“Douglas Hamlin, who was appointed to lead the NRA this summer in the wake of a long-running corruption scandal at the gun rights group, was involved decades ago in the sadistic killing of a fraternity house cat,” The Guardian reports.

“Hamlin pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty brought against him and four of his fraternity brothers in 1980, when he was an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.”

Semafor: “While not the most mentioned subject (and one that is sometimes brought up by interviewers or moderators first) the Harris-Walz ticket has emphasized their gun ownership during this campaign — even as they confidently call for new restrictions on firearms.”

“Their rhetoric on the topic points to the changing politics of the issue in both parties this cycle.”

“A majority of the Supreme Court appeared sympathetic on Tuesday to the Biden administration’s restrictions on kits that allow people to make untraceable homemade guns,” the New York Times reports.

“The case centered on whether the federal agency responsible for regulating firearms had acted lawfully in enacting a rule to address a surge in ‘ghost guns,’ weapons made from kits available for purchase online and heralded as easy enough to assemble in less than an hour.”

Wall Street Journal: “American gun culture has long been dominated by conservative, white men. Now, in a marked change, a burgeoning number of liberals are buying firearms, according to surveys and fast-growing gun groups drawing minorities and progressives.”

“The father of the 14-year-old accused of killing four people at his Georgia high school was arrested and charged on Thursday with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the attack,“ the New York Times reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Should the conservative Supreme Court take up the case in its new term, it could put some of the gun-control movement’s biggest victories in jeopardy.”

“Just days after Donald Trump was shot at with an AR-15 in Pennsylvania, visitors to his 2024 nominating convention can enter to win a free, yes, AR-15,” Rolling Stone reports.

“The giveaway is sponsored by an RNC vendor called the U.S. Concealed Carry Association.”

“The gun fired at Donald Trump on Saturday, the AR-15, is the most popular rifle in America. But it rarely has been used by snipers because of its limited range and relatively small bullet,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The gun’s popular qualities—a lightweight profile, easy handling and ability to shoot lots of bullets quickly—have made it a blockbuster. The number of ARs in civilian hands rose from 400,000 in the early 1990s to more than 20 million by the 2020s.”

“Those same qualities have also made it easy for disturbed people and political extremists to wreak havoc in mass shootings at schools, movie theaters, concerts, government offices, grocery stores—anywhere Americans gather.”

“The leader of a New York City suburb is recruiting 75 armed citizens, many of them former police officers, for a force of ‘special deputies’ to be activated whenever he chooses,” the New York Times reports.

“Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who has allied himself with former President Donald Trump and thrust himself into the culture wars, posted a call in March for residents with gun permits and an interest in becoming ‘provisional emergency special deputy sheriffs.'”

“U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis Tuesday and called on the nation to address it with the same vigor used to reduce deaths and injuries from tobacco and motor vehicle crashes,” the Washington Post reports.

“The surgeon general’s advisory marked the first time the nation’s leading voice on public health — the same office that in the 1960s highlighted the lethal consequences of cigarette smoking — had issued an urgent pronouncement on deaths related to firearms. The 39-page advisory underscores the significant physical and mental toll of gun violence on communities nationwide.”

“The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the government may disarm a Texas man subject to a domestic violence order, limiting the sweep of its earlier blockbuster decision that vastly expanded gun rights,” the New York Times reports.

“That decision, issued in 2022, struck down a New York law that put strict limits on carrying guns outside the home. It also established a new legal standard for assessing laws limiting the possession of firearms, one whose reliance on historical practices has sown confusion as courts have struggled to apply it, with some judges sweeping aside gun control laws that have been on the books for decades.”

“Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an attempt by Democrats to pass a bill to ban bump stocks in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling,” CNN reports.

Axios: “The bipartisan bill had little chance of passing the chamber and was instead introduced to force Republicans to reject it.”

“In the battle to dismantle gun restrictions, raging in America’s courts even as mass shootings become commonplace, one name keeps turning up in the legal briefs and judges’ rulings: William English, Ph.D. A little-known political economist at Georgetown University, Dr. English conducted a largest-of-its-kind national survey that found gun owners frequently used their weapons for self-defense,” the New York Times reports.

“But Dr. English’s interest in firearms is more than academic: He has received tens of thousands of dollars as a paid expert for gun rights advocates, and his survey work, which he says was part of a book project, originated as research for a National Rifle Association-backed lawsuit, The New York Times has found. He has also increasingly drawn scrutiny in some courts over the reliability and integrity of his unpublished survey, which is the core of his research, and his refusal to disclose who paid for it.”