Guns

ABC News reports: Visa and Mastercard paused their decision to start categorizing purchases at gun shops, a significant win for conservative groups and Second Amendment advocates who felt that tracking gun shop purchases would inadvertently discriminate against legal firearms purchases. The decision is, at the same time, also a defeat for gun control groups. There had been hope that categorizing …

Peoria’s NPR affiliate reports: Jeffrey Reinking of Morton was sentenced Friday to 18 months in state prison for illegally returning an AR-15 rifle to his son Travis, who was mentally ill. The gun was later used by Travis in a deadly 2018 mass shooting at a Nashville, Tennessee Waffle House that left four people dead and four others wounded. He …

NBC News reports: A New Jersey felon attempted to board a flight late last year with an AR-15 rifle, a Taser and a fake U.S. Marshal badge, according to a federal complaint that was unsealed Monday. Seretse Clouden has been charged with unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon and fraudulent possession of an identification document and …

Politico reports: The Florida Senate on Monday took its first step toward passing legislation that would remove the requirement that people have state permits to carry concealed firearms, a move that gun rights activists have long sought but for the first time appears to have political momentum. The Senate bill (SB 150), sponsored by state Sen. Jay Collins (R-Tampa), not …

Abilene’s ABC affiliate reports: Rising Star’s superintendent has resigned days after parents in the district learned he left a firearm unattended in a school bathroom for a 3rd grader to find. District staff confirmed Superintendent Robby Stuteville submitted his resignation from Rising Star ISD effective immediately. Last week, Superintendent Stuteville confirmed a 3rd grader found his gun in the bathroom …

The Associated Press reports: The woman flying out of Philadelphia’s airport last year remembered to pack snacks, prescription medicine and a cellphone in her handbag. But what was more important was what she forgot to unpack: a loaded .380-caliber handgun in a black holster. The weapon was one of the 6,542 guns the Transportation Security Administration intercepted last year at …

Abilene’s NBC affiliate reports: A 3rd grader in Rising Star found a gun the superintendent left in a school bathroom. Superintendent Robby Stuteville confirms the 3rd grader found the gun back in January and notified a teacher immediately without moving or touching the weapon. Stuteville walked KTAB and KRBC through the incident, explaining that both he and the school principal …

From the pro-gun site The Reload: The National Rifle Association keeps shrinking. Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told attendees at the gun-rights group’s most recent board meeting that the organization is down to 4.3 million members, according to multiple sources. That represents a downturn of more than a million members since allegations of financial impropriety were leveled against LaPierre and …

The Associated Press reports: Missouri’s Republican-led House on Wednesday voted against banning minors from openly carrying firearms on public land without adult supervision. The proposal to ban children from carrying guns without adult supervision in public failed by a 104-39 vote. Only one Republican voted in support of it. Democratic Rep. Donna Baringer said police in her district asked for …

CNN reports: A federal law that prohibits people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a conservative-leaning appeals court ruled Thursday. The ruling is the latest significant decision dismantling a gun restriction in the wake of the Supreme Court’s expansion of Second Amendment rights last year in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. …

Reuters reports: A group of U.S. Senate Democrats will introduce legislation on Thursday directing the Federal Trade Commission to create rules banning the marketing of firearms to children, including the JR-15, which has become a target of gun control advocates. The planned legislation comes roughly a week after Democrats publicly called on the FTC to probe the marketing techniques of …

Politico reports: House Natural Resources Committee Republicans on Wednesday defeated Rep. Jared Huffman’s (D-Calif.) push to reinstate an explicit ban on carrying firearms to the committee room after a lengthy and occasionally heated debate. The panel’s chair, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), repeatedly declined to clarify, under questioning from Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Huffman, whether he interpreted …

NBC News reports: The Newport News School Board on Wednesday voted to replace its embattled superintendent amid the continuing fallout from a 6-year-old boy shooting his first-grade teacher this month. The board voted 5-1 to remove George Parker III as the head of the district of about 26,500 students. His separation is effective Feb. 1, School Board Chair Lisa Surles-Law …

The Associated Press reports: A Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student during class will sue the school district, the teacher’s attorney announced Wednesday. Diane Toscano, a lawyer for Abigail Zwerner, said Wednesday that on the day of the shooting, concerned teachers and employees warned administrators three times that the boy had a gun on him and was …

Wichita’s ABC affiliate reports: The Sumner County Sheriff’s Office says a man died over the weekend after his dog stepped on a rifle, causing the firearm to discharge. The incident happened at around 9:40 a.m. Saturday in the 1600 block of 80th Street, north-northeast of Geuda Springs. The sheriff’s office said the man was sitting in the front passenger seat …

The Washington Post reports: Law enforcement officials have identified the gunman who killed 10 people at a ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park, Calif., on Saturday night as Huu Can Tran. Police said Tran shot and killed himself following a manhunt. Tran was a 72-year-old man of Asian descent, according to police. He immigrated to the United States from China. …

The Washington Post reports: The Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student repeatedly asked administrators for help with the boy but officials downplayed educators’ warnings about his behavior, including dismissing his threat to light a teacher on fire and watch her die, according to messages from teachers obtained by The Washington Post. The previously unreported incidents raise fresh …

Los Angeles’s NBC affiliate reports: Armored tanks — and a bomb squad — descended upon the white van in Torrance, Calif. before noon local time, in what became a more than hour-long standoff. Just before 1 p.m. local time, a SWAT team opened the passenger door of the vehicle, and then the side doors. Photos taken of the van showed …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Ten people were killed and at least 10 others were injured when a gunman opened fire at a ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park on Saturday night, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. The mass shooting, one of California’s worst in recent memory, happened in the 100 block of West Garvey Avenue at around …

The Hill reports: An Illinois state judge temporarily blocked the state’s assault weapons ban Friday, finding that the state government likely violated procedural regulations for passing legislation. A lawsuit against the measure was filed days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed it into law, banning the sale and distribution of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and parts that convert handguns into …