Showing posts with label guns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guns. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: CAIRO—Egypt's military has begun shipping arms over the border to Libyan rebels with Washington's knowledge, U.S. and Libyan rebel officials said.
The shipments—mostly small arms such as assault rifles and ammunition—appear to be the first confirmed case of an outside government arming the rebel fighters. Those fighters have been losing ground for days in the face of a steady westward advance by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The Egyptian shipments are the strongest indication to date that some Arab countries are heeding Western calls to take a lead in efforts to intervene on behalf of pro-democracy rebels in their fight against Mr. Gadhafi in Libya. Washington and other Western countries have long voiced frustration with Arab states' unwillingness to help resolve crises in their own region, even as they criticized Western powers for attempting to do so.
The shipments also follow an unusually robust diplomatic response from Arab states. There have been rare public calls for foreign military intervention in an Arab country, including a vote by the 23-member Arab League last week urging the U.N. to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. » | Charles Levinson and Matthew Rosenberg | Thursday, March 17, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Majority of 26 cantons reject move to ban army rifles from homes, which reformers hoped would lower firearms suicide rate
Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to tighten the country's relaxed gun laws.
With final official results yet to be released, a majority in at least 18 of Switzerland's 26 cantons voted against the proposal to ban army rifles from homes and impose new requirements for buying other guns.
The proposal would have ended the Swiss tradition of men keeping their army rifles at home – even after completing their military service. Supporters of the reform argued this would have reduced incidents of domestic violence and Switzerland's high rate of firearms suicide.
"This is an important sign of confidence in our soldiers," said Pius Segmueller, a lawmaker with the Christian People's party and former commander of the Vatican's Swiss Guard.
The government had argued that existing laws were sufficient to ensure some 2.3m weapons in a country of fewer than 8 million people are not misused.
Opposition against the proposal was strongest in rural and German-speaking parts of the country, which tend to be more conservative and where shooting clubs are popular. >>> Associated Press | Sunday, February 13, 2011
Friday, January 22, 2010
BBC: A US military contractor has said it will stop engraving Biblical references on rifles used by the US army.
The markings, in the form of coded references, have been appearing on products made by the US firm Trijicon, based in Michigan, for decades.
But on Thursday, US military chief Gen David Petraeus, said the practice of scripture references was "disturbing" and "a serious concern".
The firm also sells the gunsights to Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
The inscriptions - which include "2COR4:6" and "JN8:12", relating to verses in the books of II Corinthians and John - appear in raised lettering at the end of the stock number.
The company pledged to remove the inscription reference on all products destined for the US military yet to be shipped and ensure all future procurements from the department of defence are produced without scripture references. Religious sensitivities >>> | Friday, January 22, 2010
Monday, April 16, 2007
TIMESONLINE: A lone gunman has killed at least 30 people at an American university today in the bloodiest campus shooting in US history.
Police said there had been "at least 20 fatalities" in two locations at Virginia Tech university but government officials later told American news outlets that death toll could be as high as 32.
Describing the killings as a tragedy of "monumental proportions", the university said that a lone gunman killed one person and wounded several others at a dormitory shortly after 7am this morning before going on to kill the rest of his victims in the engineering department more than two hours later.
Reports from the scene said 28 students and teachers had been wounded in the attacks, including some who leaped from windows to avoid the shooter, who was reportedly killed by police. Lone gunman kills at least 30 in US campus massacre by Sam Knight
Why are there so many shootings in America?
Gun laws back in the spotlight
WATCH BBC VIDEO: Many shot dead in US university
Mark Alexander
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