Antigun indoctrination fails: "Hans Van Themsche, an 18 year old high-school student who had just been expelled from boarding school for smoking in the dormitories, went berserk and set out on a bloody rampage in Antwerp. In the morning he shaved his head down to the neck. He put on combat boots and a black leather outfit and went to a store of sporting and hunting gear to buy a rifle. Dressed as a �Goth� he walked through town and shot at three people who crossed his path: a veiled Turkish woman, a two year old Flemish toddler on a tricycle and her black nanny, killing the latter two and seriously wounding the first. A policeman was able to neutralise the student by shooting him in the stomach. He is currently in hospital, recovering from the wound..... Luc Deprez, the schoolmaster, said that Hans Van Themsche, who turned 18 last February, was an intelligent and courteous boy. According to the judicial authorities, who questioned his parents, there are no indications that the murderer was raised �in a racist or violent environment.� The murderer�s aunt, Frieda Van Themsche, confirmed that the boy has been raised in a family where he and his brothers were even forbidden to play with toy guns."


New York looks for someone else to blame for its failed gun policies: "New York City Monday opened another avenue of attack in its fight against illegal guns, announcing a federal lawsuit against 15 out-of-state stores the city claims have sold dozens of weapons that were later used in crimes. The complaint, filed in the Eastern District of New York, alleges that the dealers knowingly or negligently sold firearms to "straw" buyers who acted at the behest of others who would have been barred by federal law from buying handguns, such as convicted felons. Their acts, the suit says, have contributed to a public nuisance that endangers New Yorkers. The dealers -- located in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia -- were singled out based on data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that the city received in 2001 and before. In recent weeks, the city hired private investigators to travel to about 45 stores and simulate straw purchases, capturing them on videotape. The 15 defendants all allowed the allegedly illegal purchases, the city said.