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Seven years ago, New York started a database of "ballistic fingerprints" for all new handguns sold in the state. The bill's backers sold it as a crime-solving device, arguing that the state would now have a sample of a spent shell and bullet for every new gun sold. This, they said, would help police connect future evidence from crime scenes to specific guns.

Knives or other sharp objects are the enduring weapon of choice for murderers and robbers, according to yesterday’s crime figures. Fatal stabbings reached a record high in England and Wales last year, despite a government drive to tackle knife-crime in ten “hotspot” areas of the country. More worryingly for the Government, robberies at knifepoint on the street jumped by almost a fifth in the year to the end of September. However, they make up less than one quarter of all robberies. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: “We remain concerned about serious violence, and in particular knife crime. That is...

A man walking his dog in Terrell on Wednesday shot and critically wounded an armed 17-year-old robber, police said. The incident happened at about 10:20 p.m. in Ben Gill Park in the 100 block of Lions Club Lane where, police said, a group of teen robbers surrounded the man. According to investigators, when a boy in the group pulled out a gun, the man, a licensed concealed handgun owner, fired shots. The teen was apparently struck in the head and was listed in critical condition at Parkland Hospital. His weapon was recovered at the scene and later determined to be...

Fear of gun control under Obama drives firearms purchases. Ever since Barack Obama won the presidential election, Dusty Medor’s phone has been ringing off the hook. Medor, a soft-spoken bearded gunsmith, runs D & J Gun Repair out of his home in Sterling. Prior to the election, he saw sales dropping a bit, which he attributed mostly to the lagging economy. Now, business is booming so much that he is struggling to restock merchandise fast enough for customers. Gun sales are not only up but Medor is also overseeing more online "transfers," when a person has purchased a gun over...

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

>>>SNIP<<< Even Franni Franken, the candidate's wife, tried to get into the act. She put her hands in the air while the candidates were talking about gun rights — albeit from the audience, where Franken likely couldn't see her — as if to tell her husband to calm down. Franken, at the time, was demanding co-host Eric Eskola cite where he had read Franken supports limiting access to guns. "Can you cite one?" he demanded. "I support the Second Amendment." The Coleman campaign immediately after the debate was happy to provide a sheet of citations with Franken's writings and words...

This week, the FBI released its crime report for 2007 and, once again, gun control supporters are taking it on the chin. It's not just that the nation's violent crime rate decreased slightly between 2006 and 2007. It's that every year since 2002 it has been lower than anytime since 1974, leading the Justice Department to say that violent crime is "near a 30-year low." Since 1991, violent crime has dropped 38 percent. Murder is now at a 40-year low, lower than anytime since 1966 every year from 1999 to the present, and down 43 percent since 1991. "More guns...

Concerns that realistic-looking toy weapons are confusing police and threatening safety have led 15 states to try going beyond gun control and cracking down on fake firearms. ... Lawmakers across the country are coming to a different conclusion, deciding that it is so hard to differentiate the toys from the fakes that public safety demands they take action. ...from prohibiting imitation firearms in vehicles to banning the toys from convenience stores.

Chad Ramsey likes what he sees. That worries Kim Stolfer. Ramsey, the associate director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, says each of the three presidential candidates has, to some degree, supported the center's efforts to regulate the gun trade. That hasn't been the case in an election year for a long time. Stolfer says gun rights advocates such as himself shouldn't seriously consider Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, but added he has concerns about Republican Sen. John McCain.

Gun range owner says he's unfairly targeted By Sara McDonald The Daily News Published December 27, 2007 LEAGUE CITY — Records show that top city officials spent at least seven months discussing how to shut down a gun range, a move range owner Ernest Randall says is aimed at helping a developer build homes in the area. City Attorney Dick Gregg’s billing records show he participated in a series of meetings about how to “characterize a gun range as a nuisance and ultimately have it removed.” The legal fees cost taxpayers more than $6,000 from May to November. Involved...

Here is a copy of the first article I read, but I will address what I found out from Senators Boxers office and Sen. Fienstiens office today (10/11/07). I know this has been posted here before, BUT, it has now PASSED in Congress! Read on: Veterans Disarmament Act To Bar Vets From Owning Guns Larry Pratt Sunday September 23, 2007 Hundreds of thousands of veterans -- from Vietnam through Operation Iraqi Freedom -- are at risk of being banned from buying firearms if legislation that is pending in Congress gets enacted. How? The Veterans Disarmament Act -- which has already...

Two University of Minnesota students lost wallets, cash and cell phones, but otherwise were unhurt when they were robbed at gunpoint on campus Wednesday night, police said. The students were outside University Village at 2601 University Av. SE. when two men approached them at 11:45 p.m. The robbers fired one gun shot as they fled the scene in a light colored, possibly a silver or gold, sedan, said Lt. Chuck Miner. The victims described the suspects as East African or Somali men. One was a thin build, wearing a dark blue or black sweat shirt, dark jeans and a Minnesota...

ST. LOUIS — As Doris Hasler pushed her toddler's stroller through the convention hall, she eyed a glistening .50-caliber rifle on the counter and couldn't resist. It's just like the one her older son uses, mounted to his Army tank in Fort Hood, Texas. She hoisted the $8,000 weapon — all 30 pounds of it — while her husband snapped a photo. "Think I can take it home?" joked Hasler, of Highland, Ind. Advertisement The picture is all she gets, because the weaponry inside America's Center this weekend is for display only. Firearms enthusiasts of all kinds are gathering for...

FAYETTEVILLE -- Hollis Wayne Fincher had been sparring with the federal government for several years before his arrest in November on charges he possessed illegal machine guns. Fincher said in a March interview with The Morning News he believes Americans should proudly uphold the right to bear arms, stand up for land rights and not always accept the federal government as the supreme law of the land. Fincher's arrest was the result of what federal agents said was an eight-month investigation. Federal agents said they started investigating the militia after a report and photographs about the group appeared in The...

Another “think tank,” this one called the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), has come out for total civilian disarmament and repeal of the Second Amendment. What’s new about that? ISPU is openly pro-Muslim, and the ISPU writer is a criminal defense attorney who argues for repealing parts of the Bill of Rights. You can read the whole article, entitled “In the Fight Against Terrorism, Some Rights Must Be Repealed,” by Junaid Afeef, on the ISPU website: http://www.ispu.us/pages/articles/2914/articleDetailPB.html A JPFO supporter sent us the link, and we did read the article, looking for: a. Inaccurate “facts” b. Missing data...

AB2714 (TORRICO) INTERNET/MAIL ORDER AMMUNITION SALES ID REQUIREMENT This bill would provide that no ammunition or reloaded ammunition could be delivered via the INTERNET/Mail order pursuant to a retail transaction unless the purchaser personally presents clear evidence of his or her identity and age to the seller of the ammunition. This bill also repeals a provision of current state preemption law that restricts local governments from regulating the sale of ammunition. SB 59 (LOWENTHAL) HANDGUN LOSS OR THEFT REPORTING This bill would make it an infraction for any person whose handgun is stolen or irretrievably lost to fail, within...

CONCORD – The gun owners lobby scored a surprising reversal Wednesday, winning final approval of a bill that lets anyone use deadly force when attacked in public – even if retreating from an attacker is an option. Under current law, deadly force can be used only if people are threatened in their home, or if in public they are the target of a deadly attack, a kidnapping or attempted rape. In other situations, retreat is required. After a campaign by gun rights groups, House membersWednesday embraced expanding the deadly force law, on a vote of 193-134. Only five weeks ago,...

MILITIA, mil ish' ah. In its most common application, this term refers to a body of armed citizens. The militia of the United States is made up of all able-bodied male citizens, and all other able-bodied males who have declared their intention of decoming (sic) citizens, who are not under eighteen or over forty-five years of age. All such persons are liable to conscription in time of war, with the exception of certain Federal and state officials, workmen in armories, arsenals, etc., and members of specified religious sects. The militia is subdivided into the National Guard, the naval militia, and...

I've grown up in Oklahoma and went through Boy Scouts (am an Eagle Scout) learning to shoot various types of firearms but haven't even touched one in 5+ years. Now that I'm about to leave college I'm thinking of getting a firearm of some kinda but don't know where to start. What should I be looking at and why?

The voters of San Francisco, that's who. By a 58% to 42% margin they voted to make the ownership of a handgun illegal in San Francisco, and to require that every resident of San Francisco who owns a handgun to turn it in to the government by April 1st. April 1st, by the way, is more commonly known as "April Fool's Day." Even voters in San Francisco should be bright enough to figure out that law-abiding citizens will be the ones to turn over their guns, while the lawless, the criminal element, will not. The number of guns in the...