Federal and state laws prohibit convicted domestic-violence offenders from possessing firearms, but enforcement of those laws has been lax, write guest columnists Merril Cousin and Nan Stoops. They urge all law-enforcement agencies to follow proven strategies for getting guns out of the home.

This report aims to provide policy makers and aid practitioners with a state-of-the-art overview of the situation for young women in African war and post-war situations.

To further the discourse regarding the protection and promotion of women’s human rights in situations of conflict, post conflict and in societies in transition, various national and international women’s rights organisations have engaged the CEDAW Committee in a process of dialogue in the hope of creating a General Comment regarding the advancement of women’s human rights in conflict affected areas. In so doing, it is hoped that this General Comment will act complimentary to and further the existing Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 addressing women affected by conflict.

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang raped at gun point in Bihar by unidentified men, who then tried to kill her by setting her ablaze when she told her family of the assault, police sources said here Thursday.

This club doesn't recruit, and the membership dues are steep. In fact, most of its members would pay anything not to belong. The club is called Mothers United Against Violence and, as its name suggests, it's made up largely of moms.

Linda Milazzo writes about her encounter with an armed Brink's Inc. security guard in full combat mode performing his non-war-zone duty. She writes that her "aggressor more typified the machismo of a Blackwater guard than the demeanor of community-minded Brink's when he flailed his loaded gun at me, as though he'd done it often before."