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.
“A bill vetoed last year by Oklahoma’s Republican former governor that would allow adult residents to carry a gun without any training or a background check has easily passed a vote in the state House on its way to the desk of the new governor, who is expected to sign it into law,” the AP 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.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team “has expressed interest in the Trump campaign’s relationship with the National Rifle Association during the 2016 campaign,” CNN reports.
Said former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg: “When I was interviewed by the special counsel’s office, I was asked about the Trump campaign and our dealings with the NRA.”
“The special counsel’s team was curious to learn more about how Donald Trump and his operatives first formed a relationship with the NRA and how Trump wound up speaking at the group’s annual meeting in 2015, just months before announcing his presidential bid.”
“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.”
“The Kremlin has long denied that it had anything to do with the infiltration of the NRA and the broader American conservative movement. A U.S. intelligence report reviewed by the Daily Beast tells a different story.”
“Alexander Torshin, the Russian central bank official who spent years aggressively courting NRA leaders, briefed the Kremlin on his efforts and recommended they participate, according to the report. Its existence and contents have not previously been reported.”
“House Democrats are planning to move several high-profile bills to combat gun violence soon after they take power in January, underscoring their belief that the political landscape has shifted dramatically on an issue that’s plagued American society for decades,” Politico reports.
“With backing from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and key chairmen, Democrats will move to require federal background checks on all gun sales, part of a broader effort by the party to advance long-stalled gun control measures. While the proposal won’t get through the Republican-run Senate, much less become law, getting through the House will be a win for the gun-control movement, which has little to cheer about since President Donald Trump was sworn into office.”
“Gun deaths in America have reached a record high,” CNN reports.
“Nearly 40,000 people in the United States died by guns last year, marking the highest number of gun deaths in decades, according to a new analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control.”
“The National Rifle Association of America reported $98 million in contributions in 2017, down from nearly $125 million in 2016,” according to new tax records obtained by the Daily Beast.
“Nearly a fifth of its contributions last year came from a single anonymous donor, who chipped in nearly $19 million to the group.”
“More noteworthy than its drop in contributions, though, was its decline in membership dues. The NRA took in more than $128 million in dues last year—a significant sum, but down considerably from the $163 million it took in the year prior.”
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) said that new laws aren’t the solution to gun violence, but addressing a “culture of death” in media is the place to start, USA Today reports.
Said Bevin: “It starts with everything from the type of entertainment that we focus on. What’s the most popular topic that seems to be in every cable television network. Television shows are all about, what? Zombies! I don’t get it … that’s what we are.”
“The Senate intelligence committee has asked the National Rifle Association to provide documents on its connections to Russia—including documents related to a 2015 trip some of its top leaders made to Moscow,” the Daily Beast reports.
“The NRA’s Russia connections have drawn growing public scrutiny after a key figure in Russian outreach to the powerful gun lobby, Maria Butina, was indicted in July on charges of being an undeclared Russian operative connected to the country’s intelligence apparatus. Butina sought to use guns as a lever to tilt the Republican Party in a pro-Kremlin direction, creating a political firestorm for the NRA in the wake of her arrest. The intelligence committee’s document request is just one part of the aftermath.”
A new Hart Research poll finds that suburban women prefer the Democratic Party to handle gun violence by 26 percentage points.
Axios: “Suburban women are a crucial voting bloc on virtually every issue in the 2018 midterm elections, and this poll suggests gun control is yet another topic that could sway voters in certain races around the country.”
President Trump lamented the “hate in our country” after the killing of at least eight people in a shooting rampage at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday and asserted that better security at the temple could have prevented the massacre, NBC News reports.
Said Trump: “They had a maniac walk in and they didn’t have any protection and that is so sad to see. If you take a look at it, if they had protection inside the results would have been far better.”
He added: “It’s a terrible, terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country, frankly, and all over the world. It’s a violent world. You think when you’re over it, it just goes away but then it comes back in the form of a madman, a wacko.”
A new Gallup poll finds that 61% of Americans favor stricter laws on the sale of firearms, down modestly from March, when 67% said this shortly after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting on February 14.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) writing in the Washington Post:
In the years since the Senate last had a meaningful debate about gun-violence legislation, we’ve seen assault rifles and high-capacity magazines repeatedly used in mass shootings, with ever-higher body counts: Forty-nine murdered at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Fifty-eight killed and 422 wounded by gunfire in Las Vegas, one year ago Monday.
We’ve seen the gun lobby close its eyes to the fact that assault rifles were the weapon of choice for the mass shooters at Parkland, Fla., and at Sandy Hook Elementary School — and to the reality that these weapons can kill with an efficiency that shotguns and handguns, like the ones I own, simply cannot match.
Though I remain convinced that strengthening our background-check system is critical, I also believe we must do more to end mass shootings. So today I am signing on as a sponsor of the assault weapons ban.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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