assault weapons

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SCOTUS Rejects Challenge to Maryland Gun Law

It leaves assault weapons ban with lower court

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to a law Maryland introduced after the Sandy Hook school massacre in 2012. The Maryland law bans what the state calls assault weapons, including the AR-15 rifle, NBC News reports. The justices rejected a challenge from gun rights groups, a gun...

Nuns' Response to 'Heinous Gun Crimes': a Lawsuit

They're shareholders, and they're suing Smith & Wesson for sales of assault weapons

(Newser) - A group of Catholic nuns is suing Smith & Wesson, demanding the gunmaker stop selling assault weapons that have "no purpose other than mass murder." The nuns representing four congregations in Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Oregon bought up shares in the company before suing in what they dub...

County Sheriffs Balk at Enforcing Illinois Assault Weapons Ban

They say they won't arrest legal owners for not registering weapons

(Newser) - Last week, Illinois became the ninth state to bring in an assault weapons ban, but things aren't going entirely smoothly. The law is facing multiple legal challenges, and dozens of county sheriffs say they won't enforce it. The law bans the sale of certain firearms and high-capacity magazines—...

House Votes to Reinstate Assault Weapons Ban

It's not likely to make it past the Senate

(Newser) - The House passed legislation Friday to revive a ban on certain semi-automatic guns, the first vote of its kind in years and a direct response to the firearms often used in the crush of mass shootings ripping through communities nationwide. Once banned in the US, the high-powered firearms are now...

Ruling That Compared AR-15s to Knives Is Blocked

Appeals court issues stay temporarily blocking judge's ruling in California

(Newser) - A controversial ruling overturning California's assault weapons ban has now been blocked. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday issued a stay of the order that was issued earlier this month, CNN reports. In issuing his order overturning the three-decades-old ban, US District Judge Roger Benitez had...

Judge Compares AR-15 to Swiss Army Knife in Assault Weapons Ruling

US District Judge Roger Benitez overturns Calif.'s 30-year-old assault weapons ban

(Newser) - A federal judge Friday overturned California's three-decade-old ban on assault weapons, ruling that it violates the constitutional right to bear arms. US District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego ruled that the state's definition of illegal military-style rifles unlawfully deprives law-abiding Californians of weapons commonly allowed in most...

Graham Defends Owning an AR-15
Graham Defends
Owning an AR-15
Mar 29, 2021 1:25 PM CDT

Graham Defends Owning an AR-15

He says he would use it to protect himself from roving gangs after a natural disaster

(Newser) - Sen. Lindsey Graham doesn't seem to have a lot of faith in his state's disaster preparedness. The South Carolina Republican told Fox News Sunday that he owns an AR-15 to protect himself from gangs in the aftermath of a disaster, CBS reports. "If there's a natural...

Canada Slaps Immediate Ban on Assault-Style Weapons

The country needs 'more than thoughts and prayers,' prime minister says

(Newser) - Canada is banning the use and trade of assault-style weapons immediately. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday justified the move by citing numerous mass shootings in the country, including an attack in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19. He announced the ban of over 1,500 models and variants...

Holding an AR-15, GOP Lawmaker Tells Biden to Try to Take It

Ken Buck keeps the weapon in his Capitol Hill office

(Newser) - A Republican member of Congress has posted a challenging, if not threatening, video on gun control. "I have just one message for Joe Biden and Beto O'Rourke," Rep. Ken Buck tweeted . "If you want to take everyone's AR-15s, why don't you swing by my...

'Our History Changed Forever. Now, Our Laws Will Too'

New Zealand introduces sweeping changes to country's gun laws

(Newser) - New Zealand has brought in stronger gun laws less than a week after the worst mass shooting in the country's history. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced sweeping changes to the country's gun laws Thursday, including a ban on military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles like the one used in...

Having an Assault Weapon in This Town Could Cost You $1K a Day

Chicago suburb of Deerfield bans certain firearms, as well as high-capacity magazines

(Newser) - Get rid of your assault weapons by June 13 or start racking up fines. That's the new directive in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, where the Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday to amend a 2013 ordinance calling for the safe storage and transport of certain firearms and now...

Former Soldier: Civilians Shouldn't Own Assault Rifles

The US is not a battlefield, Nate Bethea writes

(Newser) - Nate Bethea served as an infantry officer in the US Army from 2007 to 2014, and during that time, he fired thousands of rounds from assault rifles. "These weapons are intended for the battlefield. I don’t want an assault rifle, because I don’t want to think of...

AR-15 Inventor's Family: He'd Be 'Sickened' by Mass Shootings

Eugene Stoner's kids, grandkids say he designed the rifle for military use only, not civilians

(Newser) - When Eugene Stoner designed "America's gun" (aka the AR-15) in the late 1950s, which was adopted for use by the Army as the M16, his goal was to create the "most efficient and superior" rifles for military use and give them a leg up over the Soviets'...

How Orlando Shooter's Gun Differs From an AR-15

Shooting renews debate over semiautomatics

(Newser) - The Orlando shooting has raised anew the issue of the powerful weapons used by gunmen in mass shootings. While police initially said Omar Mateen used an "AR-15-type assault rifle," they have since clarified that he used a Sig Sauer MCX rifle. A look at some of the coverage:...

ATF: San Bernardino Rifles Were Legal—at First

Weapons used by San Bernardino shooters altered for more power after purchase

(Newser) - The weapons used by the San Bernardino shooters may have been legally obtained , but that doesn't mean they remained legal under California law. The two .223-caliber semiautomatic weapons and two 9mm pistols said to have been carried by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik in Wednesday's attack were...

Why Conn. Assault Weapon Owners May Now Be Felons

Tens of thousands haven't registered

(Newser) - The vast majority of assault weapon owners in Connecticut appear to have totally ignored the state's new law requiring them to register the guns. Police received 47,916 permit applications by the Dec, 31 deadline, reports Dan Haar at the Hartford Courant , which sounds like a lot—until you...

49ers Linebacker Faces Gun Charges After Party Shootout

Assault weapons found after violent fracas

(Newser) - Embattled 49ers star Aldon Smith has been charged with three counts of illegally possessing assault weapons, stemming from a party-turned-shootout at his San Jose-area abode last year. According to prosecutors, Smith, 24, was hosting upward of 100 people at his home last June when someone pulled a gun on the...

Police Find Body, Explosives in Florida Dorm
Body, Explosives Found
in Florida Dorm Room
UPDATED
Mar 18, 2013 11:02 AM CDT

Body, Explosives Found in Florida Dorm Room

Man dead in apparent suicide at University of Central Florida

(Newser) - The University of Central Florida cancelled morning classes and evacuated roughly 500 students from a dorm today after police found explosive devices while investigating an apparent suicide on campus; a rep for the school says the dead male was a student at the university. Police were called to the campus'...

Senate Gun Bill May Not Touch Assault Weapons

But Reid camp looking to get measure to floor next month

(Newser) - Senate Democrats are hoping to put a gun control bill on the floor by next month—but it's not likely to include the assault-weapon ban President Obama has urged, a Harry Reid aide tells the Wall Street Journal . Outside of that, however, it would cover most of the measures...

No, Guns Don't Make Women Safer
 No, Guns 
 Don't Make 
 Women Safer 
OPINION
Feb 1, 2013 1:18 PM CST

No, Guns Don't Make Women Safer

Ruth Marcus: Gun control can save more women than arming them can

(Newser) - According to Ruth Marcus, the argument du jour against gun control—that women in particular need access to guns to protect themselves from violent, male criminals—is nothing but a "straw woman." The "argument would be powerful, if only it were true," Marcus writes in the...

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