Join Radio Rookies and Youth Radio today from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST for a Live Chat about gun control and school safety with students from classrooms around the country. 

On Thursday, Vice President Biden sketched out early hints of what gun control reform might look like. One potential reform concerns something that you might mistakenly assume already exists: a central database of gun transactions in the US, maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. The NRA has blocked all such efforts in the past. New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg tells Bob why the ATF's record-keeping on gun sales is actually incredibly antiquated. 

Following the school massacre in nearby Connecticut, a New York state paper published a map showing the names and addresses of handgun permit owners in its readership area — all except for one county, where local officials have refused to provide the paper with the information. This decision violates explicit New York State law, but has a supporter in New York state Senator Greg Ball, who tells Bob why he's supporting Putnam County officials.

Yo La Tengo - Stupid Things

With the revival of the gun control debate, ProPublica’s Suevon Lee looks at how much both gun control advocates and gun rights groups have been spending on lobbying efforts and contributed to political campaigns. With gun rights groups outspending their counterparts, we’ll look at how that money has affected gun policy in recent years.

Every week, we'll add terms and definitions used in the gun control debate to this glossary. We'll add more terms each Thursday this month with Paul Barrett, assistant managing editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and author of Glock: The Rise of America's Gun.

In the wake of the Newtown shootings, legislative leaders are having intense discussions about the direction of gun control, but few of them or their aides are willing to speak on the record, or even return calls.

In the early 1980s, a 50-year-old radiator manufacturer who'd never made a gun before was given the opportunity to make some for the Austrian army. His name was Gaston Glock, and the gun that bears his name has gained a ubiquitous presence both on-screen and in real-life crimes over the past 25 years. Made mostly of plastic and consisting fewer parts, the glock is lighter and easier to handle than other handguns — making it "amateur-friendly."

In an attempt to shift the political climate on gun control, post-Tucson, the Bloomberg administration released a series of undercover videos Monday pointing to lax enforcement of laws at a gun show in Arizona.

The shootings in Arizona have thrust the mayor and his gun-control group back into the national spotlight. For Bloomberg, who's been dogged by criticism over his handling of the snow storm, the issue of gun control appears to present steady ground.

Much has been made of Tucson shooting suspect Jared Loughner’s troubled state of mind by police and former classmates. But if Loughner’s mental issues were a factor in Saturday’s attacks, does it follow that we should screen people for mental illness before allowing them to purchase guns? Is this even possible? And more importantly, do these kind of gun restrictions save lives or are they merely knee-jerk responses that only give us the impression of added safety?

It's not like seat-heaters, a fancy sound system, or other car purchase options/ad-ons, but Nation's Trucks in Sanford, Fla. does offer a deal if you purchase a truck: buy one, get an AK-47. Technically, to get your semi-automatic with your vehicle, you have to jump through all the usual hoops of buying the weapon according to state laws. But Nick Ginetta, the general sales manager at the dealership who acknowledges it is in effect a publicity stunt, hopes he'll get a few more customers than usual.

It's A Free Country and The Brian Lehrer Show bring you the fall election series 30 Issues in 30 Days. We will explore one issue every day until election day - issues of relevance to the NY, NJ and CT elections and the national midterm congressional races. This week, we'll be looking into whether there is a Democratic and a Republican way to be state comptroller.

Yesterday the Supreme Court said the Second Amendment's gaurantee of the right to bear arms applies to state and local gun control laws, effectively overturning Chicago’s ban on handguns in a 5-4 decision. The ruling comes after two deadly weekends in Chicago, where over 80 people have been shot and 13 people killed in the city. For decades, Chicago’s homicide rates have soared above other U.S. cities. And gun control advocates worry that the recent Supreme Court case will escalate crime in the city and make Chicago the national epicenter of gun-related violence.

The Supreme Court held Monday that the Constitution's Second Amendment restrains government's ability to significantly limit "the right to keep and bear arms," advancing a recent trend by the bench to support gun rights.