Top Story
Armed, right-wing vigilantes, including extremists, have returned to the Arizona border after the expiration of Title 42, a public health order that created a backlog of asylum-seekers in Mexico. The gun-toting vigilantes are harassing migrants and humanitarian aid workers. [The Intercept]
From Our Team
Just a decade ago, almost every state in the U.S. required that adults obtain a permit to legally carry a concealed firearm in public. Just four — Vermont, Alaska, Arizona, and Wyoming — didn’t have licensing requirements.
Today, the national landscape is essentially reversed: Since 2013, nearly two dozen states have passed laws, known as permitless or constitutional carry, that remove licensing requirements and allow largely unregulated concealed carry. The Trace’s Chip Brownlee has more on the states with permitless carry laws on the books. Read more →
What to Know Today
Sunday marked one year since the racist rampage at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Barbara Massey-Mapps, whose sister, Kat, was murdered in the mass shooting, devoted much of the year to ensuring that the white supremacist killer was convicted and her sister’s memory was honored. [The New York Times]
A federal judge in Virginia ruled that banning licensed dealers from selling handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds is unconstitutional, striking down the federal age limit on firearm purchases. [Associated Press]
The New York Attorney General’s Office argued that a Supreme Court ruling that upheld a California ban on selling inhumanely raised pork undermines a challenge to a New York law that makes it easier to sue the gun industry for liability. Separately, New York AG Letitia James filed a lawsuit — alleging false advertising and aiding and abetting a mass shooting — against the company behind an accessory, used by the Buffalo shooter, that modifies the weapon to hold more ammunition. [Reuters/ABC]
An internal investigation into a New York Police Department officer’s killing of a man who had locked himself out of his apartment found “no wrongdoing.” The NYPD offered no explanation for its reasoning, but new records show that investigators never asked the responding officers key questions, even when video evidence contradicted their accounts. [ProPublica]
Alex Jones owes Sandy Hook plaintiff Erica Lafferty around $100 million — but neither she nor any of the plaintiffs have seen a dime. Now, as Lafferty wages an expensive battle against cancer, she’s crowdfunding money for her treatment. [VICE]
A Texas man previously accused of domestic abuse shot and killed his girlfriend in Dallas because she had received abortion care in Colorado, according to court records. Texas has essentially outlawed abortion care since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. [NPR]
South Carolina deputies fired roughly 50 rounds at a man in severe emotional distress during a wellness check, a newly filed lawsuit alleges. Police video shows the officers quickly drew their guns; the man, who survived, was shot nine times, according to his mother. [The Washington Post]
Archive
They Planned to Start a Race War. DIY Gun Kits Allowed Them to Build an Arsenal: The arrest of a white supremacist cell before a gun rally in Richmond, Virginia, showed how extremist motives are colliding with easy access to ghost guns, homemade silencers, and unregulated tactical accessories. (January 2020)
