“The Supreme Court revived the Biden administration’s restrictions on so-called ghost guns in a 5-4 emergency ruling on Tuesday,” The Hill reports.
“The justices agreed to pause a lower court’s decision, which invalidated the regulation nationwide, as the administration continues its appeal.”
Associated Press: “This year’s unrelenting bloodshed across the U.S. has led to the grimmest of milestones: The deadliest six months of mass killings recorded since at least 2006.”
“From Jan. 1 to June 30, the nation endured 28 mass killings, all but one of which involved guns. The death toll rose just about every week, a constant cycle of violence and grief.”
“Six months. 181 days. 28 mass killings. 140 victims. One country.”
Washington Post: “Teenagers have discovered the ease with which they can acquire the parts for a ghost gun, and they have been buying, building and shooting the homemade guns with alarming frequency.”
“The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider whether the government may forbid people subject to domestic violence orders from having guns, setting the stage for a major test of its ruling last year vastly expanding people’s right to arm themselves in public,” the New York Times reports.
“The case will turn on the scope of a new legal standard established in that decision, one whose reliance on historical practices has sown confusion across the country as courts have struggled to apply it.”
“A rare House Republican who supports stricter gun control measures said he won’t back a Democratic effort to end-run Speaker Kevin McCarthy and force a vote on a trio of bills to implement those restrictions,” NBC News reports.
Said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA): “At some point we need to start thinking about getting things done rather than sending messages across the floor of the House.”
“Gov. Gavin Newsom is seeking an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would restrict gun ownership — a daunting and likely quixotic response to the deadliest wave of mass shootings in U.S. history that would nonetheless position California as the most aggressive state in the union on gun control,” Politico reports.
“Newsom outlined his plan Thursday to pursue the amendment, seeded with cash left over from his landslide 2022 reelection, fueled by frustration over the country’s failure to adopt restrictions that polls show most Americans broadly support and a conservative Supreme Court that has rolled back gun laws.”
Politico: “The generational disconnect suggests broader GOP opposition to gun restrictions will be a steady irritant inside a party already struggling to appeal to young voters. It could also challenge White House hopefuls and members of Congress to eventually refine their message on guns with Republican primary and general election voters, even if the concerns of young people won’t transform GOP politics overnight.”
“More than 25,000 women are expected to participate in a sit-in at the Colorado state Capitol Monday, calling on Gov. Jared Polis (D) to sign an executive order to ban guns and implement a system to buy them back,” ABC News reports.
“Hunter Biden could soon find himself in a surprising position: at the cutting edge of the fight to strengthen the Second Amendment,” Politico reports.
“The president’s son is the target of a Justice Department investigation scrutinizing his purchase of a gun in 2018 — a time when he has said he was regularly using crack cocaine. Federal law bans drug users from owning guns.”
“But the constitutionality of that law — like many other provisions restricting gun ownership — is newly in question after a precedent-rocking decision the Supreme Court handed down almost a year ago.”
“In 2022, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) ripped Democrats for the ‘Defund the Police’ movement,” the Daily Beast reports.
“But on Tuesday, he proposed doing just that to the law enforcement agency in the Department of Justice. Just two months after a mass shooting at a Nashville school in his very own Congressional district, Ogles made the puzzling proposal to defund the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives through 2025.”
“State legislators around the country have passed more laws expanding gun access than they have measures on gun control in the year since the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead,” Axios reports.
“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) decision last week to call a special legislative session to tackle gun reform has prompted a number of unfamiliar allies to line up behind the Republican leader,” NBC News reports.
“Democrats and gun control groups have lauded Lee’s move — which came weeks after a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville killed six people, including three 9-year-old children.”
“On the other hand, Republicans in the gun-friendly state have signaled they’re unwilling to go along with Lee, who, following the shooting, pleaded with his conservative Legislature to take action.”
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) vetoed three pieces of legislation that would have placed additional restrictions on gun ownership and purchasing in the state, The Hill reports.
“The Supreme Court on Wednesday left in place for now Illinois’s new ban on the purchase and sale of AR-15-style weapons and large ammunition magazines, the court’s first consideration of gun control legislation since its conservative majority made it more difficult for governments to justify such restrictions,” the Washington Post reports.
“The court without comment turned down a request from a gun shop owner from Naperville and a national gun rights organization to keep both the state and local laws from being implemented while legal battles continue.”
“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed off on additional protections for gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits within a bill that lawmakers passed after a deadly school shooting in March,” the AP reports.
“The Republican governor quietly signed the legislation Thursday. Its provisions kick in on July 1.”
“The Minnesota Senate DFL majority passed new gun safety measures late Friday, punctuating a historically productive 2023 session by successfully wrangling one of the toughest issues in U.S. politics,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
“The gun provisions were part of an $880 million public safety spending package that passed on a 34-33 party-line vote. The House, as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee, already backed the gun measures, but the vote after nine hours of debate was the first by the full Senate this session.”
“The bill includes expanded background checks for private transfers and gun show sales, along with red flag-style laws allowing judges to remove guns from individuals determined to be dangerous.”
“A federal judge in Virginia on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a set of federal laws and regulations that prohibit federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to 18- to 20-year olds, finding the measures violated the Second Amendment,” the Washington Post reports.
“Although 18- to 20-year-olds previously could buy handguns in private sales — or have a parent purchase a weapon for them — the decision Wednesday, if left unchallenged, would dismantle a legal framework that for decades has prevented licensed dealers from selling handguns ‘to teenagers.'”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told Fox News that grandparents could join a force of armed military vets and retired police officers to protect schools from shootings.
Said Blackburn: “They know to de-escalate situations. I’ve talked to a lot of them. They like this idea. They are grandparents like we are — my husband and I are grandparents — and they want to be there to help protect children.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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