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“We live in a society saturated with guns and need better ways of preventing harm from them,” says a doctor who believes the federal government must take a “public health” approach to gun ownership in the United States. (1) Dr. Garen Wintemute, director of the University of California’s Violence Prevention Research Program likens the dangers inherent in owning a gun to those involved in driving a car. “Highway safety measures, product changes and driving laws…slashed deaths from car crashes decades ago…” says the doctor. And just as it “…wasn’t enough…to curb [highway] deaths by trying to make people better drivers…it...

An article at The Scientific American suggests that socialism may be the answer to the high homicide rate in America. John Horgan writes: Naturally, some researchers have reported data that fail to support the income-inequality theory of homicide. But I find it persuasive, especially because it points toward an attractive solution to high homicide rates: a more equitable economic system, perhaps with higher taxes for the wealthy and more generous welfare programs for the poor. In short, socialism. I hope that opponents of gun control will consider this modest, alternative proposal for reducing lethal shootings. It's not that some people...

AT least three people have been killed in a shooting at a Finnish shopping mall. Reports by state broadcaster YLE, citing police sources, said four people were dead. Independent MTV3 television put the figure at three dead. Around six shots were discharged from about 08:20 GMT in the Sello shopping centre in Espoo, west of the capital Helsinki. One or more people were shot at the Prisma grocery store. At least one employee was seen lying on the floor on the upper level of the centre. A man, described as being in his late teens and dressed in black, was...

Refugees from Somalia probably are the least welcome foreign "visitors" to Scandinavia. Personally, I don't consider acts of violence like this as a solution to the various problems connected to mass non-European immigration to Europe, but without a doubt there will be more attacks resembling this one if European politicians don't change their minds concerning policies in the area of (non-European) immigration issues. The article: "A 16 year-old asylum seeker from Somalia, was shot and critically injured while sleeping in his bed at reception centre outside Oslo. He was hit in the stomach by a rifle round fired through the...

ANTI-GUN campaigners have warned the Government not to relax firearms legislation in the run-up to the London Olympics, saying: "A child's life is not worth a medal." UK and Scottish ministers have agreed that from August, sportsmen and women will be given special permission to use their weapons at Ministry of Defence ranges in Britain. At present, competitors have to train abroad. It is a major breakthrough for British Shooting, the sport's governing body, which has campaigned for years to exempt its members from the strict laws introduced after gun collector Thomas Hamilton massacred 16 children and a teacher at...

While out for a round of golf on Monday a middle-aged couple had their game disrupted by a teenage boy bearing a grudge and a gun. The strange encounter took place at Ringenäs golf course near Halmstad in western Sweden, Aftonbladet reports. At around 5.30pm the golfers came upon a boy dressed in camouflage combat fatigues and a helmet. Before they had time to react, the boy took aim at the pair and screamed "bloody capitalists" before firing a shot into the air above their heads. "My wife ducked behind her bag. It was very unpleasant. We were scared," the...

Don't get deafened by the noise - do something By Christie Blatchford Toronto Globe and Mail Wednesday, July 25, 2007 – Page A16 In the CTV News footage taken from the Saturday night - early Sunday morning, actually - that Ephraim Brown was killed, there is one particularly significant bit. In several frames, six or seven tiny children, who look to be between 4 and 8, are walking down a darkened street. There are enough of them that they take up almost the entire road. They hold hands, and are being led to the safety of a city bus...

Turning murder into politics By Christina Blizzard Toronto Sun Friday May 25, 2007 There's nothing like an election year to force a politician to find religion. Especially when it comes to gun crime. Late yesterday afternoon, Premier Dalton McGuinty fired around an "open letter to federal leaders," calling for action on gun crime. He piously told Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal leader Stephane Dion, Jack Layton of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe that he's disappointed new, tougher legislation aimed at curbing gun violence hasn't yet become law. This in response to Wednesday's shooting of Jordan Manners,...

Grasping at guns National Post Mon 16 Oct 2006 Page: A13 Section: Issues & Ideas Byline: Lorne Gunter Almost a week after last month's tragic shooting at Montreal's Dawson College, the National Post ran a guest column by the mother of a Dawson student. Beverly Akerman suggested a "simple" response to the crime: "no more guns. Because no one can accurately predict who among us will become unhinged enough to commit bloody slaughter, I believe guns shouldn't be available to the public." We dubbed this a "mother's radical solution for gun crime." But suggesting a ban on guns is...

How all those crime guns got onto streets By MARK BONOKOSKI Toronto Sun January 25, 2006 Having invoked the fear factor that half the guns used to bathe Toronto in blood last year were stolen from law-abiding collectors and shooters, Prime Minister Paul Martin went to the polls Monday vowing to ban all handguns in Canada -- if constitutionally viable, that is, a caveat he later had to add when he misfired on the facts. Toronto Mayor David Miller sang the same statistical tune, despite contrary evidence in a report tabled last month by his own police service --...

Commit the crime, do the time Lorne Gunter National Post Page: A12 Section: Editorials Monday, January 09, 2006 Last week, federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler contradicted his party leader, Paul Martin, on an important part of the Liberal anti-crime platform -- mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes. On Thursday, Mr. Cotler told The Toronto Star he would not be "pressured" into introducing mandatory sentences. When he was a law professor, he explained, he once thought minimum sentences should work to deter crime. But after studying the literature, he became convinced they "are neither a deterrent nor are they effective."...

TORONTO SUN Sat, Nov. 26, 2005 EDITORIAL: Liberal spin on guns is a crime It said everything voters need to know about Prime Minister Paul Martin and the Liberals. Yesterday, in the dying hours of Parliament just before an election is forced on them Monday, they tabled a bill to, wait for it, get tough on gun crime. Of course, it will die on the order paper as soon as Parliament is dissolved -- two days from now. Among other things, the bill proposes increased mandatory minimum sentences for some gun crimes, an idea Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, who introduced...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1049673Vote_Clark_In_WI (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-13-04 10:35 AM Original message BAD news from one of the local Sinclair advertisers I got this response this morning... Dear ****, Would like to know who directed you to send e-mail to this address. Our buildings have been shot at the last two nights and police are investgating. I am forwarding this to them so you can expect a follow up from them. This was my letter, by the way, Good Afternoon, As a life-long Madison resident, I am very concerned to find that your business advertises on Fox47, which is a Sinclair Company. As...