Virginian-Pilot Oct 17, 2007
Tech victims' families push for expansion of firearms database
Six months after a gunman shot 27 students and five staff members to death at Virginia Tech, families of more than a dozen victims urged Congress on Tuesday to close a federal gun law loophole that may have allowed the killer to buy his weapons. "This was a needless tragedy," said Peter Read, whose daughter, Mary Karen Read of Annandale, was among those killed. Read joined other family members of victims at a Capitol news conference to urge Senate action on legislation that would expand a federal computer database of those barred from buying guns. The bill would push states to ...read the full article


Virginian-Pilot Oct 17, 2007
Tech victims' families urge Congress to close gun law loophole
WASHINGTON -- Six months after a psychotic gunman fatally shot 27 students and five staff members at Virginia Tech, families of more than a dozen victims urged Congress today to close a federal gun law loophole that may have allowed the killer to obtain his weapons. "This was a needless tragedy," said Peter Read, whose daughter, Mary Karen Read of Annandale, was among the dead. Read and other family members appeared at a Capitol press conference to seek Senate action on a bill to encourage states to add the names of people judged potentially violent to a federal computer database of those ...read the full article


Wall Street Journal Oct 16, 2007
Parents of Virginia Tech Victims Urge Senate to Pass Gun Laws
WASHINGTON -- More than a dozen parents of students killed or wounded in the Virginia Tech shootings last spring came to the Capitol Tuesday, pressing the Senate to act on long delayed legislation to improve federal background checks of gun purchasers. The often emotional press conference was timed to coincide with the six-month anniversary of the incident in which 32 people were shot to death April 16 by a mentally disturbed student, who didn't show up in the background system because relevant court records hadn't been forwarded by Virginia to the federal data center. The House responded in June, approving bipartisan legislation ...read the full article


Atlanta Journal-Constitution Oct 16, 2007
T.I. case puts store back in spotlight
Almost hidden among the Asian restaurants, Mexican cantinas and international markets at the Northwoods Plaza in Doraville is a shop with a distinctly American flavor: The Gun Store. The small storefront is unassuming, just another business in a strip shopping center, distinguished only by the burglar bars and the mannequin in camouflage gear in the window. But The Gun Store, already no stranger to controversy, is now at the center of another. Federal authorities say a bodyguard for Atlanta rapper T.I. bought at least nine guns for the popular rap star at The Gun Store. T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., ...read the full article


San Francisco Chronicle Oct 15, 2007
Gov. signs bills to track bullets, ban toxic toys
(10-14) 16:08 PDT Sacramento - -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed the nation's first law requiring semiautomatic pistols sold in the state to leave a unique imprint on bullets that are fired, giving police another way to try to link shootings to the criminals who carry them out. The bill was among dozens that Schwarzenegger signed this weekend, banning toxic plastic softeners in toys for toddlers, blessing the sale of kangaroo-skin soccer shoes and purses, and whacking artery-clogging trans fats in school cafeterias and vending machines. The governor also signed a bill to create the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation ...read the full article


Tennesseean Oct 5, 2007
MTSU students reject guns on campus
MURFREESBORO -- Student leaders at MTSU made it clear Thursday that there is no room for guns on campus. The student Senate voted down a resolution 22-5 that would have asked school administrators to request changes in state law to allow students, faculty and staff members who have state-issued gun permits to legally carry those weapons at the school. Criminal justice major Jeremy Anthony applauded the vote in a crowd of concerned students leaving the meeting. "It's irrational to think that after an eight-hour (gun permit) course, students in a dangerous situation would be able to hit their target in a crowd of ...read the full article


Albany Times Union Oct 4, 2007
The Senate's loose gun
The conventional wisdom is that the National Rifle Association always gets its way in Congress. The conventional wisdom is wrong. If there is a single obstacle to sane gun control legislation, it has to be Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who is blocking a measure that would prevent the mentally disturbed from getting their hands on firearms. The bill was prompted after a student with a history of mental problems gunned down 33 students on the campus of Virginia Tech last spring. An investigation revealed that the killer had been diagnosed with mental problems, but that his condition did not have to ...read the full article


Washington Post Oct 3, 2007
Oklahoma Senator Blocks Widely Accepted Gun Bill
he nation's first new firearms law in more than a decade, born of the shooting deaths at Virginia Tech, is being blocked in the Senate by a single lawmaker who says it costs too much. The bill, which has passed the House on a voice vote, has bipartisan backing and the National Rifle Association's support. It is designed to improve the federal system for checking gun buyers' mental health history in order to block purchases by those diagnosed as mentally ill. The lawmaker who put the hold on the bill, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), contends that the bill would create "a pathway ...read the full article


New York Sun Oct 3, 2007
Two Officers Shot in Bronx Gun Battle
Two police officers were shot in a gun battle early this morning in the Bronx. The officers, Detectives William Gonzalez and Daniel Rivera, both with nearly 20 years on the force, sustained minor gun wounds in the shootout at around 5:30 a.m. The detectives along with three other officers had been searching for a suspect from a July bodega shooting, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news conference this morning. Mr. Gonzalez, 41, and another detective circled around to the back of a Webster Avenue apartment building they had been casing for two days, officials said, while the ...read the full article


Merrillville Post-Tribune Oct 2, 2007
Appeal on Gary gun suit starts
The city of Gary told the Indiana Court of Appeals on Monday that its lawsuit against gun makers and sellers should be allowed to forward, saying they sold guns knowing they would be used for illegal purposes. The city is fighting gun maker Smith and Wesson and the U.S. government on the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, saying that the statute is unconstitutional. "Their conduct directly contributed to the harm," Brian Siebel, attorney for Gary, said. "And they knowingly did so." Smith and Wesson has asked that the lawsuit, which says it, other gun makers and gun sellers are responsible for ...read the full article