For years, being able to carry a concealed handgun has been a sacred right for many gun enthusiasts. In defending it, Charlton Heston, the actor and former president of the National Rifle Association, used to say that the flock is safer when the wolves cannot tell the difference between the lions and the lambs. But a grass-roots effort among some gun rights advocates is shifting attention... [New York Times, via gunpolicy.org ]

The National Police said Monday it had arrested two gun dealers for supplying weapons to terrorists in Aceh. National Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said one supplier was arrested in West Java and another in Jakarta. He said police would divulge the identity of the two suppliers and how they obtained their weapons later. Bambang vowed to continue cracking down on terrorism... [Jakarta Post, via gunpolicy.org ]

MANILA - The Philippine National Police on Monday said a total of 160 government employees have violated a nationwide gun ban since it was implemented last January 10. A PNP report said law enforcers have arrested a total of 1,294 gun ban violators including 1,134 civilians and 160 government employees. Seized during the period were 1,117 firearms, 798 airguns/replicas, 304 bladed... [ABS-CBN News (Manila), via gunpolicy.org ]

WASHINGTON -- It is said, more frequently than precisely, that the reasons the Supreme Court gives for doing whatever it does are as important as what it does. Actually, the court's reasons are what it does. Hence, the interest in the case the Supreme Court considered last week. It probably will result in a routine ruling that extends a 2008 decision and renders dubious many state and local... [Washington Post, Column, via gunpolicy.org ]

A process hailed as DNA for guns has helped to clear up many crimes that would otherwise remain unsolved. The NSW Police Force has lifted the lid on its integrated ballistics identification system (IBIS) which has just scored it 350th "cold hit". IBIS is an electronic database of bullets and cartridge cases collected from crime scenes or seized firearms. Using state-of-the-art lasers... [Sydney Morning Herald, via gunpolicy.org ]

COMMERCE, Texas - A man walked into a Walmart in Texas carrying at least two guns before engaging in a shootout with police outside the store, authorities said. The man was killed and an off-duty officer in the store who had tried to stop him was injured. The incident in the east Texas city of Commerce began when police received a call of shots being fired from a car in nearby Greenville,... [Associated Press, via gunpolicy.org ]

WASHINGTON - Gun-control advocates think, if not pray, they can win by losing when the Supreme Court decides whether the constitutional right to possess guns serves as a check on state and local regulation of firearms. The justices will be deciding whether the Second Amendment - like much of the rest of the Bill of Rights - applies to states as well as the federal government. It's widely believed... [San Francisco Chronicle, via gunpolicy.org ]

HOLLISTER, California -- John Patrick Bedell was a brilliant and seemingly gentle computer whiz, yet so withdrawn that people in this rural community where his parents and grandparents are civic leaders knew little about him -- until he opened fire at the Pentagon this week. Family and friends now paint a portrait of a troubled man who sank deep into mental illness and anti-government rants,... [Associated Press, via gunpolicy.org ]

A Virginia Senate panel designed to eliminate House gun rights proposals went about its work efficiently Thursday, killing an attempted repeal of the state's 17-year-old ban on buying more than one handgun a month and several other bills. The Senate Courts of Justice special subcommittee, which was composed of four Democrats and one Republican, voted 4 to 1 along party lines to table the gun-a-month... [Washington Post, via gunpolicy.org ]

RICHMOND,Virginia - The latest and most significant effort to repeal Virginia's gun laws faces a critical vote on Thursday, when senators will consider a measure that would undo the state's landmark one-gun-a-month law. Democrats, who control the Senate, will try to kill the legislation through a newly formed subcommittee that they stacked with anti-gun lawmakers. Republicans and other gun... [Washington Post, via gunpolicy.org ]

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Members of the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee have voted to allow a bill to be considered this session that would require police to seize all guns in the possession of a person charged with a domestic violence offense. Rep. Anne Haskell, D-Portland, co-chairwoman of the committee, said the bill is based on language from a working group created by law last year to... [Bangor Daily News (Maine) / Capital News Service, via gunpolicy.org ]

When Chicago passed a ban on handgun ownership in 1982, it was part of a trend. Washington, D.C., had done it in 1976, and a few Chicago suburbs took up the cause in the following years. They all expected to reduce the number of guns and thus curtail bloodshed. District of Columbia Attorney General Linda Singer told The Washington Post in 2007, "It's a pretty common-sense idea that the more... [Chicago Tribune, Column, via gunpolicy.org ]

WASHINGTON -- Two police officers at the Pentagon were wounded Thursday evening when a man walked up to the entrance of the complex's subway station and, without a word, opened fire on them, Pentagon officials said. Police officers quickly returned fire, fatally shooting the gunman after hitting him once in the head and once in the shoulder. The gunman was identified as John Patrick Bedell,... [New York Times, via gunpolicy.org ]

A gun-rights decision by the Supreme Court two years ago threatened to make it more dangerous to walk the streets of Washington. Now the top court's conservative voting bloc seems intent upon expanding the risk to other U.S. cities by dismantling strong gun-violence safeguards. Chicago's long-standing handgun ban came into the crosshairs of the National Rifle Association this week,... [Philadelphia Inquirer, Editorial, via gunpolicy.org ]

On Sept. 23, 2008, a culinary student named Matti Juhani Saari walked into a vocational college in Kauhajoki, Finland, drew a semi-automatic pistol, and killed 10 people before taking his own life. Less than a year earlier, an 18-year-old fatally shot eight people at a high school in Tuusula, 50 km north of Helsinki, before killing himself. In the wake of Saari's rampage, Finnish Prime Minister Matti... [Macleans (Canada), via gunpolicy.org ]

From Virginia to Arizona, federal and state gun laws are loosening everywhere from national parks to Amtrak trains. But in St. Paul, a proposal that would send Minnesota in the opposite direction is headed toward its first hearing Friday -- a bill requiring background checks on the purchaser of any firearm sold at a gun show. The proposal pits its DFL sponsor, St. Paul Rep. Michael... [Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul), via gunpolicy.org ]

In Albion, an issue that should have been confined to the local level has escalated into a skirmish involving the National Rifle Association. Gun owners are quick to act when they fear their Second Amendment rights are at risk, but in the Albion example, protesters are misfiring. As Tim Hahn reported on Feb. 6, Jeff Paul, 57, was cited by Albion police in November for disorderly conduct.... [Erie Times-News (Pennsylvania), Editorial, via gunpolicy.org ]

TALLAHASSEE, Florida - The Florida Senate has passed a bill that will force lawmakers to keep their hands off a trust fund that covers the costs of the state's concealed weapons permitting program. The bill (SB 1158), a top priority for the National Rifle Association, passed Tuesday. It now goes to the House where a similar measure (HB 651) has cleared committee and awaits floor action. ... [Associated Press, via gunpolicy.org ]

The second Constitutional bookend corralling the modern American gun control movement is just about in place. The Supreme Court's oral argument Tuesday morning strongly suggests that a majority of the justices intend to extend onto the state and local scene the Second Amendment's individual gun rights. Once such a ruling is in place (bet the house on the last week of June) we'll see a sea change in... [Atlantic (USA), Column, via gunpolicy.org ]

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a strict handgun ban in the District of Columbia. Now the court is considering a strict gun ban in Chicago. But there's a big difference between the two cases. The D.C. case covered only federal jurisdictions. According to a McClatchy Newspapers story, "District of Columbia v. Heller applied only to federal jurisdictions, because the Bill of Rights,... [El Paso Times, Editorial, via gunpolicy.org ]

A High Court decision has set back efforts by police to impose greater controls on a wider range of firearms. The court has ruled against a move by police to reclassify many "sporting configuration" firearms as military-style semi-automatics (MSSAs). Police spent $60,000 advertising the changes. Owners would have had to undergo more stringent vetting, register each affected weapon... [New Zealand Herald, via gunpolicy.org ]

In the comedy Roxanne , Steve Martin is a fire chief of an incompetent department that's as likely to start a fire as put one out. "I have a dream," he tells the men after dousing one of their own little fires. "It's not a big dream, it's just a little dream. My dream -- and I hope you don't find this too crazy -- is that I would like the people of this community to feel that if, God forbid,... [Augusta Chronicle (Georgia), Editorial, via gunpolicy.org ]