The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a state law that forbids felons from possessing firearms, ruling that lawmakers did not intend to invalidate the state’s weapons laws when they proposed a constitutional amendment declaring gun ownership a fundamental right.

Justice Jeff Hughes wrote in a unanimous opinion that the state’s ban on the possession of firearms by convicted felons “is not affected” by the constitutional language approved by voters in 2012.

The justices also found that the law, R.S. 1495.1, withstood a legal test known as “strict scrutiny,” the highest level of judicial review, which became necessary after voters in 2012 overwhelmingly approved constitutional language that gave Louisiana the strongest gun-rights laws in the nation.

“Such laws are effective, time-tested and easily understandable, and do not violate the constitution,” Hughes wrote in the 16-page opinion. “Common sense and the public safety allow no other result.”

http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/9615293-171/la-supreme-court-upholds-gun

Our policy:

We want to help keep people safe both online and offline, so we don't allow the promotion of some products or services that cause damage, harm, or injury.

Here are some examples of products and services that we consider to be dangerous:

Guns & parts

Disapproval and suspension reason: "Guns & parts"

Functional devices that appear to discharge a projectile at high velocity, whether for sport, self-defense, or combat (Note that we err on the side of caution and apply this policy to sporting or recreational guns that can cause serious harm if misused, or that appear to be real guns.)

Examples: Handguns, rifles, shotguns, hunting guns, functioning antique guns, airsoft guns, paintball guns, bb guns

Any part or component that's necessary to the function of a gun or intended for attachment to a gun

Examples: Gun scopes, ammunition, ammunition clips or belts

https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/6014299?hl=en

DOTHAN, Alabama -- Ten people were arrested for illegal gun sales that took place at Sadie's Flea Market in Dothan.

U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama and Special Agent in Charge Jeff Fulton of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), made the announcement today on the steps of the federal courthouse in Dothan.

Those arrested had rented booths at Sadie's Flea Market and engaged in the sale of firearms, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated. ATF agents seized over 200 firearms and over 5000 rounds of live ammunition.

Nine of the 10 arrested are accused of selling guns to individuals they knew had been convicted of a felony. Four were also charged with selling firearms without a license.

http://www.al.com/news/montgomery/index.ssf/2014/06/10_charged_with_illegally_sell.html

EAST PRICE HILL, Ohio (Larry Davis) -- Videos that made their way around Facebook and other social media sites had neighbors talking about fears of violence.

The video showed a man and two women carrying around high-powered weapons. They made no attempt to hide their weapons and the videos are full of racial slurs. The voice in the video was that of a man who recorded three of his friends walking through the streets of East Price Hill. They flaunted the fact that they are legally carrying AR-15's through the neighborhood.

Tracy Howard recently moved into the neighborhood. She grew up in South Africa in an era of apartheid. She was not only troubled by the video but what she sees in East Price Hill.

William Helton was also amazed by what he saw and heard. The video showed the foursome walk by district three police headquarters and were later questioned by police officers. They go on their way, bragging about being able to legally walk the streets carrying assault weapons.

http://www.local12.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/foursome-flaunts-carrying-assault-weapons-video-13675.shtml

More Americans have been killed by guns in the past 50 years than in all of the wars the country has ever fought -- including the Continental Army's victory over the British in 1781.

Black men aged 15-24 are 16 times more likely to die of gunshot wounds than non-Hispanic whites. While only 20 percent of gunshot victims are women, the vast majority of them are killed by current or former romantic partners.

Those sobering statistics are in a comprehensive report on gun violence compiled by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-IL, released Wednesday. The report that Kelly called the first Congressional analysis of gun violence, makes several recommendations, including treating gun violence as a mental health issue.

Po Murray, vice chairman of the Newtown Action Alliance, said in the report there have been 57 school shootings since Adam Lanza blasted his way into Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 first-graders and six educators.

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Congressional-report-on-gun-violence-in-U-S-5583036.php

Visa is facing calls to scrap an array of credit cards it is offering to members of the National Rifle Association.

The role of the NRA in resisting moves to curb gun ownership and impose stricter checks has come under greater scrutiny following a recent series of shooting sprees, in several cases on college campuses.

Earlier this month President Barack Obama repeated his calls for tighter gun laws in the wake of the 74th school shooting in the 18 months since the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Connecticut.

Thousands of campaigners have already signed a petition calling for Visa to end its association with the lobby group.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10929469/Visa-urged-to-to-sever-links-with-National-Rifle-Association.html

When it comes to gun ownership, the US blows the rest of the world out of the water. And the research on guns suggests that's probably contributing to our gun murder problem — one that the 74 school shootings that have happened since Sandy Hook demonstrate isn't yet under control.

Here's a map of firearm ownership around the world, using 2012 data compiled by The Guardian. The United States has nearly twice as many guns per 100 people as the next closest, Yemen — 88.8 guns per 100 as opposed to 54.8 in Yemen. Here's how that looks mapped:

[center][/center]

How does this relate to homicide rates? Not simply. For instance, the United States has over 12 times as many guns per person as Honduras, but the 2012 US gun homicide rate per 100,000 people (2.97) is 1/22 of Honduras' (68.43). That's because, while guns make murder easier, wealthy industrialized countries generally have significantly lower rates of violent crime than comparatively impoverished ones.

But when you compare the United States to nations like Britain and Japan, it becomes clear that firearm ownership contributes to America's murder problem. The American firearm homicide rate is about 20 times the average among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries (excluding Mexico).

http://www.vox.com/2014/6/11/5797892/us-world-firearm-ownership-map

Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps the stupidest thing that gun nuts do—that would be aside from all the phenomenally stupid things that leave thousands and thousands of Americans dead every year from murder by gun, suicide by gun, accidental shooting by gun—is believing that their numbers are anything beyond a small, small fraction of the nation’s population.

Take, for instance, last weekend, when two gun nuts shot down three people in Las Vegas…

Hey! Hey! Hey! I see what you’re doing, Cope. You’re trying to make all of us Second Amendment patriots out to be like them killers. Ya’ know, if there’d been more of us around with our guns, they wouldn’ta gotten away with that.

Ah, I see the representative of the NRA has joined us. And already, it seems we need to remind him that two of the victims were policemen. Armed policemen. Yet the gun nuts… or should I call them “Second Amendment patriots?”… killed them precisely because they were policemen. Policemen whose duties would naturally include protecting citizens from the likes of these “Second Amendment patriots.”

http://www.boiseweekly.com/Cobweb/archives/2014/06/13/mr-copes-cave-more-stupid-things-that-gun-nuts-do

There have been at least 74 school shootings in America since Adam Lanza killed his mother and 26 students and teachers before committing suicide in Newton, Connecticut. They were lives – both young and old – lost at the hands of a man and his gun, a violent rampage that has been replicated at academic institutions nationwide day after day, month after month and year after year. As we continue to contemplate what went wrong on that fateful date in December 2012, trying to think of ways to prevent gun violence and save lives, two George Mason University professors are actually taking action.

Volgenau School of Engineering associate professor Ken Hintz and School of Management assistant professor Jim Wolfe are developing technology that can detect a weapon before it's shot, manufacturing a method to determine the location of a brandished gun before the first shot is fired. The detectors, they say, could not only make schools and workplaces safer, but also better protect deployed military members and heads of state.

According to the university, the professors' tech transfer startup company FirstGuard Technologies Corporation received a $2.3 million contract form the Office of Naval Research to create prototypes of the pre-shot weapons detector, which was discovered thanks to an Office of Naval Research grant to George Mason in 2008.

The technology, the school says, "can detect a range of firearms, from a four-inch revolver to an 81-millimeter mortar launcher. And, unlike previous anti-sniper technological advancements that locate the shooter after the first shot, this one detects the weapon before it is fired whether the weapon uses optical or iron sights." Clearly an advanced, cutting-edge detector, it's no wonder the Office of Naval Research is so enthusiastic about the product.

http://inthecapital.streetwise.co/2014/06/19/george-mason-university-technology-that-can-detect-a-weapon-before-its-shot/

Violence against women looks very different than violence against men. Whether in the context of sexual assault on college campuses or in the military, violence by an intimate partner, or other types of violent victimization, women’s experiences of violence in this country are unique from those of men. One key difference in the violence committed against women in the United States is who commits it: Women are much more likely to be victimized by people they know, while men are more likely to be victims of violent crime at the hands of strangers. Between 2003 and 2012, 65 percent of female violent crime victims were targeted by someone they knew; only 34 percent of male violent crime victims knew their attackers. Intimate partners make up the majority of known assailants: During the same time period, 34 percent of all women murdered were killed by a male intimate partner, compared to the only 2.5 percent of male murder victims killed by a female intimate partner.

A staggering portion of violence against women is fatal, and a key driver of these homicides is access to guns. From 2001 through 2012, 6,410 women were murdered in the United States by an intimate partner using a gun—more than the total number of U.S. troops killed in action during the entirety of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. Guns are used in fatal intimate partner violence more than any other weapon: Of all the women killed by intimate partners during this period, 55 percent were killed with guns. Women in the United States are 11 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than are women in other high income countries.

Limiting abusers and stalkers’ access to firearms is therefore critical to reduce the number of women murdered in this country every year. This idea is not new: Congress first acted 20 years ago to strengthen our gun laws to prevent some domestic abusers from buying guns. But we are still a long way from having a comprehensive system of laws in place at both the federal and state levels that protect women—and children and men—from fatal violence in the context of intimate and domestic relationships. This report provides an overview of the data regarding the intersection of intimate partner violence and gun violence, describing four policies that states and the federal government should enact to reduce dangerous abusers’ access to guns and prevent murders of women:

http://americanprogress.org/issues/guns-crime/report/2014/06/18/91998/women-under-the-gun/