CBS 5 San Francisco Jul 12, 2012
'Bullet Button' Supporters Intensify Campaign Against State Sen. Yee

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- California's strict gun control laws are under fire as a result of a CBS 5 investigation into a device called the "bullet button," which makes an AR-15 or AK-47-type gun legal in the state. The debate over the device has the state's top cop dodging our questions and one lawmaker receiving threats. From billboards to merchandise, the attack on State Senator Leland Yee's gun control bill SB 249 is organized, and getting vicious. His office is getting threatening calls, with some telling him to go back to communist China and other racially charged statements. "Unfortunately there are ...read the full article


Queens Chronicle Jul 12, 2012
What’s an AK-47 doing in Queens?
Three men were murdered in Springfield Gardens Saturday morning in a drive-by shooting with an AK-47 assault rifle. At least 63 shots were fired, and questions are still looming over the incident, including why such a serious weapon was on the streets. The submachine gun was developed in Russia to be used as a military weapon. The 11-pound weapon can fire 600 rounds per minute, or 10 rounds per second. ...read the full article


The Atlantic Wire Jul 12, 2012
FBI: George Zimmerman Tried to Buy More Guns After Trayvon Shooting
George Zimmerman was easygoing with police when they arrived at the scene of Trayvon Martin's shooting, but according to new evidence from the FBI, he was afraid for his life in the weeks after the shooting became national news and even tried to buy more guns. The new batch of evidence, which special prosecutor Angela Corey released Thursday, includes findings from the FBI's investigation into whether Zimmerman violated 17-year-old Martin's civil rights. The FBI interviewed gun shop owners, according to The Orlando Sentinel's Jeff Weiner, and Daralene Jones, of WFTV. One shop owner told the FBI Zimmerman had called and ...read the full article


Daily Democrat Jul 10, 2012
UC Davis study: Women, children frequently hurt by stray bullets
UC Davis study: Women, children frequently hurt by stray bullets Published By Daily Democrat Daily Democrat DailyDemocrat.com Most people killed or wounded in stray-bullet shootings were unaware of events leading to the gunfire that caused their injuries, and nearly one-third of the victims were children and nearly half were female, according to a new nationwide study examining an often-overlooked form of gun violence. The study by Garen Wintemute, professor of emergency medicine and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the UCD School of Medicine and Medical Center, examines mortality rates and other epidemiological aspects of stray-bullet shootings over a one-year period. It ...read the full article


Reuters Jul 9, 2012
U.S. offers $1 million reward in 2010 death of border agent
Federal investigators offered up to $1 million on Monday for information about a U.S. border agent's 2010 death, the same case that is fueling an election-year firestorm between the Obama administration and congressional Republicans. Republicans highlighted the death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry as they investigated Operation Fast and Furious, a since-abandoned program that targeted the flow of illegal guns across the U.S.-Mexico border to drug cartels. ...read the full article


New York Times Jul 9, 2012
Florida’s Gun Law Morass
A federal court has struck down one of the more nonsensical of Florida's many risky gun laws -- one that banned the state's thousands of doctors from ever discussing firearms with their patients. There was no evidence that this was ever a problem or a common occurrence, yet the law was enacted last year on the strength of an anecdote from a couple who complained to their gun-obsessed legislator that their physician inquired if they owned guns. ...read the full article


Washington City Paper Jul 6, 2012
South Capitol Shootings: The Mourning After
The Romanian state-owned weapons manufacturer Romarm assembles AK-47s in factories in the town of Cugir, in Transylvania, at the base of the Şureanu Mountains. They're massive, powerful guns, invented by the Soviets in the 1940s as one of the world's first breeds of assault rifle. ...read the full article


Bloomberg Jul 6, 2012
Are Guns a Pre-Existing Condition?
Governor Rick Scott of Florida says he does not want Medicaid paying for the health care of the poor people of his state, even if Florida pays only a fraction of the cost. Yet Scott's laissez-faire approach to health care has limits. ...read the full article


SentinelSource Jul 6, 2012
Standoff over gun rights, free speech
A federal judge has blocked the state of Florida from enforcing a law pushed by firearms advocates that banned thousands of doctors from discussing gun ownership with their patients. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, who had already issued a preliminary injunction last September, made her decision permanent late Friday when she ruled in favor of groups of physicians who asserted that the law violated their free speech rights. She said the law was so "vague" that it violated the First Amendment rights of doctors, noting that the legislation's privacy provisions "fail to provide any standards for practitioners to follow." ...read the full article


Chicago Tribune Jul 6, 2012
4 dead, 19 wounded in overnight shootings in city
Four men were killed and at least 19 other people, including a 16-year-old boy, were wounded in overnight shootings across the city, according to police. Police responded to the violence on a steamy night punctuated by the constant calls of illegal fireworks. One of the shootings occurred in Washington Park on the South Side where hundreds of families were celebrating the July 4th holiday. ...read the full article