Featured Story
New York Attorney General Letitia James has logged big legal victories this year, including her success in the civil corruption trial against the National Rifle Association and its former CEO Wayne LaPierre. Her latest win against Big Firearms: A federal judge in Manhattan ordered Florida-based ghost gun vendor Indie Guns to pay New York $7.8 million, and barred the company from selling its products in the state. [The New York Times/Reuters]
Gun Policy
Last week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers within Congress were racing to renew the Undetectable Firearms Act, a Reagan-era law meant to prevent people from sneaking guns through X-ray machines and metal detectors, before it reached its expiration date on Friday. At the same time, both chambers were trying to beat another deadline: They needed to pass a major spending package before the end of the week to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Lawmakers got both done in one fell swoop. The Undetectable Firearms Act was renewed under a provision within the spending package signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday, and it will remain in force until 2031. The Trace’s Brian Freskos has more on the significance of the reauthorization.
What to Know Today
Before their legislative session ended, lawmakers in Washington state passed legislation requiring gun owners to report stolen firearms to police within 24 hours, and gun dealers to have surveillance cameras in their place of business, including if they are selling weapons out of their home. Separately, a federal judge rejected a challenge to Washington’s “reasonable controls” law, which creates an avenue for victims of gun violence to sue firearms companies for harms committed with their products. [Crosscut/Associated Press]
Gun violence in many places appears to have fallen to pre-pandemic levels, an analysis of 18 cities with available data shows. Some cities are experiencing marked declines compared to early 2020: In Boston, gun violence is down one-third; in Baltimore, it’s down nearly 21 percent. [Jeff Asher]
After the public shooting at a Super Bowl victory rally in Kansas City last month, Missouri’s gun laws are in the spotlight. The state’s “stand-your-ground” law is likely to play a role in the court proceedings against the suspected shooters. At the Statehouse, legislators quickly passed a ban on celebratory gunfire in the wake of the shooting, but other reforms face an uphill battle. [Kansas City Star/PBS NewsHour]
In December, the FBI arrested an American man in Arizona and charged him with counts of “interstate threats” in connection with a religiously motivated terrorist attack in Australia that left two police officers dead; the FBI later charged the man, who was barred from having guns after a 1987 felony conviction, with illegally possessing a cache of firearms and ammunition. Now, he’s fighting the possession charges by claiming the federal gun ban for convicted felons violates the Second Amendment. [Australian Associated Press via The Guardian]
Archive
Inside a State Legislator’s Fight Against the Gun Industry’s Legal Immunity: A number of states have passed laws requiring gun companies to impose “reasonable controls” on their marketing and distribution practices. All of them took inspiration from the same New York bill. (August 2023)
