Wall Street Journal: “Democrats running for Congress in 2018 are pushing a muscular gun-control agenda that represents a wholesale repositioning on the hot-button issue. In this year’s midterm election, gun control has become a party litmus test from which few dissent, alongside abortion rights and support for same-sex marriage.”

“Six years ago, when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee advised candidates in rural districts to show themselves with guns in their TV ads, the National Rifle Association made campaign contributions to 30 Democratic House candidates. This year, the NRA is financially backing just three.”

“The National Rifle Association warns that it is in grave financial jeopardy, according to a recent court filing obtained by Rolling Stone, and that it could soon ‘be unable to exist… or pursue its advocacy mission.'”

“The reason, according to the NRA filing, is not its deep entanglement with alleged Russian agents like Maria Butina. Instead, the gun group has been suing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state’s financial regulators since May, claiming the NRA has been subject to a state-led ‘blacklisting campaign’ that has inflicted ‘tens of millions of dollars in damages.'”

John Avlon reports the Trump administration is allowing anyone to 3D print a gun without the hassle of background checks.

Lucy McBath (D), whose teenage son, Jordan, was shot and killed in 2012 by a stranger at a gas station, won the Democratic nomination for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, ABC News reports.

Said McBath: “I never expected this to happen, but I know that in light of all my experiences, to not to do anything is a tragedy in itself.”

As part of Sacha Baron-Cohen’s new Showtime series, current and former Republican lawmakers endorsed a fake program to train and arm children as young as four years old.

“For more than a year, the state of Florida failed to conduct national background checks on tens of thousands of applications for concealed weapons permits, potentially allowing drug addicts or people with a mental illness to carry firearms in public,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.

“The employee in charge of the background checks could not log into the system… The problem went unresolved until discovered by another worker in March 2017 — meaning that for more than a year applications got approved without the required background check.”

“Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam (R) has made it a priority to speed up the issuing of concealed weapons permits since he was elected in 2010… Now running for Florida governor as a Republican, Putnam’s campaign touts his expansion of concealed carry permits as one of his top accomplishments.”

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said that the federal school safety commission set up after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will not examine the role of guns in school violence, the AP reports.

Said DeVos: “That is not part of the commission’s charge per se. We are actually studying school safety and how we can ensure our students are safe at school.”

“Y’all been sending thoughts and prayers for two freaking decades now. Time to try something new.”

— Texas state Rep. Gene Wu (D), quoted by the Houston Chronicle, after 10 students were killed in yesterday’s school shooting.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) suggested the existence of “too many entrances and too many exits” in schools may lead to such shootings, the Daily Beast reports.

Said Patrick: “We have to look at the design of our schools moving forward and retrofitting schools that are already built… there are too many entrances and too many exits to our over 8,000 campuses in Texas. There aren’t enough people to put a guard at every entrance and exit…maybe we need to look at limiting the entrance and exits into our schools so that we can have law enforcement looking at the people coming in through one or two entrances.”

He added: “We’re gonna have to be creative. We’re gonna have to think out of the box.”

At least eight people were killed in gunfire at a Houston high school, the Houston Chronicle reports.

Washington Post: “An assistant principal at Santa Fe High School told ABC-13 in Houston that a shooter had been ‘arrested and secured.’ The television station reported that law enforcement sources said the shooter appeared to be a student.”