HuffPost On Guns

This is an experiment with HuffPost's coverage of guns and reader stories about firearms. We reblog coverage from everywhere here. Curated by Kristen Taylor (@kthread, this is my personal Tumblr), Senior Editor of Open Reporting at The Huffington Post. Email: [email protected] Find more: HuffPost gun coverage

[businessweek]

A Loaded Question: Gun Ownership vs. Gun Deaths Worldwide

Even peaceful Switzerland is reeling from mass murders, and voters are demanding change. Public-health research on firearm deaths is notoriously inconclusive, but it’s safe to say that more guns make for more bodies: High firearm-death rates (totaling suicides, homicides, and accidental deaths) correlate with high levels of gun ownership, at least among countries belonging to the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The link between gun ownership and gun murderis fuzzier: Gun-loving Finland has more than twice as many firearms as Portugal, but the Finns have only half as many gun murders per capita. Income, development, and culture appear to drive gun-crime rates more than simple gun availability.

Explore the data at Bloomberg Businessweek

[breakingnews]

Small town in Maine rejects mandatory gun ownership law

Reuters: Voters in a small Maine town unanimously rejected a proposal on Monday that would have required every household to own a firearm and ammunition.

More than 60 residents of Byron, Maine, packed into the tiny Coos Canyon Schoolhouse and quickly voted to make the symbolic measure the first order of business during the town’s annual meeting.

After a brief discussion, residents elected to skip debate and vote. Not even Bruce Simmons, the resident who originally came up with the proposal, voted to support it.

Photo: Residents of Byron, Maine, vote against a proposal that each household be required to own a firearm (Herb Swanson / EPA)

[motherjones]

In 5 states, gun suicides alone take more lives than car accidents (and more states are catching up)

[explore-blog]

Myth #7: Guns make women safer.

Fact-check:

In 2010, nearly 6 times more women were shot by husbands, boyfriends, and ex-partners than murdered by male strangers.

A woman’s chances of being killed by her abuser increase more than 7 times if he has access to a gun.

[explore-blog]

Mother Jones fact-checks 10 pro-gun myths. Pair with Stephen King on gun control and Debbie Millman’s interpretation of the Second Amendment. 

[randomactsofchaos]

Jim Morin/Miami Herald (03/08/2013)

[newshour]

“Around the world we are all hoping the U.S. can strengthen its firearm policies. We are all so distressed by the news of tragedies there, and thinking of the families and communities directly affected. But also, the U.S. is the world’s major producer and thus the source of many guns that kill...

[letterstonewtown-blog]

[think-progress]

Meet the five people who were accidentally shot in a single day this week.

Pictured above: Travin Varise, who was accidentally shot and killed last month

[aaknopf]

I recently drove 15,000 miles around the country doing just that, talking to gun guys in their homes and garages, at gun shows and ranges, at gun stores and in the woods, trying to figure out why they are so deeply attracted to firearms and why guns inspire such passion on all sides. In part, it was a voyage of self-discovery. I’m a weirdo hybrid: a lifelong gun guy who is also a lifelong liberal Democrat. I often feel like the child of a bitter divorce who has allegiance to both parents.

[aaknopf]

Dan Baum, author of Gun Guys (Knopf, March 2013), sets aside the politics and looks at the complex relationship so many Americans have with firearms.

Photo: Benjamin Rasmussen for The Wall Street Journal

[the-flame-imperishable]

[huffpostpolitics]

Do not talk about Fight Club.

[shortformblog]

Gun control control.

[thedailyshow]

“The gun debate has been raging for a long time. It’s hard to say when it started, but I’m going to go with ‘right around the invention of the gun!’” - Lewis Black http://on.cc.com/VTth0n

[think-progress]

Today in uncomfortable: A Virginia pizza shop offers a discount to anyone who carries a gun.

Photo Credit: Amanda Lucier / The Virginian-Pilot

[nbcnews]

Death takes no holiday: Tracking gun violence over one long January weekend

As a national firearms debate rages, we at NBC News examine every known gun death that occurred over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend — while President Barack Obama marked his second inauguration — and shares stories of victims and their families.

Read the complete story.

[theatlantic]

Gun Control, Yemen-Style

Driving across Sana’a, walking down the street, or eating at a restaurant, it’s almost impossible not to encounter a firearm. And that’s the capital. Gun-slinging in tribal areas, especially northern ones, is even more cavalier. “Yemeni society links the weapons culture with manliness,” says Abdulrahman al-Marwani, the founder and director of Dar al-Salam (House of Peace), the first NGO in Yemen to focus on disarmament. In Al-Marwani’s many roles — a list that includes everything from mediator in tribal conflicts to organizer of educational, anti-gun drama classes — he says that one of his primary goals is to convince citizens that “a Yemeni can be a man without carrying weapons.”

Read more. [Image: Reuters]

[think-progress]

Armed pro-gun protesters occupy the Oregon State Capitol

[breakingnews]

3 are dead after shooting inside Delaware courthouse

Three people, including the alleged shooter, are dead after gunfire erupted inside a Wilmington courthouse Monday morning. WPVI-TV reported that two women were killed in the incident. The shooter, a male, is also dead. Two officers were also injured in the incident. Police say the officers were shot in an exchange with the gunman. The severity of their injuries is unclear at this time. More from WPVI here.