WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a measure to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, the first major Congressional vote on the issue since the ban expired in 2004.

The vote to approve the measure — now ostensibly headed for the full Senate — went firmly along party lines; the 10 Democrats on the committee voted aye, and the 8 Republicans of the committee rejected it. The legislation would also limit the size of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.

In debating the measure — as well as amendments offered by Senator John Cornyn of Texas designed to chip away its provisions — the committee laid bare the essence and emotions of the debate over how to prevent gun violence and the meaning of the Second Amendment, a fight that is likely to continue on the Senate floor.

The measure, the fourth and most controversial passed by the committee, is almost certain to fail if brought before the entire Senate and has almost zero chance of even receiving a hearing in the House.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/us/politics/panel-approves-reinstatement-of-assault-weapons-ban.html?hp

ALBANY — The overwhelming majority of New York state gun show operators have agreed to new rules to ensure that criminal and mental health background checks are conducted on buyers.

The agreement was reached after undercover agents from the state attorney general’s office were able to purchase weapons, including three AR-15 rifles, without any screening at half a dozen gun shows around the state.

The operators, with shows from White Plains to Cheektowaga, have also agreed to a broader system to track firearms at their shows and to guard against illegal sales in parking lots.

The agreement was negotiated by the New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, who had brought criminal charges against the sellers identified in the sting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/nyregion/most-ny-gun-shows-to-take-steps-on-background-checks.html?hp&_r=0

ATLANTA – The Board of Regents released a statement Tuesday opposing legislation that would allow guns on Georgia’s college campuses, and a separate group is planning a rally to object to them in churches, bars and schools.

The groups are trying to stop House Bill 512, which passed the state House last week just hours before the Legislature’s internal deadline. Now the matter is pending in the Senate.

The House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee rolled into one several separate bills to relax various gun-control measures. Then the House passed it largely on a party-line vote.

“We firmly believe the current law promotes a safe learning environment for our students and working environment for our faculty and staff,” notes the four-sentence statement signed by Chancellor Hank Huckaby, the regents of the University System of Georgia and the presidents of the state’s 31 public colleges.

http://onlineathens.com/general-assembly/2013-03-12/regents-moms-oppose-bill-allowing-guns-campuses-churches

More than 4,000 applicants were denied a Wisconsin concealed carry license and more than 400 had their licenses revoked or suspended in the program’s first 14 months, records show. These included dozens of felons, domestic abusers, illegal drug users and “fugitives from justice.”

Who were these lawbreakers?

The state’s lips are sealed.

“The Department of Justice is not able to provide the records that you have requested because they are not accessible under law,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Kevin Potter, in response to a request for the applications from felons, fugitives and others who were denied licenses.

http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2013/03/12/concealed-carry-law-shields-law-breakers/

The U.S. Middle District Court has upheld the revocation of a Biglerville business owner’s federal firearms license for failing to record the sale of thousands of firearms, a process that law enforcement officials rely on to apprehend criminals who use firearms to commit crimes, and to ensure firearms are not being sold to those unauthorized to possess them.

Peter J. Smith, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and Donald Robinson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Philadelphia Field Division jointly announced Friday that U.S. Middle District Court Judge John E. Jones III, has adopted the revocation of the Federal Firearms License (FFL) of Scott W. Taylor of Taylor’s Trading Post in Biglerville.

Compliance inspection

In early 2010, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) conducted a compliance inspection of Taylor’s business, which was operated out of his Adams County home. ATF discovered that over a three-year period of time, Taylor had committed more than 10,000 violations of the Gun Control Act, which requires firearm dealers to keep detailed and timely records of the purchase and sale of firearms.

Despite buying and selling thousands of guns over that three-year period, Taylor failed to record the purchase of 5,715 firearms, the sale of 2,856 firearms, and keep records of the disposition of 1,618 additional firearms. About 160 of the firearms remain unaccounted for. Taylor also admitted to possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, which he knew was illegal and failing to report it to law enforcement.

http://www.therecordherald.com/article/20130302/NEWS/130309969

On the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012, Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) had been visiting her daughter's kindergarten class, celebrating Hope's birthday.

Having just read to a group of adorable and enthusiastic 5- and 6-year-olds, Hahn recalled, "When I left and heard about the tragedy, obviously being an elected official, I thought about what can I do."

What she did was meet with the Legislature's counsel and the head of the county Pistol Licensing Bureau. Together they wrote a bill, which the Legislature passed unanimously on Tuesday, requiring police officers in Suffolk to notify the Pistol Licensing Bureau of all patients taken involuntarily to a hospital emergency room for psychiatric reasons. The patients will be reported to the bureau whether they are brought to Stony Brook University Hospital's Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, which is usually the case, said Hahn, or to other area hospitals in the county.

If there is a match between the patient's name or home address and the gun registry, she said, the Pistol Licensing Bureau could then investigate whether the gun license should be revoked or suspended. Since shotguns and rifles are not registered in the county, only pistols or handguns are covered by the law.

http://www.northshoreoflongisland.com/Articles-News-i-2013-03-07-95446.112114-sub-Police-must-report-psych-patients-to-gun-bureau.html

Armed with all of the righteous indignation a second amendment Carry and Conceal holder could have, I requested an interview with Campus Security and Police Services Executive Director, Jon Uda. Should we allow conceal and carry on campus? At first, I thought yes. But after speaking to Uda, he disarmed my questions with his thought-provoking insights as to why it is best to leave gun defense on campus to trained professionals. Once the interview was over, he had radically changed my perception. On campus, guns should only be carried by those trained to use them.

Uda, whose training in law enforcement is extensive, is passionate about the security of the Boise State.

“The death of a student keeps me awake at night,” Uda said.

And should that death be at the hands of an inexperienced marksman, it would be devastating to the former FBI agent. Uda has witnessed crimes committed by the dregs of society and yet, to hear his emotion when speaking of the students on campus, it is realized how seriously he takes his job.

http://arbiteronline.com/2013/03/11/concealed-weapons-not-necessary-at-boise-state/

DES MOINES -- The public will never know and authorities can never check to see whether applicants in two Iowa counties were honest when they applied for permits to carry weapons.

Why? Because sheriff's offices in O'Brien and Woodbury counties routinely return or destroy the only copies of the applications once they are processed, even though a line near the top of the document says in capital letters: "INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS FORM IS A PUBLIC RECORD."

O'Brien County Sheriff Michael Anderson simply said his office doesn't need that record once a permit has been issued or denied. In Woodbury County, Lt. Brad Carlson said his office doesn't want to be responsible for the public record.

That's legal, but not advisable, according to an open records advocate, the state's ombudsman and an official from the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Among their concerns:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/12/iowa-gun-permit-applications-destroyed/1980869/

FAIRWOOD, Wash. -- Police are giving strong, urgent pleas for help finding a double murder suspect who they fear is now trying to obtain additional weapons.

Michael (Chad) Boysen, 26, is the suspect in the murder of his grandparents on Friday night, said Sgt. Cindi West with the King County Sheriff's Office.

Detectives have been told that Boysen may be trying to get additional weapons because evidence showed Boysen searched the internet for information on gun shows across the Pacific Northwest and Nevada, West said.

Boysen is now considered "an extreme danger to the public and police," West said.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/police-Michael-Boysen-seeking-weapons-extreme-danger-to-public-196804151.html