A new Fox News Poll finds most voters favor the following proposals:

• Requiring criminal background checks on all gun buyers (87%)
• Improving enforcement of existing gun laws (81%)
• Raising the legal age to buy a gun to 21 (81%)
• Requiring mental health checks on gun buyers (80%)
• Allowing police to take guns from those considered a danger to themselves or others (80%)
• Requiring a 30-day waiting period for all gun purchases (77%)
• Another 6 in 10 favor banning assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons (61%).

A new Time profile of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) ends with one of her aides trying to walk back her advocating for Australia-style gun confiscation.

Then she doubled down:

“No more guns,” she says.

Ambler, her aide and adviser, tries to clarify that she means no more gun violence, but Giffords is clear about what she’s saying. “No, no, no,” she says. “Lord, no.” She pauses another 32 seconds. “Guns, guns, guns. No more guns. Gone.”

An aide clarifies that she’s talking about Australia, where gun sales were outlawed after a mass shooting and existing weapons were purchased by the government. Giffords nods in the affirmative. It’s an idealistic goal, for sure, and one perhaps mismatched for the moment in this country. But Giffords has an answer for that: “Legislation, legislation, legislation.”

It’s ambitious. But that’s the whole point of working inside Giffords’ orbit. And she is never going to apologize for her fight on something so personal.

“Washington state became the 10th state in the U.S. to ban assault weapons on Tuesday when Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill passed by this year’s legislature as part of a sweeping package of proposals aimed at reducing gun violence,” the Olympian reports.

“An emergency clause in the assault weapons bill means that the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, or offer for sale of any assault-style weapon are immediately banned in the state of Washington.”

Politico: “Listen to the southern right talk about violence in America and you’d think New York City was as dangerous as Bakhmut on Ukraine’s eastern front.”

“In reality, the region the Big Apple comprises most of is far and away the safest part of the U.S. mainland when it comes to gun violence, while the regions Florida and Texas belong to have per capita firearm death rates (homicides and suicides) three to four times higher than New York’s. On a regional basis it’s the southern swath of the country — in cities and rural areas alike — where the rate of deadly gun violence is most acute, regions where Republicans have dominated state governments for decades.”

“The U.S. is setting a record pace for mass killings in 2023, replaying the horror on a loop roughly once a week so far this year,” the AP reports.

“The carnage has taken 88 lives in 17 mass killings over 111 days. Each time, the killers wielded firearms. Only 2009 was marked by as many such tragedies in the same period of time.”

A new study finds that one-fifth of U.S. households purchased guns during the pandemic, “a national arming that exposed more than 15 million Americans to firearms in the home for the first time,” The Hill reports.

“The Missouri House passed a bill Monday allowing guns to be carried on public buses and inside churches and other places of worship, chipping away at the list of places where guns are prohibited even with a concealed carry permit,” the Kansas City Star reports.

“A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles cleared the Washington state Legislature on Wednesday and the governor is expected to sign it into law,” the AP reports.

“The high-powered firearms — once banned nationwide — are now the weapon of choice among young men responsible for most of the country’s devastating mass shootings.”

“The ban comes after multiple failed attempts in the state’s Legislature, and amid the most mass shootings during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009.”

“Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday to allow people to carry concealed guns in the state without a permit, just as national attention has ramped up over gun violence in the wake of several mass shootings, including the killing last month of six people at a Tennessee school,” the AP reports.

“In the wake of a deadly school shooting last month, Republican lawmakers in Tennessee awarded final passage Tuesday to a proposal that would further protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits,” the AP reports.

“The Senate’s 19-9 vote sends the bill to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, despite pushback from Democratic lawmakers saying their GOP counterparts are trying to shield gun companies just weeks after the Nashville school shooting that killed six people, including three 9-year-olds.”

“Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bills to combat gun violence Thursday, two months after a mass shooting on the campus of Michigan State University left three students dead and five injured,” the Detroit News reports.

“The proposals, which take effect next year, will expand background check requirements for firearm purchases and institute new storage standards for guns kept in homes where children are present.”

Detroit Free Press: “In addition to the bills she signed, Whitmer repeated her call for lawmakers to send legislation to create a so-called ‘red flag law’ her way.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) “stood alone as he asked for lawmakers to pass a bill to keep guns away from dangerous people,” WKRN reports.

“However, it isn’t clear who is working to write that legislation.”

A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds 21% of Americans say they have personally been threatened with a gun, 19% say a family member was killed by a gun (including death by suicide), and 17% have personally witnessed someone being shot.

Smaller shares have personally shot a gun in self-defense (4%) or been injured in a shooting (4%).

In total, 54% of all U.S. adults say they or a family member have ever had one of these experiences.

These numbers are truly insane.

Charlie Sykes: “Yesterday’s murder of five Americans in Louisville was the 145th mass shooting here, so far this year. And it is only mid-April. Last year, there were 647 mass shootings in our country.”

“It is staggering that we are not staggered by this.”

“When children at school are torn apart by AR-15s, the conscience of the nation should be set on fire. And we were horrified by Uvalde, and Nashville, Newtown, Parkland, Santa Fe, and Roseburg, Oregon. For a few days.”

“But we have gotten to the point where coverage of one slaughter is interrupted by breaking news of yet another. And our doom loop of thoughts, prayers, debate, and inertia has become numbingly familiar.”

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed his Florida counterpart Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing a bill allowing permitless carry into law last week, just days after the country’s latest school shooting in Nashville,” Politico reports.

Said Newsom: “They don’t care about our kids. Cause if they did, they’d ban these damn weapons of war. They would have background checks that require some common damn sense.”

He added: “He’s scared to death, scared of the people, scared of the public. I think the majority of NRA members probably oppose that position.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a bill that lets people carry guns without a permit and without any training, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

“Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed a bill Thursday allowing individuals to carry concealed loaded weapons anywhere without a permit,” NBC News reports.

“The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has repeatedly indicated he will sign it.”

“The measure scraps the existing requirements for concealed weapons permits, including an extra layer of background checks, licensing and firearms training.”

New York Times: “In Kentucky, Ohio, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia, Republicans have pushed this year to limit gun-free zones, remove background checks and roll back red-flag laws that seek to remove firearms from those who are a danger to themselves or others. Missouri last year enacted a measure that made it illegal for local law enforcement to cooperate with federal authorities in many gun investigations…”

“In 25 states, no permits are required to carry a handgun — nine more than in 2020.”