A new Quinnipiac poll finds that American voters support requiring background checks for all gun buyers, 94% to 4%.

Voters also support stricter gun laws in the U.S. by 61% to 34%. Republicans, gun owners and voters in households where there is a gun are the only listed groups opposed.

“National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre billed the group’s ad agency $39,000 for one day of shopping at a Beverly Hills clothing boutique, $18,300 for a car and driver in Europe, and had the agency cover $13,800 in rent for a summer intern, according to newly revealed NRA internal documents,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The documents, posted anonymously on the internet, provide new details of the clothing, travel and other expenses totaling more than $542,000 that Ackerman McQueen Inc. alleges Mr. LaPierre billed to it.”

National Rifle Association president Carolyn Meadows told the Marietta Daily Journal that Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) only won her seat in 2018 because she’s black.

Said Meadows: “It is wrong to say like McBath said, that the reason she won was because of her anti-gun stance. That didn’t have anything to do with it — it had to do with being a minority female.”

McBath unseated Rep. Karen Handel (R-GA) on an anti-gun violence platform based on her backstory: Her son was shot and killed in 2012 after a loudness complaint.

“Retired U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North will step down as president of the National Rifle Association, North said on Saturday, adding he was being forced out due to his allegations that NRA leaders engaged in financial improprieties,” Reuters reports.

President Trump appeared to re-enact the 2015 Paris terror attacks in his speech at the National Rifle Association’s conference, claiming strict gun laws were to blame for the attack’s high death toll, the Daily Beast reports.

Trump said that if “there was one gun being carried by one person on the other side” who had “aimed at the opposite direction,” there “very well could’ve been a whole different result.” He then started making shooting gestures with his hands, complete with sound effects, while saying, “Get over here! Boom. Get over here! Boom. And then they left.”

The terror attacks killed 130 and injured 350.

“Longtime National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre has told the group’s board he is being extorted and pressured to resign by the organization’s president, Oliver North, over allegations of financial improprieties, in an extraordinary battle roiling one of the nation’s most powerful nonprofit political groups,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

New York Times: “Behind it is a widening crisis involving a legal battle between the N.R.A. and its most influential contractor, Ackerman McQueen, amid renewed threats from regulators in New York, where the N.R.A. is chartered, to investigate the group’s tax-exempt status. With contributions lagging, the N.R.A. is also facing an increasingly well-financed gun control movement, motivated by a string of mass shootings.”

“A bill to let gun owners legally carry handguns without obtaining a state-issued license is dead after an activist, upset that the measure had stalled, was met last week by state troopers outside the Lake Jackson home of House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R),” the Austin American Statesman reports.

Bonnen said that the activist’s “gutless intimidation tactics” exposed no-license carry as a bad idea, dooming the legislation.

He added: “I could no longer watch as legislators and their families are incessantly harassed by fanatical gun-rights activists who think laws preventing criminals from carrying a gun should be repealed.”

“New Zealand lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of new gun restrictions during the first stage of a bill they hope to rush into law by the end of next week,” the AP reports.

“The bill would ban the types of weapons a gunman used to kill 50 people at two mosques last month.”

“The bill was backed by both liberals and conservatives, with only a single lawmaker from the 120 that sit in Parliament voting against it. The vote was the first of three that lawmakers must pass before the bill becomes law.”

Los Angeles Times: “On Thursday afternoon, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an immediate ban on all ‘military-style semiautomatic weapons’ and assault rifles.”

“She also said the government intended to launch a buyback program for people who own the banned weapons.”

“It had been all of six days since a gunman identified as a white supremacist killed 50 Muslims in the city of Christchurch, the deadliest shooting in New Zealand history.”

“The quick action was a stark contrast to the slow pace of making gun legislation in the United States.”

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has a long history of touting white nationalism, shared a graphic that imagined “another civil war,” this time between red and blue states, the HuffPost reports.

From the meme: “One side has about 8 trillion bullets, while the other side doesn’t know which bathroom to use. Wonder who would win…”

Missouri state Rep. Andrew McDaniel (R) wants to require adults in his state to purchase handguns and AR-15 rifles, The Hill reports.

Two bills introduced by McDaniel would require residents to purchase firearms while providing $1 million worth of tax credits on a “first come, first served” basis to residents who fall under the law.

Ron Brownstein: “The convergence of Democrats around the universal background check bill partly derives from the overwhelming public backing for the measure, which usually exceeds 80% support in polls. (The bill would close what’s called ‘the gun show loophole’ by including such venues, which are now exempt, in the requirement for background checks on all guns sold through licensed dealers.) But the Democratic consensus also reflects a larger shift in the party whose implications extend far beyond issues relating to guns.”

“Compared with the 1990s or even the early 2000s, House Democrats today are far less dependent on districts with large numbers of culturally conservative blue-collar and rural voters. Instead, the party’s new majority is centered on urban and suburban districts that are either racially diverse, well educated, or both.”

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) are launching a new probe of what they called the “complex web of relationships” between members of the National Rifle Association and Russian individuals with close ties to the Kremlin, ABC News reports.

Semi-automatic weapons, flamethrowers and even some grenades will become easier for U.S. weapons manufacturers to export overseas under new rules being put in place by the Trump administration and obtained by NBC News.

“Under the new rules, set to take effect in just under a month, gun makers will no longer need licenses from the State Department to sell dozens of types of weapons to other countries, including the popular AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle that’s been employed in many of America’s worst mass shootings. Instead, sellers will need only a no-fee license from the Commerce Department, which has a less onerous licensing process and a smaller global footprint, making it harder to track how the weapons are ultimately used overseas.”

“The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will examine New York City’s ban on carrying a licensed and unloaded handgun outside the city limits, the first Second Amendment challenge it has accepted in nearly a decade,” the Washington Post reports.

“The decision to hear the case in the term that begins in October may signal that the reinforced conservative majority on the court is ready to consider more laws that restrict gun rights.”