Hello, readers. New York regulators determine that the National Rifle Association’s self-defense shooting insurance violates state law. Loyal subscribers may recall that The Trace was the first news outlet to take a hard look at Carry Guard after the gun group began to aggressively promote the service at last year’s NRA annual meeting. Government investigators aren’t the only ones to find fault with the program: As we reported in August, some of the NRA’s own certified trainers have criticized the messages that Carry Guard conveys.
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The NRA’s self-defense insurance program is outlawed in New York, and its brokerage firm agrees to a multi-million dollar fine. Carry Guard is an “egregious violation” of state law, the New York State Department of Financial Services announced on Wednesday. The program provides insurance for NRA members that covers potential liability and other costs stemming from self-defense shootings. Lockton Affinity, the company that administers the product, will pay a $7 million fine. The state’s investigation into whether the NRA was receiving commissions without proper licensing began in October. After the massacre in Parkland, Florida, Lockton Affinity, which helped to arrange Carry Guard, was one of at least 24 companies that said it would cut ties with the NRA.
Arizona state senators approved a Republican-sponsored public-safety bill after chipping away at its “red flag” provision. The bill, which passed in the state Senate on Tuesday, allows police officers to petition for the removal of guns from potentially dangerous people. But it was amended to remove language that would have allowed others, like family members and school staff, to do the same. State Democrats accused Republicans of weakening the bill to make it more “palatable to the NRA.” Although the gun group has publicly supported red flag laws, they have quietly fought against legislation pending in state capitols.
The city of Boulder, Colorado, is moving forward with an assault weapons ban. The measure, which will go to a vote in the coming weeks, would also ban bump stocks and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
A Texas teen was arrested for an ISIS-inspired mass shooting plot. The 17-year-old allegedly planned to commit a massacre at a mall outside Dallas. Police say he gave an accomplice $1,400 to buy weapons.
The father of a Parkland shooting victim is suing the school resource officer who stayed outside during the attack. Broward Sherriff’s Office Deputy Scot Peterson did not enter the building as 17 people, including 18-year-old Meadow Pollack, were killed. Pollack’s father has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Peterson.
After another Parkland victim’s father expressed outrage, a Florida newspaper will stop accepting gun ads. Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed in the Parkland shooting, called out the Sun Sentinel for running an ad for a gun show below several stories about gun violence survivors. The paper released a statement apologizing for the ad placement and announcing a “moratorium on gun advertising.”
Nevada police are releasing footage from the Las Vegas shooter’s hotel suite. On Wednesday, the Las Vegas Police Department said it would release body camera footage from officers who entered the gunman’s suite during the October 2017 massacre. On Friday, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the department was required to make the videos public.
A new group is connecting Parkland shooting survivors with therapists. A behavioral pediatrician launched Parkland Cares to connect people affected by the incident with the mental health resources they need at little to no cost. She says she expects that the organization will continue to address trauma related to the Parkland shooting for decades.
To help reduce teen suicides, a Montana doctor hands out trigger locks to parents with guns. Fifty percent of Montana’s youth suicides between 2005 and 2014 were carried out using a gun. Dr. Pepper Henyon said that emphasizing preventive measures like safe gun storage was part of her duty as a pediatrician. “If the guns are around, we need to make sure it’s a safe environment, both for the little children who may get themselves in trouble and the adolescents who may be struggling,” she said.
More than 1,000 kids and teenagers have been shot in the United States so far this year. According to Gun Violence Archive, that’s about 8 percent of all gun-related injuries and deaths in the first four months of 2018. Among them: a 2-year-old unintentionally shot himself on Tuesday. Police say that the toddler got hold of the gun at his parent’s Jacksonville, Florida, home, where the shooting took place. And a 12-year-old was killed in James City County, Virginia. His 35-year-old mother was reportedly experiencing a mental health episode when she shot her son and herself on Wednesday.
