An article in New York's Newsday Magazine Friday detailed how one gun was used by as many as five criminals in at least four shootings, and on how the black market for such guns is alive and well in spite of the state's oppressive gun control laws.

In a parking lot outside a club in Ronkonkoma, a Bay Shore man, Todd
Cincinnati, was shot in the buttocks after telling a stranger not to lean on his
car. It was the first in a series of shootings from March until July in Suffolk
County that involved as many as five gunmen and four victims - but just one gun.

During that spree, police said, the black .380 Hi-Point semiautomatic handgun
was used by a Bloods gang member, and later by a member of the Killer Thugs. It
left casings scattered at crime scenes from Ronkonkoma to Wyandanch, but was
only recovered in July, after the fifth time it was used, police say.

Until that day, the Hi-Point moved through a hidden market for illegal
weapons, where guns are bought anonymously and disposed of quickly, and where
traces of past ownership and evidence of crimes are wiped away clean.

"They go from hand to hand to hand," said former gang member Sergio Argueta,
founder of STRONG Youth, a Hempstead-based gang intervention organization. "For
a lot of kids, it's harder to get their hands on a pack of cigarettes than it is
to get a gun."

For police, the fear is simple: More illegal guns means more gun crimes, said
Insp. James Burke, commanding officer of the Suffolk District Attorney's Squad.

Note those words again: "...more illegal guns means more gun crimes." The article reports that reports of shootings and illegal gun activity is on the rise on Long Island, and then suggests a place to focus the blame.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Last year, the warnings were dire.

The Clinton Gun Ban expired on September 13, 2004, after months and months of shrill screams from gun ban extremists that the sunset would result in the rein of terror on American streets

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein warned if the ban sunsetted "you can expect more incidents'' such as the July 1, 1993, shootings at 101 California in which a gunman used two TEC-9 semiautomatic weapons on a rampage through the office tower.

Even in a press release after the expiration, Sue Ann Schiff, Executive Director of Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV) breathlessly warned that "existing laws must be vigorously enforced and many more jurisdictions must act to help keep these horrific weapons of war off our streets."

Schiff observed that the gun industry has eagerly anticipated the expiration of the federal law. "Production of assault weapons is expected to increase and prices of the weapons are expected to drop as gun manufacturers flood the civilian marketplace," she stated. "The need for strong state and local gun policies is more urgent than ever."

But contrary to these and other such warnings, the Washington Times is now http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050925-114359-9165r.htm " target="_blank">reporting news that should forever sink what was left of the credibility of gun ban extremists in our nation.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

The Los Angeles Times' coverage of the 20th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference shows how having such a national conference in a place with heavy gun control laws can envigorate gun rights activists who are fighting in the local trenches.

Paul Wilder avidly defends the right to bear arms, and he's heard all the insults. Crazy, trigger-happy, gun nut -- to name a few.

Standing outside a hotel ball room near LAX on Saturday where 400 gun rights
advocates from around the country gathered for the 20th annual Gun Rights Policy
Conference, Wilder tried to explain the stigma that he and his fellow devotees
of the 2nd Amendment were up against.

"There's this perception out that we're all rednecks who want a shootout in
the OK Corral, but I'm a schoolteacher, and there are attorneys and doctors and
people of all walks of life here," said Wilder, 44, who also edits books. "We're
just average citizens who want our views heard."

Attendees at the two-day conference, which is held in a different city in the
country each year, ranged from Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the
National Rifle Assn., to individual gun owners such as Wilder who were
interested in learning about issues for gun owners.

For many of California's grass-roots firearms activists, the two-day event
was a rare chance to hear from leaders of the national movement.

"It's definitely invigorating," Wilder said. "It's tough; we're kind of
fighting in the trenches."

Apart from trade shows, Wilder said he had never seen so many gun rights
people in the same room.

The newspaper said event organizers acknowledged that California seems an odd place
for a gun rally given its relatively strict ownership and registration laws, they said their mission includes bringing their message to places where it's not always welcome.

"It's important to come to the belly of the beast every once in a while,"
said Peggy Tartaro, a board member for the national Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which co-sponsored the event.

For more from the conference, read the blog from Buckeye Firearms Association's Jim Irvine, who was a guest speaker.