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Four Republicans in the U.S. House — including gun enthusiast Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, a gun store owner who handed out lapel pins shaped like assault rifles to colleagues this month — want to make an “AR-15 style rifle chambered in a .223 Remington round or a 5.56x45mm NATO round” the first official gun of the United States. AR-15-style rifles have been used in some of the country’s deadliest mass shootings.
The bill’s primary sponsor, Alabama Representative Barry Moore, unveiled the legislation at a gun shop last week. Representative George Santos of New York, embroiled in fraud allegations, is also backing the bill.
What to Know Today
A Defense Department-commissioned independent committee recommended that the Pentagon implement a series of gun safety measures to prevent suicides in the military, including raising the minimum age for service members to purchase weapons and modernizing its suicide-prevention training. [Associated Press/Defense Department]
More than two dozen people allegedly connected with gangs were arrested in connection to a shooting in Goshen, California, last month that killed six people, including a 10-month-old baby. Police said they found an illegal firearms operation while serving arrest warrants. [The Fresno Bee]
The family of Richard Ward, who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy near a Colorado middle school last year, filed a lawsuit against the county and released graphic video of the shooting, which showed the officer wrestling Ward to the ground despite him following commands. [The Washington Post]
In tomorrow’s election, Chicagoans will for the first time decide which ordinary citizens are tasked with police oversight. Over 100 candidates are running for the new police district councils. [Bolts] Context: Mayoral candidates have pledged to invest in the Chicago Police Department, but violence prevention organizers say relying solely on police to reduce violent crime is a mistake.
It’s been three years since Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed while jogging in Glynn County, Georgia. His killers were convicted of murder and hate crimes, but a former district attorney accused of interfering on behalf of the murderers in the investigation has yet to stand trial. [The Current]
Washington, D.C., has seen a significant rise in gun violence since 2017. Police seized over 3,000 guns last year, about 800 more than in 2021. [Axios]
The accused Colorado Springs shooter ran a neo-Nazi website and kept a rainbow-colored gun target at home, investigators testified in a court hearing. [Associated Press/The Denver Post]
Archive
“How D.C. Laws Became a Target for Politicians Looking to Boost Their Pro-Gun Cred”: Attempting to defang Washington’s tight restrictions is one way for any conservative legislator to score political points. And it isn’t just the home crowd some lawmakers are seeking to win over; trying to roll back D.C.’s gun laws has proved an effective way for lawmakers to raise their ranking with the National Rifle Association. (August 18, 2016)
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