Good morning, Bulletin readers. The pro-gun community reacts to our revelations of financial impropriety at the NRA. A new path for a city once notorious for its homicide rate. Fresh scrutiny for the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Those stories and more, below.
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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
NEW from THE TRACE: Following our investigation into the NRA’s shady finances, prominent gun activists want the group’s leadership ousted. As the National Rifle Association’s convention gets underway today in Indianapolis, Jennifer Mascia documented how some in the community are demanding reforms, even calling for the resignation of Wayne LaPierre, the gum organization’s executive vice president and highest-paid officer.
Since 2012, shootings and homicides in Oakland have dropped by nearly half, even as gun violence has surged in other cities. A new report from the gun reform group Giffords attributes the reduction to a multi-pronged strategy: identifying people who are at highest risk of being involved in gun violence; communicating directly with them and providing them social services; training police in procedural justice; and proactive communication and collaboration between city stakeholders.
The NRA is suing Los Angeles over an ordinance requiring contractors to disclose their gun lobby ties. The lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that the city’s new policy is unconstitutional and accuses L.A. and its mayor of attempting to “silence NRA’s voice, as well as the voices of all those who dare oppose the city’s broad gun-control agenda.”
A Florida cop trained in aggressive post-Parkland policing tactics assaulted a teen. Facing criticism for its failure to prevent the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, the Broward Sheriff’s Office has put deputies through full-contract takedown training. But after one of the deputies who received the training violently beat an unarmed 15-year-old last Thursday, residents worry that post-shooting lessons are being misapplied.
In nearly 99 percent of Houston shootings involving kids, guns were not securely stored. That’s according to a recent study in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, which examined 15 years of shootings resulting in the death or injury of a child under 16. Researchers concluded that better storage, along with community education, could prevent child gun injuries and deaths.
Louisiana lawmakers want to make it illegal for banks to reject gun industry clients. Under the Republican-backed measure advancing through the state Legislature, financial institutions that “discriminate” against businesses that make or sell guns could face civil penalties in Louisiana. The proposal comes as a number of major national banks have cut ties with gun industry clients in the wake of Parkland and other mass shootings.
A Colorado woman erected a billboard to highlight a local sheriff’s refusal to enforce a state gun law. Taking a cue from the movie “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” the woman erected the billboard after a local sheriff said he’d rather sit in his own jail than enforce the state’s new red flag law. The new display, one of six she’s installed recently in Boulder County, reads: “More Americans have died of gun violence since 1970 than in all wars in American history.”
A Florida woman died this week, months after being shot by her ex-boyfriend. Family members of Mary Susan “Susie” Pryor Montag say the Jacksonville realtor died on Tuesday after an eight-month fight to recover from an October gunshot wound. After the shooting, the community rallied behind her, posting messages of encouragement with the #SusieStrong hashtag.
ONE LAST THING
The mother of a Santa Fe, Texas, school shooting victim is running for a school board seat. Rhonda Hart has become a vocal advocate for gun violence prevention since her 14-year-old daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was killed in the shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas last May. Now she’s running for a school board seat in the district where her son is enrolled. It’s her first campaign for office. “A lot of people think, ‘Oh it’s just school board, it doesn’t matter,’ she said. “But your little boards, that’s where your first line of defense in your democracy is.”
