The beginning of the end. Gun-related stocks plunge on reports of slowing background checks Shares of gun stocks Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Companystumbled Friday on reports that a background check system run by the FBI showed slowing growth in May. Smith & Wesson, which designs, manufactures and sells firearms, fell more than 7 percent into the closing bell. Meanwhile, Sturm, Ruger's stock was down more than 4.8 percent. Background checks from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System rose 2.6 percent in May versus 14.4 percent in April, according to StreetAccount. May background checks were reported 942,970 in May versus 918,710 in the prior year.... http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/03/gun-...-on-reports-of-slowing-background-checks.html
District Attorney: Armed Citizen Performed ‘Public Service’ by Killing Robber 43 by AWR Hawkins3 Jun 2016105 The district attorney for Levittown, Pennsylvania says a pharmacy owner performed a “public service” by shooting and killing a robber Friday morning. According to 6 ABC, police said the would-be robber entered the store with a shotgun and attempted “to mask his gun with an umbrella, but the owner was ready.” Police said the store owner–Kenneth Lee–had installed “a good camera system” so he saw the suspect as he approached the store. Lee warned the suspect numerous times to freeze, yet the suspect charged and Lee “fired nearly a dozen times.” District Attorney David Heckler said Lee will face no charges, saying, “There is no thought that we would prosecute the shooter in this case. He was entirely justified in his conduct, and frankly should be commended. From what I can see, he performed a public service in taking out this fella.” Heckler added, “The fella asked for what he got and he got it.” The suspect, who died due to multiple gunshot wounds, had zip ties in his pockets.
The gun used in the Orlando shooting is becoming mass shooters’ weapon of choice Last night in Orlando, a man armed with an assault-style rifle killed at least 50 people and wounded 53 others in a crowded nightclub. Six months ago, in San Bernardino, Calif., a man and woman armed with assault-style rifles killed 14 people and wounded 20 others at a holiday party. In 2012, in Aurora, Colo., a man armed with an assault-style rifle killed 12 people and wounded 58 others in a crowded movie theater. Also in 2012, in Newtown Conn., a man armed with an assault-style rifle killed 28 people and wounded 2 others at an elementary school. One common denominator behind these and other high-casualty mass shootings in recent years is the use of assault style rifles, capable of firing many rounds of ammunition in a relatively short period of time, with high accuracy. And their use in these types of shooting is becoming more common: There have been eight high-profile public mass shootings since July of last year, according to a database compiled by Mother Jones magazine. Assault-style rifles were used in seven of those. In the past 10 years, assault-style rifles have been used in 14 public mass shootings. Half of those shootings have occurred since last June. Assault-style weapons have long been a flashpoint in the American gun debate. They were outlawed in 1994. But that ban expired in 2004 and Congress opted to not renew it... http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/breakingnews/the-gun-used-in-the-orlando-shooting-is-becoming-mass-shooters’-weapon-of-choice/ar-AAgWXH1?li=BBnbcA1
American Medical Association says gun violence is a public health crisis The massacre in Orlando spurred the American Medical Association on Tuesday to formally call gun violence "a very public health crisis," and say the organization will "actively lobby" Congress to end a funding ban on federal health research into the problem. The move by the largest group of doctors in the United States, during a meeting in Chicago, came days after a gunman slaughtered 49 people and wounded 53 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday morning with a legally purchased AK-47 assault rifle. "With approximately 30,000 men, women and children dying each year at the barrel of a gun in elementary schools, movie theaters, workplaces, houses of worship and on live television, the United States faces a public health crisis of gun violence," said the AMA's president, Dr. Steven Stack. "Even as America faces a crisis unrivaled in any other developed country, the Congress prohibits the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] from conducting the very research that would help us understand the problems associated with gun violence and determine how to reduce the high rate of firearm-related deaths and injuries." A congressional ban on CDC research of gun violence actually was lifted by an executive order from President Barack Obama in early 2013, after the massacre of 20 children and six adults in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. But Congress has since blocked funding for such research. Stack said that "an epidemiological analysis of gun violence is vital so physicians and other health providers, law enforcement and society at large may be able to prevent injury, death and other harms to society resulting from firearms." The AMA noted it has "numerous, long-standing policies that support increasing the safety of firearms and their use, and reducing and preventing firearm violence." The group said it "recognizes that uncontrolled ownership and use of firearms, especially handguns, is a serious threat to the public's health inasmuch as the weapons are one of the main causes of intentional and unintentional injuries and deaths." The AMA has also supported legislation calling for a waiting period before purchasing any form of firearm in the U.S. and requiring background checks for all handgun purchasers. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/14/amer...s-gun-violence-is-a-public-health-crisis.html
Are Australia's gun laws the solution for the US? "We have an opportunity in this country not to go down the American path." Those were the words of former Australian Prime Minister John Howard before he radically changed Australia's gun laws and - many believe - rid the country of gun violence on a large scale... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35048251
Family of AR-15 Inventor Eugene Stoner: He Didn't Intend It for Civilians Tony Dokoupil The AR-15 is the most talked about gun in America. But the AR-15's creator died before the weapon became a popular hit and his family has never spoken out. Until now. Rick Gershon | Getty Images AR-15 rifl. "Our father, Eugene Stoner, designed the AR-15 and subsequent M-16 as a military weapon to give our soldiers an advantage over the AK-47," the Stoner family told NBC News late Wednesday. "He died long before any mass shootings occurred. But, we do think he would have been horrified and sickened as anyone, if not more by these events." The inventor's surviving children and adult grandchildren spoke exclusively to MSNBC by phone and email, commenting for the first time on their family's uneasy legacy. They requested individual anonymity in order to speak freely about such a sensitive topic. They also stopped short of policy prescriptions or legal opinions. More from NBC News:AR-15 Style Rifle Used in Orlando Massacre Has Bloody Pedigree Orlando shooter was rejected from criminal justice program #MakeItStop: Boston Globe Takes Aim at Guns But their comments add unprecedented context to their father's creation, shedding new light on his intentions and adding firepower to the effort to ban weapons like the AR-15. The comments could also bolster a groundbreaking new lawsuit, which argues that the weapon is a tool of war — never intended for civilians. Eugene Stoner would have agreed, his family said. The ex-Marine and "avid sportsman, hunter and skeet shooter" never used his invention for sport. He also never kept it around the house for personal defense. In fact, he never even owned one. Sig Sauer, maker of Orlando gunman's weapon, is expanding rapidly in US And though he made millions from the design, his family said it was all from military sales. "After many conversations with him, we feel his intent was that he designed it as a military rifle," his family said, explaining that Stoner was focused on making the most efficient and superior rifle possible for the military." He designed the original AR-15 in the late 1950s, working on it in his own garage and later as the chief designer for ArmaLite, a then small company in southern California. He made it light and powerful and he fashioned a new bullet for it — a .223 caliber round capable of piercing a metal helmet at 500 yards. The Army loved it and famously renamed it the M16. But after Stoner's death in 1997, at the age of 74, a semi-automatic version of the AR-15 became a civilian bestseller, too, spawning dozens of copy-cat weapons. The National Rifle Association has taken to calling it "America's rifle." The bullets that tore through the Pulse nightclub in Orlando were Stoner's .223 rounds, fired from a AR-15 spin off made by Sig Sauer. In all, an AR-15 style rifle has been used in at least 10 recent mass shootings — including at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and a work party in San Bernardino, California. "What has happened, good or bad, since his patents have expired is a result of our free market system," Stoner's family said. "Currently, a more interesting question is 'Who now is benefiting from the manufacturing and sales of AR-15s, and for what uses?'" That's the question for the rest of us. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/16/fami...-stoner-he-didnt-intend-it-for-civilians.html
An Assault Rifle Education Hillary’s ban wouldn’t work any better than her husband’s did. In the wake of the Orlando terrorist massacre, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats have called for reinstating Bill Clinton’s ban on “assault weapons.” If her version works as well as her husband’s did, the terrorists will have won. From 1994 to 2002 Congress barred the sale of 18 types of rifles and shotguns that had “military style” attributes. This definition was purely political because the difference between a regular rifle and what Washington calls an assault weapon is mostly cosmetic. This is one reason the ban had a negligible impact on gun crime. So-called assault rifles accounted for about 2% of gun crimes prior to the ban, and the percentage of murders committed with rifles today (2% in 2014) is less than the 3% in the last year of the ban. Overall gun crime fell after 1994, though numerous studies, including one commissioned by the Department of Justice, attribute this to better background checks and other measures. The studies found no link to the ban and reduced crime. The rifle ban also didn’t matter when it ended. The gun homicide rate remains about half (3.8 deaths per 100,000 people) of what it was prior to the seven deaths per 100,000 in the early 1990s. The media this week are full of stories about gun-death rates, without bothering to note that most of the surge is occurring in cities like Chicago that have the strictest gun laws. Heather Mac Donald nearby has a better explanation for the crime resurgence. As for stopping terrorism, California is among the states that continued to ban assault weapons after the federal version expired. But that didn’t stop the San Bernardino killers, who used modified rifles that violated the law. France’s strict gun laws also didn’t stop the Paris assailants. There are some 350 million guns in America, including as many as 10 million AR-15 rifles like the one used in Orlando. If Democrats want a ban to have any chance of working, they will have to vote for and enforce a nationwide program of confiscation. The ban Democrats are pushing would be meaningless. What has reduced gun deaths are better background checks, but Democrats are now politicizing this success. They are insisting that anyone whose name appears on the FBI’s terror watch list should be banned from buying guns. But we know that names are mistakenly on the list. The GOP alternative would alert Justice if someone on the list tries to buy a gun, triggering a special court proceeding and 72-hour investigation. Democrats say that’s not enough, no doubt because it doesn’t provide the gun-control wedge issue they want. By the way, how about enforcing existing law? Handguns account for more than 80% of gun crime, and the primary way felons obtain firearms is through “straw purchasing”—that is, using friends or relatives without criminal records to buy the guns for them. The Justice Department prefers not to prosecute straw purchasers on grounds that they aren’t the main problem. But surely the deterrent signal would get around if Justice began to prosecute some of these gun gophers. We’re sorry to have to devote space to this remedial gun-control education, but most of the press corps takes this assault-weapon ban seriously. No one else should. http://www.wsj.com/articles/an-assault-rifle-education-1466033212