Featured: Rally Shooting Fallout
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are “concerned about the potential for follow-on or retaliatory acts of violence.” The agencies issued a joint security bulletin warning that “individuals in some online communities have threatened, encouraged, or referenced acts of violence in response to the attempted assassination,” and that the shooting “reinforces our assessment that election-related targets are under a heightened threat of attack or other types of disruptive incidents.” [Politico]
Although many Trump supporters have tried to blame the rally shooting on Democrats, most fatal political violence is perpetrated in service of far-right ideologies. In the 1960s and ’70s, left-wing actors were responsible for much of the period’s sustained political violence and mostly targeted property. That started to change in the 1990s, and today, much of this violence targets people, and deadly political violence more often comes from the right. [Reuters]
The shooter’s motive is still unknown, but his profile matches that of others who have perpetrated similar violence. A 1997 Secret Service study found that, though there was no single indicator that someone might try to kill a public figure, a majority of attackers were “social isolates.” The rally shooter “exhibited certain behavioral characteristics that are consistent with those involved in targeted acts of violence in the past,” said a top former Homeland Security official. “Not everyone who eats lunch by themselves is a mass shooter. But we have learned mass casualty attacks or acts of targeted violence are very often people who feel that they’ve been victimized by society.” [Associated Press/Politico]
Details of the security breakdown continue to emerge, with sometimes competing narratives. The director of the Secret Service said local police were inside the same building from which the shooter opened fire, but a local official disputed that claim. Local law enforcement snipers were positioned in the same warehouse complex as the shooter. According to the district attorney of the Pennsylvania county where the rally took place and an anonymous Secret Service official, the Secret Service was aware that local police did not have the resources to station a patrol car outside the building where the shooter positioned himself. [The New York Times/The Washington Post]
Right-wing lawmakers and influencers are framing Trump’s survival as divine intervention — without mentioning Corey Comperatore, the man who was killed. For some Trump supporters, the former president was protected by the “hand of God” to deliver a version of America in which Christianity is the rule of law. Eliding Comperatore, who died shielding his family from gunfire, speaks to the danger of staking this claim, according to Robert P. Jones, president of Public Religion Research Institute. “The danger with such ex post facto theology for a democratic society is that it is perhaps the most powerful source of confirmation bias and polarization,” Jones said. “It attributes providential action to contingent events, but only if they conform to preconceived beliefs.” [WIRED]
From The Trace
In the security zone around the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, people are banned from possessing air rifles, shovels, BB guns, or other “instrument[s] potentially used to cause damage to persons or property.” But guns are still allowed in the densely populated blocks near the convention site. Just outside the venue, and despite the recent attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump, people are allowed to carry loaded weapons concealed with a permit, and openly without — even AR-15-style rifles like the weapon used in the July 13 attack.
That’s because of Wisconsin’s preemption law, reports The Trace’s Chip Brownlee, which prevents local municipalities from enacting gun regulations stricter than the state’s. Over the past few decades, preemption laws have spread across the country: More than 40 states have some version on the books, including Pennsylvania, where Trump survived the attempt on his life.
Because of recent events, preemption laws are facing renewed scrutiny. In his latest story, Brownlee explains the history of these laws, and what you need to know about them today. Read more from Brownlee here.
What to Know Today
Out-of-state police officers helping with security at the Republican National Convention shot and killed an unhoused man, identified by a loved one as 43-year-old Samuel Sharpe Jr., while they were in a parking lot blocks away from the event’s “soft” perimeter. Community members described Sharpe, known by his nickname “Jehovah,” as a “beautiful person” who was well known in the neighborhood. Some said the shooting would not have happened if local police had responded. [USA TODAY/WISN]
President Joe Biden is reportedly finalizing plans to announce his support for major reforms to the Supreme Court, including long-shot legislative proposals to establish term limits for justices and an enforceable ethics code. Biden’s endorsement would mark a major shift in his stance on the nation’s highest court. Gun violence prevention groups were part of a coalition that called for such reforms last year. [The Washington Post]
Angry residents are threatening and confronting crews trying to restore power in the Houston area, where outages have persisted since Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 8. Police have filed charges in at least one instance of gun-pointing and at least one threat of murder, and a union rep reported that, as workers tried to make repairs in one neighborhood, several men stood across the street and held assault-style rifles in a menacing way. [Associated Press]
Fewer high school-aged teenagers in Baltimore were shot in the first half of 2024 than during any corresponding period in the last decade. That marks a rapid decline from 2023, when gun violence among young people surged. This year’s trend follows an overall decrease in homicides in the city. [The Baltimore Banner]
RAND released the fourth edition of its report on the effects of 18 common gun policies. Among other findings, the report found evidence that safe storage laws reduce firearm injuries, deaths, and homicides among young people and supportive evidence that “stand your ground” laws are associated with increases in gun homicides. [RAND]
Archive
Guns are at the nexus of Christian nationalism and the far right, a connection that was made apparent in the ReAwaken America tour, which launched in the spring of 2021. In her 2022 piece, “As Midterms Loom, Right Wingers Are Revving Up the Faithful With Talk of Religion and Guns,” Lila Hassan examined the tour and its connections to gun rights, and spoke with some of the many Christians who condemn Christian nationalism. Read that here.
