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For practical, common sense ideas regarding gun control, maybe we should look to Canada, Adam Gopnik wrote on The New Yorker’s Web site on Tuesday. Gopnik’s parents live in Ontario, “surrounded by crops, animals, and pests—and indeed by farmers who need and use rifles.” In order to procure a gun for, say, culling a raccoon infestation, you need to fill out an application for a license and take a gun-safety course—and if your current or former spouse doesn’t sign your application, the police have to inform them that you’re applying for a firearms license.

“Does anything in this interfere with the liberty of the individual or the exigencies of rural life?” he writes. “There is no imaginable, meaningful sense in which Canadians, or Australians, are ‘less free’ when it comes to guns because they have to take a safety course before they use one.”

Citing a recent book called “Reducing Gun Violence in America,” Gopnik suggests such common-sense solutions as giving the F.B.I. ten days, instead of three, to complete background checks; prohibiting anyone with a restraining order filed against them from getting their hands on guns; and encouraging smart-gun technology research.

“What we can learn from Canada is how to legislate common sense without violating anyone’s liberty—unless you imagine that anyone’s liberty depends on having as many weapons as he wants whenever he wants them,” he writes. “Perhaps no existing gun law could have been explicitly designed to stop the shotgun killer of the Navy Yard,” but “building low barriers against violent crime has a disproportionate effect in ending it.”

Here is today’s report.

—Jennifer Mascia

Seven people, including a toddler, were injured in a spate of shootings in north Omaha, Neb., late Wednesday. A gunman fired shots through the door of a home, and Keirra Johnson, 19; Danielle Ross, 16; Ennisha Devers, 16; and Da’ Marion Devers, 2, were wounded. The suspected shooter fled. About an hour and a half later, Mark Robinson, 23, was shot in the back and critically wounded in an alley. Autrell Jackson, 32, was shot in the foot at about 11:45 p.m. A seventh person walked into a hospital with a gunshot wound. No arrests have been made.

—Omaha.com

A sheriff’s deputy was killed in a shootout with a man at a McCamey, Tex., convenience store late Wednesday. Billy “Bubba” Kennedy, 38, a 14-year-veteran of the force, encountered the suspect, 50-year-old Gary David Green, and several shots were fired. Green was arrested and is being treated for multiple gunshot wounds. The victim leaves behind a wife and two sons.

—ReporterNews

Three men were killed in a shooting in northwest Harris County, Tex., Thursday morning. Two victims were found in a Ford Mustang that crashed into the front yard of a home. They had been armed with pistols, and a bag of marijuana was found in the vehicle. The third shooting victim was found in the parking lot of the Torrey Pines Recreation Center. He was also found with a pistol.

—KHOU.com

Richard Alan Slatkin, 66, a private investigator, was shot in the chest and killed during an apparent domestic disturbance in Benbrook, Tex., Tuesday afternoon. Police arrested Johnny Patton Jr., 65, the chief executive officer of Patton Energy Partners, on suspicion of murder. The shooting occurred outside the home of Catherine Slatkin, who is the victim’s ex-wife and Patton’s current girlfriend.

—Star-Telegram

A 14-year-old boy allegedly shot and killed two men at a remote deer-hunting cabin in northeastern Oregon Thursday. Police found two men, 43 and 64, dead and the boy duct-taped to a chair. The boy reportedly fled the cabin after shooting the two men, then accidentally shot himself in the leg. When he returned to the cabin to plead for help, he was held at gunpoint and subdued by another camper. No motive was given.

—WHTC

A 15-year-old boy was shot and wounded in Montgomery, Ala., Wednesday afternoon. Dezkendre Perkins, 20, was charged with second-degree assault. Police said the shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute.

—AL.com

The owner of a tree nursery in King, Wash., shot and killed an alleged intruder and held a second man at gunpoint early Wednesday. The owner of Frager Farm Stand was getting ready for bed at around 1:30 a.m. when he went to investigate a noise he heard at his business, which is adjacent to his house. He grabbed his shotgun and discovered two young men rifling through his office. Police are investigating.

—Seattle Times

A 21-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the leg at a Walmart in Antioch, Tenn., Wednesday. The man had a valid Tennessee handgun carry permit and was carrying a .40 caliber pistol in his waistband. He felt the gun slipping as he neared a checkout line with a gallon of milk, and when he reached for the unholstered firearm, the gun discharged. No charges are expected to be filed.

—The Tennessean

Choncy Latrey Fields, 20, was shot in the jaw and wounded while sitting in a car with a friend in Bossier City, La., Wednesday night. Darius Demarcus White, 21, told police he was fumbling with a handgun he thought was unloaded when the gun accidentally discharged. No charges will be filed.

—ShreveportTimes.com

Linda Carroll was shot and killed at an apartment complex in Liberty, Mo., Tuesday night, and her husband, Ervin D. Carroll, 45, was arrested. Police responding to reports of a shooting discovered a man on his knees in the living room shaking the arms of a motionless woman who was lying face up in a large amount of blood. As he was handcuffed, he repeated, “You’ve got to get her help.” Darla Mondragon, who was wounded in the shooting, said the couple had been arguing.

—Liberty Tribune

31-year-old Amy Ginger, a motel clerk, who was shot in the head during a robbery in Marion, Ind., on Sunday, died of her injuries Wednesday. Witnesses at the Ambrosia Inn reported a man struggling with the victim before gunshots were heard.

—JournalGazette.net

A woman was shot during an attempted burglary at a home north of Oak Grove, Mo., Thursday afternoon. The suspects, a man and a woman, were confronted by a relative of the victim, who shot at them as they fled. Police later arrested the man, and the woman was dropped off at a hospital with a gunshot wound.

—The Examiner

A 21-year-old woman was shot twice and critically wounded during a robbery in the Juniata section of Philadelphia, Pa., early Thursday. The victim and a friend were walking home from a 7-Eleven when two men, one armed with a semi-automatic handgun, approached them and demanded money. The women obliged, and one of the men opened fire. The shooter was apprehended but the other suspect is at large.

—NBC Philadelphia

Four people who were found shot to death in a car near Double Springs, Ala., Wednesday night had been implicated in a Tennessee child pornography investigation and may have ended up killing one another in a murder-suicide plot. The car was discovered by the side of a logging road.

—NBCNews.com

Three teens and two adults were wounded in shootings across Chicago, Ill., Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. A 47-year-old man was shot in the foot on the west side at 4 p.m.; a 15-year-old boy was shot in the back and a 16-year-old was shot in the leg in the Grand Crossing neighborhood at 8 p.m.; about 90 minutes later, a 19-year-old was shot near a bus stop; and a 25-year-old man was shot outside Portage Park early Friday.

—Chicago Tribune

A 29-year-old bartender was shot and critically wounded in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Ill., late Tuesday. Surveillance video shows a man walking up to victim outside the bar and firing twice. Authorities arrested 27-year-old Adolfo Zuniga.

—Chicago Tribune

One man was killed and a woman was injured in a shooting at an apartment complex in Shively, Kan., Thursday evening. Police said the two were sitting in a car when a man started shooting at them. He fled.

—WHAS11.com

One person was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Rite Aid near the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., Thursday night. Witnesses reported hearing an argument and three or four gunshots. Shortly after, a woman covered in blood entered the store with a young boy. One person is in custody.

—TimesDispatch.com

Todd Edward Fenton, 48, a school district employee, was found shot to death at his workplace by a co-worker in Carrollton, Tex., Wednesday night. The victim was a supervisor for the maintenance and landscaping department. Police are investigating.

—WFAA.com

A man in his late teens or early 20s was shot multiple times and wounded in West Chester, Pa., Wednesday night. Police recovered at least six shell casings in the street. Two suspects were taken into custody.

—CBS Philly

A man showed up at a Greeley, Colo., emergency room with a gunshot wound Thursday morning. At about the same time, police received a call that people were loading an unconscious man into the back of a pickup at an apartment complex. The man told police that he was fighting with someone over a gun when it discharged.

—The Tribune

A 30-year-old man was shot to death inside an apartment in Madison, Wis., early Thursday. The police do not believe the shooting was random but do not yet have a motive.

—Wisconsin State Journal

Michael Howe, 37, was killed in a shooting near an elementary school in the Bond Hill community of Cincinnati, Ohio, Thursday afternoon. Nearby schools were placed on temporary lockdown.

—Cincinnati.com

Two men were shot and wounded while standing outside a house in east Durham, N.C., Tuesday night. Police arrested a 20-year-old man.

—The Herald-Sun

A man was found lying facedown on the ground, suffering from a gunshot wound to his stomach at an apartment complex in West Point, Miss., early Thursday. A witness said the victim was holding an infant in his arms when a man appeared and demanded money. When the victim fled with the baby, he was fired upon. The shooter fled.

—WTVA.com

The manager of a Denver, Colo., retirement community was shot and critically wounded Thursday afternoon. Relatives of the gunman said the shooter was a resident of the complex who had issues with staffers because he did not like them going into his room. After an argument with the manager, the shooter returned with a shotgun. He then turned the gun on himself.

—Denver Post

A 21-year-old man was shot and wounded in a park in Portsmouth, Va., Wednesday afternoon. Police arrested Ra’Quan Devonte Hill, 18, and are seeking Timothy Levi Vreen and Raynard Demonte Hill, both 22.

—PilotOnline.com

According to Slate’s gun-death tracker, an estimated 8,954 people have died as a result of gun violence in America since the Newtown massacre on December 14, 2012.