Even a traffic accident could set off a gun battle that quickly spread through a wide area and lasted for hours.
Investigators were trying to determine on Monday what set off a gun battle at a weekend dance staged by a central California motorcycle club that left one man dead and 13 people wounded as hundreds of partygoers scrambled for cover.
Yemeni forces raided a hide-out of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda and set off a gun battle on Wednesday as the government vowed to eliminate the group, which claimed it was behind the Christmas Day bombing attempt on a United States airliner.
Instead, West German sharpshooters tried to rescue the Israelis, setting off a gun battle in which five Palestinians, a German police officer and the nine hostages were killed.
Less than 24 hours later, Taliban insurgents attacked the American base at Bagram, 50 miles north of Kabul, setting off a gun battle early Wednesday morning that wounded at least five American soldiers.
NATO and Afghan forces came under heavy fire while searching a compound in the eastern Afghanistan province of Logar, setting off a gun battle that killed two United States soldiers and five insurgents, NATO and Gen. Mustafa Mosseini, the province's chief of police, said Friday.
For example, early indications that Mr. Obama will push for stricter controls on the sale of assault rifles have already set off an outcry among gun-control opponents.
KARACHI, Pakistan — An attack early Thursday on a major Pakistani air force base where some of the country's nuclear weapons are thought to be stored set off a heavy gun battle in which eight attackers and one security official were killed.
It was one of the more fascinating sights of the playoffs: a broad-shouldered, 6-foot-3-inch, 240-pound runner, built like a superhero but fast enough to set off a radar gun, outrunning supposedly speedier Colts defensive backs, en route to one of the biggest touchdowns in franchise history.
It comes nearly a year after the shooting set off a national discussion about gun control, mental health and violence in American popular culture.
Powerful Lobby Prevails The federal firearms prohibition for felons dates to the late 1960s, when the assassinations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, along with rioting across the country, set off a clamor for stricter gun control laws.
