took just one to kill an 8-year-old girl named Paris Whitehead-Hamilton. The outcry was swift and intense. All of St. Petersburg denounced the violence. Police arrested three men. There were tears and angry speeches, drug raids and a bounty put on illegal guns. And Monday, Preston Avenue becomes Paris Avenue, in memory of the girl who was killed in her own bedroom. St. Petersburg rises in anger when a second-grader is slain, but the truth is, the bullets are threatening other children. Adults, too. "At least three nights a ...read the full article


Washington Post Apr 3, 2010
Editorial: A Judge Takes a Reasoned Stance for D.C.'s New Gun Regulations
EVEN AS the Supreme Court struck down the District of Columbia's ban on handgun possession, it recognized that the right to bear arms was not unlimited. But how far government could go in regulating this Second Amendment right was left largely unanswered. It's encouraging then that the District's effort to balance the rights of gun owners against the need to safeguard public safety has survived its first legal test. We hope that higher courts will concur with this reasoned ruling. U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled last week that laws enacted by the District after the landmark D.C. v. Heller ...read the full article


ABC News Apr 2, 2010
Exclusive: Starbucks CEO Says Guns at Odds with Vision for Company
Starbucks has become the latest battleground in a fight over whether gun owners should be allowed to carry handguns openly in public. "We woke up one day and all the sudden Starbucks was in the middle of this political crossfire between the people who want to bring a gun into Starbucks and the people who want to prevent it," said Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. "It is a very difficult, fragile situation. We're trying to abide by the law." In an exclusive interview to air on "Nightline" tonight, Schultz admitted guns in Starbucks are at odds with his vision of what the ...read the full article


Cedar Rapids Gazette Apr 1, 2010
Proposed Change in Gun Law Draws Ire of County Sheriffs
A Marengo man facing a first-degree murder charge exemplifies why Iowa should not strip sheriffs of their discretion to issue permits to carry weapons, Iowa County Sheriff Robert Rotter said. Tonch Weldon, 37, who is accused of killing Amy Gephart, 35, with a shotgun in June, is one of five Iowa County residents whose requests for weapons permits were denied last year, Rotter said. Rotter said his decision did not stop a murder, but it stopped the issuance of a weapons permit to a person he judged capable of violence, even though Weldon had no disqualifying criminal or mental instability record. Under legislation ...read the full article


Washington Post Apr 1, 2010
D.C. Police Trace Shootings that Killed 4 Through Chain of Events Starting with a Man's Missing Bracelet
As authorities tell it, the wheelman wasn't a man but a boy, 14, driving a silver Chrysler minivan with three passengers, at least two of them adults. When they were done shooting, police said, four victims lay dead or dying, and five others were bleeding from wounds. The assailants carried at least three weapons, investigators said: an AK-47-style assault rifle, which police later recovered, and two handguns, a 9mm and a .45-caliber, identified from shell casings found at the scene of the carnage. It was one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence in the District in years: a drive-by shooting into ...read the full article


Associated Press Apr 1, 2010
Lives Altered by Mass Shooting a Year Ago in NY
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Layla Khalil survived breast cancer, a bus hijacking and a suicide bombing in Iraq. Yet even in the chaos of war, the mother of three never tired of reciting her magic recipe for a fulfilling life: "Just focus on your studies!" Khalil and her husband relocated to upstate New York weeks before their daughter, Ban, graduated from Binghamton University on a Fulbright scholarship in 2008. In keeping with her passion for learning, the 57-year-old librarian soon enrolled in an English-language class to renew her career. It was at an immigrant services center where the class was taught that Khalil ...read the full article


Arizona Republic Mar 31, 2010
Editorial: This Is No Longer the Wild West
Arizona is about to fling aside its concealed-weapon requirements. The Legislature passed a bill that would let anyone 21 or older carry a gun tucked into a waistband, purse or other hidden spot. No more training. No more background check. No more mandatory permit. The only sanity check at this point is Gov. Jan Brewer. She should refuse to toss out the existing concealed-carry permit system. She should ignore the hysterical arguments that Arizona's rational requirements are an assault on gun rights. Arizonans have long recognized a difference between carrying a gun openly, putting others on notice that you're armed, and ...read the full article


Arizona Republic Mar 31, 2010
Editorial: Gun-Toting Faculty Won't Stop Attacks
Shooters on campus have caused real horrors. But letting faculty carry concealed firearms, a persistent proposal in the Legislature, is the wrong solution. It could lead to more bloodshed, not less. That's not wild-eyed hyperbole, but the professional judgment of university and college police chiefs. This bad idea has died in both houses. But it keeps coming back - the latest version is a strike-everything amendment to House Bill 2001. Under the proposed legislation, sponsored by Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, faculty members with valid concealed-weapons permits would be allowed to bring a gun onto the grounds of an Arizona community college or ...read the full article