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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
7 things to know about the NRA’s web of financial misconduct. New York Attorney General Letitia James announced earlier this month that her office is seeking to dissolve the gun group. Many of the state’s allegations are based on reporting from The Trace. But James’s complaint also adds a slew of new details about how the National Rifle Association and its leaders allegedly mishandled millions of dollars. Tom Kutsch and Will Van Sant pull out seven of the most significant tidbits, including Wayne LaPierre’s enormous golden parachute and dubious post-retirement contracts for former employees. You can read them here.
Gun reform groups vie for convention bump. The Democratic National Convention kicked off — virtually — from Milwaukee last night, and The Hill reported that mainstream gun reform groups are hoping that presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden will give the issue of gun violence considerable airtime during his speech on Thursday. “We fully expect Vice President Biden to issue a rallying cry… that we must do more to save lives,” said a spokesperson for Giffords Law Center. Biden, who pushed to pass the Brady background check bill in 1993, has said he will expand background checks and ban assault weapons if elected. You can read about the rest of his positions in our 2020 campaign primer.
The burden borne by Chicago’s faith leaders amid relentless gun violence. The Chicago Tribune surveyed pastors on the South and West Sides who increasingly embody a role that’s “a hybrid of ministry, counseling and activism.” They eulogize men shot in front of their children and kids riding in cars, and comfort families at crime scenes and guide them through the grieving process. The drumbeat of shootings is starting to take a toll on their health. One pastor wakes in the night with anxiety attacks, while another says he’s lost marriages and friendships because of his line of work. “It’s a life of sacrifice for those of us who really take it seriously.”
Louisville, Kentucky, PD spent thousands on security for officers who killed Breonna Taylor. The department spent $94,000 in a 26-day period in May and June on patrol officers to guard the homes of the three officers who fatally shot the EMT during a no-knock raid in March. A spokeswoman told The Courier-Journal that the officers, one of whom has since been fired, were the subject of threats. The remaining officers have been reassigned with pay.
Meanwhile, a councilman’s cousin is Louisville’s youngest gun homicide victim this year. Trinity Randolph, 3, was playing with her “Frozen” dollhouse when she was killed alongside her father, 21, at her grandmother’s home. Police haven’t announced any suspects. “I promise to change this city that’s failed you,” her cousin, City Councilman-Elect Jecorey Arthur, who will assume office next year as District 4 representative, tweeted.
Ohio’s GOP governor renews call for gun control after Cincinnati shootings. After a violent stretch in the city on Sunday that left four dead and 14 injured, Mike DeWine called on the Republican-led Legislature to pass his STRONG Ohio bill, which he proposed after last year’s mass shooting outside a bar in Dayton. The legislation includes voluntary background checks on private gun sales and an expansion of the state’s temporary mental health commitment law to include alcohol abusers. The bill is a weaker version of legislation that DeWine initially vowed to support, which included universal background checks and a red flag law.
The NYPD is scrapping a “sentiment meter” that gauges residents’ trust in police. The department will save $3.1 million by terminating a contract early with a company that conducted surveys with residents about how safe they felt their neighborhood was and whether they trusted police. The NYPD said it was not happy with the data on “grass-roots public sentiment” provided by the company, Elucd. NYPD sources told The New York Post that the department’s trust ratings nosedived in several precincts, particularly in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
DATA POINT
11 — The number of children fatally shot in Louisville this year, according to Gun Violence Archive.
