WHEN GUNS ARE NEEDED BADLY

Residents in Zimbabwe's eastern Mutare city - driven to desperation after their informal businesses were destroyed by the government - pleaded for weapons at the weekend to wage war against the government because they were just "fed up."

Several hundreds of residents, who attended a meeting held at Sakubva Beit Hall in the working class suburb of Sakubva in the city, told local Member of Parliament, Innocent Gonese, to source guns for them to fight the government.

Even the presence of the police at the meeting did not deter the irate residents with several standing up to openly declare they would rather die trying to "remove President Robert Mugabe from power" because they had nothing to live for after their only source of livelihood was destroyed in the ongoing controversial campaign by the government to clean up cities.

"We want you to provide us with guns because we are fed up," a middle aged man rose from the crowd to declare boldly. With the angry crowd urging him on, the man continued: "This government has no respect for the people. Our houses have been destroyed, our businesses have also gone. We have nothing to live for. We are prepared to die removing Mugabe. We don't want to hear all this talk of going to court (to sue for compensation from the state)."

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Illinois: No real progress: "Illinois lawmakers handed victories to both sides of the gun-control issue Monday, approving a measure that cracks down on gun shows but making it easier for people to transport weapons. The victory for gun supporters appears to be shortlived, though. Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Monday he would veto the weapons transportation measure, meant to allow gun owners to travel the state with their weapons without having to comply with local communities' stricter rules on safe gun storage. Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said the governor believes it would be "undermining local gun ordinances." The governor pledged to sign the gun-show bill, which passed the House 89-28. The legislation would close a loophole that has allowed people to buy firearms at gun shows without going through the normal criminal-background check. Unlike a similar Republican gun-show bill, the version approved Monday would not require the destruction of gun purchase records, which Blagojevich opposes.



Guns don't hold people up, boards do : "Is it fair to say that the owners of Hale Mountain Rod and Gun Club have not gone off half-cocked while waiting for a decision from the Vermont Natural Resources Board? Or to say that the club's members have kept their hair-trigger tempers in check? Nope. Because lazy puns like that would portray the club as a refuge for "gun nuts" who spend their time shooting into the air like hillbillies at a wedding. No one is claiming this is the case. Instead, the club, which has a long history as a spot for local hunters and shooters to come and learn to develop their skills responsibly, is in a dispute with neighbors. Any one of us might find ourselves in such a dispute at any time. Neighbors say activity at the club is a disturbance. In short, this boils down to another noise complaint. But while the earlier characterization would be unfair, it doesn't seem like the natural resources board is treating the club and its members much better.... We are certainly respectful of the work the natural resources board does and its members devotion to reaching fair, legal and defensible positions. But this is not a new superstore that will change a river's flow, a complex that will be built over the remains of a forest or a road that will pass through the last remaining habitat of a rare species of bat. We think that both the Hale Mountain club and those who believe the club needs an Act 250 permit have the same right as anyone else to a speedy administration of justice."