San Francisco: Citizen fear for safety if victim disarmament stands: "For a long time, Margaret Hurst lived in fear. Gangs control turf just a few blocks from her Mission District apartment in San Francisco, and she's sure a neighbor across the street deals drugs. Her building was broken into four times in one year. She saw teenagers on her street display a gun. And while she was stopped at a red light one day, a man tried to punch in her car window in a case of road rage. So she bought a handgun. Now Hurst is no longer scared. 'I'll tell you one thing. If I'm going down, I'm taking them with me,' said 49-year-old Hurst, who is about as un-Charlton Heston as any woman with a British accent, braided bun and long flowing skirt could be. After a heated campaign brought the national debate over gun control to San Francisco, the city's famously liberal [sic] voters passed a law last month banning the sale, manufacture and distribution of firearms and ammunition within city limits. The measure, which takes effect Jan. 1, also makes it illegal for residents to possess handguns. And as that date approaches, handgun owners like Hurst are becoming increasingly fearful of the consequences."


South Africa: Licence deadline looms for gun owners: "Gun owners who have their birthdays in the first three months of the year will not face prosecution if they apply to renew their licences by the end of this month, but do not receive their new licences by then.Safety and security ministry spokesperson Trevor Bloem said all that was required was that these gun owners apply by the December 31 deadline.The police are phasing in the renewal of licences, with gun owners born in January, February and March given until the end of the year to apply for theirs, in terms of the new Firearms Control Act regulations."