Guns

Re "Looking for crime's smoking gun," Opinion, Jan. 8 I find it amazing that a renowned crime researcher could mention the decrease in crime in the 1930s over the 1920s without acknowledging one obvious reason: the repeal of Prohibition. Once the ban on alcohol was repealed, millions of Americans who wanted to drink no longer had to patronize criminals, and thousands who wanted to make and sell alcoholic beverages no longer had to break the law. As a result, turf wars between alcohol enterprises could be fought in the courts instead of in the streets with guns, and by taxing alcohol, the government could raise money to pay for the social costs of its use. It's a lesson James Q. Wilson should be acknowledging so his committee could consider whether lifting today's similarly misguided laws against recreational drugs might help solve the gang problem by cutting off their main source of income.

Canada's federal police said they would no longer use stun guns against suspects who are merely resisting arrest or refusing to cooperate, acknowledging that the guns can kill. At least 20 Canadians have died after being zapped by stun guns. Federal police officers have used the guns more than 5,000 times in the last seven years, and an analysis of incidents by the Canadian Press from 2002 to 2005 found that three in four suspects zapped were unarmed. Officials said stun gun use must now be justified as needed to protect an officer or the public.

Re "Buying guns but not safety," editorial, May 12 It has become common fodder for criticism when a law enforcement agency shows initiative and innovation, such as the L.A. County Sheriff's Department's and the L.A. Police Department's Gifts for Guns programs, especially because they save lives. Furthermore, it appears the standard of your editorial board is to criticize all good deeds that work. The Gifts for Guns' programs are, indeed, new, different and, yes, most effective.

Re "Gun flow south is a crisis for two nations," June 18 One would think that an article with that headline would address actually preventing the flow of guns across the border to Mexico. One might also think that if the two agencies most responsible have "duplicated one another's initiatives," as stated in the article, there would be fewer guns crossing the border -- assuming those initiatives had any merit. Apparently, no number of such initiatives will work, nor will new laws regarding things like the abuse of drugs and guns.

Mexico has replaced all 700 of its customs inspectors with agents newly trained to fight drug smuggling. Soldiers have been sent to airports and border crossings throughout the country to take back the guns issued to the inspectors. Tax service spokesman Pedro Canabal said the officers were not fired. Instead, the agency decided not to rehire them when their contracts expired over the weekend. They were replaced with 1,400 new agents who have undergone months of training and background checks.

Dianne Ogden, 61, a music talent coordinator and former assistant to music producer Phil Spector who was one of four women to testify at his trial last year about his threatening them with guns, died Dec. 29 at her home in Park City, Utah. Ogden died in her sleep of undetermined causes, her daughter, Angie Ogden Osborne, said Saturday. Spector was charged with the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, who was shot at his Alhambra mansion Feb. 3, 2003. Ogden was the second woman called by the prosecution to bolster its case that Spector followed a pattern of luring women to his home, drinking, then pulling guns on them when they tried to leave.

A rusted old gun found last month in a Modesto field has been identified as the same kind of weapon a hit man alleged he used to kill a man 19 years ago. The identification by a state Department of Justice laboratory could help prove the innocence of Dennis Lawley, who has spent almost two decades on death row for the 1989 murder of Kenneth Lawton Stewart.

To the dismay of some city leaders, a gun company is marketing a line of high-end pistols named for the LAPD's Special Investigation Section, an elite group of plainclothes detectives with a history of fatally shooting suspects. The guns for the undercover unit were created at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department. Kimber, a Yonkers, N.Y.-based gun maker, is marketing a slightly modified version to the public, touting the weapons as the "hot new SIS pistols" on the company's website.

Dollar Tree Stores Inc. is recalling about 253,000 Chinese-made glue guns because they can short-circuit, causing them to smoke and catch fire. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Dollar Tree was aware of seven incidents in which the glue guns short-circuited, including two injuries involving electrical shock and burns. The Crafters Square hot melt mini-glue guns were sold at Dollar Tree, Dollar Bill$, Dollar Express, Greenbacks, Only One $1, and Deal$ stores from February through August 2007, the commission said.