What to Know Today
Illinois Democrats introduce sweeping gun reform bill. Five months after the Highland Park mass shooting, State House Democrats have proposed legislation banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and tightening gun permitting rules for people under 21. They hope to pass the legislation in early January: “We don’t have time to waste,” state Representative-elect Nabeela Syed told the Chicago Tribune. On the Hill: Survivors of the Highland Park parade shooting traveled to Washington, D.C., on Monday to urge senators to pass a federal assault weapons ban.
Congress unlikely to take up new gun restrictions. Introducing firearm safety legislation could derail other priorities, leading gun reform advocate Senator Chris Murphy told The New York Times. Republicans take control of the House in January, making new federal gun restrictions doubtful for at least two years.
Connecticut’s red flag law used mostly in response to suicide threats. State legislators expanded the risk protection order law this year, allowing families and some professionals to appeal directly to the courts to restrict a person’s access to guns. Police are increasingly using the updated red flag law to deal with threats of suicide, The Connecticut Mirror reports, but some chiefs say it’s actually hampered their departments’ investigations: “We are overwhelmingly supportive of the intent of the law,” said the president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association. “But we’re having some difficulties in applying it practically on the street.”
Texas firearms dealer charged with threatening doctor who provides care to trans people. Matthew Jordan Lindner, director of Lindner Ammo, faces one count of transmitting interstate threats, The Texas Tribune reports. According to an affidavit by an FBI agent, Lindner used a phone number associated with his business to leave a voicemail threatening to injure and kill a doctor at Boston’s National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center.
Judge declines to dismiss lawsuit against California “bounty” gun bill. U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez rejected the state’s argument that because the law isn’t being enforced, gun dealers and advocates’ challenge is moot, Bloomberg Law reports. The bill, modeled after Texas’s S.B. 8, allows anyone to sue distributors of banned assault weapons or ghost guns, with a $10,000 bounty for a successful lawsuit.
Gas stations become a magnet for violence in Philadelphia. The Trace’s Mensah M. Dean talked to City Cast Philly about his recent reporting on rising violent crime at local gas stations. Listen here.
P.S. We’re delighted to announce that the Newswomen’s Club of New York awarded The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia a Front Page Award for her work on Ask The Trace, a question series driven by readers to bring facts to the surface of the gun debate. Do you have questions about guns or gun violence in America? Submit your question here, and reporters and editors will review them and publish articles exploring the answers.
Data Point
418 — the number of risk protection orders issued in Connecticut between June 1, when the updated red flag law went into effect, and November 3. In the preceding five months, courts issued 96 orders. [The Connecticut Mirror]
