Gun Safety

In his Feb. 3 op-ed column, " The price of posturing ," George F. Will took Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) to task for divesting city pension funds of stocks belonging to profitable gun companies. Mr. Will was correct, if only by accident. All holders of stocks of gun companies should use their power to change policy by keeping the stocks but passing their vote to a central activist. Ralph Nader pioneered this idea in the 1960s by asking universities and other stockholders to pass their votes for General Motors in all...

The May 8 news article " Report: Gun violence has fallen greatly since '93 " failed to mention that the 1994 law requiring licensed gun dealers to conduct background checks on those purchasing firearms may be a contributor to reducing gun deaths by 39 percent and injuries by 69 percent between 1993 and 2011. I don't expect universal background checks and gun safety lessons to solve all gun violence. However, if such measures contribute to a further drop of 5 percent or 10 percent, it will make a big difference to families of people...

The day the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the D.C. gun ban, leading gun control advocates dialed into a nationwide conference call to coordinate how the movement should frame its reaction to the media. Listening in was Mary McFate, a longtime board member of a Pennsylvania gun safety group. Although McFate had been a familiar face in gun safety circles for more than a decade, the other activists on the line were unaware that she once had a career as a corporate spy infiltrating activist groups.

CAMBRIDGE, Md. — The grandparents of a Kentucky toddler who was accidentally shot by her 5-year-old brother say they don't believe young children should have access to guns. Mark Robinson, of Cambridge, tells the Star Democrat of Easton (http://bit.ly/12ldqaL ) that parents should buy their children fishing poles instead of guns. The April 30 shooting occurred when Kristian Sparks accidentally fired a rifle he was playing with as his mother stepped onto the front porch. His...

The Maryland Senate on Thursday gave final approval to Gov. Martin O'Malley's far-reaching gun-control legislation and advanced a measure restructuring the Prince George's County school system. The schools bill passed 39 to 7 and went to the House, where its prospects for passage in the coming days appeared strong. The gun bill , which passed 28 to 19, was sent to the governor's desk, and aides said O'Malley (D) would sign it into law as early as next week. As expected, Senate Democrats signed off on changes made to...

The May 4 front-page article " How military rifles got to be a civilian commodity ," about the company Blue Sky Productions' importation of M-1 rifles, stated that "the modern tale of military-style weapons in America opens on Capitol Hill, in mid-1984. " Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center was quoted as saying that the 200,000 rifles imported by Blue Sky were "basically the first of the military weapons marketed to the civilian population. If you were going to draw an ‘assault weapons timeline,'...

Since the massacre at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School , many are wondering whether this tragedy might finally provoke action on guns . The answer is, it could. The reason may surprise gun-control activists. A post-Newtown examination of our gun laws would be the country's first such effort since the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in D.C. v. Heller, which struck down the District's handgun ban and affirmed an individual's constitutional right to bear arms.

The May 8 news article " Report: Gun violence has fallen greatly since '93 " failed to mention that the 1994 law requiring licensed gun dealers to conduct background checks on those purchasing firearms may be a contributor to reducing gun deaths by 39 percent and injuries by 69 percent between 1993 and 2011. I don't expect universal background checks and gun safety lessons to solve all gun violence. However, if such measures contribute to a further drop of 5 percent or 10 percent, it will make a big difference...

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may be the most outspoken elected official advocating for enhanced gun safety laws, but the New York public servant who has hands-on experience in Washington getting such legislation passed is promoting the use of smart phones to hail cabs in Manhattan. In a prior life, New York's taxi and limousine commissioner, David Yassky, played a major role in writing the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, which outlawed the production of certain types of weapons and limited the size of high capacity...

Should doctors be able to ask their patients or patients' parents whether they own a gun? What about health insurers, employers or health-care officials implementing the Affordable Care Act? The issue is playing out in Florida, where a federal judge in July issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of a law that would have prohibited doctors from asking patients about gun ownership in many instances, saying the prohibition impinged on doctors' First Amendment right to...

The May 4 front-page article " How military rifles got to be a civilian commodity ," about the company Blue Sky Productions' importation of M-1 rifles, stated that "the modern tale of military-style weapons in America opens on Capitol Hill, in mid-1984. " Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center was quoted as saying that the 200,000 rifles imported by Blue Sky were "basically the first of the military weapons marketed to the civilian population. If you were going to draw an ‘assault weapons timeline,' it would start with the M-1 and...

Scott Dalrymple's May 2 op-ed, " The day I took a gun to school ," reminded me of an experience I had in high school: the day the administrators brought guns to school.  I attended James Madison High School in Vienna in the mid-1980s.  A series of classes within our driver education course was dedicated to hunter safety. These classes included many interesting topics, such as how to build a water still from simple materials to prolong survival...

Victories often contain the seeds of future defeats. So it is — or at least should be — with the Senate's morally reprehensible rejection of expanded background checks for gun buyers. The outcome is a test of both an invigorated gun safety movement and a gun lobby that decided to go for broke. The National Rifle Association assumed that blocking new gun legislation in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre would firmly establish its dominance. Advocates of sane gun regulations would scatter in despair and be torn apart by recriminations.

NINE YEARS ago, the Senate confronted the immensely polarizing issue of gun control. At the time, a Republican and a Democrat offered an amendment to close the loophole that allowed people to buy guns from unlicensed sellers at gun shows without background checks. Fifty-three senators, including eight Republicans, voted for the amendment. One of the sponsors was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who lamented, "Criminals and terrorists are exploiting this obvious loophole in our gun safety laws.

The Maryland Senate on Thursday gave final approval to Gov. Martin O'Malley's far-reaching gun-control legislation and advanced a measure restructuring the Prince George's County school system. The schools bill passed 39 to 7 and went to the House, where its prospects for passage in the coming days appeared strong. The gun bill , which passed 28 to 19, was sent to the governor's desk, and aides said O'Malley (D) would sign it into law as early as next week. As expected, Senate Democrats signed off on...

When Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's controversial gun-control bill came up last week in the state Senate, lawmakers held an open hearing that drew more than 1,000 people and lasted more than eight hours. But so far, members of the House have considered the proposal in secret, with the speaker and other key lawmakers meeting with lobbyists, experts and state officials in a closed-door conference room that has been off-limits to the public. The 16 members of the group...

W hen I was about to start eighth grade, my father almost shot my mother. It was another of their many ugly fights. I got between them — literally — and tried to grab the gun. I will never forget that night. The shouting. The fear. The raw terror that we would all die, my brother and sisters along with my parents. My calling for help but the police not coming; my parents were important people in town. My mother running out of the house. I locked my brother and sisters in a bedroom and pushed a bed against the door.

Dozens of college students murdered in their classrooms ; a member of Congress shot at point-blank range ; innocents gunned down in a movie theater . Then, in the aftermath of a mass gun crime, the same ritual: national shock and anger, traumatized communities asking how this could happen, followed by . . . nothing. At least, no progress on gun safety. In a speech to the Urban League on Wednesday , President Obama called for a conversation on youth violence and more steps to keep guns away from criminals...

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley took a swipe at the National Rifle Association on Friday, publishing a blog post on O'Malley's state Web site titled "The NRA: Drowning out Marylanders. " The governor's move comes two days after gun-rights advocates swamped the first bill hearing on O'Malley's proposed gun-control legislation in the wake of the December mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. Over 700 people, the vast majority opposed to O'Malley's plan, signed up to testify outside the...

UPDATE: 1:30 p.m. With a huge gathering of gun-rights advocates amassed in opposition outside the Maryland State House, Gov. Martin O'Malley on Wednesday asked lawmakers to approve his far-reaching gun-control legislation. O'Malley cast assault rifles as "military weapons" that have no place in society other than on a battlefield. And he said his strict licensing requirement and new mental health rules on gun ownership would save lives. "We choose to take on gun violence because every life is...