Sunday, January 13, 2013
Fear of gun control measures and safety concerns after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings have triggered gun sales.
As some people push for gun control, more stringent background checks on gun buyers or reinstituting the assault weapons ban, others are doing just the opposite—buying guns for the first time, adding more guns to their arsenals or at least stocking up on ammunition. Since 2008, when Barack Obama was first elected president, an estimated 67 million firearms have been purchased in the United States, according to the Kansas City Star—more than were sold in almost seven years before his first election. Nationwide, more than 2.7 million of those checks were recorded for December 2012, according to statistics kept by the FBI. Since late 1998, when federal law began mandating checks for prospective gun buyers, the only other month that exceeded …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
All of the 20 children killed Friday were age 6 or 7.
Within hours of Friday’s mass shooting in Newton, Conn., that left 27 people, including 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary, dead, gun-control debates began raging across the country. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, was armed with an assault rifle and two semiautomatic pistols, according to Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance. All of the weapons were registered to and legally owned by his mother, Nancy Lanza, who was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds at her home. In the days since the shootings, some Democrats in Congress have been pushing for more gun restrictions in the United States, including a ban on military-style assault weapons. While President Barack Obama has not specifically mentioned gun control in …
Sunday, July 29, 2012
The shootings in Aurora, CO, last week raise questions about gun laws for armor-piercing bullets, magazines and assault weapons.
In the wake of the shooting in Aurora, CO, some officials are calling again for tougher gun laws. Baltimore County, MD, police Chief James Johnson and other law enforcement officers spoke at the National Press Club this week, supporting the notion that a high-capacity magazine like one used in the Aurora shooting “simply has no place in civilian hands,” according an article in the Los Angeles Times. “It is ridiculous to argue that hunters or civilians who own weapons for self-defense need a 100-round drum magazine,” he said in the LA Times. “As we have seen, people don’t stand a chance against this kind of firepower.” Police say the weapons and ammunition used by Aurora shooting suspect James E. Holmes were legally purchased. Some …
Salvia 58
4:24 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
The poll question here is very leading in my opinion. I would prefer something more along the lines of: Did you purchase a gun(s) in the past 5 years ? If so for what purpose ? If for protection, from whom ? Criminals, foreign invaders, the government... ? Pick the one answer that best describes your reason. more ›