Guns

The Colorado Sun reports: A Republican state representative left a loaded, semiautomatic handgun in a bathroom at the Colorado Capitol on Tuesday night, an incident that comes as Democrats are trying to ban firearm possession in the building — and the GOP is fighting them. The Colorado State Patrol, which provides security at the Capitol, said Thursday that the gun, …

Pew Research reports: About a quarter of teachers (23%) say they experienced a lockdown in the 2022-23 school year because of a gun or suspicion of a gun at their school. Some 15% say this happened once during the year, and 8% say this happened more than once. High school teachers are most likely to report experiencing these lockdowns: 34% …

The Daily Beast reports: The Biden administration on Thursday announced that it is moving to close the so-called gun-show loophole in which people selling guns online, at shows, and other informal venues have been able to do so without conducting background checks on their customers. The Justice Department said it has submitted a final rule to the federal register that …

The Guardian reports: Large numbers of Americans who have bought guns over the past four years or who regularly carry their loaded weapons in public are willing to engage in political violence, even to the extent of shooting a perceived opponent, a new mega-survey has found. The study of almost 13,000 Americans, drawn from across the US and weighted for …

ABC News reports: Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon has vetoed a bill that would have allowed people to carry concealed guns in public schools and government meetings. In his veto letter Friday night, Gordon said he had concerns the bill would exceed the separation of powers provision in the state constitution since any policy, further regulation or clarification of the …

The New York Times reports: A commission investigating the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, concluded on Friday that local law enforcement officers should have taken the gunman, Robert Card Jr., into custody and seized his weapons before he killed 18 people on Oct. 25. The decision to instead give Mr. Card’s family responsibility for removing his weapons was “an abdication …

The Associated Press reports: A 19-year-old Michigan man who lost his right eye after being shot with a firearm made from a ghost gun kit filed a lawsuit Tuesday against his former best friend who accidentally shot him and the Pennsylvania company that sold his friend the kit. The lawsuit, which was filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, alleges that …

CNN reports: Longtime National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre should pay the powerful gun rights group $4.3 million in damages for mismanagement and misspending charitable funds on lavish personal trips, no-show contracts and other questionable expenditures, a New York jury decided on Friday. The jury found the New York Attorney General’s Office proved he violated his fiduciary duties from 2014 …

The Associated Press reports: Missouri’s Republican-led House on Monday passed a bill to ban celebratory gunfire in cities less than a week after a deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade left some attending lawmakers hiding in bathrooms. Kansas City police have said the shooting appeared to stem from a dispute between several people and not celebratory …

Courthouse News reports: Wayne LaPierre took the witness stand one last time in New York’s corruption case against him on Wednesday, when he told a Manhattan jury that he paid back the National Rifle Association for a slew of donor-funded personal expenses. The longtime NRA chief executive told the court he wrote a series of checks between 2020 and 2023 …

Reuters reports: A federal judge in Florida on Friday ruled that a U.S. law that bars people from possessing firearms in post offices is unconstitutional, citing a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 2022 that expanded gun rights. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump in Tampa, reached that conclusion in dismissing part …

CBS News reports: The Transportation Security Administration found a record-setting 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints in 2023, the agency announced Wednesday. The agency said approximately 93% of the weapons were loaded, which TSA Administrator David Pekoske said was “concerning.” More than 1,100 guns were found at just three airports, the TSA said. Officers at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the …

Reuters reports: The corruption trial of the National Rifle Association and its longtime leader Wayne LaPierre is likely to begin on Monday in a Manhattan courtroom, just three days after LaPierre’s sudden resignation as the gun rights group’s chief executive. New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the NRA and LaPierre in August 2020, saying the group diverted millions of …

Reuters reports: A federal appeals court on Saturday allowed a judge’s ruling that barred California from enforcing a new law that bans the carrying of guns in most public places on the grounds that it was unconstitutional to take effect. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dissolved an order by a different 9th Circuit panel from a week earlier …

CNN reports: At least one person was killed in a shooting at a school in Perry, Iowa, on Thursday, according to Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Assistant Director Mitch Mortvedt. That person was a sixth-grade student at the middle school, he said during a news conference. Five other victims are being treated at hospitals in the area, according to Mortvedt. …

Courthouse News reports: Wayne LaPierre’s more than three-decade reign as the CEO of the National Rifle Association has been marred by controversy. Besides a number of corruption scandals with LaPierre at the helm, today’s NRA faces issues like declining membership and revenue. But it’s a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James that could prove to be the gravest …

The Messenger reports: A federal appeals court on Saturday cleared the way for a California law that bans the carrying of guns in most public places. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay that allows the law to take effect at the start of of the new year on Monday. The decision put …

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a California law that would have banned carrying firearms in most public places, ruling that it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and deprives people of their ability to defend themselves and their loved ones. The law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September was set to take …

The Associated Press reports: The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for felony child neglect by a judge who chastised her for abdicating her responsibilities as a parent. The sentence given to Deja Taylor by Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile was much harsher than the maximum six-month …

NBC News reports: The man accused of firing an assault rifle into crowds at a July Fourth parade in suburban Chicago last year, killing seven people, said Monday that he plans to represent himself at his trial, which is set to start in February. Robert E. Crimo III, wearing a red shirt and red handcuffs, appeared in a Lake County …