The Gun Report: February 14, 2014

"On Thursday, a federal appeals court in California struck down rules permitting counties to restrict the right to carry a concealed weapon in public, saying that such restrictions violate the Second Amendment. The decision was hailed by gun rights advocates, while gun control supporters described the ruling as aberrant and reckless. The decision will affect populated areas like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, but the rules will remain in effect pending appeals. California generally prohibits carrying guns, loaded or not, in public locations. Before the ban was enacted, state courts routinely upheld restrictions on carrying concealed weapons.

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• Cosmetic design tweaks are allowing gun makers to get around firearm restrictions enacted in New York. State lawmakers effectively banned the sale of assault weapons last year, but AR-15s with a slightly modified stock and lacking a pistol grip are being sold as a “New York-compliant AR-15.” Gun-rights supporters say it illustrates that so-called “assault weapons,” an often-used term with no single definition, are no more dangerous than hunting rifles. “This just shows that the gun prohibition lobby uses symbolic gestures over substance to push their anti-gun rights agenda,” Alan Gottlieb, president of the Second Amendment Foundation, said.

• Gun sales are plunging compared to this time last year, the F.B.I. reports. There were about 1.66 million background checks last month, down from 2.5 million in January 2013. In the past two years, gun shop owners and consumers have complained of ammunition shortages and a dearth of semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines, even as manufacturing ramped up. A gun-industry analyst said sales have dropped because fear of gun-control legislation has subsided. Though gun sales have fallen from their peak last year, they are still outperforming monthly sales that preceded Obama’s reelection.

• Twenty-eight people have been killed in 44 school shootings since the Newtown massacre in December 2012. Thirteen school shootings have been recorded in the first six weeks of 2014 alone.

Here is today’s report (31 incidents, 9 deaths):

http://nocera.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/14/the-gun-report-february-14-2014/?module=BlogPost-ReadMore&version=Blog