In The News
Trump's school safety commission would prefer if you didn't talk about gun control
Posted on August 7, 2018
The day before she was to testify before President Trump’s school safety commission, Jennifer Johnston, an expert on media coverage of mass shootings, received a phone call from an Education Department advisor who asked her to “refrain” from any gun-control remarks. The official, Kent Talbert, cited a section of her pre-submitted testimony that called for federal officials to “greatly restrict the sale of semiautomatic and automatic weap
Final police report on Las Vegas shooting unable to determine motive
Posted on August 6, 2018
Las Vegas police concluded their investigation into the Oct. 1 shooting with no clear idea of why the gunman murdered 58 people and wounded hundreds more. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo on Friday released the Metropolitan Police Department's final report on the attack but said investigators were not able to determine a motive for the deadliest random shooting in modern U.S. history.
After Parkland, States Pass 50 New Gun-Control Laws
Posted on August 3, 2018
This was a year of unparalleled success for the gun-control movement in the United States. States across the country, including 14 with Republican governors, enacted 50 new laws restricting access to guns, ranging from banning bump stocks to allowing authorities to temporarily disarm potentially violent people. State lawmakers still managed to expand gun access with at least 10 new laws in seven states.
‘The gun’s not in the closet’
Posted on August 3, 2018
Since 1999, children have committed at least 145 school shootings. Among the 105 cases in which the weapon's source was identified, 80 percent were taken from the child's home or those of relatives or friends. Yet The Washington Post found that just four adults have been convicted for failing to lock up the guns used. Now, after a deadly school shooting in Kentucky, a prosecutor must decide: Should the parent who owned the weapon be charged?
Plastic 3D guns printed at home will raise threat level for everyone, especially Congress
Posted on August 3, 2018
A judge has temporary blocked online instructions for 3D printed guns. We need a permanent ban before tragedy strikes at the Capitol and elsewhere.
Police suspect New Orleans shooting was gang-related
Posted on August 1, 2018
New Orleans police found evidence that potentially links the shooting that occurred outside a bar Saturday night, killing three people and injuring seven others, to gang-related violence.
Homicides using guns up 31 percent, CDC finds
Posted on August 1, 2018
The number of homicides committed using guns has gone up by nearly a third nationwide in recent years, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC found a 31 percent increase in homicides involving firearms from 2014 to 2016. In 2014, 11,008 homicides involved a gun. The number rose to 14,415 by 2016, the CDC team said. Guns were by far the most common weapon used in homicides, the CDC team found.
3D guns: Untraceable, undetectable and unstoppable?
Posted on August 1, 2018
Not long ago, it was the stuff of science fiction, but now US officials and lawmakers are grappling with a new reality -- the ability for citizens to print firearms at home. A gun rights group that posted plans for 3D guns blocked downloads from its website Tuesday after a federal judge sided with states that the postings could help criminals and terrorists manufacture such weapons.
Latest News
Contra Costa Crime lab leaves no gun or shell casing behind
Posted: August 15, 2018
Law enforcement departments across the country have access to the same system that Contra Costa has been using to catch the people committing gun crimes on its streets. It's known as the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, NIBIN for short, and it's maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. But NIBIN only works if police assiduously log all the casings they recover, and do so quickly, before trails grow ...
As Canada faces rising gun violence, tighter laws are a tough sell
Posted: August 15, 2018
Rising violence in Canada has prompted calls for the federal government to tighten gun laws but tougher regulations could cause a political backlash in a country where 2 million people are licensed to own a firearm. ...
Man Charged Despite Florida ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws After Fatally Shooting Unarmed Man
Posted: August 15, 2018
Florida prosecutors filed a manslaughter charge on Monday against a white man who shot and killed an unarmed black man in a dispute over a parking space, three weeks after the local sheriff had refused to arrest the man, citing the state’s sweeping and controversial Stand Your Ground law. ...
The deadliest city: Behind Chicago’s segregated shooting sprees
Posted: August 14, 2018
While its homicide rate is not the highest in the U.S., Chicago has consistently had more total killings than any other U.S. city — with 27 people killed since the beginning of the month. Why it matters: Racial segregation, wealth inequality, gangs and the inability of law enforcement to solve crimes have fueled the gun violence epidemic — and a handful of minority, impoverished neighborhoods have received the brunt of the impact. ...
How red flag laws could help families grappling with guns and mental illness
Posted: August 9, 2018
While some states have ed flag laws that allow a judge to temporarily remove a mentally ill person's access to guns, it's not easy to balance their rights with the need for public safety. Special correspondent John Ferrugia of Rocky Mountain PBS reports on how families wish they could have been more empowered to help ailing loved ones and prevent deadly violence. ...
