Republican lawmakers in Congress have tried for years — in some cases, decades — to pass legislation to loosen federal gun policies. For the most part, these bills have been stalled by the normal congressional logjam. That might not be the case this time around. Experts told The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia that the new GOP trifecta in Washington puts the party in a better position than ever to dismantle federal gun safety policies. Mascia’s latest story tracks the more than two dozen firearm bills already introduced by lawmakers this year. These measures could codify an agenda once limited to the fringes of the gun rights movement.
That’s one piece of news out of the nation’s Capitol. But there’s been a lot more going on. Here’s what to know, in brief:
- The Justice Department widened the scope of the pardons President Donald Trump granted to the 1,500-odd people “convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.” The expansion adds clemency for separate but related gun charges. Mascia broke down the firearm-charge issue last month.
- Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF’s general counsel, Pamela Hicks, a 23-year veteran of the agency.
- The Senate confirmed Kash Patel as director of the FBI. Patel has pushed far-right conspiracies and seems likely to carry out the Project 2025 plan to sap the agency’s independence, a move likely to obliterate federal policing of racist domestic terror. He is reportedly also expected to serve as the acting director of the ATF.
- The Trump administration reportedly stopped issuing gun export licenses around the beginning of February. The freeze is apparently stricter than one the Biden administration ordered in the fall of 2023.
- Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, holds millions in for-profit care companies that he’d have power over if confirmed, per a government ethics report. In the filing, the former talk show host said he’d divest from the companies. The Trace’s Chip Brownlee charted Oz’s evolution from gun safety proponent to pro-gun politico, and spoke with doctors who treat gunshot patients about what they fear in his nomination.
- The U.S. Marshals Service deputized members of billionaire and unelected White House official Elon Musk’s private security team, CNN reported. That means they could be authorized to carry weapons on federal grounds.
- Trump shut down the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, the first database to track misconduct by federal law enforcement officers. Trump himself first proposed the database, though it was created during the Biden administration.
- New Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he plans to address the risks of antidepressants. His comments were in line with a White House order to investigate “the prevalence of and threat posed by” a common class of prescription antidepressant known as SSRIs. Kennedy has in recent years criticized SSRIs and amplified false claims linking them to school shootings.
From The Trace
Republican Trifecta Puts Fringe Gun Bills Within Reach: A Trace analysis found that congressional GOP lawmakers have introduced more than two dozen gun bills this year. Experts say the party is well-positioned to turn its priorities into law.
Mehmet Oz’s Leadership of Medicare and Medicaid Could Imperil Treatment of Gunshot Victims, Doctors Say: As Trump’s nominee to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Oz could preside over the program that pays most shooting victims’ hospitals bills.
Philly Police Try New Strategy to Boost Public Safety Amid Officer Shortage: To keep 1,100 vacancies from impeding the city’s progress on reducing gun violence, the police commissioner has dispatched all new recruits to patrol duty.
What to Know Today
Last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that when a gun or rifle is stowed in a car on a public road, the vehicle can be considered a “public place.” The case was centered around a state gun statute, but the opinion has sparked broader debate about privacy rights on public roads. [The Minnesota Star Tribune]
In response to the U.S. State Department’s move to designate eight drug cartels as terrorist organizations, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she will propose constitutional reforms to crack down on foreigners trafficking guns into her country. Researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of guns are smuggled from the U.S. to Mexico each year. [Axios]
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order in an apparent step toward fulfilling his campaign promises to roll back four years of gun reforms under his predecessor. The move, argues Second Amendment scholar Kevin Schascheck, is a continuation of Trump’s strange relationship with firearms. [Duke Center for Firearms Law]
Domestic violence-related homicides in Oklahoma hit record highs in 2023, according to data released by the state Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board last week. The vast majority of intimate partner homicide victims were women, and most intimate partner homicides are committed with firearms. [Oklahoma Voice]
Experts say that two recent school shootings — at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, and Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee — are part of a growing but poorly understood category of terrorism, known as “nonideological or postideological terrorism.” These acts of terror have no clear ideological motive behind them, but there’s an emerging commonality among them: The young people who are increasingly behind the acts are often radicalized in malicious online communities, like the “true crime” fandom that idolizes the Columbine shooters. [NPR]
Republicans in Congress have for years done little to impede President Donald Trump’s agenda. While some in the GOP may adhere to the party line for ideological alignment, others are reluctant to oppose Trump out of fear that death threats could become real. That fear has apparently reached a fever pitch during the new Trump era: As a member of the last Trump administration put it, Republican lawmakers today are “scared shitless about death threats.” [Vanity Fair]
There’s still time to let us know what you think about our reporting on America’s gun issue, and your thoughts on how gun violence is covered in the media more broadly. If you have a few minutes, share your feedback in our annual survey. (Already taken it? Consider passing the survey link along to someone you know — the more responses we get from current readers or potential ones, the more we’ll understand how we can improve our work.) Take the survey →
Data Point
More than 50,000 — the number of firearms smuggled over the U.S. border into Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador between 2015 and 2022. [ATF via The Trace]
Non Sequitur
High-School Band Contests Turn Marching into a Sport — And an Art
“There are more than twenty thousand high-school band programs in America, some with as many as four hundred members. Over the past thirty years, their shows have evolved into spectacles that John Philip Sousa couldn’t have imagined.” [The New Yorker]
