QLD: Bikie raid yields drugs and weapons
Queensland police have charged 12 people with drug and weapons offences as part of an ongoing operation targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs. Two women and 10 men were today arrested on 20 charges.
NSW: Police gun stolen at shopping centre
Detectives are investigating how a gun was stolen from an unmarked police car at Westfield Parramatta shopping centre in western Sydney. The gun, along with other equipment, was stolen when the car was broken into last month.
UK: Police chief called to account for his blunders
Three years ago members of the Metropolitan Police Service's CO19 firearms squad boarded a Tube train at Stockwell station and shot dead Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, in the mistaken belief he was a suicide bomber. At the inquest into his death separate police units involved in the surveillance and shooting of Mr de Menezes will blame each other in the witness box in an attempt to avoid responsibility. When only the police have guns... (2)
UK: Officer shoots himself in the hand
A firearms officer from Wiltshire Police is being treated in hospital after it is believed he shot himself in the hand while cleaning a weapon at Devizes Police Headquarters on Tuesday. When only the police have guns....
Liberals 11/8/23 'bash' to honour John Howard
It's being called the "11/8/23" dinner and it's to honour John Howard. It stands for 11 years, eight months and 23 days - the length of time that the Howard government was in office. The government's defeat at last year's general election was so complete that for only the second time in Australian history a prime minister was shunted from office.
UK: The more things change, the more they stay the same
A new law came into force last week - section 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. It is being presented as giving householders a new legal right But it looks uncannily like the old law, dressed up in a new act of parliament. Force against an intruder must not be excessive or disproportionate in the circumstances, says the new act...just like the one it replaces. Submitted by DG.
Read this drivel...if you dare
While on holiday I had the opportunity to meet an American fellow who I'll call The Colonel, a former-chopper pilot, who also had an un-holstered passion for firearms: he owns more than two dozen (and no, he's never been in the military). After dinner one evening, while the boat we were traveling on was anchored for the night, I ran into the Colonel sitting in the dark on the bow and asked him why on earth he had 26 guns. "Because that's all I can afford," he replied. Comment: A pink pistol? What, like this one?
Africa: Blacksmiths feed a clandestine gun trade
Joseph Kwaku interrupted his work hawking bootleg DVDs at a teeming road junction just long enough to ensure no police officer was within earshot. He said: "Yes, it's easy to get a gun here if you want one. They're not expensive – 10 dollars. Not pretty but very deadly."
Canada: A man defending his castle
It's unreal. Police unions are "disappointed" by the Crown's decision not to appeal the acquittal of Basil Parasiris. They "deplore" that "no criminal responsibility has been assigned." And they suggest that guns should be better controlled, but they are not talking about their own guns.
International gun control efforts?
The New York Times has a prominent, page 3 story datelined from the UN by C.J. Chivers, “US Position Complicates Global Effort to Curb Illicit Arms.” Readers will no doubt react differently to the tone of the story; for my part, I thought it rather too involved in a particular narrative about the heroic efforts of the UN and global civil society activists to overcome the demonic and ignorant efforts of the NRA, which pulls the strings of the US government, to end the flow of small arms and light weapons into the hands of child soldiers in conflicts worldwide.
VIC: Federal Police raid Melbourne police station
A Victorian police officer has been suspended on full pay after the Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided a police station in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg in relation to the importation of steroids.
Jamaica: Law-abiding citizens want guns
In the mid-1970s when Jamaica was number 10 on the list of the most murderous countries in the world, it used to be said of persons who were shot dead by gunmen that they 'were at the wrong place at the wrong time'. (Now) I say to the state, give us guns to protect ourselves because the mechanisms which exist to do so are patently not working.
NFR: How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?
A discovery leads to questions about whether the odds of people sharing genetic profiles are sometimes higher than portrayed. Calling the finding meaningless, the FBI has sought to block such inquiry. A State crime lab analyst in Arizona has stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles. Submitted by DG.
Japan: 33093 people committed suicide in 2007
Recently released police figures show that last year 33,093 people committed suicide in Japan. It was the tenth consecutive year in which the suicide rate topped the 30,000 mark. Increasingly people use pesticides to poison themselves.
UN: US position complicates efforts to curb small arms
Diplomats from the world’s governments met throughout this week on agreements to cut the global illicit trade in small arms, but their work was curtailed in part by the near-boycott of the meetings by the United States.
US: Heller Fallout raises more questions than answers
In a recent interview with NationalJournal.com, Adam Winkler, professor of law at University of California, Los Angeles, discussed the historical context and the practical and political implications of the Heller decision. 828
UK: One person is a victim of knife crime every four minutes
Nearly 130,000 violent offences involved a knife last year - equivalent to almost fifteen an hour, the British Crime Survey showed. It counts for six per cent of the estimated 2.16 million violent crimes last year. The figures are further evidence of the scale of the knife crime problem that is sweeping the country.
US: Why gun 'buybacks' are a failure
A critic says it's because "the guns they buy back don't work in the first damn place."
The Mayor of Chicago wants to raise $1 million to 'buy back guns and remove them from Chicago streets.' But his campaign is meeting resistance from corporate sponsors who feel his efforts may be misguided.
SA: Adelaide police in shootout
Early Friday morning, a police sergeant from Henley Beach police pulled over a silver blue Ford Falcon sedan for a random check as it travelled along Tapleys Hill Rd at Fulham Gardens. The patrol car and the Falcon both pulled into the Fulham Shopping Centre carpark, off Valetta Rd, where shots were exchanged.
China: When only the police have guns...
Three journalists were hurt when a gun went off at a press conference called by Chinese police to highlight the success of a gun-control campaign. The press conference in Nanchong in Sichuan province was to publicise the results of a campaign by the city's police to seize illegal weapons, the Beijing News reported.
Japan: Gun control includes knives
Japan is set to tighten restrictions on guns and knives after a series of fatal shootings and a recent stabbing spree in a Tokyo shopping district in which seven people were killed. A panel of experts has suggested to the government that double-edged blades such as daggers be banned, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said on Thursday. "Preparations are now going ahead to submit a bill to parliament in the autumn on gun control, also including knives," Machimura told a news conference.
Submitted by DG.
UN: Small arms and light weapons
(The delegate for Australia) said the Programme of Action attached great importance to stockpile management, and the working paper presented earlier made a good “to-do” checklist. For its own part, Australia was actively promoting best practices in the Pacific region, including through simple measures that did not require much financial resources to implement.
UK: Officials struggle with rise in knife crime among Britain's youth
Every day, it seems, there are more victims. Shakilus Townsend, 16, stabbed to death by a masked gang. Ben Kinsella, also 16, fatally stabbed during an argument outside a pub. Victims in Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow. Four people fatally stabbed in London in one 24-hour period alone last week. But some are saying '...look at the violence itself instead of focusing on the instrument...' Submitted by CE.
UK: 'Have-a-go-heroes' get legal right to defend themselves
People will be able to use force against criminals who break into their homes or attack them in the street without worrying that "heat of the moment” misjudgements could see them brought before the courts. Under new laws police and prosecutors will have to assess a person’s actions based on the person’s situation "as they saw it at the time” even if in hindsight it could be seen as unreasonable.
SA: 14 year-old arrested after failed robbery
Disguising himself in a balaclava and with a towel over his head, a youth walked into the BP Service Station on Francis St at Kadina about 9pm Tuesday evening, allegedly armed with a gun. Police say he threatened a staff member who then barricaded themselves in a staff office at the back of the shop. The staff member activated a hold-up alarm.
UN: Meeting on Small Arms and Light Weapons
High numbers of innocent civilians continued to fall victim to small arms, requiring joint action by all to halt their illegal proliferation, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message delivered on his behalf today at the opening of the Third Biennial Meeting of States on combating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
Comment: It is the "legal" proliferation by rogue governments they should address. Since 1900 most people killed with firearms have been murdered by their own government.
UPDATE: Day two report - Australian delegate's report ¼ way down the page.
UK: Media 'hampering' crimes debate
The media is making it increasingly difficult to conduct a rational debate on the criminal justice system, a probation chief has said. Chief Inspector of Probation in England and Wales Andrew Bridges said there was a need to focus on "mundane truths" rather than "exciting fallacies".
US: Draconian New Jersey gun law 'made its way by mistake'
Caught speeding in Highland Park in April in his father's Acura RSX, Ryan Narciso found out the hard way about a recent change in a New Jersey gun law that could send him to prison for three years. The gun, a Gamo P-23, was sitting under the rear window of the 2004 coupe. But a state official Wednesday acknowledged that the draconian measure made its way into law by mistake. With little or no fanfare, lawmakers stiffened the law in the last session. They folded the amendment into anti-gang legislation that Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law in January. Submitted by DG.
Fred on everything: Roll Over, Bark, and Beg
The other day I glanced at the web site of the Lake Chapala Society, a social club of sorts for expats around Mexico’s Lake Chapala, an hour south of Guadalajara (where I live). Clicking on “Safety,” I found a long list of reasons why you should never, ever use a firearm to protect your home and family. No. See, you might miss, or be scared, or the intruders might take it away and shoot you, and they might be all mad and hurt you when all they wanted was your television. No, the best thing is to let them do what they want, and then maybe they won’t do anything bad to you.
Scotland: Parents told to dob in children
Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, yesterday urged parents to hand over replica weapons or airguns if they found their children in possession of them. And he warned that if they did not do so, their children were at risk of being shot in a case of mistaken identity. Mr MacAskill was responding to a survey which found that 85 per cent of the guns recovered by Strathclyde Police are air-powered or replica guns, with some carried by youngsters as young as 12. Comment: Mistaken for whom? Hardened criminals?
Gun control's fallacious premise
Only one reason exists for government to require gun registration – potential gun confiscation. Criminals do not register guns. Felons do not register their illegally-held guns. The only people who will register their guns are law-abiding citizens. Registration programs, past and future are not about gun control. These programs are actually about people control.
NSW: Gun laws amended
Amendments to the 1996 NSW Firearms Act removed a number of restrictions which impacted unreasonably on legitimate firearm owners and unlicensed shooters wanting to get into the sport. Member for Orange, Russell Turner said the Coalition supported the passage of the Bill as the previous Act had over-regulated the licensing of guns and shooters through the Firearms Registry.
US: Does buying a gun invite a 'bloody death' by suicide?
Anyone who acquires a firearm, we are told, is inviting a bloody death by suicide. So says Matthew Miller, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. "If you bought a gun today, I could tell you the risk of suicide to you and your family members is going to be two- to tenfold higher over the next 20 years,"
UK: Five people stabbed to death in one day
On Thursday, four men were stabbed to death in London and a fifth died after a knife attack in West Bromwich. The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith plans to shock young people who carry knives into a greater awareness of the impact of stabbing on victims, including visits to hospitals where people are being treated for knife wounds. The measures form part of the government's response to a spate of knife attacks.
RELATED: Action pledged on knife crime Comment: Who can they blame now?
SA: 'Siege' house empty
Police ended a four-hour siege at a house in the northern suburbs this morning when they realised a suspected gunman wasn't home. Star Group officers and Elizabeth Patrols cordoned off Tisbury St, Elizabeth North after neighbours reported a man had threatened people with a gun at a house party about 2.30am.
NSW: Shots fired at suspects during chase
Police have fired shots at two men they were pursuing after an alleged armed robbery in Sydney. The men grabbed cigarettes and a sum of cash at a St Peters service station at about 1.30 am Sunday before fleeing the scene in a stolen silver Peugeot sedan. During a subsequent chase on foot, police fired two rounds after one of the men allegedly pointed a firearm at them. 827
