[Libloather]

A Shot in the Dark
The National Rifle Association is enraged by a UN bid to halt the spread of guns
Mark Tran
The Guardian, 27 June 2006

The National Rifle Association, one of America's most vociferous and effective lobby groups, is up in arms, as it were, over a UN initiative to curb the spread of small arms.

Next week, government officials and NGOs will meet in New York for a follow-up conference to a programme of action adopted in 2001. That programme set out a broad set of recommendations to reduce trafficking, proliferation and misuse of guns.

According to the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), although guns kill more people than any other weapons of war, most gun deaths occur in countries or situations that have nothing to do with war.

"Some 200,000 people are shot dead every year in homicides, while a further 50,000 are victims of gun suicides," says Rebecca Peters, the director of IANSA.

The 2001 programme of action laid out several steps for countries to take. The provisions included adequate laws and regulations to prevent the illegal manufacture and trafficking in small arms; a global agreement to ensure that manufacturers mark all weapons for identification and tracing; and the prosecution of illegal gun producers and traffickers.

Progress has been patchy. There is no legally binding instrument for marking and tracing guns, nor is there agreement on how to regulate brokers - intermediaries who arrange or facilitate the transfer of weapons. Brokers often evade prosecution because the weapons they transfer never enter the country where they operate.

Nevertheless, there has been improvement, with stronger gun control laws proposed or passed in countries encompassing Afghanistan (believe it or not), Sierra Leone, Cambodia and the UK.

Excerpted. More - http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=7672

[sinkspur]

The Vatican is not trying to take away anybody's guns.

This article is nothing but hysteria.

[Dick Bachert]

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The unique main gate at Camp GunFree.

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Camp members engaged in one of our many fun-filled organized play activities.

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(This idea from a pamphlet originally created by The Minnesota Center for Individual Liberty, PO Box 32170, Minneapolis, MN 55432-0170)