Toronto city councillors have voted overwhelmingly to ask the federal government to ban handguns. Mayor David Miller did, however, come up three votes short of the unanimous result he had hoped for in an attempt to put maximum pressure on the Stephen Harper government to act on handguns. However, councillor Michael Thompson, said. "It hasn't worked anywhere. It's a real empty gesture. That's why I cannot stand here and say to you, `I think it's great – me too, me too.'" Submitted by DG.
NSW: Man charged with importing pistol
A 54 year old man will face Downing Centre Local Court on 20 May charged with importing a prohibited import. Customs investigations began last Wednesday when officers working at a Sydney airfreight depot examined two packages sent from Tbilisi in the Republic of Georgia. Inside the packages, described as containing clothing and 'personal effects,' officers allegedly found a fully assembled 9mm semi-automatic pistol hidden inside a tool bag.
RELATED: Picture of pistol allegedly seized by customs
TIME: Australia's Gun Laws Had Little Effect
At huge cost, the 1996 changes to Australia's gun laws have done nothing to reduce gun-related deaths, according to Samara McPhedran, a University of Sydney academic and co-author (with Jeanine Baker) of a soon-to-be-published paper that reviews a selection of previous studies on the effects of the 1996 legislation. The conclusions of these studies were "all over the place," says McPhedran. But by pulling back and looking purely at the statistics, the answer "is there in black and white," she says.
Comment: Not bad for a "vestibular post doctoral researcher" and a "weed scientist", as described by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Sydney University.
South Coast Police are investigating a shooting that occurred at about 8.00pm last night. The incident occurred at Reynella where a man was shot in the leg. It is believed that two men approached the victim at his home address and requested to see the victim’s son. When the son did not come to the door of the home the victim was shot through the closed screen door. The victim was conveyed to the Flinders Medical Centre, his condition is unknown.
UN: Small arms thwart security and development
The threat to international peace and security posed by the uncontrolled trade in small arms and their excessive accumulation and proliferation cannot be overemphasized, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today. RELATED: Security Council Report
Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?
About 80% of firearms are in civilian hands and found in just 30 countries. Although the United States accounts for 40% of all firearms in civilian ownership, people put them to more deadly use elsewhere. The gun murder rate in Colombia and South Africa, for example, is much higher than in America.
UK: Shooting murder rate soars despite gun control
There has been a huge increase in being people shot, stabbed and even kicked to death since Labour came to power. Shocking statistics released last night show a 14 per cent increase in murder and manslaughter in England and Wales between 1998 and 2007.
Submitted by DG.
Swiss grant rights to animals, consider same for plants
In an effort to respect the needs of "social species," the Swiss parliament passed legislation last week that threatens its citizens with punishment for not providing various animals a fit environment in which they can interact and flourish. Enjoying the most extensive protection under the new laws, dogs proved to be the Swiss parliament's best friend. Prospective dog owners will now be required to complete a course in canine treatment that will include both theoretical and practical elements. Due to concern over recent studies suggesting the pain experienced by fish, anglers are now subjected to a preparatory course on humane fishing.
NSW: Game council says feral shooting 'a success'
The New South Wales Game Council says more than 11,000 feral animals have been killed in state forests since hunting on public land began two years ago. Game Council head Brian Boyle says native animals have been helped by the removal of thousands of feral rabbits, goats, pigs and foxes.
Canada: Council backs mayor's bid to ban handguns
2008 may become known as the year of the Vegemite riots following China's ban on the Australian team taking its own food, including Vegemite, to the Olympic Games. In another example of the iron-clad control Beijing is trying to exert on foreigners, Games organisers have told Australia it must source all food from within China.
UPDATE: Vegemite will prevail
VIC: Prime suspect had been sentenced to death in 1968
The prime suspect in the callous killing of a Frankston mother yesterday was sentenced to death in 1968 for the stabbing murder of a 17-year-old girl. Police have just named Leigh Robinson, 60, as the prime suspect in the shotgun murder of a Frankston mum yesterday. Robinson's death sentence for the murder of the teenager was commuted in 1969 and he was released on parole in 1983. In 1991 he pleaded guilty to 14 charges of handling more than $100,000 worth of stolen goods. He received a two-year sentence with a minimum of 18 months.
Law should be changed to free guns
For decades, Kerio Valley and the adjoining areas have been rocked by intermittent ethnic violence but they have never produced an internal refugee. Yet Eldoret, Kericho, Kuresoi, Molo, Nakuru and the surrounding areas produced hundreds of thousands of displaced people after less than six weeks of post-election violence. What is the difference between these two sets of volatile regions in the Rift Valley? The answer is simple; in Kerio, the communities exercise their constitutional right to self-defence.
VIC: Man sought for shotgun murder may have killed before
A man sought over the slaying of a single mum in Melbourne yesterday is believed to have killed before. Police have launched a nationwide manhunt after Tracy Greenbury, 33, was shot dead on a neighbour's front door step in suburban Frankston yesterday. A Melbourne newspaper understands the suspect has prior convictions for murder and had previously shown Ms Greenbury his gun and ammunition.
US: Public safety (read gun control) in supreme danger
The future of gun control is at stake in the U.S. Supreme Court this spring. The court will rule on a case involving the basic Second Amendment right to bear arms - and what it decides just might throw gun laws across the country into total disarray. In the current case, involving a challenge to Washington's strict ban on handguns, legal experts predict the court will - for the first time - explicitly declare that the Second Amendment protects the "individual right" to own firearms for private purposes, such as self-defense or hunting. Submitted by DG.
Comment: A note of caution: Never try to pre-empt what a court may decide.
NSW: Greens MP facing assault charges
Greens MP Ian Cohen will face court in June on allegations of assault. "He was issued with a summons earlier this month to appear at Byron Bay Local Court to answer allegations of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault following an investigation by Byron Bay detectives which started on January 31," a police spokeswoman said.
All charges against ABC's Chaser team dropped
All charges against The Chaser have been dropped because police gave them "tacit permission" to enter the security zone at last year's APEC summit. Masquerading as a Canadian motorcade, the comedians and their crew passed though a number of security checkpoints to within metres of the Sydney hotel where US President George W. Bush was staying.
US: Gun Rights protest puts heat on university prof
A University of New Hampshire student who was told by a professor that he could not wear an empty gun holster in her class as part of a protest responded by posting the correspondence on the Internet, which earned the professor several angry e-mail from strangers. Submitted by DG. 816