Featured Story
A Connecticut bill to change the state’s school safety training protocols failed after officials from Newtown, including the chief of police and district superintendent, expressed strong criticism. But proponents said the legislation — which proposed banning active-shooter simulations and requiring drills to be trauma-informed — was meant to “ensure that crisis response drills don’t do more harm than good.” [CT Mirror]
Bang for the Buck
The National Rifle Association, though still the most prominent gun rights group in the country, is weakened. After years of plummeting revenue and membership, the NRA’s downward spiral culminated last month when the group and its longtime CEO Wayne LaPierre were found liable in a civil corruption case in New York. The gun rights movement, however, continues to advance — and with the NRA vulnerable, other groups are scrambling to wield their influence in newfound ways.
An array of larger, national organizations have gained ground in the fight to fill the NRA’s void. In his latest story, The Trace’s Will Van Sant breaks down the most prominent.
What to Know Today
In his new book, retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer argues that the 2022 Bruen decision — one of his last cases — was wrongly decided because the conservative majority used a textualist approach to interpret the Constitution. Breyer argues that the approach doesn’t account for the ways America has evolved since its founding: “Guns today pose a unique threat to American society if not properly regulated. … But originalism says that judges cannot consider these modern developments and practical realities.” [The Washington Post]
For the first time in three years, the number of high school-age shooting victims in Baltimore is dropping. Experts attribute the decrease to a greater effort by the city to connect vulnerable teenagers to employment programs, social services, and mentorship opportunities. [The Baltimore Banner]
Chicago filed a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer Glock, arguing that the company should stop manufacturing its semiautomatic pistols because they are easily modified with conversion devices, known as auto sears, to achieve fully automatic fire. Auto sears, also called “switches,” have been involved in dozens of shootings by extremists, mass shooters, and drug traffickers. The ATF has reported that it recovered 5,454 machine gun conversion devices from 2017 through 2021, a 570 percent increase over the previous five-year period. [Block Club Chicago]
A New York state judge ruled that YouTube and Reddit must face lawsuits seeking to hold them accountable for enabling the white supremacist who killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket in 2022. Plaintiffs allege that the platforms helped the shooter gain knowledge of the equipment and training he used to carry out the attack. [Reuters]
Abraham George, a leading candidate to replace Texas’s outgoing Republican Party chair, tried to confront his wife’s alleged lover with a gun last year, according to police. George was not arrested or charged. [The Texas Tribune]
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez greenlit the establishment of a task force to address the disproportionate rates at which Indigenous people experience violence and go missing. The state Justice Department also launched a dashboard to track cases of missing Indigenous people. [New Mexico In Depth]
Archive
How Lockdown Drills Can Retraumatize Kids Who Have Experienced Domestic Violence: School safety protocols can save lives, proponents say — but experts argue they are particularly harmful to kids who’ve been abused. (October 2022)
