Movement Roundup

CHICAGO — Two summers ago, my husband and I took our sons to a shooting range for multiple days of firearms training with a certified instructor. Our logic was simple: In our low-income community with lots of gang activity, it was laughable to imagine that our boys wouldn't someday find themselves in a situation where a pal had brought a gun to school or asked them to come see his parents' gun. Did we want them to clumsily handle a deadly weapon — seduced by the... [Washington Post, Opinion, via GunPolicy.org]

A new report sheds light on a little-studied subject: the trafficking of US weapons into Guatemala, a relatively limited phenomenon that could be far bigger than suggested by the available data and may play a role in the continuing violence and criminality in that Central American nation. The report (pdf), from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, reviews an analysis that the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) conducted of... [InSight Crime (Bogota), via GunPolicy.org]

Gun violence dropped dramatically nationwide over the past two decades, but nearly three-quarters of all homicides are still committed with a firearm, the Justice Department said in a report released Tuesday. The report, by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, painted an encouraging picture of long-term trends at a time of divisive political debate over guns and legislation to regulate them. Firearms-related homicides declined 39 percent between 1993 and... [Washington Post, via GunPolicy.org]

The first downloadable gun has gone viral. The plastic firearm that can be churned out on a 3-D printer and easily assembled was downloaded at least 50,000 times Monday, according to the self-described anarchist who made it available for free online. Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed, a collective of gun advocates, said the most downloads were done in Spain followed by the United States. The prospect of terrorists getting hold of the guns by clicking a computer... [New York Daily News, via GunPolicy.org]

The world's first gun made with 3D printer technology has been successfully fired in the US. The controversial group who created the firearm plan to make the blueprints available online. Anti-gun advocates have criticised the project and Europol, Europe's law enforcement agency, said it was closely monitoring the development. Rebecca Morelle... [BBC News, Video, via GunPolicy.org]

BURKESVILLE, Kentucky — Last Monday, Kristian Sparks and his sister, Caroline, visited a Fred's Super Dollar store here. A store manager recalled that it was an ordinary shopping trip, saying that the boy was outgoing and energetic, his little sister was cute and their grandmother was "like any grandmother — she bought them anything they wanted." The next day Kristian, 5, shot and killed his 2-year-old sister with a gun marketed for children as "My First Rifle" in... [New York Times, via GunPolicy.org]

The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans climbed a startling 28 per cent in a decade, a period that included the recession and the mortgage crisis, the government reports. The trend was most pronounced among white men and women in that age group. Their suicide rate jumped 40 per cent between 1999 and 2010. But the rates in younger and older people held steady. And there was little change among middle-aged blacks, Hispanics and most other racial and ethnic... [Stuff (New Zealand) / Associated Press, via GunPolicy.org]

A Caymanian man accused in a gun smuggling ring that operated between Grand Cayman and south Florida between 2008 and 2009 has been sentenced to nearly four years in United States federal prison. Mikkyle Brandon Leslie was sentenced before Judge Robin Rosenbaum Monday in Fort Lauderdale following a plea deal his attorneys reached with federal prosecutors earlier this year. Leslie could have faced between 20 to 30 years in prison if he had gone to trial and been... [CayCompass.com (Cayman Islands), via GunPolicy.org]

After the Sandy Hook massacre when 20 school children were gunned down in their classrooms along with several of their teachers, many of us thought the country would finally wake up to the insanity of allowing civilians to arm themselves with weapons designed to inflict mass carnage. Instead, what we have seen is tragedy descend into farce as all efforts to pass sensible gun reform measures have collapsed and gun makers, their lobbyists and now security companies are... [Guardian (UK), Opinion, via GunPolicy.org]

A 2-year-old girl was accidentally shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother with a rifle he received as a birthday gift, Kentucky authorities said on Wednesday. The shooting occurred on Tuesday afternoon in Burkesville, Kentucky, a community in the south-central part of the state, when the boy was playing with the .22-caliber rifle and accidentally shot his sister in the chest, state police said. The boy had received the Crickett "youth model" gun for his birthday in... [Reuters, via GunPolicy.org]