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An internal Army report found a “series of failures” in the handling of the reservist who killed 18 people in a gun rampage in Lewiston, Maine, last October. The report concluded that the shooter’s release from a psychiatric facility three months before the massacre had warranted a follow-up investigation, but his unit did not conduct one; three officers were disciplined over the case. The report also found that local law enforcement could have prevented the shooting had they “fully executed their health and welfare check on SFC Card in September 2023.” [NBC]
Politics
Vice President Kamala Harris’s entrance into the 2024 race for the White House has garnered a lot of strong reactions: Democrats are enthusiastic, as an influx of money and volunteers into her campaign illustrates; Republicans have doubled down on criticisms of President Joe Biden, tying Harris to his administration; former President Donald Trump called for the next presidential debate to be moderated by the right-wing network Fox News, rather than ABC, as had been previously agreed; and the internet is awash in coconut trees.
Groups on both sides of the gun debate have weighed in on Harris’s candidacy, too. Their responses reflect the presumptive Democratic nominee’s work on gun issues over more than two decades in politics. For Harris, gun violence was a central issue long before she joined Biden on the 2020 campaign trail. In his latest story, The Trace’s Chip Brownlee explains what gun rights and gun safety groups have said — or not said — about Harris’s bid, and breaks down Harris’s record on guns, from her first campaign to be San Francisco’s top prosecutor to her time as the country’s second-in-command.
What to Know Today
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle stepped down from her post on Tuesday, following calls for her resignation from numerous members of Congress over the agency’s handling of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. In her resignation letter, Cheatle said she takes “full responsibility” for the security breakdown leading up to the July 13 shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally. Though both Democrats and Republicans agitated for Cheatle’s departure, the response to the assassination attempt has been markedly partisan: The GOP and gun rights advocates have largely blamed the shooting on security lapses, while Democrats have blamed insufficient gun regulations. [The Washington Post/The Wall Street Journal]
Longtime letter carrier Octavia Redmond, whom neighbors described as friendly and outgoing, was shot and killed last week while she was delivering mail on her route on Chicago’s South Side. Her death comes amid a nationwide increase in violence against postal workers. In the wake of Redmond’s shooting, Chicago postal employees are pushing for more protections on the job. [Block Club Chicago]
The Los Angeles Police Department is sending 32 reserve officers and a supervisor to Paris to help with security at the 2028 Olympics — and France will allow them to carry guns. The department had a hand in convincing the French government to temporarily relax a law against foreign police being armed, documents show. The LAPD delegation will not wear body cameras. [Los Angeles Times]
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is on the short list for Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election. Should a Harris-Shapiro ticket prevail come November, the state’s gubernatorial vacancy would be filled by Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, a Western Pennsylvanian who got his start in politics as a community organizer for gun violence prevention. [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
Throughout history, periods of political violence have coincided with dramatic wealth inequality, conspiracy theorizing, lack of trust in democracy, and intense partisanship. Though the conditions are predictable, they can be hard to counter — and harder still when political violence becomes normalized, as it has in the United States. How do we emerge from this period? [The Atlantic]
Archive
After an Emergency Mental Health Hospitalization, Few States Block Gun Purchases
The mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, was one of more than a dozen high-profile attacks carried out by people who retained their gun rights after hospitalization during a mental health crisis. (December 2023)
