Cache point
Jane's Police Review, 21 October 2008
http://jpr.janes.com/
"How much do frontline police officers really know about guns? The streets of Britain are relatively free from a 'gun culture' and most police officers in the UK patrol unarmed, unlike their colleagues in the US and the rest of Europe. 'The type of person getting into the police service is quite different now than in the past - they have less knowledge about firearms,' says Mark Murray-Flutter, senior curator at the National Firearms Centre..."
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Supplementary Note on Recorded Crimes Involving Firearms and Violent and Sexual Offences Involving the Use of Knives or Sharp Instruments / Home Office, 23 October 2008
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/hosb1408supp.pdf

"This supplementary note provides more detail on specific aspects of the recorded crime statistics.

[USA] Gun shows do not increase homicides or suicides / Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, 1 October 2008
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=6759

New nanotechnology tagging system could help solve gun crime / Public Technology, 7 Aug 2008
http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16935
"Successful convictions in the fight against rising gun crime could be given a boost thanks to new DNA tagging technology developed by scientists at the University of Surrey. The breakthrough uses nanotechnology to coat gun cartridges which captures the user’s DNA. These ‘nanotags’ are also easily transferred to the user’s hands and clothing and are difficult to wash off, making it harder for gun criminals to cover their tracks."

[USA] Capital under fire: How H.R. 6691 threatens Homeland Security/ Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, September 2008
PDF - http://www.bradycenter.org/xshare/pdf/reports/capital-under-fire.pdf
"The Brady Center has issued a report, "Capital Under Fire", analyzing the impact of a bill before the U.S. House of Representatives that would eliminate most of the gun laws in the District of Columbia."

Guilt on their hands: tiny 'tags' could help to solve and deter gun crime / EurekAlert, 1 August 2008
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/eaps-got080108.php
"Criminals who use firearms may find it much harder to evade justice in future, thanks to an ingenious new bullet tagging technology developed in the UK."

US Department of Justice awards NJIT $254,889 to continue developing gun technology / EurekAlert, 11 September 2008
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-09/njio-jan091108.php
"The Department of Justice has awarded NJIT $254,889 to continue developing childproof child-safe gun technology. US Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and US Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) earmarked the grant in last year's annual Congressional appropriation bill."

Anti-violence groups call for ban / Guardian, 28 August 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/28/3?gusrc=rss&feed=uknews
"Police and anti-violence groups called last night for tougher laws on deactivated firearms following Wilkinson's conviction. Realistic imitation firearms, such as the ones he bought, were banned last October under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. But it is still legal to buy deactivated guns which, with the right knowledge, can be converted into live weapons."

Police let children handle guns / BBC, Friday, 15 August 2008 15:07 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7563113.stm

"The Met said it would review the way such presentations are done in future
Firearms officers have been criticised for allowing children as young as seven to hold submachine guns during a community event. Youngsters were given the guns by officers from the Metropolitan Police's CO19 firearms unit as part of a fun day in Limehouse, east London."

The kids most likely to go armed / EurekAlert, 28 July 2008
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/bc-tkm072808.php
"A new analysis of a 2005 survey of American schoolchildren has identified factors that may be used to help improve school safety. The research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of General Psychiatry, gives detailed information about the carrying of guns, blades and clubs."

Street Weapons Commission: Guns, Knives and Street Violence / Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, June 2008
PDF - http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/S/street_weapons_commission/pdfs/CCJS%20Street%20Weapons%20Report%20for%20Channel%204.pdf
Professor Peter Squires and Arianna Silvestri
with
Dr Roger Grimshaw and Enver Solomon

The Street Weapons Commission Report / Channel 4, 2008
PDF - http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/S/street_weapons_commission/pdfs/C4_SWC_final_report.pdf Cherie Booth QC, Liam Black, Lord Dear et al

Going ballistic: dealing with guns, gangs and knives / Policy Exchange, 2008
PDF - http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/407.pdf
Dr Bob Golding and Jonathan McClory
Edited by Gavin Lockhart

[USA] Officer Firearms Assaults at Domestic Violence Calls: A Descriptive Analysis / Vathek Publishing, 10 July 2008
http://www.atypon-link.com/VAT/doi/abs/10.1350/pojo.2008.81.1.407
Police Journal 81(1): p.25-45
Richard R. Johnson
"Domestic violence calls pose great dangers for the safety of police officers in the US as thousands of police officers are assaulted annually while handling domestic violence and domestic disturbance calls. Each year many officers are injured or killed in these assaults, the majority of fatal assaults involving firearms. The present study is a descriptive analysis of 143 incidents of a firearm assault against 225 victim police officers who were handling domestic calls at the time of their victimisation. The characteristics of these cases are described at the incident, assailant, and officer levels. Comparisons are made with the characteristics of fatal police officer assaults in the US in general, and policy recommendations are offered."
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Most Deaths From Guns In America Are Suicides / Agoravox, 1 July 2008
http://www.agoravox.com/article.php3?id_article=8406
Rob Port
"Here’s a fact the gun-control activists don’t often talk about: The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens’ ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves. Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation’s nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

The street weapons commission report / Channel 4, June 2008-07-08
http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/S/street_weapons_commission/index.html
“The Street Weapons Commission, chaired by Cherie Booth, has toured the country to find out why so many young people now carry guns and knives. Highlights of each hearing were shown on Channel 4 every day from Monday 30 June to Thursday 3 July, ending in a live studio debate hosted by Jon Snow on Sunday 6 July at 7pm.”
PDF - http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/S/street_weapons_commission/pdfs/C4_SWC_final_report.pdf

Youth crime is the symptom of a wider disease / Guardian, 3 July 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/02/knifecrime.youthjustice?gusrc=rss&feed=society
Jonathan Rutherford
"Gun culture thrives where social life is dying. The working-class estates devastated by de-industrialisation are where a defeated, unwanted people have been herded away to suffer a self-inflicted fate of drugs and violence. Decades of unemployment have destroyed the old patriarchal order of male breadwinner and head of household. Not only has it meant poverty, it has lost many men their dignity and self- worth. In communities deprived of the markers of status that bring respect, violence takes the place of authority. Sons inherit the legacy of their fathers' humiliation. Without work and affordable housing, it is impossible for many to create an independent life of their own. The traditional rites of passage into adulthood – leaving home, getting a job, establishing a family, and taking on legal obligations and rights – disappear."

[USA] Researchers study hidden homicide trend / Eureka Alert, 26 June 2008
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/jhub-rsh062608.php
Tim Parsons
"Gun-related homicide among young men rose sharply in the United States in recent years even though the nation's overall homicide rate remained flat, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Between 1999 and 2005, homicide involving firearms increased 31 percent among black men ages 25 to 44 and 12 percent among white men of the same age. The study is published in Online First edition of the Journal of Urban Health."
PDF - http://www.springerlink.com/content/954h222454814u5w/fulltext.pdf

Gun crime: a review of evidence and policy / Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, King's College, London, 28 June 2008
http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/guncrime.html
"The report says that there `is no compelling evidence' that the current largely enforcement led strategy adopted by the government `is likely to prove a durable or effective way of dealing with firearm related offending'. It finds that mandatory minimum sentences are not an effective means of addressing the problem and argues that an effective response to gun crime needs to address the `causes and contexts of interpersonal violence'."

Firearm suicide and homicide rates associated with level of background check / Eurekalert.org, 3 June 2008
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/mcow-fsa060308.php
"States that perform local-level background checks for firearms purchases are more effective in reducing firearm suicide and homicide rates than states that rely only on a federal-level background check, according to a new study by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee"