Gun News

Record gun checks, sales for Christmas

Along with millions of Kindles, Angry Birds and gift cards, Santa left a record number of guns under Americans' Christmas trees, especially in Kentucky, according to FBI statistics on background checks. In the six days before Christmas, gun dealers submitted nearly half a million names for checks on criminal records and mental health issues, with 20% coming Dec. 23, according to news reports. That was the second busiest gun buying day in history, topped only by firearm purchases on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Read About It: USA Today

Gun makers baffled by BATFE criteria

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is in charge of determining whether a gun model is legal, but the agency won't say much about its criteria. Despite overseeing an industry that includes machine guns and other deadly weapons, ATF regulations for the manufacture of weapons are often unclear, leading to reliance on a secretive system by which firearms manufacturers can submit proposed weapons for testing and find out one at a time whether they comply with the law, critics say.

Read About It: The Washington Times

Tennessee woman shouldn't be punished for doing right thing with gun

Free Meredith Graves! Just about everyone in the country now knows about the Louisville, Tenn., woman who was arrested when she tried to check her gun at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. The nurse and medical student had driven to New York with her husband to interview for a residency at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in Long Island. While in the Big Apple, they decided to do a little sightseeing. Graves has a Tennessee handgun carry permit and had a loaded .32 caliber Kel-Tec in her purse. When she saw the no guns symbol at the memorial, she asked a guard where to check her weapon and abruptly found herself under arrest and facing a 3-year minimum sentence for violating New York's strict gun laws.

Read About It: The News Sentinel (Knoxville, Tenn.)

Marine faces fifteen years behind bars for unknowingly violating gun law

Ryan Jerome was enjoying his first trip to New York City on business when the former Marine Corps gunner walked up to a security officer at the Empire State Building and asked where he should check his gun. That was when Jerome's nightmare began. The security officer called police and Jerome spent the next two days in jail. The 28 year old with no criminal history now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of three and a half years in prison. If convicted, his sentence could be as high as fifteen years.

Read About It: The Daily Caller

Wisconsin Justice Department warns it won't meet carry permit deadlines this month

Wisconsin residents have overwhelmed the state Justice Department with so many concealed weapon permit applications agency officials say they probably won't meet deadlines for issuing approvals this month despite pulling dozens of employees from other tasks to help.

Read About It: The Associated Press

Rep. Cicilline (D-R.I.) misses the bull's-eye on weapons bill

U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island and former mayor of Providence, has joined current mayors of cities around the country to fight a gun-permit bill pending in Congress. The National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act (H.R. 822), sponsored by U.S. Rep. Clifford Stearns, R-Fla., would require all states to recognize out-of-state permits for carrying concealed weapons.

Read About It: The Providence Journal (R.I.)