Steve Neavling

The school shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary appears to be driving an unprecedented number of gun sales, the Atlantic Wire reports.

In fact, 9 of the 10 days with the most requests ever for FBI background checks occurred after the Dec. 14 shooting, according to the Atlantic Wire. And in Sandy Hook, home of the school shooting, gun permits have more than doubled.

On the day of the shooting, the FBI conducted 113,022 checks. The most was Dec. 21, when 177,170 background checks were conducted.

“America is buying guns at a rate that we’ve never seen before,” the Atlantic Wire wrote.

Steve Neavling

Three out of four justifiable homicides involved firearms, CNN reports, citing the FBI’s unified crime report. 

Of the 260 justified homicides in 2011, 201 involved a gun.

The rate is much higher among police, CNN reported.

Guns were involved in 99.2% of justifiable homicides, or 390 out of 393.

The statistics will likely be cited by gun-rights groups who say firearms are an effective defensive tool, according to CNN.

Steve Neavling

The FBI’s firearm training has begun focusing on close-quarters combat after a review found that most agent-involved shootings are within point-blank range, the USA Today reports.

The new training protocol is a dramatic shift for an agency that has relied on long-range marksmanship training.

After reviewing about 200 shootings during a 17-year period involving FBI agents, the bureau found that 75% were within 3 yards when gunfire was exchanged, the USA Today reported.

“The thing that jumps out at you from the (shooting incident) research is that if we’re not preparing agents to get off three to four rounds at a target between 0 and 3 yards, then we’re not preparing them for what is likely to happen in the real world,” FBI training instructor Larry “Pogo” Akin told the USA Today.

The new training also requires agents to draw their guns from holsters shielded by jackets or blazers to replicate real-life scenarios.

Steve Neavling

Firearms killed more than 550 children ages 12 and under between 2006 and 2010, the Associated Press reports, citing FBI records.

The number of deaths which do not include accidental shootings, have been relatively consistent throughout the five-year period – about 112 annually.

Those deaths are getting closer scrutiny following the shooting massacre at a Connecticut elementary school that claimed the lives of 20 first-graders this month, the AP reported. The total number of shooting deaths of small children won’t be known for another two years.

“This happens on way too regular a basis and it affects families and communities — not at once, so we don’t see it and we don’t understand it as part of our national experience,” Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, told the AP.

Steve Neavling

A CBP officer who bought guns at local sporting goods stores for other people and then lied about it was sentenced Monday to fives years on probation, the Associated Press reports.

Manuel Eduardo Pena had faced up to five years in prison after prosecutors say he bought hunting rifles for other people and lied to authorities when asked about it, the AP reported.

A federal jury convicted Pena in August of two counts of making a false statement on a firearms record and one count of making a false statement to a federal authority.

The AP wrote that Pena is on unpaid leave.

atf file photo

A gun used by a felon to shoot and kill a state trooper in the state of Washington in February was traced to a gun show in 2009, the Associated Press reports.

The news comes from the ATF, which tracked the history of the .40-caliber Smith & Wesson.

The proper documentation was never filled out when the gun changed hands at least twice, according to the AP.

Joshua Blake shot and killed Trooper Tony Radulescu Feb. 23 and then fatally shot himself, the AP reported.

Steve Neavling

 Most guns recovered in Chicago were originally purchased in Illinois, not states with less-restrictive gun laws, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Citing a groundbreaking study at the University of Chicago Crime Lab, authorities said 58% of the 1,375 guns recovered in crimes in Chicago were bought in Illinois.

About 45% came from Cook County.

The study was requested by the Chicago Police Department because of an unusually violent 2012 when homicides spiked 28% compared to this time last year, according to the Sun-Times.

Since more than half of the guns come originate from within Illinois, authorities plan to target local gun stores that are selling the firearms.

Disturbing trends of violence in Denver concern the feds, but it may not be enough to trigger additional resources from ATF, the Denver Post reports.

B. Todd Jones, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who was visiting Denver, said he’s disturbed by increasing violence from gangs and young people.

“The troubling thing about Denver — and it is a phenomenon across the country — is the age of people who are involved in firearm violence for conflict resolution,” Jones said. But Jones warned that resources are scarce and will likely be focused on more violent cities, such as New Orleans and Chicago.