What To Know Today
New York officials three-for-three in court fight against ghost gun sellers. Another online retailer has agreed to stop selling illegal gun parts to New York City residents. The settlement is the third of its kind after the city brought a lawsuit against five online firearms distributors. The company, Florida-based Salvo Technologies — which does business under the name 80P Builder — agreed to implement a “technological bar” to prevent sales to NYC residents, according to officials. It also agreed to hand over its data on sales since 2020. The city’s suit against Missouri-based Arm and Ally and Florida-based Indie Guns is ongoing. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed her own lawsuit against five other companies — in addition to those the city sued — for selling thousands of unfinished frames and receivers that could be converted into unserialized and untraceable ghost guns. Under New York state law, possession or sale of an unfinished frame or receiver is a felony, as is the possession or sale of a ghost gun made from one.
Texas Department of Public Safety officers under investigation for Uvalde response. Five officers have been referred to the agency’s inspector general for a formal probe into their actions at Robb Elementary School, where a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers in May. Two of the officers have been suspended with pay while three others were allowed to remain on duty. The state agency has largely evaded the intense scrutiny faced by other law enforcement agencies, though it is being sued over its refusal to release documents related to the police response.
Permitless carry in Alabama will defund the police, sheriffs say. Starting in January, residents will no longer need a permit to carry a handgun in public. State law enforcement agencies stand to lose as much as $15 million a year in revenue from the dropoff in application fees. Pistol permits, which cost $20, are a major source of funding for law enforcement in Alabama, and some sheriffs say revenue is already down as much as 40 percent ahead of the law’s enactment. The legislation sets aside a $2 million fund to offset the losses, but county commissioners say it’s not enough. “This is just another way of defunding law enforcement at a time when violent crime is on the rise,” Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said.
A New Orleans teen who appeared in a film about gun violence was fatally shot. In a 2020 documentary about the city’s gun violence, “Freedia Got a Gun,” produced by local bounce rapper Big Freedia, Devin Walker, then 14, spoke movingly about watching his father die in a shooting, and how it made him want to carry a gun. “I wanted to try to save Devin, from losing him to the streets,” Freedia says in the film. “Because that’s the direction he’s headed: either in jail or dead.” On August 17, Walker, 17, was fatally shot during an argument with a 76-year-old man, who was later charged with second-degree murder. Freedia said he was “heartbroken” to learn that Walker was killed with a gun. The teen leaves behind four siblings, one of whom was his twin.
Data Point
48 percent — the decrease in shootings over Labor Day weekend in New York City this year compared to 2021. [New York Daily News]
