MO: Elderly woman's shotgun confiscated -- despite no charges: "Some people shake their head at buying Girl Scout cookies. But an elderly woman in the far southern reaches of St. Louis shook a shotgun, police say. They knocked on the door of one house, police say, and were told to go away. But the man rang the bell a second time -- whereupon a 78-old-woman answered the door with a shotgun in hand. The father and daughter fled back to their home, where the father and called police. Police say they confiscated the shotgun, described as a double-barreled 12-gauge. But prosecutors decided against filing any charges."


Smith & Wesson tries to get back in game: "Smith & Wesson may be best recognized as the brand of choice for Dirty Harry, the movie cop who warned punks his .44-Magnum was 'the most powerful handgun in the world.' But that was in 1971, and much has changed in the past 36 years. Police officers want lighter-weight pistols than the bulky steel revolver Dirty Harry Callahan barely concealed under a sport coat. Soldiers need foolproof weapons that won't get jammed by the desert sands. Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning said that agency stopped using Smith & Wesson handguns in 2002 and switched to weapons made by Glock, a European manufacturer. 'I don't think we stopped using the manufacturer (Smith & Wesson) so much as it was maintenance issues,' Browning said. 'Every six or seven years, you have maintenance issues on a gun. Parts wear out ... so you purchase something new.'"