Good morning, Bulletin readers. We’ve broken down our massive investigation into the NRA’s lavish spending, shady deals, and conflicts of interest, so that you can share the key findings with your friends. Please find that link, and today’s news of note, in your end-of-week wrap-up.
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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
A Kansas pawn shop agreed to pay $2 million to families of victims of a 2016 mass shooting. The plaintiffs argued that the shop should have known that a straw purchaser was acquiring weapons for the gunman, who was legally barred from buying them himself. As The Trace has documented, gun retailers are almost never held to account because of a 2005 federal law that shields them from most liability.
Here’s how you can help spread the word of our investigation into the NRA’s shady finances. Our story, published in partnership with The New Yorker, reveals a web of business arrangements that have steered hundreds of millions of dollars from the National Rifle Association’s budget to its executives, contractors, and favored vendors. We collected the top-line findings in this guide. Please share it widely with your networks!
An Illinois county passed a resolution banning Firearm Owner’s Identification cards. The Monday vote in Effingham County to ignore the state-issued licenses that are required to purchase a gun opens a new front in the “Second Amendment sanctuary” movement, in which pro-gun local authorities have refused to enforce firearm regulations they disagree with.
Meanwhile, a gun control group wants to know whether the NRA is involved in the gun sanctuary movement. The gun reform group is seeking emails and communications from commissioners in several counties in Nevada, one of several states where it believes national gun rights groups may be behind sheriffs’ decisions to flout state gun laws.
A 2-year-old girl was killed in a domestic shooting in Georgia. Ja’Ziah Pollard, 2, was shot in the head when her mother’s boyfriend opened fire during an argument in Augusta on Tuesday. The suspect, who was arrested, is a convicted felon who was prohibited from possessing a gun. Ja’Ziah was the fifth child under 13 to die by gunfire in the United States in the last seven days, according to Gun Violence Archive.
A school safety bill in Florida includes a provision that would allow armed teachers. State senators on Wednesday debated a bill that would allow any teacher to be a part of Florida’s armed guardian program, which was created in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting. Currently, armed guardians are required to have a role outside the classroom, like a coach.
ONE LAST THING
A teenager with a Columbine obsession caused widespread lockdowns and a massive manhunt. Here’s why she should never have been allowed to buy her gun. Sol Pais, 18, traveled from Miami to Colorado on Monday and bought a shotgun from a federally licensed dealer near Columbine High School. A spokesperson fo the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the sale was legal, but the bureau may need to bone up on the federal firearms laws it’s responsible for enforcing. As gun reform groups quickly noted, the ATF’s own website explains that a federally licensed firearms dealer can only sell a long gun (a category that includes shotguns and rifles) to an out-of-state resident if the sale is legal in that person’s home state. A Florida law passed after the Parkland shooting raised the minimum age for buying long guns there to 21, so the store should have declined the sale. Pais was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday.
