Canada bans assault weapons in wake of worst-ever mass shooting

Yahoo – AFP, May 1, 2020

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ordered a sweeping ban on many
assault weapons after a deadly mass shooting (AFP Photo/Dave Chan)

Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced an immediate ban on military-grade assault weapons, responding to a mass shooting and arson spree that left 22 people dead earlier this month.

"These weapons were designed for one purpose, and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time," Trudeau told a news briefing.

He said his government has approved a decree banning the sale, purchase, use, transport and import of 1,500 models of military-grade assault weapons and variants of them.

"There is no use, and no place for such weapons in Canada," Trudeau said.

The killing spree, the worst in Canadian history, began on the night of April 18 in Nova Scotia and led to a 13-hour manhunt for the shooter, who was eventually shot dead by police.

Authorities have said the assailant -- identified as 51-year-old denturist Gabriel Wortman -- was wearing a police uniform, driving a mock police car, and had several guns with him including at least one assault-style weapon.

Trudeau said there will be a two-year amnesty for people who currently own assault-style weapons to protect them from liability, and parliament will eventually pass legislation to compensate them for turning in their guns.

"For many families, including indigenous people, firearms are part of traditions passed down through generations, and the vast majority of gun owners use them safely, responsibly, and in accordance with the law, whether it be for work, sports shooting for collecting or for hunting," Trudeau said.

"But you don't need an AR-15 to bring down a deer," he added.

Mass shootings are less common in Canada than in the US "but the heartbreaking truth is, they're happening more often than they once did," the prime minister said.

He mentioned for instance a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City in 2017 that left six dead and 19 wounded.

Trudeau made banning assault weapons part of his campaign for elections that brought him to power in 2015. He repeated it in the campaign for the October 2019 elections in which he won another term.

Nearly four of five Canadians back such a ban, according to an Angus Reid poll released Friday.

Trump says Republicans ready to impose gun background checks

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastian Smith, August 9, 2019

US President Donald Trump says he has spoken to leader of the National Rifle
Association and their views should be fully represented in the debate over gun
control (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump said Friday that fellow Republicans will set aside resistance to restricting access to firearms by supporting background checks for people buying weapons in the wake of mass shootings in Ohio and Texas.

The progress in efforts to curb the United States' freewheeling relationship with firearms came despite talks between Trump and the head of the fierce NRA gun lobby, Wayne LaPierre.

Republicans have long resisted imposing background checks on gun buyers, a measure that the powerful NRA argues would be the thin end of the wedge, leading to ever tighter restrictions on the constitutional right to carrying weapons.

But after 31 people were shot dead in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, last weekend -- just the latest in an ever growing list of bloodbaths carried out by men with powerful rifles -- political momentum has apparently shifted.

Trump said that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was "totally onboard" with background checks.

Even "hardline" gun rights supporters in the Republican party "understand we don't want insane people, mentally ill people, bad people, dangerous people" buying firearms, Trump told reporters at the White House.

He said he'd spoken with LaPierre and had "a good talk."

But despite describing the NRA as "phenomenal people" and insisting that no other president has been more supportive of gun rights, Trump said "we need meaningful background checks so that sick people don't get guns."

LaPierre on Thursday had rejected calls for tougher restrictions on firearms, indicating he'd raised those concerns with Trump.

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says gun control legislation will be 

"front and center" in the next session but he will not recall senators from their 

summer break (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS KAMM)

"The inconvenient truth is this: the proposals being discussed by many would not have prevented the horrific tragedies in El Paso and Dayton," LaPierre said in a statement.

No recall of Congress

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Trump to bring the Senate into session to debate gun control legislation previously approved by House Democratic lawmakers, including a bill passed in February mandating federal criminal background checks.

"Commonsense background checks are supported by more than 90 percent of the American people and are proven to save lives," Pelosi wrote Thursday in a letter to the president.

Backed by than 200 US mayors who wrote to McConnell to demand that the Senate reconvene, Pelosi evoked "an extraordinary moment in our history (that) requires all of us to take extraordinary action."

But despite the apparent shift in White House and Republican positions on the issue, Trump and Senate leaders said there's no need to call legislators back from their summer break.

"I think we'll have a very good package by the time they come back," Trump said.

Trump and the Republicans also seem certain to oppose Democrats' call for banning assault weapons -- the military style rifles commonly used in mass killings.

Gun lobbyists argue that rifles like the AR-15 are hugely popular, legitimate weapons for hunting and self-defense.

McConnell has previously stifled congressional efforts to expand gun controls amid Republicans' fears that they could suffer at ballot box in next year's elections.

The El Paso and Dayton shooters used semi-automatic weapons, which can be legally bought in most US states, to mow down large numbers of people in minutes or even seconds.

Related Article:

US mayors demand gun control action

'Never Again': student-led US gun protests draw huge crowds

Yahoo – AFP, Chris Lefkow and Sebastien Blanc, March 24, 2018

People arrive for the March For Our Lives rally against gun violence in
Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Washington (AFP) - Demanding action on gun control from lawmakers, more than one million Americans turned out for emotional nationwide protests on Saturday fueled by teenagers at a Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead last month.

"Politicians, either represent the people or get out," Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, told the crowd at a huge rally in Washington.

"Stand for us or beware -- the voters are coming," said Kasky, one of the leaders of a dynamic and passionate student movement which has emerged following the February 14 shooting at his school.

Large crowds also turned out for demonstrations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Seattle and other cities -- more than 800 in all according to the organizers of the "March For Our Lives."

Mayor Bill de Blasio said 175,000 people took part at the New York rally, tweeting: "These students WILL change America".

But the largest protest was in Washington, where organizers told NBC News the crowd was estimated at more than 800,000 people, the largest gun control rally in the United States since the Million Mom March in 2000.

Protestors on Pennsylvania Avenue during the "March For Our Lives" rally

for gun control in Washington (AFP Photo/Alex Edelman)

The main stage for the event in Washington was set up near the US Capitol and lawmakers were the target audience as speakers delivered blistering warnings that the time has come for stricter gun laws.

"The people demand a law banning the sale of assault weapons," Kasky said. "The people demand we prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. The people demand universal background checks."

"We are going to take this to every election, to every state, and every city," said another Stoneman Douglas student leader, David Hogg.

March organizers included a link for people to register to vote on their MarchForOurLives.com website as they seek to transform their nascent movement into a potent political force.

Republicans, NRA criticized

Signs carried by protestors lambasted lawmakers who oppose tougher laws and the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful US gun lobby.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students at the "March for Our Lives"
rally for gun control in Washington (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

"These kids are right," said Jeff Turchin, a 68-year-old retired garment manufacturer who came to Washington from New York to attend the rally.

"They're basically saying the NRA is paying off these Republicans," Turchin said of the party of President Donald Trump, which controls the Senate and House of Representatives.

The Washington rally kicked off with Andra Day singing "Rise Up" and also featured a performances by Jennifer Hudson, whose mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew were shot dead in 2008.

Holding a poster reading "Never Again," the slogan for the march, Miley Cyrus performed the song "The Climb."

But the most riveting appearances were by the Stoneman Douglas students.

Emma Gonzalez, 17, took the stage wearing a green military-style jacket and ripped jeans and delivered a eulogy for the 14 students and three adults slain by 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz.

Protesters display posters at the "March For Our Lives" gun control rally 

in Washington (AFP Photo/Eva HAMBACH)

Tears rolling down her face, she then stood in silence at the podium for a full four and half minutes as the crowd fidgeted and some cried out "We're with you Emma."

"Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds," Gonzalez finally said -- the exact amount of time Cruz spent spraying bullets inside her school before fleeing.

"Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job," Gonzalez said. "Get out there and vote."

Yolanda Renee King, the nine-year-old granddaughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. brought many to tears with a surprise appearance.

"My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," she told a rapt crowd.

"I have a dream that enough is enough," she said, referencing her grandfather's famous 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech on ending racism.

"And that this should be a gun-free world -- period.".

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez on stage

 at the "March For Our Lives" rally for gun control in Washington (AFP Photo/

Nicholas Kamm)

Another speaker led the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" to Nicholas Dworet, who was shot dead at Stoneman Douglas.

Dworet, a senior who had been planning to go to the University of Indianapolis in the fall, would have turned 18 on Saturday.

'Protect Kids, Not Guns'

In New York, former Beatle Paul McCartney showed up at a march and spoke of the December 1980 murder of his bandmate John Lennon.

"Every week you hear about a new shooting and nothing is done about it," McCartney told AFP. "But I think maybe after this something will be done about it."

Thousands gathered in Parkland to pay tribute to those slain in the city on Valentine's Day.

"I March Because I Was Almost Silenced," read a sign carried by Samantha Mayor, 17, who was shot in the knee and wears a heavy brace.

Samantha's mother, Ellyn, held a sign reading "I'm Marching So No Other Parent Has to Hear 'Mom, I've Been Shot.'"

Martin Luther King Jr's granddaughter Yolanda Renee King addresses the crowd

at the "March For Our Lives" rally in Washington (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Trump was in Florida as marchers gathered in Washington but the White House issued a statement.

"We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today," it said. "Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the President's."

Who are the youthful vanguard of the US anti-gun campaign?

Yahoo – AFP, Leila MACOR,  February 22, 2018

Survivors of the mass shooting at Majory Stoneman High School in Florida are
leading what's considered an unprecedented youth mobilization against gun
violence in the US (AFP Photo/RHONA WISE)

Miami (AFP) - Young survivors of the Parkland, Florida school shooting have impressed the world with their eloquence as they grab the banner of the fight to end gun violence in America.

Cameron Kasky started the slogan #NeverAgain, David Hogg is now a target of an online smear campaign and Emma Gonzalez moved many in the country with her cry: "Shame on you!"

Who are the fresh-faced leaders of the #NeverAgain campaign to demand stricter gun laws, an issue that sharply divides American society?

In this file photo taken on February 17, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High 

School student Cameron Kasky speaks at a rally for gun control in Fort Lauderdale, 

Florida (AFP Photo/RHONA WISE)

Cameron Kasky

The 17-year-old has been described by the New Yorker as a "theater kid" and calls himself the "class clown."

On February 14, the day of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Kasky addressed pro-gun advocates with a scathing Facebook post: "I'm safe... Thank you to all the second amendment warriors who protected me."

Two days after the massacre that left 17 dead at his school, Kasky created the hashtag #NeverAgain, urging his supporters to make it go viral, which it did.

Perhaps his most high-profile moment came on Wednesday, when he confronted US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida at a CNN "town hall" event broadcast on prime time.

Appearing relaxed and confident, the teen confronted the one-time presidential candidate, who has received funding from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) pro-gun lobby: "Senator Rubio, can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?"

Emma Gonzalez rallied the nascent movement with a fiery 

speech that captured widespread attention (AFP Photo/

RHONA WISE)

Emma Gonzalez

"Shame on you!" the 18-year-old declared at an anti-gun rally on February 16th, berating US President Donald Trump and other politicians who accept money from the NRA.

Her fiery speech captured national attention and spurred a nascent movement bringing together student survivors, parents, teachers and other activists.

Gonzalez, whose family has roots in Cuba and is easily recognizable with her shaved head, had written the speech just hours before and her only previous activism was participating in last year's "March for Science."

She and her cohorts called for a "March for Our Lives" in Washington on March 24, saying: "You're either with us, or against us at this point."

The march has since raised at least $2 million in funding from Hollywood A-listers including George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal, talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, director Steven Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw, and film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg.

David Hogg (right) gives his account of surviving the shooting at his high 

school, which left 17 people dead (AFP Photo/MARK WILSON)

David Hogg

The 17-year-old aspiring journalist took refuge in a closet during the school massacre. Despite the terrifying circumstances, his instinct led him to film interviews with his fellow students while in hiding. The video went viral.

Hogg was recruited by Kasky to help lead the #NeverAgain movement.

But his experience in recent days lays bare the politicization of the issue. Hogg's father is a retired FBI agent and right-wing conspiracy theorists believe the agency is behind a shadowy campaign to bring down Trump.

The teen has been attacked and harassed online, and even accused of being a "crisis actor" paid to travel to tragedies to propagate liberal viewpoints.

"I am not a crisis actor," Hogg said. "I'm someone who had to witness this and live through this and I continue to be having to do that. I'm not acting on anybody's behalf."

Delaney Tarr, 17, is among the generation of Americans for whom the threat 

of school shootings has always been a part of life (AFP Photo/RHONA WISE)

Delaney Tarr

The 17-year-old was among hundreds of Florida students who descended on the state legislature this week to demand gun control laws.

"We've had enough of thoughts and prayers," she said. "We are coming after every single one of you and demanding that you take action."

She is among a generation of young Americans who grew up in an era of school shootings, and always carries around her car keys, with the idea that she could hunker down inside the vehicle in such a situation.

When it actually happened, she ended up hiding with her classmates in a closet.

Related Article:

Two thirds of Americans support stricter gun laws: poll

Two thirds of Americans support stricter gun laws: poll

Yahoo – AFP, February 20, 2018

Americans love their guns, but in the wake of a deadly mass shooting at a Florida

 high school, a new poll shows two out of every three voters support stricter gun 

control laws (AFP Photo/Michele Eve Sandberg)

Washington (AFP) - Americans support stricter gun laws by a more-than two-to-one margin, one of the highest levels on record, a polling agency reported Tuesday one week after the latest US school shooting left 17 people dead.

The tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has shocked many Americans, inspired students to launch campaigns to reduce gun violence, and put Congress and President Donald Trump's administration in the spotlight as they consider what changes, if any, should be made to the country's gun laws.

Voters support tightening gun laws by 66 to 31 percent, according to Quinnipiac University's national poll, which described the margin as "the highest level of support" since it began surveys on the question in 2008.

The poll also found that a majority of gun owners, 50 percent to 44 percent, backed stricter gun laws, and that their support specifically for universal background checks rose to an overwhelming 97 percent, against just three percent who opposed such checks or expressed no opinion.

"If you think Americans are largely unmoved by the mass shootings, you should think again," Quinnipiac poll assistant director Tim Malloy said in a statement.

"Support for stricter gun laws is up 19 points in little more than two years," he added, referring to December 2015 poll data that showed 47 percent of voters supported tightening such laws.

When broken down by political party, however, the latest results show that just 34 percent of Republicans support stricter gun laws, compared with 86 percent of Democrats.

Trump signaled support Monday for a bipartisan effort to expand and improve a national system of background checks for gun purchases in the wake of the Florida school shooting.

Several legislative proposals were introduced after a shooter killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, including a ban on semi-automatic weapons like the one used last week in Florida, banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets and a universal background check bill.

None has made it into law.

Related Article:

Florida students turn up heat on lawmakers for gun action

Background checks, assault weapons ban gain support: US poll

Yahoo – AFP, November 15, 2017

A weapons display in a gun shop in Las Vegas (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)

Washington (AFP) - Support for background checks for gun purchases and a ban on sales of assault weapons have reached new highs among US voters following a series of mass shootings, according to a poll published Wednesday.

Ninety-five percent of the 1,577 people surveyed in the Quinnipiac University poll said they support requiring background checks for all gun buyers.

Only four percent said they were opposed.

This was the highest level of support for background checks since Quinnipiac first asked the question in February 2013 following the December 2012 massacre of 20 schoolchildren in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said they supported a nationwide ban on sales of assault weapons while 31 percent said they were opposed.

That was also a new high and up from March 2013, when 54 percent said they supported an assault weapons ban while 41 percent were opposed.

In other findings, 91 percent of those polled said they support a ban on sales of guns to people convicted of violent crimes.

Overall, 60 percent of those surveyed said they support stricter gun laws while 36 percent were opposed. In a November 2015 poll, 52 percent said they supported stricter gun laws while 45 percent said they did not.

Thirty-four percent of those polled said stricter gun laws would help prevent mass shootings, but 62 percent said shooters would find a way around tighter laws and commit the crimes anyway.

"With each American gun massacre, there is stronger voter support for tighter gun control measures," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. "But the cynical view prevails. Stricter laws will do no good whatsoever in a country with more guns than people."

The November 15 survey followed two high-profile mass shootings in the United States.

Stephen Paddock, a retired accountant, shot dead 58 people at a country music concert in Las Vegas in October and a US Air Force veteran shot dead 26 people at a church in Texas on November 5.

Democratic senators introduced an updated assault weapons ban this month but the legislation has not gained support from Republicans who control the chamber.

Quinnipiac said the poll of registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

High-profile US police killings of black suspects

Yahoo – AFP, July 7, 2016

A person reads the personal messages written on the wall next to the convenience
 store where Alton Sterling was shot and killed, July 6, 2016 in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana (AFP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)

Washington (AFP) - The United States was coming to terms on Thursday with the latest controversial police shootings of black men.

Wednesday's shooting in the state of Minnesota of 32-year-old Philando Castile, came as civil rights investigators probed a similar incident a day earlier in Louisiana in which 37-year-old father of five Alton Sterling was shot to death by police.

Here are a selection of recent killings of US black citizens that have caused outrage -- and sometimes violent protests -- across America.

Mario Woods

On December 2, 2015, in San Francisco, the 26-year-old is shot by police who say he would not hand over a knife.

The scene is filmed on smartphones. At least six police agents take aim at him while he is huddled against a wall.

Freddie Gray

A mural honoring Freddie Gray near 

where he was arrested, on June 23, 

2016 in Baltimore, Maryland (AFP

Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

On April 12, 2015 Baltimore police officers arrest Freddie Gray, 25. He is handcuffed and eventually placed on his stomach in a police van, unsecured by a seatbelt.

While in transit, Gray asks for medical help but none is given. The police van is diverted to assist in an unrelated case, at which point Gray is found unresponsive.

Despite this, an ambulance is not called until after the police van reaches a police station and Gray is found to be in cardiac arrest, having suffered serious spinal injuries in the van.

Gray dies on April 19, leading to rioting in Baltimore and protests in other US cities. State prosecutor Marilyn Mosby calls the arrest illegal. Six officers are later charged over the incident. One trial ends in a hung jury, and two others in acquittal. The fourth trial started on Thursday.

Walter Scott

On April 4, 2015 in the state of South Carolina, a video shows police officer Michael Slager gunning down a fleeing black man, 50-year-old Walter Scott, after a traffic stop.

The video seems to show Slager in an altercation with Scott. Slager then draws his gun and shoot seven to eight shots in Scott's back as he flees. Slager was charged with murder in June 2015. His trial is due to open on October 31.

A memorial site setup near where Walter Scott was killed on April 11, 2015

in North Charleston, South Carolina (AFP Photo/Joe Raedle)

Tamir Rice

On November 22, 2014, in Cleveland, Ohio, a video emerges of US police officers shooting dead Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy carrying a replica gun, just seconds after confronting him.

Surveillance video showed Rice was killed within seconds of the patrol car arriving on the scene in a park.

In December 2015, the US authorities announce that the police officers concerned will not be prosecuted.

Akai Gurley

On November 20, 2014 an unarmed black man, Akai Gurley, 28, is shot by an Asian-American officer who opens fire in a dimly lit staircase at a Brooklyn, New York apartment block.

On the day of his funeral on December 7, New Yorkers take to the streets to denounce the spate of police killings. The police officer, Peter Liang, is in April 2016 given five years probation.

Laquan McDonald

On October 20, 2014 in Chicago a white police officer pumps 16 bullets into the 17-year-old adolescent, who was not showing threatening behavior.

Images of the incident shown in November 2015 during the indictment for premeditated murder of the police officer shock the country, right up to President Barack Obama.

The shockwaves lead to the chief of police in Chicago being fired and a federal probe which embarrasses Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff.

Michael Brown

On August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a white police officer shoots dead 18-year-old Brown, unleashing sometimes violent protests.

A subsequent decision not to indict the officer, Darren Wilson, prompts riots in Ferguson and raises tensions from New York to Seattle, with thousands taking to the streets.

In March 2015, the US Justice Department publishes a scathing report into the shooting, condemning Ferguson's city hall, police department and municipal court for targeting the city's African American majority. A black man subsequently takes over as head of Ferguson's police.

Eric Garner

On July 17, 2014, African American Eric Garner, 43, dies after being held in a police chokehold while he is being arrested for selling individual cigarettes illegally in New York.

In an amateur video which is viewed around the world, as police wrestle him to the ground, Garner is heard repeating: "I can't breathe."

A coroner declares the death a homicide. But a grand jury opts not to charge the white officer involved, sparking demonstrations in several cities.

Trayvon Martin

The 17-year-old unarmed adolescent is killed on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in 2013 by a jury which found that he had acted in self defence.

Map of the United States locating recent controversial police shootings of black men https://t.co/ICLQz9ifHr pic.twitter.com/gIVLdXh9Kd

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 8, 2016

California adopts sweeping gun control measures

Yahoo – AFP, July 1, 2016

Children hold up signs that reads "Disarm Hate" at a press conference calling
on Congress to hold a vote on new gun control measures on June 29, 2016 in
San Francisco, California (AFP Photo/Andrew Burton)

Los Angeles (AFP) - California's governor approved a series of gun control measures Friday, including new restrictions on assault weapons, in the wake of recent mass shootings across the country that have triggered outrage.

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law six bills that were part of a package put before him by state lawmakers, further boosting firearms restrictions in one of the US states with the most stringent gun control laws.

"My goal in signing these bills is to enhance public safety by tightening our existing laws in a responsible and focused manner, while protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners," Brown said in a statement.

The bills approved by the governor include a ban on assault weapons with magazines that can quickly be detached, new restrictions on loaning firearms and new punishment for falsely reporting guns as stolen.

One measure also requires an ID and background check for someone seeking to purchase ammunition.

The governor vetoed five other bills that had been approved by lawmakers, saying some were similar to an initiative that will be put to California voters during general elections in November and others did not add to existing legislation.

The package of bills -- denounced by gun-rights advocacy groups as "Gunpocalyse" -- was adopted on Thursday by state lawmakers who were spurred by recent mass shootings that have roiled the country, including the June 12 assault in Florida that killed 49 people and last year's terror attack in San Bernardino in which 14 people died.

Among the bills vetoed by the governor was one that would have required that stolen or lost guns be reported to authorities within five days and another limiting the purchase of a rifle or shotgun to one a month.

Democrats who control the legislature in California had voted in favour of the bills while most Republicans had voted against.

Gun control is a hot-button issue in the United States and Democratic lawmakers in Washington last month staged a sit-in in the lower house of congress to demand a vote on gun control legislation.

The protest came in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, the deadliest in modern US history.

US Supreme Court leaves state assault weapons bans in place

The Supreme Court has rejected challenges to assault weapons bans in the states of Connecticut and New York. The assessment came after the shooting attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 50 people dead.

Deutsche Welle, 20 June 2016

US Supreme Court justices declined to hear an appeal of an October 2015 ruling by the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New York, upholding laws prohibiting semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines in the two northeastern states. Instead, it left current gun control laws that ban such assaultweapons in place in New York and Connecticut.

The laws had been introduced in response to another mass shooting involving a semi-automatic weapon at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. The legislation in New York and Connecticut is considered to be among the strictest in the US.

Gun rights advocates have, however, repeatedly challenged existing laws, asking for the legalization of assault weapons - like the one used in the June 12 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Debate on gun control

In December 2015, less than a month after the deadly mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, who has since died, dissented when the court refused to hear an appeal to overturn a Chicago suburb's ban on assault weapons. Scalia was one of the strongest gun advocates of the Supreme Court.

The court's action is regarded as representative of its reluctance to partake in the national debate on gun control in the US. The Supreme Court has not made any major rulings on gun rights for more than five years. A nationwide law barring assault weapons expired in 2004, resulting in congressional Republicans, backed by the influential National Rifle Association (NRA) gun rights lobby, beating back efforts to restore it.

Seven states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws banning assault weapons. The other states with such bans are California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. In addition, Minnesota and Virginia regulate assault weapons, the center said.

ss/kl (Reuters, AP)

The worst mass shootings in US history https://t.co/QXVv3tzpcT pic.twitter.com/IxLxm35hBE

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 12, 2016

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