Good morning, Bulletin readers. New York City hopes a tweak to its gun law will convince the Supreme Court to back off. At least six Democrats vying for the party’s presidential nomination own guns. And while doctors lose patience over the continued lack of federally funded gun violence research, some hospitals are stepping up to partially fill the void.
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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
New York officials are tweaking the city’s gun law in the hope that the Supreme Court won’t overturn it. Under the amended policy, licensed gun owners will be able to transport their guns to their business or second home. Firearms will still have to be locked up and separated from ammo while in transit. The city announced the changes to the law on Friday, the same day it filed a letter with SCOTUS, asking it suspend the deadline for filing merit briefs (which is currently May 7) as New York City’s rule-making process continues. A 30-day comment period on the proposed rule change begins this week; it will then take effect in mid-May.
With federal gun violence research still virtually nonexistent, some hospitals are doing what they can to fill the void. More than 30 violence intervention and prevention programs are in place at health facilities across the country, Modern Healthcare reports. At the forefront is a $2 million research initiative underway at Kaiser Permanente hospitals. But a year after Congress clarified that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can study gun violence, it hasn’t appropriated any money for such studies. “I cannot overstate the impact of lack of funding from Congress,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, chief research officer at the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine. “Our whole country has been waiting for too long. We need to get going now.”
Kamala Harris owns a handgun “for personal safety” reasons. “I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do — for personal safety. I was a career prosecutor,” the California senator and 2020 candidate told reporters in Iowa last week, after meeting with gun reform activists at a campaign house party. Harris, like every mainstream candidate for the Democratic nomination, has called for stricter gun laws. A staffer told CNN that she purchased the gun years ago and keeps it locked up. Harris is one of at least six Democrats running for president who owns a gun. The rest are: former U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas; former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper; U.S. Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio; former Maryland U.S. Representative John Delaney of Maryland; and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana.
One person was killed and three others were injured near the funeral procession route for slain rapper Nipsey Hussle. A 55-year-old man was fatally shot and two other men and a woman were injured when a car pulled up to them and someone inside opened fire. Police say they don’t believe the shooting was connected to the funeral. These casualties come after two women were shot and wounded at a vigil for Nipsey Hussle on April 1, the day after he was killed. Officials originally did not confirm the vigil shooting, saying it was part of their ongoing investigation.
Only in America: For the second time in eight days, a shooting broke out at a baby shower. As the celebration was wrapping up at a home in San Bernardino County, California, on Saturday, three men were injured, and one died, after a fight broke out and shots were fired. All three casualties were men between 20 and 22. On April 6, six people who were shot and wounded at a baby shower in Chicago, including two children.
ONE LAST THING
The Denver Post is republishing its Columbine coverage as the 20th anniversary of the shooting approaches. The newspaper has already posted its original article on the memorial service that was held the day after the April 20, 1999, shooting. Then-Vice President Al Gore attended the gathering, along with dozens of other elected officials. Among the other archival stories that the paper is reposting is a detailed account of how the shooters planned the attack, a story that takes on a different light today, as many news outlets reconsider how to best cover shooters without glorifying them. The archive dive began yesterday and will continue through next weekend.
