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The International Crime Victim Survey, Leiden University, The Netherlands

News about (and from) Australia . In 1997, Australia implemented some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, severely restricting who can buy and possess guns, and confiscating the previously-registered guns from their owners. Since then, crimes committed with guns have skyrocketed almost 440 percent (according to The Sunday Telegraph ), a testimony to the ineffectiveness of gun control laws.

• Gun crime 'to lift murder rate' news.com.au , April 16, 2002) "'Five years ago we didn't have a significant problem with handgun violence,' Dr Weatherburn said....'We didn't have a serious problem of people shooting each other with handguns, especially quite young people.'" [Five years ago? Hmm, wasn't that when they implemented new, extremely strict gun control laws?]
• Handguns declared public enemy No. 1
  Handgun crackdown in NSW The Sunday Telegraph , April 14, 2002) "NEW Acting Police Commissioner Ken Moroney yesterday vowed to rid NSW of illegal handguns after another night of violence on Sydney's streets....An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found handgun crime rose by up to 440 per cent during the six-year reign of outgoing police commissioner Peter Ryan." [Why didn't Australia's strict gun-control laws prevent this?]
• Handgun epidemic plagues city The Sunday Telegraph , April 14, 2002) "NSW Police will be ordered to rid Sydney's streets of illegal handguns as a top priority under the leadership of acting Police Commissioner Ken Moroney....'The proliferation of handguns in the community is the biggest menace facing police in NSW,' Mr Moroney told The Sunday Telegraph. 'My number one priority is simple: get as many handguns off the streets as possible.' An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has discovered the number of handgun offences committed in NSW increased dramatically during the six-year reign of Commissioner Peter Ryan. Murders with a handgun jumped 300 per cent while shoot with intent offences climbed 440 per cent between 1996 and 2001. Figures compiled by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research for the past three years show murders with handguns jumped 240 per cent, shoot with intent offences climbed 80 per cent and robberies with handguns went up 25 per cent." [Isn't the solution to this problem to ban guns?]
• Drug gangs recruit teenagers as hitmen The Times , July 29, 2001) "TEENAGE boys as young as 15 are being recruited by drug-dealing gangsters to carry out contract killings, according to police and social workers...Police intelligence suggests that established gangs have realised they are taking unnecessary risks by carrying out their own retribution shootings, and are contracting out the work...Rather than spend large sums, typically £15,000 to £20,000, on known hitmen, they are employing teenagers lured by the gangster lifestyle they see paraded on inner-city streets...The trend is partly the result of the ease with which guns can be procured in cities such as London and Manchester. Guns are used on average in more than two murders or attempted murders each day in England and Wales, and police estimate the number of illegal firearms in circulation to be at least 250,000. In one week this month, the Metropolitan police recorded 158 incidents of guns being used in robberies, assaults and murders." [As I keep saying--guns aren't the problem, gangs are. And a gang isn't going to care that guns are illegal.]
• Gun play (The Sydney Morning Herald , March 31, 2001) "Handguns are now easier to get in Sydney than at any time in recent memory. As the former Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Mick Palmer, pointed out recently, there is no doubt the increasing number of guns is related to drug trafficking." [But I thought banning guns would eliminate this problem?]
• How to buy illegal firearms (The Sydney Morning Herald , March 31, 2001) "William Francis Watson does not fit the popular image of an urban gun runner. For a start, he has no legs. But the bespectacled pensioner is responsible for putting 21 high-powered hand guns on Sydney's streets, and only two of them have been found. Of the two, one was allegedly used in a shooting in which a policeman was injured and the other involved in an incident outside the Hilton Hotel." [That's OK, a gun ban will fix this problem. Oh, wait...they already have one.]

News about (and from) Britain , a nation that recently implemented some of the strictest gun control laws in the world:

• The Guardian Unlimited 's Special Reports on gun violence in Britain
• MP demands compulsory DNA register to combat crime ( Ananova , March 8, 2002) "Newborn babies should have DNA samples taken so police can identify violent criminals later in life from their genetic codes, says Tony Banks." [How will this *prevent* crime? It may make it easier to find some (NOT all) criminals *after* they've done their deed, but not before. Unless, of course, Britain begin to engage in genetic profiling to find out who will be a criminal, and then incarcerate that person at birth. I wonder where all the liberals are? Surely the fear of genetic profiling is something that they would rant against (if they can stop hugging trees long enough to find a sympathetic microphone). Josef Stalin would be proud.]
• Massive rise in gun murders ( This Is London , December 19, 2001) "Gun crime in London is rocketing, with increases of almost 90 per cent in some firearms offences, Scotland Yard revealed today....New figures show London murders with guns increased by 87 per cent in the first eight months of the year compared with the same period last year....There were significant rises in virtually all offences involving firearms. Armed muggings increased from 435 to 667, a rise of 53 per cent." [I've said it before and I'll say it again. The problem, in Britain as well as the U.S., isn't guns—it's gangs and drugs. Disarming the public isn't going to stop robbery and murder, it's only going to prevent people from protecting themselves.]
• Sportsmen have been disarmed but gun crimes still increase ( The Daily Telegraph , March 13, 2001) "AFTER one man went on the rampage at Dunblane five years ago today, anti-gun campaigners persuaded the government that a ban on sporting handguns would make the public safer. They whipped up such a frenzy that logical debate was impossible. The ban was enacted, the sport of pistol-shooting was destroyed, many small businesses were ruined and the British taxpayer had to foot a bill which, though yet to be fully calculated, runs into hundreds of millions of pounds....Yet five years on, the criminal misuse of handguns has actually increased greatly. Handguns are used in a greater proportion of offences involving firearms - 54 per cent in 1999 compared with 44 per cent in 1989....In the early 1990s, I carried out research with Detective Inspector Adrian Maybanks, as he was then, of the Metropolitan Police....We concluded: 'All the evidence suggests that existing controls on real weapons have had little or no effect. Moreover, there is a significant danger that criminals might be encouraged to make more use of real guns if new controls were imposed on replicas....'In London in 1954 (when there were roughly double the number of legitimate firearm certificate holders), there were four robberies with firearms in the whole year. Now there are as many each day. The difference is not explained by the shooting sports but by a change in our culture. Address that change and you begin to address the real problem." [I think the writer—a psychologist and researcher—is on to something.]
• A quarter of English are victims of crime ( Electronic Telegraph , February 23, 2001) "PEOPLE living in England and Wales are at greater risk of falling victim to crime than citizens of most other industrialised nations, according to a study published yesterday....The International Crime Victims Survey , based on 34,000 telephone interviews across 17 countries, found that 26 per cent of people - more than one in four - in England and Wales had been victims of crime in 1999. The figure for Scotland was 23 per cent and in Northern Ireland 15 per cent....England and Wales were second only to Australia in the examination of "victimisation rates", details of which appeared in the Economist....After Australia and England and Wales, the highest prevalence of crime was in Holland (25 per cent), Sweden (25 per cent) and Canada (24 per cent). The United States, despite its high murder rate, was among the middle ranking countries with a 21 per cent victimisation rate."
• Gun police doubled to combat 'turf war' ( Guardian Unlimited , February 9, 2001) "Police stepped up armed patrols in Liverpool yesterday after a teenager was killed in the fifth shooting in three weeks, sparking fears of a gangland turf war." [I've said it before and I'll say it again. The problem, in Britain as well as the U.S., isn't guns—it's gangs and drugs.]
• Four killed in Surrey shooting ( Guardian Unlimited , February 5, 2001) "Two adults and two children have been killed in a shooting incident at a housing estate in Camberley, Surrey, police said today."
• Handgun crime soars despite Dunblane ban ( Electronic Telegraph , January 11, 2001) "THE number of crimes involving handguns reached its highest level for seven years in 2000...Some 3,685 crimes involving handguns were recorded in 1999-2000, including 42 homicides, 310 cases of attempted murder, 2,561 robberies and 204 burglaries, the Home Office revealed....The total was more than one-third (37%) up on the previous year.... A ban on all private ownership of handguns became law in November 1997, but handgun offences have risen each year since then. " [So much for banning guns to prevent crime.]
• Hoey [British labour party Sports minister] criticises ban on handguns ( Electronic Telegraph , January 2, 2001) "THE post-Dunblane ban on handgun possession has done nothing to stop criminals getting their hands on firearms, according to Kate Hoey, the sports minister....she says: "I have never accepted the link between legal holding of firearms and illegal weapons. I represent Vauxhall in London where there's a substantial number of illegal weapons on the black market, very easily available, and I'm not sure that the handgun ban has done anything to prevent illegal weapons getting into the wrong hands."
• Gun crime rockets to record high ( Guardian Unlimited , December 31, 2000) "Gun crime in Britain is soaring to record levels: executions, woundings and related incidents in the past year are set to be the highest ever, an investigation by The Observer has revealed....Preliminary figures show there have been more than 15,000 armed offences during 2000, up by almost 10 per cent over last year. The number of armed operations by police is also at a record level....Manchester, notorious for its levels of gun crime in the early Nineties, is also seeing a dramatic rise in such offences. In a three-week period in September alone, seven people were shot, including a 16-year-old murdered while riding his bike through a park....The use of guns outside the big towns and cities is rising too. Earlier this month shoppers were horrified to see two armed robbers shoot a security guard during a raid on a Securicor van in Hastings, East Sussex. The guard was wounded in the face and mouth. " [I know! Britain should institute one of the toughest gun-control laws in the world in order to fight this spate of gun crime! ...Oh, wait, they did that a few years ago. I wonder why it isn't working?]
• 'Mobile phone' gun seized ( Guardian Unlimited , December 3, 2000) "British police have seized a hi-tech, James Bond-style pistol disguised as a mobile phone, senior officers have told The Observer.....Law enforcement officers fear that thousands such weapons have been brought into Western Europe in recent years....Officers in London confirmed yesterday that a 'phone gun' had been found in the 'Metropolitan Police area'. It is the first of its type to come to the attention of the British police, but senior officers fear a flood of similar weapons." [Despite Britain's gun ban, criminals are finding ways around it. The ban didn't disarm the criminals—it only disarmed their victims, who now have no way to protect themselves from the increase in crime.]
• Robbery Plot Hatched in Classroom ( Guardian Unlimited , November 3, 2000) "Three boys pointed a fake gun at the head of a millionaire and robbed him of £400 in a raid planned between school lessons, a Manchester court heard yesterday....Detectives discovered that other boys from the school had been unwittingly recruited to help make a fake police warrant card so they could trick their way into Mr Reynard's home."
• US-style gun law comes to Britain ( Guardian Unlimited , October 23, 2000) Nottingham police on armed foot patrol after rise in shootings....
  "There is no doubt that gun-related crime is on the increase. Last December it emerged that armed crime was up by 10%, with 13,671 armed offences in the year. Government research has found that one in three criminals under 25 has access to a firearm, and there are thought to be more than 3m firearms illegally in circulation, double the number 10 years ago." [If the gun-control advocates are right, then Britain's 1998 implementation of some of the toughest gun-control laws in the world—in which British subjects' firearms were seized and destroyed—should have decreased armed crime, yet it's rising. See also the following report.]
• Police take guns on routine street patrol ( The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald , October 25, 2000) Nottingham police on armed foot patrol after rise in shootings....
  "The chief police officers' association said it did not mean that Britain was moving towards arming officers. But the leader of rank-and-file officers suggested it was another step on the road to an armed force....Nick Marshall, 26, said he thought the police had no option. 'The criminals are carrying guns,' he said. 'I think police should be able to defend themselves.'" [Too bad Mr. Marshall doesn't think normal citizens—er, excuse me— subjects shouldn't be able to do the same.]
• Straw to tighten gun laws despite Olympic success ( The Times , October 5, 2000) "Gun laws are to be tightened under government proposals condemned last night by shooting and sporting organisations. They claimed that the measures could affect Britain's chances of winning future Olympic gold medals."
• One in three young criminals is armed ( Guardian Unlimited , September 3, 2000) Government research shows use of guns is on the rise and gangster films are blamed for making it seem 'cool'
  "A continuing parliamentary inquiry into the growing number of black market weapons has concluded that there are more than three million illegally held firearms in circulation - double the number believed to have been held 10 years ago - and that criminals are more willing than ever to use them....Small shopkeepers, who in the past have found themselves threatened with iron bars, baseball bats or knives, are increasingly finding themselves facing handguns or even automatic weapons. A study by Independent Retail News shows that a third of all attacks now involve firearms. " [The shopkeepers shouldn't worry, though. After all, most guns of the type used in these crimes are illegal, so criminals will stop using them...won't they?]
• Bouncers shot trying to end nightclub fight ( The Times , August 29, 2000) "Two doormen were shot with a handgun after trying to break up a fight outside an Essex nightclub, police said yesterday....This is not the first time that there have been serious incidents at the club, which regularly attracts thousands. In October, police began a murder inquiry after one brother died and another was seriously injured after a double stabbing. Darren Pearman, 27, of Waltham Abbey, died from multiple stab wounds after a fight at the club."
• Addicts commit half of all crimes ( The Times , August 15, 2000) "CRIMINALS addicted to heroin or cocaine are committing more than 20 crimes a month to finance their drug habits, according to Home Office research published yesterday....The research, based on surveys of suspects arrested in four areas around the country, reveals a hardcore of about 10 per cent of offenders who regularly break the law to support their narcotic use. The group accounts for 52 per cent of the offences uncovered in the study. " [The solution seems simple enough. Since Britain instituted extremist gun-control laws in an effort to fight violent crime, they should enact similarly strict drug laws to fight drug-related crime. That'll work, won't it?]
• More New York than Slough as gunmen spring prisoners court ( Guardian Unlimited , August 4, 2000) "Gunmen disguised as security guards burst into a crowded magistrates court in Berkshire yesterday, fired several shots into the ceiling, coshed a police officer, and then fled with two prisoners who had been brought up from the cells charged with burglary offences."
• Eight sprayed with bullets outside club ( The Times , August 1, 2000) "GUNMEN sprayed eight young partygoers with automatic gunfire in an indiscriminate attack as they emerged from a South London nightclub yesterday....The police said the attack could have resulted in mass murder. It is the latest in a series of shootings among black people which police say accounts for more than two thirds of gun crime in London....Deputy Assistant Commissioner Bill Griffiths said yesterday: "I think we are lucky not to be talking about eight murders. It is unprecedented for this number of people to be injured in this way. I don't think we have experienced anything with such a high level of indiscriminate violence."
• Blair hit by sharp rise in violent crime ( The Times , July 18, 2000) "The Government's credibility on law and order is seriously undermined today with publication of figures showing a huge rise in violent crime, robberies and muggings....The latest figures show a rise of 192,000 recorded crimes to a total of 5.3 million offences in the year to the end of March, an increase fuelled by drunken violence and a surge in robberies in London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester....It is the increase in violent offences - including a 26 per cent rise in robbery, a 12.6 per cent increase in serious violence and a 28 per cent increase in muggings - that is most alarming to the Government. But while violent crime rose, household burglary fell by 6.5 per cent, car crime by 3 per cent and drug offences by more than 10 per cent."
• Tough on the critics of crime measures ( The Times , July 13, 2000) "The rise in crime figures to be confirmed next week has already caused skirmishing between the parties, such is the sensitivity of law and order (Peter Riddell writes). "
• Outrage as US TV news brands Britain violent ( Guardian Unlimited , June 29, 2000) "CBS News anchorman Dan Rather said in a report: 'This summer thousands of Americans will travel to Britain expecting a civilised island free from crime and ugliness.... 'And in many ways it is that. But now, like the US, the UK has a crime problem. And believe it or not, except for murder, theirs is worse than ours....' The Home Office minister Charles Clarke said the report was ridiculous and underlined a 'serious tendency to trivialise an important issue....' He added that the report did not take account of the fact that Britain 'has one of the toughest gun controls in the world and America one of the most lax'." [Mr Clarke: the report did take your tough gun controls into account. They haven't helped.]
• Heartless and mindless ( This is London , May 30, 2000) "The report we carry today on the rapid increase in armed robberies in central London is deeply disquieting....The number of robberies on banks has increased by 81 per cent in the first four months of this year, and attacks on security vans by 82 per cent....Gun crime in London, which last year resulted in 26 murders, is on the increase, most of it connected to drug dealing by Yardie-style gangs." [The problem in Britain is the same as here—drugs, not guns.]
• Street crime surges ( BBC , January 18, 2000) "A huge surge in muggings, amid a worrying rise in violent crime, have been revealed in Home Office statistics....The number of robberies - most of them muggings - increased by 19% in the year to September 1999 compared with a fall of nearly 6% over the previous 12 months....Overall, police in England and Wales recorded a total of 5.2 million offences in the year to September 1999....The rise in violent crime, which includes attacks, sex offences and robbery, is the largest since 1995/1996, when attacks increased by 10%." [The rising crime rate has so alarmed the British government that it is considering a proposal to allow police to stop any person on the street for any reason and search them, without any probably cause that the individual might be involved in a crime, and without any court order or other legal justification.]
• Killings rise as 3m[illion] illegal guns flood Britain ( The Times , January 16, 2000) "UP TO 3m illegal guns are in circulation in Britain, leading to a rise in drive-by shootings and gangland-style executions, new figures have revealed....Police are concerned that the amnesty after the massacre of schoolchildren in Dunblane in 1996, which led to 200,000 weapons being handed in, has failed to dent the underworld's supply of pistols and revolvers....Criminals have maintained a steady flow of smuggled guns from eastern Europe, exhibition weapons reactivated in illegal 'factories' run by underworld dealers, and guns stolen from private collections."

News about (and from) the United States

• Legislators up in arms about gun policy ( The Washington Times Washington, D.C.; January 31, 2002) "Maryland House and Senate leaders want to stop a Maryland State Police crackdown on gun owners convicted of minor and, in some cases, long-past offenses....'We need to concentrate our police power on drug dealers and current lawbreakers, and not look for work that's not adversely affecting our society,' said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr."
• Coeds Want to Pack Heat ( Cybercast News Service ; January 31, 2002) "At a women's liberal arts college in the liberal, anti- gun state of Massachusetts, something appears to be out of sync. A campus group called the Second Amendment Sisters is lobbying for students' right to carry firearms....The Mount Holyoke chapter of the Second Amendment Sisters (SAS), now in its first year, is a recognized on-campus organization with a membership approaching 50 women."
• Editorial: Beyond gun control: Do you have a permit for that baseball bat, son? ( The Union Leader & New Hampshire Sunday News , New Hampshire; January 30, 2002) "GUN CONTROL opponents have long repeated variations of the slogan “guns don’t kill people, criminals do.” The idea can be traced at least as far back as the Roman philosopher Seneca, who said, “a sword never kills anybody; it’s a tool in a killer’s hand.” Probably its most humorous permutation was in an ad a few years back for a Charles Bronson movie marathon on TV. 'Guns don’t kill people, Bronson does....' Far be it from gun control advocates to take advice from ancient philosophers or Charles Bronson movies. They carry on with the idea that the weapon, not the person wielding it, is the evil to be controlled. This raises interesting questions in light of recent events....On Monday a Hudson woman was beaten with a baseball bat in a mall parking lot. If the weapon, not the criminal, is to be controlled, then there can be no argument against registering and licensing baseball bats. Many of us saw 'The Untouchables,' in which Al Capone beat a man to death with a baseball bat. Isn’t it time we worked to prevent future bat murders?"
• Gunman Fatally Shot by Grocer ( Chicago Tribune , Chicago, Illinois; April 13, 2001) "A South Side grocery owner, who neighbors said had been robbed repeatedly over the years, Thursday morning shot and killed an armed robber when the gunman turned toward a customer, police said."
• Robbery suspect shot to death by 7-Eleven clerk in Glendale ( The Arizona Republic , Arizona; April 11, 2001) "A robbery suspect was fatally shot by a convenience-store clerk today following a holdup at a 7-Eleven in Glendale."
• Waukegan shooting ruled self-defense (Chicago Daily Herald , Chicago, Illinois; April 10, 2001) "Authorities said a Waukegan man was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed a member of a group beating him early Sunday morning....The man who was shot, Esteban Gomez, 19, of Waukegan, died of a single gunshot wound to the heart about 1:15 a.m. Sunday, said Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Michael Mermel....Police said Gomez was one of a group of up to 15 people who barged into a house in the 400 block of Cummings Street and confronted Sanchez, a visitor to the house." [Of course, any gun control advocates who were visiting the victim would have insisted that he put down the gun and wait for the police.]
• Arizonan shoots, hits hiding border crosser ( The Arizona Republic , Arizona; April 8, 2001) "A rural Arizona resident who surprised a group of undocumented immigrants hiding in a travel trailer in his back yard said he shot and wounded one of them...."I feel bad for these people, they're in a bad situation, but they put us in a bad situation, too. I was afraid for my life," said Wayne Lockridge, a Bisbee real estate agent whose home is three miles north of the Mexico-Arizona border."
• Woman, Defending Daughter, Shoots Man ( TheCarolinaChannel (site operated by WYFF TV) , Greenville, South Carolina; April 5, 2001) "A woman who said that she was trying to defend her adult daughter shot a man to death Wednesday night. "
• Occupant of apartment kills intruder ( Anchorage Daily News , Anchorage, Alaska; April 3, 2001) "A man who broke into a Midtown apartment early Monday was shot dead by an occupant, Anchorage police said."
• Store clerk shoots gunman ( St. Petersburg Times , St. Petersburg, Florida; March 31, 2001) "As the man grabbed the money from owner Michael Issa and slightly lowered his pistol, the clerk quickly pulled a gun from a drawer behind the counter, Issa said. The suspect shuffled back toward the door as the clerk shot three times, Cason said. "
• Robbery suspect killed in shooting ( Tennessean , Tennessee; March 31, 2001) "A Murfreesboro Pike businessman's fatal shooting of a knife-wielding robbery suspect yesterday afternoon was justifiable, police said....At 2:15 p.m., the suspect entered King's Florist, 722 Murfreesboro Pike, and told owner Paulette King, 45, of Antioch, that he was there to rob the store. Holding a knife at King's throat, the robber dragged her to the cash register and took less than $30....As the robber began forcing King to the back of the shop, she yelled for help. Next door at Unique Hair Design, 720 Murfreesboro Pike, Wayne T. Martin heard her cries."
• Police nab home invader ( Edmond Sun , Edmond, Oklahoma; March 30, 2001) "A University of Central Oklahoma student was arrested early Thursday after attempting to break into an east Edmond home....Matthew Charles Pelter, 19, was confronted by Albert and Carol Bird, after an alarm activated in their Bridlewood Farms home....Bird said he and his wife were in bed when the alarm went off. After he told Pelter to leave his home, Bird went to get his personal rifle, according to police reports....When Bird came back, the intruder had fled through the front door to the suspect's car, a 1982 Lincoln Towncar. "
• Suspect in failed robbery hospitalized ( Daily Press (Hampton Roads, Virginia) , March 25, 2001) "A man who tried to rob a pizza-delivery driver was in serious condition at Riverside Regional Medical Center on Saturday after the driver shot him, Newport News police said....A manager at that store said the situation was a set-up." [Of course, knife control would have prevented this, just like gun control will prevent crimes committed with guns, right?]
• Suspect in failed robbery hospitalized ( Daily Press (Hampton Roads, Virginia) , March 25, 2001) "A man who tried to rob a pizza-delivery driver was in serious condition at Riverside Regional Medical Center on Saturday after the driver shot him, Newport News police said....A manager at that store said the situation was a set-up."
• Good Samaritan won't live in fear ( RockyMountainNews.com , March 5, 2001) "Chuck Harris had an oxygen tube in his nose, IVs stuck in his arms and the teddy bear his youngest daughter brought him in his hands Sunday....Harris is the good Samaritan who picked up three hitchhikers, took them home for dinner Thursday evening and nearly lost his life. He is alive because, after he was stabbed repeatedly while fighting off the two men and one woman he'd brought home, he reached for his .44-caliber Magnum pistol and started shooting."
• Local store owners thwart attempted armed robbery ( The Bryan-College Station Eagle , March 3, 2001)
• Pizza shop worker shoots, kills robber ( Fayetteville Online (Fayetteville, N.C., Observer) , March 2, 2001) "A pizza shop employee shot and killed a man who robbed the business Thursday night, police said."
• Wounded, he's guilty in robbery -- ParaTransit driver shot thief in defense ( The Philadelphia Daily News , February 16, 2001) "Emanuel Glover, 40, a ParaTransit driver, has a license to carry a gun....He wants the weapon for protection....On Dec. 1, 1999, he used it....The gun may have saved his life, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Malone said yesterday....Glover shot and wounded an angry robber as he was being led at gunpoint into a dark, vacant lot on Tioga Street near 15th, said Malone."
• City seeing rapid rise in stabbing homicides ( The Boston Globe , February 14, 2001) "With the brutal Tuesday night stabbing of a 30-year-old man - knifed in the legs until he bled to death - Boston marked its 11th murder of the year, nearly tripling the count at this time last year, when police had logged just four homicides....Yet as police try to make sense of a rapidly rising murder rate, the slaying of James Pullen of Boston has handed them another, equally disturbing trend: [b]In the past three weeks, stabbings have claimed more lives than in all of 2000.[/b]"
• Son fatally shoots man attacking his father ( Cable News Network , November 25, 2000) and Son shoots man attacking dad ( The Florida Times-Union , November 25, 2000)
  CNN: "JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) — A son paying a surprise visit may have saved his father's life by fatally shooting a man who was choking him, police said."
  Times-Union: "Making an unexpected visit to his father's house in North Jacksonville Friday morning, Dwayne McDowell Smith arrived to find him being choked and fatally shot the attacker, police said."
• How Long Does it Take to Die? ( The Sierra Times , November 17, 2000) "One of the arguments the gun-banners use is that victims of crime should call police and let the authorities handle the situation. As James Brady said, 'For defense of the home—that's why we have police departments.' An examination of two cases, however, would seem to put the lie to that statement."
• "An Extraordinarily Gruesome Case," or Why Everyone Needs a Gun ( The Sierra Times , September 4, 2000) "When Hayward Bissell and his girlfriend Patricia Ann Booher left Ohio on a trip to Florida, no one could have guessed that they would soon make front-page news. Though the national media reported the sensational aspects of the case, only local newspapers wrote about the woman who saved herself and her husband from Bissell's insane rage. "

News about (and from) other parts of the world

• Israeli teachers take lessons in shooting ( The Times , March 8, 2002) "[T]he Israeli Government announced plans to issue 40,000 more gun licences to civilians...There are 265,000 guns in private hands in Israel, which has a population of six million. This compares with the United States, where the federal Government estimated in 1999 that 36 per cent of the population owned guns...Across the corridor in the dimly lit firing range, Elinor puts on her ear mufflers as the instructor corrects her stance and advises her to hold the weapon more tightly...She had assumed that her husband, a policeman, would take care of security, but like most Israelis she has read reports of how the Palestinian gunman who killed three people at a Tel Aviv fish restaurant was overpowered and shot by a diner. She now thinks that she must take responsibility for her security...'The school only asked me two days ago to get a licence, and I said yes....'"
• Two die in St. Lucia sword and fire church attack ( Reuters/Yahoo , January 1, 2001) "Suspected members of an anti-Roman Catholic cult hacked at worshipers with swords and set them on fire in an attack at a cathedral in St. Lucia that killed two people and injured dozens more.... " [When guns aren't available, criminals will use other tools.]

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