Tagged: guns

St. Louis police chief Dan Isom says aggressive policing efforts are continuing to bring down the rate of aggravated assaults and other gun crimes in the city.

Isom's analysis came during his monthly report on crime numbers to the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners. Overall, crime in the city is down 12.7 percent from last year.

St. Louis police say they're seeing a significant uptick in gun violence in St. Louis, even as crime is down overall.

The department released the latest crime numbers for 2012 at the meeting of its oversight board on Wednesday morning. Aggravated assaults with a weapon are up 19 percent in 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.

Special groups like the Violent Offenders and gang units are targeting individuals with a history of gun violence and possession, police chief Dan Isom said, but that won't solve the entire problem.

Updated to include link to opinion.

Gun rights advocates scored a victory when the Illinois Supreme Court allowed a challenge to a Cook County assault weapons ban to proceed.

The court on Thursday ruled that lower courts were wrong to throw out the challenge. The Supreme Court says it wants the trial court to hear evidence on whether assault weapons get the same Second Amendment protections as handguns.