Movement Roundup

According to a poll released this month by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of American gun owners report that their main reason for having a gun is protection; fewer than a third own a gun primarily for hunting. This is a striking change from 1999, when nearly half of gun owners kept firearms mainly for hunting and only about one quarter cited protection as their most important reason. Pew's results might make sense if violent crime were surging. But it's not.... [New York Daily News, via GunPolicy.org]

"The one thing a violent rapist deserves is to face is a good woman with a gun!" That was Wayne LaPierre, executive director of the National Rifle Association, the standard bearers for America's gun lobby, making the case that personal firearms prevent rape. The assertion that guns offer protection is a mantra the NRA has repeated often. In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, LaPierre opined: "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a... [Guardian (UK), Blog, via GunPolicy.org]

Human rights groups on Monday sharply criticized the latest draft of what could become the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, accusing the United States and others of pushing to dilute it. Several Western delegations, however, played down the complaints of groups like Oxfam, Amnesty International, the World Council of Churches and Control Arms, saying the latest draft showed progress, though improvements were clearly... [Reuters, via GunPolicy.org]

WASHINGTON – Gun deaths are shaped by race in the United States: Whites are far more likely to shoot themselves, and blacks are far more likely to be shot by someone else. The statistical difference is dramatic, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A white person is five times as likely to commit suicide with a gun as to be shot with a firearm, while for each African-American who uses a gun to kill... [Japan Times / Washington Post, via GunPolicy.org]

When the president of Ohio's state school board posted her opposition to gun control, she used a powerful symbol to make her point: a picture of Adolf Hitler. When a well-known conservative commentator decried efforts to restrict guns, he argued that if only Jews in Poland had been better armed, many more would have survived the Holocaust. In the months since the Newtown, Conn., school massacre, some gun rights supporters have repeatedly compared U.S. gun control... [Washington Post, via GunPolicy.org]

Like a lot of people who follow the gun debate, I was surprised to learn earlier this year that for more than a decade, Congress has made it nearly impossible for our premier federal health research institutions to study gun violence. That became evident when President Obama announced his series of executive orders in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. In one of those orders, he directed the Centers for Disease Control and... [Los Angeles Times, Opinion, via GunPolicy.org]

For nearly two months, my assistant, Jennifer Mascia, and I have been publishing a daily blog in which we aggregate articles about shootings from the previous day. Of all the stories we link to, the ones I find hardest to read are those about young children who accidentally shoot themselves or another child. They just break my heart. Yet Jennifer and I find new examples almost every day. Partly, I react by thinking, "How can anyone be so stupid as to leave a loaded gun... [New York Times, Opinion, via GunPolicy.org]

Thomas Allen Hoffman was looking for a "cheapie." In the spring of 2007, he browsed a North Mankato gun dealer's collection for a Hi-Point pistol, one of the least expensive handguns on the market. Hoffman wanted the gun for personal protection. He paid $150 to the Red Bear Hunting Emporium and took home a Hi-Point C-9 9mm semiautomatic pistol, serial #P1352366. But soon the gun was stolen, changed hands, then changed hands again, spiraling beyond the bounds of... [Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul), via GunPolicy.org]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Thursday any gun-control bill that passes his chamber can only be effective if it includes universal background checks, an embattled centerpiece of President Barack Obama's bid to curb gun violence. Reid voiced hope an elusive bipartisan compromise could soon be reached on requiring virtually all firearm purchasers to be screened for possible criminal and mental-health records. Republicans have voiced concerns that a proposed... [Reuters, via GunPolicy.org]

Durham Regional Police Inspector Mario Lessard of the Criminal Intelligence Branch was surrounded by a room full of guns. There were weapons strewn about everywhere, all part of a massive seizure. Grenades, landmines, 67 guns and a small cannon were recently found in a Bancroft home where a couple now faces more than 600 charges as a result. But what does Durham have to do with this? According to Insp. Lessard, Durham is a member of the Provincial Weapons Enforcement... [Oshawa Express (Ontario), via GunPolicy.org]