Firearms | featured news

The FBI reports record background checks for firearms buyers in December, with 500,000 in the six days before Christmas.

Kenneth Melson, the ATF's acting director, claims Justice Department officials refuse to release a telling internal report on the Fast and Furious operation. The Justice Department is trying to protect its political appointees from the Fast and Furious scandal by concealing an internal "smoking gun" report and other documents that acknowledge the role top officials played in the program that allowed firearms to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms....

A group of South Dakota lawmakers have introduced a bill mandating that every citizen in their state over the age of 21 purchase a firearm, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports.

Mexican cartels are taking advantage of U.S. gun laws to buy thousands of weapons that are being used in an escalating drug war that has claimed more than 31,000 lives since late 2006, experts and law enforcement officials tell NBC News.

Boxing promoter Don King was stopped by security at Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport for having ammunition in his carry-on luggage.Hopkins Airport spokeswoman Jacqueline Mayo says the 79-year-old King was stopped by members of the Transportation Safety Administration on Sunday night. She says King had ammunition for .38-caliber and .357-caliber firearms in his bag.

Members of South Bay Open Carry, which organized the beach cleanup, said they hope such events will dispel misgivings about gun owners and make carrying a handgun in public more acceptable. Organizers said they turned the event into a cleanup to demonstrate that they are contributing to the community.

When Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton brought their dispute to work, they needed to leave the guns home. Instead, the Washington Wizards guards became the first players to violate NBA rules prohibiting firearms on team property, and commissioner David Stern suspended both without pay for the remainder of the season Wednesday....