Good morning, Bulletin readers. Today’s edition includes an invitation to our friends in the media to join us in an urgent project.
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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
An armed standoff in Philadelphia left at least six police officers wounded. The shooting started after the police served a drug warrant in the Nicetown-Tioga section of the city on Wednesday afternoon. The suspect, who was reportedly armed with an AK-47, was apprehended after a seven-hour standoff. “It was like a war,” a witness said. All of the officers were treated and released from local hospitals. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that we don’t have multiple officers killed today,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr.
NEW from THE TRACE: Coverage of mass killings threatens public safety. So let’s fix it. In a commentary co-published with Columbia Journalism Review, The Trace’s Miles Kohrman and Katherine Reed from the Missouri School of Journalism argue that the news industry hasn’t seriously reckoned with its responsibility to report on mass shootings with the discretion they require. Research increasingly suggests a contagion effect may be driving the increased frequency of active shootings: Some perpetrators crave attention and infamy, and several have idolized and sought out information about those who came before them. “Our obligation to cover mass shootings and their perpetrators thoroughly must also mitigate the harm we may be inflicting,” they write. To help find a way forward, we’re working with the university’s Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute to develop best practices that we will urge news organizations to adopt. Fellow members of the media can join the project here.
The governor of Pennsylvania signed several executive orders aimed at reducing gun violence. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, ordered the creation of state-level gun violence prevention offices and increased collaboration and data sharing between the public, government agencies, and other states. Wolf is also urging the GOP-led Legislature to require gun owners to safely store their weapons, pass a red flag law to disarm those presenting a clear threat, and expand background checks to private sales.
March For Our Lives filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court’s first major Second Amendment case in nearly a decade. The teen-led anti-violence group urged the court to leave gun policy to state and local lawmakers, as opposed to setting nationwide precedent with New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. The City of New York. The case, which is scheduled for a hearing in the fall, involves a regulation that strictly governs how New York City gun owners can transport their firearms.
Another New York City police officer has died by suicide. The 56-year-old cop, who worked for the department for two decades, is the ninth officer to fatally shoot himself this year. His death comes a day after a Bronx patrolman was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his home.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office opened a command center to monitor public schools. Staffers at the surveillance center will have access to live feeds from 260 public schools in the county, which includes Parkland, in an effort to speed police response in the event of a shooting.
Vanguard says it unintentionally added gun stocks to a gun-free fund. The investment management firm said its largest socially responsible exchange-traded fund recently bought 219 shares of Sturm Ruger stock, worth about $9,000, and sold them when it realized its error a month later.
Walmart removed 1,000 items from its online store in response to El Paso. The retail giant said Wednesday that it removed items from third-party sellers that glorify violence. Walmart continues to sell guns in its brick-and-mortar stores, despite a backlash from critics and some of its own employees.
A 7-year-old boy was shot to death in St. Louis. The shooting on Monday took Xavier Usanga’s life 15 hours before his first day of second grade. He is the seventh child to be killed by guns in St. Louis this year.
ONE LAST THING
New state gun laws could be imperiled as the judiciary veers to the right. The Associated Press reports that gun reform advocates are growing concerned that progressive state gun laws could be overturned by Trump-appointed judges. This scenario is already playing out in California, where a GOP-appointed jurist overturned the state’s 19-year-old ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines this past spring. A week later, he reinstated the ban pending an appeal. Trump has had 146 of his 194 federal judicial nominees confirmed. “What you’re looking at in the Southern District of California is happening all over the country,” said Frank Zimring, a Berkeley law professor and crime expert.
