AC360°

New York’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, unveiled the results of a 4 month investigation into illegal practices at gun shows. It may shock you to know how many sellers ignore the questionable backgrounds of interested buyers. The investigation also highlights a dangerous loophole that could potentially put guns in the hands of criminals.

The investigation took place in Nevada, Ohio and Tennessee. Do you know the gun laws in your state? What about neighboring states?

Tonight Randi Kaye digs deeper. Tune in at 10pm ET to hear her report.

Check out this chart for trends in crimes committed with firearms from 1973 – 2006.

The gun used by the alleged Holocaust Museum shooter James von Brunn is too old to be traced, according to sources.

Carol Cratty
CNN

A law enforcement source says it was not possible to trace the rifle used in the Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting to the original purchaser.

The source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, said the weapon is a Winchester Model 6, .22 caliber rifle, and those were manufactured between 1908 and 1928– - long before records were kept on this sort of stuff.

Law enforcement was also checking to see if the weapon had been used in any other crime. No word on any results on that.

Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear more from Jeffrey Toobin tonight on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

Jeffrey Toobin
CNN Senior Legal Analyst

Today the House gave Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) his way when it passed the gun measure he attached to the credit card bill. (The Senate passed it Tuesday.) The provision allows visitors to national parks to carry loaded weapons if the weapons would be legal in the rest of the state. Bottom line: Both plastic-carrying and pistol-packing Americans get new protections under the legislation headed to President Obama’s desk.

In a written statement, Sen. Coburn said he wanted park visitors to be able to defend themselves against crime. We’ll have to take him at his word, but we can’t help noting that National Parks have some of the lowest crime rates in the United States.

Supporters of the gun provision also argued the amendment eliminates confusion about where gun owners can carry their weapons. Here’s what they’re talking about: Starting in the 80s, park visitors were allowed to bring guns inside parks only if they were dismantled or unloaded and stored in a car trunk. That federal rule applied even in states where people could carry a loaded gun in other public places. In January, just before leaving office, President Bush overturned the ban on loaded weapons in national parks. But in March, a district judge struck down his move, pending a required environmental impact study. Today, the tables turned again, producing a high-five moment for President Bush and gun lobbyists.

So does this open the door for the gun lobby to push for even greater gains? Will hospitals and schools remain off-limits to loaded guns? It’s an open question. In a well-known case from 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal law barring guns within a certain distance of schools. The conservative majority said these kinds of laws were a state issue, not a federal issue.

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Editor's Note: Congress today sent to President Obama a bill that makes it tougher for credit card issuers to raise fees and interest rates. The move caps a years-long crusade by consumer groups and Democrats, CNNMoney reports. The approval came despite objections by banking industry advocates. The bill includes an unrelated measure allowing people to carry guns into national parks. So what exactly is a national park? Check out this interactive map.

What government agency oversees the National Park Service?
The National Park Service is a bureau of the Department of the Interior. Directly overseeing its operation is the Department's Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.

How Old is the System?
The National Park Service was created by an Act signed by President Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916. Yellowstone National Park was established by an Act signed by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, as the Nation's first national park.

How many areas are there in the National Park system?
The National Park System comprises 391 areas covering more than 84 million acres in every state (except Delaware), the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These areas include national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House. Learn More about National Park Designations.

David Mattingly
AC360° Correspondent

I found some numbers today that were very interesting and help put perspective on the enormity of Chicago's gun violence.

Keep in mind this is city where (with some exceptions) it's illegal to buy, own and carry firearms.

• Chicago Police confiscate an average of 1 assault weapon a day.
• 10 thousand guns are recovered from crimes in Chicago each year and traced by the ATF.
• It's estimated that 800 of those traced guns are bought by people with no criminal background for someone who does have a criminal background.

A federal police officer guards a checkpoint earlier this month in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Cynthia Tucker
The Atlanta Journal Constitution

The deadly contagion is spreading, striking down young and old, well-heeled and downtrodden, sophisticates and illiterates. Last year alone, the affliction killed thousands in Mexico and even more in the United States.

Not swine flu. Gun violence. While federal and state authorities are preoccupied with preventing a swine flu pandemic from overwhelming the United States, the epidemic of gun violence rages on, unabated and little noted.

Last Saturday, George Zinkhan III, a well-respected University of Georgia professor, took two handguns to a community theater and killed his wife, Marie Bruce, and two of her theater colleagues while wounding two others, police said. Zinkhan left his 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son in his car while he went on his bloody rampage, according to authorities. Then, he dropped the children off at a neighbor’s house — he explained he had an emergency — and fled, police said.

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CNN's Sean Callebs talks to an attorney about the polarizing issue of gun ownership rights.

Editor's note: See Sean's full report tonight on AC360 at 10PM ET.

Sean Callebs
CNN Correspondent

It's striking how two people can look at the same thing and see something entirely different.

A gun, for example.

I've talked with a number of Americans buying weapons - lots of them.

And I took a few shots with an AR15 semi-automatic weapon.

This gun - and don’t call it a weapon - is really at the core of a disconnect in this country between gun enthusiasts and people calling for more gun control.

One side says, “why on earth would anyone outside the military want to own something like that.. why is it even legal?”

That view drives defenders of the 2nd amendment up the wall. Here's what attorney Sean Healy told us.

"There is definitely a disconnect, there are some groups of people that don’t know much about guns, they have never been around them or exposed to them, and they don’t know how to handle them safely. And so if all they know about then is what they hear about them in the press or see on tv or hear from politicians, then sometimes they can be afraid of them.

"To another group of people (a gun) is like a tool, like a hammer - it's safe," Healy went on to say. "If you are member of the group that does not understand guns, you may think that criminals are the only ones who use guns, and there aren’t any legitimate uses for them. And I think once you become familiar with them, and their safety, you want people to have guns."

The site of a recent shooting in Binghamton, New York.

Dr. Gail Saltz
Psychiatrist
AC360° Contributor

At least 47 people have been killed in this past month due to mass shootings. Hospitals are reporting higher numbers of shaken baby syndrome and injuries from domestic violence. Is there a connection between this recession and the growing numbers of violent crimes?

Job loss and economic desperation leads to anxiety and even depression. It causes many people to live on the edge; to question whether or not their life is worth living and find it difficult to control their hostile and aggressive impulses. In two of the recent shootings, there were indications that the perpetrators may have been affected by a job loss.

Traumatic events, such as a job loss, can tip these people over that edge. Perceived humiliation – like being unable to support a family – can also create feelings of hopelessness. Many folks are finding themselves in this terrible boat with no source of support. They may feel they cannot afford to get help or treatment for their terrible feelings and some may be unable to ask friends or family for help out of shame and anger.

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Program Note: Tune in tonight for a special report by Joe Johns and Erica Hill on gun violence in America on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

National Shooting Sports Foundation

Firearm sales continued to surge across the country for the fifth straight month, extending a trend that began after the November elections. The increase also follows recent comments by several high-profile members of the Obama administration about re-imposing permanently and expanding the ban on modern sporting rifles.

Data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) show background checks on the sale of firearms jumped 29.2 percent in March when compared to March 2008 and were up 27.1 percent for the first quarter of 2009 over the same quarter last year.

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