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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
NEW from THE TRACE: The brothers behind an extreme gun rights network that Republicans call a big scam. The Dorr brothers are part of a circle of far-right activists who manage more than a dozen nonprofits spread around the country. They have built a massive grassroots fundraising machine that churns out a steady stream of messages beseeching donations off conservative outrage. At the center of the Dorrs’ efforts is their own for-profit consulting firm, which has received huge sums of money from their tax-exempt organizations, fueling allegations that they are deceiving their supporters. Brian Freskos and Alain Stephens have that story, in partnership with The Daily Beast.
Politicians, protesters, and the family of a slain 18-year-old Latino man want answers over police shooting. Last Thursday, Andres Guardado was shot six times by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy near an auto body shop in Gardena, California. It’s unclear exactly what happened before the shooting. Officers said Guardado “produced a weapon” and then fled from deputies, but they also acknowledged that they didn’t know if he ever pointed a weapon. Guardado’s family said the teen was working as a security guard and studying to become a mechanic — and that he ran from police because he was scared. On Sunday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Gardena to demand accountability, a call later picked up by California Democratic Representatives Maxine Waters and Nanette Diaz Barragán.
Mass shooting during a North Carolina block party leaves three people dead, six others wounded. The violence broke out early Monday at a Juneteenth celebration in Charlotte. A local reporter said witnesses described the scene as “happy, peaceful, positive,” until the gunfire began. Over 100 rounds were fired into a crowd of more than 400 people, officials said. The police said there were multiple shooters and were still looking for leads.
Fresh data on the use of California’s red flag law. The state is one of 19 with a law on the books providing a legal remedy to disarm individuals deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. A new study from the UC Davis Violence Prevention Program published in JAMA Network Open found that 90 percent of the nearly 1,100 individuals who were subject to an order between 2016 and 2019 were men — and three-fifths were white. While family members can request an extreme risk protection order in California, police made the petitions in 97 percent of cases. The researchers found use of the red flag law increased substantially from 2018 to 2019. “Media coverage and awareness of these policies … may have played a role in the more rapid uptake in the last year of the study period,” said the study’s author.
It’s still easy to sell gun parts on Amazon, despite a company ban. There has been extensive reporting (including by the Trace) on firearm commerce taking place on technology platforms that have banned such activity in their terms of service. In the latest example, The Markup easily evaded Amazon’s automated filters and listed for sale a 10-round rifle magazine and an AR-15 armorer’s wrench. The listings were posted by an account with no seller history. An Amazon spokesperson said the company continues to try and improve its detection systems.
Chicago’s school board will weigh terminating its contract with police. Board members will vote Wednesday on a motion that would cancel the school district’s $33 million contract with the Chicago Police Department, and force leaders to develop alternative security plans. School districts in Minneapolis, Denver, and Seattle have suspended or severed their ties with police departments in the face of protests over police brutality.
DATA POINT
6 — the number of major city or county police chiefs who have resigned or been fired since the beginning of June. The departures have occurred in Richmond, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; Portland, Oregon; and Prince George’s County, Maryland. [The Daily 202, The Washington Post]
