Suicidal Man, Woman Rented Guns, Died at Adelaide Shooting Range
5 September 2010 - 2:00pmA firearms notification was issued two weeks before Julia Morris walked into a city shooting range and committed suicide, a court has heard. Earlier that same day October 23, 2008 Ms Morris had been released from hospital after an earlier suicide attempt. State Coroner Mark Johns is investigating the deaths of Ms Morris and Raymond Glenn Jast five months later on March 25, 2009 in another shooting suicide at the Marksman Indoor Firing Range on Franklin St,... [Advertiser (Adelaide), via GunPolicy.org]
Biggest Factor in New York Gender Death Gap? Far and Away: Guns
1 September 2010 - 2:00pmThe city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had some discouraging words this week for XY-chromosome New Yorkers. Not only do men in this city, on average, live shorter lives than women do — that's true almost everywhere in the world — but the gender gap in life expectancy is also wider here than in the United States as a whole. Based on 2008 figures, the most recent, newborn American girls can expect to live to 81, boys to 76. The comparable numbers in the... [New York Times, via GunPolicy.org]
Yapping Gun-freedom Brigade, Canada Gun Registry Enemies Very Loud
31 August 2010 - 2:00pmoh for a quiet life, Jack Layton thinks as he shuffles about asking his members to please vote to support the national long-gun registry because if they don't, he'll be remembered as the guy who finished it off. All he has to do is tell them how to vote. He's the boss, and besides, it's hardly a matter of conscience. But he's worried that he'll anger voters who've been suckered into the Conservative mindset that registering your gun is a failure of manhood. But why... [Toronto Star (Ontario), Column, via GunPolicy.org]
Gun-toting Gun Registry Skeptic Recants: In-family Gun Deaths in Canada
31 August 2010 - 2:00pmAnyone skeptical about the value of the gun registry should read the long-delayed RCMP report reluctantly released this week by Stephen Harper's federal government. Jack Layton in particular should make his New Democratic MPs read it — particularly those who plan to provide the Conservatives with enough votes to kill the registry when the issue comes to a vote next month. I own rifles and admit that, until now, I hadn't been entirely convinced the registry was... [Toronto Star (Ontario), Column, via GunPolicy.org]
Yemeni Children Play with Guns, Kill Family, Flee Home in Fear of Lives
30 August 2010 - 2:00pmDHAMAR, Yemen - Many Yemeni children who accidentally killed their loved ones while playing with guns kept at home, flee immediately after the incident fearing punishment from their fathers. They become separated from their families and drop out of school. Aref Qied, 15, from Zubaid Uzla village in Ans District, in the central governorate of Dhamar, has not returned home since he shot dead his mother in mid-November 2009 while playing with his family's AK-47 assault... [IRIN (UN News), via GunPolicy.org]
Man Wounds 15, Kills 7, Self with Assault Rifle in Slovakia Family Killing
30 August 2010 - 2:00pmA man armed with an assault rifle shot seven people dead, wounded 15 and then turned the gun on himself in a Monday morning rampage on a street in the Slovak capital Bratislava, the police said. "A man in his fifties shot six people dead and eventually killed himself after the police cornered him as he tried to escape the crime scene," police commander Jaroslav Spisiak told reporters. "The seventh victim, a 52-year old woman, didn't belong to the murdered family and... [Agence France Presse, via GunPolicy.org]
Enraged at Wife Leaving, Canadian Gun Owner Shot, Killed Police Officer
29 August 2010 - 2:00pmLONDON, Ontario - Fred Preston was seeking revenge after his wife left him when he opened fire on provincial police, killing one officer and shooting at the slain officer's partner before being felled by six bullets. A vengeful 70-year-old Preston drove to the home of his wife's sister before he was pulled over in northern Huron County by a 15-year police veteran whose life, until then, had been one of overcoming obstacles. Provincial police Const. Vu Pham survived... [Toronto Sun (Ontario), via GunPolicy.org]
Michigan Man Shoots Estranged Wife with 'AK-47,' Then Kills Himself
28 August 2010 - 2:00pmDELTA TOWNSHIP -- Lansing-area authorities say a man fatally shot his wife with an AK-47 assault rifle, then killed himself with the same weapon. Eaton County Undersheriff Fred McPhail said today that 29-year-old Natasha M. Garcia died after surgery. He says 33-year-old Ivan G. Garcia shot her in the thigh and abdomen Saturday, then shot himself in the head. The shooting happened outside a home in Delta Township, southwest of Lansing. McPhail tells the Lansing State... [Associated Press, via GunPolicy.org]
US Airman 'Messing with Gun' Kills Neighbour Through Wall, Waits 3 Days
18 August 2010 - 2:00pmDEL CITY, Oklahoma - A woman is dead after police say a stray bullet went through her apartment wall and killed her. They also say it took three days for it to be reported. Friday around 7 p.m., Del City Police say the woman living in apartment 15 at Cedar Hills Apartments was killed by a stray bullet. They say 65-year-old Marilyn Cory was in her home when her neighbor's gun went off. They say Cory's neighbor is a 24-year-old airman who works at Tinker Air Force... [KFOR-TV News (Oklahoma), via GunPolicy.org]
Spate of Murders, Suicides with Guns Rented at Florida Shooting Ranges
15 August 2010 - 2:00pmThe deaths of a young man and woman, discovered miles apart over the weekend, were a murder-suicide, Sheriff's investigators said Sunday. Ryan Ray Scurlock, 24 killed himself Saturday afternoon at a gun range south of Orlando. That suicide led to deputies to the body of Jennifer Lynn Roqueta, 21, in her apartment a few miles south of the University of Central Florida. Acquaintances on Sunday said Roqueta, an accounting major at UCF, and Scurlock had worked together... [Orlando Sentinel (Florida), via GunPolicy.org]
Divorce, Poor Sales Close 2 Texas Gun Shops, $500,000 Stock Disappears
8 August 2010 - 2:00pmWhen the doors closed on the Cold War Shooters gun shop in El Paso July 13, the inventory of more than $500,000 in guns, ammo and accessories went out the door. Just where it went isn't clear. The doors also closed on a marriage that day. The majority owner, Michelle Garcia, says in divorce papers that her husband Hector Garcia, left her for the business manager and took the guns with him when he went. The closing of Cold War Shooters follows by two weeks the closing... [El Paso Times (Texas), via GunPolicy.org]
Latest Supreme Court Appointment 'Significant Defeat' for US Gun Lobby
5 August 2010 - 2:00pmElena Kagan was confirmed Thursday as the 112th justice to serve on the Supreme Court bench, in a significant victory for the Obama administration and womens' rights groups—and a significant defeat for the National Rifle Association. Kagan was approved on a 63-37 vote, earning the support of fifty-six Democrats (all except Nebraska's Ben Nelson), Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders, Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman and five Republicans who had already announced... [Nation (USA), via GunPolicy.org]
Public Health Claims Are 'Red Herring,' Canada Firearm Registry Futile
4 August 2010 - 2:00pmMany public health advocates believe that scrapping the long-gun registry would open the door to increases in suicides, domestic violence and murders against women. As chair of the standing committee on Public Safety and National Security, I have received letters from doctors, nurses, and women's rights groups that suggest passing Bill C-391 to eliminate the registry would increase crime. This short-sighted conclusion is not supported by either statistical analysis or... [The Western Producer (Canada), Opinion, via GunPolicy.org]
Florida Gun Owner Kills Ex-wife As 3 Children Flee, Then Shoots Himself
2 August 2010 - 2:00pmThe Sunday deaths of a Columbia County woman and her estranged husband have been classified as a murder and suicide. According to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, the bodies of William "Chuck" Wood, 44, and his wife, Jodi Wood, 41, were found inside the garage of the home at 2204 S.W. Jim Witt Rd. outside Lake City where Jodi Wood had been living with the couple's three children. Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ed Seifert said the couple had separated and were living... [Gainesville Sun (Florida), via GunPolicy.org]
Malaysian Ex-assemblyman & Female Assistant Dead by Gunshot in Car
2 August 2010 - 2:00pmKUALA LUMPUR (Update 21:30)- As investigations continue into the death of former Selangor assemblyman Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohd Noh and Tanjung Karang Wanita Umno vice-chief Siti Rohana Ismat, police have not ruled out the probability that one of them had shot the other. Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said initial investigations showed that the shots were fired from inside the car they were travelling in and that there was no other person in the vehicle at... [Malay Mail (Kuala Lumpur), via GunPolicy.org]
In Failure to Reject 2 Women Justices, US Gun Lobby Lost Battles, Clout
1 August 2010 - 2:00pmThe Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan presents a political conundrum to the National Rifle Association (NRA), one of the nation's most powerful grassroots lobbying groups. Republicans lawmakers and conservative activists fear Kagan will emerge as a strong voice on the high court against gun-ownership rights. But five Republican senators have pledged to vote for Kagan, making her a shoo-in for confirmation. This puts the NRA in the tricky position of having to... [The Hill (Washington DC), via GunPolicy.org]
Oregon Woman Mistook Husband for Intruder, Shot Him Six Times
27 July 2010 - 2:00pmBEND, Oregon - A well-known Bend developer was shot and critically wounded by his wife at their home on Bend's Westside early Wednesday. Police said she told officers she was awakened by a noise and sent her husband to investigate, then thought he was an intruder. Stephen Trono, 60, was in critical condition at midday at St. Charles Medical Center-Bend, officials said. Bend police Lt. Ben Gregory said officers were called to a home on Mount Shasta Drive, off Shevlin... [KTVZ-TV News (Oregon), via GunPolicy.org]
Angry Utah Driver Killed Female Police Officer with AK-47 at Traffic Stop
27 July 2010 - 2:00pmFILLMORE - With an AK-47 sitting in the passenger seat, Roberto Miramontes Roman saw flashing police lights behind him and grew angry, according to testimony Tuesday at his preliminary hearing. Roman thought "the only reason he was stopped was he was Mexican," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Matt Higley. On the side of the highway Jan. 5 outside Delta, Roman watched out his right car windows, assuming a police officer would approach from that side. Then on his left... [Salt Lake Tribune (Utah), via GunPolicy.org]
Woman Shot 2 at Ontario Shooting Club, Charged with Careless Gun Use
26 July 2010 - 2:00pmINNISFIL - Two people received minor gunshot wounds after a shotgun was accidentally discharged Saturday at shooting range in Innisfil. According to South Simcoe Police, pellets from the shotgun shell ricocheted off the cement floor and struck two people. One was struck in the shin, the other was hit in the legs and chest. Both parties were transported to hospital, where they were treated and released with minor injuries. A 53-year-old Toronto woman was charged... [Innisfil Journal (Ontario), via GunPolicy.org]
Licensed Ontario Gun Owner Charged with Shooting, Killing His Girlfriend
23 July 2010 - 2:00pmThe boyfriend of a former Burlington woman found wrapped in a tarp and buried in an overgrown field behind the couple's home will remain in custody, at least for several weeks. Even if George Christopher (Chris) Gale hadn't been charged with second-degree murder -- which was announced by London police Thursday night and read out in court yesterday morning -- the 29-year-old would be in custody. Following a bail hearing earlier this week, justice of the peace Kathy-Lou... [Hamilton Spectator (Ontario), via GunPolicy.org]