Photo: Public Domain The UN conference on the Arms Trade Treaty ended on July 27th without consensus; the US signaled that it wouldn't support the agreement. In the wake of the Aurora, Colorado shooting, however, the domestic conversation on gun control has continued. President Obama signaled his interest in stricter gun control and perhaps his unfamiliarity with US gun laws when he said to the National Urban League: “But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong ...

Photo: centermassgroup.com After the tragic shooting in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, there have been a number of calls for more controls on firearms, particularly another ban on so-called assault weapons. Michael Bloomberg was one of the first to use this tragedy to encourage more legal controls on firearms ownership. To understand if reinstating the "assault weapons" ban would be effective, we should look at what an assault weapon is and the effects of the decade-long ban that was in pl...

The United Nations is currently debating the content of an arms trade treaty, which would cover not only what most people would think of as weapons of war, but also "small arms," which includes rifles and carbines in the UN Register of Conventional Arms. In a joint statement by France, the UK, Germany, and Sweden: "We believe that an arms trade treaty should cover all types of conventional weapons, notably including small arms and light weapons, all types of munitions, and related technologies....

In a recent ruling, Judge Marcia Cook permanently blocked a Florida law that prohibited physicians and other medical providers from asking patients whether they owned firearms or discussing firearms safety. The injunction was based on the providers' First Amendment rights. Sounds like a simple, straightforward ruling about a simple law. A health care provider should be able to ask any appropriate question regarding health prevention and provide counseling appropriate for the patient: ibid Sou...

Photo: Wikimedia Commons / User: Coolcaesar After the recent Contempt of Congress citation of Attorney General Eric Holder, the debate over the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) investigation named Fast and Furious has raged on. It has been the position of Holder that Fast and Furious was an operation run out of the Phoenix office without the knowledge of senior management at the Department of Justice (DOJ). In fact, in a December 8, 2011 statement to the Congressiona...