[JURIST] Chicago's voluntary gun buy-back program brought in more than 6,800 weapons on Saturday as the city sought to address gun violence following the US Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report]. Chicago's gun control laws are similar to the Washington, DC statutes struck down by the Supreme Court, and the city is currently facing a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] brought by four Chicago residents, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) [advocacy website], and the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) [official website], who are challenging handgun bans and registration requirements. The city plans to defend the lawsuit [Chi-town report] by arguing that Heller only applies to the District of Columbia. As part of the initiative, headed by mayor Richard Daley, the city offered $100 for each gun turned in [press release] and amnesty for weapons banned by current laws. Organizers had hoped to collect more than 14,000 guns based on the growth of the program in previous years. The Chicago Tribune has more.

The Supreme Court ruling was the first that directly addressed the Second Amendment since 1939's US v. Miller [case materials]. In September 2007, Washington DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and DC Attorney General Linda Singer [official profiles] formally appealed a March 2007 federal court ruling which invalidated the District of Columbia's handgun ban [JURIST reports]. The decision affirmed the March DC Circuit holding [opinion, PDF] that the city's 30-year-old ban on private possession of handguns was unconstitutionally broad.

[JURIST] Thousands of protesters gathered in cities throughout Bosnia and Serbia on Sunday to demonstrate their continued opposition to the arrest [JURIST report] of former Bosnian Serb leader and fugitive Radovan Karadzic [ICTY materials; JURIST news archive]. Serbian nationalists showed their support for Karadzic by wearing T-shirts displaying his image [AP photo] and the phrase "Serbian Hero". Protesters also carried flags and congregated in churches to light candles and pray for the former leader. The large-scale demonstrations began on Tuesday when about 200 members of the extremist political group Obraz [advocacy website] clashed with riot police [AP report] in the capital city of Belgrade. Protests on Saturday were organized by Karadzic's own Serbian Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDS). Reuters has more. The Independent Online has additional coverage.

Karadzic was originally indicted [text] by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official site] in 1995, but had been in hiding under an assumed identity until his arrest last Monday. Karadzic is accused of being involved in the Srebrenica [JURIST news archive] massacre and other crimes against Bosnian Muslims and Croats during ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. His capture has been a major goal of the ICTY [press release], and follows the June arrest [JURIST report] of former Bosnian Serb police commander Stojan Zupljanin [Trial Watch profile]. Former ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [BBC profile] frequently criticized Serbia for its seeming reluctance to cooperate with the ICTY, exemplified by its failure to find and capture [JURIST report] remaining war crimes suspects such as Karadzic. Karadzic's arrest is seen by some as the result of the newly appointed [IHT report] pro-western government in Serbia, which came about through an alliance between Serbian President Boris Tadic [official website; BBC profile] and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) [official website].

[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] in a special Saturday session passed [vote summary] by 72-13 the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 [HR 3221 materials], designed to address problems from the country's so-called "sub-prime mortgage collapse." The Act provides for government grants allowing municipalities to buy and redevelop foreclosed properties, and would allow the federal government to provide additional financial backing to the publicly supported Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac [corporate websites] mortgage companies. The bill passed [JURIST report] in the US House of Representatives [official website] earlier this week with the support of President Bush, who said he will sign the bill [NYT report], rescinding an earlier veto threat because of the included grants. Some have speculated that the legislation will increase the national debt by $800 billion, but a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) [official website] estimate [PDF text] places the cost of the program at about $25 million over the next ten years. Reuters has more.

Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve Board approved new rules for home mortgage loans [draft regulations, PDF; JURIST report] designed to reduce unfair lending practices and increase consumer protection. In June, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] announced that more than 400 people had been indicted [press release; JURIST report] for fraud involving individual mortgages and the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York [official website] announced the indictments [text, PDF; press release] of two senior hedge fund managers at Bear Stearns [corporate website] for allegedly misleading investors even after they knew their mortgage-related funds were at serious risk of collapse.